Van Moody's Blog, page 2

Bigger Thoughts, Bigger Dreams

What’s the link between what you think about
your life and what your future looks like? The Bible has a definite answer on
the subject. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
This Scripture is so important; it’s God’s way of saying, “This is how I’m
going to work in your life—through your thoughts.” This is why dreaming, and
having the faith to dream, is so important. Whatever’s happening in your mind
will eventually manifest in your life.

Oftentimes, people dream, but they miss the
key ingredient of enlarging their faith, and tapping into greater dimensions of
faith, so that they can really dream like God wants them to. And so, if you’re
going to dream—and really believe God for it and pursue it—it’s going to
require greater faith. It’s going to require a greater way of thinking.

Dreaming literally shapes our lives. And it
takes faith in order to see something that’s not there yet. The ability to operate
by faith is a tool that God has given us so that we walk with Him. Did you know
that you can’t even walk with God apart from faith? This connection between
dreaming, faith, and thinking is crucial. 2 Corinthians 4:18 sums up our
calling as believers when it comes to our thoughts and dreams: “We look
not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the
things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

The Bible says that we’re to set our eyes on what
we cannot see—because those are the things that really matter. What we cannot see
will last forever. How in the world are we supposed to fix our eyes on
something that we can’t see? By dreaming.

So we see that, in order to dream, we have to
have faith; and in order to dream, our thoughts also have to be aligned with
God’s truth. The fulfillment of your dream starts in your mind—and that’s where
the majority of the battle to realize your dream takes place, as well. So…what
are you thinking? How are you
thinking? And how are your thoughts currently impacting your dreams?

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

The Value of Imagination

Dreaming shapes your life. Dreaming shapes my life. Our
willingness to dream—or even our unwillingness—is going to shape our lives. The
way that we think is going to affect the way that we feel; and the way that we
feel will ultimately impact the way that we act.

This is why the writer says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he
thinks within himself, so he is.” Dreams lead to thoughts, thoughts lead to
actions, and actions lead to our legacy. What kind of dreams are you dreaming?
You see, it doesn’t only matter that you dream, but that your dreams lead you
toward the kind of life God wants for you. Simply dreaming isn’t enough; to
truly live out your purpose, you need to dream God’s dreams for your life. This
is why it’s so important to get into His Word and learn more about His truth!

We can also see this by looking at our society. All the people
who did anything significant in history all did it on the backside of dreaming.
Albert Einstein said this: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Logic
will get you from A to B; imagination will take you everywhere. There is no
limit to imagination. The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but
imagination.”

We see that the true sign of intelligence is not how much
you know, but whether or not you’re willing to dream. Dreaming is the beginning
of fulfilling your God-given purpose, and it’s also one of the things that
makes life worth living!

Don’t give up your imagination. In a world that tells us not
to dream, be courageous enough to keep dreaming. Shape your life by the dreams
that you dream—and in everything, seek God’s will for your dreams.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

God Dreams

The Bible tells us clearly that God dreams.

As a matter of fact, in Genesis, we see the beginning of the
world, and how God created it. What’s clear is that God literally
imagined—dreamed—the entire universe, then spoke it, and it was created. He
thought it up before it actually became a reality. It was a dream in the mind
of God.

Then, here’s the amazing thing: Genesis also says that we are
created in the image of God. That’s an incredible truth to grapple with, but
there’s more implications than we may have realized at first. We’re made in
God’s image, meaning we also ought to dream!

As a matter of fact, that’s why the word “image” is a part
of the root word of “imagine.” We’re created in God’s image; part of what that
means is that God is calling us to dream. When the Holy Spirit fell on the Day
of Pentecost, and filled the believers, it fulfilled the prophecy given by
Joel. Take a look at the Scripture that Peter cites in Acts 2:17:

“‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,

‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions,

And your old men shall dream dreams.’”

You are most like God when you are dreaming. When you are
create, you are most like the Creator. Why? Because everything starts with
dreaming. Nothing becomes a reality unless somebody first dreams it, thinks it
up. Every great thing starts in the mind of someone else—meaning they have to
dream it first.

What will you dream about today?

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Faith to Dream

The new year is a time of goals, plans, and dreaming. I
believe God wants us to dream bigger than ever before. But this requires
something very specific: faith.

I remember a time in my life where I was a believer, but I
wasn’t embracing the faith in God that He desired from me. I had a sense in my
spirit that God wanted to do more with me. But I had been living by my
standards, and my way. When the Holy Spirit told me, “You’ve yet to live by
faith,” I was so convicted, because I recognized that was the key—the
barrier—the issue—between the life I was living and the life that I had the
sense that God wanted me to live.

