Purpose and Vision – Part 5
Two major points I want to make this week:
- You can’t do any of what we have taught this month if you don’t know who you are.
- You won’t know who you are until you know who Jesus is!
(Mat 16:13-19 KJV) When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Simon discerned Jesus’ true identity:
- Jesus asked who others identified Him to be
- Other misidentified Jesus to be either: John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Isaiah, or one of the prophets
- He then wanted to know is His disciples could properly identify Him
- The question was posed to all 12
- Only one (Simon) received the answer
- The answer came by revelation (not flesh and blood)
By identifying Jesus’ true identity, Simon found his own (Peter):
- You ID’d me, so let me now ID you
- Simon, You are Peter
Closing thoughts:
- When you find Jesus you are able to find yourself
- When you find yourself you will be able to discover your purpose
- You don’t come up with your purpose, you discover it
- When you discover your purpose you will receive incremental vision
- When you walk in accordance with God-given vision you will experience divine provision and favor
Purpose and Vision – Part IV
Two major points I want to make this week:
- All true vision will be tested for authenticity.
- Nothing happens until you announce it.
All true vision will be tested for authenticity:
- Life in Christ is not a cakewalk.
- Every person that was used mightily of God faced opposition.
- The devil only attacks those worth attacking!
Example: Paul
- Paul went through challenge after challenge, but the devil was not after Paul, the devil wanted to stop Paul’s assignment!
- Paul was charged with taking the gospel the Gentiles.
- The greater the assignment, the greater the attack!
- After describing some of the challenges he faced, Paul said, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).
Nothing really happens until you announce it:
- Paul was living well until he announced the fact that he had changed sides.
- After Paul’s public declaration of what God wanted to do in his life, the life went haywire.
- It’s one thing to receive from God in your prayer closet. But it’s something else when you have the faith to declare what God is going to do in your life, before it happens.
- Taking God public crosses the faith line.
- When you take God public – at the risk of looking foolish – the Father honors your faith.
- When you take God public you become a target of the enemy!
Closing thoughts:
- If the vision came from God, the provision will come from God.
- If the vision came from God, the opposition will come from satan.
- Instead of getting discouraged by the opposition, get encouraged!
- Satanic opposition is proof that you are heading down the right road!
- What satan means to destroy you can actually help validate your assignment!
- The only way you can lose is if you quit!
Purpose and Vision – Part III
- Purpose is predetermined and fixed, vision is incremental and progressive.
- Vision is sight, birthed from insight, with the benefit of hindsight (progressive).
Example: Abraham
Abraham’s Purpose was fixed:
- God visits a 75yr. old man and tells him his purpose.
- The Lord was going to start a family through Abraham and through this family; ALL the families of the earth would be blessed.
- Blessed TO BE a Blessing!
- From the time Abraham received his purpose, to the time he died, the purpose never changed and he was continually in pursuit of it.
Abraham needed vision (insight) in order to accomplish the purpose:
- When Abraham couldn’t SEE it, the Lord had him look up to the stars and look down to the dust. Just like the number of stars and the grains of dust cannot be counted, that’s how many children would be in his lineage.
- Abraham had to SEE IT before he could BE IT.
- The Lord needed Abraham to SEE IT on the inside.
Don’t be afraid of using your imagination:
- Vision is birthed from anointed imagination.
- Free yourself to allow God to show you your future.
- Walk around in your future, see the people you are going to impact, shake their hands, touch them, see the change, and then come back and get ready to go there.
- Abraham received it ON THE INSIDE well before he ever saw it ON THE OUTSIDE.
A few nuggets in closing:
- Purpose will give birth to vision.
- If you allow yourself to imagine, with God involved in the process, He can show you your future. Your job then is to come back to the present and make plans to get there.
- Your plans will not experience Godly success unless they line up with God’s purpose.
- When God gives you vision for your future He is also confirming what He has already implanted IN you – He will never tell you to do something you can’t do! The goal then is the outworking of the internal.
Happy New Year – Purpose and Vision (Part 1)
First of all, I want to wish you and yours a Blessed and Happy New Year!
This month I am going to teach on Purpose and Vision. I pray you will be blessed by it.
Vision:
• Vision is more insight than it is sight.
• Vision is being able to see beyond where your eyes can look.
• Sight is common, vision is rare.
• Vision is foresight, birthed from insight, with the benefit of hindsight.
(Prov 29:18 NIV) Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.
• People with Vision don’t do everything.
• Their vision restrains them.
• Their vision keeps them focused.
• Their vision makes their life simple.
(1st Cor 6:12 NIV) “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
(1st Cor 6:12 MSG) Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.
Just because you CAN do something, it does not mean that you should. People with vision know what they should do and they focus their efforts therein. People without vision are people that fail to operate in discipline, because they lack to the direction to make the right decisions.
Finish 2011 STRONG!
