Have you ever wondered what makes a visionary? Maybe you are one and never really defined it. I was in prayer for a friend who desired vision for his work/ministry. Vision is something that helps us in all parts of our lives. The visionary has the ability of seeing something not very many others do. After hearing one brief sentence from the LORD in prayer for my friend’s vision, I learned that we can be a visionary.
“A visionary is one who has vision for today.” 
This wasn’t what I had ever thought. I thought it was futuristic, kind of way out there at the horizon. I started to unpack this. 
“Vision for today” 
God has said in the Word not to worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of its own. God calls Himself, “I Am.” That is present. That is today. 
When I contacted my friend with these words in prayer for him, he said that when he was on the plane to his destination for the week he was reading in his Bible. He was reading about the manna and was being impressed with the “now-ness of it.”
I went back to some notable figures in the Bible. Moses was my first stop. Who would ever think to lift a staff over the water when all of Pharaoh’s army was bearing down to attack? God told him to and he was obedient. He believed God at His Word. The other point was that Moses didn’t react. He didn’t get defensive and think how he was going to possibly stop what was coming after him. 
Moses didn’t react negatively, he responded positively. 
He responded moving forward. He responded facing where he was headed and doing what was necessary to move that way. He knew God said He was going to deliver them out of Egypt. When they needed food, Moses wasn’t hunting all over the place for it, he asked God and God delivered the manna. He provided it every day as they continued to move forward following God’s cloud. It was always just enough food for that day and would not last if it was stored. It was vision of God being there right then, that day, every day as they continued on their journey.
Next, I considered David. David was not reactive and cowered or feared when the threats were coming from Goliath. He responded. He knew His God and how He made him able to kill the lion and the bear while keeping his sheep safe. He declared the same God who did that would do this. He would defeat Goliath. David responded moving forward. 
1 Samuel 17:33-37a  NIV  
And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
He saw who God is in him and not who he is by himself. By removing Goliath, the Philistines were out of their way. David looked at today and who God is today and moved forward.
He doesn’t react by retreat, he responds and trusts in God.
Abraham was told he would be the Father of many nations and then God asked him to leave his father’s house and move on. Abraham packed up and went. He moved forward believing God. Sarah was more reactive. She believed to an extent. She believed God would cause Abraham to be a Father in their old age, she just didn’t believe the power of God in her. Her reaction to God’s promise for her was laughter.
Joshua and Caleb, when seeing the Promised Land, did not react negatively to the size of the enemy, but responded to the size of the promise. They saw enormous grapes and food and the goodness of the land. They moved forward believing God’s promise that it was theirs and saw themselves in it through God in them.
Our daughter saw the choir at church. It was filled with adults much older than she was. She was in high school. She loved the music and wanted to be a part of it. She didn’t react that she did not see anyone else there like herself, she envisioned herself as part of it and moved forward. After she joined the choir many other younger people joined. They followed. Visionaries aren’t thinking about how they can be a leader. A visionary moves forward and often people follow them.
A visionary of God’s believes He will respond in good through them.
 A visionary doesn’t fear.  
A visionary moves forward, trusting in God and what He does through them. Failure that happens to a visionary is viewed as an opportunity for gaining knowledge of what doesn’t work. It moves them further forward to what does work and is better. They let go of the failure and continue forward momentum.
Jesus is an ultimate visionary. He shows us how He sees us. He saw people whole in Him. He saw the good and the worth and offered for them to see it too. He showed them the way of moving forward in that good and toward that good. When someone saw the good Jesus revealed that was different than the way they saw it, they chose it as an obstacle to their beliefs and reacted against it. They stayed where they were. If they responded toward the good, they moved forward in His vision of His love and grew in that love. 
It’s simpler than I had ever thought. But isn’t that Jesus? A visionary responds and moves forward in who God is.  God is good. He is able to do amazing things through you. Move forward in Him today and you could find yourself with a far greater vision for life.