One summer, a buddy of mine asked if he could work with me for the summer.  I said, “Sure!” and told him what time to be there the next morning.  I don’t think he knew there was an hour that early in the day.  When he showed up the next day and asked what we’d be doing, I told him we were putting a new roof on a rental house.  He had never done that and seemed excited to tackle the job, but his inexperience became more obvious as the day progressed.

I explained the basic concepts to him and we began working.  It was summer and it soon became very hot, but my friend worked right along with me throughout the day.  At the end of the day, my mother invited him to stay for supper and he did.  After supper, I asked if he wanted to hang out for awhile, but he told me he was beat.  I told him I’d see him tomorrow and a funny look came over his face.  He dropped his head and said, “Steve, I can’t.  This work is just too hard for me.”  I was disappointed, but I told him that was fine and not to worry about it.  I told him I’d enjoyed working together with him.

When he left, I was disappointed and also envious.  I had enjoyed working with my friend, and a part of me wished I could have walked away with him and not have had to put the roof on that house.  He had a choice but I didn’t.  Working with me was just a thought he had, but for me, it was a responsibility.  It was his choice, but it was my job.  For him it was something new to try; for me it was something I had to do.  He was only accountable to his feelings and desires; I was accountable to my father.

Bright and early the next morning, I was out working, putting the roof on the rental house.  I missed my friend and wondered what he was doing.  He was probably having fun while I was working.  I wasn’t having much fun that day, but I was doing what I’d been told to do.  I would have loved to have thrown down my tools, climbed down off that roof and gone and found my friend.  But that was not a choice I could make.  Eventually, the roof was finished and the next job was begun.

My friend told me later he was ashamed and embarrassed to see me, and he sure did not want to see my dad.  I asked him why, and he told me, “Because I quit after one day of work.”  I assured him that he had nothing to be ashamed about and that he was silly to feel that way.  It bothered him nevertheless.  I told him I had wished that I could quit, but I couldn’t.  I would have to answer to my dad.

I must admit, there have been many times since then that I have wanted to quit—times when weariness, disappointments, adversities and such have seemingly gotten the upper hand.  But I could not quit for the same reason I had back then:  my Father told me to do something, therefore, I could not quit.

I think everyone wants to quit at some time in their lives.  Those who never do are probably not doing anything.  You have to be doing something to want to quit.  Everything I have ever done has had challenges and difficulties; nothing has been without them.  And there have been times along the journey that the easiest thing to do would have been to quit.  But I don’t want to be like my friend was—ashamed and embarrassed to see my Father.

So, even though we may feel alone and tired at times, that’s okay, as long as we’re doing what our Father told us to do.  And we need to keep doing it, and not quit, until He tells us to.

When the roof was finished, my father and I stood, looking up at the finished job.  He put his arm around me and said, “Good job, son.  Good job.”  That’s why I can’t quit.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

Movements, revivals and major initiatives of change are all by-products created by those who are possessed by zeal. They come about and are birthed in the hands of singular individuals seized in its grip. One singular man consumed (hollowed out) by the fire ignited in his fervent and uncompromising love for God can start a movement. The church has come to a time for zeal, a time for true repositioning. All movements (not mobs) that are fueled by zeal will always seek God’s authority for authentication, validation and vision.

There are times when circumstances dictate compromise. However, when compromise becomes the rule, zeal becomes the tie breaker. Compromise embeds itself in the soul. Compromise causes a gradual drifting off course. In order to right ones course, some would prescribe a gradual and careful process of increments.

However, precious time is lost in the drift. For every degree you drift off course (though generally in the right direction) you fall behind in the appointed time of destiny. People eventually make it to their destination, but if it is at the wrong time–what’s the point?  Only zeal can radically right the course. Zeal not only rights the course but it redeems time lost. It crosses boundaries and offends offenders. It takes the necessary action to quickly return things to normal. Zeal has no fear, is not ashamed and is a respecter of no man’s person. Zeal purges the soul of pride, fear and unbelief. You either have it, or you don’t.

