Here is a challenge this week… Choose one person in your life, could be in your family, your work place, your home group and start praying for them. Ask God to open your eyes to what the Holy Spirit is doing in them.
Do you have that person in mind?
So, I gave a chapter of “Connecting” by Larry Crabb to our shepherds. Let me know if you want a copy.
I would like to highlight some important aspects and set forth a challenge to you for application. This chapter was all about developing a vision for another’s life. Not a selfish vision, but a God breathed vision; not a vision that focuses on obstacles or challenges, but a vision that focuses on hope and grace. A vision that requires us to pray like crazy and dream bigger than ourselves.
- Here are 5 observations to remember when encouraging the people God places in your life:
1) A Spirit-inspired vision sometimes includes an idea of what a person could do, but it ALWAYS centers on who that person could BECOME.
2) A Spirit-inspired vision for someone reliably creates anguish in the heart of the visionary.
3) A Spirit inspired vision for someone is necessarily the product of spiritual discernment. Without ongoing fervent prayer, our vision for others becomes self-serving.
4) A Spirit inspired vision sometimes develops best when the one about whom we’re forming the vision is farthest from God.
5) A Spirit inspired vision is less concerned with practically moving someone in a good direction and more concerned with catching a glimpse of what could be.
So, take some time this week to consider who God has placed in your life. Can you begin to see one person the way that God does? Ask the Spirit, Our Lord, for help doing this. Then respond, have patience and hope for what God wants to see happen among us.
What part of this is most changeling to you?
Where have you caught a glimpse of Spirit inspired vision?
When has someone spoken God’s words into your life?
March 24, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I love this challenge because it is something God put on my heart a long time ago for a dear friend of mine, Miriam. Miriam is a staunch, self-proclaimed atheist. I’ve known her for about 7 years and in that time, I’ve been discouraged by her blatant hatred for Christianity, often demanding tolerance from those of us who follow Christ without offering the same level of tolerance for our beliefs. But I’ve also seen a lot of her walls come down so that she is open to things like me talking about praying for her without writing me off completely.
It’s been slow progress, but I’ve seen God working in her, changing how she reacts, being open to the possibilities of a spiritual life that is bigger than the purely scientific world she envisions we live in. BUT… there are still plenty of times when she’ll spout some piece of her anti-God sentiment, with the disclaimer of “you and your beliefs excluded”–which isn’t true since mine are the same beliefs she’s bashing. It can be very frustrating.
But beyond all of that, I also see an intensely passionate person who can be so selfless and giving it puts Christians I’ve known to shame. I’ve commented to my husband, Daniel, that Miriam has the potential to be another Paul.
If her angst for religion (specifically Christianity) could be turned around to serve God, I think she would be unstoppable. 
Miriam and I bonded over the fact that we both have (and she continues to) struggled with depression. One of our most intense conversations involved her asking me how I could go from being hospitalized for depression, wanting to commit suicide, and on some serious antidepressants to living a normal life, drug free, and seemingly happy and balanced. She was so drawn to that hope and light, and I was all too eager to share that God was the one who drew me out of my deepest, darkest moments (and he still does). He’s the only way I make it day to day without falling back into depression and relying on medication to survive.
Of course, she couldn’t accept that answer.
But it opened a level of conversation, a level of possibility that she couldn’t ignore. I was living proof that she could have a life without depression and that hope and happiness were realistic goals. I wasn’t on meds, I wasn’t seeing a psychiatrist, I wasn’t following any counseling regimen or yoga or whatever, so she really couldn’t argue with my explanation of God being my solution, even if she wasn’t willing to accept it. 
Point 3 above states “Without ongoing fervent prayer, our vision for others becomes self-serving.” This is an area God has challenged me personally. I understand the value of prayer and have relied on that communication with God in my own life. But now that I’m a parent, I’ve let the business of raising my son and keeping my house in order take priority over my time with God. It’s something God regularly reminds me about in his gentle way. I know that fervent prayer for Miriam is the only way I will ever see God create in her the person he’s shown me she can be. I have felt that anguish of wanting to see her potential as much as I want her to know the healing God will bring her.
During the 24 hrs of prayer at Visio, the last station I prayed at was simply praying at the cross for anything God put on our hearts. As I kneeled, Miriam was immediately in my thoughts. Before I could say anything, God pointed out to me that Miriam’s stubbornness was not the only reason I hadn’t seen the change I kept hoping for in her. He showed me that my own doubt and lack of faith were bigger obstacles to her knowing him. I had been praying for her, but I hadn’t really given her to God. I was still censoring things he wanted me to say to her, I was getting in the way of him working in her. So I did something really, really hard. I gave Miriam to God. I relinquished my need to control the person she becomes and asked him to do whatever he needed to do, even if that meant him taking her out of my life so someone else could reach her. I’ve felt him asking for me to do this for a LONG time, but I’ve been scared to commit to it, partly because I didn’t want to lose her (she’s written off a lot of friends over the years for saying something she didn’t want to hear), and partly because I wanted to be the one who brought her to God, I wanted the credit, I wanted the glory, as stupid as that sounds.
Boy did God put me in my place! He reminded me that he loves Miriam more than I ever will, that he made her and he has never and will never give up on her. And then he asked me to kindly get out of his way. 
So along with this challenge of honestly praying for God’s changes in her life, I am challenged to let her go to him so he can do what he needs to because her soul is more important than our friendship, than my pride, than my need for gratification at seeing my friend’s life improve because of anything I do or say.
I covet your prayers as well as I strive to live up to these challenges. I also offer my encouragement to pray for someone God puts on your heart and to be willing to do whatever God asks in response, including letting that person go if necessary.
~Jeanne-Marie Floyd
March 25, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Jeanne-Marie,
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It is humbling, encouraging, and affirming for those of us who share all too similar experiences.
I will commit to praying for MIriam. Will you pray for my Grandparents (Rae and John Scott), my friend George, and my neighbor Barb.
Also pray for me to remain humble and to continue to see people the way God does, cherish the God that is already at work and let go of my pride (just like you I have similar issues with wanting credit).
Thank the Lord that he loves us more than we can imagine or understand. Thank you for sharing your story, it is very helpful.
March 27, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I’d also like to suggest (if people are comfortable doing so) that we share updates, for the people we’ve committed to praying for. It’s encouraging to see how God works in others’ lives when we pray. As we help each other with accountability, let’s also rejoice together as we see God moving in the lives of those we love.
April 1, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I liked how it discussed thinking vision for someone’s life and not just about their problems or how you can “solve” what they are going through. I think as shepherds we take on people’s burdens and want to help them through issues or life things by trying to solve the problems they are going through. I think we need to make sure we are focusing more on the vision for their life. How God has built this person, the potential they have, and their character strengths. That is a good challenge for me and something to keep in mind when I meet with others. I like how he said – “when we think problems rather than vision, we are quickly overwhelmed” and I think that is so true.
April 1, 2009 at 1:11 pm
So true Mandy! I find it easy to get caught up in problems. Its exciting and freeing to think ‘vision’… also puts more of our trust in God rather than in ourselves