I’m so passionate about sharing this with you at the
beginning of this year. Why? Because I really believe that you have that same
sense, too—the sense that there’s something else God is calling you to. It’s
like a wooing. Sometimes, you can even explain it to other people. There’s a
pulling and a tugging at your heart, because there’s something more that you
sense God wants you to embrace.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “As it is written, ‘What no eye has
seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for
those who love him.’”

Every significant thing that God has done in my life goes
back to the moment I placed my full and complete faith in God’s way instead of
mine. The moment I truly began to live by faith is the moment doors began to
open. All of a sudden, things just started happening. And every significant
thing God has done in my life since then—even to the point of being a part of
The Worship Center—has happened by faith.

What area of your life do you need to surrender to God in
faith? What dreams has He placed on your heart, and how can you place more of
your faith in Him regarding them? As we open the chapter on this new year,
don’t be afraid—be excited, knowing God’s character and faithfulness qualifies
Him to handle every single detail of your life. Then, hand them over, and watch
what He does in 2020!

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

The Hallmark of Jesus’s Ministry

Prayer was the hallmark of Jesus’s ministry. Throughout His
life, the Savior maintained a close connection–a lifeline, really—between Himself
and the Father. When you study the ministry of Jesus, what you see is that,
consistently and intentionally, He always communicated with the Father through
prayer. Often, He would withdraw to a quiet place, and talk to His Father one on
one (Matthew 26:36, Mark 1:35, Luke 9:18, Luke 11:1). 

Just as it was for Him, so it should also be for us. One of
the great church historians and leaders of the early 1900s—a man by the name of
Samuel Chadwick—said this: “Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is
to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies,
prayerless work, or prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil and he mocks our
wisdom; but he trembles when we pray.”

Why is this the case? Because the next thing that God is
going to do—the next level of breakthrough in your life—is only going to come
through prayer. So many individuals have been texting me and emailing me and
telling me about where they are and what they’re going through, and expressing
stress. My wife and I have been interceding for a number of people. And every
time I go to God on their behalf—every time I intercede for their situation—the
Holy Spirit keeps saying, “But this breakthrough is only going to come through
prayer.”

Even when there are things that come that are frustrating,
God keeps saying, “Take it to Me in prayer.” Because this level of breakthrough,
wherein you’re pressing in for your family, and even for the things that you’re
believing God for, is only going to come through prayer.

Remember the time the disciples tried to cast out a demon,
and couldn’t? They asked Jesus, “Why could we not cast it out?” Jesus replied
in Luke 9:29, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”



The more we pray, and the more we know God, the
more we’ll see breakthrough happen in our lives—and the lives of those around
us. If prayer was essential for Jesus, it ought to be essential for us as well.
Don’t simply seek breakthrough—seek the God of the breakthrough. Seek His face,
seek to draw closer to Him, and seek His will for your life. Then, breakthrough
will come as a byproduct of your relationship to Him.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Three Steps to Breakthrough

As we explore prayer during our 21 Days of Prayer and
Fasting, I think it’s important to examine the process that leads to spiritual
breakthrough. Yes, there is a process by which we discover God’s best for our
lives—and it requires our participation!

There are three steps to breakthrough. Some of us sense that
God wants to do a new thing in our lives—we sense it with every fiber of our
being. We’ve been praying for it, and waiting on it. The thing is, unless we
understand and go through these three steps, we won’t see the fulfillment of
that new thing. So what are these three steps?

Step number one is desire.
This is what the disciples had when they said, “Lord, teach us how to pray. We
want that kind of power. We want to experience God like that.” It begins with
desire. This is what Jesus meant when He said in Luke 12:34, “For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Only when our hearts are centered
on Him and His will for us do we fully encounter everything He wants to reveal
to us.

Step number two is discipline.
It’s all good and well to want God’s best—to desire breakthrough; but it’s
another thing altogether to exercise discipline and seek Him.  You’ve got to not only want it; you’ve also got
to be willing to do what’s necessary in order to attain it. That’s where
discipline comes in. This is what God meant when He said to His people in
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart.” Discipline is necessary if we’re going to breakthrough in our knowledge
of God and in what He has next for us.

