Brief Description
It’s the end of 2019 and soon we will be talking our vision/plan for the New Year. But, the reality is by mid-March we either forge the plan or decide it takes too much work to see it come to pass. Well, I came across this amazing insight on the birth of a vision, from Harvest Time studies, and thought it was the perfect time to share lesson/blog style. 🙂
Table of Contents
Objectives
- You will be able to explain the birth process of a vision.
- You will be able to identify your current birth process stage.
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish.
kEY VERSE
Materials Needed
- Paper
- Pen
- Bible
- Strategies for Spiritual Harvest Chapter One: The Birth of a Vision
Lesson
The New Year is coming and there’s no avoiding it. So how can we (saved/unsaved) avoid the New Year resolution cycle? You know the cycle, the cycle where we make a list of all thing things we are going to do in the next year and then after three months the list barely exists, because of lack of planning or lack of execution! Well, after doing some studying I found this GREAT lesson on the birth of a vision. And in it the author outlines various steps in a vision and I believe one of the major reasons why most of us never reach our goals is because we don’t understand all that goes into seeing a vision come to pass. Admittedly, I’m in the same boat. Time and time again, I’ve started things and stopped because I really didn’t understand the birthing process. So today, I just want to outline the birthing process and then we will be done. 🙂
1. Conception:
“Conception” means to create. The first step in birthing a vision is to create it. What exactly do you envision yourself doing? What vision has God given you that you’d like to pursue? Pray and meditate on the vision, then once you have it write it down. You don’t have to have all of the details/the ins and outs at this stage in the game. Right now, the vision is only a concept, but it exists in the embryo state.
2. Development:
An embryo is a basic cell of life. Just like the development of the human embryo, the vision must develop over time! We have to ensure the vision remains in embryo form so that all of its features can develop fully! This is where a lot of us go wrong. We get an idea and then we run with it without allowing the vision to properly grow. But, like an unborn child if the vision is not developed within you fully it will die.
The development stage is a stretching experience just like it is for a mother. Just as a mother carries her child within her body, when you receive the vision it is with you constantly. It becomes a vital, living part of you. It draws from your own life source as well as from the divine source which conceived it.
While the baby is developing, a pregnant mother will deny herself of certain things. As your vision develops, you may have to do this also. You may have to deny yourself of your own plans, ambitions, and impulses. You will have to sacrifice time!
3. Travail:
In microwave society it’s hard to hear things like…it’s going to take time or you’re going to have to travail! The reality is if you want to see the vision come to pass you’ll have to go through a travailing stage. Ecclesiastes 5:3 states: For a dream cometh through the multitude of business. (Ecclesiastes 5:3) The meaning of the word “multitude” is great. “Business”, according to one Hebrew meaning, is travail [difficulty]. So a dream or vision comes through “great travail.”
In natural birth there are facts about travail that parallel our situation. Natural travail is a time of intense, concentrated effort to birth the child. This time of travail is also called “labor.” As in the delivery of a child, a vision is birthed by intense mental, physical, and spiritual concentration.
In the natural world during labor [travail], the one giving birth must let the natural forces take control. Physically forcing the child into the birth canal before it opens can kill the child. The same is true in the case of your vision. Let God take control of your life. If you try to birth the vision in your own strength it will abort the mission. Everything within you may cry out to push and bring the vision forth with natural abilities. But by self-effort you can destroy the vision. As a mother in travail hides herself from public gaze, so those in travail spiritually must be alone with God
4. The Time of Transition:
In the natural birth process there is a time during labor known as the time of “transition.” It is the most difficult time of travail right before the birth canal is open to permit the birth of the child. This parallels the birth of a vision.
When God births in you a vision you will experience a time of transition. Transition means change. As God gives you this vision it is going to require change in your life. It will call for new commitment and dedication. You may experience pressure in every area of your life. Everything within you may want to quit and this is another point where many.
Time and time again God has brought His people to the time of transition to birth His vision within them. But because the transition was too difficult many have turned back. They could not take the pressure of this most difficult time. It required changes in their thought patterns and lifestyle which they were not willing to make. They could not abandon self-effort and tradition. They could not set aside their own ambitions and desires to embrace the plan of God.
Travail brings sorrow but it leads to the birth which brings joy: A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembered no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. (John 16:21) We are told in Isaiah 53:11 that God witnessed the travail of Jesus Christ and was satisfied. A vision was fulfilled that day on Calvary…a vision that had been promised since the fall of man into sin (Genesis 3:15).
Through travail, the vision of redemption from sin became a reality. Travail is a painful experience, but it is only through travail that the vision can be birthed. When you’re in the travail stage just don’t GIVE UP. You’re almost there!
The Birth:
The development of a spiritual vision has an expected end, just as a human embryo. That end is birth. After birth in the natural world the child continues to grow and develop. After the birth of your vision it will continue to grow and develop. It will have new features and form, but they all must continue to develop over time.
Practical Application
- Write down your vision for 2020
- Write down an execution plan to carry out the vision
- Meditate and pray on both the vision and the execution plan
- Execute the plan
- Reflect on the plan periodically to ensure you haven’t lost sight of the vision
- Never give up
Trust me guys, I know it’s not easy. I’m in the travail process for a few things I my life, but once I get past this stage I know there is joy on the other side! If you need help staying focused or have any comments or concerns don’t hesitate to reach out. Comment, share, and like. 🙂 Talk to you soon.
Have Fun,
Tiff B.
