Monday, August 20, 2007

Holy Desperation

We are not likely to have a significant encounter with God until we become desperate. Desperation provides the impulse necessary for us to be willing to lose our lives; and in so doing, we discover life. God will use dissatisfaction, frustration, and consternation to lead us to the place of reckless abandonment. There we will get a such a wonderful revelation of God that we are willing to make known to the world the truth of His Kingdom regardless of the price.

Jesus said: I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me" ... John 12:24-26 (NLT)

Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Birth of A Vision

Do you have a vision for your life? God does.

"I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). When we surrender our plans, God gives us His plans. As we seek an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we begin to get a vision of how His plans will unfold. That becomes our vision.

Vision must be birthed in each of us by the Holy Spirit. God may use other people to plant the seeds of our vision, but until the vision becomes personal it will never be our passion.

Owning another person’s vision will not suffice, even if that person impacted a generation or a nation. The other person’s vision may be noble, pure, and scriptural, and God may give me the same vision, but if I only receive it from a man and not from God, the fruit of my labor will be limited by human strength. We need God's strength if we are to accomplish God's work.

Ponder and pray over your vision, and God will bring it into sharper focus through failures and successes.

"... for this I toil, striving with all the energy that God mightily inspires within me" (Col 1:29).

And that is a point to ponder.

David