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I have met many pastors and people with incredible vision for ministry in their community, but sadly they never got past the thinking and talking stage.

What good is a vision when it stays stuck in your head or on your lips?  It can stall out in the "talk stage" and never get launched into new horizons of faithful action.

In spite of your fears and doubts, Christian leaders need to start taking faith-steps toward seeing their vision fully formed and realized in their own lives and ministries.

Let’s look at what God did with His people in the Old Testament when He revealed His vision for them. God rarely asks His chosen leaders to take leaps of faith; rather He encourages them to take small steps that grow larger as their faith grows larger.  But the leader must take the first step in order to get to all the other steps that follow!

In Joshua 1:10-11, the Israelites faced a challenging step of faith. They stood just across the Jordan River from the promised land that God was providing for them.  God’s vision of a place for them to worship Him and to serve Him burned in Moses’ and Joshua’s hearts during 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Their new leader, Joshua, instructed the people to prepare to cross the Jordan River. It was time to take the challenging step of faith.

Joshua 1:10, 11 “So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: ‘Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready.  Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

Now, the Jordan is not a very big river – in many places it is only about 30 meters across – except in the flood season.

Can you guess when God wanted the Israelites to cross the river? DURING FLOOD STAGE!!  It was just as the spring weather was melting snow off the mountains, turning the Jordan into a giant, rushing, torrential, dangerous river.

God was leading His chosen people to cross the Jordan River and possess the land He was providing at the most dangerous time of the year to cross that river. God was testing and stretching their faith. Isn't that just like God?  God put them there in a moment when the crossing seemed humanly impossible!

In Joshua 1:2 God speaks to the new leader of His people, Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land that I am about to give to them….”

Then God says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give to them.” (v.6). That is the very message that every Christian leader needs to hear and act on today: “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people…”

Joshua’s faith and courage had to be transferred to the people that he was appointed to lead. “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.’” (3:5)

Joshua 3:15, 16 “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.  Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.”

God put the people in a seemingly impossible position to see if they had learned to trust in God no matter what. A courageous leader must act and remind his people that a situation may be out of their control, but it is never out of God's control.  A courageous leader who faces what appears to be a dead end must not focus on what he can't do but focus on what God can do. 

As a Christian leader today, you must always remember that when you face things that are out of your control you need something more than a positive mental attitude. You need faith in God because He can control it when you can't.  Most of life is beyond your control.  So, you need faith far more than you need positive thinking. 

Faith is not denying reality.   The overflowing banks of the Jordan River were real. It's not pretending you don't have a problem.  That's not faith, that's denial.  Faith is not saying "I'm not in pain" when you are.  It's not saying "I don't hurt" when you do.  It's not saying "I'm happy" when you are really grieving inside.  That's not faith, it's phoniness.  God says, "I want to work in your life according to faith."  Faith is facing the facts before you without being discouraged by them.

Circumstances are like a mattress.  When you get on top, you rest easy.  You get underneath, you suffocate.  When you start looking at your problems, you are overwhelmed and flooded with doubt.  If you focus on Christ and His power, your faith as a leader will grow. If you focus on your problems, your faith will falter.

God's answer: “I’m going to do a miracle! Remember forty years ago when I parted the Red Sea and you walked through it? I am going to deliver you again on your journey.  I am going to do it again, only this time there will be a slight change. At the Red Sea I opened the waters and then you walked through; this time I want you to start walking first and then I will dam up the water. Trust me – the waters will recede. But I want you to step in first. This is a test.”

As a Christian leader, what should you do when you know something is God's will, but you are scared to do it?  You do it anyway! If you know it is the right thing to do, you must fight the fear and choose faith in a powerful God! Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it is moving ahead in spite of your fear. Once you make that first step, more faith will come.

You might be thinking, “I’m getting a little too old for this launching out stuff.”  But you know what - Joshua was 80! So, age is no excuse. You are never too old to launch out in faith - spending the rest of your life fulfilling the vision God planted in your heart.

You can start small, but you must start. Take that first step into the river of opportunity!