Open Your Eyes

The first habit that you need to practice is prayer. We get so busy that we overlook one of the most effective and joyous elements of God’s vision. I have taken prayer for granted in all areas of my life at one time or another and my spiritual life has suffered for it. Prayer has become my lifeline for existence in a world that offers no hope. When I am discouraged, when I falter, when I am excited, or when I am on top of the world I rely upon prayer to strengthen my life. When it comes to vision, prayer is a must. It cannot be ignored. And you shouldn’t pray out of obligation. You are praying because you want to know God, you want to be like Christ, and you want to live in the power of His Spirit. Prayer is critical to vision development. Why? Because we see what we are looking for, and often miss what we don’t expect to see. Prayer keeps us looking. It keeps our eyes and our hearts in the expectant mode. When God begins to move, we are only going to see it we are ready and watching. Even as we pray about and plan for the vision, it seems overwhelming and impossible. When God puts something on our hearts, it always seems out of reach (because it is). God ordained visions are always too big for us to handle.

It Doesn’t Hurt To Write It Down

Men, how many times has your wife given you a task that you needed to do and you didn’t write it down? Big mistake! Most people think they don’t need to write things down because they have a great memory or it isn’t that important in the first place. I have learned to write down things that are important; at least the things are that important to my wife.
I have had the opportunity to attend many conferences during my adult life, in both the business world and also as a pastor. At almost every conference I have attended dealing with vision, goals, etc…, one of the “keys” to knowing where you are going, is to write out your life/church vision or mission statement. In May of 2004, I attended Ken Davis’ Dynamic Communication Workshop in Colorado. While there, I met the Director of Operations for Chick-fil-A restaurants, Cheryl Dick. As we exchanged business cards, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chick-fil-A’s corporate purpose statement on their business cards, it starts off with “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” To say the least, that totally impressed me about this company. It wasn’t the fact that they had a purpose statement printed on their business cards, but that it started with the phrase “to glorify God.” That statement clearly identifies their purpose, “to glorify God” and their vision, “to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
That should be the first step in anything that a follower of Christ does, to give glory to God. That is what God’s vision is about, His glory.

Research But Don’t Overkill

There is the mindset that before you do anything, whether in the workplace or in ministry that you must research, research, research. There is a time to get all the facts you need before you make a decision, but too much research and fact-finding can lead to endless research and fact-finding, if you know what I mean. When it comes to this step of finding out what God’s vision is for you, act upon it alone. You are praying, writing it down and now you are going to go beyond the one sentence vision statement and ‘put legs on it.” The vision statement is what God wants you to do. What you are going to do next is work on the reasons that are necessary for the vision to begin to take shape. Earlier, I mentioned not to get caught up in the “how” of God will bring about the vision, avoid trying to make it happen and leave that to God.

You are not only measured by what you do but also by what you don’t do. Vision is not only who you hangout with. It’s also who you do not hangout with. If you are not regularly eliminating things from your life, then your life will be too cluttered. As a mom, as a dad, as a husband, as a wife, as a business owner, as a teacher, as a coach, as a player, or as a student you need to eliminate things from your life. Your life is too busy. It’s two wheels off if you are always gathering stuff and adding stuff but never eliminating. Great leaders are great eliminators.

The Biggest Step

Make sure to get your ducks in a row just as Nehemiah did, then take the step of faith that God has been calling you to do. It will be the most frightening of all the steps, but it will also be the most exciting step of faith you take, other than your decision to accept Christ. The Creator of the universe has called you to work alongside of Him to carry out His vision for this world. How cool is that? You may have been discouraged about the impact that you have made in this world for the time that you have been here. Now, it is time for you to exchange your dream for the vision of God. Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making a difference. Dreamers think about how nice it would be for something to be done. Visionaries look for an opportunity to do something.

You may have already taken this step and are well on your way to changing your world for God. If you have, then you have taken several steps since that first one and have found that many of those steps since are not any easier. You just look at them now with much more anticipation of what God will do next in this great adventure. You have learned how to take these steps knowing that God is faithful to you when you are faithful to Him.
Very possibly, you are at the starting gate waiting to take this first step that I have previously mentioned in this study. God leads not pushes. He will very clearly mark the path that you should take and light the dark trail you travel. The first step is always the hardest, the longest, and the scariest, at least in our minds. Satan doesn’t want you to take that first step, because if you do, it means there is another follower of Christ who has decided to start living the Christian life. Then he must contend with another Christ follower and that frightens him.