Keeping Your Vision Fresh

Robert Cameron, July 9, 2000

(Robert Cameron is for one of my faith heroes. He’s a cheerful, robust Scotsman who’s love for God shows in everything I’ve seen him say or do. He is a great man of faith. I can hear his brogue as I go through these notes. He is an associate pastor at Wave Church, and is in charge of the Wave Network of churches. His family traveled around the country for years preaching and singing.)

Primary text - 1 Samuel 3:1-10

     Verse 2 says that Samuel was in his usual place.

• God is looking for a Church that's on the edge, not on the run. (1 Peter 2:9)
• A person without vision ail always revisit the past.

• Vision will... 
• Give you boundaries.
• Teach how to go straight.
• Have a goal and set your eyes upon it. (John 21:3-7, 1 Samuel 16:1-13)
• Help you to spend your money correctly.
• Drive you to new heights.
• Stretch you.
• Cause you to attempt great things for God and expect great things from Him.

• Lack of vision will...
• Cause complacency.
• It's dangerous to get too familiar with the things of God. (The old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt.")
• With complacency there is no expectancy.
• It produces nothing.
• It'll put you in a rut. The only difference between a rut and a grave is depth.
• Complacency brings a lack of intimacy.
• Complacency brings a lack of sensitivity.
• Complacency will bring calamity and chaos.
• Cause judgment.
• Cause death.

Habakkuk 2:2 - How to keep vision fresh.

• Write it down. Develop a mission statement.
• Get out of your "usual place".
• Don't settle for good. The good is the enemy of the best.
• Expect God to move.
• Faith expects miracles.
• Ask God to bring your vision to pass.
• Be very determined about it.
• You have to be just as determined to see your family saved as Satan is to have them.
• Fellowship with visionaries.
• Attitude rubs off.
• Talk about your vision.
• Bring it to life.
• Keep your heart right.

If we have vision and passion, we won't have to worry about discipline and commitment.

My thoughts: I used to have vision, but I let it grow stale and lost sight of it. I became complacent. Recently God has been restoring my vision, and growing new vision in my heart. This time around I need to endeavor to keep it fresh. I need to become determined to see it come to pass. In the past I've let fear stop me. It's time to become an overcomer. I need to be proactive about associating with visionaries. Developing new relationships is another area where I've allowed fear to stop me. I definitely need to get out of my usual place. Going to India would fulfill that. Lord, thank You for what You are showing me through so many voices. Help me to refresh my vision and to overcome the fear that has held me back from fulfilling it in the past. Thank You for fresh starts. Enable me to not only start well, but also to finish well. 

What does this message speak to you? Have you kept your vision fresh? Like me, do you need to refresh your vision? What do you do to keep your vision fresh?