From Whose Vision Are You Living Your Life?
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
What Is Your Vision?
Where do you envision yourself in the future? When you imagine older you, who do you see? What do you do? How does God’s light shine through you? What kind of example will you have been for your children? When you’re on your deathbed, who will you be?
Have you ever thought about any of those questions? Sometimes life fools us into thinking we have forever to fulfill our potential. The younger we are, the more we underestimate the value of time. But it’s how we spend our time that determines where we end up. It’s interesting to note that people who have not received a word from God (prophetic vision) cast off restraint. They don’t control their current actions because they lack vision for the future. Conversely, those who keep God’s word bear the fruit of self-control.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Do you bear the fruit of an intimate relationship with God? Are you disciplined enough to restrain your current desires for your future benefit? Where are your beliefs and behavior taking you?
You can’t control everything in life, but you have a bigger hand in your destiny than you may realize. Believe it or not, you’re living your life from the standpoint of some word/belief system. Maybe you’re convinced you’re a failure who will never achieve greatness. Perhaps you trusted the people who claim you can’t escape your past. But hopefully you believe the Word of God that says you’re more than a conqueror. When you trust God’s vision for you, you’re able to walk in it!
No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God has a plan for you. But He won’t throw flashing arrows down from Heaven at every turn of life. And you won’t get a spanking with every wrong decision. In fact, obedience carries an inherent blessing, and disobedience is naturally ridden with curses. It’s kind of like running a red light. You know that if you run it, you could get a ticket or, even worse, cause an accident. If you run the light, there are consequences. It won’t be the police officer’s fault if you get a ticket. It’ll be yours. A person who doesn’t consider those consequences won’t care about keeping the laws that are in place to avoid them. Their lack of forethought will cause them to act without restraint.
How Do You Create A Vision?
The question then becomes how do you develop your vision. Of course, there are plenty of visions that don’t involve God. However, I 100% believe that God’s purpose for every one of us exceeds anything we can accomplish on our own. So, I believe the first step to developing your life’s vision is to allow God to renew your mind.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Only with a renewed mind can we understand God’s will for us. You can’t see yourself where God wants you to be without an understanding of His love for you. Romans 8:7 says that our natural minds are hostile towards God. How can you achieve God’s plan for your life with a mind that wars against Him? You can’t. In fact, you can’t even wrap your head around His plans without a renewed mind. Hot soup is to cold ice cream as your natural mind is to a renewed one. They’re complete opposites. Only a God-backed transformation will allow you to understand God’s plan for you.
A change in mindset is directly related to changing your life. Your reality eventually lines up with how you think about yourself. That’s why our scripture today reigns so true: where there isn’t a vision, there won’t be restraint. Someone who doesn’t see themself going anywhere will inevitably lack the discipline to get anywhere. Consider this scenario: two different people are on separate road trips. One has an important business meeting in the next state over. She likely won’t waste time getting to her destination. The other woman doesn’t even know where she’s going. She is traveling simply for the sake of traveling. Who do you think is more likely to meander along the way?
Once your mind is renewed, it’s time to carve out your vision. To do that, you’ll need to analyze your passions. If you’ve completed my purpose journal “Unearthing Purpose: The 15-Day Journal that Exposes Your Potential”, you know that I strongly recommend analyzing your passions. What do you really love doing? Which skills seem to come naturally to you? What problems in this world upset you the most?
Analyzing your passions and strengths will help you find the connection between them. I’ll give you a quick example. I’ve always helped people. Whether it be working to help my family in high school, helping friends with homework, or being the one that people come to for advice – opportunities to help have always fallen into my lap. I’ve also always loved to express myself through writing and have never been too horrible at it. And an issue that has always bothered me is people not reaching their potential – even when I couldn’t readily identify it. I’ve since discovered that helping people reach their goals and identify their purpose is a part of mine. Making connections between your passions and strengths gives you a good starting point for developing your personal vision.
Write It Down
Once you’ve laid that groundwork, you’ll want to get specific about how you see yourself in the future. Leave out the nitty-gritty details, but have a clear idea of what you want to do and who you want to be. Once you’re clear on your vision, make it official. Write it down.
And the Lord answered me, and said, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it”.
The Lord told Habakkuk to write the vision down and make it plain. According to an Inc. article, you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.
Don’t just dream and talk about your vision. Write it down and tape it somewhere you’ll see it often. You might write it on a sticky note and tape it to your bedroom wall, a mirror, or the steering wheel of your car. Whatever you do, keep it in front of you. Don’t let it be something that you write and forget about.
As you write your vision, be sure to make it plain. How can you go somewhere when you aren’t clear about the ideal destination? How can others partner with you in your vision when you aren’t sure what it is? You can’t and they can’t. God told Habakkuk to make the vision plain so that when the right person reads it, he can run with it. God has divine partnerships in the works for you. Whether it be marriage, business partners, godly friendships, or partners in ministry – you will not fulfill God’s plan for you alone. If you don’t have those people in your life right now, don’t worry. You may still be in the stage or season where you complete most of your work alone. You may not have even started working toward your goals yet. That’s okay. Start now. Take the step in front of you right now with what you already have available. Do what you can and God will do the rest.
Your today has the biggest impact on your tomorrow. A clearly defined vision helps you maintain the discipline to control your actions and emotions. But first, you have to let God renew your mind so your vision can line up with your purpose. Once you know you have the right destination in mind, get clear on your vision and write it down. Figure out the first step and go. You can achieve greatness, you just have to find the path there.
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