Developing A Spiritual Vision for 2011 - Part Three

I believe I have made my point with Reality # 1: Without Spiritual vision for your life, you will run wild. I keep thinking of Proverbs 14: 12 as I reflect upon this reality - "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." That running wild and trying to do what SEEMS right goes hand in hand. If we are to be productive for the cause of Christ, we must not cling to what seems right to us. Test and prove what seems right under the light of His Word and make the necessary adjustments so that you can become what God is calling you to be for Him.

I have been writing about the need for us to develop a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011. Today I want to deal with a fact we need to realize - With a spiritual vision for your life, you will discover the good life God intends for you. Perhaps we need to focus on that as "reality # 2." You and I can begin to live and discover the good life God intends for us! Now that we have dwelt with the scripture (Proverbs 29: 18) for two days, let's "launch" from the text and allow it to serve as the "legs" that carries us into developing a spiritual plan for our lives.

The key term for developing a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011 is the word DEVELOP. I want to dwell on that for the remainder of our time today! Using some points from Ronnie Floyd, I want to challenge you today to develop 7 elements of your life that will help you have a spiritual vision for your life. Taking today's date (January 10th) you need to give yourself until the middle off February or so as a target date, but the sooner in 2011 the better.

So what are these things? Can we do them? I'm trying to give you something that all of us ought to be doing. It's simply a part of disciple making. It's a part of, of just being what God wants us to be. So here they are:

(1) Ask God to give you a verse for 2011. I have already written to you about this but now I want to more fully explain what I mean by this. Go to God between now and mid-February and pray, "Lord! I want You to give me one verse in my life that will help me through 2011." It was long into my journey with Christ that I heard people talking about a "life verse." What is your life verse? I have discovered through my daily journey that my life verse, though it may never fully change, has others added on at different times. When my father died in 1981 the "life verse" that jumped from the preacher's lips at the funeral was Matthew 11:28 - "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That verse not only helped me to deal with the circumstances of my life at the time, it better equipped me to minister to others as I more fully realized what it meant to truly "come unto" Jesus! Through the years, other verses have been added to Matthew 11: 28.

The verse the Lord gave me for 2010 was 2 Corinthians 11: 28 "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches." I even placed it as the footer on my personal stationary. As you know, I encountered a LOT in 2010 with my physical ailments. Yes, I still clung to Matthew 11:28, but I was reminded that it is not all about me. God had called me to a task and I firmly believe His calling for my life during this season is a calling to strengthen the local church. Therefore, God giving me this verse, served as a true help to me as I recovered from my infection and surgery. It enabled me to continually visualize the reason I needed to get healthier - my calling was to strengthen the church and my energy was necessary to be obedient to that call.

I believe 2 Corinthians 11: 28 also led me to call the TRBA staff to a time of prayer in September and now the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association to a season this season of prayer. For us to be effective in the responsibilities of the church (the five functions of the church are evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship), we must undergird those responsibilities with the firm foundation of prayer.

God has not yet given me my scripture for 2011. I am praying fervently for that word from the Lord!

(2) Establish a daily Bible reading plan. The busy-ness of our lives often interferes with the time we set aside to study God's Word. We need to develop the habit of studying God's Word daily. Perhaps you start with a chapter a day - that is fine if that's all the time you can give for the present. Maybe you can go 3 chapters a day; 5 Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs each day; the call in the book RADICAL to read 86 verses a day; read through the New Testament every month. WHATEVER plan you determine is fine - just do it. Failure to develop a plan/strategy lends itself towards failure to study the Word! Ronnie Floyd stated, "You can't go forward just hearing the world's opinion. You need God's opinion to bring balance."

In short, I am asking you to be very intentional about this than you have in past years. I believe God is calling us to become more fully grounded in His Word so that we can be used in mighty ways to accomplish His Will!

