His Heart, My Home

Happy New Year! We’ve just entered a brand new year, with new challenges and new opportunities for blessings.

You know that millions of people all over the world make New Year’s Resolutions which they intend to activate and implement right at the stroke of midnight on January 1 of the new year. They promise themselves that these “resolutions” will be life-changing turning points.

Some of the more common resolutions are:
● To improve physical fitness
● To eat a healthier diet and lose weight
● To pursue a career ambition
● To earn and/or save more money
● To give up undesirable habits
● To spend less time on social network sites
● To spend more quality time with loved ones

For Christians, the resolutions often include commitments to pray more, to read the Bible more, or to get more involved in church activities.

A resolution is a statement of intent to do something. It’s a goal or target that we aim for.

But let’s be completely honest. We are all quite proficient at missing the target’s bullseye, aren’t we? I should know. I’m embarrassed to say that I have earned an “un-marksmanship badge” in missing the entire side of the barn!”

Did you know that one of the biblical definitions of “sin” is “to miss the mark”(or target)? And even though we are new creations in Christ, we all still miss the mark, sometimes by a lot! (Romans 3:23)

Thank God for His grace! (Romans 3:24)

The human tendency to fail may explain why we are so unsuccessful at keeping our “New Year’s Resolutions. We’re so predictable we even have a day designated on the calendar for giving up on keeping our resolutions.

Did you know that January 17 of each year is designated as “Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions Day“?

I personally celebrate the day with two dozen donuts, a couple of cigars, and a bottle of bourbon, all while sitting in my recliner, binge-watching all my favorite TV series and completely ignoring my family for hours and hours!

JUST KIDDING!

I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but nearly all “New Year’s Resolutions” are just feel-good intentions, wrapped up in a revered holiday tradition. And good intentions, by themselves, will not lead to success.

Good intentions? Someone said the road to hell is paved with them! Someone else said, “It’s also walled and roofed with them!”

Statistically, six months after making their “I’m-serious-this-time-and-am-never-turning-back”resolutions, only 5% of the “resolute” are still trying to achieve their goals. At the one year mark, the number of “still-ins” has dropped to less than 1%.

It’s funny how all this works. I can intend to train for the Olympics. I can intend to enter the race to represent my country. And I can intend to win the gold medal in my event, but if intentions are all that I have, I’ll never advance a single foot towards my goal. A ton of good intentions doesn’t weigh even an ounce on the scales of actual progress.

If we want 2025 to be a year in which we run like champions towards our ultimate  finish line, we need more power in our kick than worn-out, almost-certain-to-fail “new year’s resolutions.”

To win in 2025, we need a living, powerful faith, inspired by a clear vision of the finish line.

(See Post “Full Speed Ahead”, dated 12/30/24)

It’s time to get started. First, let’s clarify what we mean by “vision”.

When we say “vision” we’re not talking about the kind of supernatural experiences described in Acts 2:17, i.e., dreams and visions inspired by Holy Spirit.

By “vision”, we simply mean “seeing with the eyes of our faith”, or we could say, “seeing with our spiritual eyes.”

Our natural, physical eyes see natural, physical realities. But our spiritual eyes can and do see spiritual realities.

Helen Keller, an author and advocate for the disabled, lost her sight and hearing when she was only 19 months old as the result of a debilitating illness. Many tears later, Ms. Keller made this profound statement: “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision.”

We will define “vision” as “seeing the invisible with the eyes of our spirit”. Sharp spiritual vision, vision that is 20/20, enables us to run our race, keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, as we run our race with passion, strength, determination, and endurance. (Hebrews 12:1,2)

The Bible tells us about an incident that occurred when the king of Syria sent an army at night to surround the city of Dothan in Israel in order to capture Elisha, the prophet. We are told that Elisha’s servant arose early the next morning and saw the city surrounded by the Syrian army wuth a multitude of horses and chariots. The servant became fearful and ran to Elisha, saying, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

Elisha answered, saying, ” Do not fear for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
(2 King’s 6:15-17)

Elisha’s servant could see with his physical eyes, the natural, physical circumstances of a powerful enemy army surrounding the city. But after Elisha prayed, his servant’s spiritual eyes were opened by God so that he could see the spiritual reality of God’s angel army, a multitude that vastly outnumbered the enemy.

No matter what challenges we may encounter with our natural senses, or regardless of how many enemies we see all around us, we should always remember that the number and strength of those “with us” are far superior to our enemy.

Let’s declare it loudly with faith and confidence! Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world! (1 John 4:4)

When our spiritual eyes are opened, fear and anxiety fade away, because we become aware that God’s covenant provision and protection are more than enough to ensure our victory.

Lord, open our eyes to see how big, and how awesome you are! Help us to have a big vision, because you are a big God! There is nothing impossible with you!

Vision is seeing what God sees!

Vision is how we see God, how we see ourselves, and how we see our purpose and place in God’s kingdom.

We need to sharpen the focus of our spiritual eyes. God wants to give us a vision of where we are going, not where we are right now. Our vision is our future!

Gideon was certainly no hero. He was hiding from the enemy, the Midianites, in a wine press, fearfully threshing a little wheat to make just enough bread to survive one more day. Suddenly, the Lord’s messenger came to him and said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12)

The Lord saw Gideon as he was destined to be, not as he was at that moment. By speaking in this way to Gideon, He opened Gideon’s spiritual eyes, helping him realize his calling, his potential, and his purpose.

God transforms us through the life-changing power of His Word. Our vision is the direct result of the entrance of the light of God’s Word into our lives.

“Break open your Word within me until revelation-light shines out! Those with open hearts are given insight into your plans.”
(Psalm 119:130, The Passion Translation)

As we receive the light of God’s Word, we begin to see ourselves, not with our natural physical eyes, but with our spiritual eyes.

Our self-image is changed. We begin to see ourselves as God sees us, not as grasshoppers, but as giant-slayers.

After returning from their spy-mission into the Promised Land, ten of the twelve spies sent by Joshua said, ³¹ “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great 
stature. ³³ There we saw the giants… and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
(Numbers 13:31-33)

The self-image of the ten spies was deficient and defective. They saw themselves as “grasshoppers”, easily crushed underfoot by the giants of the land, because they failed to see God’s mighty strength, capable of crushing any foe!

What the spies saw was real. There really were guants in the land. The ten spies had sight, but they lacked vision! They were blinded by unbelief and fear, unwilling to see themselves as God saw them.

The Hebrew word for vision is “chazown”.This word means “to see; to envision; to have a revelation”. A derivative of this word is the name Zion. (Hebrew Honey, page 262)

Zion was the name given to the physical nation of Israel, God’s people of the Old Covenant. It is also the name given by God to spiritual Israel, the Church, God’s New Covenant nation.

Weaving these threads of revelation together, we discover in the mirror of God’s Word that we are indeed Zion, “the people who have seen God through His covenant.”

And because we have SEEN GOD with our eyes of faith, we have also SEEN OURSELVES, for we are created in His very image and His likeness.

He lives in us. In Him we live and move and have our being. Greater is He who lives in us than he who is in the world.

There are more with us than against us. We are the people who have seen God, and who are in covenant with Him.

We are well able to possess the land because the kingdoms of this world belong to our God and to His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever, Amen!

Let’s open our hearts even more to God’s Word in 2025, so that our spiritual eyes are flooded with light.

Then we will clearly see Him… His goodness and His glory… His generous grace… His magnificent might… and His limitless love!

Happy New Vision! Happy New Year!