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Keeping the vision alive

I believe one of the most powerful tools a person can have is a personal vision or a "calling" from God. A personal vision can keep us focussed on God's plan and it can also help keep moving forward when things aren't going as expected.

In this message I thought I would share some of the things God has placed in my heart concerning keeping the vision of PASSION Australia alive.

1. Record your vision

When we hear from God or we feel very strongly that God wants us to go in a particular direction it is important to get it down on paper or on tape. So often when time passes or we are under pressure it is easy to get off track. Just ask anyone who has ever dieted!

Having and fulfilling a vision from God is not an easy thing to do. If we write down what we get from God this will help us in the hard times. That way I can refer back to it regularly and "pump" myself up again if I am feeling flat or tired after a huge effort.

At PASSION we actually recorded our vision in the the form of a pictorial vision statement. A pictorial vision statement records your mission, vision, core values and the different things that God has asked you to do in both word and pictures. Our vision statement actually looks like a mountain and has people climbing the mountain and being impacted by the different ministries we are involved with.

This simple image helps to keep the vision in front of us and to see how much of it we have completed and how much is left to do. It also helps others to see what we are about or to catch our vision very easily.

2. Share your vision with others

Sharing a vision for the first time is not an easy thing to do. To tell someone that you have "heard from God" can be pretty scary, but it can also have a very powerful effect.

Sharing your vision allows others to pray for you, encourage you and it gives them an opportunity to come on board. I can remember sharing my vision for PASSION with my senior Pastor and other people whom I respect as Christians. I nervously waited a response to my email. When I heard back I was greatly encouraged and had the confidence to step out in faith.

One of the easiest things to do is to sit on your vision and keep it to yourself. By telling others and putting it "out there" brings it to life and brings a level of accountability. If you tell nobody, you are not "bound" to do anything.

3. Give your vision back to God

When I met with my senior pastor after I shared my vision with him, one of the first things he said was to give my vision back to God. Although I said I would, to be honest I struggled with this for a couple of months thinking that God had just given it to me!

In time I realised the wisdom behind his statement. I realised that God gave me the vision, not to own it, but so I could play my part in seeing it fulfilled. The vision belonged to God and ultimately it always will.

Our focus must be to keep placing it before God and saying what do you want me to do next to see your plan come to pass.

4. Vision takes time

When God gives us a vision there is quite often a "lag" time between getting the vision and it happening. God has reminded me that this is usually because the vision is so much bigger than ourselves and we have we have grow into the vision (including those around us in some cases) and the vision has to grow and crystallises in us.

Many times it seems like nothing is happening and we can often get frustrated at not seeing results. It is during these times God is busily working away in the background. This may take the form of preparing peoples hearts, working through issues or just God's timing.

In these times of waiting it is easy to get discouraged. The Lord reminded me that when a vision takes a long time to fulfil, it is usually a sign that the results are going to be absolutely huge! Think of Moses following sheep for forty years, David hiding in caves and Nehemiah working for the king whose ancestors destroyed the temple he wanted to rebuild. All of these men had a great vision and no doubt got discouraged but they held firm and pushed on.

God has told me that when my vision for PASSION seems to be taking longer than I expected that I should be getting excited because this means things are going to be huge. I need to be en-couraged not dis-couraged

5. Obedience should be our measure of success

While the vision is being fulfilled it is easy to look at how many converts we have won, how many bums on seats we have or how many more we have in the worship team. We need to focus on how we have completed the tasks that God has given us not the measurable results. After all measurable results can be like the stock market - up and down.

Above all for a vision to be fulfilled, God requires us to be faithful and obedient and do the things He asks one step at a time. I really believe it comes back to the mountain analogy. A mountain climber looks only to his next peg he has to place in. He finds the spot, hammers it in, pulls himself up and then looks for the next place. While occasionally he looks to the summit and what it will feel like when he gets there, he keeps focussed on the job at hand. The rest in time takes care of itself.

Just as we can become discouraged by the "lag" time in seeing the vision fulfilled it is easy to measure our success by what we can see. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord and ask what He wants us to do next and then do all we can to make it happen. Then we can look back knowing that we are playing a part in God's plan.

6. Celebrate our small achievements along the way

A key part of keeping the vision alive is to celebrate the small achievements along the way. If we keep looking to the overall picture we can again get discouraged that things are not happening fast enough.

For me I like to re-read over previous newsletters we have released. They talk about getting the vision, our early steps and upcoming events. As I read back over some of the things we have now achieved, I get excited as I remember the ideas "coming" to us and how we did our best to make them happen.

As we have achieved something, or more precisely, God has achieved something through us, I have tried to take time to stop and celebrate with the board. I try to keep a "look how far we have come" attitude before them and remind them that the journey is just as important as the destination. Celebrating our successes helps us to keep motivated and gives us the desire to do more.

By Dave Quinn
Founder PASSION Australia