DEVELOP A CONCRETE PLAN FOR YOUR VISION

Proverbs chapter 16










Today we are walking in: Develop a Concrete Plan for Your Vision










Habakkuk 2:2




And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, ​ and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
















VISION
















Today we look to the word​ VISION- H2377 chazown- vision(in ecstatic state)​, vision​s​ (in night)​, oracle, prophecy (divine communication)​, vision (as title of book of prophecy)​ ​from H2372; a sight (mentally), i.e. a dream, revelation, or oracle:—vision. to see, perceive, look, behold, prophesy, provide​, ​to see, behold​, to see as a seer in the ecstatic state​, to see, perceive with the intelligence​, to see (by experience)​, to provide



















The Torah testifies........




Numbers 24:4




He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw ​ the vision H2377 of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:




Numbers 24:16




He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw ​the vision H2377 of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:



















The prophets proclaim.........

1​ ​Samuel 3:1




And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days;there was no open vision H2377. ​







Jeremiah 14:14




Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision H2377 ​ and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
















The writings bear witness.........




1​ ​Chronicles 17:15




According to all these words, and according to all this vision H2377, ​so did Nathan speak unto David.







Psalm 89:19




Then thou spakest in vision ​H2377 to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.












Principle #3:

Develop a Concrete Plan for Your Vision

To man belong the plans of the heart. —Proverbs 16:1




Third, to be successful, you must have a clear plan. There is no future without planning. I’ve known people who tried to be successful over and over again without a plan. It never works.







Yah Gives the Vision, and We Make the Plans







When I was a teenager I kept wondering why Yah didn’t seem to be guiding me in my life. Perhaps you are wondering the same thing about your own life. I used to want Yah to show me His will at night in my room, so I would stay up all night with one eye open, just waiting. I used to pray, “Oh, Most High, let the angels show up.” Then I would look and there would be nothing but mosquitoes. Sometimes, I would hear a little noise outside and I would open the door, thinking that the angels had shown up. Yet when I looked outside, all I would see was a rat running across the yard. Some angel!










I persisted in wanting Yah to show Himself to me and to guide me. Whenever they sang a certain song, I used to sing it the loudest: “Lead me, guide me, along the way!” One day, as I was singing this song, I felt as if the Most High was saying to me, “Lead you along what way?” I realized then that if you don’t have a plan, Yah doesn’t have anything specific to direct you in.










Proverbs 16:1 says, “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Most High comes the reply of the tongue.” That’s a very powerful statement. Yah is saying, in effect,

“I gave you the vision. Now you put the plan on paper, and I will work out the details.” Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Most High determines his steps.” If you don’t have a plan, how can He direct you?







Have you expressed to Yah what is in your heart, and have you presented Him with your plan for accomplishing it? The Bible says that Yah will give you the desires of your heart if you will delight in Him (Psalm 37:4). However, it also implies that Yah will direct your steps once you make a concrete plan to move toward what you desire.







Ideas are seeds of destiny planted by Yah in the minds of humankind. When ideas are cultivated, they become imagination. Imagination, if it is watered and developed, becomes a plan. Finally, if a plan is followed, it becomes a reality. However, when a person receives an idea from Yah, it must be cultivated soon or the idea often goes away. If that person doesn’t ever work on the idea, Yah will give it to someone else. Inevitably, if the second person takes the idea, makes a plan, and starts to work on it, the first person will become jealous because he had the idea first! Yet it’s not just having ideas that is important. Ideas need plans if they are going to become reality.







Young people often think their dreams will just happen. They find out later, after they have sadly wasted many years of their lives, that this is not the case. There is no way any of us can move toward our dreams without a plan. Yahusha said that a wise person doesn’t start to build something unless he first works out the details:







Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.”(Luke 14:28–30)







Yah Himself had a plan when He created humanity. Ephesians 1:11 says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”







Someone once said to me, “You always seem to be going somewhere. Just relax.” I told him, “I’ve discovered something about life. Where I live in the Bahamas, when you just sit on a boat in the ocean and relax, the current takes you wherever it’s going, even if you don’t want to go there. Life is the same way.” Too many people float down their lives and still expect to make it to their goals.







