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Vision
RELATE Vision
Relationship
Your relationship with Jesus and His Church if the foundation for vision. Make sure your vision is based in scripture.
Evaluate
It is so important to understand your current situation. You need to see where you are in order to better see where you want to go. Spend some time on this. Get feedback from family, friends, and work associates. I like to call this “Painting a picture of your current reality.”
Lay out a Vision
Vision is such a powerful thing for both an individual and organization. Without vision a person or organization will die. It may exist for a while but it will not grow. This is the place you want to dream. It is a place to find your “sweet spot” for living and working. Work with this and search your “soul” for this vision.
Ask – Are you committed to the Vision?
Yes, do not leave the vision yet. If you are not totally committed to your vision, “stay home”. It is not too late to tweak or change your vision. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the strongest, how do you feel about your vision? Is it a 4, 6, 8, or 10? If your response is below a 7, slow down and continue to explore your vision.
Test – Check it Out
Experiment, test, and explore what you want to do. Check out the territory. Send out scouts. Study about this future you have envisioned. Do not be afraid to step out in faith. Get out of your comfort zone. Where will this dream, vision, or direction lead you in 5 years?
Every – Journey Begins with the “Next Step”
Take the “Next Step” (more on that next week). Your journey toward the vision is taken one step at a time. Pray that God will guide your steps. Begin to set some goals.
Take Care My Friends
Bill Dieckmann
Posted in Blogs
Looking for Prayer
Where is Prayer???? Prayer seems to be something that is close one moment and then far away the next. Why do many of us struggle with prayer? I do take some comfort that others struggle as well: Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, etc. They have all said so. Below are some thoughts about prayer:
When a doctoral student at Princeton asked, “What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?” Albert Einstein replied, “Find out about prayer, somebody must find out about prayer.”
The Struggle:
- Modern Skepticism (doubt)
- Prosperity
- Time Pressures
- Add yours:
- What does prayer look like from God’s view?
- What does prayer look like from our view?
“Grace, like water, descends to the lowest part. Streams of mercy flow. I begin with God, who bears primary responsibility for what happens on earth, and ask what part I can play in God’s work on earth.” (Yancy)
How do we begin with prayer:
- Guilty
- Helpless
- Humble
- Doubting (in ourselves)
- Honest
- Exposed
The Son of God prayed, the one who spoke the world into existence, he felt the need to pray!!! Why should we not feel the same!!
Take Care My Friends,
Bill Dieckmann
Sanctuary of the Soul
“So in the biblical witness we have this dual nature of meditation on stillness and action. On the one hand we are called to silence, to stillness, to quieting ‘creaturely activity,’ as the old writers often put it. On the other had we are called to action, to right behavior, to obedience to the will and ways of God.” Richard Foster
Do you tend to lean one way or the other with stillness and action? Or do you have a good balance between the two? For me I struggle with the stillness side of this balance. When I go on a retreat after 30 minutes I am ready to do something. Is our society set up to keep us from stillness? More particular is our faith/religion set up to keep us from stillness? We certainly don’t measure stillness like we do our actions. We don’t ask on our reports, “How many of our members have a quiet time everyday!”
I have heard of people going off for days of stillness and I am asking, “How do they do this?” Now I study my Bible every day and I pray every day, but is there something more?
Center Down and Gathered are two Quaker terms used to let go of all distractions and feeling; breaking down the wall between our separate personalities. These are strange terms to me. Any one would like to share about this?
Learning to Soar
I am currently reading the book “Learning to Soar” by Avery Willis and Matt Willis. So for it has been a good book. In this post I want to share some insights I have gleaned.
“If you want to learn to fly, messing up is inevitable, but giving up is unacceptable.” Wow. The writer tells about how a baby eaglet is forced out of its nest. The parents brush away all the soft feathers in the nest and make the living conditions uncomfortable for the little eaglet. (We would get arrested if we told our children to sleep on the floor, it is time to get out! Don’t try this at home!) So the little eaglet becomes very unsettled in its new arrangements. The eaglet begins to take more risk in leaving the nest.
Once they begin to fly on their own they fall and crash many times. They have two choices: lay there and die or get up and try it again. This is a time of testing for the young eaglet. We all grow through testing in our lives. Think on these four things:
- Maybe the test is to humble us.
- Maybe the test is to reveal our heart and see if we are really serious about following Jesus.
- Maybe we will find that we hunger for God when we are separated from Him.
- Maybe this is to mature us in our faith.
What do I do when I fail/fall? Know that God is not far away. When the little eaglet is getting out of the nest, the parent eagle is not far away. The parent eagle has experienced getting out of the nest and all that goes with that. Well, guess what, so has Jesus. He has experienced suffering and pain, just like us. He knows, He cares, and He saves!!!
Take Care My Friends,
Bill Dieckmann
Forgiveness: Do I Have To?
This teaching in the Bible about forgiveness is a challenge for some. I have posted some thoughts and questions about it, what do you think?
- Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. (Jesus, from the Lord’s Prayer)
- Father forgive them. (Jesus, as he hung upon the Cross)
- If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. (Jesus, in his first post-resurrection appearance to his apostles)
- I believe in the forgiveness of sins. (The Apostles’ Creed)
- What does God’s forgiveness look like?
- What does God’s forgiveness do?
- What does our forgiveness toward others look like in light of God’s forgiveness towards us?
What do I do if I am having trouble with forgiveness?
- from God
- from/to others
- Nothing? God does it!
- Something? Ask God! (invite God)
God does it! We can’t program our own heart. We can’t program anyone else’s heart. We are not in charge of the transformation of our heart. Our heart is part of the problem. It is a mess.
Our part! Cry out to God in faith.
Do three things:
- Ask God to change us.
- Listen for God to tell us.
- Obey God when he tells you.
Sources: UNconditional? by Brian Zahnd and Sanctuary of the Soul by Richard Foster
Take Care Friends: Bill Dieckmann
Posted in Blogs
Sixty and Blogging
Well, I will be 60 years old this year and this is my first blog!! We will see if you can teach an old dog new tricks. In my devotional today I read: “The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him.”
Wow! We should be focused on God’s point of view. Look at someone and see how they act, who controls them? Are you ready to be controlled by Jesus? It will take sacrifice to follow Him, it will cost you your earthly stuff. Your mind, will and emotions included.
As you look at yourself and as you see others ask: Does this look like Jesus? In our churches today we need to ask this question. When we have business meetings: Does this look like Jesus? When we gather for worship or Bible study: Does this look like Jesus? I think by now you get the idea. If we say, “this doesn’t look like Jesus” then we need to take the “next step” to change this to look like Jesus!
Well how about that, my first blog! History in the making. lol Take care Friends
Bill Dieckmann
Posted in Blogs