Proverbs 29.18 says in the English, ‘Where there is no vision the people PERISH.’ What God is saying through Solomon is, “Where there is no vision, the people will DIE!” I want you to understand the power of a vision. In Joel 2 and Acts 2 God says, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.” What happens when God pours out His Spirit? He says in the same prophecy, “Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams!” Young people, it is so important that you begin your Christian life with a vision of what God can do! The reason I do what I do is because, all my life, God has given me a clear vision. I have not changed for 65, 70 years and more! When I was a teenager, I had the same vision I have today! I wrote down that vision when I was still a teenager! Nearly 80 years later I have not changed the vision which God gave me.
There are three visions, three perspectives you need to have if you want to work for God: a vision of God, of the world and of what God can do through you. Most of you are younger than me, so I want to talk to you as a father, grandfather! I want to show you what vision can do in your life. If you do not have a clear vision and purpose, you will achieve nothing for God. I want to give you a clear vision for your future, of what God wants to do, and I want you to live with this vision for the rest of your life!
‘Where there is no VISION the people perish!’ (Proverbs 29.18, KJV.) Only the King James Version is so clear, so blunt. In other languages, in other versions, it’s watered down. But without that VISION of who God really is, you are spiritually DEAD! The Power and the Authority that I have only come through the VISION of KNOWING who God is! David says in Psalm 63.1, ‘O God, You are my God, early will I SEEK You, my soul THIRSTS for You, my flesh LONGS for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water!’ He says, “I’m so hungry, I’m so thirsty that I will DIE!” – He was in a wilderness, no water, no food, and he’s crying out, “My soul is like that! Spiritually. I HUNGER for You! Unless I FEED upon You and DRAW upon You, spiritually, I DIE!” I challenge you, unless you DRAW on God, unless you FEAST on God, unless there is a HUNGER and a THIRST in your soul, you will never, ever be satisfied! Only those who HUNGER, only those who THIRST, who SEARCH for the water and the food!
The power in Psalm 63.1-2 is this: David is saying, “I’m hungry and thirsty, I’m in a dry land, and UNLESS I SEE Your Power and Your Glory I will die! As I SAW Your Power in the sanctuary, so I want to SEE it on the battlefield of my life!”
I’ve heard, I’ve seen the real Power and Glory of God, I’ve tasted all that there is in the sanctuary! And like David, I want to see THAT on the battlefield in my life! YOU must TAKE the Glory! Take the Glory back with you into your home, into your church, into your life – INTO YOUR BATTLEFIELD! I’ve seen the Power of God, in that prison cell; I’ve seen the Power of God so many times in my life; I was there when revival broke out in Bulgaria, when it started, at the moment when the FIRE came and swept the whole nation even under communism! The Spirit of God came down in such POWER!