Suppose I received a vision from the Holy Spirit revealing one small step in establishing the Kingdom of God over and against the kingdom of Satan.  Suppose this vision included a particular personal assignment for me.  I would certainly want to comply with God’s will and I would begin with great enthusiasm.  But imagine ostensibly fatal obstacles begin to appear soon after work commences and long before my role could come to fruition; my particular assignment could be derailed and the overall vision would be at risk. 

My response to this purported fatal setback might be to pray, “Almighty God, this is a very important ministry but I am the wrong person to fulfill it; I don’t have the necessary skills.  Let me suggest a different assignment for which I am better suited.  I have already started working on this alternate assignment and here is what I have accomplished.  I hope You are OK with this substitution.”   Unfortunately, this response exposes my disobedience!

Or I might be so enamored of my own project management skills that I re-group and start again, this time with specific objectives, detailed strategies, milestone markers, progress reports, PowerPoint presentations and program assessments.  I become so immersed in the nuts and bolts of project management that I risk missing actual progress toward fulfilment of my assignment.  This response exposes an unhealthy reliance on self!

One of the more insidious mistakes I can make is to assume God will find a way to provide me with progress updates even though I know full well that providing updates is not an imperative for God.  I could be having a substantial influence, for example, on Great Commandment issues, Great Commission objectives or on the Ministry of Healing and be completely unaware of the significance of my work.  Most likely, I will never know the true impact of my efforts. 

Finally, I must remember that it is not me who brings a vision to completion; I must live in the inspiration of the vision until it is accomplished by God.