There is no limit to what God can do, and there are no barriers that can hold Him back. This is as true for the great forces of nature as it is true for the confines of your mind. We all struggle to keep our minds focused on God, but God has never taken His mind off you.
When our thoughts are not towards Him, we are only left with ourselves. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).
God can hear your thoughts, and He knows what is on your mind. The Lord can place thoughts into your mind and steer your heart just as He might steer a mighty river. The Lord is using every circumstance to shape you and every trial to make you into that saint He has ordained for you to become.
Don’t be bitter about the trial that God is using to shape you. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3 NKJV).
God can give you a dream and He can give you a vision. The Lord will often choose to meet us in dreams and visions where we are not strong enough to resist Him. He will sometimes come to us in a vision because we are not yet ready to see Him with our eyes.
When God gives you a dream, it is not for your entertainment. “Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way” (Matthew 2:12 NKJV).
Several years ago, I was traveling much for my work. I was commuting almost every week from Los Angeles to Boston. I would fly home each weekend to be with my family, only to turn around after one day at home and travel once again.
While back east, I would go each Tuesday night to a prayer session in Cambridge. Two especially anointed sisters ran this prayer session. We would have some incredible worship music for around an hour and then spend the rest of the night in prayer and sometimes prophesying over one another.
Some people spend a lifetime striving to become what God can do for them in a day. “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6 NKJV).
Some of the best messages I have ever heard came from these nights where never a sermon was preached. We certainly need our sermons, but how much we neglect our time of prayer and prophesying. If we met in prayer more, the Church would have a greater influence on the world.
Don’t let prayer be your last resort, but your first inclination. “You must pray at all times as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray. Pray for the things that are needed. You must watch and keep on praying. Remember to pray for all Christians” (Ephesians 6:18 NLV).
One of the greatest things that happened at these meetings is that I started to flow in seeing visions. When we would go into prayer, and as someone was sharing their heart, I would have a vision open before me as my eyes were closed in prayer. I would see some setting as clearly as if I were there. It was a snapshot vision, a point in time at a place I did not know.
You will not have heavenly visions with your eyes fixed on earth. Peter preached the realization of Joel’s prophecy come true, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:16-17 NKJV).
Sometimes when I would see something and tell others about it, the person who had been praying would instantly know what it means. Other times someone in the room would bring a word of interpretation. I think God uses two or more together that no one person would become prideful.
I would never recognize the things that I saw. It wasn’t like old memories from which we can draw upon. Rather it was someplace new, someplace I had never seen. And the clarity was always so real that it was as if I could reach out and touch it. God can show you anything, even with your eyes closed.
If God gave you a vision, you can be sure that He will make the way. “For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction” (Job 33:14-16 NKJV).
After having this sweet gift over a few years only at these prayer meetings, it has stayed with me now wherever I am. When I go into prayer, where I am closing my eyes, it will sometimes be as if I am stepping into somewhere new. It will be on a mountain covered with beautiful silky white flowers or stepping into a serene outdoor area with cobblestone, black iron gates, and flowing green plants.
There is more that God has for us than we have yet to take hold of. Child of God, whether you see anything or not when you close your eyes, the best place you can be in your life is in prayer with the Lord. When you’re content in Christ, it will be there you’re ready to receive more.
When your life is a prayer, the Lord will always be near you. “Make your life a prayer” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 TPT).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius
I know there is so much more to prayer, and I feel stagnant and distracted, but I must press on. This is encouraging. Thank you so much!
Hi Kristi, keep pressing on, you will never regret getting further along in your prayer life. Thank you for your kind words!