the vision before the work

If you are to sit down and build a house, what needs to happen first?

Of course, building a foundation is an important early step, but even before that, don't you have to sit down and imagine, in detail, the finished product? What each room will look like, how each fixture contributes to each room that contributes to the overall architectural functionality and design of the house.

As we seek to be brothers and sisters who desire to share the gospel with those who have not tasted the quenching and fulfilling of salvation through Jesus, are we daring and actually taking time to imagine and dream what that is to look like? Do we allow our minds to wander what our schools, neighborhoods, families, and individual relationships will look like with Christ as the centerpiece of those structures?

If we aren't, I think we should be.

In Revelation, we have a recorded vision like that. We to I think should feel free and be convicted to regularly dream big dreams of the power of salvation in Christ before we actually set out to go about being His hands and feet and seeking to share the gospel with others.

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:6-14 NIV)