“I can see clearly this vision inside me and I’m laying down my will even now…”
That is a line from one of my songs that I wrote for a time just as this! Our year of 2021 is winding down and it’s only natural that we prepare for the next year. One of my favorite things to do is spend time this final week with God talking about what the next year holds.
I remember quite distinctly the past three years or so and the things I got in prayer in the first month of January I walked out for the rest of the year.
It’s SO important to have goals. And there’s an amazing devotional you can check out if you don’t believe me by Terri Savelle Foy called “Live your Dreams”.
If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend that you do. But for those of you who don’t want to read the book (who are ironically reading this blog post), I will summarize the main point.
Have clear goals
So I return to the first line of that song.
“I can see clearly. Your vision inside me. And I’m laying down my will even now.”
Paul talks about vision and goals in Ephesians when he says…
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,
Ephesians 1:18-19 KJ21
Paul prays this. We should too!
We have to have clear goals. These goals are things that we want to accomplish in the next year, month, week, day and even the next hour.
Things that appear impossible are possible with God because God IS a God of the impossible.
Just take something so “simple” – breathing. Breathing is something that we take for granted, but think about it! Breathing is impossible without God. Scientists have yet to make something of their own creation that breathes (although Dr Frankenstein tried).
God is a God of the IMPOSSIBLE.
But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26 KJ21
WE are called to only believe the words that the Lord has spoken to us.
As soon as Jesus heard the word that had been spoken, He said unto the ruler of the synagogue, “Be not afraid; only believe.”
Mark 5:36 KJ21
In order for us to get these goals, we have to spend time this coming week (and even this coming month) praying in tongues, confessing the Word over our situations and then taking time to listen to what the Spirit of God on the inside of us is saying.
Don’t become lazy this week. It’s the most important time to get clear direction on the coming year!!
Write the goals down
And the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.
Habakkuk 2:2 KJ21
It’s so important to WRITE DOWN THE VISION. MAKE IT PLAIN. That means the vision has to be simple, not complicated and easy to understand. We want to be able to judge every action we are taking on a daily basis against the vision for this year.
If we don’t have clear vision, then we won’t be able to run. Worse yet – we may run in the wrong direction!
Think about Jesus. He spent 30 years getting ready to minister and only 3 years actually in the ministry!
And it came to pass afterward that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,
Luke 8:1 KJ21
Jesus went to EVERY city and village, because that was his vision. He knew what He was sent to do.
How do I know that?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
And He began to say unto them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Luke 4:18-21 KJ21
Jesus had His marching orders and He knew them clearly.
God told Him to GO.
Post them where you can see them
The second part of the Habakkuk 2:2 verse tells us that we are to “make it plain upon tablets”.
I first did this for myself when I felt like God told me to go on a mission trip to Guatemala for a month. I was 20 at the time and had never traveled on my own much less out of the country on my own. To me it seemed like a really daunting task.
(That’s the way it works. God calls you to do something that seems hard for you and through the process you end up growing. If I went NOW it wouldn’t seem like that hard of a task at all, but I have this year’s marching orders that also seem impossible…)
The first thing I did was print out a Guatemalan flag and a few other pictures representing 2 other BIG goals I had for the year. 3 goals that would take me 4 months each to accomplish.
Every morning I woke up and saw the pictures. Every morning I was reminded of the vision and reminded that I needed to take action this day if I wanted to accomplish them.
Make sure they’re scriptural
The next thing I did was write down scriptures that reinforce these goals. Sometimes God will specifically give you these verses. When I produced my album, God specifically revealed Proverbs 18:16 to me.
A man’s gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men.
Proverbs 18:16 KJ21
I would confess this verse and pray in tongues for hours over the album and the people God was bringing me in contact with until the verse wasn’t just memorized in my head, but became revelation down inside of my heart.
This cannot be overstated enough. If you want God in the middle of your goals, they have to be God given, God directed and you have to have scripture inside your heart about the goal. Otherwise you can’t operate in faith!
Bring them to God Daily
The final thing that I already kind of covered in the last point is that you have to bring these goals, scriptures and prayer to God DAILY.
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 KJ21
EVERY morning you have to bring God into your life by praying in tongues. Thank God for what He is doing in your life and remain grateful and humble for all the things He does.
Go give them heaven
I’m telling you this sounds like a lot of work – because it is – but when you do it your life will change for the better – I promise you. Don’t let this just be another blog post.
Really apply these things. I have plenty of other posts talking about a lot of these things, but there is actual scripture backing up what I am talking about.
God wants you to be successful, but you have to do it HIS way which does take work, but it’s worth it when you do what God says to do.
Remember…
If your goals don’t look impossible and require reliance on God and FAITH then your goals aren’t from God because “without faith it’s impossible to please God.”
I pray that as you get in God’s presence and seek Him diligently that He WILL reward you and that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened that you would “see clearly the vision inside you and lay down your life” for Him even now.
JESUS IS LORD OVER 2022.
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