What Is Your Vision?
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
Have you ever considered God’s vision for your life? Vitality depends on vision. Without vision, you wonder aimlessly with no sense of purpose or direction. To thrive, you need vision. Moses is a great example. He found himself in the back side of the desert for forty years, just surviving. He knew God had a greater purpose for his life. His name meant to draw out or deliver. Yet, he had settled for much less. After trying in his own strength to fulfill his destiny, this once Prince of Egypt fled to the far side of the desert, where he got a job tending flocks for his father-in-law. But God had more for Moses. God had a vision for Moses that Moses needed to see for himself. Moses needed to look through the sites of God’s vision to see what God was aiming at for his life. It took a burning bush to get his attention. Like Moses, God seeks to get our attention and often uses His Word to do it. The Bible says, “When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’” Exodus 3:4 (NIV) God called him by name. He knows your name, too, and desires to raise your vision for His greater purpose in your life.
Moses’ example reveals four important steps for finding God’s vision for our lives.
Step 1: Don’t limit God. When God spoke to Moses from within the bush, He raised Moses’ vision for his life. He called him to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses’ response was much like ours. All he could see were the impossibilities. He wasn’t a good enough speaker. What if they didn’t listen to him? And besides, he had tried rescuing an Israelite in the past and it blew up in his face. All he could see were his faults, fears, and failures! Maybe you can relate. You’ve used similar excuses in your life to limit God’s ability to accomplish His purpose. Don’t limit God. Let God be God and trust Him to accomplish what He said He would do. But how?
Step 2: Surrender my pride and lean on God’s power. When you are full of yourself, you can’t be full of God’s power. God was able to use Moses because he humbled himself. In fact, Numbers 12:3 (NIV) tells us, “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” When Moses humbled himself before God, God was able to use him and fill him with His power.
Step 3: Let go of what I’m holding on to. When God began to raise Moses’ vision, He asked him, “What is in your hand?” Moses replied, “A staff.” Then, the Lord told him to throw it down. What are you holding on to? Moses’ staff was all that he had. He used it to tend his father-in-law’s flocks. It’s how he made his living, a job he knew deep down wasn’t his ultimate purpose. Until we let go of our plans, we can never experience the adventure of God’s vision for our lives.
Step 4: Obey even when I don’t understand. A funny thing happened when Moses let go of his staff. When it hit the ground, it turned into a snake. God wanted to take the snake out of Moses’ staff, the snake of selfishness and pride. When we live by our own vision in life, we get full of pride and selfishness. We play God, trying to control our lives. But then God told Moses to pick it up by the tail! What? That made no sense! Still, Moses obeyed, and the snake turned into a staff in his hand. That staff became the rod of God! He would use it to perform mighty miracles, turning water into blood, calling plagues on Egypt, parting the Red Sea, and lifting it to win victory over Israel’s enemies.
Take some time today in prayer and ask God to raise your vision. What is it He wants to accomplish through you? As you do, meditate on this passage:
“Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” Ephesians 3:20 (TLB)
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.