05 Aug Love = Reach Day 40

Habakkuk 2:2 “Write the vision, and make it plain…”

Walt Disney: Soon after Disney World was completed in Orlando, someone had sighed and lamented and said, “Isn’t it too bad that Walt had died and lived to see this.” To which Mike Vance, the Creative Director of Disney Studios replied; “He did see it and that’s why it’s here.”

President John F. Kennedy: He articulated a Vision that had been emerging for a couple of years and that vision was; “To have a man on the moon by the end of the decade.” That vision sparked us into the Space Race, unified a number of previously competing agencies like NASA, the Air Force and such, and it taped into the burning heart of all Americans to beat the Russians to the moon.

Vision inspires. The church should have a vision to impact their city. We should envision a way to reach those who do not know Christ. Vision is born when the burning desire to be used of God encounters the living God.

• David Youngi Cho, from Seoul Korea says; “If your vision doesn’t scare you a bit, chances are it’s not a vision from God.”

Paul set out to make a difference in his world. In one city, specifically Ephesus, Paul had tried for many years to find a way to influence this area for the Gospel, but found it was closed. Finally, after years of prayer and sacrifice, the door began to open to Paul. Interestingly, Scripture implies it was a door unique to Paul that only he could walk through. Paul admitted on the other side of the door there were many adversaries. The coppersmiths of that area literally filled a Coliseum with tens of thousands of people and started a riot against Paul and the gospel. Whatever doors God wants to open in your life, you will have adversaries and the bigger the door, the more coliseums you will find filled with your enemies. Paul persevered through all of that and church history teaches us that the church of Ephesus was one of the largest in the history of the world, numbering a hundred thousand people. I am not so sure that it wasn’t the coliseums of his enemies that were actually the qualifiers for Paul to accomplish such great things for God wherever he went. You can usually tell the size of your destiny by the size of the enemies you face.

With our foundation the Word of the Lord, Jesus our center, and the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we will take new territory, reach the unreached, and salt the earth by impacting pillars of influence: family, religion, business, arts, sports, education, media, entertainment and government. As we set out on a quest full of vision let us be open to the big things God has for us, putting our whole lives into what God is doing,

A quest is inspired by a dream or vision. Paul’s quest was to spread to the Gospel into as many cities as he could. The question today is what should our quest be?