Prayer That Receives The Heavenly Vision

We’ve been talking about different kinds of prayer recently in our blog, and I want to share some more with you along that line.

Acts 26:19

Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the HEAVENLY VISION:

One purpose for prayer in our lives should be to receive the heavenly vision of God’s plan for our lives or ministries. We’re not to just follow what other people are doing, but find out what God is telling US to do. Then, after we’ve found out what His plan for us is, we’re to put our faith on accomplishing that.

When it comes to being faithful to God, part of what that means is living accurately according to what God revealed to us by His Spirit in prayer regarding His plan for our lives. It means doing what He’s telling us to do and not mixing His plan with our own thinking. Heaven’s vision for your life is going to be different than your own fleshly desires or what you’ve decided in your mind you want to do.

The Plan is in the Spirit

Hebrews 8:5

… as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, SEE, SAITH HE, THAT THOU MAKE ALL THINGS ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN SHEWED TO THEE IN THE MOUNT.

God showed Moses His plan when he was up on the mountain in the glory of God. The application for us today is that we’ll only get God’s specific plan for our lives as we spend time in the Spirit in prayer.

Psalm 127:1

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:

There are two words in this verse that I never want used in the same sentence regarding what I am doing in life—vain and labor. Therefore, I want to build according to His plan--not my own.

Before we talk about prayer, we need to talk about why it’s so critical to believers to find God’s plan for their lives and walk in it, rather than their own plans.

Why Finding His Plan Is So Critical

Believers, often times, are wanting the best God has for them. And, God blesses all of His people as far as He can. But, we must realize that He can only bless us so far according to how closely we are following His plan. The more closely we follow His plan, the more of His blessings and power will be in manifestation in our lives.

The reason He cannot bless people further, many times--including ministers--is because they don't take the time to hear from God or take the time to follow His plan set out in the Scriptures.

Many times, people fail because they have the wrong plan for their life. As a result, He can't move as strongly on their behalf as He would like or meet all their financial needs because He would be blessing their plans and not His own.

God didn't tell many people to do all the things they're doing. Others just added their own plans to what He DID tell them to do. If He could bless them more fully He would, but He can't. He would be putting His approval on their plans.

It's easy to stray from God's plan, and that’s why some people are in dire trouble financially or in some other kind of mess. They're not doing what God said to do. They may be doing good things, even legitimate things, but what they’re doing is not in line with God's original instructions.

It pays to wait before God and get His plan. Don't ask God to bless your plans that you’ve made. Find His plan because it's already blessed.

His Plan Just Works Better

Get in His presence in prayer and ask Him about His plan. He’s an intelligent being, and you’re an intelligent being, and He will communicate His plans to you. But, you have to realize there are just some things He won't talk to you about unless you ask Him because He’s a perfect gentleman. He won't intrude on you if you don't ask Him (Jeremiah 33:3). So, take the time to seek God about what He wants done. Heaven has a plan for your life, and God wants to share that plan with you.

You see, so often we do things because that’s what others are doing or we think that's the way it ought to be done, rather than because we were led. Leadings of the Spirit often come more clearly in prayer—especially if we’ll shut down our mind and draw up what’s in our heart.

Trust God that His plan is best and that He has your best interest at heart. Many listen to the lie of the enemy that God’s plan will cause them to live defeated and without much of anything as far as the blessings of God are concerned. Nothing could be further from the truth! The willing and obedient will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19)!

If you’ll get a hold of God's plan, things in your life will just work so much better. The reason is because your faith for all God’s blessings will work much better in God’s plan. Walking in God’s plan is where you’ll see those desires that you carry in your heart come to pass as you walk by faith for them (Ephesians 2:10 AMPC). But, if you try to build your own plans, you will labor and labor, yet many of the blessings of God will escape you. And, although you may finally get your own plan all built, it will all be in vain because the Lord wasn't in any of it.

One thing “vain” means is that being out of the will of God brings dissatisfaction. But, worse than that, it will eventually cause a man to fail if he doesn’t correct himself. I mean he will have to reap the consequences of his own disobedience.

No, God doesn't bring about any man’s failure—no failure comes from heaven. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But, God does have to allow it because a man is on the territory of disobedience—not carrying out or pursuing God’s plan, and the devil has a right to attack us in disobedience.

Let me say it again, God can’t fully bless us in disobedience because then He would be blessing our own plans rather than His. God’s full blessing and the full measure of His anointing and Spirit can only come upon His plans.

Examine Yourself

When was the last time you asked yourself, "Is what I’m doing God's plan for my life or my own? When did He speak to me about what I’m doing?" If the Lord did not speak to you about what you’re doing, the Lord is not building the house. And remember, if the Lord is not building the house, all your labor will be in vain. Don’t deceive yourself.

