God’s Vision For You : By James Lantz            

       All of us need to know and continually be reminded of God’s great love and desire for each of us to have a part with Him throughout all of eternity. Adam was created in the very image of God and given the responsibility to care for and rule over God’s earth. God knows each of us by name and has a specific role for each one of His children. Our individuality and uniqueness has been increasingly confirmed through finger printing and DNA testing. God’s word refers to us as living stones and not as bricks which are all the same size and shape.  1 Peter 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  The attention that God gave to His man and the fact that He would go and visit him was not unnoticed by the angels. One angel remarks, what is man that you go and visit him and have placed everything under his feet.  Hebrews 2:6-8A  But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? . . . thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing 

God Placed All Things Under The Dominion Of His Man!

that is not put under him. Lucifer, one of God’s top three angels, now know as satan, foolishly coveted to be like God and endeavored to set himself up above the stars of God by the law of faith and confession.  Isa. 14:12,13 &15  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . . For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  Lucifer was created perfect and served as God’s anointed cherub upon God’s holy mountain until iniquity was found in him.   Ezk. 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.  Faith and confession did not work for satan when he chose to leave his God ordained place and unsurp God’s authority and it will not work for us either if we are pursuing a vision other than God’s vision for us. Submission to God may not be politically correct in today’s society but it puts us in perfect position to exercise our God given dominion over satan.   James 4:7   Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The first man did not resist the devil and yielded his dominion over to satan who became the god of this world. God sent Jesus, the second Adam, to bear the punishment for our sins and bring total redemption to fallen man.  1 Cor. 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  The authority and dominion that Adam handed to satan in the garden has been restored to God’s man through Jesus redemptive work and the working of God’s mighty power in raising Jesus from the dead.

       God’s vision for you began before the creation of the world!  Ephesians 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:    1 Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:  Peter calls those who have been obedient to God’s call to repent and believe the gospel a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people. Jesus chose us out of the world and ordained that we do the works of God in the earth. The moment we believed unto righteousness and confessed Jesus as our Lord we were removed from satan’s family and immersed into the family of God.  Colossians 1:13&14  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Jesus came to give us the God kind of life in abundance!  John 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  Jesus blood was shed for the remission of our sins and His rising from the dead gives us a new life in God. God’s vision for us goes beyond the remission of our sins and that is why we had to be born from above and receive a brand new life in Christ. Jesus said, you must be born again, or literally born from above! The Spirit of God through Paul reveals that when we come to Christ our spirit is reborn and we become a new creature in Christ.   2 Cor. 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The Spirit of God through John magnifies the greatness of the Father’s love in what He accomplished through Jesus resurrection and raising us up to be sons of God.  1 John. 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

       God desires that we respond to His kindness towards us by first receiving forgiveness of sins and then to receive of the inheritance that belongs to all who are in Christ! We know that the preaching of the gospel is God’s chosen method for faith to come and for lives to be forever changed. God’s vision for people has not changed since Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus.  Acts 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. God’s vision and provision for man has always been greater than what was perceived and what was received by them. God’s vision for the children of Abraham who He delivered out of Egypt was to not only bring them out, but to bring them into great and goodly cities, which they didn’t have to build, houses fully furnished, wells they didn’t have to dig, vineyards and olive trees which they didn’t have to plant. ( Deut. 6:10&11&23 ) God is still the same good and gracious God today as He always was and we have a new and better covenant. God’s greatest desire for His church is that they prosper and be in health! God does not want us to forget the benefits that have become ours since we died to self and entered into covenant with Him through our Lord Jesus.

• Jesus blood was shed for the remission of our sins!  Mt. 26:28  Rom. 3:25   Rev. 1:5
• Jesus tasted death for us and destroyed the devil who had the power of death.  Rev. 12:11  Heb. 2:9,14&15
• Eternal Life was granted to all who called on the name of Jesus!  John 10:28  Acts 2:38  Rom. 5:21
• We have been accepted into the family of God!    Ephesians 1:6    Colossians 1:13
• As sons of God we are assigned to help build Father’s house!  Mt. 28:19&20  2 Cor. 5:18  1 Cor. 3:9
• We have been empowered and all things are ours!  Acts 1:8  Luke 15:31  1 Cor. 3:21  2 Cor. 1:20

Acts 26:19&20 . . . “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” . . . But shewed . . . that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.