‘TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!’

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We all like new things. We like a New Year, we like new opportunities to begin again, with God, with family, on the job, in the gym. In reality January 1^st is just another day out of 365. But no matter how much we want to see it as ‘another day’ we all (and if you say you don’t I don’t believe you J) see it as a ‘new’ and sense the opportunity for a fresh start, a sense that God is giving us the faith and hope that the things needing to get better are going to be better this year, that things that have needed to change are going to change this year, that the things that have held us back are not going to hold us back this year, that the hope and dreams we have been waiting to see fulfilled are going to begin to be fulfilled this year. Thanks Lord!

However, while January 1^st brings new hope and new opportunities and a clean slate to write on anew, in the midst of all the goals/resolutions/plans/whatever you may call them we need to remember; To get 'there' we have to leave 'here,' to grasp 'that' we have to let go of 'this,' and big dreams don't cost any more than little dreams. So let’s not be afraid to dream big, to see beyond our current circumstances and situations, to embrace the simple truth that to get something we've never had, to become something we've never been we will have to think in ways we've never thought and do some things we've never done. For….’If nothing changes, nothing changes.'

God is good, no doubt about it and He always wants to take us higher, further, deeper. His desire is that each and every person embrace His grace and mercy and kindness and love and power that will take us to places we’ve never been and empower is to do things we’ve never done….He wants to take us ‘TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!’….

As the New Year begins we can begin our journey to ‘infinity and beyond’ and as we do we need to ask ourselves a question and make a declaration:

• Question: Are we willing to ‘see’ things differently? Helen Keller was once asked what would be worse than blindness. She said ‘to have sight but no vision.’ At the beginning of the New Year I challenge you to ‘see beyond where you are today.’ Don’t let your vision be compromised by small distractions that can have a huge limiting effect on your future. One of my favorite authors is A.W. Tozer who wrote “….Someone has said that you can take two small ten-cent pieces, just two dimes, and shut out the view of a panoramic landscape. Go to the mountains and just hold two coins closely in front of your eyes--the mountains are still there, but you cannot see them at all because there is a dime (obstacle) shutting off the vision in each eye.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 that where there is no vision, people perish/cast off restraint (bow to obstacles). How true, for if the only thing I can see is ‘what I see now’ them I’m ‘stuck’ where I am. I’m convinced that one of the greatest hindrances in moving forward is continuing to only see ‘what we have now and where we are now.’

There’s are great illustration of this in the Bible found in Genesis 13:14-15. The background is Abram (later called Abraham) has just rescued his nephew from a terrible situation and offered his nephew the chance to take good, fertile, green, well-watered land for he and his family OR choose the ‘less than desirable’ land. Being young and inconsiderate the nephew chooses the ‘good land’ which meant his uncle Abe had to take the barren, dry, unfertile land. No doubt Abe, being a man who feels things like we feel things, was a bit discouraged. But God (I love those two words ‘But God) tells Abram ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever….

Get it? Abram was not where he thought he would be, didn’t have what he thought he would have and yet God says ‘Where you are NOW is not where you will be THEN!’ And God is saying to us today, January 1^st, 2013 ‘Where you are today at the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 is not where you will be at the end of 2013!’ Can you see it? Thanks be to God!

• Declaration: In 2013 I will ‘own my stuff.’ Or as I like to say it ‘If it is to be it’s up to me.’ Nobody can ‘make’ you angry, nobody can ‘make’ you sad, nobody can ‘make’ you happy, nobody can ‘make’ you gain weight, nobody can ‘make’ you lose weight, nobody can ‘make’ you get that deadlift PR…Nobody else, only you.

In 2013 take ownership of YOUR vision, YOUR goals, YOUR success or YOUR failure. There is a good illustration in Isaiah 54:2-4. God has promised ‘increase’ to His people as a whole but I like to make it more personal. He says “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated….”

In 2013 declare this is MY tent, these are MY stakes, these are MY cords and I will take responsibility to move my stakes to God-set parameters and I will not be ashamed!

No doubt in 2013 there will be setbacks, there will be times of frustration, there will be times when dreams and hopes and visions seem delayed, where problems rise up, where progress seems too slow or thwarted altogether. I want to encourage you that in those times when ‘things are not working out like we want’ things are working out, like God wants. We must rest in faith that even if things are ‘less than what we would like to see’ a victory, a change, a ‘move up’ is happening according to the goodness and grace of God. We see only from the ‘human side.’ God sees ‘every side!’

To rest in this we must make sure we are clear on two fundamental truths…..

1. If that vision, that hope, that dream, that desire came from God He will bring it about as we just simply cooperate with Him. That desire, that longing, that goal, that sigh, it all comes from Him…He began the good work in you and He will finish it as we cooperate with Him and live a life of active and alive faith!
2. God is good and it is the will of God to heal, deliver and prosper all people….even you, He wants you to succeed

Now, all I’ve said above takes faith. One of my heroes is a man named Wendell Smith. Wendell was known for his unyielding belief that God is a good God and because He is a good God He cannot cease doing good for His children. Wendell said “God is a good God and He will honor His word. If we will walk in faith and obedience there is:

• No problem He cannot solve
• No question He cannot answer
• No disease He cannot heal
• No demon He cannot cast out
• No enemy He cannot defeat
• No difficulty He cannot overcome
• No stronghold He cannot bring down
• No bondage He cannot break
• No prison He cannot open
• No need He cannot meet
• No mountain He cannot remove

I included Wendell’s ‘words of faith’ as we launch out into the unknown of 2013, for it ‘takes faith to move forward.’ Wendell was also was fond of saying, in the face of difficulties, when things weren’t ‘going right’ “No matter what, we win!” And to that I say AMEN!!

Finally, I leave you with an encouragement that it is better to ‘live through the windshield than through the rear-view mirror.’ Below is a passage from the Bible found in the book of Philippians to launch is forward into 2013.

Love you, keep the smiles flowin’

GB --

(From ‘The Message’ version, emphasis mine)

Philippians 3:12-14 I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running and I'm not turning back. 15-16 So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it!