The Right Question
Where does God want to take me?
Terry Fullam

Topics:	Calling, Discernment, Discipleship, Goals, Mission statements, Motivation, Spiritual direction, Vision
Filters:	Church board, Deacon, Discipleship, Elder, Management, Pastor
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	Nehemiah 2:4-5, Nehemiah 2:7-8, Nehemiah 2:12
Date Added:	July 30, 2007

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The king said to me, "What is it you want?"

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." …

I also said to him, "If it pleases the king may I have letters to the

governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" …

I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.

Character Check
Where does Christ want to take me? How do I discern his direction?

In Business Terms
Vision arises out of our burden to know the will of God, to become whatever it is God wants us to become. Vision is the product of God working in us. He creates the vision, and we receive it. Goal setting is the projection of our perceptions of what we want to accomplish. There's nothing particularly nefarious about that-it's just that vision is something that elicits a response from us, that calls us forth. Goals, on the other hand, are things we project.

That is why I suppose I'm not as firmly committed to goals-1 (or we) thought them up in the first place. Vision, on the other hand, summons me.

The process of goal setting cannot be bad. But if the church is indeed an organism and I am part of the body of Christ, it's not really a matter of "Where do I want to go?" but rather "Where does Christ want to take me?"

—Terry Fullam

Something to Think About
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
– Douglas MacArthur

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