Are YOU Getting in the Way of the Vision?


I am often asked advise about this subject. The person typically asking doesn't usually know how to ask the question, or they've asked using different terminology or words. It is usually a musician, actor or model, but quite often it is the leader of a floundering non-profit, or a small business owner. The unspoken or unrealized question is, "Am I getting in the way of my vision?"

Here's an example:

I have a wonderful friend with this amazing God-given vision to help people through their non-profit organization. They spend hours working on projects that appear to advance the God-given vision. These were usually people asking for serious help, the very kind of help that my friend offers through the non-profit.

People want to help you accomplish the vision, but you have to let them!
God had brought several individuals who shared the Vision. My friend accepted them warmly and they even began volunteering their time to help people. In fact, after a short time of training, a few of them could do most of what my friend could do. After a while these volunteers became frustrated and thought about leaving. Why? They were begging my friend to stop doing so much of the work and to LET THEM HELP!

"These are…also anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." Zechariah 4:4

Unfortunately, my friend wasn't very good at listening. My friend wanted so much to help individuals that they lost sight of the bigger picture, GOD's VISION. My friend had an "I have to do this myself" mentality that they just couldn't seem to shake. My friend would sort-of give the volunteers something to do. What I mean by "sort-of" is that my friend would give two or more of the volunteers the exact same work to do, when it only took one person to do that work--or my friend would agree to pass off the work, but then do it themselves.

At one point some of the volunteers began coming to me hoping I could help my friend understand them. They really wanted to help my friend ease the work load, so that my friend could do the one thing EVERYONE ELSE KNEW NEEDED TO BE DONE: be the leader, not the worker; and build the business side of the non-profit.

Actually, they approached several people besides me, hoping all of us could try and get through, using the "strength in numbers" approach. After several months of trying, my friend still wasn't listening.

Then there was the other really big problem:
Every time an opportunity appeared that would allow my friend to Be The Leader and Build the Business Side of the Organization, something came up:
1) Someone else would come along with an immediate cry for help that my friend just couldn't pass onto one of the very well qualified volunteers
2) A family crisis' came along (something really horrible and troubling of course)
3) The water (electric, phone/internet), was going to be turned off
4) They became very sick and unable to work
5) The property manager was going to throw them out for lack of payment on the rent.

This kind of thing would happen every time, without exception.

EVERY TIME

As time went on my friend found themselves with less and less finances to continue, more and more weariness, and they were ill with successively more serious illness.

EVERY TIME!

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8

I think this Bible verse illustrates the problem pretty well. My friend was double minded. They couldn't choose which they wanted to do more, follow the leading and call of God, or listen to fear. It was really fear that was keeping my friend from succeeding. Fear of what, you ask? Perhaps a number of things such as fear of success, fear of doing something they'd never done in the past, fear of people, or fear of letting other people down. One thing was certain; my friend was going two directions that were polar opposites. One would bring success, the other would bring failure. My friend was trying to go both directions at the same time. My friend was trying to follow a big God-given Vision, but was pulled down by day-to-day problems.

One day my friend came to me asking for prayer concerning both finances and illness. It seemed like I had the perfect opportunity. I had to tell them something they didn't want to hear. Have you ever been in that position? When it comes you have two choices, you can keep your mouth shut and watch a friend and the vision slowly fall apart, or you can risk loosing the friendship and speak up (again, and again and again, ad-infinitum).

What my friend needed was a good lesson about Distraction, and how there is an intentionality behind Distraction. It is a purposeful response to God's opening of doors to bless us and advance the vision. Its purpose is to keep us from fulfilling our God-given vision in life (Read that again).

When you have a God-given vision to help people, enemies come along. They often appear as wonderful opportunities to help others. The Enemy (some call him Satan), will come at you with wonderful things that need to be done; people to help; serious projects to be completed, crisis' that must be dealt with--NOW!

There is an appropriate observation noted in the Bible that certainly applies to such Distractions found in 2 Corinthians 11:14 (New International Version), "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."

These things happen at exactly the moment when other God-given opportunities come along. The kind of "open doors" that often look small and insignificant, but when walked through will bring an organization, individual or band the visibility needed to really be what God intends.

The fruit of following Distraction are exactly what my friend experienced:
Illness
Lack of Finances
Exhaustion from helping other people with no real help coming to their organization in return

What was my friend NOT doing right?

1)   Praying. There is a right way to pray. My friend was very good at DOING, but didn't do a good job of simply stopping and praying for God to prosper what they were doing and leading them. My friend would ask for prayer for individuals that were being helped, or for financial problems, illness, etc., but when prayers for "open doors" to advance the organization were answered the friend would find some good reason not to follow through. This meant my friend needed to pray that they would be given the wisdom and strength to follow through, too.

2)   Distraction. When you make a decision to do something or say you are going to do it, You Must Do It. There were so many times when my friend made a commitment to speak to someone who wanted to do something that would give their organization media attention, or would bring in much needed income. Every time there was such an opportunity my friend went down under the weight of solving all the "crises" that came along. When it was time for the meeting, my friend sent an e-mail or made a brief call (or asked someone else to do it), asking to meet another time, or explaining that they were too ill (usually true), to meet.

3)   Listening to Good Counsel: My friend had SEVERAL people trying to help, but would only listen occasionally (that's being gracious). When it came to this issue, my friend had closed ears and refused to listen, and only asked for help to do the very things that my friend alone HAD TO DO in order to prosper the organization. In other words, my friend listened to either exhaustion or fear and wanted someone else to do the work for them, do the meeting for them, do the interview for them, make the phone call for them, write the letter for them,  do the television show for them. Those wanting the meeting WANTED MY FRIEND, not someone who advises or helps my friend.

If it is your organization, there is no one better equipped to share the vision. There is no one better at being the spokesperson than YOU.

When you are staring your own organization and there is very little help, you do need to do most of the work yourself. However, as organizations start to grow and you do begin to have help, you have to learn to let go of the one thing you love doing most--and SHARE it. You need to let other people share the burden.

Here's a little secret about God-given visions. Ready?

It isn't about you.
It is NOT your vision.
It is NOT your work.
It is NOT for you.

It is for GOD.
It is GOD's Vision, and God intends for other people to join you in accomplishing HIS VISION.

Maybe God wants to help Thousands of people at a time through the organization He has called you to build for Him. God wants to help more than the ONE person at a time that YOU are helping. By refusing to step up to the plate and LEAD, and let others do the grunt work, you are actually being selfish.

YOUR JOB is sharing the vision with others so that they will in turn accept the call to JOIN YOU in accomplishing GOD's Vision. If you selfishly refuse to walk through every open door God is giving you to prosper and bring visibility to what you are doing, then God will find someone else who is willing to take up the challenge and be the leader.

Which brings me back to where I started:

Are YOU Getting in the Way of the Vision?

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