It is the strength of the foundation that determines how lasting a building will be.
"If the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do?" - Psalm 11:3.
If you don't believe the truth of the Bible, you will miss its benefits. The bible is not a storybook, but a book loaded with benefits - Psalms 68:19. It provides open profits for us. In 1 Timothy 4:15, we are enjoined to
"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all".
The Bible is a book of profit, meditate in it, and give yourself to its instruction is what makes your profiting from it to appear for all to see. You will always need a serious approach to have a glorious result; too many Christians are not serious with their lives. If you will be serious with what you about to read, your destiny will be glorious. You are a child of destiny, you are not a biological accident. You have a purpose, God has written a script about you.
Every one that is created by God has a scroll written about him. A discovery of that scroll is called VISION. God attached a vision to everyone's life. God created you for a purpose, and it is your duty to find out that purpose. He told Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah 1:5,
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations".
What he did for Jeremiah, he did for you also; God knew you before he formed you. That means purpose precedes creation. Before God created you, he first established your purpose. God has purposed us to become something before he created us. A lot of people are never successful because they didn't discover their purpose. Success begins with the discovery of vision. Everything God has for your life is waiting for you at the place of vision. In Habakkuk 2:1-3, scripture says
"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry".
God designed your vision and it is your responsibility to discover it.
Importance of Vision
Vision is the way God has designed to terminate the struggles of his children. You didn't succeed just by trading, but by trading God's plan. God has not promised to prosper our own plan, but his plan for us. The word provision is divisible into two, pro and vision, which means support for vision. God supports vision; that means he makes provision available to you when you are in vision.
Vision is God-given, while ambition is man-made. Vision will outlive you, but ambition dies when a man dies; men are behind ambition, God is behind the vision. Ambition can be terminated, vision cannot because it is the unfolding of God's plan for us. Proverbs 29:18 says,
"Where there is no vision, the people perish...".
The word perish used in the context means frustrated. That means without vision people are frustrated.
How Do You Locate Your Vision?
1. There must be a burning desire: A thirst for it. In Isaiah 44:3, scripture says
"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground...".
God is always willing to reveal his plan when we are also ready to receive it.
2. Seek God in prayer: Separate yourself into a place to look up to God for his purpose for your life. Whatever you are doing, confirm from God whether or not it is your vision. In Jeremiah 33:3, God says,
"Call unto me, I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not".
God is saying here that, call unto me and I will show you my vision for your life.
3. After you have prayed, be watchful of what God will say to you: Condition your spirit man and tune it to receive from God. In Habakkuk 2:1-2, scripture says,
"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it".
4. Ask for help of the Holy Spirit: If you are his sheep, you are expected to hear from God - John 10:27. Just as a child naturally picks the tongue (language) of his mother. For you to hear God, you must be in the spirit.
Hearing God is not a gift for pastors, it is the right of every child of God. Even Jesus had to hear from God to succeed - John 5:30.
5. Be quiet: The LORD sometimes come as a still small voice right in your spirit, like he did to prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-12. In Isaiah 30:21, scripture says,
"Thine ear shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it...".
You need both inner and outer quietness to pick the voice of God.
6. Locate your God's voice or direction in worship and adoration: Isaiah 30:29 says, you shall have a song to sing, the Lord will cause his glorious voice to be heard. If you are not a singer, you can not be a hearer.
7. By Meekness: This is being correctable by God since you are not always right. In Psalm 25:9, scripture says, "The meek will he guide...". He will never guide the proud. He will only teach the meek his ways. As long as God can not correct you, he can not lead you. He can not show you his plan. When God says you are wrong and you didn't say sorry, he leaves alone. Vision will outlast you; it is a business that continues, even after you have left the earth. Engage every of your God-given resource to seek it, it is worth it.
Shalom!