The Power Of A Vision
Psalms 32:8 – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”
What Is A Vision?
A vision for a project or an organization is normally formed by a visionary in response to an existing or anticipated need that the visionary (or visionaries) are moved to meet.
God’s Vision is About Transformation
For example, if we look at Mother Teresa’s life, she never set out searching for fame; fame found her! In 1928 at only 18 years old, Mother Teresa of Albanian-Indian descent left her own city of Skopje, (now in Macedonia), and went to India as a Roman Catholic nun. She found a need and was given a vision as a missionary that no one else was meeting. She heard the call of God, allowed her heart to be consumed by it, and then went on to minister to multitudes of the world’s most neglected and forgotten people in the slums of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa Was Compelled By Compassion
She stated, “As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” Small of stature but rock-like in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God’s unquenchable love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. “God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor.” She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him, and burning with one desire: “to quench His thirst for love and for souls.”
Gain A Different Perspective – God’s Perspective!
One of her most famous slogans was, “A life not lived for others is not a life at all.” As we’ve all experienced, it seems like much of what we do each day doesn’t seem to matter. It’s not until we are inspired to see it as part of a far larger picture, that’s when we begin to gain God’s perspective. It’s through His eyes that those mundane things create within us an ordained vision. Then as we go and stir that up with a kingdom mindset, suddenly the ordinary takes on an urgency, a purpose, and a sense of worth. We begin to respond in our spirits, and we find an increase of adrenaline and an untold joy that comes from knowing we are moving purposefully towards fulfilling our larger kingdom destiny.
A Vision Creates Purpose
As it says in Proverbs 29:18, “where there is no vision, the people will perish.” Having a vision makes all the difference. For example, let’s say there is a flood threat. Are you just filling bags with sand to fill bags? Or, are you filling bags with sand to build a protective wall to save a building, a neighborhood, or even a whole town? There’s nothing glamorous about filling sandbags. It’s the vision behind it that connects your life to the larger purposes of God.
Building a wall gives meaning and a purpose to the drudgery of shoveling dirt into sandbags. Just look at Nehemiah who was given a vision by God to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem (in Nehemiah chapters 1-7). Hundreds of men caught the vision and rebuilt the city walls in 52 days!
Fulfilling A Vision Takes Time & Passion
Sometimes fulfilling a vision can bring adversity and feel like we are trudging through the mud just to build a foundation. It can feel like we are getting nowhere. But take those same routines and choose to view them through the lens of a God-given purpose, and suddenly everything looks quite different.
If You Don’t Have a Vision….. Ask
A vision brings your world into focus. It brings order and purpose out of chaos. It enables you to see everything in a fresh light. And the good news is that God is the giver of vision—so today, ask Him for one!