Three Questions to Increase Your Vision This Year

Read Time ~5.5 Minutes

Leadership Lesson: God’s answer to aimlessness is vision.

Vision is a sense of enlightened direction from God.

It is a crystal-clear picture of a preferred future. It is what God is empowering you to bring about in a particular area of life.

Practically speaking, vision is the future that we’re calling ourselves to (on a personal level) and everyone else to (on an organizational level).

Vision is the guiding, unifying theme of everything that is to be done.

With white-hot vision, everything is easier – there is natural catalytic energy toward the things you’re actually supposed to be doing (versus SEEMINGLY related projects that don’t really contribute to achieving the vision).

But without captivating, urgent, directional vision, leaders end up squandering their time, their affections, their money, and their talents. Because there is no unifying theme of what the team is trying to do, people end up doing whatever is right in their own eyes.

Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18 (AMP)

Without a God-sent, preferred vision of the future, we lose control, run wild, dissolve into chaos . . . we perish.

Notice a couple of things,

The vision redemptive in nature. This means it’s not just self-serving. It’s not that it can’t be helpful to us in some sense, but it is primarily about something done for godly purposes. Even going on a diet, if wrongly motivated, is not the same thing as desiring to eat healthy in order to honor God (or live longer).
The vision is, even if not directly revealed, a Revelation of God. There is some sense in which God is HELPING us to see the vision. The seed of it began not only in our hearts but in HIS.

Without Vision

But beware of a life without vision.

Energy is sent in the wrong directions.
We have no filter for what to NOT waste energy on and confusion results.
Decreasing morale, as people forget what they’re working toward.
Increased conflict, as people develop their own personal agendas (for lack of clarity on the actual agendas).

And when there is a lack of progress toward a goal, we can end up experiencing depression, a lost of joy, and listlessness about holiness (see 2 Samuel 11:2)

Three Questions to Increase Your Vision This Year

1. Where do I lack vision?

Too often, we just wait for vision to HIT US instead of doing the hard work of THINKING about what we can’t see. If you were at war and needed to scan the horizon for enemies, you’d take special note of the areas you COULDN’T see.

Which are the specific areas you want to seek Jesus for vision?

Your spiritual life?
Your relational life (including family life)?
Your work life?
Your financial life?
Your exercise life?
Your recreation/hobbies?

2. What, precisely, do I want to be true in these areas?

For many of us, it may not be that we’re aiming at NOTHING but that what we’re aiming at is too vague.

Vision is a question that demands an answer. “What, precisely, is it that I (or GOD and I) want to be true?”

Notice, the PICTURE OF THE FUTURE (i.e., the vision) is not the same as the GOALS that get you TO the vision. After we get a clear PICTURE for each area, we pick GOALS that will help us get closer to that picture.

You might say:

Work Life

Vision: I will have a side hustle that makes some money by the end of this year.

Goal: I will work from 8:00-9:00pm on my side-hustle three nights per week.

Financial Life

Vision: I see myself with $5,000 extra in retirement by the end of the year.

Goal: I will auto-deduct $200 per paycheck directly into an investment account this year.

Recreational Life

Vision: By next year, my family has a firm 24-hour sabbath 50 weeks out of the year.

Goal: I will relentlessly turn down dinner invitations on Saturday nights for the next year, as they are a primary competitor for true sabbath focus.

3. What is God EMPOWERING me to do this year?

God is the giver of vision.

“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.” (Psalm 36:9, ESV)

Of course, there is a difference between what we WANT to do and what God is anointing us to do.

Jesus showed us the way when he said,

“The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does.” (John 5:19, GW)

Now it is time to patiently and prayerfully bring each of these areas before the Father.

Ask Him the “which,” “how,” “when,” and “with whom” questions for each of your chosen areas.

Don’t rush this. Remember, God speaks slowly. Far better to have God’s counsel on two or three priorities than to race toward six without the counsel of God.

Leadership Lesson: God’s answer to aimlessness is vision.

Dream Giver,

I acknowledge that I am dependent on you for sight, clarity, and power. Make me a person of vision who pursues the longings of Your heart. I ask for Your help and revelation in creating goals for my life and the people I lead. You teach me to ask for wisdom (James 1:5), so I ask and believe you are giving it to me. Teach me to see that which is not yet seen, and show me which endeavors You’re anointing for me to help people and to glorify Your name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Want to go deeper? Pick up the Power of a Focused Life series at the BibleLeadership.com store.