The conversation in our meeting this morning was about vision. We have been listening to Mike Bickle's teaching, The Power of a Focused Life, which is just amazing.
The basic focus of the entire teaching is Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law.
(other versions say where there is no vision the people perish. or my people perish for lack of vision)
Thinking about vision being that which restrains me or causes me to restrain myself. To be, at times, voluntarily weak, to give up my right to "good things" to achieve a greater purpose in my life.
I talked yesterday about vision giving true unshakable hope. Vision for loving God makes me stable, steadfast, and full of joy.
I guess this post is more about what it means to cast and to follow the vision for my life.
First, it is important to note, as it says here in Proverbs that without vision I will perish, I will cast off restraint; that is to say I will waste my life in all the wrong ways and in the end find that I have truly lost it all. I have to come to terms with the tension of this truth.
This is a hard one to wrap my human mind around. For starters, I like to be free. Free to be me. Free to be happy. (Ahhh and this is my favorite tension in the kingdom!!)
Jesus said it. He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who lays down his life for My sake will find everlasting life.
So first thing, I have to say, God, Your ways are not my ways. I confess that I do not have good vision for my life on my own. If I don't align myself with Your vision for my life, I will cast off restraint, waste my time, and more than likely, my vision for my life will change with each mood swing I have, leading to depression, hopelessness, and recklessness.
So I come before the Lord and say, I choose to line myself up with Your vision for me: To love You first with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
(now there are other areas of my life I have vision for, but this must be first, or I will perish)
Now I say to myself, what will feed the vision? What will allow me to achieve this vision?
(For we also know that hope deferred makes the heart sick, so it is absolutely vital that I have a game plan for making this vision a reality in my heart and in my life)
Constraint. According to Proverbs, constraint=vision. or vision=restraining oneself. Voluntary weakness.
Weird huh?
I always thought of visionaries as those reckless entrepreneurs who throw caution to the wind, taking a chance, being courageous and then changing the world or making a billion dollars in the process.
But the concept of restraint or even voluntary weakness producing the best fruit in my life... that is something I never thought about before....
But it's true.... Jesus did it (see Matthew 4).
I was intended to live with vision, purposing my time, restraining myself to follow after that vision that Jesus' cast for me 2000 years ago.
In this I think about all those times people asked Jesus how they could follow Him and He told them things like, sell everything, take up your cross, let your dead father bury himself, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.....hmm....
Ok this is digressing.
The point is that if I want to live with vision that creates a living Hope inside of me, I will have to choose to live with restraint... to live in voluntary weakness... (which is a whole other subject in itself)...
Anyway, I guess my question today is, how am I pursuing the vision of my life?
I want to live circumspectly. To choose my time wisely. To live in restraint. So I can LIVE with VISION.
With HOPE.
Ephesians 5
15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
16making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
17So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
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