Vision for the New Year

Christmas is past and now comes the time of year when everyone begins to make resolutions. We say that this new year is going to be different. We say that this year 'I will ... lose weight, get that promotion, stop smoking, eat healthier, etc.' The tendency is to make these resolutions and stick to them for a few weeks or months and then to simply forget about them. After a few years it's easy to start thinking there's no point. We get tired of making the effort when there is no true result. But sometimes we forget that the idea of making a resolution is very similar to a Biblical idea. In Habakkuk 2:2-3 it says:

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

"Write the vision, and make it plain...". It doesn't say to specifically do it at the beginning of the new year, but that's as good a time as any. God has set a principle of having a vision for our future. He wants to look ahead and prepare for what is coming. In 'Undeveloped Dream cont.', I also mentioned Proverbs 28:19:

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Our vision is what brings order to our world. Our vision is what keeps and protects the law and morality of God. We need vision. So what is the answer to the problem I mentioned earlier? How do we make our resolution (vision) bring lasting results?

The first and most important key to bringing lasting results is seeking God for the right vision to pursue. What does God want for us in this new year? What God wants usually coincides with our own desires, because God will plant desires in our heart for us to pursue.

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

When we look into the Hebrew we can better translate this verse as the following:

Make yourself pliable in the hands of the Lord and He will place desires in your heart.

In other words, the first step, before deciding on a vision, is actually to put ourselves in God's hands and to let Him form us. The Bible says that He is the potter and we are the clay. Let the Potter form you and you will begin to realize that your desires will match with His.

Once you have put yourself in the forming hands of God, we return back to the first verse in Habakkuk. It's time to start writing down those desires that seem to be from Him. We need to write it down and seek God about how He wants to use that to protect His law and morality in this world. Then write that down. Be as specific in writing as God is in speaking to you. Keep it somewhere visible all year, or however long it takes to fulfill it, and continue seeking God for updates in the vision. God never gives it all to us at once, probably because He knows that we will stop seeking Him if we know all we need to know. So keep seeking Him and every time He tells you something new, write it down.

It's time to seek God for 2011. What does God want to do through us this year? How does God want to affect the world around you? He's just waiting for you to ask!

Dancing on the Rim of the World

I'm not of this world, but I am in it.
I am not of the flesh but of the spirit.
I do not live with the rules of this world, but the rules of my God.
I am dancing on the rim of the world
waiting for my turn to leave but making my time here as useful as possible.
I will make this life count;
I will make this dance as good as it possibly can be and as helpful to others as possible.
I will dance in harmony with the music God has created as I dance on the rim of the world.
I shall leave tales of God's glory; I shall leave examples of His presence.
I shall show them God, and you now are hearing me.
You, world, shall hear me preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
You, now whether you like it or not, shall hear me world.
I am dancing on the rim of the world and I will bring others with me for you now are hearing my dance and shall be affected by it.
There is no stopping me; there is no holding me back;
I shall continue my dance, continue it louder and louder than before.

Written in Mrs. Haynie's Oregon Literature class Spring of 2001 by Matthew Wright. The phrase 'Dancing on the Rim of this World' is in reference to the book by the same title edited by Andrea Lerner.

Sermon on Vision

This is an audio file of me preaching on the importance of vision in our society.

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Our men's group at Connection Ministries just went through a series on the book Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. This book focuses on the desires that every man has from when he was a child, and how the church has encouraged men to ignore their heart. This has caused Christian men to be bored and subdued, and to reject their calling and position in the church. It has also pushed many men away from the church as they never feel like they 'fit'

John Eldredge identifies three core desires at the heart of every man; A Battle to Fight, An Adventure to Live, and A Beauty to Rescue. He describes how men were created in the image of a warrior God and that the church has subdued them by telling them that they are supposed to simply be "nice guys". The church and the world needs men of God who are alive, and the only way they are going to be alive is if they reject this 'nice guy' image and find their battle, adventure, and eventually the beauty to stand beside them.

Everyone of us who was a part of going through this book could completely relate to what John Eldredge wrote. It was a time in which we were awakened to what we have been missing in our Christian walk. We are still on the process of finding our hearts, but without this time of discussion and reading, we may have never even realized that we needed this process, let alone started on it. If you are a Christian man who has realized that you are bored with your Christian walk I would recommend this book. Even more I would recommend getting together with a small group and going through it together.

Below are the links to the Wild at Heart book, field manual, and small group series in case you are interested.