I can remember the night like it was last night. The Lord began to show me the pain and insignificance that many members of the Body of Christ feel.

It was an August night back in 1986 in the parking lot of a Grand Union grocery store. The Lord showed me how every saved human being needs to be active in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it wasn't a simple thing. It was a clear vision into the uniqueness of every believer.

He began to reveal to me how little interest there is when it comes to the varied and individual giftings there are in the Body of Christ. I saw that there was even confusion concerning the five-fold ministry gifts.

If there is confusion about giftings and anointings in the ministry, then why should I be surprised about the lack of clarity and understanding that exists concerning callings in the business world? This applies to the whole world outside of the pulpit ministry.

As a kid I remember people talking about the priest down at the Catholic Church that I attended. They would laugh about how a priest could never speak intelligently to a married man about problems that came up daily in a relationship between a man and his wife. I didn't have the understanding then about the veracity and the faithfulness that existed in the spoken word of God and I thought that their opinion was founded in great common sense.

Today, I speak as a married man who hasn't succumbed to or practiced many worldly vices and because of my relationship with Jesus, I can speak quite intelligently and even wisely to many issues and concerns that are common to carnal men. Still, there is some truth to the old worldly adage that says that we shouldn't judge a man until we have "walked a mile in their shoes."

Walk a mile in their shoes. If it's a problem to her, it's a problem. Love your neighbor as thyself. Turn the other cheek. Don't think more highly of yourself than you ought. Let Him who lacks wisdom ask for it. That last one is so wonderfully profound that it makes me laugh.

Who doesn't lack wisdom?

Everybody lacks wisdom in some area. And the more wisdom, knowledge and understanding that you walk in, the more you ask for it. "When the student is ready, the master appears." I remember when I first heard that comment. It really caused me to think. If you have the capacity and the craving for wisdom, you can receive wisdom from many teachers.

Lots of people have limited themselves to learning from only a few sources. While yet students, they have somehow determined their own worth. Even while in an early learning stage, they judge the master, mentor or teacher and determine whether those individuals are worthy to teach them.

As limited as their capacity is, they still pre-judge many pieces of information and the messengers of that information. True masters must sit and chuckle. They must also shed a very sad tear more often than not. And Jesus, who sees all, must be required to work his patience continually as we walk past His wisdom and disregard it day after day.

The visionary sees how little he knows yet the ignorant man knows all. The visionary sees the possibilities and looks to the horizon all too aware of his shortcomings, because he sees them. But the ignorant man doesn't see, and believes he knows all there is to know. He doesn't even know that he is ignorant or that ignorance is not to be desired.

This is the nature of ignorance. He doesn't see and because he doesn't see, he doesn't think that possibilities exist and therefore they can't be. I have to remind myself everyday that vision is a gift and that not everybody has it.

Even though you work to show people the glory of God in them and in those around them, you have to first wake them up to the possibility that there is more to life than what they currently see. Many Christians are like that. They can talk about the grandeur of God with words and mental assent, but they can't or won't really see. I would say they can't because they won't.

To see is to be opened up to wisdom and He, Jesus, is wisdom and with wisdom comes a calling and a responsibility that will not go away. (This is not the time, to curl your brow and say, "what the heck are you talking about?" That would put you into the category of the uninterested and the uninitiated and that would make you a sorry and ignorant case. The Bible calls that ignorant person a fool.)

There are no two people who are exactly alike. God did that on purpose so that we would need each other. Where you are weak, I can be strong. And where I am weak, I need you to be strong.

Still in our ignorance many of us still try to be the master over everything. I clearly remember my high school coach screaming at me, "Stratton, do your job. Stop trying to do everybody else's job." When I would get in a game and my mind would focus on the point of attack, I would over run the play while trying to help someone else do their job. Then the running back would run by me right at the place I should have been.

"Play your position. Execute your assignment. Let the other players take responsibility for their performance. Stop trying to win the game by yourself. You are hurting the team." I did this because in my mind, some of the other players weren't as fast or as strong as I was. I didn't have the confidence in them that I needed to have. I couldn't see what the coaches saw. I couldn't see their strengths and it hurt my performance and the overall performance of the team.

As I have matured, I have been forced to recognize my shortcomings. With this recognition came a choice. I either try to hide these traits or I address them and associate with others who can make up for my weakness.

In order to associate with people who are strong in areas that I am weak, I will potentially subject myself to feelings of inadequacy if I don't have a solid knowledge of the gift that is in me. If I don't know what my assignment is or what my role is, then I will continually be intimidated by the strength in those who do. I will feel left out and that brings me back to what God showed me in that parking lot back in 1986.

People who feel left out need to be taught to plug in. We need to expand our teaching to include all of the gifts that are vital to the Body and not just the ones that we can display on television.

We need to encourage ourselves to discover joy in exploring people different than ourselves and to learn to celebrate their uniqueness and their assignments. When we do this we will be able to stay our own courses with more certitude. We won't be trying to do everything. We will have a greater appreciation for the varied assignments that individuals have and work very hard to see that no one is excluded.

Then, we will know that only when everybody is assigned and prospering will we be at our very best. One can put a thousand to flight and two can put ten thousand. "Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Your deliverance and your power lies in your willingness to explore, celebrate, and support the anointing in someone else.

You cannot and never will be able to do all that you are called to do alone. And until you learn to listen long enough to appreciate someone different than yourself, you will forever be lost in the land of the ignorant and you won't even know it. The trumpet is sounding…. Can you hear it? The Master does.

Everywhere I go, I listen. God gave me the concept of the ProVision Network fifteen years ago and many are beginning to understand what is being developed. People are waking up to their roles and the importance of their assignments because there is a system in place now that says, "We care about you. We do want to plug you in and we do want to see you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. What is your passion? What is your dream?"

We want to know and we want to encourage and equip you to achieve it. We know you have one. We know that in that dream is your assignment and in the fulfillment of your assignment will come advancement for the whole Body of Christ. You are so very important to God and you are so very important to us. I may not have the capacity to see it or appreciate it, right away, but if you are willing to stir your gift up and reveal it to the rest of us, we are willing to grow, learn and understand.

Be not ignorant, my brethren. Love one another.