John 2:15 – And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Rev. David Miller
Glory Cloud Ministries
HCI Founding Member

Oh the joy, the wonderful discovery, of being helpless in ourselves and totally dependent on God.  Rest is not found in the land of man’s ability and strength, but only in the place of complete dependence on God.  That place where we say with King Jehoshaphat, “We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”  Like a child, wholly and simply trusting.

This is the glorious place the Holy Spirit leads us into.  There, the words of Jesus:  “The Son can do nothing in himself, but only what he sees his Father do,” come alive in our everyday living.  There, at the end of ourselves and our limited abilities, we find His unlimited strength, might, wisdom, ability, and much, much more.  There, the Father waits patiently for us, calling to us to let go of everything, surrendering all into His care.
Blessed are those who realize their complete, utter dependence on God and His Son.  God is not asking us to do what we can do, but to do what He alone can do through us.  He delights in our conscious need of Him and our dependence on Him.

Jesus made the decision to live this way during His journey on earth.  The Bible says He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a servant.  He chose to disrobe Himself of His own divine ability and to allow His Father to clothe Him with His ability.  He said He could do nothing in Himself but only what He saw His Father doing.  He spoke what He heard the Father saying; He did what He saw the Father doing.  Thus, we find Him so often in the place of prayer, calling on His Father, looking to His Father, listening to His Father.  And from that place of complete dependence on His Father, ministry flowed out like a river; it came flowing out like an artesian well.

The impact of this was so powerful that the disciples did not ask the Lord to teach them how to minister but rather how to pray.  They saw it as the source of His ministry.
Real prayer is the voice of a dependent child.  It is the cry of one who recognizes his/her need for God and His help.  It is the anthem of a faith-filled heart.  And it draws earth to heaven and heaven to earth.

Dear Jesus, help us to bring all to your feet that we might hear your voice and know the glorious inheritance the Father has in us.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

It’s amazing how birth and death have the ability to draw us together and refocus us on what truly matters. In those times, we so easily lay down the busyness of life. Everything else gets put on hold because a loved one is either entering or leaving this life. These two moments in life have such a powerful ability to re-center families and their individual lives. Yet, it is the time between these two events that we actually call life. That’s where we do the living. At the beginning and the end, we seem to come back to what it’s all about. We rediscover what matters most. We find the real center again, only to lose it once the experience is past.

In the moments of birth and death, we focus on the most important issues. So why then do we allow life to be consumed with secondary things? If only we could capture the powerful, clarifying abilities of those experiences and embrace them throughout our lives. If we did, much of what we spend our time and thought on would not even cross our minds. Things that seem so significant would go completely unnoticed. Wounds that have become festering sores in our souls would not have even made a scratch. Forgiving and forgetting would be so simple. Mountains we struggle to overcome would be no larger than a pebble—all because our perspective had been completely rearranged. Our vantage point, from which we observe all of life, would be completely different. (Drug companies and psychiatrists would not like this at all.)

True Christianity carries with it, in its breast, the elements of both of these experiences at one and the same time. Therefore, it truly has the power to realign our entire focus and our thought processes. It has the power to ground our lives, stabilizing them at true center. From there, we can properly view all of life with a true and balanced perspective. Life (the stuff between birth and death) then becomes what it was intended to be, not what we have allowed circumstance and misguided priorities to make it.

It has been said that the two days that matter the most in our lives are the first and the last. What if we lived the ones in between in the light of those other two? Would it affect the priorities of our lives? I think it would. This is all easier said than done. To do so, we must be intentional; it does not happen by accident. But it does happen by purpose. The Holy Spirit will lead us into this life if we will follow.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

The young man’s words were descriptive and painted pictures, which in no time at all became a mural on the wall of his future that I could easily read.  He spoke of why he had come to this decision for his life.  Through his journey, he had met many obstacles, some so significant they sucked the energy from him, leaving him tired and discouraged.  But in each case, God confirmed His will again, reviving his heart and dream.

