Every business or institution has a vision that they are working towards. We often hear people say: “We really believe in our vision.” We may have even heard people say things like: “Our vision is so great, I’ll lay down my life for it” or “It’s worth dying for”, but what about a vision that is so great that it’s worth living for!
Where there is no vision, the people perish:
Proverbs 29:18a (KJV)
The opposite of this portion of scripture would read,
Where there is a vision, the people live!
In other translations it reads as follows:
Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish;
Proverbs 29:18a (AMP)
If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
Proverbs 29:18a (MSG)
The greatest vision of all must be God’s Vision. The vision that God pursues…His will, His desire, His purpose.
If we discover this vision, we will discover life!
Vision unites people. When building a house the builder will employ labourers, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, painters, carpenters and glaziers. Each one has a very different function to perform, but they are all united by a common vision. Imagine a vision great enough to unite the church, a common purpose that will bring denominations together. God’s vision can. Denominations are formed when people say: “I follow Luther” or “I follow Wesley”
For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
1Cor 3:4-8 (NIV)
Every Christian church, church leader and believer, no matter what denomination, should pursue one purpose, one vision – God’s Vision!
Imagine discovering God’s Vision, God’s one purpose, His perfect will?
Who can understand God?
Many people may think that it is impossible. Who can understand God?
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!
Rom 11:33 (AMP)
Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; and His greatness is [so vast and deep as to be] unsearchable.
Psa 145:3 (AMP)
It is true. God’s greatness and God’s decisions are unsearchable and God’s ways are mysterious, but is there a way to search them out?
This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear and heed it and know for yourself [for your good].
Job 5:27 (AMP)
It seems that if we search we can find out certain deep and hidden things of God.
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing.
Pro 25:2 (AMP)
The Mystery of God’s Will
God’s vision, God’s purpose, His perfect will was concealed, so that we can search it out. In certain passages it has been called a mystery.
Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in Him, …
Eph 1:9 (AMP)
There are many references to the mystery in the Bible.
The mystery of the kingdom of heaven
The mystery of Christ
The mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ
The mystery of the gospel
The mystery of faith
The mystery of godliness
The mystery of Christ and the church
Many people, many even who read the Bible, even church leaders, don’t see it!
Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables? And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
Mat 13:10-11(AMP)
As disciples of Jesus (Christians), we should understand the mystery; we should see God’s vision.
But it is going to take more than just casual reading of the scripture – we must search for it.
The mystery of God’s will is like hidden treasure and the Bible is the treasure map.
Eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand
From the day that you accept that Jesus is the Son of God Who has paid for your sins on the cross and you give your life to Him so that He can live through you, you can begin to understand the map to the treasure. Someone else can tell you what the treasure is and help you to understand the path, but each individual must follow the path themselves and claim the treasure themselves. God has hidden the treasure and we must search for it, but through the cross He has given us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand.
This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because having the power of seeing, they do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand. In them indeed is the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive. For this nation’s heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them. But blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Mat 13:13-17
Father, give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand the mysteries of the kingdom.
[Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation.] For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything [temporarily] kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you–and more [besides] will be given to you who hear. For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away [by force],
Mar 4:22-25 (AMP)
Once we begin to see and hear and understand the mystery, our understanding begins to be multiplied, but if we reject the mystery then even that which we had is lost.
The Mystery has been revealed
The Apostle Paul understood the mystery and wrote many letters to help the believers to also understand. He explains that the mystery was once hidden, but has now been revealed.
[And] that the mystery (secret) was made known to me and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct revelation, as I already briefly wrote you. When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. [This mystery] was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit.
Eph 3:3-5 (AMP)
In it I became a minister in accordance with the divine stewardship which was entrusted to me for you [as its object and for your benefit], to make the Word of God fully known [among you]– The mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations [from angels and men], but is now revealed to His holy people (the saints),
Col 1:25-26 (AMP)
Now to Him Who is able to strengthen you in the faith which is in accordance with my Gospel and the preaching of (concerning) Jesus Christ (the Messiah), according to the revelation (the unveiling) of the mystery of the plan of redemption which was kept in silence and secret for long ages, But is now disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, [to win them] to obedience to the faith,
Rom 16:25-26 (AMP)
If the mystery was not hidden, then the whole plan and purpose of God would have been in jeopardy.
Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away. But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God–[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:6-8 (AMP)
But the mystery remained hidden until after the crucifixion and then it was revealed.
Many still do not realize that mystery is revealed.
But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:9-11 (AMP)
The mystery has been revealed. Our eyes can see it, our ears can hear it and our hearts can understand it.
God is unsearchable, but the Holy Spirit searches God’s heart and reveals the hidden mysteries to us.
Understanding the Mystery
There is a mystery and we can know it. The mystery is hidden, but we have the map (Bible). The Holy Spirit is the best person to help us understand the mystery.
We need the Word of God and we need the Spirit of God.
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Pro 4:20-22 (KJV)
We must fill our ears, eyes and heart with the Word of God, but even if we memorise the Bible it will not help us apart from the Holy Spirit. We also need the Spirit to give us the revelation. Paul prayed the following prayer for the believers at Ephesus.
I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come. And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church], Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].
Eph 1:16-23 (AMP)
This prayer is a powerful Holy Spirit inspired prayer. It would be very wise to memorise this prayer and to pray it for yourself and others.
Read the Word, pray this prayer, meditate on the Word and expect the Holy Spirit to reveal hidden truths to you!
