What is the vision for your life?

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree," goes the quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, "and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe."  Which left two hours to do the actual chopping.   In other words, he would spend twice as much time working on the tools of the job as he would on the task itself.  

And in the task called LIFE, what are the tools of the job?  They are simply YOU; you are the axe.  And no one knew better than our 16th president, who poured enormous effort during his young life into making himself into the sharpest, strongest, truest "axe" he possible could.

It is time well spent yearly to FOCUS, to sharpen the tools (YOU) to make the most out of the LIFE God has given.                               

This is the third installment of FOCUS.  We have spent time on:
1) Setting Goals ~ Specific, Attainable & Written out (to keep the goals before you)
2) Mission~ A one-word mission to be your focus for the year 

....and today, I'm going  to share about creating a LIFE VISION, which is focused on the future.

The future is your most powerful tool and your best friend.  Devote some serious time and effort into designing a clear picture of where you are going (what you are living for).  

{A Life Vision is a big picture; it is a dream that God  has put in your heart that cannot be accomplished in short term ~ it is a life-long pursuit and beyond.}

Vision is a picture of a future that God passionately desires & calls us to reach.  

1} A vision (dream) is a picture in your mind ~ you must be able to see it in your head before you can believe it will be fulfilled in life.

• When my husband and I were going to build a house, we went through the model to see what the house will look like when it is completed.  When the Lord gives us a vision (dream for the future), we get a "model" of what the vision will look like when its fulfilled in our life.

2} A vision (dream) reveals deep desires ~ the vision will resonate with the passion of your heart; there are deep desires that lie beneath the vision 

• Martin Luther King Jr had a vision (dream) that came from deep desires in his heart; he could see the vision before it came to fulfillment

3} A vision (dream) motivates ~ vision motivate because visualizing them activates the hope that they can be reached.   When the vision becomes part of who you are, others will be influenced to work toward the vision with you.  

• God placed a dream (vision) in Nehemiah's heart to repair the walls & gates around the city of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:1-4).  He motivated others in Jerusalem to join him in completing the vision God gave him. 

4} A vision (dream) ignores obstacles ~ when obstacles present themselves (money, time, etc) picturing the vision of future has an amazing power to keep your heart motivated to keep you engaged.  Keep the vision before you. 

• Every good story has a conflict (in books & movies) & we stay engaged to see how the main character will overcome the conflict....think of this every time you experience obstacles to your dream. 

5} A vision (dream) connects us to heaven ~ Because our vision (dream) describes an ideal (the way heaven would remodel our world), they have a certain supernatural quality.   

• Every true dream (vision) is grounded in heaven, because every true desire was created to find its ultimate fulfillment there (Hebrews 11:16).

How to find VISION (Dream):

• What gets you excited about the Lord and His Kingdom?
• What would you die for?
• What is a dream that you have?
• What burns in your heart?
• What is it that truly makes you come alive?  
• What do you want to be said of you at the judgment seat about your life?
• If everyone on earth was paid $20/hour for work, regardless of the type of job, what would you do?  If money were not a factor, what would you do?
• How would you finish this sentence:  If only I could ______________________________________________________