Today I want to help you establish a vision for your life for the new year. If you don’t take time to visualize where you want to go, you’ll get caught up in everyday life and end up in the same place you’ve always been. But God has great things for you to accomplish.
This is going to be fun for some, and challenging for most of you. Taking time to establish vision for your life is not something that comes easily. There’s a lot of resistance.
First of all, it’s not something you normally do, and new things are uncomfortable. Secondly, Satan is on mission to kill your vision because he knows without vision, you’ll go nowhere.
But when you combine your vision with your trust in God, you will accomplish everything you set out to do, and more.
Ephesians 3:20 NLT - Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
So today, we are going to take time to think through the vision for our lives so that God can take it and accomplish infinitely more. That’s what the paper in your seat is for.
I am going to give you time today to work on writing your vision. But first, let me help you overcome some of the obstacles that might be hindering you.
James 4:13-15 NLT - Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
Now, is everyone motivated to set some goals for your future?
I had to take you here because people will use scriptures like this as an excuse not to have vision for their life. They’ll read this, tap out, and say, “I’m just going with the flow.”
But that mindset doesn’t agree with the full counsel of God’s Word. So we need to look at more scripture to find out what James is talking about here. Let’s start with the very next verse:
James 4:13-15 NLT - What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
In other words, James isn’t saying that you shouldn’t have a plan. What he’s saying is, God should be directing your plan.
Proverbs brings us clarity on this:
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
If you do this by yourself, you’ll end up on the wrong path. But if you do this with God, He will show you which path to take.
Isn’t that awesome? You don’t have to wonder if you’re on the right path. Simply seek God’s will in everything you do and God, the creator of the universe, your heavenly Father, will show you which path to take.
If you have your Bible with you, open to Proverbs 16. The first nine verses offer an in-depth explanation of what we are talking about today. So let’s take a look at Proverbs chapter 16.
Proverbs 16:1-9 NLT - We can make our own plans,but the Lord gives the right answer.People may be pure in their own eyes,but the Lord examines their motives.Commit your actions to the Lord,and your plans will succeed.The Lord has made everything for his own purposes,even the wicked for a day of disaster.The Lord detests the proud;they will surely be punished.Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin.By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil.When people’s lives please the Lord,even their enemies are at peace with them.Better to have little, with godliness,than to be rich and dishonest.We can make our plans,but the Lord determines our steps.
Let’s take a look at a couple of these verses again in a different translation.
Proverbs 16:3 TPT - Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.
Who is making the plans here? You are. This is going to challenge some of you because you’ve always thought that God is going to do all of this for you.
Nope. He’s not going to do it for you. God wants you to make the plan. He wants you to establish a vision for your life. He wants you to decide where you want to go and what you want to accomplish.
But, do not dare make a plan if you have not first learned how to trust God with your life.
A few weeks ago, we talked about how God wants us to trust Him with our financial needs so we can focus on multiplying what we have. Just like you cannot live in God’s promise of wealth without trusting Him, you cannot fulfill your vision without trusting Him.
Trust in God is required for your plans to succeed.
Now, skip down to verse nine:
Proverbs 16:9 TPT - Within your heart you can make plans for your future, but the Lord chooses the steps you take to get there.
Is this verse telling us not to make plans for our future? No. Sure, you can bend it to justify your hesitation to get out of your comfort zone, but it’s a misuse of scripture.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s look at it again with fresh eyes because this scripture is extremely clarifying on how all of this works.
Proverbs 16:9 TPT - Within your heart you can make plans for your future, but the Lord chooses the steps you take to get there.
In other words, we are to have vision for our lives in our heart. It should be so a part of us that where we are going is just as real to us as where we are.
But, although we decide where we are going, it is the Lord who designs the path to that destination.
This is so cool. God wants us to use the creativity He gave us to create vision for our future. Then, He wants us to trust Him to show us each step we need to take to get there.
Beth was telling me last night that she likes to do the opposite. She wants God to decide the destination so that she can choose the steps to get there. I think we’ve all done that. And it doesn’t work.
So, go ahead. Dream for your future. And dream big because now you know the creator of the universe is going to show you every step you need to take to get there.
Before we work on writing our vision, I want to tell you about a vision of mine that I am smack dab in the middle of. Preparing this message helped me understand what is going on.
I have a vision of living in a home that is nestled in the forest, surrounded by trees, and away from the noise of the city. I’ve had this vision for more than a decade.
