Welcome to the Victory Blog

This last weekend, I continued talking about having a vision for our financial lives. (If you missed that message, I encourage you to listen to or watch it here.) You see, our lives are a byproduct of the vision we have for them. This is as true for our finances as for any other part of our lives. If we don’t have a vision for our financial life, we will end up where a lot of people and our nation are today – in debt, in bankruptcy, in trouble.

God, however, wants us to get His vision for our finances so that we can be free of the world’s economy. God wants us to have an abundant life – one of blessing and peace. If we also want that, we need to understand how God thinks about money.

Now, listen, God doesn’t want our money. He doesn’t need it. What He cares about and wants is our hearts. However, He knows that our hearts follow our money, and that the way we view and use money has a direct correlation to where our hearts lie, whether with Him or with the world. Consequently, He urges us to give in ways that increase His kingdom and draw our hearts closer to Him.

Obviously, we aren’t taught this in the world. Rather, we’re taught to make more money to buy more stuff, to get rich and so on. Yet, Jesus is saying there’s a shift that we need to make under the new covenant. He has a different purpose for money.

The heart of God’s economy is not establishing our kingdoms in the earth, but in establishing His kingdom in the earth. He wants us to do things with our money that make a difference in people’s lives, things that have eternal value. Let me put that another way: God’s top priority for money is maximizing its use to establish His kingdom on the earth.

So, let me ask you, how connected do you think your goals for life are to God’s? How many of us ask at the beginning of each year, “What do we want to do with the money God has given us this year that will make a difference?” Or, better yet, “What does God want us to do with the money?” Ask yourself whether you’re going to spend the majority of your life:

1. Paying debts – living for the past?
2. Spending money – living for the present?
3. Saving/investing money – living for the future?
4. Giving money – living for eternity?

If we’re honest, way too many of us have been living in levels one and two. However, God’s desire is that we would spend the majority of our lives living for eternity by developing a lifestyle of giving. God intendeds for us to be rivers, not reservoirs.

God wants us to live abundant lives, but to have that, we have to surrender our wills and our minds to Him and be transformed. When we begin to seek His kingdom first, our vision begins to shift away from ourselves to making a difference in the lives of others. And, as we put our trust in God and put him first, He will work things out favorably for us. He will bless us, even in the midst of an economic downturn. So, do you have the vision now?

This past weekend, as we continued our series on getting a 20/20 vision for life, I invited my wonderful wife Colleen to speak about a topic that she is very passionate about – our health. God has given her a keen desire to pursue not only her own health, but also to impart His wisdom in this area to others as well. Our bodies are very much a part of who we are, and if we want to live a 20/20 LIFE, we need to get God’s Vision for Our Health. Here’s some of what she had to say:

Most of us have gone from darkness to light spiritually, but I want us to go from darkness to light physically as well. That requires having a vision for our health. Those who lack this, usually experience a sense of discomfort, guilt or discouragement when the subject is broached. If that’s the case for us, it means we’ve bought into guilt and condemnation. That’s not God’s way. He wants us to experience conviction that will lead to true change.

God wants us to have healthy bodies, and when we get His vision for our health, it restores our hope, incentive and courage to break free from the desires of the carnal appetite. It enables us to discern and choose between those things that sustain and enrich us over those that satisfy but destroy us. In addition, it also establishes us as good role models to those we have been given charge over. Having a vision for our health will motivate us to increase in biblical knowledge and wisdom concerning health, which will then be reflected in our daily choices – choices that will honor, glorify and please Him.

On the other hand, when we lack a vision for our health, we don’t exercise restraint. In fact, we tend to view constraints as nothing more than limitations to our freedom and happiness. We become a poor influence to the generations below us and, ultimately, fall short of God’s best as both the quality and length of our lives are shortened unnecessarily – something that must sadden our loving Father.

For many of us, it’s time for a change. That means we need to recognize and admit our need for change. Then we must institute a plan to change. And then, for change to truly take place, we must be committed to the plan. If we want to walk in God’s healing, we first need to get His vision for our health.

This was a good message, and very timely for many of us. Doesn’t it make sense to have a vision for your health? If this has touched a chord in your heart, let me encourage you to listen to or watch the full recording of this message, and then, visit our bookstore to pick up some of the many resources for healthy living Pastor Colleen has made available to us there. Don’t miss out on the blessings of a healthy life. Diligently pursue God’s Vision for Your Health!

My Vision for Health

• I will live to reflect my gratitude for His goodness, His greatness and His power.
• I will consider the price that He paid to purchase me.
• I will remind myself of the truth that I am not my own but I am His temple.
• I will be accountable to Him, presenting myself daily to Him as a living sacrifice.
• I will choose first the living foods that He designed me to benefit from and avoid those altered by man.
• I will discipline my body to enable me to finish this race and glorify Him.

Whether we’re parents or not, we all have role to play in their lives and development, helping them fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. In fact, this is the number one thing we do in ministry. Children today, more than ever before, need the positive and godly influence of the adults in their lives. Unfortunately, there seems to be a real disconnect between children and parents today. The majority of people who have children today don’t have a clue how to raise them, continuing the cycle of passing on from generation to generation those flaws and curses that they received from their parents.

While none of us wants our children to fail, many of us don’t have a vision for our children’s lives. And, honestly, it’s not surprising. Think about your life as you were growing up. Did your parents talk with you about your purpose, your future or having a vision for your life. Most of us would have to say, “No.”