As I listened, I became a part of his dream; I began to see it.  There it was—the power of a dream.  I was talking to an infected man.  He had become impregnated with a dream that, to him, was more real than the circumstances surrounding his life.  He was only passing through his “now”, but he was living in the dream.  His passion, his sincerity, his logic filled each descriptive word, carrying with them even the fragrance of his dream.  I could feel it, smell it, taste it; it was becoming real to me.  I wanted to jump on board and help make it a reality.  That’s the power of a dream in the heart and mouth of a true dreamer —one who has sold all else to carry the dream and make it a reality.

Sad to say, I rarely meet or talk to anyone like that, especially in the ministry.  I have talked to more people not in full-time ministry who are dream-carriers than I have in the ministry.  Most in the ministry get so bogged down in the maintenance of what they have that the dream has long since been placed in storage in the depths of their hearts.  This is truly sad.  They did not start this way; they started with a dream.  But the continual pounding of reality and the pressures of the now sent the dream packing, and in its place, a routine of survival and convenience took over.  Passion, creative faith, long seasons of laying hold of God, all now replaced with commitment, duty and such.  Don’t get me wrong, commitment and duty are vital and wonderful, but what good are they if they are not connected to a dream filled with passion and potential?

I want to spend my life in all-out pursuit of an impossible dream—impossible for me without God and others.  I want to give my life to something bigger than I am and greater than I can do alone.  I don’t want to spend my life doing things I can do in my sleep, because then I might as well be asleep.  I want something that awakens my spirit, my mind and my heart to its potential and its demands.

If the best is yet to come—if God truly saves the best for last—my greatest dreams are ahead not behind.  The last day I live I want to be passionately pursuing a God-given dream that I am passing onto others to pursue for God’s glory.

As my young friend talked, I could see he was truly alive.  So many in ministry are not anymore.  Their conversations, like their thoughts, are filled with the problems, disappointments, pains and difficulties they have experienced in ministry and are facing in ministry, most of which are created by simply trying to help people.  My concern for them is that, like Moses, they allow those they are leading and that which they are endeavoring to do to cause them to respond in a way displeasing to God, disqualifying them to enter the dream they began with in their hearts.  No wonder the scriptures say, “Guard your heart…”

I hope if I see this young man twenty-five years from now, I will still hear the voice of a dreamer in him.  Skeptics will say, “Not likely; reality will take care of that.”  Dreamers will say, “Oh yes, absolutely, and the dreams will be bigger.

Is there a dream buried inside you?  Has it been buried by the circumstances of life?  Ask God to help you awaken the dream inside you.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

That is so much easier and less threatening than “real Christian life”.  In the “real deal” I have to be salt and light in a world that loves darkness.  In the real world of Christianity, the Sunday morning service is not where I live my Christianity.  Instead, there I am equipped to live it in an unsaved world.  It’s where I learn how to keep my lamp burning bright in the face of the storms that blow against it.  I become a light shining bright in the dark places of life so that others might find their way home.  God did not put a light in me so that I could hang in a lighting store, rather that I would shine in some dark corner of the world.

For many people the disappointments and pains they have endured in life have driven their once contagious excitement into a dark corner of their lives.  There are two basic reasons Christianity in America is held captive in church: fear of the world or love of the world.  These two demonic strongholds loom like gigantic, threatening towers in the minds and hearts of many in church today. They must be faced head-on and hit with the force of the gospel.  America is in trouble.  Her words declare so.  If the light is hid, then darkness prevails.

We don’t need better worship or better programs and systems though all that is necessary and very important. It’s not more illustrated sermons interlaced with high-tech media presentations that will turn this nation to God.  For the most part, these are geared to attract a bigger audience and thus a larger church, which I am all for.  But none of these methods will change the hearts of those in our churches.  And until that happens, we will continue to grow our churches but lose our communities and our nation.

In order to reach our communities, our nation and our world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must be intentional; we must be missional.  As I see it, our purpose must be twofold:  first, to glorify God and exalt his Son Jesus Christ; second, to take the gospel to every person, beginning with our communities and reaching to the ends of the earth.  The key to accomplishing this purpose is an equipped, envisioned and empowered people.  To accomplish this does not depend solely on budgets, methods, or programs, nor is it limited to the size of the congregation.  Actually, I believe that smaller congregations have a distinct advantage over larger ones in the accomplishment of this God-given mission.  As with all other things in the church, it begins with the pastor—in the heart and mind of God’s leader.

