(June 7, 2009)

If you are trying to fill needs, then you must have vision. Only certain needs stick to us. But, how do you know that a vision is from God? What does God really have me to do with this life? If you don't know what to do, ask God!

You need to know that you know that you know God's plan and that you are operating in God's plan for your life. You need to have a secure knowledge that you are on the right track.

Before you can go forward, you need to look at the seven traffic lights for your life:

1. Continual Passion. Can I shake this thing or does it keep coming up? Is it exciting for one day or does it have staying power? Is it a continual passion? Is it the thing that gets you out of bed? If it's a vision from God, how long have you had a passion about it? If you can shake it, it's not from God...it is a red light.

2. Make It Public. When God gives a vision, he tells the leader, but not everyone else. It's up to the leader to spread the word. After it's been on your heart for some time, God will have you share it. You won't want to share because you may feel it's illogical, impossible, overwhelming, and you don't know how it's going to be accomplished. God will challenge you. The bigger the vision, the more fear that you may have. You have to take the risk of rejection. Go to the right person to publically share. Don't be too cautious--a yellow light--when you share, but do choose the right person to share it with. Ask yourself: Am I able to handle rejection and criticism?

3. Persistant Prayer. Am I praying about the vision or am I just planning? There is a shift from dependence on God to independence. This is a big red light. When there is a problem, do you pray or plan? If you plan, you are pulling the vision away from God and you begin to mold it and make it, causing selfishness and ego trips rise up.

4. A Big Picture Plan. There still needs to be a overall, ballpark plan. It is general and not specific. You must know that what, but you don't need to know the how. Christians don't tend to operate like Christians nowadays. God gives you the vision and he also takes care of the how. You need to follow His lead, not your own. If we aren't careful, the plan or program becomes the vision instead of becoming the heart of the vision. Plans can be scrapped at anytime, but the vision should never be cast off. If the plan becomes the vision and the plan is scrapped, so is the vision. Do you think you have a green light right now? Then the next thing is...

5. Submission to Authority. Nehemiah had the King's blessing to study the scripture. He had the blessing of the authority. Authority is there to protect you and guide you. Do you have the blessing of those who have Godly authority over you? If you are under Godly authority and you don't feel like submitting, don't rebel, just leave. Always obey God over man. Rebellion from Godly authority isn't rebellion from the authority, it's rebellion from God. You need to identify what stop light applies here.

6. Pure Motives. If you don't have pure motives, then you have selfish ambition. Do my actions create blessings for others, or do they bring selfish attention to myself? Watch the way you talk. When you have selfish motives, God cannot bless you and your life is headed for judgement. Where does selfish ambition come from: satan! Who do you think invented it? When your motive is to constantly beat someone else, know where it's coming from...a major red light. Read James 3:17-18 to understand what pure motives are. God doesn't call us to compete. He calls us to create.

7. Real Peace. Do you have a real peace about this vision? If God begins pulling you away, then you have to be willing to wait for God to open the proper doors.

Understand that if God gives you a red light at any point, you must stop. However, if green lights continually reveal themselves throughout all of these steps, you will know that you know that you know that you are on the right track!

- Jon Bruney
(credit to Dr. Bruce Wilkinson)