I have been spending much time praying about God’s next steps for my life. I have come to understand that in order to walk effectively I must hear effectively. If I move out before I hear God speak I can get into all kinds of trouble.

One night I had a vision that reminded me of when I was a child and I would sneak through backyards of houses in order to move more quickly to the streets that lay beyond. Doing this meant that we got to where we wanted to go more quickly, but it was also risky because you could get into trouble if you got caught on private property.

In this dream I saw myself doing this. I was in one backyard ready to jump the fence into the next backyard, which was on the street that I wanted to get to. I safely made my way through the first yard and over the fence, but when I got into the next yard a Doberman Pinscher was coming out the back door of that house.

Not wanting to deal with this animal I jumped back over the fence into the previous yard, but when I did the owners of that house saw me, so I started to run.

I got to the front of the house and the lady of the house was outside bringing the garbage out or checking something in her car. I ran past her and she just looked at me and kept going. She wasn’t that concerned about my presence, but I was pretty traumatized by the ordeal at this point and glad to be back in the other street.

It might seem like a good idea to take short cuts, but the problem with that is that you don’t know if that is the legal route that God wants you to take. The truth is that you may be walking into another person’s territory by trying to cheat time. By staying on the course that God wants you to take you will get to where he wants you to go in the time that he wants you to get there.

In those places outside of God’s will there are dangers that you will face. Because you are not in legal territory – territory defined for you by God – you might encounter the devil and his henchmen. You may encounter darkness and evil in your life. The best course is God’s course – the straight and narrow way.

I know just as well as anybody the desire to get ahead quickly, and I have the ability to do it, but is this what God wants of me? Yes, I could start out on my own and probably make a good go of it, but if God is not in it then why would I want to be there. The truth is the reason that I want to be somewhere else is due to ungodly emotions that I must be healed from.

Some questions that I ask myself when I am trying to take short cuts are:

What is it God that you want to deal with inside of me so that I might stay in the centre of your will?

Why do I want to move before your time?

Why do I think my timing is better than your timing?

The answers to these questions will bring healing to your life and bring you back into alignment with what God has for your destiny. If you are in alignment then be thankful and pray for those of us that aren’t. Please pray for me and ask God to heal me so that I might walk more fully in him at all times.