If a pastor is determined, committed and focused on this two-fold mission, then I am completely confident that God will lead him/her in the process.  As he does, a spirit will begin to permeate the church that will oust the spirits of fear and worldliness.  A transformation will take place in the people that will radiate into the community via their spheres of influence.

You cannot drive a wrong vision out of people’s hearts by condemning it.  It is driven out only by a greater vision taking its place.  In too many Christians today their lives are trapped by the fears, the cares, and the love of this world.  Their hearts need and are waiting on a greater vision.  The church in America is in dire need of a God-given vision.  It alone has the power to ignite purpose and passion within them that is for greater than the circumstances against them.  Pastors, they are waiting on you to, like Nehemiah, rekindle a vision of their god-given purpose and to lead them into it.  (it’s not solely for the purpose of having better marriages, better jobs, bigger bank accounts, bigger houses and cars—it is to be a light shining in a dark world for all to see.)

It’s not about us and it never will be.  Life isn’t perfect; Jesus is.  This isn’t my home; heaven is.  What I have here or hope to get here is not my reward.  My reward is waiting in heaven for me.  My reward is not the result of my praying and believing for myself, but rather of my obedience to God’s will.  Thus Jesus did not say only those who have prayed or believed or worshipped or sown will enter the Kingdom.  Only those who have done the Father’s will.  That’s how simple it is.  Therefore, all I do—my praying, my believing, my worshipping, my sowing—all must be in obedience to and for the fulfilling of the Father’s will.

Are you determined, committed and focused on glorifying God, exalting Jesus, and reaching your community and beyond with the gospel?  God will lead you.  His light will expose and illuminate the darkness and bring transformation in the people that will shine brightly into your community.

Steve Vickers
President
Christian Life Church

What is it about the starting of a New Year that arouses the core issues of our heart and awakens our ears to their voice?  So strong, so basic, and yet so natural to us, they evoke from us, prayers, commitments, hopes and renewed vision. 

I’ve probably penned more volumes of purposes, plans, promises and prayers at these times each year than all the rest combined.  Each time, with a renewed sense of commitment to stand at the end of the twelve month trek, with my arms raised in victorious jubilation.  But what I have discovered through the years is that life is not a sprint, not even a marathon, but it is a walk with the Master from my home to His, taken one step at a time.

When I go back and revisit things penned through the years, even those from my college days, a common thread is seen running through them all, like a single scarlet thread woven in black, satin cloth.  Certain recurring themes and phrases persistently cry out to me from the heart of the Father and from my heart to His.  Like signs on the road my life is traveling, they clarify where I am and where I am going.  Repeated so often, surely they should lose their impact and my heart become dull to their voice.  And so they would if born of natural seed, but their continued presence and passion testify rather to divine origin.  These are not the cries of the heart of a man.  They are instead the cries of the heart of God deposited in the heart of man.  These precious jewels, these priceless gems buried as treasure in the mind of man’s heart.  They are buried not to be hidden, but rather to be discovered.  Like the beautiful jewelry given by Abraham’s servant to Rebekah, they are tokens given by the one who guides us to the waiting Master.  They testify of what is to come and to Whom we belong.  And they draw us ever after Him.

We need new beginnings in our lives along our journey.  In them we return to why we are on this journey, where we are going, and what really matters.  I’m glad for new beginnings:  new years, new months, and new days.  God is a God of new beginnings.  And isn’t it amazing that as we step through the door to each new beginning, how fresh things appear, yet how wonderfully familiar?

Don’t get bogged down in all the stuff you feel responsible for or with which you’ve filled your plate.  Sure, much of it must, and hopefully, will get done to some degree.  But don’t let fears of what might or might not be loom threateningly around.  Don’t let the disappointments of your life consume the rest of your life.

