Category: Relationships

The Greatest Visionary

In the Beginning
And God said, "Let there be light, and there was light."

The Vision

What is your vision? Where does it come from? The Greatest Visionary, our Father in Heaven, had an amazing, out of the box, enormously creative vision. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Later, after He added all we need to sustain life and saw that it was good, God created man from the dust, literally the dirt we walk on every day. He created man in His own image to be in relationship with HIm and to be a mirror, a reflection of who He is and what He is like. Man was not created as a copy, but for the purpose of being in relationship, to reflect and to fill the earth with children, more mirrors. If you hold a diamond up to the light, you will see many beautiful reflections from it’s many facets. This is how we are created, with the thumbprint of God inside us. In essence, God imprinted upon your heart a vision to reflect Him. His purpose for man’s life is to bring that reflection to fullness and completeness through a relationship with Him.

What is it you can do to reflect Him without distortion? Before the fall of man, everything was as God created it, in order and perfection. “God saw all that He had made and it was good.” After the fall, the reflection became broken mirrors, shattered images, distorted.  To become whole again, we seek the heart of God.

Where do you seek the heart of God? Are you looking to Jesus, the Son of God, and to the will of God for His life and the gift given to us through the sacrifice of His life? God had a big vision—bigger that we will ever know this side of heaven. His vision is for you to know Him and His heart of love for you, so that you may live out the days of your life on earth being conformed into a being that is reflective of His great love, kindness, compassion and generosity. God’s vision came to fruition in steps. What steps can you take today, the beginning of a New Year, to begin to follow the steps toward the vision God has set for your life?

 Sit with God and quietly reflect, ask Him to teach you, to reveal to you the next step of His vision for you. Then trust Him with all your heart, believing He will show you the way. Press on to meet the goal of what before you, leaving behind all the past that gets in the way. Soon, you will find that by taking these steps each day with God leading you, with your eyes fixed on Jesus and your mind and heart set on knowing the heart of Him who created you, you will be living out the vision God placed upon your heart in the beginning, before you were ever born.

Scriptures reflecting these truths

Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:7; Luke 12:6; Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 139:12-14; Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Mark 12:29; John 1:18;

Personal application

God has personally and uniquely designed a vision for you. Maybe you are a gardener who provides flowers or food for the enjoyment or nutrition of others. Perhaps you are an artist, a writer, teacher or an architect using your talents through creating something beautiful from nothing, crafting a story or book from a compilation of words that encourage and inspire others, work with children modeling the love of Christ and teaching preparation for adulthood, or create designs and strategies to bring structure to another’s life. Perhaps you are a mother with small children, spending your time caring for your family and modeling the love of Christ in the training ground for your children.

What ever it is, big or small from your perspective—God’s perception of you and your purpose brings Him great joy, glory and honor. He is not concerned with what you do as much as who you are. What is closest to God’s heart is for us to seek to know His heart above all else.

How will I begin this New Year? In 2012 what changes can I make in myself to become a better reflection?

Wisdom Hunters Daily Devotionals – Spiritual Leadership

After the comments made on relationships, I thought it right to share a blog post I received. I believe we can see from this perspective that no matter what we believe, the TRUTH is, the Bible teaches men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. Men are called as a Spiritual leader in marriage. It doesn’t mean they always will. Christ laid His life down for the Church, so it would live and grow. Spiritual leadership requires having a healthy fear (respect and reverence) for God. When a man respects and honors God above all else, he will love his wife with a love that will draw his wife into his love, and she will respect and trust him.  Marriage was originally designed for those who love God and one another.  My experience has been that any relationship built on a sandy foundation and without an understanding of the love of God, will have great trouble. Paul tells us that those who love God will experience trouble in marriage.  Trusting God, respecting Him and seeking Him above all else will build a healthier perspective for love. Love includes boundaries. It is not a free for all, without moral integrity and disrespect for God and one another. Without Christ’s love as the center, no relationship will breed  trust.

I hope you gain some gold nuggets from the attached message. I did!

Wisdom Hunters Daily Devotionals.

Trust is the Foundation

According to Andy Stanley, these verses from 1 Corinthians 13 are historically used for marriage vows; yet they were established as a guideline for us to love people.
I want to share the points he made which are critical for us to understand to know what this looks like and how to apply it!

The health of all relationships flows out of how we trust people! This will be determined on two things:
1. What we see
2. Who we are
Trust verses from this scripture
Verses 5-6
“Love delights in those doing the right thing”
verse 7
“Love always protects, hopes and perseveres”
1. Love protects the relationship – when it is the hardest, do everything to trust
2. Hope is the explanation of that
3. Love believes and endures all things
Summary is LOVE BENDS!
1.It gives the other person the benefit of the doubt
2. It always looks for the most generous explanation
3. Love chooses trust over suspicion

The core of great relationships is TRUST
WE all have expectations and experiences. But what is in the middle of those?
I love how Andy put it that there is a gap there and WE CHOOSE what to do in that gap
When we find ourselves seeing behavior that causes a gap, what do we do? WE CHOOSE–If we CHOOSE TRUST (Believing the Best) that is love. LOVE BENDS!
Andy shared much more . . .

Summary –
LOVE BENDS – DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU. Luke 6:31
When you can’t choose to trust, LOVE CONFRONTS, but not in a mean way. Only through a loving, respectful, kind and gentle way!
Go to the person, share that you want to trust them, you want to understand and you keep the door open to the relationship.
If we do nothing, anger develops internally and becomes embedded to the point the relationship is severed. A wise man will BEND!

Five points Jesus asks us to commit to:
1. When you see the gap – I will believe the best
2. When Others assume the worst about you- I will come to your defense
3. If trust is eroding by experience – I will come directly to you
4. When I cant keep a promise – I will let you know ahead of time
5. When you confront me about gaps I have created – I’m going to tell you the truth!

These are great commitments for each of us to make.

THE FOUNDATION OF ALL RELATIONSHIPS IS TRUST!

One Heart. One Mind. One Love.

What do you think of when you think of One heart, One mind, and One love?  It makes me think of how much we have in common as human beings and don’t even realize it. I believe we all are running after the same thing more than anything.  What is it we want more than anything? What is it we chase after in life? What is it that is going to bring us contentment and peace above all else?

From my perspective, it is love. Like you, I want a love that comes from a place of sincerity and truth. I want love from a heart that accepts me. I want it from a heart that honors me. I want love from one who knows the True love. (more…)

Eyes to See

Do you feel like people are out to get you? Like they slow you down or they don’t understand how important your schedule is?  Do you think others should do things in the timing you need? Becoming critical of other’s behavior can put us in the role of being judge. I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe I qualify for the role of judge. Behind every single person you meet in a day, there is a story that most cannot see. Perhaps someone just lost a loved one, or they have a dependency, or maybe they are losing their home due to the down economy, or it could be that they just don’t feel LOVED. Recognizing this fact, while taking your focus off of yourself, allows you to see deeper into someone’s heart. Maybe . . .  just maybe . . . instead of criticizing, you might see an opportunity!

Pray for eyes to see from His perspective.  Ask God to open the eyes of your heart!