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THE WORD IS YOUR SOURCE     
   Writing Down a Clear Vision for the New Year        
     
Thanks be to God who gives us the VICTORY through Christ - 1 Corinthians 15:57 

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 By: Dr. Bill Miller                             Volume XVII Number 50                             December 14, 2014

 

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

As we all get ready for Christmas and the New Year, we're continuing to talk about the POWER of the Word of God with the idea of bringing about POSITIVE change during 2015. As we've already discussed in previous articles, if we can have our minds RENEWED to the point of being able to truly UNDERSTAND the Word, we can begin to direct its POWER at the circumstances in our lives with the objective of bringing about specific changes. Let me make this perfectly clear: the Word of God has within itself the POWER to bring about change but we have to pursue it by reading and studying and meditating on it until we develop enough SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION to actually UNDERSTAND what the Word says so we can then take ownership of the related principles. When we do that, we come into agreement with the Word and at that point it can bring about the success and victory that Jesus paid for with His blood and His life.

 

If you're not comprehending this main point, I want to recommend that you go to our archives by clicking on the link at the top left of this newsletter so you can take a look at the previous articles in this series. Get the whole picture and keep on studying this subject until you can release your FAITH over the concept of allowing the Word, even EXPECTING the Word to use its POWER to change your life. It's TOO important to give up without understanding how this works. When you do understand it you'll see why so many Christians are walking around with defeat and weakness and failure in their lives. The basic problem is that they don't have enough Word in them to generate any POWER!

 

Most people, most believers want 2015 to be better than 2014. It is human nature to want to do better and for most folks, family finances is at or near the top of the list of things we want to improve. But pursuing the change in the same way the World does won't bring about lasting improvement. We have to do it God's way. We have to agree with His Word that the improvements BELONG to us by inheritance and that what we have to do is learn how to draw down our inheritance by FAITH. There are conditions to receiving our inheritance and there's an AGREEMENT that sets forth all of the conditions. That AGREEMENT is the New Testament in your Bible. It's a contract. Learn what the conditions are, come into agreement with them and release your FAITH for receiving your inheritance. You can have the CHANGE but you have to receive it God's way.

 

Pursuing Change Requires a Vision

 

The Bible says in the Old Testament that "Where there is NO "vision," the people perish..." (Proverbs 29:18). So it's important for God's people to be involved in His VISION. The Hebrew word for VISION in this scripture also means REVELATIONand so another meaning would be that where there's no REVELATION the people perish. For the New Testament Believer, REVELATION starts with the Word of God but consistent with that Word there's also ongoing REVELATION. The Holy Spirit hasn't stopped talking. If we get cut off from God's ongoing REVELATION through carnality, resistance, indifference, lack of fellowship with God, inattention to the Word, disobedience, rebelliousness, tradition, religion, dullness, hardness, etc., then we're going to have a hard time understanding the specific personal VISION God has for each of us. The plan He has for you is different than the plan He has for me. I have to discover the VISION He has for me and I implement it by Faith because I am a son of God and His Word says He WILL lead me (Romans 8:14). It also says I WILL know His voice (John 10:4). And the SAME is true for you!

 

One of the English dictionary definitions of the word VISION is INTELLIGENT FORESIGHT. The question we have to answer tonight is this: on whose intelligence does the Believer's FORESIGHT depend? Is it my own intelligence or the intelligence of some other person, or some guru or expert? Without question the FORESIGHT we need to have in our lives should be based on the intelligence of God, which comes to us by REVELATION that springs from having a strong personal relationship with Him.

 

The Bible says that Jesus only did what He SAW His Father do (John 5:16-19). In other words Jesus received His VISION for what He was supposed to do by WATCHING the Father. When and how did Jesus WATCH the Father do those things? Many people think He must have had some supernatural way of communicating or that He had seen the Father do these things before He came to earth. But Jesus was subject to the same ways of doing things as we are (Philippians 2:7); the difference was He spent a lot MORE time communing with the Father than we do and He had developed His FAITH into a force that could move mountains. He could SEE His Father in His Spirit and He watched Him day to day as He walked out His earthly ministry. He could also HEAR His Father and He KNEW His voice. Seeing and hearing God is what we've called SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION in previous articles.