Many of us are more than happy to say goodbye to 2011 and are hoping 2012 is a better year.  There are five things we can do to make 2012 our best year yet:

•    Get rid of worry, fear and regret.  They are anchors that will hold you back and hold you down.  Remember what fear is:  FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real.
•    Forget the past.  Quit thinking about the good old days or the bad old days:  people who hurt you, things that went wrong.   The past is past.
•    You have to believe.  Believe God; get rid of doubt.
•    Get hope.  It’s a rope you can swing on to get to faith.  Hope in God for smaller things to build yourself up in faith, then believe God to take you from where you’ve been to where He’s taking you.
•    Go for it.  Don’t sit around waiting on God to make things happen for you.  Take dominion; the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force.

Nothing in this life is perfect or forever.  We all have more than enough reasons to quit or give up, but none of them compare to the reason to keep on going, keep on believing, keep on dreaming, and to keep on simply taking one step at a time, obediently.  Rehearse what really matters; listen to the deep longings in your heart—the wisdom scriptures counsel us is found there.  Embrace those words again.  Let them wipe away the crazy blur of the busyness of life and ministry.  Allow them to bring you back again to the precious treasures God has hidden in you.

Welcome to your new beginning.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

What is the dream in your heart?  When God puts His dream in you, it is:
•    Something you were born to do
•    Something you are gifted to do
•    Something you would love to do

If your dream is from God, don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it.  With God working in and with you, all things are possible.

We glorify God when we are doing what He created us to do.  Most of us have heard the story of Eric Liddell, the son of missionaries to China and a devout Christian.  The movie, Chariots of Fire, was based on his life.  God had gifted him with athletic ability and he became known as the fastest runner in Scotland during his college days.  He entered in the 1924 Paris Olympics and made the decision not to compete in the 100 meter event, an almost guaranteed gold metal, because it was held on Sunday.  Instead, he trained to run the 400 meters, an event in which he had had only modest success.  On the day of the event as he went to the starting blocks, an American Olympic Team masseur slipped him a piece of paper that had  a portion of 1 Samuel 2:30 written on it, “Those who honor me I will honor…”  He won that race, breaking the existing Olympic and World records.

Eric Liddell said He felt God’s pleasure when he ran.  God was glorified.  We honor God when, by faith, we reach for the dream He placed deep within our heart.

What is keeping you from your dream? Finances?  Education?  Your family?  Your age?  Adversity shows us what’s inside us.  Every dream must face impossibilities – without them it can never become  strong.  Nothing is impossible to God and with God all things are possible.

What is the dream in your heart?  What is it you wish you could do with your life?  What are you waiting on?  NOW IS THE TIME TO REACH FOR YOUR DREAM!

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

I recently read a statement that speaks clearly to this issue:  “Men are looking for better methods.  God is looking for better men.”  Better men or women are not shaped by better methods or programs but rather by God.

Church today has been refined down, or we could say reduced down, to systems models and such organizational phrases.  Now please understand, I am grateful for the practical wisdom that is abundantly available to church leaders today.  I use it much myself.  It is immensely helpful and greatly needed.  I am by no means advocating we abandon the practicality provided by all of this information.  However, I am cautioning against losing sight of the proper perspective of the place of this information in the divine order of things.

The Church, if it is to be the Church, is, always has been, and always will be a supernatural entity.  It had a supernatural birth, it received a supernatural empowering, and it has been given a supernatural purpose.  The Church is a supernatural, living being.  Take this away from the Church and it is nothing more than an organization—an institution of man.  This is what separates the Church from all other organizations and institutions on earth today.  Systems, programs and methods cannot produce this; only God can.

God’s presence and power on and in the Church is its validity.  Without it there really is no need for any of the organizational trappings or business acumen of man.  They can be of help, but they cannot accomplish the work of the Church on their own.  The work of the Church is not accomplished by man but by God through man.

The Bible declares that God added to the Church and that He sets people in the body as He wills.  The Lord Jesus tells us that no one can come to the Father except he or she is drawn by the Father.  Organizational expertise absolutely has its place, and as I said, is a tremendous help, but that’s all.  It is a servant—a tool in the hand of a man or woman of God; it is not the key.

