If God truly has a specific vision for every life, then certain questions inevitably arise. How do I know if what I am sensing is from Him or from me? What if I have wasted years without any vision at all? What practical steps can I take to begin hearing from God about His plan? These are not questions to be afraid of. They are honest, legitimate questions—and I believe the answers will both challenge and encourage you. Let me take five of the most common questions I receive on this subject and address each one directly.
How Do I Know If I Am Sensing God’s Vision or Simply My Own Desires?
This is a question nearly every sincere believer will ask at some point. The concern is genuine: no one who loves God wants to spend a life building on their own thoughts and desires while assuming it is heaven’s plan. But here is the danger. The way most traditional Christians solve this problem is by avoiding the subject entirely. They think, “I do not want to follow my own desires, so I will stay away from the whole idea of personal vision.” The result? They end up with no vision at all—or worse, they adopt by default the vision of the world, the flesh, and the culture around them. They become actors in somebody else’s script.
Avoidance is not the answer.
God’s primary method of giving you a vision is His Word. But the Word speaks mainly about the general vision God has for every believer’s life, not the specific details unique to you. Can God use prophecy to guide and give vision? Yes. But I do not think that is His best. God wants to give you a vision that flows out of a relationship of trust, intimacy, and surrender. When you are living a life rooted in the Word, planted in a local church, walking in the counsel of godly men and women, and cultivating a lifestyle of worship and surrender—He will give you that vision through your thoughts, your desires, and your imagination.
Is it wrong to follow your own desires? It is wrong when those desires are not being shaped by a walk with God. But when you are walking with Him, something remarkable happens. As the psalmist writes: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NKJV). That verse means two things at once. He will grant what your heart desires—but He will also plant His desires within your heart, so that your desires become His.
Paul writes in Philippians 2:12–13: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (NKJV). We work out. God works in. He works in you to create the desire to do His will before He gives you the capacity to fulfill it. Pray this daily: “Lord, work in me that which pleases You.”
Here is my practical counsel. Write down all of your thoughts, your desires, your dreams. Then bring them into the presence of God. Fast. Pray. Worship. The things that are from God will grow and develop in His presence. The things that are not from Him will diminish and die. If you carry a desire to sin, to walk in unforgiveness, to harm another person—bring it into worship and see what happens to it. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth grow strangely dim.
What If I Have Lived Most of My Life Without Vision? Is It Too Late?
The Bible says, “Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28 NKJV). I could end the answer right there. But let me say it plainly: no matter how old you are, no matter how far you feel you have gone, no matter how much you believe you have messed up or missed the plan—it is never too late.
Even if today were the last day of your life on earth, it would be a good day to pray, “Lord, how do You want me to live this day well?” Make sure you are right with God. Forgive others. Bless others. Honour your parents, even if they passed away years ago. There are things God would have you do today.
Paul said it clearly: “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14 NKJV). You cannot change yesterday. But you can change today, and you can change tomorrow.
You are never too old. You are never too late.
How Can I Be Certain That God Has a Specific Plan for My Life and Not Just General Principles?
I love the moment in John 1 when Jesus meets Nathanael and says, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48 NKJV). Nathanael knew that no human being had seen him there. Jesus was saying: I saw you in the Spirit. God sees every individual.
Every single person who has ever been born is unique. We are like snowflakes—individual fingerprints, carrying the fingerprint of God. I believe God has placed something of Himself in you that not one of the billions of people who have ever lived has carried before. You are unique, and God has a plan, a calling, and a purpose designed for you alone. There is nobody alive on earth who will walk the path you have walked or the path you will walk. It is simply common sense that God has a specific plan for you.
That said, most of finding and fulfilling God’s plan involves walking faithfully in the general principles. I find that many charismatics get so consumed with searching for the specific prophetic word that they overlook ninety percent of the general principles God has already laid out. Get the general right, and the specifics will follow.
I often counsel young men and women considering marriage using this very principle. I lay out eight to ten general requirements—integrity, faithfulness, love for others, church attendance, stewardship. If someone cannot walk in the general, I do not care what specific leading they claim. A goosebump or a dream does not override the foundation of godly character. Both the general and the specific matter—it is both, not either or.
What Practical Steps Can I Take to Begin Hearing from God About His Vision?
