HOW TO KEEP YOUR DREAMS ALIVE

We all know the story of Joseph, the 11th son in a family that had seen four mothers. He could have easily been overlooked in such a large family, but the difference was that Joseph had a God-given dream. And from that moment, his life was changed.

A vision sets the direction for your life and gives you hope through difficult times. The challenge is to know which vision, or idea, is truly from God. When God gives a vision it does not come only through dreams in the night, as with Joseph, but through the "still small voice" in your heart, through premonition, or visual images. It will become a compulsive motivation and have a long-term scope. He will give you a strong desire to bring it to reality, even if you cannot see how you will achieve it. And it will be satisfying as it invests in the future and can be held up against Scripture for verification of God's purposes.

You, too, can fulfill your God-given vision:

Perceive.
To perceive means to see and understand beyond the surface meaning of a thing. You may look at a thing but not perceive its meaning unless God allows you to. If you want to keep your God-given vision alive, you must know how to perceive it, even when you do not see the physical manifestation. It takes the eye of faith to see the end result before getting to the end. (E.g. God looked at a shepherd boy (David) and He saw a king.)

Believe.
There are times you will come in contact with people who do not believe in your visions and dreams; and some will express disapproval, or try to frustrate your dreams. You must realize that the enemy will attack anything you are doing that would result in the building of the Kingdom of God. Belief will make you operate in the dimension in which God operates, because He called the world into being by faith, and only faith pleases him.

Conceive.
Spiritual conception is our way of carrying within us the vision and dream God has put in us and seeing it come to pass - just like a baby is conceived and finally birthed. If you have perceived what God wants you to do, and you believe in it, it is important to carry the vision and guide it, and not allow it to be aborted. Christians have the ability to conceive things that have never been seen or heard of. God has a greater dream than you could have for yourself, greater than the world could ever conceive.

Achieve.
This is another way of saying work. God worked and He created you to work. He wants us to work in order to achieve His purposes. You must continually examine your life against God's vision and not be distracted into what is not part of His plan. Work will reveal your true potential.

Receive.
Like Peter, who encountered the power of the Lord Jesus to turn his meaningless life into one full of visions and dreams, your life has the same potential when you open it to Jesus. Follow God's leading: it may be round about, but it will never be wrong. One day you will find that your life has turned around; what seemed impossible is now reality. Establish in your heart that the perception of a dream may not mean easy fulfillment, but it will come - perhaps even today.

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