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Straight Ahead!
Victoria Boyson
www.boyson.org
"I have a dream."
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke those famous words in 1963 and
throughout his life he lived for the dream God gave him. He believed in his dream completely and surrendered his life for it - working towards the fulfillment of it. The dream God gave him became the primary focus of his
life and the force behind so much of what he did. Moreover, believing in the dream without question made his passion for it contagious.
Dr. King's dream transformed him and propelled him into a life chosen for
him by God. And in living for God, he changed the world for God's glory. He gave his life for his dream. Truly, the life he lead was arduous, yet I believe more satisfying than would have been possible had he
lived for himself. He gave God his life, believed in the dream and God gave him influence over the world.
What is the dream God has given you?
Has God given you a dream, yet the enemy has placed
obstacles and barriers against you in an attempt to rob you of it? Is the enemy trying desperately to hold your heart in the clutches of self-doubt and unbelief?
The Lord is breathing life into old dreams, beloved.
He's reaching into hearts for the buried treasure of your lost dreams and aspirations - dreams that have been discarded or driven to the recesses of your mind. He is giving life to dreams that are on the verge of being
abandoned for the prosaic, mundane realities of life. The enemy attacked you with every measure in his power. But why? Because your dreams terrify him, that's why. They are, indeed, a threat to his plans. Your dreams
are genuine and good; they are of value to the kingdom of heaven.
Many of you have given yourself wholeheartedly to the dream God has placed in your heart. You've pursued God's plan for your life and yet now
you find yourself trapped and attacked by the enemy to such a degree that your dreams have become of secondary importance to you. You are much more concerned with surviving the attack you're
experiencing.
Realize, however, that nothing you are experiencing is any surprise to God. He's known all along the obstacles that would lay before you. It is those very obstacles you are tackling that will equip
you to handle your dream's fulfillment. Without the obstacles, trials and challenges you've endured, you would surely fall under the weight of your dream with no experiences to defend you from the enemy's
strategies to ensnare you.
Heeding God's Voice
One very important lessons we need to learn is to listen to God's voice. We need to submit our head knowledge to the voice in our spirit that gives us
God's wisdom. It's all too easy to hear God's voice and yet talk ourselves out of listening to it for one reason or another. The Lord reveals His wisdom to us and yet, for various reasons, we choose not to
listen. Oftentimes, the penalties and woundings that come from disregarding God's wisdom are the greatest obstacle of all.
The Word of God clearly states in Matthew 7:6, "...do not throw your pearls before
swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." The pearls represent the dreams God has given you and the swine are the natural-minded people who are unable to handle your dreams
with care and end up trampling what is very precious to you. We are responsible for protecting the precious gifts God's given us and we must learn to discern the type of person we can trust to esteem the precious things
in our hearts.
The naturally-minded person values the things of this world much more than the things of God. As the Word says, "...for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the
sight of God" (Luke 16:15). They have great difficulty in esteeming the things that are precious in God's eyes.
They see the cross as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), and do not accept the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). It's only through knowing Christ and experiencing His cross that we can
even come close to appraising and valuing the things of the Spirit correctly.
The Lord has promised us an abundant life, but what does an abundant life really look like? Is it money and fame and getting everything
for ourselves? Having a perfect life? Or is abundant life found in giving away more than we receive?
There is greater joy in esteeming the dreams of others than in trampling those dreams to fulfill our own. The
ultimate abundant life is living for God's kingdom and, in His kingdom, we cannot live for ourselves. Our joy is found in esteeming our brother above ourselves - in giving away what we need the most and in treasuring
the dreams of others in the Kingdom as if they were our own.
Crafty Devil
The enemy is crafty and will try and place people in your life who speak for him and not for God. They will try to convince you of
the impossibility of your dream or make you feel incapable of fulfilling it. The enemy wants to distort your view of yourself and if he can get you to esteem the things of this world he will make you seem like a failure or
foolish. Yet, the Word says that "God has chosen the foolish foolish things of this world to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:27).
We are not to view ourselves according to the way people treat us,
but find our relevance in Christ and Him alone. So often men esteem people who are corrupt in their hearts because they seem important, yet disregard those who truly have the heart of Christ. And having misunderstood who we
truly are, how can they judge the motives of our heart?