First, get your life in order. This does not have to take years—you can do this in one to two weeks. Start attending a good church every week. Tithe. Serve. Love. Worship. Read your Bible every day. Stop merely going through religious motions and start finding out who you are in Christ Jesus. If you have not been living the standard Christian life that God asks of every believer, repent and begin there. You will not enter into the specific calling of God for your life if the general foundation is missing.
Second, go on a journey with God. This is not a journey of one or two days, but it does not have to take five years either. I would suggest a focused season of two to three months. Get a notepad and a pen. Begin every day asking God questions. Begin exploring. Begin dreaming. Give yourself permission to get it wrong. Give yourself permission to say, “Lord, this could be me and not You—but what might You be speaking to me?”
When you are overflowing in worship and walking in His righteousness, pay attention to the desires that rise in your heart. Pay attention to the things that stir inside you. Sometimes we are connecting with the right call of God but trying to fulfill it in the wrong way.
Consider Moses. As a young man, he saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite slave, and he killed the Egyptian. Did God want Moses to commit murder? No. But Moses was sensing the call of God—to end the slavery, to bring Israel out of bondage, to lead them into the promise. He was simply trying to do it with his own fist. God had to let decades pass until Moses had no more strength in his own hand, and then God said, “Now I will show you My mighty hand.” The call was right. The method was wrong. The timing was premature.
Go on a journey of exploration with the Lord about the dream He has for your life.
How Do I Deal with Past Failures When Trying to Embrace a New Vision?
I would encourage anyone who has never seriously done this to spend some quality time—between one and three days—laying your past to rest. If you are really struggling, it can be helpful to do this alongside a trusted friend or counsellor. But make sure you have put your ghosts to rest.
The very first verse of the book of Joshua reads: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan” (Joshua 1:2 NKJV). It is a book of vision, of new beginnings, of entering the promised land. The first word is a declaration: what was before is finished. Now arise.
From God’s perspective, your past is dead—nailed to the Cross of Calvary. But it is possible to pay lip service to a theological concept while still carrying the weight of what happened. Take time to think through your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring things to the surface: unforgiveness, trauma, abuse, regret. Everyone has walked through difficulty to some degree. I had extraordinary parents—truly wonderful people—but they were not flawless, and I am not a flawless parent to my children. Everyone has things they are working through.
Lay those things at the foot of the Cross. Forgive everyone. Forgive yourself. Let the Lord wash and cleanse. Let your past be nailed to Calvary so that you are equipped to go forward.
Let me offer one practical exercise, taking unforgiveness as an example. If you have carried unforgiveness toward someone for years, write it out on a piece of paper: “Today I forgive this person.” Sign it. Take communion. When those feelings rise again—and they may—go back to the paper and say, “It is written.” You are not going by your emotions. You are standing on a decision. It is a legal posture in the Spirit. You are legally free in Christ. Hold that position, and when the accuser comes, do as Jesus did: say, “It is written.” If you keep resisting, he will flee (James 4:7).
Settle your past with God. Settle it in the Spirit. Then press forward into the vision He has for you.
Selah.
Scriptures for Study: Psalm 37:4, Philippians 2:12, Philippians 2:13, Joel 2:28, Philippians 3:13, Philippians 3:14, John 1:48, Joshua 1:2, James 4:7, Hebrews 13:21, Romans 12:1, Romans 12:2, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 3:6, Proverbs 29:18, Habakkuk 2:2, Jeremiah 29:11, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:3, Exodus 3:10, Exodus 2:12, Psalm 139:16, Isaiah 43:18, Isaiah 43:19
10 Questions for Reflection:
- Have you been avoiding the subject of personal vision because you are afraid of following your own desires rather than God’s?
- What would it look like for you to bring your desires into God’s presence and let worship sort out which ones are from Him?
- Is there an area of your life where you have been paying lip service to a theological truth without allowing it to change how you actually live?
- What general principles of the Christian life—church attendance, Bible reading, tithing, forgiveness—do you need to get in order before pursuing the specific?
- Have you given yourself permission to get the first draft of your vision wrong, or has the fear of error kept you from starting?
- Can you identify a time when you sensed God’s call correctly but tried to fulfill it in the wrong way or at the wrong time, as Moses did?
- What past failures, disappointments, or wounds do you need to lay at the foot of the Cross before you can move forward?
- Is there someone you need to forgive—and would writing it down and signing it help you hold that position when feelings return?
- Do you believe it is too late for you to discover and fulfill God’s vision? What does Joel 2:28 say to that belief?
- What would a focused two-to-three-month journey of exploration with God look like in your life right now?
