WRITE THE VISION
Blessings
Pneuma Covenant Pastors!
Beginning
in October of each year, my practice is to reflect on the ministry year that we
are in to basically answer the question, what is bearing fruit and what is not?
Change is inevitable and ministry must adjust to ensure we are meeting the
challenges. Adjusting, restructuring and realigning is all part of vision
achievement. Writing the vision of what God is speaking into our spirits for
the advancement of the churches that we are assigned to clarifies the plan for
the Pastor and for the Pastoral/Leadership Team.
As Pastors
we constantly pray to walk in God’s direction. Without the ability to
understand and interpret the direction of God in our own ministries and in the
vision that God has placed in our hands we will undoubtedly be hindered in
fully completing the total will of God for our lives. I want to encourage you
like never before that our personal relationship with God is so essential to
the relationship that is sensed in our churches. The relationship is
inextricably tied to our consistent and in depth prayer life, skillful
knowledge of the Word of God, the increased ability to interpret the voice of
the spirit and hear the counsel of God. We are ever increasingly challenged to
understand the will of God and also develop the strategies to accomplish His
will. The Apostle Paul wrote “Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will
of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). All of us battle with understanding His will
and how, as Pastors, do we translate that will into the language that our teams
and churches can understand, interpret for themselves and engage and
accomplish.
Simply
praying for Godly direction and doing what we believe God says is only part of
the puzzle. For this to be true we have to be completely open to God’s voice
and unhindered or distracted by life, other responsibilities and our own doubts
about the vision we are in. For us to be effective we must also commit to
acting completely, honestly and faithfully to what it is we hear God say.
Walking in a Godly direction requires practical and faithful goal setting and
vision.
Statements
like “plan your work and work your plan..or in our case plan your vision and
work your vision” are consistently true. The success of our ministries are
contingent on successfully and effectively planning the work of ministry based
upon successful biblical principles and patterns. Many in scripture
demonstrated a plan and method (goals) for accomplishing the work God had
revealed.
Read the following scriptures:
(Phil 3:14 KJV) I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
(Deu 1:23 NKJV) "The plan pleased me well; so
I took twelve of your men, one
man from each tribe.
(Luke 4:16 KJV) And he came to Nazareth, where he
had been brought up: and,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on
the sabbath day, and stood
up for to read.
(1 Cor 9:24
KJV) Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one
receiveth the prize? So run,
that ye may obtain.
This all speaks to planning,
assessment and understanding what it is God is calling us to do.
Practical Steps for Writing Vision and Spiritual Goals
If goals are not written down, they will remain spiritually
unavailable to the natural world..so pray and write them down!
1. Take your written vision, break it down into it’s various parts
and ask God
what goals need to be implemented in the upcoming year 2013
2. List your short-term goals – those requiring six months or
less and your long-term goals – those requiring more than six
months to
complete. Ask the Lord for a plan to complete each. What is it
that you are
going to do to make these goals a reality? Your goals will form
the basis for
prayer related to your ministry and gives those associated with
your
understanding of how to pray.
3. Make a daily To Do List. A simple To Do list is to take a note
card and list those
things related to your goals that you need to do today. List them
by order of
importance working from the top to the bottom.
4. Reevaluate your goals regularly. Your goals are something that
can be
incorporated into you daily prayer. Make it a point to take a few
minutes each
week to look at your listed goals and make adjustments as needed.
Blessings
as you continue to grow ministry!
PJ
Edmund
Overseer,
Pneuma Fellowship