DO YOU HAVE A VISION BUT YOU'RE NOT QUITE SURE WHAT TO DO WITH IT?

The fulfillment of a dream starts with clarity of the Vision. In this devotional, we will look at the difference between a dream and a vision and how to fulfill that vision.

Dreams are powerful! They are our mind’s way of going beyond what we typically have the capacity to see. They are limitless expressions of the future. It is in and through dreaming that we can live beyond the limits of our current circumstances and situations to encounter the greater possibilities within our reach. Yet, many of us don’t steward dreams well—not because we can’t, but usually because we simply don’t know how. One of the first steps in stewarding a dream is identifying what is influencing the dream. If we skip this critical step, we can easily be led down the wrong path.

If what is motivating our dreams isn’t inspired by our true purpose, then we can dream ourselves right into a nightmare. A dream can lead us down a counterfeit path of success and accomplishment if it is not influenced by God. That is why it is so important to combine dreaming with seeking vision and strategy from God. He must be what inspires and influences our dreams.

God knows how to impart His plans into each of us. He knows exactly how to share His agenda with His children. He gives us insight into His heavenly agenda in a way that we will respond, based on how He created us to hear and heed His voice. 

When I shared this concept with a friend, she responded with, “Well, what if I don’t have a vision?” I then had to remind her by saying, “Just the other day you told me about something you saw yourself doing but you weren’t doing yet. That’s a vision.” We both laughed at how obvious it was to identify the vision. It’s that simple. We just have to pay attention to where the vision is coming from and make sure it is aligning with God’s plans for our lives.

Since vision is seeing into something greater, God’s vision is seeing even deeper into whatever the vision may be. Because of Nehemiah’s relationship with God, he was given God’s vision, which downloaded strategy from God. And Nehemiah was able to consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how of everything that was being placed in his hand.

But it was Nehemiah’s response to the problem that makes him the ideal person to model when we are being called to something much bigger than ourselves, when vision is far beyond our reach. He didn’t jump in and say, “I will figure this out, so just give me a minute to think.” Nope, not at all. The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 1:4:

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Since vision is seeing into something greater, God’s vision is seeing even deeper into whatever the vision may be. Because of Nehemiah’s relationship with God, he was given God’s vision, which downloaded strategy from God. And Nehemiah was able to consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how of everything that was being placed in his hand. This awareness is what led him to cry out to God, because he had some inkling of what would be required of him if he took on this task. 

Without influence and insight from God on the vision, burden can become the byproduct. God tells us to cast our burdens on Him (see Ps. 55:22), and He also says that His yoke is easy (see Matt. 11:30) and His burden is light. So, when something becomes a burden, it is an indication that we may not be fully operating in partnership with God. It is in and through prayer that Nehemiah was able to see the vision and release the burden of doing it alone.

Even with vision, we are only given snippets of what is to come, which is expressed in 1 Corinthians 13:9, but how are we utilizing what God has shown us?

Nehemiah needed the ability to see the vision so that he could begin to fulfill the purpose and so do you.

What vision have you been given, and how are you fulfilling that vision?