April 19, 2010

 Identifying Your Own Personal Haran!

Where are you really supposed to be? Is that the relationship God had for you or did you choose for yourself? Is it the house you are living in that is not the one God told you to buy? Are you struggling financially because you made your own financial decisions apart from God?

Sometimes our Haran is a time of preparation. A time for God to prepare us, for the place that He is really taking us, a time of preparation for our Canaan. I found myself in my own personal Haran. A place of helping others accomplish what I believed God had given them to accomplish, but knowing it was stopping short of the place God had really called us to be, short of Canaan.

God called for a ministry that was to touch people’s lives holistically. We were supposed to help people become what God wanted them to be physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually, yet we never spoke of anything except exercise. We presented a new product to help them lose the weight but nothing to help them know how to present themselves in their new condition.

I was called of God to speak His Word, I had been equipped to counsel women, the broken, and those that struggle in their marriages, yet I found myself in an exercise class where the main topic of conversation was not one that uplifted or promoted our real reason for being. Nothing about the class was moving us beyond our present condition in any way except physically. Once the weight was lost would the class participants even know how to carry themselves? Would they be the same people they had been or would they be changed on the outside and still broken on the inside.

I was in this class equipped to provide the help that was needed, but doing nothing, I had stopped short of the destination, I had stopped in Haran. My reasoning was that the people were not ready or desirous of hearing about God or dealing with any issues. How they got to their current condition was not something they wanted to deal with or so I thought. The truth is I had not asked. I had made an assumption based on an experience with one person not the group. I expected my leader in this venture to press it through and to dictate what needed to be done.

I had taken no responsibility for any of it, I was just along for the ride or so I thought.

That was never God’s plan. As new ideas presented themselves and new ways of reaching people came up, I had an opportunity to make a difference, but I had become dissatisfied in Haran, but not willing to move into the position God had called me to. Ministry was being delayed by my frustration. Frustration brought on by my own lack of movement. The truth is that how we behave in Haran is important. If we have to be there we might as well make the best of it. But for me everything seemed to be taking too long, nothing seemed to be happening, yet I was still sitting there frustrated.

I had to make a decision to move forward. Yes, I learned some things during my time in Haran, but the truth is that I was supposed to go through it, not stay in it. What was I supposed to do?

• Assess the situation
• Seek the Lord in Prayer for Direction
• Based on God’s Direction, Plan a strategy for moving forward
• Move forward as God directed

God gave me clear direction. It was His intention that I use my gifts in this place as I moved forward to my God ordained Canaan. Haran was my training ground. I was to spend time their learning how to and perfecting my trade, but I was not supposed to stay. My failure to understand God’s real intention delayed my move forward. I was waiting for someone else to lead in an area that He has specifically prepared me for. What would my next move be?

• To establish some support group opportunities for the class participants where we could minister to them physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally. Attempting to identify root causes of they physical condition and to help them reach their goals and be balanced.
  • Sharing success stories and testimonies
  • Sharing fitness tips and challenges
  • Sharing healthy recipes
  • Providing encouragement and support
• To provide outlets for those who were not able to be in the classes to call in or e-mail us for additional support in their efforts.
• Provide free resources and support via our free website www.mynbfitnesscommunity.com and have coaches that would give them additional tips and encouragement.
• Providing audio and video recordings via the New Beginnings website www.mynewtemple.org site to encourage people to become fit in every area of their lives.
• Use of FaceBook and Conference Calls to encourage, to interview and to minister to those that need encouragement.

This is my Haran story. I have been here too long. I don’t know your story, but I want to encourage you to think about it. Are you in a place that you know was not the God ordained place for you? What are you willing to do about it? Are you willing to stay in the same place you are in right now? Do you want to see a change in your life as you move into the thing God really intended for you? Do you want to walk in all the power that God has designated to be yours?

Abraham was called by God. He was told to go to Canaan, but he stopped in Haran. That is not where God told him to go and he ended up staying there longer than he was supposed to. His staying caused everything that God had for him and those that were with him to be put on delay.

What about you? Has your Haran experienced caused the things you were supposed to do to be put on delay? Are people waiting for you to get to the place you are really supposed to be? Have you chosen to take the wrong people with you or to carry too much old baggage? Is the blessing God had for you on delay? Mine was and I have decided just like you have to, to get my blessing off delay and to move forward in the direction God has for me.

I don’t look at my Haran as a negative experience but a time where I learned, was prepared and equipped. I will not complain about my Haran, I will use it as a steppingstone to my God ordained Canaan. God knew I was going to stop here, the question is not whether I would stop, but what I would do with the stop. Will it be time wasted or time that God will work together for my good and the good of others. Remember Joseph had his own personal Canaan, but it was used for God’s glory and yours can be also.

Scripture:
Genesis 11:31-12:2:
 31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years[a] and died while still in Haran.
 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.