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Publish the Good News
PART I
Okay, it’s
time to “write the vision and make it plain….”
“Open my
eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” – Psalm 119:18 NLT
Not feeling
like I have a vision has helped me to procrastinate about writing one down. But
the vision is already there, I just need to discover it or uncover it.
I’ve always thought about vision as in a vision board that crafty women and people desiring to be high-powered go-getters created to help them focus on what they wanted to get out of life. I actually made one once. A change in my thinking has begun to occur simply because of a book I read, helping me to understand and focus on what God wants to do with me. Pastor Mark Cowart, of Church For All Nations, in Colorado Springs, Colorado wrote the small book, The Power of Vision, Charting Your Spiritual Course. (The book is available here: The Power of Vision )
Hopefully
the desire to quote directly from the book can be dismissed. But he provides
some very tasty nuggets you’ll want to read for yourself. Revelation comes
through a myriad of channels. But the revelation of God and His Kingdom come
only through His Word, both logos and rhema. (The written word of God is (the
Greek word) logos. It becomes (the Greek word) rhema when we believe it.
Reading the Bible and believing what it says are two different things. Mark
Cowart goes into much more detail about this in his book.) God can, will and
does speak to us through whomever and whatever He chooses.
Knowing that
I want whatever lot God has prepared for me, good or scary, easy or requiring
more faith than I think I have, I’ve left things up to Him. I’m, by nature, a Pantzer;
one who flies by the seat of my pants. I detest calendars filled with plans and
appointments. My brain just isn’t made that way, I’m not generally organized. I
try to be from time to time, and it works for a project or two, like cleaning
and organizing a drawer or the kitchen. But life? How can I put into finite,
detailed plans what God destines to do with me? Especially since from day to
day, that may change. Or will it? My movements or daily assignments will
change. But the vision does not.
Vision is
there waiting to be uncovered. Like new life sprouting from the ground before
the snow has melted, it’s already there. Now, the snow is melting and I’m
beginning to see the tiny sprout poke through. In the past when this happened,
I looked away. Was it fear? Was it laziness? No matter. Today that all changes.
The Lord has
instructed us, even from the Old Testament.
“And the
Lord answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that reads it.” - Habakkuk
2:2 KJV
When I read
that, I’m straining my brain to understand what looks like it should be simple
to grasp. I’m sifting through the grate of various translations to discover
what God says to ME through those verses. The Complete Jewish Bible reads this
way, a little easier to understand: “Then Adonai answered me; he
said, “Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read
it.”
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So, write it
clearly and LARGE! If I were to run, the words on the paper would jiggle around
and my focus would be unclear, jumping up and down, making it hard to read. So,
when I write out this vision the Lord unveils for me, I’ll write it down
plainly and in a very large font, so that I cannot ignore it at all. Hopefully
He intends to show it to me in plain, easy to understand language. However, it
kind of feels like a significant part of the vision is in the unveiling of it –
because there I am becoming more intimate with Him, I’m allowing Him to express
Himself inside of me! This is time well spent; time and experiences
meant to be savored.
The Amplified, Classic Edition puts it this way: “And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.”
So, where
are these tables or tablets that everyone can pass by and see them? A week or
so ago, God spoke to me, “Publish the Gospel”. So far, what I’m getting from
that is to write – and let people see what I write. Coincidentally, that’s the
premise of the life group I facilitate. Is this that tablet?
It’s easiest
for me to write here on my laptop. But no one sees what I write here unless I
share it through social media or through my blogsite. I consider myself a
writer. Maybe God does, too! Publish doesn’t necessarily mean to publish a
book. Publish means to make known. Paul Revere published throughout the land
that the British were coming on horseback with his bellowing voice. Words painted on the side of a barn publish a message.
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The Good
News Translation makes it even clearer to me. It says, “The Lord gave
me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it
can be read at a glance.” In place of the word vision, it reads “what I
reveal to you”. I love this! So, everything that God reveals to me (through His
logos and rhema word)– is part of the heavenly vision! Part of the picture that
God sees when He sees man and His plans for man – includes me. I’m a piece of
the puzzle that’s still being put together right now. Look, on the table before
God’s comfy chair is a puzzle. He has the box; He knows what the picture will
look like when it’s complete; when His bride is perfect and His story continues
with her. I’m one of those pieces! And so are YOU! You share a piece of this
vision, too. Without you and me, the puzzle is incomplete.
More in part
two. Stay tuned as I “publish the Gospel [the Good News]”.
