Monthly Archives: March 2013

Man to Man…Getting the Vision Part 1

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Where am I going

WHERE AM I GOING?

” Where there is no Vision the people parish ” Proverbs 29:18……Where there is no prophetic Vision, revealed by God, the people are left to run wild.

Why be so intentional about establishing this vision of who you believe God is calling you to be? Why not just keep putting one foot in front of the other  and trust God will take you there?  Do we really need to seek after this image of where we believe God is leading us, or who He intends for us to become?

How do we go about bringing this vision into our line of sight?

Where does the Vision come from and how is it formed?

How do we know we are not projecting or own agenda?

Why not just be myself, isn’t that good enough for God?

These are all questions rattling around in our heads. Legitimate questions that need answered if we are to invest ourselves in what could amount to a lot of work, searching for an image, unbiased by us, that visualizes for us the man God is calling us to become.

Time intentionally focused on specific answers in the Word. Time on our knees before God just listening for his voice to speak to us. Staying focused untill the vision is made real and clear to us, and then staying focused on the vision and how to process it into our lives.

When I was in College we were encouraged to go out and start a Church, one of my professors had a very simple approach to establishing a vision and putting that vision into mission….” Plan your work and work your plan.”

I can only speak for myself here, but I have an intense need to be intentional with how I live my life, if I want to live for God. When I am not intentional and focused on planning for and acting on the thing’s God is calling me to, I will simply live my life to make a living. This is what many years of long hard hours at work have shown me.

For the longest Time I allowed My job to define me. It was the center of who I was, providing for my family, keeping the work ethic my father had taught me, all of those things that make us honorable and responsible men, but I am more than a provider. in fact that role, important as it is, is not my most important role. Not my role as a father or as a husband. These are all very important responsibilities for me as a man, but my most important role as a man is to be God’s man.

Becoming the man God is calling me to be and the man God is calling you to be, has to be our primary goal and responsibility. Establishing that relationship with Him is what guides and empowers us to be Godly men in all of these other roles, and as that relationship is established, it is God who allows us to form the vision that reveals who He is calling us to be.

If we have no map it is difficult and time consuming to travel from one point to the other. For us to be intentional about fulfilling God’s purpose and plan for our lives, we first need to see what that looks like.

I’m not taking away from walking by Faith, it takes faith to in-vision our next step, or even to take that next step. by Faith we trust God to give us a Vision of what the man He is calling us to be looks like.

So question #1 Why be so intentional about obtaining this vision for who God is calling us to be?

I can only speak for myself here, but personal history shows me that with out a personal vision I drift.

The great song writer Robert Robinson Who wrote the old hymn “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing” penned those ominous words, back in the 1700’s…Prone to wonder Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love….Take my heart Oh take and seal it, seal it to thy throne above…

I am prone to wonder and drift away from the loving embrace and guidance of the God I love, as long as I abide in this mortal flesh, like Paul I must crucify the flesh daily and intentionally seek after the vision God has for my life…..I beleive I am not alone.

What kind of relationship do you have with your Father in heaven,with Jesus Christ? Have you evaluated your need for a vision of Who God is calling you to be, and what does that look like?

Are you intentional about seeking after that vision and making your mission to become that man….on purpose?

May God bless you in your quest for His righteousness in your own life, and defining your purpose in Him.

Man to Man …Becoming the man Part 3

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we had no freedom untill Jesus Christ made us free indeed.

We had no freedom untill Jesus Christ made us free indeed.

Knowing who you are affects everything. For we who have put our faith in Christ as Lord and saviour, it changes everything. Once we were lost but now we are found. Once we were blind but now we see. Once we were dead and now we live. Discovering who we are in Christ, is like waking up in prison one morning, with the guard tapping you on the leg saying, come with me. Following him to the warden’s office you find out that you have been pardoned, and that you are free to journey home where you are part of a royal priesthood. An adopted son into the royal family, with the same inheritance as the Prince of the kingdom.
I Peter 2:9….But youare a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light; Rom_8:17  And if children, also heirs; truly heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together. We are Chosen by God , a people acquired by the blood of Christ, to be His Holy Nation, conformed to the image of His son Jesus Christ, and given the same inheritance. God loved us so much, has given us so much in Christ, and we walk around as if we were spiritually bankrupt, paupers and powerless.WAKE-UP!!!!Stop living a life in bondage, a prisoner to sin and the flesh, and step into the life God has provided you in Jesus Christ, with the ability to walk humbly with God.I have been involved in prison ministry off and on for probably 25 years and the one common denominator with all of the believers in prison, is that they do not know who they are in Christ. Some can say the words and verbalize it to you, but it has never been realized in their lives. One of the first things I like to do, and this is so exciting to watch, is to introduce them to themselves, that is who they are in Christ. it takes a few meetings for it to begin to sink in, but when it finally breaks through to them, it changes them forever. They are the personification of all of us who even after coming to know Christ, remained in bondage to some degree to the old nature, living to satisfy the flesh and it’s desires. But God’s promise is that all who come to Jesus Christ by faith believing, will by divine order be made to conform to the image of Christ, and when we finally get it; when we finally see who we truly are, we are finally set free.

freedom to become

We come to the realization we have the freedom not to sin.

Before we Came to Christ by faith  and began a personal relationship with Him, we only had one place to go with all of the things, the drives and needs, God created into each of us, that place was to the flesh. But Now We are Spiritually alive having had our spirits quickened  or made alive in Christ. This gives us an alternative,not taking our needs to the flesh, but to God.

Eph_2:1

  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Col_2:13

  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

My prayer is that we as men of God awaken to the truth of who we are in Christ, so that we live as priestly kings, that is our lives reflect the abundant spiritual wealth we share together. Making the eternal things of our home in heaven the priority, as Husbands,fathers,employees,friends,church members. Serving and mentoring those within our circles of influence to also come to the same revelation of who they are.

Mat_6:33

  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Knowing who you are in Christ…what obstacle is too big for you to move out of your way to be the man God is calling you to be? What task is too difficult for you to accomplish? What force too powerful for you to overcome? Do you understand that the only thing that can limit you or hold you back is you? Step out of your little box and trust God. Remove the training wheels, take down all of the barriers you have erected to protect yourself and walk by faith, trusting God as He leads you to become the man He is calling you to be. May God bless you and give you courage and peace to follow Him….Jesus loves you and so do I.