A few years ago, on a Wednesday night, a young gentleman from our church got up to speak and testify. He spoke about all the wonderful things the Lord was doing in his life, and some of the trials he had gone through. He spoke about his faith, about getting married, about starting a business, and how God was in each of those things. He attributed it to God, of course, and prayer, but he spoke about creating a vision board, being mindful to pray over those things and as God began to answer those prayers, updating that vision board.
Immediately upon my arrival back to my house that night, I sat down at my computer and I created a vision board of my very own. I remember thinking of Psalm 37:4 as I was writing my vision board, praying that as I moved toward God, He would give me the desires of my heart. A few things listed on mine were to start a business, start a blog, and meet my husband.
Now, some people believe that a vision board is bordering on witchcraft; they believe that it is an attempt to manifest things but that is not what a vision board is. Let me direct you to Habakkuk 2:2 in the Christian Standard Version that reads The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it. We are to write down our visions. Also, the Bible tells us in Matthew, Luke, and John to ask and we shall receive, seek and we shall find, knock and the door will be open to us.
Now, there are some important things to remember when making a vision board. If we continue reading Habakkuk 2, verse three tells us that the visions await an appointed time. Just because we put it on the board doesn’t mean it is going to happen instantly. God’s timing, even if it doesn’t make sense to us, is perfect. 1 John 5:14 says that if we ask, AND IT IS GOD'S WILL, He will do it. James 4:3 tells us that we ask and do not receive because we ask amiss.
I think there is a step that some people, myself included, miss when they are praying and that is seeking the will of God. I remember begging God one time to save a relationship. I was desperate for Him to intervene. I was angry when I felt like He was ignoring me when the intervention never happened. I didn’t pray the way God instructs us to in the Lord’s prayer (Thy will be done). I demanded and I demanded wrongly and I was mad when God didn’t answer. Now, stepping back and being on the other side, I can see where the Lord intervened the way He needed to and saved me by NOT answering my prayers.
God’s timing and will are always perfect. God, however, will not interfere with our free will, which leads us to the perfect will of God versus the permissible will of God. I remember after that situation, I was talking to someone whom I am very close to, and they said “I don’t think that was the perfect will for your life, and I want God’s perfect will for your life.” I want God’s perfect will for my life too but I was blind to it at the moment. You see, we have choices and I was ready to make the wrong choice about the situation. It took God giving me a clear vision of what would happen before I changed my mind about what I was going to do. I wasn’t doing anything “wrong” but I certainly wasn’t obeying the Lord until that revelation.
Initially, when I made my vision board, I made it what I wanted in my life. After that particular situation, I started realizing that I needed to seek the Lord a little more fervently, I took a step back and evaluated the vision board and I changed things. I made it a reflection of words I had gotten and what the Lord promised me. It was prophesied I would start a blog, so I put that on there. It was prophesied that I would get married and have children, so that is on my vision board. If it was a promise of God, I put it on there. Anything that was on my new vision board matched a prophecy I had received and was in line with the Bible.
Let me elaborate a little more on the difference between the perfect will of God versus the permissible will. The perfect will is God’s ideal plan for our lives. It is the straight line path from birth to death and all the things we were put on Earth to accomplish get accomplished. The permissible will of God is where God allows our decisions to change the course a bit, including facing consequences for our decisions, but in the end we still accomplish the will of God, it’s just longer, more painful, and harder. For example, I wrote about going to Pakistan on a mission trip. In my heart, I went for the wrong reasons. It was during a war, it was unsafe, and I travelled alone. Looking back, it was probably something I should not have partook in. God, however, used it to give me a hunger for spreading the gospel and a desire to travel to other nations. Through Him, I was able to lay hands on people and feel and see them get healed and delivered. Even though I was operating in the permissible will of God, He used and is using it as a means to accomplish more through me.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge Him and He will make our paths straight. See, where most people miss the mark in the perfect versus permissible will is either not seeking God or misconstruing what God is saying. Again, I am speaking to myself as I have done those very things. I have been talking about a situation I went through and I absolutely misconstrued words that people had given me into justification of decisions I was making, and when I revisited what God was speaking, I misheard what was said.
Think about God’s perfect will for your life as the best slices of bread in the loaf. You can make a nice, thick sandwich, the bread won’t crumble, and it holds everything together. Now think of the permissible will as the heels of the bread. They’re thin, they crumble, and the mayo may leak out. They still make a sandwich, and you can still do what you would with the best slices of bread, but your sandwich will not be as good as it could have been. The end result may still be the same, but it could have been so much better.
May I also submit to you this too: you will never be able to be in the perfect will of God if you are still in the world. Romans 12:2 says not to conform to the world but transform your mind and then you will be able to know what God’s will is in your life and to follow it. To follow God’s will for our lives, we must seek Him and allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
A vision board is a wonderful tool. It’s a visual representation of the desires of your heart. It is a reminder of what to pray for. Remember when you are making one and praying over it that you are seeking God’s will, you are being guided by the Holy Spirit, and that you do not grow weary because if it’s God’s will it will happen when the time is right. Isaiah 60:22 promises us this.
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