Not Visionary Because We’re Stuck

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Do you feel like your church or ministry isn’t going anywhere? If you aren’t visionary, you’re undoubtedly stuck in something that keeps you from moving forward.

Typical Reasons Churches and Ministries Lack Vision

Below are five reasons churches and ministries aren’t going anywhere. They’re stuck. Click on links for a look at each of these reasons.

Stuck in Perpetual Motion
Stuck in Parroting
Stuck in Preparations
Stuck in the Past
Stuck in the Present

God Wants Us To Press On, Not Get Stuck in Place

Not Arrived So Press On - Visionary, Not StuckGod wants us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). Growth implies progression. We’re not growing if we’re staying in the same place. We’re to “press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold” of us. None of us will ever arrive on this side of eternity (Phil. 3:12). Pressing on suggests that we’re in a constant spiritual pursuit, not locked in place.

One day God will even transform our lowly bodies. — “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Phil. 3:20) — If He can do that, certainly He can provide the power we need right now to move forward. Let’s not be content to stay where we are. — “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

God Wants Us to be Visionary Which Requires His Power and Perspective

When we try to move staying in the same spot, we merely build ruts. The deeper the rut, the harder it is to get out. Often it takes someone, or something, powerful enough to pull us out. God is our Power Source. — “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Pet. 1:3)

We may get weary of staying vigilant and moving forward but not God. In Him we not only have the power to persevere but also the needed perspective. — “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isa. 40:28-29)

God can pull us out of our ruts, no matter what we may be stuck in. But, we must put our hope in Him, no matter how things appear. — “… but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isa. 40:31)

Help for Church and Ministry Leaders: Goal-Setting & Vision Casting

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Performance-based Versus Grace-Based

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Grace of God, Not My Performance
God wants us to obey Him and apply His Word to our lives. Yet, if that’s our primary focus, we’ll tend to be left with external conformity and mere religious activity. God, however, wants to change us from the inside out that enables us to be in a relationship with Him. So, it becomes clear we need to be grace-based, not merely performance-based.

Grace Comes Before Performance

Start with salvation: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Then comes performance: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:8-10)

But even after we’re saved by grace, we do those good works by His grace as well. — “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ …” (Titus 2:11-13)

Grace Changes Character Which Leads to Effectiveness and Productivity

Because of God’s grace, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Pet. 1:3). We then find a list of qualities in verses 5-6 that are to build within us — faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love.

Then we read, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:8). If we don’t have the needed qualities, it’s because “whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (2 Pet. 1:9). — We have forgotten about grace wherein God does for us what we can’t do for ourselves.

Grace Needed for Character Development

God’s grace enables us to be who we should be which leads to us doing what we should do. Click on the links below for how character development is then …

all to God’s glory,
with Him as our Standard,
and His power and grace as the means to change.

If we don’t depend on God’s grace, character development will be performance based which can become …

  • mere external conformity which can change with a different set of circumstance
  • mere religious activity which can lead to simply going through the motions
  • mere self-improvement which is reliant on enough will-power and stamina to keep at it

— This basis often leads to pride or endless guilt. And, it can confuse the issue of salvation by grace.

Grace-based character development, on the other hand, that grows out of a relationship with God wherein one is divinely empowered leads to . . .

  • change from the inside out that leads to a desire to be more like the Lord
  • transformation, not merely building on our strengths and fixing what is wrong

— This basis leads to humility and hope.

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Obedience About More Than Mere Religious Activity?

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When life in Christ becomes little more than religious activity, we could find ourselves with a dull, lifeless group of people busy doing what appears to be all the right things with little to show for it. Where is the appeal in that? Why would people who need Jesus be drawn to that? Yet, that’s what we have when we merely focus on obedience in the Christian life.

Obedience is Important But Not God’s Top Priority

Scripture speaks of the wisdom of obeying:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. (Matt. 7:24-25)

The Word also refers to the blessing that comes from obedience:

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25)

But, Scripture also points to something that supersedes the law. Jesus referenced the two greatest commandments as loving God with all of who we are and loving others as ourselves. He said, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40)

Emphasis on Love Gets Us Beyond Mere Religious Activity

Obedience About Love Not Religious Activity
Jesus died on the cross to bring us into a relationship with the Father (Jn. 14:6; Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18; Heb. 4:16). That makes the Christian life more of a relationship than a religion. When we’re in a love relationship with God, we have added motivation to do what pleases and honors Him. Obedience is not burdensome.

  • It’s about showing love to God by doing what He says not trying to earn His favor. (Matt. 22:37-38; Jn. 15:10; 1 Jn. 5:3)
  • It’s about getting to know God better which comes as we step out in faith and do what He says. (Col. 1:9-10)
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Application About More Than Mere External Conformity?

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Whether you preach, teach, or disciple others one-on-one, remember that application is important to God. As a teacher training worksheet says, Application is God’s Idea, Not Merely a Good Idea. Read Matthew 7:24-25, James 1:25 and 2:17.
Guard Your Heart, Internal Change Not mere Application
But, God’s Word also says, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” While application is important, we must put more emphasis on what’s happening in the heart “for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23).

