Without a vision, you have no sense of purpose for your existence. But when you have a vision for your life, it provides you with a goal. It gives you purpose, direction, boundaries, limitations, and perimeters.
With that vision before you, you have something to pursue, to follow after, to shoot for with your life.
For instance, even when I was a young college kid, I knew God had called me to the ministry. I even knew what kind of ministry I would have. So with that vision before me, I began to pick and choose which classes I needed and did not need.
Because God called me to be an exegetical teacher, I knew I needed to learn ancient Greek and thus enrolled in ancient Greek class. He also informed me that I would be writing books, so I knew I needed to enroll in journalism. My God-given vision provided direction and guidance for my life.
You see, when you know God’s will, it simplifies the choices you make in life. God’s plan is like a measuring stick to help you measure what is needed or right for your life versus what is not needed or right for you.
Right now I have a very specific call to the nations of the former Soviet Union and Europe. Yet every day I am presented with marvelous opportunities to do good things in other parts of the world.
But just because they are good things doesn’t mean I am the one who’s supposed to do them. I must judge each opportunity by asking myself, “How does this fit into the vision God has given me? Does it fit into the role God has assigned for my life?”
If the answer is, “This is a great idea, but it doesn’t add to the vision God gave me,” then I know the opportunity isn’t for me. It may be a God-inspired dream for someone to pursue, but that someone isn’t me.
You see, my vision gives me guidelines and perimeters for my life and ministry. Without those perimeters, I would run all over the world and end up doing all kinds of good works.
I would spend loads of money, expend huge amounts of energy, and invest a lot of valuable time doing good things that were not necessarily right things for me.
That’s why having a vision helps me make the right decisions when faced with these types of choices. It also helps me prioritize when I plan my calendar or when I must choose how to invest my money, time, and energy.
I ask myself, “How does this new opportunity fit into the picture God gave me? Does this expenditure promote the vision God gave me to fulfill? Is this the best use of my time and energy, or is this a distraction to pull me away from my God-given assignment?”
Your presence on this planet was not accidental, nor was it an afterthought. God planned your life. He brought you into this world so you would contribute something valuable.
So seek God diligently until you receive revelation regarding His plan for you. Once that plan is revealed, get into the flow of faith and stay there for the rest of your life.
The only way you’ll accomplish God’s plan is by living in the realm of faith and staying determined to do whatever God asks you to do. Both faith and diligence are required if you want to be successful in fulfilling your God-given life assignment.
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Rick and Denise met while they were each on an individual quest to wholeheartedly follow God's plan for their lives. Rick was a college student, growing in his teaching ministry. Denise was a talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a course that held the prospect of performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that she could instead pursue a relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart's desire to enter full-time ministry.
Rick and Denise's friendship has led to lifelong love and a powerful partnership in building the Kingdom of God. After a decade of ministry, first as pastor and then as itinerant ministers, Rick and Denise Renner embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. In January 1991, the Renners and their sons Paul, Philip, and Joel left behind all they knew to relocate their family to serve the region that only weeks earlier had become the former Soviet Union.
Rick and Denise remember kneeling together as a family and kissing the ground when they arrived at the airport in Latvia on that cold January day. At that moment, they all committed their lives to the will of God and to the people of their new homeland. The following year, Rick moved forward to launch and establish the first of its kind, and eventually the largest, a Christian television network in that region of the world.
Over the years, Rick and Denise pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a women's ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans, women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.
Rick, Denise, and their children began as a small circle of five, willing to go beyond their comfort zone to reach the uttermost parts of the world. Today that circle includes their sons' wives, six grandchildren, and a large ministry staff that helps the Renners extend their reach as they exalt Jesus Christ as the Hope of all nations.