Daydreams and Sweatshops. Daily Devotional By Steven Furtick
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good". Genesis 1:31
Today’s Bible reading: Genesis 1:1–2:3
I was recently reading Robert McKee’s book on the process of storytelling and came across a sentence that challenged me. He was discussing the hard work of the creative endeavor and constructing fictional environments, and he said, “Worlds are not daydreams but sweatshops.”
It got me thinking in a similar vein about how we often misunderstand the concept of having a vision from God. For our lives, for our ministries, and really for everything in general.
I believe that when most people think or talk about getting a vision from God, it’s more along the lines of a daydream. We associate receiving a vision from God with being passive.
We think that God speaks to us with candles lit and music playing. He often does. But that’s not where the vision comes to life. It’s simply the moment of conception.
The vision really comes to life when the candles go out and the music stops. It’s when we have to get down to the hard work of actually making it happen. Visions don’t come to life in daydreams but in sweatshops.
If you’re a church planter, it’s in the hours you spend setting up your portable location just to be able to preach for forty minutes.
If God has called you to be a doctor, it’s in the years of schooling and interning that you have to endure to get those two simple letters, MD, attached to your name.
If you’re a writer or a filmmaker, it’s in the days and months of brainstorming, executing, and editing it takes to make your project a reality.
Visions don’t come to life in daydreams but in sweatshops.
Being a visionary or receiving a vision isn’t defined simply by what you can think of. A child can think of a lot of things that have no chance of becoming real. Being a visionary has to do with what you can bring to life.
God is the Creator, not because He imagined or envisioned creation, but because He acted and brought it into existence. He expressed intense satisfaction in doing the work and seeing the final product. Why should it be any different for the creatures who were made in His image?
So, is your vision more like an airy daydream or a blueprint for construction? Are you indulging in fantasies from a recliner or working up a sweat to make your vision a reality?
Go build a world.
PRAYER FOCUS: If you’ve been daydreaming about what you would like to do differently, without putting any muscle behind it, confess and repent. (To repent means to change your behavior.)
Steven Furtick
Steven Furtick is the founder and senior pastor of the Elevation Church, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Elevation was cited by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 fastest growing churches.