A ship has a compass so that the navigator can know what direction he is going in, and it has a rudder so that the pilot can steer it. However, a ship is given a specific course—a plan—by the captain, so that it can arrive at its

destination. All three are necessary—the compass, the rudder, and the plan. Just because a ship has a rudder doesn’t necessarily mean it is going anywhere. It needs to be steered according to the coordinates of the plan. Likewise, life has given many people clear sailing, yet, because they have no destination, they never make it out of port. What do I mean by clear sailing? I mean opportunities. Many opportunities come to people, but they have no plan in place that would enable them to make something out of them.







For example, suppose you wish you could start a business, but you’ve never thought about how you’d go about it. What if someone came to you and said, “I want to invest some money, and I like you. Why don’t you develop something with it?” You would probably answer something like, “I’d like to, but right now I’m just a clerk....” However, if you had developed a specific plan, if you were reading the appropriate books and preparing yourself, if you had everything down on paper, you’d be prepared for this opportunity. You could say, “You have

the money? Here’s the plan. I’m ready to go!”







The Blueprint of Your Vision







When a contractor is building a structure, he uses a blueprint. That is his plan for his vision, which is the finished building. The contractor always keeps a copy of his blueprint on site with him. Why? He needs to keep checking it to see if the building is being constructed correctly. If you don’t have a plan for your life, you have nothing to refer to when you want to make sure you are on track. How do you begin developing a blueprint for your vision?







Who Am I?







Again, you must first secure for yourself the answer to the question “Who am I?” Until you do, it will be difficult to write a plan for your life because such a plan is directly tied to knowing who you are. You will never become really successful in your life if you don’t have a clear idea of your own identity in Yah. Many of us have become what other people want us to be. We have not yet discovered our unique, irreplaceable identity. Yet it is knowing your true identity that gives you the courage to write your life plan.







Where Am I Going?







Next, you must answer the question “Where am I going?” Once you learn Yah’s purpose, you can start planning effectively because you will be able to plan with focus. A vision becomes a plan when it is captured, fleshed out, and written down.







Please note that both verses one and nine of Proverbs 16 say that Yah leaves the planning up to the heart of the person, but that He will provide the explanation as to how the vision will be accomplished. The plan that’s in your heart is a documentation of a future that is not yet finished. When you write down a plan, it’s a description of the end of your life, not the beginning. That is why Yah says, “You make the plan, and I will explain how it can be paid for, who is going to work with it, and where the resources and facilities are going to come from. Leave that part to Me. You just put the plans down.”







I’m a stickler for planning. Anyone who works with me will tell you that. I have plans for what I’m going to do next week, next month, next year, and five years from now. In fact, the vision for Bahamas Faith Ministries is on paper for the next sixty or seventy years. It’s all mapped out. By then, I’ll be about 110 years old, walking around, looking at the buildings, and saying, “Hey, look at that! Look at all the students over there. I remember when we had one building. Now we have ten buildings. Glory to Yah!”







Do you have a plan? Do you know what you want to do next week, next month, next year, five years from now? Do you have a plan for the next twenty years of your life? Can you give me a plan for your life for the next fifty years? Yah has given you the ability to do that. He has given you a mind, the gift of imagination, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the vision of faith. He has also given you the ability to write so that you can put down what you see in your heart. What are you waiting for? Yah says He will explain how your vision will be accomplished, yet He can’t discuss it with you until you have something concrete to talk about.







Your Dream Is Worth Writing Down







Note the way Nehemiah planned for his vision of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem:







I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my Yah had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire....I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and re entered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Hebrews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others

who would be doing the work.(Nehemiah 2:11–13, 15–16)







Nehemiah did not take action until he had made a plan. He selected only a few trusted men to go with him while he was assessing the situation because not everyone could have handled the plan at that point. Certain people can’t handle your plan while you’re making it. That is why you can’t tell it to everyone. Sometimes, you have to write it in private and keep it secret for a time. Some people will try to talk you out of your plan, saying,“You can’t do that!” If you listen to them, in no time, you will throw your plan away and end up an average person, like they are. People who are going nowhere like to take others with

them. Those who aren’t doing anything want other people to do it with them.







