Vision Invites Opposition

We talk a lot in church & leadership circles about discovering God's vision & pursuing it. However, we don't talk as much about what to do when opposition to that vision comes. It's totally understandable. After all, if people haven't been gripped by God's vision for their lives, reminding them that doing so invites resistance & opposition may very well insure they never embrace God's plan. However, failing to share this important truth & how to deal with it is just as crippling because if someone is energized by a vision from God for his life & then encounters heavy opposition to pursuing that vision, there's a pretty good chance the discouragement that comes with that will knock him off course, possibly to the point of never seeing what could have been become reality.

Vision invites opposition. It always does. Vision challenges the status quo, & there are always defenders of the status quo. That's where the "we've never done it that way before" crowd comes from, & that mindset is not just alive & well in church. They are in every area of your life. When parents decide to really begin to lead their children in a more godly way, you can bet their kids will push back because "we've never done that before". That same mindset exists at your job, in your family, in your friends, & to a degree in your own heart. You better believe that if you decide to get behind God's vision, you will face opposition. That's not up for debate, so what do you do when the opposition come?

Nehemiah 4 & 6 sheds some light on how to handle all kinds of opposition. Nehemiah & the people encountered constant opposition during their 52 day building project. Their enemies loved to try to intimidate them. They mocked them, ridiculed them, & spread rumors of a literal military attack on Jerusalem all in hopes of intimidating the people into simply walking off the job & giving up on the vision that God has called them to. They also tried to distract Nehemiah from his calling. On the surface, what they were asking Nehemiah to do didn't seem bad, but it would keep him from God's call. So how did Nehemiah lead the people to respond to this opposition. Nehemiah responded to the intimidation with prayer & preparation. When the intimidation began to take root in the hearts of the people, he redirected their attention away from the object of their fear to the object of their faith. He told them to "remember their God who is great & awesome." When faced with distractions that on the surface seemed to be good things, Nehemiah responded with focus on God's things. Over & over again, Nehemiah said, "I am doing a great work & cannot come down." Prayer, preparation, faith, & focus were key in responding to the opposition, & in every situation he reminded them of their God & the vision that God had given them to rebuild the wall & restore God's glory among the nations.

The next time your faced with resistance to pursuing God's vision whether it's intimidation by those who don't want to see change or whether it's simply a distraction that will dilute your focus respond by focusing on the vision because...

"Opposition To God's Vision Is An Opportunity

To Rally Around God's Vision."

Intimidation is usually nothing more than a scare tactic designed get you & I to quit before we ever start. The way to respond is to simply "remember our God" & remember what it is He's called us to do, & then we must move forward with that vision. When opportunities come our way the question isn't whether they are good or bad but whether or not they help us see God's vision become a reality. Always go back to who you're God is, who He's calling you to be, & what He's calling to do. Rally around that in the face of opposition & God will grant you the grace & faith to stand & advance toward God's call on your life.