Eric's Beijing Diary

Here's one from Helen Keller:

Question: What is worse than being born blind?

Answer: Having sight without vision.

Vision. What is vision? I have spoken about this before. It is the ability to see things that are not there, and call them into being by faith. Vision is terribly important. Absolutely essential if you want to accomplish anything of value. But every bit as important as vision is annointing. If you have vision but no annointing, your way will be fraught with constant friction. So what is annointing? It is the oil of God's blessing that lubricates the circumstances to provide a smooth transition to the purpose for which the vision calls us.

But is it possible to have vision without annointing? Moses would be an example. His failure to enter the promised land was not from lack of vision. He was a man of vision, and he was allowed to see the promised land, but he was not allowed to enter, because he struck the rock.

I, myself experienced a situation where I had vision, but did not seem to have annointing. Many years ago, I put together a non-profit organization to lobby at the North Dakota State Legislature. At the time, I said many times that what we really needed was not money, but vision. But as an organization, it never seemed to get off the ground, and it was not for lack of vision. The problem was annointing. You see, I wanted to change the world. But God's purpose was not for me to build an organization that would turn the world upside down. I believe now that He wanted me to have a vehicle in place to address my own situation. Viewed from that perspective, it was very useful, because two years after I was at the Legislature, I needed to lobby the Attorney General's office about another part of the problem, and my experience at the legislature proved to be invaluable.

Now I find myself in China. The other day I was talking with a brother from Singapore about this issue, and he mentioned the importance of establishing first why we are here. This is important, becuase it turns out that, while I certainly have an interest in helping the people of China, I am far more concerned about encouraging Chinese Christians to develop a sense of vision about missions, and reaching out to the world around them. So how does one go about this? I don't know, exactly, but one thing is certain. It cannot be done without the annointing. It is very important to pray for the annointing. This should never be taken for granted. There have been times that I have neglected to pray for the annointing. I have always regretted it.

Bottom line: God will lead one step at a time. Slowly, but surely, the vision will be clarified. And as the picture starts to come together, I will continue to pray for God's annointing on the work he has called me to do, because, as Hudson Taylor said, "God's work, done God's way, will never lack God's supply."