Step number three is delight.
When you make seeking God a habit, it’s not just desire and it’s not just a
discipline—it becomes a delight. David knew that God’s presence, and the
purposes He created in David, were a life-giving place to live in. That’s why
He writes in Psalm 23:2-3, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He
leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness[b]for
his name’s sake.” David had reached a point in His relationship with God
where spending time with Him, and following His lead, had become not just a
chore or an obligation—these things were a true delight.

Ultimately, this is the place we want to get to in our quest
for breakthrough—the heart position of God’s will being our delight—even when
it doesn’t line up with our will. This is a posture that says, “Lord, your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God has a plan. God has an agenda. Our job is not so much to
try to make God do something He doesn’t want to do. Our job, when we come
together and pray, is to say, “God, this is what you said. This is what we’re
believing you for. We stand in faith, and we look for you to do it.” As we
focus our desire and discipline in this place, God brings about a delight in
Himself in our hearts. That’s how true breakthrough happens.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Be Still

So you’ve set an appointment to meet with God
in prayer. You’ve kept the appointment, and you have a list of things you want
to talk with Him about—now what? How do you begin?

Too many times, we begin our time in prayer by
listing every single item we need help with, pouring out our thoughts, and
getting all worked up…when all the while, what our souls truly need is to be
still. Being still and worshipping God should be the first step to our prayer
time with Him.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I
am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Glorifying God is the most important aspect of our prayer time with Him.
Instead of running in with our list, we are called to quiet our souls, still
our thoughts, and recognize Him for who He is. This actually frees us up, in
the end, because we gain the freedom that comes from letting go of everything
else to focus on Him.

Some of us are in God’s way. Our default can
be, “I’ve got to do this! I’ve got to go here. I’ve got to respond in this
way.” What we really need to do is be quiet and be still. Some of the most
powerful times we’ll have with God is when we encounter Him in the stillness.

Another reason stillness is so important in
prayer is because prayer isn’t a monologue; it’s a dialogue. When you pray,
please know God wants to speak to you. He wants to say something. As you’re
reading and praying, listen. As you listen, write. Take note of what He wants
to convey to you.

John 10:27-28 says, “My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Don’t you think the God who came to earth to
save you, and who gave you eternal life, has some things He wants to share? Be
still, and listen to Him; you’ll find yourself less stressed, more joyful, and
more at peace when you first align your heart with His. Then, bring your
requests to Him.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Idol Worship

If you’ve ever read the story of Jonah, you’ll
see that there’s a definite superior streak in the prophet. On top of initially
refusing to go to Nineveh due to their brokenness and depravity, he later says
in Jonah 2:8-9, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of
steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah does worship the Lord; but there’s one
thing he overlooks in his own heart—that fact that he, too, worships idols.
What do I mean by this? First, we need to define what an idol is.

What is an idol? An idol is anything that we
worship more than God Himself. Here’s the key: we all worship something. The
English word that we know as “worship” comes from two words: “worth” and
“ship,”—meaning that we worship whatever is of worth to us. So an idol is
anything that we turn to as more worthy or more valuable than God.

What was Jonah’s idol? Let’s take a look at
the prophet a couple of chapters later, in Jonah 4. He’s promised to obey God,
and even proclaimed back in the belly of the fish, “Salvation belongs to the
Lord!” However, when it comes time for Nineveh to be saved, and the people
repent, Jonah has a very different perspective:

“ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, [ a ]  and he was angry. And he prayed
to the Lord and said,
“O Lord, is not this what I
said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to
Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from
disaster. Therefore now, O Lord,
please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to
live.” 

What’s with the change of tone? When we have
an idol, whether it’s subconsciously or consciously, we trust that thing more
than God for acceptance, approval, and meaning. If Jonah had trusted God for
his own significance, he wouldn’t have been angered or threatened by the
Ninevites’s repentance. But his anger reveals a deep-seated worship of his own
reputation.

See, if Jonah’s prophecy of destruction didn’t
come to pass because God had mercy on the city, then Jonah’s reputation as a
prophet could potentially be called into question. This is part of the reason
why he didn’t want Nineveh to be spared. He was placing his ultimate identity
into his role as a prophet, rather than his relationship with the God who had
mercy both on him and on Nineveh.

Chances are that all of us currently have
something we turn to for foundational meaning and significance more than God.
The question is, are we aware of these idols, and are we willing to surrender
them?

What do you trust more than God to gain
acceptance, and approval, and to give your life meaning? Let me just say this
to you now: whatever you’re trying to build your life on other than God is not
going to last. Some of you have already tried to build, and the foundation has
been faulty—which is why the old hymn writer had it right when he said, “On
Christ the solid rock I stand/ All other ground is sinking sand/ I dare not
trust the sweetest frame/But wholly lean on Jesus’s name.”

