The Written Vision

The Lord had me, so I went into my closet with my bible and notebook and shut the door. After getting everything out of my system I asked the Lord to speak to me through His word and that His words would pierce my heart. Hebrews 4:12 says “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I wanted to be pierced.

I began to read from Nehemiah. After that I turned to Habakkuk. I started from the beginning and read out loud so I could stay focused. Just to give a little background on Habakkuk, this guy is a prophet, and he’s asking God a few questions and God is answering him back. He is asking for God to show judgment on the enemies of the children of Israel that are dealing with them treacherously and keeping them in bondage. Habakkuk asks God why he allows such things to happen. His people are hurting. Then God answers him. This is when I couldn’t read out loud anymore. I was stopped…

“Then the Lord answered me and said:
‘Write the vision.
And make it plain on tablets.
That he may run who reads it.”
--Hab. 2:2

The silence was ringing in my ears and I felt that piercing through my heart.
“Write the Vision, Christie!” Write the vision. What does that mean?
But it goes on…

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie,
Though it linger, wait for it.
It will certainly come and will not delay.”
--Hab. 2:3
(That was a mixture of the New King James and the NIV, just for the record.)

God has a vision for my life. He has a vision He has placed within my heart. Write the vision. The vision is for an appointed time! There are plans He has set! Jeremiah 29:11. But what are those plans? I still don’t know. But what I do know… is that I have to write the vision.

So what is the vision? Off the top of my head… here is what I see as the vision. The vision of my own heart. The revelation, the dream, the desire I’ve been given by Christ. Free-flowing and raw as can be.

The vision is to be voiced.
The vision has no rules, it has no boundaries, nothing by which it is confined
Except that it is a slave to Christ.
It exists by Him and for Him.
For no other purpose than Christ.
The vision is love. Love unashamed and unleashed.
The vision speaks wonders of the Creator to the creation in its path.
The vision of my heart is that the broken are put back together.
Cracks sealed and bound by the blood of the Lamb.
The vision speaks hope to its hearers and grace to its doers.
The visionary is no longer visible. But serves only as a servant, a shell of a man in which the Spirit of the Living God dwells.
The vision shows the starving being fed. And the thirsty drinking the Living Water… and never thirsting again.
This vision holds a passion that is of no man, but Divine.
A love that could never be faked.
A compassion that flows like blood through veins and pumps a heart that beats only for a gracious God.
The vision is a call to hope!
A hope that satisfies.
A hope that does not disappoint.
A hope that the captive will become captive in Christ and be set free from this world!
What love is known to man, but that of a man who bore his sin and gave His life?
The vision calls for insecurity of the body depending on security of the Savior.
Self is knocked off the front of sufficiency and replaced with grace.
Joyful strength will override physical weakness and make it matter no more.
The vision is radical.
He is a mover and a shaker, that God of Abraham.
A radical if there ever was one.
Radically calling me to change my lifestyle.
The vision calls for less.
Less stuff.
Less clutter.
Less busyness.
Less distraction.
Less wasted time.
Less SELF.
The vision calls for more.
More love.
More hope.
More smiles.
More compassion.
More hugs.
More joy.
More trust in Him.
More OTHERS.
The vision calls for more of Jesus.
Scratch that.
The vision calls for ONLY Jesus!
Christie is dead to this world.
Alive in Christ!
For I am crucified with Christ and I live NO longer.
It is not I, but Christ who lives in me.
That means my pride is surrendered.
My arrogance humbled.
My agenda ripped to pieces and thrown in the fire.
My cares of this world... laid at the feet of Jesus.
As far as I’m concerned, I no longer exist.
Merely a tool, a means, a piece of flesh and skin and bone that the Spirit may inhabit, take over, rule and reign to reach in this world the hurting…
The broken-hearted.
The maimed.
The lame.
The disabled.
The diseased.
The abused.
The terrified.
The hopeless.
The homeless.
The hungry.
The little children.
The forgotten.

The vision is a risk.
There is a risk you will be hated for it.
Your friends may not understand it.
Your family might disagree with you.
The vision calls for extreme measures to reach a world in need.
Physical safety is not promised.
It might not seem practical.
It does not seem logical.
All odds are definitely against me.
But I have God on my side.
And that’s all I’ll ever need.
Lying in the arms of the Father is all the safety I need.
And I have it.
Oh yes, I have it!
Praise the LORD, He is mine!
Even now and Forever! He is mine!

The vision calls for a change of heart, and a change of life.
All that I have, all that I was, all that I am…
In Jesus’ hands I lay.
In Jesus’ name I pray.

You who have read, now run.