Vision Requires Planning - David Mitts

Week 14: Vision Requires Planning

A complete vision requires planning. Planning takes humility and courage.  Humility because what keeps us from planning in detail is perhaps uncertainty about the future and about our ability to succeed with our plans.

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15 NKJV)

Here God lays out not only the vision for redemption but the plan.  He declares a war between the seed of man, which includes all humans but also Yeshua and the seed of the deceiver.  The deceiver’s seed will plan to bruise the heel of man and the Son of Man.  Yeshua will crush the head or authority of Satan.

Listen to Vision Requires Planning

The heel is the place of destiny as Jacob was named Jacob because he grabbed Esau’s heel.  Why? You ask? Good question: We have to look at the Hebrew.

Jacob in Hebrew is Ya-Acov.  Yah is God’s name. Acov or ekev means heel.  So Jacob’s anointing is to bring God’s plan and purpose to the bruising of the heel by satan.  What is the bruising of Satan?  Well it is the thorn in the flesh of the Apostle Paul.

You see satan has a strategy to bruise the plan of God for our lives.  What is bruising?  It is bleeding from injury under the skin or under the surface.  Bruises are internal injuries which cause a tenderness and sensitivity in an area.

In spiritual terms, bruises are where satan has lied to us about who we are and who God is in our lives.  They are the marks of the deceiver under the skin.

We have the expression, “you let him get under your skin” to describe, what? A person triggering us in a way to where it pulls us off center.  These are from the bruising.  

How do we heal from bruises?  Well, in the natural, our immune system absorbs the blood and heals the blood vessels that are damaged.  In order for that to happen, there is a plan, a blueprint that the immune system follows.  It always follows the plan and heals us.  In our spiritual life and into our soul life God has a plan for our healing of our emotional bruises.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV)

Our bruises are the sore spots in our character that keep us in reaction in life, and off our destiny.  Yeshua was bruised for our bruises, or what is called iniquity.  Iniquity is generational sin.  It is the patterns we learn from those who have gone before.  Iniquities are deeper than habits.  Yeshua was crushed, bruised for healing those patterns.  He wants us to plan for a new future that is NOT predictable from the past.

God tells us in Jeremiah that there is a new plan for our lives.  When we yield our lives to Him it is for a new plan,

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

The word in Hebrew translated “plans” or in some versions, “thoughts” is the root “machshev” from where we get the modern root of computer.  A computer has 2 components, hardware and software.  Software the possibilities of the computer.  The thoughts and plans of the computer.

God has designed for us a life of possibilities that are full of prosperity and hope, plans for a good future.

God has also blessed us with His image.  This means we are planners.

We have to take our dreams and plan them into reality.  Many Believers have taken a hands-off approach to their lives.  They resort to “if it’s God’s will then this or that will happen”.  Yet that flies in the face of the parable of the talents.  God has called us to a life of accomplishment and He has placed in reality and in His Word processes for that reality to be experienced.

One scriptural example among many is the classic proverb about the ant:

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8 NIV)

There is an admonishment to plan our work and work our plan with wisdom.

So, if we want to live successful fruitful lives, we need to convert our dreams into plans.

Borrowing from Steven Scott, this is called dream conversion.  We take the dream that God has put into our hearts and we convert it into reality through Dream Conversion which is a blueprint or a plan.

Four step process:

1. Break each dream into specific goals

2. List the specific steps needed to accomplish each goal

3. List the specific tasks needed to accomplish each step

4. Assign a target date for each task.

So, the tasks lead to steps along the way, which lead to goals, which turn into your dreams.

We can dream great dreams, which we are called to do by activating the Holy Spirit in us that has been poured out by the Lord.  But to turn them into reality we need to be bold enough to set goals, define action steps, generate appropriate tasks and set dates.

Activation:

First let’s pray and ask the Lord for the dream He wants us to work on today.. Then let’s visualize it complete with us in it. How does it feel?

Ok. Now we are going to break the dream into benchmarks or goals.

Write a series of goals.

OK< now what steps do we need to take for each goal?

Finally, what tasks do we need to do.

Set target dates for each task.

This is the process of the top 1-2% people. Why not you? Why not now?