Before you start planning for 2012, make sure you CLOSE OUT 2011 STRONG! Watch this, it will bless you:
(Hab 2:2-4 NLT) Then the LORD said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
- God can give you a vision.
- The vision will not happen overnight.
- If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, God cannot lie!
- Live by faith and your faithfulness will take you towards the vision!
(Heb 10:35,36 NLT) So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
- If you throw away your confidence you will be aborting the dream!
- Patient endurance is what you need to accomplish great things with God!
- If you keep pressing, you will receive all He has promised!
So:
- Before you start laying out new things for 2012, go back to what God said you would do in 2011.
- Do what you can and believe God for what you can’t.
- The year is not over, don’t give up on those things you were believing God for!
FINISH 2011 STRONG!
Open Your Heart to God’s DREAM for Your Life
God has a DREAM for your life. You role is to open your heart to it. I will use Joseph as an example:
1. Believe the dream: (Gen 37:5 NLT) One night Joseph had a dream
- God does not wait until you are ready before He reveals His dream for your life.
- The key is not dismissing the dream, just because you are not ready for it.
- Look for God to reveal to you your “to be” stage and believe it when He does.
2. Protect the Dream from Dream-Killers: (Gen 37:19,20 NASB) They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”
- Not everyone who is with you is for you.
- Learn to wait on God and only share precious information with precious people.
3. Submit to the Process:
- Greatness is not accomplished overnight.
- Joseph went through a lot in the space between the dream and the demonstration.
- Know that God is faithful to His promises.
- Submit to the process and know that every day is one step closer.
4. Never Give Up:
- Joseph had plenty of opportunities to give up on the dream, but he remained faithful to God through it all.
- Be faithful to God at every stage of vision development.
- If Joseph would have given up during Pit Phase, the Potiphar Phase, or the Prison Phase of his life, he would have never experienced the PALACE PHASE!
Watch and be blessed:
The Language of Faith
We come to God with a set way of thinking and speaking and we must allow the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to transform our thoughts, words, and actions. Once we change the way we think, we will change the way we speak. Once we change the way we think and speak, we will change the way we act. Once we change the way we act, we have changed! Hallelujah!
Here are 5 facets of the Language of Faith:
1. The Language of Faith’s vocabulary is found in the Word of God (Jer 1:12). When I joined the military I had to learn the ‘lingo’ and what the plethora of acronyms that we use meant. Likewise, when I was Born-Again, I had to learn what things like salvation, redemption, atonement, sanctification, propitiation, etc; meant. I learned them through the Word of God. We must all learn the language.
2. The Language of Faith speaks pertinent promises. Once I learned the language, I had to start putting it into practice. I learned that there were scriptures that promised me peace when I troubled, health when I was sick, deliverance when I was bound, restoration when I was alienated, and etc. I had to learn what scriptures were pertinent to my situation and I stood on those pertinent promises. The language of faith speaks those pertinent promises for permanent change.
3. The Language of Faith speaks the desired outcome (Rom 4:17). I had to train myself not to simply speak what I saw. If I can see it, then it does not require faith (Heb 11:1). I had to train myself – under this new language – to speak things, in accordance with the Word of God, that I desired to happen, before they happened. Not only that, but I had to literally train myself to believe that what I spoke would come to pass. That is basically ‘releasing your faith’ over a certain situation.
4. The Language of Faith continues to speak the desired outcome until it comes to pass. It is foolish to think that everything in Christ is going to come easy. You can find the right promise, speak the right things, release your faith, but there will always be opposition. They key is not to allow what you see (opposition) to change what you say (faith). You must continue to speak the desired outcome until you see it come to pass in your life!
5. The Language of Faith never cancels out their declaration of faith with doubt and unbelief (Jas 1:7). We dealt with this yesterday. We must doubt and doubt and have faith in our faith. Know that doubt cancels faith and that faith cancels doubt. Never speak doubt after you have spoken faith.
What are your EXPECTATIONS for 2011?
Your OUTLOOK will determine your OUTCOME! Once again.. you must LET GO in order to LAY HOLD!!!! Don’t let any pain (stress, struggle, or strain) of 2010 keep you from enjoying future progress (blessing, increase, victory) in 2011! Enter into 2011 with GREAT EXPECTATIONS!!!!! What do you EXPECT in 2011?
Enter into God’s Rest!
Happy New Year! Was 2010 a difficult year for you? Don’t allow past pain to hinder future progress! Please watch this video… and I pray it will allow you to LET GO so you can LAY HOLD of all the Father wants you to have in 2011.
Vision for 2011
Last Sunday the Father had me to preach a message entitled, “The Why and the Where of Your Life!” The point of the message was basically this: if you can look back and understand why you were born (that’s your God-given purpose) and also be able to look forward and see, through your spiritual eyes, where you are going (that’s your God-given vision), then your why and your where will inform the what of 2011. The following is a portion of my notes, I hope this blesses you as you prepare for 2011:
This is a time when we should:
- Take self-inventory for the past year.