God has, in the past, led me to individuals in my life who've poured life into my spirit and given encouragement to the dreams in my heart. However, I have
befriended people who've not valued me or my dreams; they have not encouraged and strengthened but, indeed, brought accusation and discouragement.
There have been people who God has specifically warned me to
stay away from; His warning being they would trample the dream in my heart and turn and cause devastation to my spirit. However, as I got to know the person, they flattered my ego and tugged on the strings of my heart. I
felt pity for them and, little by little, let my guard down. I let them into my life and opened my heart to them only to find in the end God was indeed trying to protect me.
I found out too late they were really
unable to understand the dreams I'd cherished in my heart. Now, knowing my weaknesses and dreams, they had power to hinder me - to sow seeds of destruction into my spirit keeping me from the dream's fulfillment. Not
understanding the value of the dream and its place in God's kingdom, they sought to rend my spirit with accusation and judgment, gossip and slander.
The pain, however, and despair I felt from their betrayal was
as needful for me as one of my mama's spankings. I learned the devastating cost of not obeying God's voice, all the while learning the tactics of the enemy. It was a lesson I needed to learn.
I would love to
tell you that one failure was enough for me to grasp this important lesson, but that would not be the truth. No, not in the slightest. I have had to learn that lesson the hard way and failed many times. But the Lord used
each instance to train me and give me wisdom and discernment - I learned more fully the tactics of the enemy and the weaknesses of my own heart.
It is imperative that we learn who to trust with our dreams. It is
also important that we learn to turn away from the negative voices and combat what they've spoken with the truth of God. Our dreams must be treated with great care and fed and nourished by the Word and by those who
value them for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
As we mature in Christ, the confidence in our calling increases and the less we will worry about our own feelings and safety. We will find that as we lay down our lives
for the call of God, living not for ourselves but for His kingdom, willing to sacrifice everything for the hope of the calling in our heart, we give birth to an unstoppable passion that will change the
world.
Friends, many of us have begun a journey with God and it's gotten tough and many are in a tight and desperate place you do not want to be in. You've thought, "God I don't want to be here. I
don't want to do this anymore." You may think, "Never mind God, forget it. I don't want to go through with it. I want to be safe. I don't believe the dream is possible anymore."
You may
not want to be in the position you're in right now, but still you are there. You've got no other choice; you've got to keep going - moving straight ahead, on toward the prize. In so doing, you will find
the fulfillment of your dream, and with that deliverance, you will find freedom from what is oppressing you.
Strength in the Word
We've got to realize there's no going back with God. You will never
be "normal" again. You may not be what you used to be and you are not yet what you are to become. But you will find who you are in the Christ in His Word.
As you esteem God's Word, you will trust more
completely what the Word says you are and what you are capable of doing. You will be rooted and grounded in the incredible love of your heavenly Father Who's loved you from before your first breath. You will surely find
a you you never knew could exist - a glimpse of yourself seen only through the eyes of the Spirit. God sees what you can become if you will only believe what He says about you and continue on in pursuit of the victory...of the dream...of Him.
When you started your quest, the fulfillment of the dream was your greatest desire and yet, when you finally see the manifestation of what you've only seen in your spirit, you will receive more than you ever thought was possible - more than you ever thought to ask for. Surrendering yourself so completely to the Lord's designs they become your own, though you once only desired to see the kingdom of God, now you will become His kingdom.
My dear friends, as we stand together as His unstoppable kingdom unable to retreat, we press on. We look straight ahead, not allowing our hearts to be sidetracked by the snares of the enemy, keeping our eyes fixed only on our Lord. I feel our Father saying emphatically to His children, "Straight ahead, children. Your dream is straight head!"
Pray this with me:
Dear
Father, please dust off the dreams You've given me in the past and breathe Your restoring breath of life into them. Fill me with Your faith to believe and trust in You to guide my future. I surrender my will to You and
I ask that You make me useful to Your kingdom. Love Your people through me and help me to be Your servant and Your child.
In Jesus' name, amen.
If the enemy has tried to make you feel foolish, remind
him that God's Word says that He will use the foolish things of this earth to shame and confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).
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NEW Book by Victoria Boyson