“Sight is what you see with your eyes open; vision is what you see with your eyes closed”
Pastor Mike Todd

What is Vision?

M ost of the world refers to the unseen when we talk about vision. When a leader invites you to a vision meeting, you know not to expect to be talking about your visual acuity or doing eye tests. We understand that unless we are actually at the ophthalmologist’s when we speak of ‘vision’, we are referring to an abstract concept encompassing mental images of what we expect or hope to come to pass in the future. But that’s a bit of a mouthful, right? So let’s agree on a working definition of vision here: 

Vision is what you see in your mind with imagination and wisdom. 

This covers the bases of a vision not being reality yet since it’s in your mind. But by applying wisdom to the imagination, the vision has the chance of becoming reality. Within a vision lies the eagerness to see it come to pass. It isn’t just a daydream that you can either choose to do something about or not. A vision wants to happen. It doesn’t just want to stay a thought or a plan. 

What is Prophetic Vision?

You’ve likely heard the term ‘having 20/20 vision’ used colloquially to mean perfect sight. But that is actually not the case, as 20/20 vision is considered average vision. 20/20 vision means when you stand 20 feet (6 metres) away from an eye chart, you can see all the lines an average person can see. We don’t know about you, but that suddenly does not seem as special as we thought it would be. Having 20/15 vision is much better for example, as it means that whatever the average person can only read at 15 feet (4.6 metres) distance, you can still read at 20 feet distance. 

And here we were getting excited to title this devotional ‘Restoring 20/20 Vision’ thinking we’re being cute/clever, because we are stepping into 2020.

But now we know, at least when it comes to spiritual vision, we do not want to be average; we want to be exceptional! This isn’t because of a misplaced competitive spirit, but rather because spiritual blindness can equate to premature death. Proverbs 29:18 in some translations says ‘where there is no vision, my people perish’. This vision isn’t a business vision, it is prophetic revelation from God. A revelation of Himself, His will in general, and His will for you. Therefore prophetic vision is revelation from God of the future He intends to make a reality. 

As described in Revelation 21 (and a few other places in the Bible we might add) God’s vision is going to come to pass regardless of our actions. But to do our part in proactively achieving God’s vision during our lives, we must first know His vision and our God-given purpose, so we can create vision plans.

Why does this all matter?

So why Restore Vision 2020? Well, in the beginning Adam and Eve had a perfectly clear understanding of God’s vision, their purpose and plan that got really messed up. They were BFFs with God until they chose to divert their sight to the serpent and adopted his corrupted vision by following his plans. Today, we can see parts of God’s vision clearly too, which can lead us to following Christ in the first place. But too often life gets in the way. We find ourselves seeing God less and less clearly. His vision for us becomes blurry, replaced by another, or lost entirely.

On Day 4 we will be tuning into God’s vision. But in brief, despite much of God’s wisdom being unfathomable (Romans 11:34), His ultimate vision is for a unified Kingdom, “on Earth, as it is in Heaven.” Everything we do in life should be supporting that vision becoming reality in our own unique way. 

We all have plans for our lives, which is totally fine with God. In fact, Matthew 7:7-8 makes clear that God will provide when we ask him because He wants us to live our best lives. But making plans needs to be considered carefully. That’s because when our plans are not harmonious with God’s vision, we risk failing to fulfil our purpose. We’ll review purpose and plans in more detail on Day 5 and 6 respectively.

For the next 21 days, we will spend time doing some corrective surgery and training our spiritual eyes so that we can see God’s vision clearly, know His purpose and create appropriate vision plans.

In Summary

Vision is what you see in your mind with imagination and wisdom. But prophetic vision is revelation from God of the future He intends to make a reality. To achieve God’s vision for our lives, we must first know His vision and our God-given purpose, so we can create vision plans.

Questions to ask yourself

1. What do you believe God’s vision is for you?

2. With 1 being Terrible and 10 be Perfect, how would you rate how clear you are on what God’s vision is right now?

3. What could make His vision more clear to you?

4. When was the last time you felt you were clear on His vision? What made it so clear?

A prayer to get you started

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love towards me. Thank you that you desire to share your vision with me. I want to be right with you Lord and I thank you for taking this journey with me. Help me to use the next 21 days to confront any false vision I have; to help me tune in to your vision; to understand the purpose you have for my life; and to help me plan my life so I can live it in accordance with your vision.

In Jesus’ Name I pray,

Amen.

Further Reading

Genesis 3 tells us the story of the Fall
Proverbs 29:18 talks about the importance of vision
Revelation 21 shows God’s vision

Up Next

Tomorrow we review Vision Gone Wrong: Correction Through Repentance.

 Thanks for reading

We hope you enjoy our Devotional.

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