As we enter this last week of January I pray that you have been able to strengthen your foundation in the Lord.  The first month is so important to set the tone for the year ahead.  Maintaining a solid relationship with Jesus makes all things possible for those who believe.

 How is Your Vision?

At the beginning of each year we discuss vision.  I believe this subject bears review at least once a year in every believer’s walk. Sometimes in life your vision can become clouded or simply forgotten.  Without vision your spirit perishes day by day.   If you wander from day to day without clear vision you open yourself to be as a ship tossed to and fro on the waves of life. With vision you have a focus to ever direct your life toward a higher good, a greater goal. It is vision that keeps you moving forward with hope.

I suggest that you take time this week to seek the Lord for the unique vision that He would place in your spirit. You are fearfully and wonderfully made by the Lord with very special gifts to impart to others.  Set some time aside now to seek His vision for your life so you can live in the fullness of His plan for you. Once you have God’s vision for you, follow the steps outlined in Habakkuk 2:2: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”

 Make the Written Connection

“Write the vision….” Writing actually creates a unique connection with your brain that allows information to be implanted in your spirit. I find in writing things of the Lord not only do I retain the information but it also seeds into my spirit where it can flourish and grow. So take the time this week to write it down.

If you have written your vision in the past, dust it off and encourage yourself with that vision in the Lord.  If He gave you the vision it is sacred.  It is consecrated.  It is for a set time. Hold it deep in your spirit.  Let no one or no situation take it from you.  Do not let it go until He blesses you with it in His set time.

Keep It Simple

 “…Make it plain….” God is a God of order and simplicity.  In our humanity we can make things complicated and drawn out. If He gives you a vision it will be clear.  It will be ordered and straightforward.  Once you have written your vision, place it where you can read it. In reading your written vision, you cement it into your spirit.

Frequently the Lord will give you a vision of where He is taking you. It is a snapshot in your spirit of the things He has planned for your life. Most often at this stage of vision it makes no sense in the natural because much processing will take place before it comes to the fullness of reality. Even during the processing, which can take years or even decades, the vision will often seem impossible if not highly improbable. That is why it is so important to write it down in its simplicity without adding natural understanding or misunderstanding.

His clarity of vision will enable you to ‘make it plain.’   One of the words for plain in Strong’s Concordance, 874, is declare. Declare this vision over your life in prayer.  It is vitally important to declare it. Every God inspired vision has a set time for fruition. Always remember His ways are not our ways and His timing is not the timing we would choose in most cases. However, know this, He is never late.  He is always right on time.  Hold the vision in your heart (it is always a heart issue) until it comes.  Know that it will come.  

 Train to Run

 “…that he may run who reads it.”  In reading your vision you seal what God gave only to you.  You encourage yourself each time you read it.   Reading your vision trains your spirit in the direction you will be going.  At the appointed time you will ‘run’ toward that destiny goal solid in your conviction and solid in your direction.  You will have received it deep in your spirit because you wrote the vision, made it plain, and may now run toward its fulfillment.

 Isaiah 41:31 tells us, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” When you wait on fulfillment of a vision from the Lord you are told that your strength will be renewed in spite of how things may appear in the natural.  You are told you will rise up in spite of how far down your circumstances may have pressed you.  You are told you will run without tiring toward the mark set for you.  You are told you will walk forward in His plan and not give up.  These words are for you.  Hold them close and believe.  Personalize by inserting ‘I’ wherever ‘they’ is placed in the sentence.

Having written and framed His vision for me some years ago, I placed it where I can readily see it through the day to encourage myself.  When I wrote the vision it really was impossible in the natural.    As time passes I can see His plan unfolding.  I continue to hold on to the vision and the knowledge that with God all things are truly possible.  Whatever vision God gives you, write it and hold tight to it despite the passage of time or your circumstances.  Watch it unfold in His time.  Know that God’s plan defies human manipulation or how things may ‘look.’ 

Jesus tells us to put His Kingdom first above all else.  “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Seek Him first.  Seek the vision He has reserved just for you.  Write it and make it plain.  Declare it.  When reading it prepare to run in His set time.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

A Prayer Request

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray.  Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety.  They are our frontline on the battlefield, let us be their frontline in the spirit.  Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.  God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families.  Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel.  May God richly bless the United States of America and keep her safe.  May we may arise united in this auspicious season in our country’s history.

My Prayer for You

Father I pray that You will impart Your vision for destiny to my brothers and sisters.  Infuse each one with Holy Spirit fire to write this sacred vision, make it plain and hold it deep in their heart as it unfolds in Your timing.  Hold each one in the palm of Your hand as You gently guide them to Kingdom destiny. I pray all this in the precious name of Jesus Christ. God bless you and your family and keep you in the coming week. Thank you for your prayers for me and for each of your brothers and sisters in the Lord who has joined us spiritually  in Esther’s for His purpose.