I want to begin by sharing with you a story about a 19 year old Chinese pianist named Liu (lu) Shih-kun ( shy-cun). In 1958 he competed in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianist. Van Cliburn won with Liu finishing second. Van Cliburn became world renown and Liu went back to China and was forgotten by the western world.
In the mid 60s Liu was an established concert pianist in China but a cultural revolution was beginning where anything and everything of western influence had fallen into disfavor.
Western music fell into that category and was no longer allowed to be played. But Liu refused to renounce his beloved music and was deemed “an enemy of the people”. He was imprisoned and beaten, once so severally that a bone in his right forearm was cracked.
For the next 6 years he set in a prison cell. There were no books to read, except the teachings of the dictator Mao, no paper on which to write, and no piano, for 6 long years.
When Richard Nixon became president an outreach between the two countries began. Part of that outreach was for the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform in Peking. For the purpose of propaganda, Liu was released from jail and requested to perform with them. How could they expect someone who had been away from their instrument for 6 years to perform?
But Liu did and did so extraordinarily well.
He was once again returned to his cell for another 18 months, to be released so as to play another concert in which he played brilliantly.
He never returned to prison again. The political and culture climate had changed. He was at last accepted at home and emerged into the national limelight that he had been denied for 21 years.
That he survived is remarkable in itself. But his fellow musicians were more astonished that his hands had survived, as if though he had never stopped playing.
You see, there was one thing that the prison could not take from him, and that was his vision to play again. He had been denied a piano, denied paper to recapture the music he had lost. Yet something invaluable was left Liu. Something which in turn produced notes of music and produced a piano keyboard in his lonely prison cell. For seven and a half years Liu practiced his beloved music in his vivid, disciplined imagination----on a piano no one else could see. ( Paul Harvey’s The Rest Of The Story)
That is vision, seeing what others can’t. Today I want to look at a man in Scripture who had a vision for God’s power to be manifested and the steps he took to see it through. We will learn from his example how to bring life to the vision that desires to be born in us.
The man’s name is Elijah. We are introduced to this man in 1 Kings 17 :1 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”
A great drought is about to strike the land because of the wickedness of King Ahab.
Next we read: 1 Kings 18: 1 Later on, in the third year of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!”
This sets up a showdown between the prophets of the false gods Baal and Asherah. It is in this showdown that we gleam some valuable information in making our vision a reality.
1 Kings 18:31-33 He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”
1) To accomplish a vision it takes work
He had to work at it with out any help. There were twelve stones to carry to rebuild the altar, not pebbles but heavy boulders.
He had to dig a trench. I doubt he had a handy shovel near by so he probably had to do this by hand. After a three year drought we can only imagine how hard the ground must have been. And it had to be a deep trench.
Next he piled wood on the altar. Notice he did not throw the wood on the altar. There would have been necessary preparation for the wood to be piled. There’s some moss to be scraped of the wood, created from wood lying dormant to long. There’s some stray limbs that need to be trimmed off so the wood could be piled properly, limbs that were of no use.
Then it gets messy. He has to take a bull, slaughter it, skin it, cut it into pieces, and place it on the altar. I tried to establish a time frame for this task but honestly the details of the process was much to disturbing for me to share. I can assure you that Elijah was covered in blood when this process had ended.
2) To accomplish a vision you must know God intimately.
Notice he took twelve stones and rebuilt the altar in the name of the Lord. I want to give you twelve names of God that will help you accomplish your vision.
1) ELOHIM THE CREATOR
2) JEHOVA THE SELF EXISTING ONE
3) ADONAI THE MASTER
4) EL EMUNAH THE FAITHFUL ONE
5) JEHOVAH-JIREH OUR PROVIDER
6) JEHOVAH-NISSI OUR BANNER
7) JEHOVAH-SHALOM OUR PEACE
8) JEHOVAH-ROHI OUR SHEPARD
9) JEHOVAH-RAPHA OUR HEALER
10) JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH THE PRESENT LORD
11) EL-ROI THE STRONG, SEEING ONE
12) EL-SHADDAI GOD ALMIGHTY
3) To accomplish a vision you must face opposition.
Elijah then instructs those who wish to see him fail to pour water on the offering and the wood. I don’t know much about building a campfire but water and wood does not sound like the right combination. And where is the water to come from after a three year drought? Well from JEHAOVAH- JIREH of course. From ELOHIM who could suddenly create a spring buried beneath some stones. From EL-ROI who sees the spring and leads others to it.
But that is not his only request.
Kings 18:33-35 He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.” After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!” And when they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said, and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.
Three times water was poured on the altar. How many of you know that there are forces and people who want to pour “water” on your vision?
One of them is satan. He wants to discourage you from achieving your vision by any form he can. He puts up stumbling blocks, road blocks, dead ends, pot holes, anything to discourage you on your journey. He’ll punch you in the mouth, the gut, and below the belt to get you to toss in the towel. And what does God say? “ Pour your water on it and try to douse the fire.”
Another water bearer is people. They will give you every logical reason in the world as to why you can’t accomplish your vision. They will discourage you from trying. They will remind you of more pressing obligations and problems than chasing after some far off vision. And God says “Bring some more water.”
The third water bearer is you. You are filled with doubt. You look at past failures. You hear those voices that say “You can’t”, “You shouldn’t” and you begin to listen and believe. You begin to slowly allow that vision to slip away into the darkness. And God says “There’s not enough water yet. Bring some more.”
4) To accomplish a vision you must be bold.
Kings 18:36-37 At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”
Elijah waited for the proper time, the usual time for offering. He did not get ahead of what God was going to do. But when the time got right, he got bold. I can hear Elijah today saying something like “OK God. I’ve taken all these steps you asked me to take. I’ve done the work. I’ve heard the negativity being poured out on my vision. I am battered. I am bloody and dirty. I have called on your name in faith through prayer. So now it’s time for you to prove yourself. Come on; prove you are the Creator and Provider of my vision. Prove to all these doubters that I am doing what you designed me to do. Answer me. I am waiting to hear. Answer me.” This is not being irreverent. This is being expectant. You have been doing what God has called you to do and you are informing him of your readiness to proceed with your vision.
Ephesians 3:12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
5) To accomplish a vision you must expect results.
1 Kings 18:38 Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!
When the vision came it came at the right time and it came immediately. God’s fire was so hot it consumed the animal, the wood, the stones, even the dirt around the altar. But notice the fire licked up all the water in the trenches.
We need to build trenches around our vision to hold all those doubts and doubters. That way when the buckets of vision drenching water are poured on us, it has some where to run off of us. Then when our vision comes to be a reality we can watch as God takes all those doubts and negative statements that have gathered in our trench and licks them up as a cool drink as to spite those who doubted His creative work.
Walking with vision is challenging. My vision is for Whitestone ministry to be a viable ministry in the Denver, NC area.
I share a vision for True Identity to be a viable ministry nationally.
But we must work, we must pray, we must fight, we must be bold, we must be expectant. God will not be pleased with anything less.
