Thoughts and Your Visions


The dreamers are the saviors of the world. The visible world is sustained by the invisible world.   Men, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers.  It cannot let their ideals fade and die. It lives in them. 

Without dreams or visions, life can grow stale.  For the seen world was created out of that which is unseen.  Visions and dreams from the unseen world sustain progress.  "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).  Peter tells us in Acts 2:17 and 19 when God's Spirit is poured out, "'… it shall be in the last days’, God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind; …and your young men will see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.” 

Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage…these are the artists of our ideals, the architects of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived.

He who holds a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Columbus held a vision of another world, and he discovered it.  Scientists held onto visions of tiny microbes, and they were discovered.  Astronomers held a vision of other worlds.  They have been visited.    Abraham held on to the vision of him being the father of many nations, and he was.  

Cherish your visions and ideals; cherish the music that stirs your heart, and the beauty you see in your mind, and the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts.  Out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environments.  If you remain true to your visions and ideals, your world will be built. 

Think about it.  Every idea, every piece of music, every math equation, every scientific theory has already been created by God.  They are all accessible as you tune in to the Holy Spirit and receive visions, dreams, and ideas from Him.  As you act upon those, creations will come forth that will bless many.  

What you truly desire, you will attain.  What you truly aspire to, you will achieve. Shall man‘s lowest and most fleshly desires receive a full measure of gratification, while his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance?  No.  This is the law.  "Ask and receive." 1 John 5:14 tells us, “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  Man’s basest desires will not receive the fullest measure of gratification.  Jesus Himself said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). 

This is the key to asking and receiving.  Asking and receiving must be based on being united with Jesus.  Jesus also told us, "…for apart from me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5).  Base desires and lofty dreams don't coexist.  You can't focus on base desires yet have your lofty dreams manifest.  First, you'll gravitate to that which you focus on.  This is true whether it's your base desires, also known as fleshly desires.  So you can’t host those kinds of desires with lofty dreams and expect lofty dreams to manifest.  At best, you’ll drift back and forth between the two.  “That man should not think he’ll receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:7). 

Dream lofty dreams. As you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall be one day.  Your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall unveil.

What dreams do you hold?  What visions for your life do you see?  You can have visions and dreams from God, from demonic sources or, out of your wounds.  But each of these, if left unchecked, is a promise to you of what you will be.

Let your visions and dreams be rooted in God.  Out of those visions and dreams, you will achieve your highest ideal.  Your ideal, as James Allen says, “is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil”. 

The greatest achievement began as a dream.  The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

Your circumstances may be discouraging, but they won’t remain for long. If you perceive an excellent goal strive to reach it, your circumstances will change for the better.  You cannot travel within and stand still without. .  This is the whole meaning of Proverbs 23:7. “For as he thinks within himself so he is.  You can’t think one thing or dwell on one thing and become something else.

Remember, that which you dwell on enlarges.  It becomes bigger and bigger until it encompasses your life.  You then take action toward that which you dwell upon.  This will happen whether you travel within toward fleshly desires or spiritual desires.

Imagine a young man enslaved in poverty, working long hours in unhealthy conditions, uneducated and lacking all the arts of refinement. In his mind dreams of better things.  He focuses on intelligence, refinement, grace and beauty.  He envisions what would be his ideal life.  He envisions greater freedom and thinking big possesses him.  Dissatisfaction urges him to take action.  He utilizes all his spare time and money to the development of his latent powers and resources. 

Very soon he will have altered his mind to the degree, that the workshop is too small for him.  The workshop has become so out of harmony with his thinking, that is drops out of his life, like one would take off a garment.  With his larger thinking come opportunities that fit his expanded mentality.  He then leaves the workshop forever.

Years later the young man has grown up.  He has mastered certain forces of his mind.  This has resulted in him having worldwide influence and power.  In his hands he holds the cords of gigantic responsibilities.  He speaks and lives are changed.  Men and women hang upon his words.  Their lives being changed for the better having been around this man.  He has realized the vision of his youth. He has become one with his Ideal.

This is the essence of Colossians 3:2 and Romans 12:2.  “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are of the earth: (Colossians 3:2).  This is your first decision.  Where are you going to keep your focus?  This will greatly determine of your destiny.  Your focus will determine what pattern you’ll follow.  The pattern of base desires or the pattern of Godly desires? “And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). 

Your focus will transform you into what you are focusing upon.  Always remember.  What you focus on will expand.  What you focus on you will strive for.  What you focus on you will become  

And you, too, will realize the vision (not the idle wish) of your heart.  It doesn’t matter if it’s depraved or beautiful, or a mixture of both.   You will always drift toward that which you, secretly, most love. This is what Jesus was speaking of when He said, “…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).  You will always gravitate toward your treasure. 

The exact results of your thoughts will be placed in your hands. You will be given what you focus on.  Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your vision, and your desire. You will become as small as your controlling desire. You will be as great as your dominant ambition.  You may find yourself laboring as an accountant behind your desk.  You saw the door as a barrier to something greater.  But suddenly, you’ll find yourself in front of an audience, inspiring thousands, as the thoughts of spreadsheets have barely left your mind.  

You may be caring for the farm, and you shall wander to the city, in awe and open-mouthed. You will then enter under the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to teach you.‘ Now you have become the master, who had dreamed of great things while farming.

This is the ultimate call of all those who have a relationship with Christ.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:25, "It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant like his master".  As we spend more and more time with Jesus, we'll become more and more like Him.

Unlike what James Allen stated about earthly masters, the beautiful thing is Jesus always wants to teach us more, so that we continue to grow.  Then as we become more like our Master Jesus, we’ll be following Him and doing things He did (John 14:12). 

You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the world." Just as Jesus laid down His carpentry tools, Elisha his plow and Peter his fishing nets, so you will lay down your current activity to fulfill God’s destiny for you. You too will become “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).

The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the lazy, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, fortune, and chance. When they see a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky he is!" When they observe another becoming intellectual, they exclaim, "How highly favored he is!" Finally, when they notice the wide influence of another, they remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!" They do not see failures and struggles which these men have gone through to gain their experience.  They don't understand the sacrifices they’ve made. They don’t see all of the effort they’ve put forth, the faith they have exercised, so they could overcome the insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart.

There is nothing of worth attained without sacrifice. Pursuing your destiny in Christ is surely no different.  Jesus told us, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Luke 9:23).  The life of destiny is one of sacrifice.  You must deny yourself any selfish, lazy, or aimless thoughts.  Denying yourself will enable you to truly find yourself.  As you are rooted in Christ.  

Most people don’t know the darkness and the heartaches.  They only see joyful results and call it "luck". They don’t see the long road travelled to success.  They only see the result and call it “good fortune”.  They don’t understand the process, but only see the result, and call it chance.

In all human affairs, there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not factor.  For you reap what you sow. The extent of the effort you give, you will reap the same measure of reward or as James Allen put it, fruit. 

We are told this in James 2:26.  ”For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead”.  For any success toward your destiny, you must pursue with faith.  You must seek God’s favor and timing.  But, you must put forth corresponding effort toward the result you desire. 

King Solomon sums it up for us in Proverbs 6:6-8.  “Go to the ant you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its’ provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruit of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized. 

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart—this you will build your life by, this you will become.


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