"Do you believe that God can give you a vision for your world that will capture you for the rest of your life? What are you uniquely burdened for? What injustice causes you to pound the table and weep?
I am a believer in the pound the table test - if something gets under your skin, makes you want to scream with either joy or frustration, makes you stay up at night because it is sweating out of your pours, I think it may be a clue to the beginning of a God given vision.
In Marlene Bagnull's book Write His Answer: A Bible Study for Christian Writers she talks about having a vision, but warns that you must question if you are being driven or led. The big question is - who is driving the train in your life and with your goals - you or Christ?
A driven person is someone who wants self satisfaction and recognition. The person who is led by Christ will do everything he or she can to serve Him and make sure that He is the one being glorified.
The thing that I love about Nehemiah is that he was just an ordinary guy that had a God-given vision planted in his soul. And because "the gracious hand of God" was with him (Neh 2:8) it gave him a fire in his belly. When the king asked him "what is it you want?" Nehemiah didn't back down, he didn't apologize for the thing that was weighing on his heart - he just told the king exactly what he wanted (after he prayed!). THEN he asked that the king give him things in order to accomplish his task. My friends, Nehemiah was a Biblical Bad A$$.
If God plants a vision within us and we do not pursue it, is it a form of disobedience? Do we become a watered-down version of the person we could become if we just put aside our insecurities and trusted Him? Nehemiah admits that he was "very much afraid" (Neh 2:2), but the thing that makes him different from others is that he did it anyway.
I pray to have courage like Nehemiah, and to continually ask "am I being driven or led?" with my vision.
2 comments:
Kaarin,
This is awesome! I pray that in pursuing our dreams and vision, we would be women who are led by Christ! that we would dream God-sized dreams!
Oooh!! I am all about pounding tables; I love the thought of having a fire in our bellies about something!!! And then there is that still small voice of the Spirit that can be just as passionate and moving. I constantly have to check myself on the projects I take on because I believe I am chasing a dream. Yes, we are to expend energy and time doing what we believe we are called for, but there is also a time to rest and wait for more direction from God before we plow ahead!
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