- Have I made any progress?
- Am I where I thought I would be?
- Am I where God’s expects me to be?
- What did I do right?
- What did I do wrong?
- Prepare for the New Year.
- What does the Father want me to do in 2011?
- What portions of my destiny will be fulfilled in 2011?
- c. Do I have the faith to see it?
- d. Do I have the faith to see myself doing it?
- e. Do I have the faith to partner with God to make it happen?
(Jer 1:5 MSG) “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that’s what I had in mind for you.”
- God told Jeremiah that he had a specific assignment! – the WHY!
- This assignment was determined BEFORE he was ever born.
- Jeremiah’s job, and all of ours for that matter, is to find this purpose, because if we don’t we will aimlessly wander our way through life.
- God’s provision is tied to his purpose. In verses 6-12 we see that God provided Jeremiah everything he needed to fulfill his Godly assignment.
- If Jeremiah would have pursued something else, that provision would not have been there.
Dr. Myles Munroe explains it this way:
“If you pursue the wrong assignment, you’re going to need things you can’t get, because the provision isn’t there unless the vision is yours. It’s someone else’s assignment, and he has his own warehouse. Sometimes, people make demands on God that He can’t supply because He can’t give us what doesn’t belong to us. Again, knowing God’s will for your life is the key to your prosperity.”
What do we learn from this?
- 1. If it’s God’s will, then it’s God’s bill!
- God is obligated to provide what you need to fulfill His assignment.
- His instruction is equal to His Injection!
- God will never instruct you to do something that He has not already injected you with
- Understanding Your Purpose frees you to Celebrate others without jealousy.
- Don’t hate, celebrate!
(Prov 29:18 AMP) Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]–blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.
Let’s break down Proverbs 29:18:
- The word translated vision literally means revelation.
- The word translated perish means to loosely stumble.
- The word translated keepth means to guard, protect, and take heed to.
- The word translated law means the instruction, direction, and teachings of God.
- The word translated happy literally means blessed or empowered to prosper.
- Read in this light, our texts tells us that, “Those who do not hear from God and receive His revelation, loosely stumble through life, but those who take heed to and protect His instructions, direction and teachings are be blessed and empowered to prosper.” (Piña Version)
A Vision helps you focus your efforts. You can’t do everything!
(1st Cor 6:12 MSG) Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.
Just because you CAN do something, it does not mean that you should. People with vision know what they should do and they focus their efforts therein. People without vision are people that fail to operate in discipline, because they lack the direction to make the right decisions.
Example: Let’s say a woman wanted to lose 20 lbs. this year. How does she establish her base for motivation? She gets a picture – a vision – of herself 20 lbs. lighter. She then keeps that vision before her whenever she is about to eat.
I define discipline as the ability to make the proper decisions that will take you towards a desired end. So, while she is eating, if she keeps the vision before her and she allows the vision to become the ruler by which she makes the decisions on what to and what not to eat, then she would be operating in discipline and she would someday arrive at her expected end.
Now, if she went into Golden Corral and paid $8.95, she would have legal right to ALL the items on the buffet. But just because she CAN eat all the items on the buffet, it does not mean that she should. If she keeps her vision before her and she operates in discipline, she will avoid the wrong foods, eat the right foods, and still remain on course to arrive at her expected end.
In this case, where there is no vision, the FOOD will perishJ!
What does Vision provide?
- A ruler by which to judge your decisions.
- A guide for the overall direction of your life.
- A basis for prayer.
- A vision enables you to be focused in your prayer life.
- A vision enables you to be focused in your study life.
- A vision enables you to know what to pray, to put faith pressure on God to open doors, to bring to pass what you are believing Him for!
Dr. Munroe says, “The primary value of purpose is the translation of vision derived from purpose into a plan of action. Purpose maximizes energy and gives time meaning. Purpose protects you from being busy, but not effective… Purpose that is translated into a vision causes things to happen and people to act. This is true because purpose creates vision, vision produces goals, goals permit the development of a plan and a plan allows for an orderly journey.”
In Closing:
- Once you understand the WHY and the WHERE of your life, you can start to lay out the WHAT (what you will do) of 2011.
- You are not going to arrive at your final destination in 2011, but there are some things the Father wants you to do in 2011 that will take you incrementally closer to His expected end for your life.
- Spend time in prayer between now and the end of January.
- Write down whatever the Father gives you in prayer.
- STEP OUT in Faith to bring those things to pass!
- Revisit the Vision periodically to make sure you are staying on course!
(2nd Timothy 4:7) I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
- Paul never could have said that he finished HIS course if he did not know what it was!
My prayer for you is that you:
- 1. Find it!
- 2. Follow it!
- 3. Finish it –BEFORE YOU DIE!