The Process of Vision

For so many years I have had this recurrent dream in which I was pregnant.  I remember a particular episode of one such dream in 2010, where I saw myself in early pregnancy, hugging and congratulating a dear friend who was heavily pregnant.  She had been waiting on God for a baby and I didn’t even know she was already pregnant at the time as I had not seen her in a while.  Receiving the news of the birth of her baby a few months later, after a season of waiting, was both a delight and a scare for me, as the thought of having another baby after 3 already in my quiver was not particularly attractive to me.  That was how I interpreted these dreams -another baby in the making, but years have gone by with no physical addition to my quiver -which is a relief by the way.  However, the dreams continued intermittently over the years and I kept wondering and asking God what it meant.  I had several deep encounters with God in the place of worship, service and prayer where I received layers of revelation like the unfolding of a plan, pointing me towards a purpose, seeds of vision I had carried in my heart for a while but wasnt quite clear how or where to start or if the time was right…. Finally in 2019, I saw myself in another dream, in a delivery room, waiting to be delivered of a baby and calling for the help of the Holy Spirit. It was then it became very clear to me, what the dreams meant.

Hab 2:  3. says “For the vision is yet for a time, and it shall shoot forth at the end, and not in vain: though he should tarry, wait for him; for he will surely come, and will not tarry.
4. If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.
5. But the arrogant man and the scorner, the boastful man, shall not finish anything; who has enlarged his desire as the grave, and like death he is never satisfied, and he will gather to himself all the nations, and will receive to himself all the peoples.”

 I have learnt from going through this process that a vision from God can spend years in incubation, years in the making, which sometimes for us could be years of pondering and seeking God for relief, understanding and answers to circumstances and events beyond our comprehension, but like Habakuk says even in such situations, “the just must live by Faith”, trusting that God will come through on his promises.  We also bear in mind that in preparation God works both on the vessel and the timing of the full unfolding of the vision amidst his own scheme of events.  Habakuk says the vision is yet for an appointed time, and the bible passage in Ecclesiastes 3:1 says,  “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”  subsequent verses go on to talk about specific timings…’a time to be born, and a time to die…’.  This means that in God’s scheme of things, He has timing for every event, in which by his sovereignty, he causes all things including our circumstances, to work together for our good.
For every one of us, God has made us for his purpose, he has impregnated us with his seeds of vision and gifted us with specific abilities and talent to execute this vision. However, like we see the birth of a vision taking almost 12 years, he won’t just drop things on our laps, he first needs to prepare our hearts to understand the full weight and purpose of the vision. In the process, we seek his face in prayer and search his word, to get his thoughts and methods for the vision he’s placed in our heart, while we hone our gifts and sharpen the saw by becoming more skillful in our art.  This way, we are prepared to embrace opportunities he brings our way, and run with the vision, in partnership and complete obedience to his leading.
To run successfully and properly execute our part in God's scheme of things, we learn to follow his leading as he works in and through us guiding us on the way, we should not be like the arrogant man referred to in our scripture text Habakuk 2: 5, who would not follow Gods leading but runs along on his own pursuits, bible says such one cannot finish anything but only enlarges his desire like the grave and is never satisfied. When we fix our eyes on him, God by his divine power, supplies the ability to birth and execute a vision that will impact the world enabling us to play our part in the divine work of faith. Run with God.
Rita Oladiran