{"id":14359,"date":"2016-05-09T09:32:19","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T13:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=14359"},"modified":"2016-05-09T12:28:11","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T16:28:11","slug":"reaching-beyond-our-grasp-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=14359","title":{"rendered":"Reaching Beyond Our Grasp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision], the people cast off restraint\u2026 \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Proverbs+29%3A18\" target=\"_blank\">Proverbs 29:18<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"mobile-sharing-button\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bKuAMmTqUbs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely <em>do<\/em> anything. A person\u2019s own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah tried to excuse his disobedience by saying to God, \u201c\u2026I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Jonah+4:2\">Jonah 4:2<\/a>). I too may have the right idea of God and His attributes, but that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives me the moral incentive.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Our own idealistic principles may actually lull us into ruin. Examine yourself spiritually to see if you have vision, or only principles.<\/p>\n<p>Ah, but a man\u2019s reach should exceed his grasp,<br \/>\nOr what\u2019s a heaven for?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere there is no revelation [or prophetic vision]\u2026.\u201d Once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God\u2019s vision in the little things of life. We simply begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating only out of our own hand, and doing things solely on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path. We have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook?<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>May 9, 2016<\/p>\n<p>Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n<p>Good morning God and thank you for this day and this devotional that took David and me on a brief journey right back to surrender and connection. In my research I found writers that believe many churches and pastors erroneously use this scripture to point to the need for a vision for their church and service. Another writer took me on a journey to understand that this scripture; <em>where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision]; the people cast off restraint\u2026 \u2014Proverbs 29:18<\/em> is really about living out of Gods guidance. Eugene Peterson\u2019s <em>The Message<\/em> version says it clearly\u2026.<sup>18\u00a0<\/sup><em>if people can\u2019t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>And God says\u2026\u201d <em>When you live moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day in a surrendered, connected and curious way, your mantra then becomes\u2026\u201dall things work together for good\u201d. It becomes easier for you to live in this space, because you are no longer (as Chambers says in this devotional) \u201ceating out of your own hand\u201d. Another way to read this scripture is; when you subordinate yourself to God\u2019s guidance, you thrive! And how do you know God is guiding? Because I promised you that when you acknowledge Me in all your ways, I will make your paths straight. When you seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, which is Jesus, I will provide everything else you require. Knock and the door will be opened, seek and you shall find. Delight yourself in the Lord, and I will give you the desires of your heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision], the people cast off restraint\u2026 \u2014Proverbs 29:18 There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person\u2019s own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14359"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14359"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14364,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14359\/revisions\/14364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}