Faith For Tomorrow… And For Purity As Well…
Last night I drove home a girl who grew up in the children’s home before graduating from high school early last year and moving out on her own. She lives in a small one room about a 25 minute drive from the home. She is working part time making about $4 an hour while studying at a community college. She got a boyfriend a few months ago and he recently left to serve his two years in military service. She isn’t sure what to do with her life. Very little money, not enough education, and little vision. She attends church, but there is little depth to her current relationship with God.
On the other hand, God has given me many prophetic words, dreams, and stirrings in my Spirit for the future. I feel strongly that eventually I will be in North Korea doing work in the nation building children homes, churches, and other things. It’s something that, in the natural, seems absolutely impossible. But with so many prophetic words and dreams from different people and God also speaking directly to my heart, it actually seems to me more impossible for it to not happen. In fact, a friend of mine, while praying for this same girl a year ago, had a vision of her before even meeting her and in the vision the girl was serving in a children’s home taking care of babies and little ones. My friend told me the vision seemed far off, as in it would be in the future. The vision resonated with me in that already many people have shared of visions/dreams/stirrings in their spirit that my kids will be joining me in the work in NK. I’ve felt that in my spirit as well. So as I talked with her last night I found myself smiling as I felt confident about her future and excited to see how God is going to make everything happen.
Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
There is a confidence within me as a result of the words, dreams, and stirrings I’ve received that enable me to press on in the orphanage work and to continue to pray into North Korea. Without those words, dreams, and stirrings I would have given up a long time ago. Without those words I would have little hope for my kids.
And the same thing goes for purity. One of the greatest reasons to live a life of sexual purity is to honor your future spouse. For those who don’t believe they will ever meet the right person or who simply don’t see the value in honor, it can be nearly impossible to not give in to temptation. But for those who have the faith (the vision!) that their future husband or wife is out there, they are able to deny the temptations with the mindset of wanting to honor that special person they will soon meet. Without the vision, things can seem aimless and even hopeless. But with the vision comes the strength, the joy, and the expectancy to persevere.
Seek the Lord for vision and faith for your future. And do the same for your future spouse and for your purity. And be blessed! 
Shortly after 9/11 (2001) I was in a group discussion about the death penalty. One girl shared that according to her moral code no one should take the life of another. She was staunchly against the death penalty. She was then asked how she feels about Osama Bin Laden. Her response was firm and without remorse, “He should die.” While the emotions of 9/11 were still a bit hot, it was still a little amusing to see how quickly she contradicted herself. This is why God is the ultimate judge and not us… we can’t help but allow emotion to compromise our values at times. 
