God does not just hand us a vision and then it automatically happens. In the Bible, we see examples of people who are given a vision of what God has placed them on Earth for, and things often got worse before the vision comes to pass. One of my favourite people in the Old Testament is Joseph. We find out early in his life he is the favourite son and has a number of older brothers who do like him because of the favouritism that was shown towards him by his father. God gave him a dream where he was going to have his family bow down to him and he was foolish and shared this with all his family. It led to being thrown down a well and sold as a slave. After blessing his first master, he was accused of doing the wrong thing with Potiphar's wife and thrown in jail. Things just kept getting worse. Joseph was incredibly resilient and kept the dream or vision in his heart and waited… and waited … and waited…
While he was waiting, God was working. There were three things that God was doing.
Joseph was on a journey of maturing
Maturing takes intentionality and hard work. Are you ready to do the hard work required so you have the maturity to deal with the vision God has given you?
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:13-16
The Vision Is Not Our Own. It gives others life!
Through the vision God gave Joseph and what God revealed through Pharoah's dream he had a vision for how to lead the nation through the worst drought on record. Without a shared vision, the people perish. No vision for the Egyptians meant certain death. You need a vision for the ministry God is giving you and God is wanting it to be known and owned by the people around you. Without it, people will perish. Seek God to make the vision or your WHY clear so you can move forward together with both a clear understanding of the WHY, what it looks like and how people need to be supported so they have the tools and knowledge and accountability for this to happen. It will bring life to you and everyone around you.
If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. Proverbs 29:18 MSG
Without guidance from God law and order disappear, but God blesses everyone who obeys his Law. Proverbs 29:18 CEV
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18 AKJV
The Vision Dominates and Becomes Our Focus
When God released Joseph from prison to lead the Egyptians through the drought, his plan or vision was clear and dominated his life. For us, the vision needs to be clear and central. Moving from everyone doing what is right in their own eyes to those around us developing a clear understanding of what the vision is, being trained with the skills and understandings to do their part of achieving the vision and finally accountability so they have clear feedback on their success in doing what they have been given to do at a high standard. When we have been entrusted with a vision, do not become sidetracked or find yourself doing what is not important. Everything you do must work to bring the vision into reality.
8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes Deuteronomy 12:8— NKJV
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6
Do not lose heart. If God has given you a vision, seek Him to mature you, show you how to share it so you can partner with others and finally when God released you into the vision, make sure it is both central and you support others in working with a shared vision and not having each person to do what is right in their eyes.
Finally, the vision will come to pass in the time God has appointed for it. It will not come early and it will not be late. The vision will come. It is time to be ready so you can fulfil all God has given you and you are mature, understand the vision and can work with others so it is fully released on earth.
Get ready. The bigger the vision, the greater the preparation time! Be encouraged…. It will happen!
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3.