You may not know, I’m of the creative type.
I’m a very visual learner
So when creating or working on something…
I may start with how it will interact with people’s visual experience
So I might start with how it would look
And then these visual cues will dive me into an exploration of examining structure – content
The meat of it
And this would drive an analytical person bonkers!
Mapping out the Vision of Kingship
· Developing a church
· What its about
· What will it look like How it will operate
My Creativity has run wild
But it has also been difficult
I’ve wrestled with Trusting the Vision
· It’s fruition and where its started
· I’ve wrestled with how ideas have formed
Is it me creating what I want or am I apart of God’s vision for this church?
If you haven’t picked up yet…
I can also be an incredibly deep thinker
So although I start at envisioning the final product, things are most certainly not left hollow.
The depths are explored, questions pondered, far deeper than many wish to go.
Which leads to my greatest inner battle.
From time to time I can possibly…
overthink things.
Although I can laugh at it…
It can also be a prison, where I am my worse tormentor.
I’ve struggled with the vision of this church.
Questioning its authenticity to enacting what God desires. Am I truly listening to God’s will to go and reap the harvest field – grow His bride – reach the lost – make disciples or am I doing what I envision? How I would do all that?
I so badly want it to be… what He wants and be obedient to His calling.
Sometimes I question when pieces of the vision match how I would do things. So I wrestle with Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21
And yet I forget as I go down the rabbit hole fighting between my ego and my insecurities there are other verses…
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9
A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2
We may all do something similar to this, where we become our worst critics and think we are “discipling” to Jesus on our own as if He is not involved at all.
We need to be careful… I need to be careful because this is where spiritual warfare can slip in.
And one of the biggest areas we can get attacked is by our insecurities.
The voice that tells us “what were you thinking” “You can’t do this” “Is this even what God wants”
And by listening to that voice, I can forget all the ways God has established the steps of how we’ve ended up here.
I’m reminded of Jeremiah –
Jeremiah struggled with his own insecurity around his calling from God. God called him to be a prophet at a young age. And the message He had to deliver to the nation of Israel was not sunshine and rainbows. It was a warning that God would destroy and reshape His people for neglecting His ways. Jeremiah was despised by every King, expect for Josiah. They hated the message the Lord was telling them. And they mostly took it out on Jeremiah. He was sentenced to prison, beaten, and mocked. And yet Jeremiah continued. I am comforted seeing that when Jeremiah admitted his insecurities to God, God responded with a promise
Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:6-8
That promise is an anchor that we can go back to when we have lost sight of how God has been establishing our steps. Not just in planting a church but in every part of our life when we become discouraged.
I am fascinated by God’s delivery of His message to Jeremiah. How God spoke his vision and message to him. He would establish a lot of visual cues to show Jeremiah His direction and Words.
When I was reading this one. I realized that God uses and interacts with the way we process and work through things. Which he created within us.
Jeremiah 18:1-5
God uses the ordinary
He gives Jeremiah Visual Cues
He is the revealer – And what He is revealing is understanding and wisdom.
The method of how we get there is secondary because THE WORD (Christ’s) main focus is to reveal understanding to you.
I felt a blessing over the process He created within me because I could see how He can use something I experience as ordinary to help bring forth His vision.
When I have this clarity I can trace back how God has been revealing His vision.
-------- When people ask us why start a new church vs get a church to have this focus…
1. Because we are being obedient
2. God has placed this calling on us. We do not ask leadership of another herd to redirect what God called them to focus on.
3. Hope for the Fatherless
Reaching people that are not activated into a relationship with the heavenly father all the way down to those that are experiencing the effect of that absence.
So we want to reach all… and this includes…
- the disengaged family members
- the young families that are untrained
- broken families
- fatherless children.
We don’t have to live in the fear of how to Justify what God is calling.
The question is do you believe God is calling us or not?
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
Jeremiah 17:7
Comments