deanrush.net

A new year

It’s a new year and it feels like anything is possible

There is an amazing feeling that each new year brings

In Isaiah 43:19 it says
See, I am doing a new thing
The first thing you have to do is see what God is doing
What is God trying to do in your life in 2012?
God is the God of the new thing
He wants to do a new thing in your life
Let him do it

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
He wants to bring the new thing now
Are you perceiving that
Be ready and willing in 2012 for what God is wanting to do

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
As we are faithful to God he will cause a breakthrough to come in our lives. The things that seemed so difficult for us are going to become areas of blessing.
Be faithful to God and allow him to out work his promise

2012 could be the greatest year of your life!
Pursue God and his purpose and discover what God has in mind for you
It’s got to be good!

The power of vision

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision the people perish

4 Keys to getting a great vision from God

1. Vision is the ability to see

John 4:35 I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

Jesus is telling us to open our eyes – to see beyond the natural world in front of us to the supernatural reality that exists

Yet so often people get lost

Who are we without the ability to see?

We are blind and we are lost

Jesus attacked the Pharisees for this very weakness – for having eyes but not seeing

Matthew 15:14they are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the pit

Without vision we are just like the Pharisees – a knowledge of God but no outworking

Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Jonathan Swift

2. Vision gives our lives direction

Without a vision the people perish

Without a compelling vision who are we? Just another drifter trying to find some meaning

Without vision people end up doing whatever they want

And isn’t that our society today – no commitment, no longevity, no direction, no purpose

Vision is a powerful direction that God brings into our lives

It’s not our direction – but his direction

Vision is not just an optional extra to the Christian life – it is the Christian life

We encounter Christ, we surrender to his way and we follow him

3. Vision enlarges us

Without vision we are small minded and self focussed

Lets not be small minded and self focussed – we follow the greatest mind in the universe

God and anyone connected to him has a big future

How can you be a Christian and have such a limited view of the future?

Vision sees the world of possibilities and miracles – the supernatural world

As we catch a hold of God’s vision for the world – we enlarge our viewpoint

We step into the God zone – we see things as he sees them

Jeremiah 33: 3 Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know

4. Vision gets you through the tough stuff

Vision carries you through the tough bits when on your own you would give up

Many times you get to a place in life where you don’t understand everything

I often have questions I can’t answer – I cry out to God and I don’t always get the answers I need – you can’t always get what you want – that is where faith kicks in

But what keeps you going is a clear vision from God to follow in the times of controversy

We see a glimpse of God’s plan and we run with it

Just keep following the vision

I have been following this vision for 25 years now and it is an awesome life to live

I wouldn’t trade it for some easy going relaxed lifestyle

It’s the journey of a lifetime! It unlocks your potential

Be captivated by a mighty vision from God

Enlarge

Enlarge
We are launching a new Primal Youth Church tonight in the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington I have been feeling so pumped about it and having a huge sense of anticipation about what is ahead for us

It is so exciting to enlarge your territory – there is something so spiritual about stepping into a new place and taking some new ground . It feels like anything is possible as you take that step of faith into the unknown

The prophet Isaiah wrote these amazing words in Isaiah 54: 2 – 4
“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth”

God is a God of enlargement – he wants us to stretch out wide – to spread out to the left and to the right. To not hold back – to not be afraid

I want to encourage you wherever you are to take a step of enlargement!
Don’t hold back – it’s too easy to hold back
Everything in your head will tell you to hold back
But everything in your spirit will tell you to enlarge

The bible says you will not suffer shame from putting your trust in God – so step out and take some new ground
Enlarge!

God has a plan, a place, a people

God has a plan
God knows what is happening – he always has a purpose – he always has a plan
God said to Abraham in Genesis 12 “Go from the your country… to the land i will show you”
God’s plan is to shift us – to have us go to the next level -
God loves us to much to leave us the way we are!
Abraham made the move at 75 years old
lets be those who follow God’s plan

God has a place
you don’t want to be anywhere other than the place where God is
God said Moses in Exodus 33 “leave this place… and go to the land I promised”
It indicates that God has a place for us – there is a place of promise!
Stay in the old place and you will die – just like a whole generation did in the wilderness – because God said go and they said “we can’t”
don’t grumble or complain – see the potential of God’s promise and go to the place!

God has a people
these are the people that follow God’s plan and get to the place of promise
this world needs to see the people of God – obedient followers of Jesus Christ living in blessing and abundance
that’s all God wants – a people who would follow him
Leviticus 26 says “if you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands… I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful, I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people”

lets follow the plan, get to the place and be the people!