One thing I didn’t foresee before coming to the School of Ministry is that my vision would shrink! Those of you who know me well will know that in many ways I am driven and live for the vision that I believe God has given me for South Africa and beyond. Every heart beat just fans the flames of the passion I have for that nation. It is something that burns within me and just keeps growing. Fear not, I am still completely and utterly consumed by those dreams. But there is a but!
As I have come into more revelation of who I am, who my Heavenly Dad is and the extent of the Kingdom He’s placed inside of me, I have also come to the realisation that I have no right to hold that back from anybody. The next person I meet deserves it all. One of our teachers last week stated that, ‘Vision is no greater than the next person you meet.’ I do believe that when we come into a revelation of who God made us to be we will start to unleash our potential and be released into our destiny with purpose and vision. But the truth is that my primary identity is as a daughter of God whose commission is to live a life of ‘history-changing significance’. If all the Father has is mine by right – and if I am responsible to pursue Jesus’ lifestyle today – then it is indeed a very sobering thought if my ‘vision’ doesn’t incorporate sharing the Kingdom and it’s resources with the next person I meet and in every circumstance I face. I have no right to hold back what I have received! It amazes me to think that you can truly have a vision for the world – all of which glorifies God – but the truth is you can still be living with blinkers on if that doesn’t manifest into a moment by moment lifestyle.
But having said all of that, they are all just words unless I start to deliberately pursue such a lifestyle. And if I desire to see the Kingdom manifesting in my life then I need to take deliberate risks to see that happen. I feel as though I am walking in ever more freedom and starting to scratch the surface of the Kingdom that He has placed within me… and that is stirring something up in me and urging me to push the boundaries I have placed around myself and to step out. When I visited my Gran before she died last week this was my motivation. I didn’t want to just go as a Granddaughter – she needed more than that. And as I prayed with David (a homeless guy in Sale suffering from Parkinson’s Disease) today, I started to recognise the fruit of the hunger. The hunger in me is becoming greater than the desire to preserve myself. Bill Johnson states that: ‘Hunger humbles.’ I can relate to that.
