From The Vision To The Valley To Victory

But somewhere along the way of pursuing the fulfillment of the dream, you fall into the dry valley and experience total defeat and discouragement.

I feel so strongly that this is a message for today and one the enemy does not want shared. This word encompasses the keys to help you make it through today's headlines of financial upheaval in our nation's economy so you can fight your famine. Even as I type, my wireless keyboard stops working.

The little techy squirm bug of the devil is not going to stop this message of hope and victory . So I plug in my USB keyboard and continue!

So here's the scenario. See if you can relate.

You get a vision, an idea, a clear picture of what you know you are assigned to carry out. This vision has your passion coupled together with your God given gifts and anointing. It might be your music, your preaching, your ministry....You know the end result is people's lives being powerfully impacted and changed. You also realize part of the picture involves your own growth in prosperity. Prosperity as defined by:

"...the aptitude to use God's ability and power to meet the needs of mankind-regardless of what those needs may be." (Dr. Jeffrey Burell, Kilough Church By The Lake)

If you are providing a service (ie ministry) or a product (could be your music cd) or information (the Word!) of value, which someone needs, you will be rewarded financial. That's a basic marketing principle.

If you are planting seeds in other people and ministries at the same time in the pursuit of your dream, you will reap a harvest. That's a basic Biblical principle!

But somewhere along the path from the vision you fall flat into the valley of dry bones, a place of famine.

Your finances might be dead, your marriage may be crumbling, your kids in a state of rebellion, or you just heard the bad report from the doctor.

What are the keys to go through the valley of famine to the place of victory in walking out this divine destiny?

Some clues can be found in Ezekiel 37.

In verse one we read how Ezekiel was "set down in the midst of the valley" that contained dry bones. It was a picture of total devastation and death.

In verse 4, God commands Ezekiel to prophesy the Word, to speak life. Part of the definition of prophesying is to speak! From the following verses in Ezekiel we find the keys to unlock the door so you can fight your famine.

The Three Keys Through The Valley To Victory

• Obedience To God's Word

Notice Ezekiel obeyed this command to speak to the dry bones. He didn't whine or ask questions. I can imagine a picture of an exchange that could have taken place:

"Lord! Don't you see these dry dead bones? This is an impossible situation"

"I can't! I don't have the ability to do that. I'm not 'called' to speak to dry bones."

"You want me to do what?"

Any of these phrases sound familiar? I've been there...said that...at one time or another in the past.

Notice though, what happens when Ezekiel obeys and speaks, prophesies, to the bones:

The bones started to rattle, it gets noisy and the bones were put back together.

Obedience brought about a change. Obedience to the Word of God to speak life activated a higher level of God's Spirit into the place of death, desolation and famine, and things were shook up for the better.

If it's noisy in your life right now with discouraging circumstances, desperate feelings, but you are obeying God......

Take heart. Your breakthrough is coming!

• Speak the Word By Faith To Fight Your famine

This is not some name it and claim it mumble jumble. This is one of the most powerful principles of God! It is a pivotal key to your vision. Ezekiel spoke the Word to those dry places. He spoke life and the skeletons went from petrified lifeless bone beings to living flesh and blood! So, find scripture that matches your need in the valley and speak! You may have to tell your checkbook: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree..."

Or tell your body, "I am healed by the stripes of Jesus....."

You might feel awkward at first. You may feel stupid. But as Joyce Meyer has said, "Better to feel stupid than be stupid".

For every place of famine, find Scripture that speaks the truth. Call those things that are not as though they were, as it says in Romans 4:17. Spoken words can carry God's anointing and power to break the chains of poverty, to literally heal your body, and to put into action the promises of God's Word into this natural realm, to bring you out and through the valley to victory!

• Remain In Faith

We know from Scripture that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The Word is the source of the power to cause what it says to come to pass.

Kenneth Hagen once said, " "Faith begins where the will of God is known." You know God's will by His Word, the Bible. If you keep your faith in God's Word, and use it as God intended for you to use it,then the Word will begin the process of bringing you out of the valley.

Remain in faith means staying in church where the Word is preached, stay in connection to God's principles of sowing, andstay in motion walking out what you profess. Jentezen Franklin, an anointed preacher from North Georgia, says you fight your famine by getting back to the Father's house. "God blesses where His reputation is safe," Franklin states.

Like the prodigal son you may have to return to your Father's house. Return from the cesspool of the flesh, of the world's ways,to the fatted calf of provision and robes of glory found in God's path.

Finally, as you go from that vision to the valley, something amazing can happens. God uses the fire of your trials to purify you. Your flesh, doing things in your own strength, gets pruned. Parts of the "old you die, and the new anointed you rises up.

You experience a "suddenly," as in Ezekiel 37:7, where your circumstances start to turn around. You know then that yourjourney from the vision down to the valley is coming up to victory! You go through the famine and come out more blessed.You go from dry empty bones to life full of joy.

God's victory for you amidst the fulfillment of your vision maybe coming as an opportunity, an invitation,a new strategy, or a previously unknown or unidentified association. Remain obedient to His principles, keep speaking the Word in faith, and watch expectantly for the ways which God may choose to deliver the victory to you in His due season.

It may be today!

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