The key is the man or woman of God.  God does not put His hand on plans, methods, systems, models or any other organizational buzzword.  None of these are sacred.  God places His hand on people.  He places His hand on that man or woman who is humble and hungry enough to look to Him.  God has never used the machinery of the Church, but He has always used the consecrated men and women of the Church.  One man, one woman filled with God’s spirit and committed to Christ’s cause will do a million times more for the kingdom of God than entire organizations consumed with the machinery of man.  Give me a young firebrand with the hand of God on his or her life any day over thousands filled with the wisdom of man.  One word from his or her mouth will carry more power to affect this world for God’s purpose than millions upon millions of words filled with the skillful intellect of man.

So what am I saying?  Yes, gather and utilize all the skillful knowledge you can.  Refuse to be ignorant; refuse to stay unskillful.  Don’t just shoot in the dark.  Get wisdom; get knowledge; get understanding, but above all get with God.  Bathe yourself in the presence of God.  If you’re going to excel at anything, excel at knowing Him.  Stay full of the Holy Spirit.  Hear from heaven and act in faith.  Conduct business there first; settle the issues of life and ministry there.  Let God build you so He can build a church or ministry through you.  Walk with Him in humility and prayer so you can walk with men in boldness and power.  Stay in His presence until He clothes you with a presence and a power that intimidates the devil, convicts the lost, and ignites the faith of believers.  Hide yourself in God, so he can reveal Himself to the world.  If you do, you will be one of those God is looking for.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International

The problem is, life is not a dream and it doesn’t take place in a dreamscape—it has to be lived out in the real world.  If dreams are to become reality, we must face reality and quit living in a fantasy realm held up by empty talk and pseudo-faith phrases.  A vision from God is greater than the adversarial circumstances of life, but it is neither ignorant of nor blind to them.  A true vision from God has the ability to face the most adverse circumstances—but not on its own.

It requires a dreamer becoming a true visionary.  One who understands the realities of life and is willing to march headlong through them all, unrelenting in his or her course.  A true visionary is completely unwilling to spend his or her life doing nothing but dreaming.  To them, having a dream you are not willing to pay the price to attain is greater torture than the grueling task of making a dream a reality.  They understand that every dream comes with a very high price and requires unwavering commitment.

A vision will ultimately cost you your life.  It will not happen overnight.  It will take years—and sometimes, all the years you have.  But it’s what makes the journey worth taking.  Without it, we are not on a journey; we are just wandering around in hopeless circles.  With it, our journey has purpose, and even the problems we face have purpose.

Our purpose is to fulfill the vision God has placed in our hearts.  Our enemy’s purpose is to keep us from it.  Like opposing forces facing each other on the field of combat, we know the reason we are here, and we also know the reason our enemy is here.  We understand that the price of victory is anything but cheap and easy.  This is no illusionary conflict without real casualties.  This is the real deal—where one goes home and the other does not.

Visions are that way; we either win or we lose.  There is no in between.  To lose is unacceptable. To win is our only course.  Paul understood this when he said, “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  These words were penned by a man who understood quite well the high price of fulfilling a God-given vision.

That must be our spirit also if we will be visionaries; for dreamers only it is not necessary.  They can just sit and dream, but a visionary does not have that luxury.  They march against the status quo into the unconquered regions, where the finger of God points the way.  They face the unrelenting opposition of the adversary, the heckling and jeering thoughts hurled at the speed of light against their minds, all the while refusing the luxury of quitting.  Undaunted by all that resists their forward movement, they press on.  Sure, they would like an easier life, but not if it means the one without vision.  That is a price too high to pay.

These are the ones we read of in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.  These are the ones whose lives are worthy of emulation.  Having long since laid self on the altar of obedience to a heavenly vision, they have counted the cost of victory and defeat and found the price of defeat much too high.  Their decision made, their die cast, they forge on with their face set like a flint.

Sometimes we become impatient or get aggravated when circumstances come against us continually, blurring the vision and our hopes of fulfilling it.  Sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture and get lost in the circumstance of the moment.  The real problem is our perspective.  The journey is worth it after all—and actually becomes a part of the experience.  It’s the fabric that memories, visions and history are made of.

Steve Vickers
President
Harvest Churches International