(3) Target a personal spiritual focus week for 2011. Set aside a week in 2011 to FOCUS on your personal walk with the Living Lord Jesus Christ! Choose a book you have been intending to read on the spiritual disciplines; a Bible-study you had some interest in but have never been able to get to; listen to those sermon series you've downloaded on your ipod and never listened to; go to a prayer conference, spiritual retreat. It really doesn't matter what you do - just FOCUS on your walk with the Lord and seek His Will for your life in 2011. Take time to CONCENTRAT on God.

As an association, that is what we are doing by calling us to both the time of fasting and prayer as well as the corporate time of prayer on January 24th. We recognize not all will participate, but the deliberate effort of more and more people to become involved in times of prayer daily is POWERFUL. Imagine what could happen if every member of every church were focused on prayer and seeking God's Will for 21 days the first of each year. We could not describe the movement of God we would begin to experience in the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association. Likewise in our personal lives!

(4) Formulate a daily prayer list. Some people might think this not important. I have discovered two things that God is using to teach me that I need to prepare a daily prayer list. First - I am a BUSY person. If I fail to write things down, in the busy-ness of my day I OFTEN simply forget and fail to pray specifically for God to show Himself to His people through answered prayer in their lives.

There is a second reason that I had never thought of before this writing - I can more quickly share my prayer concerns with others when it is written down. I guess that's the motivation of our putting a prayer list in our bulletins each week. I PRAY I will not deal with my daily prayer list the way I often deal with the prayer lists in my church bulletin - use it for a book mark as opposed to pulling it out daily and using it as a prayer guide,

Let me tell you one thing I have learned about prayer, if you don't organize prayer, it's not going to be done right. You're never going to do it - or , at best, be haphazard or aimless with it. You need to organize it. Formulate a daily prayer list. Start somewhere and be more intentional in your times of daily prayer!

(5) Write down your Goals for 2011. Ronnie Floyd referred to it as "BHAG - big, hairy, audacious goals" for your life in 2011 - a goal that only God can help you reach. If we get to live through all of 2011, don't you want to experience some things that can not be "explained away" in human terms? My prayer - to be a part of some things that can ONLY be described as being a "God-thing"in 2011!

(6) Initiate a more intentional and greater commitment to your church. What does that mean? It means that you go beyond where you are right now. One of the blessings of being sick in 2010 was the privilege of being able to attend my church on a regular basis. Generally, I am visiting one of our member churches or speaking in them - and I love that! That means I am able to attend my church on Sunday mornings and attend Sunday School about once a quarter at best, but during 2010 I feel that I had the blessing of spiritual growth because I could more regularly be a part of the Ephesus Church family! From February through October I was rarely out of Ephesus as I could not drive while on medications, etc. That was indeed an added blessing. Here in 2011 I am scheduled already to be out of Ephesus for the next 6 - 8 Sundays and I am already missing it!

You say well is that important? Absolutely that's important. Some of us need to be a little more intentional about being in church; some of us need a greater commitment of simply coming to church; some of us need a greater commitment towards ministry in the church and through the church; some of us need to get our theological understanding of the church right. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the Head of the body.

I tell you it breaks my heart when I see people being so flippant about their responsibility to God's church. Make it a higher priority in 2011. And while I'm challenging you - PARENTS, make sure church is a higher priority to our kids than we seem to be teaching them right now!

(7) Answer this question: What am I trusting God to do in my life in 2011? When I read this question I hesitated. I am planning a lot for 2011. I have a strategy for 2011. I have goals for 2011. BUT-what am I TRUSTING GOD to do in my life in 2011?

Maybe you have an issue financially. Maybe you have an issue with your job. Maybe there are severed relationships with your spouse, children, friends, co-workers, etc. Maybe you have an attitude issue about your boss or your situation. Maybe God is calling you to missions or ministry - or simply to share Christ with a lost neighbor. I don't know what you're dealing with today. But I'm going to tell you something - discover what God wants you to trust Him for, and trust Him. Write it down and then pray it everyday.

I plan to "finish up" with this series in my next writing. I just challenge you - and myself - to develop a spiritual vision for 2011. I believe it will help us in our daily walk to accomplish more for the cause of Christ.