 

And so, for Believers the development of a New Year's plan should be a process of SEEING and affirming God's VISION for our lives based on REVELATION from Him personally. By apprehending that VISION the Believer then has direction from God Himself and we can immerse ourselves BY FAITH in the flow of that VISION in the weeks and months ahead. By the way, most of us shouldn't waste our time looking for the details of some long-term VISION because we'll do well if we can just see the next few steps ahead. God wants us to receive the VISION by Faith and then walk it out trusting Him to keep us on the right path and moving in the right direction. We can have a general idea of the direction for the long term but the details of how we walk it out will always require our FAITH. Without FAITH it's impossible to PLEASE GOD (Hebrews 11:6).

 

The point to be made here is that connecting to VICTORY IN LIFE is more easily done when we've acquired God's direction by FAITH. God has bible-based PROSPERITY in every area of life for each Believer so that we can help Him establish His covenant on the earth (Deuteronomy 8:18) and so we can abound to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8), but it has to be PURSUED in FAITH according to His direction and plan. Many folks don't have much of a vision, or the one they have is something they came up with themselves based on what the World is doing. I've written this before but it's worth repeating: God's not going to drop SUCCESS in our laps. He's already made it available but our response is required. Our FAITH is required. God has always responded to FAITH. We have to reach out in FAITH and TAKE what's been made available following His VISION and plan for our lives.

 

Acquiring a Clear Vision

 

The way to tap into God's VISION for you for next year is to spend time with Him and in His Word. As you're getting ready to do that, just ask Him for His insights and REVELATION, then release your FAITH and He'll give them to you. As you receive from Him you'll want to be sure to WRITE it all down for future reference. Writing it down is scriptural:

 

(Habakkuk 2:1-2) = "...I will keep watch to see what (the Lord) will speak to me and (when He answers I will) record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run (with it)."

 

Now I've taken the liberty of editing these two great verses without changing the meaning in order to emphasize the particular points I wanted to make for this article. Therefore, take some time and look them up for yourself to get the original context. But the obvious point is this: if we receive VISION from the Lord, we need to write it down because we're going to need it for direction in the future. If we don't write it down, it's guaranteed the Flesh will help us forget it and a forgotten VISION is a lost VISION until we have to go back before the Lord with our excuses to MAYBE retrieve it.

 

Acquiring God's VISION is not just about finances, by the way. No, we should be seeking the Holy Spirit's direction for every area of life. But since finances is high on everybody's list, following are a few basic questions you might hope to get answered as part of a FINANCIAL VISION you'll be hoping to run with in 2015:

 

1. What things are you going to do different next year? If you want different results than you got this year, you'll need to make some changes.

 

2. What are your objectives for GIVING next year? The amount of our financial PROSPERITY is measured by the amount of our GIVING. In other words, you can't aspire to God's financial PROSPERITY without cheerful and generous GIVING (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

 

3. Based on your GIVING, what's your/His SPECIFIC income objective for the first quarter of next year? You don't have to look too far out in the future unless you're already working on a VISION you established in the past that has proven to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

 

4. What financial and non-financial works does the Lord want you to perform next year in your church or ministry? The financial works will be paid out of your personal PROSPERITY and the non-financial works will help produce PROSPERITY.

 

5. What do you need to do or change next year in order to become a better STEWARD of God's provision?

 

These are just a few basic questions and no doubt your financial VISION will be a lot more detailed according to the amount of time and effort you're willing to devote to it. You can also go through the same kind of exercise with similar questions for other areas of life. The more we want what God has for us the more vigorous we'll seek after it. A bible-based inheritance is something God has for us and once we realize that, once we've renewed our minds to what the Word really says about it, the more then we can pursue it so He can use us and depend on us to DISTRIBUTE His provision according to His plan and VISION.    

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on December 21. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx 

 

Donations

 

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http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1 

 

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

 

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