In the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk, the prophet, Habakkuk, was waiting on a Word from God. This should be a continual practice in a believer's life. We should wait to receive God's directions and instructions before we make any significant decisions and choices about our lives. Habakkuk 2:2(NKJV) informs us, "Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it." Many of us have heard this verse, and around New Years, it's especially popular. People get out their vision boards and go to town, expressing their intentions for goals, aspirations, and resolutions. Many believers do this because they think this is what Habakkuk 2:2(NKJV) is telling them to do. Writing down a vision is good practice, but the Source of that vision determines whether there is going to be a successful outcome.
Setting our intentions for the year has become popular because it is exciting to have good expectations and see them come into fruition. Even when small gains are materialized, we're thrilled because those small gains remind us that ambitions are achievable. This sets a precedent of understanding how faith is designed to work. Our typical practice is to decide what we want and then ask God to bless us with it. Habakkuk's approach is what God has in mind. God is the One with the plan. He has a plan for the entire universe, and He has a plan for our individual lives. In Jeremiah 29:11(NKJV),He told His people living during Old Testament times, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God didn't need our help to come up with His plan. He has a good plan for each of us, and like Habakkuk, we must ask Him what it is, and have the humility to follow where He leads.
When we come into a higher understanding of God's Word, it is only natural that we will be ignited with excitement. Because of His goodness, we come face to face with unlimited possibilities and potential in Christ. Our Lord tells us in John 10:10(NKJV), "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." This verse provides contrasts and distinctions we must never forget. Jesus Christ lays out what the devil does, and he then made it crystal clear why he came to the earth and what he accomplished by doing so. Before Christ came, we were lost in sin. We were continually beaten up by satan and our sin placed us in the realm of darkness. Jesus Christ changed all that. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection, we have access to God and therefore access to a more than abundant life!
Jesus Christ is the door to God, and we need to understand the rights and privileges of coming into relationship with God through Christ. Our Heavenly Father is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He knows the end at the beginning, and He knows the beginning at the end. He has all power in His hands, and everything He does, from the smallest to the greatest detail, has a purpose. He isn't redundant in any way, and He knows exactly what He's doing. There's no wavering with God. He never has to do a do-over, backtrack, or take back. He does things perfectly from the very beginning. God is sovereign, and when we make a commitment to give Him our lives through Jesus Christ, that's what He expects we will do.
Through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we relinquish lordship of our existences to God through Christ. Heavenly Father commands us in Romans 12:1 to present our whole lives to Him, and to let them be a living sacrifice-not a dead sacrifice, but a living one-that is holy and pleasing to God. We're to do this because it is the very least we can do for all He has done for us. This means that we're presenting God with all that we are and allowing Him to transform us into the men and women He predestined us to be.
His plans for us could never, ever be substandard or defective. His plans for us are glorious! When we know who God is and when we have faith in His plan, we will not try to get ahead of Him. Instead, we will be patient and with anticipation look forward to the vision that He will give us.
Many of us have not seen ourselves the way God sees us. We feel insecure, weak, fearful, and abandoned. Some of us feel unloved, isolated, and alone. We've faced many disappointments in life, and we will not rally our hope in Christ because we are waiting for the next disappointment to happen. The good news that God wants us to know and remember is that our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ! We don't have to fear disappointment when our hope is firmly placed in Christ, because he never disappoints. Many of us are tricked into concentrating more on what we've endured in the past, and we're not convinced of what Christ has accomplished on the cross for us; we desperately need to do a switcharoo in our thinking. We can't trust our feelings of doubt, worry, and anxiety more than we do the joy and victory that God gives us in Christ. We can't carve out a vision for ourselves when deep within we don't truly believe and trust God the way we should. We must rely on God's vision, not our own. We must understand that His vision for us is perfect, and this is the vision we should aspire for ourselves for 2022.
Habakkuk waited on the wall to hear from God. He had faith that God would deliver the Word that contained the vision for His people. Our Heavenly Father hasn't changed, and Malachi 6:9 declares to us that He does not change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is one of the glorious reasons that we can depend on Him and His goodness with all that we are. God is faithful and His faithfulness will endure. In Jeremiah 29:13(ESV), He told His people living during Old Testament times, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." And Jesus instructed us, God's children, to do the same. He commanded us in Matthew 6:33 to seek God and His righteousness first. Blessings will chase us down when we do this. God has given us a way to make the most of every year, and it is to wait, hear, and then receive His vision with the faith to carry it through. When this is our plan, prayer, and aim, we'll make the most of our lives and please Him as we do.■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
"A Vision for 2022", written by Vince Mack. Blessing Beads and More© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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