In the Old Testament Joseph had a vision that he was going to be a great man and do things well beyond his current situation.

When he had this dream from God, he was the runt of the family, but he knew that one day he was going to become top dog.

Getting God's vision for your life deep in your heart is important because it helps you stay the course even when you run into road blocks.

Vision Keeps Going
Joseph had a vision and it kept him going for twenty years. His brothers lied about him, hated him, despised him, and almost killed him. (Gen. 37) He was sent to prison as an innocent man (Gen. 39) and forgotten by those he helped out (Gen. 40).

Through all that, his vision took him onward and upward. He didn't sit in his jail cell feeling sorry for himself, in fact, he did the opposite by stewarding what he was given.

The Bible says, "And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it." (Gen. 39:22 KJV)

It's as though Joseph was saying, "God gave me a vision and I don't care what you do to me. I'm going where God said I'm going."  He didn't throw a fit and curse those who did him wrong.
Why? Because God had given him a vision and he knew nobody could stop him from fulfilling God's plan for his life.

That's what kept Paul going when his boat was sinking. God sent an angel to remind Paul, "The boat you're on is going down, but you won't die. I told you before and I just want to remind you again. You won't die until you do everything I said you're going to do. You're going to preach to the Gentiles. You are going to preach in front of kings." (See Acts 27:23-25)

Vision led Joseph, vision led Paul and vision will lead you and your children. People with a vision can take failure, because they know they're not through until the vision is completed. They can get back up and start moving forward again because they know where they are headed.

A Vision Changes Everything
When Paul was on the road to Damascus he got knocked off his horse and a very interesting thing happened: his eyes were blinded. He had a vision, not with his natural eyes, but with his spiritual eyes. He was blind, but he saw something nobody else saw and it changed his life. (See Acts 9:1-9)

Even without natural eyesight you can still see. Your spirit can see. That's why God said, "If you don't see spiritually, you're going to perish." (See Prov. 28:18)

The enemy will try to throw natural things at you to shut you down, distract you and make you give up. But if you can see with your spiritual eyes, you can see the truth. The truth is that God said with Him all things are possible, that we are over-comers in Christ Jesus, that we have been gifted and called for a purpose.

Seeing It In Your Heart
If you can't see it with your heart, you can't possess it. You can only have what you can see.

So how do you see yourself five years from now? Do you see yourself stronger or weaker? Has the enemy put a vision before you that you're never going to change? If so, then stop and consider that you're looking at life with natural eyes instead of spiritual eyes.

There's little in the natural to make you think things would change for the better. The enemy is going to throw circumstances at you. He's going to buffet you with the tests and trials of life.

Jesus said these would come to every one of us. (Luke 6:46) If you don't have spiritual insight, your natural eyesight will depress you and you'll give up and pull back. God says, "I have no pleasure in those who pull back." (See Heb. 10:38)

I'm doing what I'm today because I saw myself here. I didn't see it in the natural, but I knew it was coming. God showed my wife and I back in 1975 that one day we were going to travel and work with families. I used to get F's in oral book reports and growing up I ran to the house when I heard a plane, but today what I do is fly and speak in public. If I had focused on the problem I wouldn't have moved forward with the vision God had given me.

I could see it and I began to act upon it until finally I was living it.

God can do anything with us if we will just open our spiritual eyes, see what He sees and do what He tells us to do.

We're on a journey that just keeps getting better and better. We're going from faith to faith and from glory to glory. (Prov. 4:18 AMP)