And today, not much has changed. The average twenty year old is still trying to figure out who they are and where they’re going. Why? Because they didn’t have parents who proactively shaped and influenced them toward their purpose. We, however, have a chance to change that for the children in our sphere of influence. By following God’s plan, our children (biological or otherwise) can be people who grow up to do amazing things in this world.

Now this is not a small task. Children have to be aimed. If we don’t aim them in the right direction, they can be dangerous; someone’s going to get hurt. When we have kids, we become warriors. We have to fight for them. It is tough and challenging. It requires everything we’ve got to succeed. We can’t just sit back and passively raise our kids. That only leads to shame and destruction.

God has created every child with an assignment, a specific purpose in this world. But, that assignment is up for battle; it’s not necessarily going to happen unless we as parents help them. Our kids won’t just fulfill it on their own. We need to understand this fact from the very beginning: Our assignment is to help them find theirs, get them into it early, and help keep them on their way. We do this by:

• Establishing healthy boundaries through loving discipline.
• Maintaining a healthy relationship with them, and ensuring that their other relationships are healthy.
• Living as healthy role models through the life we live before our children.

Now, there’s a lot more to each one of these points, but rather than break them down here, I want to encourage you to listen to or watch the message I gave last weekend during our services where I went into a lot more detail.

God has given us a real vision for children, and for instilling that vision in others. I invite you to take part in this adventure, to live a 20/20 LIFE and get the Vision for Children.

By: Pastor Colleen Rouse

“We eat what we like.”  Remember that tagline?  It was used to promote Apple Jacks cereal.  I never liked that commercial because it featured adolescents with cocky attitudes of entitlement.   Yet, it seems to epitomize the American mentality; and, we are in the midst of an economic crisis because of it.

We have lived without restraint. Our ferocious appetites have ruled us and freedom has been a means of fulfilling vices.  We despise waiting for anything and thus have not learned to develop patience. If we like it, we go for it without question and mostly without the proper funds, all because we can.  Creditors have became our friends, telling us they are on our side.  They became our source of counsel as to the size of our homes and big screen TVs.  If they gave us permission, we treated ourselves because, after all, we deserve it.  We have been willing to risk it all for TVs and cars because we never dreamed that “it” would come.

Our forefathers were willing to risk it all as well.  They came here in search of precious liberty and independence, knowing it would not come without a price. They were willing to risk their lives to find a place where they could use this freedom to pursue the One they desired to serve with all their hearts, Jesus.  How we have drifted from this pure motive to use our freedom to serve ourselves. Paul, admonished us in Galatians 5:13 NIV “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”  The freedom that we have today has come from those who fought in wars, serving us in love.

We have been so proud of our independence and at the same time, we have lost our appreciation for it.  We don’t want to belong to anything or anyone so we forsake getting married and opt for living together. The dollar bill that says in God we trust has become the god in which we trust. We have been deceived.  Paul also said in Galatians 5:1 MSG “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.”  The country that loves her freedom has come under the harness of debt. We belong to the bank and even the banks belong to someone else, mostly foreign nations.

In reality, the “bailout” we need is much greater than the tune of $700 billion.  Our bankrupt state is a result of spiritual bankruptcy. You might be thinking that I am making everything sound bleak and hopeless, but that is not the case.  In fact it is because of hope that I am willing to admit to our foolishness.  You might be thinking that you are not one of those I have described above.  Perhaps not, but this is a day when we must begin thinking corporately and not independently because all that leads to is what is being demonstrated in Washington, blame shifting.  There is a different shifting that can take place and it is not too late for our country. The shift I am referring to is a shift in pursuit, a RETURNING. Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no revelation (vision), the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.”

The pilgrims who first landed here came with a great sense of purpose.  Our forefathers who drafted the constitution wrote down the vision God gave them for this nation.  We were meant to be a beacon not a blemish.  We were meant to use our freedom for helping others not for lavishing our own desires.  We must return to who we were called to be as a nation. We must return to our first love. We have built our houses on sand (credit) but we must build them on the Rock.  We must return to our first love.  We must be willing to refrain at times from “eating what we like” so we won’t have to stand in soup lines.

The beginning of the Declaration begins with the following, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Sometimes I wish that Jefferson would’ve left that last part out.  Let us pursue life with the same passion with which we have pursued happiness. Life is only found in Him.  We must return to our pursuit of HIM but we need help in finding our way.
We need something to clear away the confusion, dissention and lack of discernment.  We need leaders with pure motives and clear vision.  We as the Body of Christ need to break free of the hypnotic state we have been under.  We need a clarion call.

A clarion call is a powerful request for action or an irresistible mandate. It referred to a medieval trumpet and it is derived from the Latin word meaning clear.  We need true prophets to begin to open their mouths and speak truth and we must listen to what they say. I know that many of us may groan at this idea because we have heard many prophets declare many things. Some have been so audacious to declare that as long as we sent in our immediate pledge of $777, whatever they spoke would come true.  Those individuals will answer to God for their malpractice but that doesn’t mean there are not those who listen to God and have an authentic and specific assignment.  I believe that when they give the clarion call, it will be confirmed by the Spirit of Grace and Truth and rally us to prayer.  Rather than continuing to occupy the position of “wait and see” with the rest of this country we must take the somewhat different position of  “Wait on the Lord” and “See with eyes of revelation”.

I believe that the Lord is going to use the fivefold ministry gifts in unity once more to help us return to Him.  Let us begin to pray for the true leaders with righteous motives to be put in places of leadership in this nation and we will shine again.