VISION: Goodbook 12-31-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Tuesday and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 18:9a

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision…

Application:

There is a well-known Bible verse that goes: “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” (Proverbs 29:18).  The vision that is being spoken of is not just our own vision for the future.  The vision that’s being spoken of is God’s vision.  God has a vision for this world – why it was created, where it is headed, what needs to happen.  God also has a vision for our lives – why we were created, what our purpose is, what God is calling us to do.  God has a vision, and God longs to speak that vision into our lives.  Without that vision, people perish.  We lose sense of our purpose, we go in the wrong direction, we might hurt ourselves or others, we get distracted, we get derailed, etc.

Are you aware of God’s vision for your life?  Do you feel like God has spoken a fresh vision into your life for the upcoming year?  A better question might be: How are you allowing God to speak that vision to you?

It’s interesting to notice the different ways God speaks to Paul throughout the book of Acts.  On some occasions God has to interrupt Paul in order to speak, like on the road to Damascus (9:4-6).  That did not turn out so well for Paul.  Paul spent three days in blindness after seeing the light of our risen Lord.  But other times, Paul makes space and silence for God to speak.  An example of this is found in Acts 13.  Paul is gathered with others for a time of worship and fasting.  As they were seeking God’s leading and direction, God spoke a fresh vision: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul (later named Paul) for the work to which I have called them,” (13:2).

Makes me wonder about how I am allowing God to speak in my life.  If God wants to speak, does God have to interrupt me?  Or, am I allowing God space and silence to speak?  Here are some of the ways I have been making space and silence for God: reading the Bible and journaling what I feel God is saying to me through the passage, turning off the radio in the car for a little bit so I can have quiet time with God, fasting from food and from media (TV, internet, social sites) during the day to focus on God, reading books by Christian authors who help me hear God, praying/talking with members of my small group and accountability partners about God’s vision for our lives, engaging in worship with my community of faith.  I don’t want God to have to interrupt me in order to speak His vision!  How are you making space and silence for God to speak a fresh vision in your life?

1) Make space and silence for God to speak a fresh vision in your life.

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