Anything else that you try to build your life
on—that you try to gain significance and meaning from—other than God is going
to crumble and sadly disappoint you. Anything we place our trust in other than
God will ultimately leave us unsatisfied. He’s the only One who can truly
fulfill us.

For Jonah, it took God, a desert, and a dead
plant to realize the truth: the very end of the book of Jonah reads,

“But when dawn came up the next day, God
appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.  When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east
wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was
faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to
die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do
you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be
angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor
did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there
are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left,
and also much cattle?”

Ask God to reveal the idols and strongholds in
your heart; and ask Him to reveal how those things may be affecting your
ability to love others as He has loved you. Addressing idols isn’t easy, but it
will free your mind and your heart for the abundant life He has for you.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Spiritually Double-Minded

John 5:24  “Truly, truly, I
say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal
life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

For those
of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, it can be tempting
at times to revert to a lifestyle of striving to earn His favor or love. How
can we tell if this is the case? If you feel a pressure to do good for
acceptance—instead of from a place of
acceptance—you’re probably headed in that direction.

But if
we’re already saved, why do we fall back into this pattern?

This is one
of the biggest challenges right now, particularly for those who may have grown
up in a traditional spiritual environment. We’ve got one foot in the new
covenant, which is salvation in Jesus Christ through grace by faith (Ephesians
2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest anyone should boast”); but we’ve got another foot in the old covenant that
God established with the nation of Israel, which was based on works. This
leaves us struggling to adequately understand the heart of God—let alone being
able to teach somebody else about His love and salvation. Without meaning to do
so, we become spiritually double-minded.

How does
this play out in our relationships? If we’re hard on ourselves, we’re equally
hard on other people. We talk about Jesus’s finished work, but deep down, we’re
striving to earn God’s favor; therefore, we try to make others adhere to all
kinds of laws to earn God’s favor, as well.

This is a
large part of the reason that the church has acquired the reputation for being
judgmental that it has in many parts of the world today. We’ve taken the gospel
and wrapped it in all of these laws. We go preaching that Jesus loves people; but
then, we put all of these burdens on them: “He loves you, but you can’t dress that
way. You can’t look that way. You can’t say that. I don’t know about you—you’re
disqualified.”

That’s not
the gospel! The pure, unadulterated gospel is John 3:16: “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever…” Here’s the question:
Is there anything excluded in the whosoever? No. That means everyone. Romans
9:15-16 reads, “For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it
depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Once we
fully accept the unconditional love and salvation of God in our own hearts,
we’ll be able to live from a place of acceptance. This will affect our lives,
and the lives of those we share Jesus with—instead of requiring a certain set
of behaviors from them, we’ll be able to share the good news that, no matter
who they are or what they’ve done, God loves them and made a way for them to be
with Him for eternity.

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}

Outer Activity vs. Inner Activity

As believers, each of us has been given a
unique calling by God. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “We are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.” Oftentimes, we get so focused on these external works that we neglect a
very important part of God’s calling on our lives—our heart.

When we’re only fixated on seeing the external
parts of God’s purposes come to pass, we can get impatient quickly. We
complain, “God, I don’t see anything happening! What are You doing?” We tend to
get discouraged when our dreams don’t manifest themselves overnight. After all,
if there isn’t any evidence of purpose on the outside, are we truly walking out
the calling God has given us?

The answer, of course, is yes. What God wants
us to see is that, even when there’s nothing seemingly happening on the
outside, He is always working on the
inside. In fact, He’s more concerned with what’s happening on the inside. 1
Samuel 16:7 says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on
his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.
For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” God is more
concerned with what He sees—or, perhaps, doesn’t see—in our hearts.

Why is this more important to Him? Because
without character, we can’t step into the external purposes He’s created us
for. Even if we try, we won’t be able to maintain those purposes for very long
if our hearts aren’t healthy and holy. God knows character is what we need for
where we’re going. That’s why it’s first on His priority list, above anything
you and I can do.

Are external works still important to God? Of
course! Reread Ephesians 2:10: God literally had all of your days planned out
before you were ever created. He loves the plans He has for you. And yet, His
main concern—even more than you fulfilling that dream that He’s called you to carry
out—is that your heart is centered on Him first and foremost.

So…is there internal activity happening in
your life? Is the Holy Spirit free to convict, redeem, and transform your
heart?

.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {
width: 100% !important;
}