Get God involved in whatever you’re doing. Find out what His plan is before you ever begin to build. You do that by renewing your mind to His Word and seeking His plan in prayer. If you're too busy to seek God or wait on God for His plan, you may go through your entire life and everything you do “accomplish” will be in vain.

The secret to success in life or ministry is, number one: walk in line with the Word of God; and number two: pray in the Spirit until God speaks to you about His plan specifically. AND THEN DO IT!  Actually, everything I'm doing today is the result of believing the Word and praying in other tongues and then being obedient to do what God told me to do.

Concerning every single thing we're doing, I can point you back to the time God spoke to us to do it. I found that when you get on your knees and find His plan it works so much better. In fact, it almost works without effort.

Pray Out the Plan!

Brother Hagin told the story about praying out God’s plan for his ministry in a meeting in January 1963. The Spirit of prayer fell in a service he was conducting, and he got caught up in the Spirit for an hour and a half praying and didn't realize everyone else had already left the building.

When he came to himself, he realized he was holding his finger and thumb in a circle and tracing it with the index finger of his other hand.

As he continued, the interpretation came, and the Lord showed him that he was going in circles in his ministry, and he was to get out of those circles. Then, the Lord told him to draw a circle in the air with his hand. As he did so, the interpretation came that this larger circle represented a larger realm in God’s plan for his ministry which was getting out of the churches—holding his own meetings in a neutral place so everybody would come. Churches are sometimes prejudice against one another when you hold meetings in local churches.

Then, as He continued praying in the Spirit, he drew a bigger circle. The Lord said the second circle represented God’s plan for His ministry to put all of his Bible lessons in print.

Then, as he continued praying in tongues, he drew an even bigger circle, which represented God’s plan that he put all of his teachings on cassette tape. He then drew a bigger circle, which meant going on the radio and teaching.

Brother Hagin said that as he set out to follow God’s plan for his ministry, each time he broke into one of those circles, it worked so smoothly because he had gotten God‘s plan, and His plan was already blessed.

Someone may say, “Isn’t that wonderful how God did that for Brother Hagin!” But, dear friend, God doesn't just have a plan for one person. He has a plan for each of His children. And, each of us can know His plan and pursue it in our lives and ministries and receive the blessings and anointing God has in mind for US. Our part is to pray long enough until we pray it through and get the revelation of what the next step is.

Faith for the Plan

I can have faith for everything we're doing in our life and ministry because I took the time in prayer to hear from God. The God-kind of faith comes by hearing God speak to you. None of what we are doing in our personal lives or ministry today was my idea to begin with. I didn't want to do any of it anyway, so all my care about it are cast over on the Lord.

If it's the Lord's plan, He will put it over. And, I know God can get the job done. If He can't put it over, then I certainly can't! It wasn’t my plan to begin with, so when the bills come in, they’re not my bills—they’re His! And, He’s been paying them in grand style!

We recently took some steps to begin entering into another part of God’s plan for our ministry. Just the other day, I told a person involved that even though we’ve been paying bills for over a year, the account we put money into to fulfill that plan hasn’t even begun going down. The balance actually keeps going up! Hallelujah!

Some Good Advice

Here's where some who are less mature miss it sometimes. In addition to knowing God’s plan, you have to know the timing of the Spirit. Learn to wait on the right time to implement God's plan—wait for the quickening of the Holy Ghost. But, as you wait, keep building your faith because many times we’re not actually waiting on God; He’s waiting on us to develop our faith before He leads us to take a step toward His plan.

Another area people miss it is they pick up on what the Spirit wants to do through others in the body of Christ, but interpret the fact that they sensed it to mean God wants to use them to do it. Sometimes, because of people’s sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, they sense what God is doing or what He wants to do. But, they grab it and run off as if He was telling them to do it, when He wasn't. They try to build something that God didn't tell them to build, and their plans fail.

You can get things in a mess doing that and sometimes even abort what God wanted to do. Also, some people just want to do something because somebody else is doing it.

Then, sometimes people get God's plan and God's timing, but they try to accomplish it by the efforts of the flesh--thinking that THEY have to perform it. Some folks labor under the burden of it until it almost kills them.

We're not called to labor FOR God, we're called to labor WITH Him—trusting Him to bring it to pass. When God tells you to do something, learn to rest as you go. They that believe enter into rest (Hebrews 4:3)!

So, set yourself to pray and seek God’s plan for your life. Then, set out in faith to pursue that plan.

As you do, the glory of God will be revealed, and you’ll abound in the many blessings that are waiting in store for your life.