There is much to commend in your desire not to follow your own personal goals but to be led by the Lord, for naturally we do not like being guided, yet it is a work of grace upon the heart that makes a man feel his need of a guide.
You quote the proverb, Where there is no vision, the people perish, and you ask for visions from God. Understand what that vision is. It is not a new revelation apart from what God has already spoken, but the prophetic Word of the Lord itself. Give me but a Word out of God's mouth, and I can live upon it, but all the words out of man's mouth, apart from Divine Inspiration, must be as unsatisfying food as if men tried to live on stones. The vision that keeps a people from perishing is the counsel of God revealed in Holy Scripture, and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Our God has not altered a single sentence nor changed a single line of His divine purpose. His purpose is still moving on, like the great sea, while we are but waves upon it, and this is the miracle of mercy, that though we are free, yet His purpose stands. Your prayer that He would fulfill the visions He gives is in keeping with this, for He does not change like shifting shadows.
How then does He guide His people? First, be guided by the general directions given in God's Word. There you find His will plainly declared. Next, there are great principles infused in every man who takes God for his Guide, such as to avoid everything that is evil and to bow with submission to the will of God. By that very submission we are furnished with unerring guidance. Haste is the author of a great deal of mischief, but to wait upon His counsel is wisdom. He who has been God's pupil from his youth, as David said, O God, You have taught me from my youth, will also be taught to declare His wondrous works, not by seeking wonders within himself, but by observing the work of God in Christ and in His Word.
The sure result of this guidance is that He will guide you with His counsel, and afterward receive you to glory. There is no true glory for any man who takes his own course.
Let us pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, and that every good gift comes from Your hand. We thank You for the gift of Your Word, which is a light to our feet, and for the gift of Your Son, whose blood cleanses us from all sin and through whom alone we are made Your people and beloved. We confess that apart from Your grace we go astray like lost sheep, under the dominion of this world, and not worthy to be called Your people.
We ask for this one who prays, that You would teach him as Your pupil, and increase faith and divine graces by Your many dealings. Fulfill Your good purpose in him, and guide him not by fleeting impressions, but by Your infallible counsel in Scripture. Grant him acquiescence in Your divine will, that he may avoid evil, do good, and walk in the way You have appointed. Dethrone obstinacy and self will, and enthrone Christ in his heart.
We ask that You would keep him from following his own personal goals, and make him to know and to love Your purpose, which cannot be frustrated. Guide him with Your counsel on earth, and afterward receive him to glory, for Christ's sake. In Jesus' mighty and powerful name, amen.