Not everybody will understand what you’re dreaming, but put your dream on paper anyway. Why? Your dream is worth writing down. If Yah gave it to you, it deserves to be done. For example, if you want to go to college to pursue a certain career, write down your plans for the next ten years. Entitle one of the pages in your plan, “This is what I want to be ten years from now.” Whatever you want to establish or achieve, put it on paper and say, “By the year ________, this is where I want to be.”







Start with What You Have







After Nehemiah had made his plan, he was ready to talk to others about it. He talked to those who would be directly involved in carrying it out. “Then I said to [the Hebrews, priests, nobles, officials, and others],‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace’” (Nehemiah 2:17). Nehemiah expressed to them his clear vision. Here was one man, with just a handful of people, who was planning to do a project that would take thousands of people to accomplish. Yet he said, “Let’s do it. Let’s rebuild this wall.” He was starting out with a seeming impossibility, but he said, “Let’s start.”







Remember the principle of potential? It’s not what you need that is important. Starting with what you have makes your vision successful because Yah will take care of the rest. I know you have some great ideas. Start right where you are and go where you need to go by making a plan and beginning to implement it.







Acknowledge Yah’s Work in Your Life







Second, Nehemiah said,“I also told them about the gracious hand of my Yah upon me and what the king had said to me” (Nehemiah 2:18). I like the fact that Nehemiah told them that. He gave credit to Yah for the vision, and in the process also built up the faith of those who would work on the project. The vision needed to be passed along to them. They would need to exercise their own faith if they were to fulfill their personal visions within this larger vision that Yah had given to Nehemiah. The statement also shows that Nehemiah was so sure that his vision was from Yah and that the Most High was with him that he was able to say, in effect,“Yah told me to do this.

” Nehemiah wasn’t guessing about what he should do. I hope you feel the same way about your dream.







Your Plan Is Material for Your Prayers







Moreover, when you put your plan on paper, you will find that you have plenty of material for your prayers. You can’t fulfill your dream by yourself. You must have Yah’s help. If your prayer time is short, maybe it’s because you have nothing specific to pray about. If you develop a plan, however, you will never have enough time for prayer. There will always be something for which to call on your faith and to believe Yah.







Your Plan Will Enable You to Fulfill Your Destiny







In Deuteronomy 30:19, Yah told the people, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life.” In other words, He was saying,“Stop procrastinating and hoping you will eventually get somewhere in life. Decide whether you’re going to get a curse or a blessing. Decide whether you’re going to die or live.” Yahusha said in Revelation 3:15–16, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.







Are you going to make a plan, or are you going to procrastinate on your dream and drift along, ending up wherever the lukewarm tide takes you? You were not designed to drift. You were designed for destiny. Make a plan and fulfill it.







Action Steps to Fulfilling Vision







Do you know the answers to the questions “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?” Start the process of developing a blueprint for your vision by writing down answers to these questions.




Start thinking about where you want to be one, five, ten, twenty, thirty years from now. Jot down your ideas and continue to think and pray about them.







Read chapter seventeen,“How to Write Your Personal Vision Plan,” and begin to write out the specifics of your plan.







Chapter Principles

1 To be successful, you must have a clear plan.

2 If you don’t have a plan, Yah doesn’t have anything specific to direct you in.

3 “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Most High comes the reply of the tongue” (Proverbs 16:1). Yah leaves the planning up to the heart of the person, but He will provide the explanation as to how the vision will be accomplished.

4 “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Most High determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

5 When a person receives an idea from Yah, it must be cultivated soon or the idea often goes away.

6 Many opportunities come to people, but they have no plan in place that would enable them to make something out of them.

7 If you don’t have a plan for your life, you have nothing to refer to when you want to make sure you are on track.

8 You must secure for yourself the answer to the question “Who am I?”

9 You will never become really successful in your life if you don’t have a clear idea of your own identity in Yah.

10 You must answer the question,“Where am I going?” Once you learn Yah’s purpose, you can start planning effectively because you will be able to plan with focus.

11 A vision becomes a plan when it is captured, fleshed out, and written down.

12 You can’t tell your plan to everyone because some people won’t be able to handle it while you’re making it. Your dream is worth writing down. If Yah gave it to you, it deserves to be done.

13 Your plan is material for your prayers.

14 Your plan will enable you to fulfill your destiny