When Beth and I got married at age 18, we started out living in an apartment in the city. Then we moved to an apartment on my parents' land. Then we bought a house in an Owasso neighborhood that had no trees in the backyard.
It didn’t seem like we were getting any closer to the vision. But each step was actually getting us financially prepared for the next step.
Beth became pregnant with our second child. I was working from home, and it already wasn’t going well with our one toddler running around, so I knew we had to do something.
I either needed to rent office space, or we needed a bigger house where my office could have some separation from the rest of the house. We decided on a bigger house because it was a better financial decision.
So we set our parameters on Zillow and examined every new house that came on the market for several months. We went to look at some of them, but were not having any luck.
One day, I noticed a house that was slightly outside of what we wanted to pay, but I was drawn to it. So, I didn’t tell Beth where I was going, but I went and drove by the house.
As soon as I pulled up to it, I knew it was mine. I can’t explain how I knew. All I can tell you is that it resonated with the core of my being. My spirit was in complete agreement.
But, my head wasn’t. I didn’t like the price. I knew we could make it work, but it wasn’t the kind of margin I was looking for. But I couldn’t shake it, so I told Beth and took her to see it.
Then, we got with our realtor, my mom, and she took us to see the inside of the house. When I walked in, I had vision. I could see my family living there. I could see my office and video studio upstairs.
And the backyard. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Although the house is in a neighborhood, when you look out the back windows, it looks like you're living in a forest.
It was a partial fulfillment of my vision. I could go on and on about how God blessed us with this house, and how happy we are to live there. But I have to move on so you can get to writing your vision.
Earlier this year, I preached a message on extravagant asking - that God wants us to ask Him for big things. Then I told you the story about how we were asking Him for 300 acres in Skiatook.
You haven’t heard much about it since then because I was waiting for the right time to give you an update. And today’s the day.
I have been to the land countless times, rebuking the plan of the enemy and asking God to make a way for us to have it.
Beth and I met the neighbors one day when driving there to check up on the land. We found out we already knew the neighbors. They were believers and they agreed with us in prayer to have the land.
Then, the family who boards my daughter’s pony just so happened to move to the land that shares a fence line with this land. Y’all, it seemed like it was all falling into place.
But then, the land was sold to someone else.
About a month before it was sold, Beth and I went to walk the land. We had driven up to it many times, but we had never actually walked onto the land.
That day, we spent about an hour exploring the 300 acres. We talked about what it would be like to build a house there. But you know what? I had no vision.
The land was a good idea, but the good idea did not agree with my spirit. This time, my head was on board but my spirit wasn’t.
I was very disappointed. I wanted to shake my spirit and wake it up. Surely it was wrong about this.
I didn’t tell Beth a thing. She thought I was still on board. But I wasn’t. I knew this was not the step God wanted us to take.
Fast forward a few months. Beth has a hobby of looking at every house that comes on the market in our area. She will show me from time to time, and I’ll usually say, “Wow, that's a pretty house” and move on.
But one day she showed me a house that sparked something on the inside of me. I called my mom and we went to see the house the next day.
I was completely stunned. We turn into this driveway with no house in sight. You just enter into the trees and drive down this winding driveway wondering where the house is.
Then, bam! There it is, nestled in the forest. In this moment, it’s like my vision manifests before my eyes. Y’all, the land is absolutely stunning, and the house is perfect for our family.
It didn’t take me long to walk the inside of the house and figure out it was the perfect layout for what we needed. Then I headed back outside to explore while mom and Beth did what women do.
While I was walking around, the Holy Spirit revealed how much to offer for the house. It was kind of a crazy offer, so I didn’t tell anyone about it until I had some time to think about it.
A few days passed, and I had my mom submit the offer only to find out they weren’t taking offers because the house is going to auction.
Now, we are just waiting for it to go to action so we can go offer what the Holy Spirit told me to offer.
That’s where we are in the story. But I wanted you to see how I established a vision for our home and it is God directing each step towards that vision.
And the steps don’t always make sense, but God knows exactly what He is doing. That’s why you must learn to trust Him regardless. Trust Him with everything. Just like it says in Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT - So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
Now’s the time to write your vision. We have three categories to get you started, faith, family, and finances. You don’t have to complete every one. Start with the one you’re drawn to.
Even if you’ve never had vision before, today you are going to birth vision and you need to write it down.
Even if it sounds crazy, write it down. Feel free to collaborate with someone.
Take some time now to allow the Holy Spirit to spark vision on the inside of us.
