VISION FOR IMPACT (7)

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the HEAVENLY VISION” – Acts 26:19

Paul the apostle, on trial before King Agrippa, revealed the legal and heavenly attributes of VISION for IMPACT: “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the HEAVENLY VISION” (Acts 26:19). This was a major secret of Paul’s highly impactful life and ministry: The Vision became a Law that he must never be disobedient to! This aligns with the Old Testament truth regarding the Law of Vision: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Pro.29:18, KJV).

Acts 9 narrates how Saul, who became Paul, was met by the Lord on the road to Damascus. This strong young man, zealous for God and for the Law, was on a mission to go and arrest the Jews in Damascus who believed in the so-called heretic teaching of “Jesus of Nazareth.” But when the Lord Jesus appeared to him in His Glory, Saul was blinded outwardly yet full of sight inwardly. He saw a heavenly vision, a vision of Christ and the Church, which controlled and governed his life going forward. This vision kept him going, motivating and strengthening him to follow the Lord for the rest of his life!

From the moment he caught the vision of the Lord, he decided to follow and serve. He neither vacillated nor veered from the vision. In the first few days after the encounter, Saul received God’s purpose for his life, as God spoke to Ananias concerning him: “Go, for he is a chose vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9: 15-16). Paul continued in the light of this vision statement all through his apostolic ministry, without wavering, confidently declaring, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (v.19).

Believers in Christ need to encounter the heavenly Vision, which must begin to energize, inspire, motivate, control, and govern our living. The Lord may not visit us in such a, outward, dramatic, and glorious manner, but through His Word and His ministers, as He appears to us in His Glory to reveal His heavenly Vision. Captured by His Vision, we are enabled and equipped to fulfil God’s Purpose in life. This is what it means to not be DISOBEDIENT to the heavenly Vision. It becomes a LAW to us, not one option among many alternatives. The way we live, speak, and conduct life will be controlled by the heavenly vision.

Like Paul, God has given each of His children, a heavenly Vision that we must not be disobedient to; it must become our Law! The heavenly vision gives meaning and purpose to our lives, energizing, motivating, and supplying endurance (Heb.12: 1-2). Where there’s a Vision, there’s a Way. No matter the challenges that may lay ahead, the heavenly Vision takes us through!