I like to ask people who are leaders about their sense of purpose. I ask, “Where will your be in five years?” This usually stumps 98% of the people with whom I talk about ministry and leadership. Some are a bit perplexed because their sense of “living by faith” doesn’t include long range goals or planning. Some are perplexed simply because they had no idea, their present revelation of personal purpose doesn’t give them a framework into which a picture of “five years down the road” will fit. Then, most people also have some expectation that someone else or something else is going to determine their future.
It is valid to believe the words of Jesus, “Take no thought or tomorrow.” It is also valid to believe the words of Jesus, “Holy Spirit will show you what is coming next.” The amount of contradiction between the two statements is zero. You don’t need to “take a thought” when the thought is given to you, so to speak.
God gives revelation so we know what to do right now. Any prophetic purpose produces a prophetic process of prophetic preparation. So the long range goal is accomplished through short range goals through doing today what needs to be done to be ready to do whatever tomorrow brings. Put the phrases together and you see that God tells you how to live today so you’ll be ready for the future!
The Next Seven Years
I have the sense that we are entering seven years of harvest. Before you shout, listen to the meaning of the word. Harvest is the fruit of what you’ve been doing, but the sense of “harvest” we will see in the next seven years is as much about sowing as reaping. It is a time of the plowman and reaper being in the field at the same time.
The sense of increased harvest must be increased sowing in a cycle of accelerated maturity. That is, the time it takes the newly plowed and sown ground to produce harvest will be shortened but the harvested seed must be immediately resown during the time of harvest in order to maintain the momentum. A lifestyle of accelerated giving and increase is required.
The term “harvest” can apply to many things, not only the winning of the lost or financial return. Think of harvest in terms of inheritance since all inheritance comes from the same process that produces harvest. Do not separate inheritance and harvest in your thinking anymore. Your portion comes to you through the process that produces increase, and that increase can come even when your enemies have had possession of your inheritance. Your inheritance can come to you from your enemies with the full increase it has gained while in usurpation!
Harvest can be physical in your health, emotional in your heart, understanding in your mind, strength in your will, and maturity in your spirit. Harvest can be in your relationships, finances, possessions, creativity, and kingdom leadership. Harvest can be the secret, hidden purpose that God has preserved and for which He has prepared you, and when it comes into your hands now, can be a kingdom investment of increase that you can immediately begin to plant in the plowed ground where harvest has just occurred!
Do you have a seven-year vision?
