I realize we talked about vision just last week, today, I want to write about vision again. We are about to enter a New Year and I want ALL of US to have God’s vision for our New Year.
I believe in the world we live in there is often a lack of vision. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that ‘without a vision God’s people perish.’ This is a strong statement considering the many people who have no vision.
What is vision? While sight is a function of the eyes, vision comes from the heart. Our eyesight has limitations; however, vision is limitless. For those who have vision, that vision is more real to them than what they can see with their natural eyes.
Vision is defined as; to see, to perceive, to see in the ecstatic state, and something you imagine.
Imagination is vital to a believer. Faith in what we can ‘see’ with our spirit is vital to a believer. Per the definition of vision, we need to imagine, see with our heart, and our spirit, something exciting and ecstatic…something ONLY GOD can do.
It was vision that inspired the Wright brothers to build an airplane. It was vision that inspired Thomas Edison to discover light. It was vision that led Christopher Columbus to discover America. Nothing notable was ever done without first having a vision for it.
Let’s look again at Proverbs 29:18, ‘without a vision My people perish.’ The full meaning of this scripture would say ‘where there is no revelation of the future My people perish.’ Revelation of the future gives one hope; therefore, I can fully understand how if you have no future to look forward to, you could very possibly perish, not literally perhaps, but in your heart.
You see, revelation and vision are often used interchangeably in the scripture. As I have written before, you must have a revelation of a scripture before you can walk in the benefits of that word. Years ago, I worked for Norvel Hayes Ministry, Dr. Norvel taught me two very valuable lessons: One, worship God, first and foremost. Second, if you can see it, you can have it.
Both lessons remain in my spirit, I am a worshipper, I always have been. As for the second lesson, I knew that seeing the vision had everything to do with whether I would receive the promise. Therefore, if the Spirit of the Lord would tell me something that was going to happen, and I couldn’t see it with my spiritual eyes, I would meditate on what He had said until I could see it spiritually. I knew if I could see it spiritually, it was mine.
When God spoke to me to create a magazine, something I had never attempted before, I couldn’t see it with my spiritual eyes. I knew what the Bible said about a vision: ‘write the vision and make it plain.’ I knew I must write my vision and make it plain. Therefore, I purchased a stack of white copy paper. I made a mock copy of a magazine. Now, keep in mind, all I had was blank paper. I stapled it together just like a magazine, now I had a blank book or magazine. Then I began to find articles like what I wanted in the magazine and I pasted them on the blank sheets of paper.
I had the exact number of pages stapled together that I needed for a magazine, and I pasted articles and pictures until my magazine was filled. You see, I had done what the Bible instructed, I had written the vision and made it plain, now I could see it. Once I saw it, I knew I had it. And I did.
I have used this concept many times in my life, when God speaks to me about something, I will often make a sample or replica of it…it helps me SEE it.
Your life is not an experiment, in fact your life is a book that has already been written. You have a purpose to fulfill, a personal purpose that no one else can complete. It’s yours alone. God has taken His vision for your life and placed it within your heart.
Your vision is your future, your destiny, and it is not just ahead of you, it is within you. You must draw it out to the point that you can see it and when you can see it, you can have it.
To me, nothing is sadder than someone who has lost their vision and has no hope of the future. When you have lost your vision, you simply relive past disappointments over and over. You simply live day to day with no hope of a better tomorrow, we see this every day. A person without a vision can only see as far as their natural eyes, they only see their present circumstances. Oh, but a person with a vision! They can see farther than their natural eyes. They can see the plan of God for their lives.
And to a person with a vision, that vision becomes more real to them than what they can see with their natural eyes. They see their future before it happens, they get a mental picture of their destiny and nothing is more powerful than that, it is a truth, if you can see it, you can have it. There is no force on earth that can stop a person with a vision.
As I said earlier, your life is a book, already written. Your vision, your purpose is already ordained by God. It is not something that doesn’t exist, it was there all the time, it just hasn’t been unveiled yet. One of the greatest gifts God gave to man was not sight, but vision.
I remember a story I read about Walt Disney. Before he died, he was sitting looking out at a piece of land, one of his workers asked him what he was looking at. Walt Disney replied ‘I am looking at my mountain.’ In the natural, there was no mountain, only flat land, yet he sat there for hours looking at his mountain. So, the worker began to write what Walt was saying. After Walt Disney died and Space Mountain was built, when they dedicated it the speaker said that it was a pity that he never got to see it. Walt Disney’s wife stood up and corrected the speaker and said ‘Walt already saw this mountain; you are the ones who are seeing it for the first time.’
That is a great description of one with a vision. A vision is the most powerful force you can imagine, it makes you persistent, it makes you go after your future, your destiny. Nothing can stop a man with a vision.
The Bible tells us to ‘write the vision and make it plain.’ Even as I write this I know there are people out there who once had a vision, yet due to life’s disappointments, you have let that vision die. I have good news for you, it is not dead. If God gave you the vision, it is still full of life. Get it back out. Write it down. Make it plain. Put it before your eyes until you get a fresh revelation of it. Meditate on it until you ‘see’ it again. And know, if you see it, it is yours.
What is your vision? Is it a wonderful marriage? Write it down and make it plain. Is it a new home? Write it down. Is it a world-wide ministry? Write it down, make it plain. Is it a business that will financially build the Kingdom of God? Write it down, make it plain. There is great power in writing it down and keeping it before your eyes. Each time I have done that, my vision has been fulfilled and so will yours. My prayer for you today is that the vision of your heart will replace the limitations of your eyes.