Mere External Conformity versus Internal Change

If we’re satisfied with mere external conformity, we could be building a church full of hypocrites. We could find ourselves with a group who are quick to give up when the going gets tough because their hearts aren’t in it. How is that honoring to God? How is that a testimony to the world around us?

God cares about the motives behind what we do (Prov. 16:2), what’s in our heart. It’s not just about saying or doing the right things. It’s about doing them for the right reasons, and that’s a matter of the heart.

God cares about our attitudes, not just our actions. We’re “made new in the attitude of our minds” in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:23). How we respond to life and treat others changes when we’ve been internally transformed.

Internal Change Leads to Application

When our whole heart is given over to God, we will do what we’re supposed to do. That’s why we find verses like the following:

  • “love the Lord with all your heart …” (Matt. 22:37)
  • “trust in the Lord with all your heart …” (Prov. 3:5)
  • “keep your precepts with all my heart …” (Ps. 119:69)

When we change from the inside out, we tend to do what we should do. Obedience to God’s Word flows from a heart in tune with Him. When we keep His commandments because we love Him, “his commands are not burdensome” (1 Jn. 5:3). We want to please Him. We want to align with Him. Our perspective about the Christian life changes when we’ve been internally changed. We find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30).

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Where to Find Guidance

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We all need help to be wise and discerning. We all need guidance to be victorious. Getting guidance is biblical.

The Wise and Discerning Find GuidanceLet the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Prov. 1:5)

For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure. (Prov. 11:14)

Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance. (Prov. 20:18)

For waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers. (Prov. 24:6)

God-Established Means to Guide Us

In a previous post we noted that it only makes sense to turn to God first for guidance. That, however, doesn’t mean we can never look elsewhere for guidance. What we must learn, however, is that they must be God-established means for wisdom and discernment such as the following:

  1. Instruction of God’s Word – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Ps. 119:105)

If we need guidance, the best place to begin is by taking heed to what God has already made clear in His Word.

  1. Integrity in Our Heart – The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. (Prov. 11:3)

When we focus on who we should be in Christ, we will tend to do what we should do. We will be guided by His righteousness and truth.

  1. Advice of Other People – Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (Prov. 15:22)

We must be cautioned, however, that not everyone will prove to be a good source of guidance. Some could lead us astray. These are people who don’t practice what they teach others to do (Rom. 2:19-21). They may even have worse problems than us yet act like they have it altogether so we trust them (Matt. 23:24). Jesus said, “Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt. 15:14)

The Bottom Line in Seeking Guidance

We should seek God first with all of our heart . If still unsure about what to do, we might ask other believers who are wise and filled with integrity for help sorting things out. However, we must always weigh what they say against God and His Word. God’s ways will never violate His righteous character and the truth of His Word.

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Guidance for the Specifics?

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As Christians we may seek guidance to know God’s will for specifics in our lives. While that may be important, let’s also look at the bigger picture of where God wants to guide us:

in paths of righteousness (Ps. 23:3)
in His truth (Ps. 25:5)
in what is right (Ps. 25:9)

When led in the above directions, the particulars often fall into place.

God Leads Us in Paths of Righteousness and Truth Because of Who He Is

Want Guidance for the Specifics? Remember God Guides the Humble

God’s ways are always right and best, higher than ours (Isa. 55:11), because He is righteous and true. It therefore only makes sense that we line up with Him and His ways. When we cooperate with Him, we can’t go wrong in life. When we fail to follow His ways, somehow thinking we know better, we’re heading down the path of destruction (Prov. 14:12). But, the Lord “guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Ps. 25:8-10)

The best thing we can do to get guidance in the specifics of our lives is to seek God first. Get to know Him better. When we make Him the priority in our lives rather than our accomplishments, careers, or even ministry, everything else tends to make more sense. — “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt. 6:33)

Why We Struggle to Accept Where God’s Guidance in the Specifics May Take Us

Sometimes we just need to head down the path of righteousness and truth and trust God for the rest. Think of Abram of the Old Testament. God told Him to leave His country and family for the unknown and God would bless him and all the peoples of the earth through him. Abram knew God enough to trust Him, so he “went, as the LORD had told him” (Gen. 12:1-4).

We may struggle to follow the paths of His righteousness and truth without some kind of sign, or tangible demonstration that something is of God. We do read of people in the Bible asking for a fleece and God responding. Yet, we can almost hear the disappointment in Jesus’ words, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, … you will never believe.” (Jn. 4:48). How much better it is to believe without God having to prove Himself as seen in Jesus’ words to the disciples in John 20:29. — “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Perhaps our struggle, however, is more than insecurities, doubts, and fears. Maybe we fail to turn to Him first for guidance because we don’t want to take the higher road in certain situations. We somehow think we’d better off doing life our own way. We simply may not want to do what we think He’s going to ask of us. Or, we may have sin in our lives that we’re not ready to let go.

Maybe it’s time to pray, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23-24).

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