Position, Priority, Plan, Power

This is a great time to review all God has been doing in and through your business – as well as your personal life - looking for fingerprints that are evidence of how He has been preparing you, your company or your church to make a difference right now. Do we really believe what God has said about Who He is and who we are in relationship to the calling He has on our lives?

We must make room for God in order to receive from Him all that He has for us. Take a look at the following scripture with me – “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19

It is entirely impossible to understand this scripture - let alone believe it - if we are uncertain about who we are and what God has called us to do. Our first steps towards changing this revolve around these four points which are strategic for seeing and experiencing breakthrough in regard to our capacity for God.

Position:
Position is synonymous with Identity. Most of us struggle with identity at one time or another. When we struggle our tendency is to over compensate by exercising our personality (strengths, weaknesses, skills, talents, etc…). The problem with this posture is that a personality not fully cooperating (submitted and surrendered) with its creator is subject to outside influences that cause imbalance and confusion. Essentially our repositioning has to do with turning toward God. God never looks at a backside. He wants to meet us face to face. Yet, if we continue to do ‘business as usual’, we are essentially asking for God to bless us as we walk away from Him not toward Him. So, the first steps to establish biblical position that brings identity clarification is agreement. We must agree with what God says about us. This will change the way we think about Him. The verse below is a great one to start with as we re-position ourselves with God.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 43:10 NASB)

Priority:
Making God a priority in the midst of a world that finds doing so as foolish is very difficult. However, we must move toward this commitment now. To re-position ourselves and continue to do the same thing we’ve always done is the definition of insanity. What and who we put first along with our new direction will give us not only capacity for God, but a clear view of what to do next and when to do it.

Attaining the Ultimate prize requires a disciplined focus and relinquishing of anything that would get in the way. The question for us is – Are we willing to let go of temporary comfort in order to receive abundant blessing? Once we begin to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness then everything in His plan will be added to our purpose (why God has us here in the first place). (Matt. 6:33)

Plan:
The confidence is in His power, not ours. If God’s power is going to work through us then His plan must be brought to us. Many are the plans that we put together, but as the Proverb says, ‘it is the Lord’s purpose and plan that prevails.’ If you are willing to give God His rightful place (position) in your life, and make Him your first priority then nothing He has for you will be withheld.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NASB)

Power:
Around the marketplace the prevailing issue that continues to arise is based either on fatigue, frustration, and failure. God wants to give you something you don’t have – Himself. If we continue to operate without Him we will not see our communities changed. His power is a gift. It is a demonstration of His grace. We don’t deserve it but our Heavenly Father desires to give it to those who will humble themselves, recognize their weaknesses (for His power is perfected in weakness), call upon His name, and receive what only God can give.

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” 1 Chron. 29:11

Frustrated? Fatigued? Empty? At the end of yourself? Good! You’re actually right where God wants you so that He can do for you what you could never do for yourself. Begin to call upon Him. Invite Him into your day, your affairs, and your heart. He is faithful to do what He said He would do. The word says that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is resident in those of us who believe. That’s the kind of power I want and need for such a time as this.

The Bible teaches that your body needs downtime in order to heal and re-energize. Listen to why this is so important: when you’re overloaded by activity, you can only think of yourself. You’re in survival mode, just trying to make it through another day. And that limits your usefulness in ministry!

When you have no downtime or margin in your life and God taps you on the shoulder, saying, “I’d like you to do this for me,” your first response isn’t joy. Your first response is, “Oh, no! Another thing to do! Sorry, God -- I’d like to do that, but I'm just too busy.” We end up resenting the great opportunities God brings into our lives. But when we deliberately and specifically add downtime into our lives, we become available for God to use us as we head into this decade of destiny.

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Eph. 1:15-23

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