A Year of Preparation

                             So a new year is upon us again.  2015!  2014 has been definitely challenging for us.  Things haven't happened in the way we thought they should.  There has been unforeseen challenges and hurdles.  We have felt the sting of disappointment and let down.  We have had things thrown at us that were misguided, inaccurate and out of left field.  If I am being open, honest and vulnerable, I have spent the last half of 2014 struggling with defaults.  I feel like the proverbial ostrich that has stuck his head in the sand (even though ostriches don't do that) and have let myself "go" in many ways.  God has been speaking to me on this.  I can't let that happen anymore.  It is time to pick myself up, dust myself off and focus on the things that are in my grasp and in my control.  Me...  I need to begin to work on me again.  Physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally.  I need to be the warrior I am meant to be.  I work in parallels.  All areas of my life move together.  If I am being disciplined and training myself in some areas it flows into other areas of my life as well.  That is a good thing.  So it is time to GO!!

                              The dreams are still there.  The desires are still there.  Many of them are not in my control and the demand needs to be on God to open doors in His timing, not making them line up with my timing or how I think it should work.  That is another form of discipline we need in our lives.  So if I can't worry about my dreams and desires and trying to make them happen, what do I need to do?  I need to prepare myself to walk into these things when it is time.  Perhaps even I can speed up the process as I prepare myself?  All I know is that I want 2015 to be a year of preparation and bettering myself.  I want to be all I can be through partnering with Jesus in my refining process and disciplining myself to see it through.  By the end of 2015 I want to be a lean, mean, fighting machine in the Spirit, in the natural and every other aspect of my person.  I want to be a force to be reckoned with.  I want there to be presence when people are around me not because of me per se, but what God has done in my life...because of the capacity I have grown into...because of the atmosphere I carry.

                           In many ways, I want to be my version of the legacy that my mother carried and left for me to step into.  She left a mantle that I felt God tell me I was meant to pick up.  I cannot do that with my head in the sand.  I cannot do that by being complacent and not applying the work ethic and effort needed to go to the next level.  I NEED to do this.  For me, for my kids, for my wife, for my friends, for the people that could be on the other side of an encounter with the Holy Spirit through me.  Whether it is encouragement, prayer, a prophetic word, a message, a joke, a hug, etc...I want to be impacting to all those I cross paths with.  That is my prayer.  But I know it is on me to do my part to get there...I know God will be faithful to do his part.
     
                         This is NOT a New Year's Resolution.  Far from it.  This is decision to be who I am supposed to be.  The end of the year is just a good time to reflect and see where you need to change, adapt, remove, add, stop...  This has been on my heart for over a month and NOW is as good a time as any.  This is going to be a long, hard road but it is going to be a great road and great journey.  Let's get started...

Norway, Europe and Dreams...

               I have taken a long hiatus from writing down my thoughts but felt inspired to do so now.  I am a man of big dreams and I am not apologetic for that.  I feel I possess the adventurer spirit.  I relate with those that also carry that spirit.  In the same breath, I struggle with trying to "make" things happen.  Over the years I have learned that timing is everything.  If you try to "make" something happen and it is not the right time, you usually end up with a bruised and bloody forehead from running into brick walls.  Sometimes you need to wait until a door appears.  That would require patience.  Ouch! Not always an easy virtue (or fruit of the Spirit).  So what do you do when you have deep yearnings and dreams that well up from the depths of your spirit?  Pray. Intercede.  Process.  Dream.  Keep it in front of you but don't obsess over it (as I can do).  Trust (God).  Obey. 
                 
                When it comes to dreams I feel like sometimes it can be a tightrope walk...being fully where you are but allowing yourself to dream and pray into where you are not yet.  Especially when the dreams can coincide and run parallel with each other.  Lisa and I are in the pre-launch phase of C3 Church Comox Valley and are currently walking out the planting process of this church.  It is awesome and challenging at the same time.  This is a dream in motion.  This is where our heart it.  We are living it.  I also have a dream and vision for ministering in Norway.  I have a huge passion for the country and people as my heritage comes from there.  It is deep in my spirit.  I have no idea how this will look and how it will work.  All I know is that it is there.  All I know is at some point I am supposed to go there and partner with the pastors and people there in some capacity.  Does this take away from what we are doing at C3CV.  No.  It will come out of the life and anointing that is being birthed at C3CV.  I can see C3CV being a huge part of this dream too.  I also see ministering at other churches in Europe and a strong tie being built there.  But it will be out of what God is doing in us at C3CV.  But a big piece of my heart is with Norway.

                      So how will this come to be?  I have no idea.  Will I all of a sudden get an invite to come out and do something.  I don't know.  Will we have to dream together as a team and work towards bringing a team over there in the future.  Maybe, but I don't know.  Do I need to know?  I don't think so.  I have to trust and obey.  Saturate the dream in prayer.  Focus on where we are at and what we are doing now...what is right in front of us.  Wait for God's timing to open the doors and make a way even when we can't see it. 

                      So what about those yearnings that feel like birthing pangs?  Acknowledge them.  Use them to motivate you in prayer.  Listen to the rumblings of the spirit.  I keep hearing words that check in my spirit.  I was listening to a podcast of C3 Church Calgary West where Ps. Graham Fletcher was speaking and mentioned Norway and God doing a work there.  My spirit jumped.  Talking on Facebook with Ps. Ruben Meyer from C3 Church Fredrikstad and working on building relationship he mentions that Ps. Lorne Tebbutt has a heart for Norway...hmmmm?  Listening to other podcasts from other churches in C3 Europe I feel a pull.  At the C3 Americas 2014 conference, Ps. Chris Pringle was sharing (and moving in the Spirit) and talked about cutting out pictures of your dreams and posting them where you can see them and pray into them.  That resonated with Lisa and me.  For C3CV and more. 

 

                        I will continue to pray, process and share my heart.  I am believing for big things over this next year and a bit.  Things will blow open.  It will be a season of reaping the harvest and connecting people to a more full and rich life that only comes through the revelation of Jesus and our identity in Him.  Freedom, holiness and relationship equals life changing transformation.  If anyone wants to pray along with me and walk along side me, let me know.  I am always up for that.  Until next time...keep dreaming and remember to trust and obey. :)

- Vaughn