Cutting a Wide Path of Influence

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you, concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Shirley Weaver wants to take you there. And now here's today's episode. Hey everyone, welcome back. I believe we have a lot of action information packed into this episode.

So glad you are here. You know, the church is presently in an unprecedented time. I'm talking about this opportunity we have to be really the primary world-class influencer in nations and among people everywhere. And that means individual believers like you and me, we are really positioned, we're set up as it were for such a time as this, literally. I think the dream that is in God's heart, His dream includes the path of influence that you have. And His vision is both wide and power packed with demonstrations really of His love for all of those that are on your path. I believe He arranges, prearranges people for your path. And we know that from the High Priestly Prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17, which we will get to. But see, this is true.

This is the pattern. This is the way God does it. He lays things out and then we choose to participate, to join with Him. In addition, in this episode, you know, let's just remember and don't forget, it is our job, our opportunity, our privilege to proclaim the Feast of the Lord, His holy convocations in Leviticus 23. And right now, of course, we are smack dab in the middle of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles in the Jewish year 5784, actually a brand new year since the beginning of the year, Rosh Hashanah, just a few weeks ago.

So let's just begin right there. And in case you are not familiar with the Feast of the Lord, we look at verses one and two in Leviticus 23 and it reads like this, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say to them, concerning the Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. And we see it again, verse 37, same chapter. These are the Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, et cetera. And then verse 38, beside the Sabbaths of the Lord and besides your gifts and beside all your vows and beside all your freewill offerings, which you given to the Lord, this is for you to proclaim the feast day of the Lord. Throughout the year, throughout the calendar year, we have a Gregorian calendar. The Jewish calendar is a moon calendar.

And so it's somewhat different, but we track both because we know to do that. The Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord said to Moses, verse 33, speak unto the children of Israel saying, the 15th day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. This is a holy convocation, verse 35. And then verse 36, and again, this is Leviticus 23, seven days you shall offer an offering unto the Lord. And on the eighth day is a special holy convocation for you. And then it goes on to explain all that goes with that day.

We are in that season right now. It's a historic, ancient celebration, which we are eager to participate in. Because again, the Lord said, these are my feast.

They belong to the Lord, to the Lord God Almighty, right? Whom we serve. So fast forward to our topic today, we're talking about a wide path of influence for you. The dream that is in God's heart, how that path, I think it's, you know, it's a, we cast a huge shadow when we cut this wide path of influence in cooperation with what the Lord has already spoken. It's already in his heart, making us influencers, you know? And you know what that makes me think of, because our focus of course is God's power.

How do we influence the world, nations, our neighbor? We do it because we are the people who know our God. According to Daniel 11, we are strong.

We do exploits. And bottom line, that means that we lead, we've said this before, we lead and especially we lead as catalysts for biblical outcomes. You might say a biblical result. What does that look like?

Demonstrations of God's power. And if someone were to say to me, well, that's good. I'm glad that sounds like a good idea for a leader, but I am not a leader. Let me tell you something. You need to look again.

You may not have been paying attention because someone is following you. That means they are following your lead, imitating your behavior, your lifestyle, all of that. So this is God's dream. You don't want to squander God's dream. You don't want to sell it short.

For example, your children and your family, for sure, they are following you, imitating your lead. So what is that? It's a vision.

It's the dream in God's heart over your life, for your life. Don't undersell it. Don't sell it short. Don't squander it and the way that you guard against doing so, define the vision. You need to write. You need to write specifics and then walk in it. This is the vision.

Walk in it. A couple of examples, you can sort of test, evaluate where you are, evaluate your level of inward prayer. You know, Jesus' priestly prayer in John 17 verse 6, I have manifested your name to the people you gave me. I have manifested your name to the people you gave me. And verse 9, I am praying for them.

Verse 20 of John 17, and I do not ask for them only, but also for those who will believe through your word. You know, Psalm 68, the Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those who published it, right? You are that company.

We are that company. If we do not publish the word, it will not be published. So of course, we publish the word to whom? To those that God gave to us. In the same way, God gave people to Jesus.

He has given that same glory position to us. You need to read John 17. You need to evaluate your life and the demonstration of God's love through your life connected to what is laid out for us in that one chapter. It's inspiring and it is totally challenging, but it's so good for you to realize that that's what God's got for you to walk in.

And if He's got it, if it's the dream in His heart, listen, you can do it. So evaluate your level of inward prayer. Do you find yourself praying the same prayer over and over for one or two situations that are most dear to you? Or like our Lord, have you considered all of those that you could be praying for because they are on your path?

They're lined up, those you see now and those that will be coming. So first of all, evaluate your level of prayer, whether it is too inward, you know, kind of turning on itself. Secondly, is your gifting evident?

You know, you should be like that city on a hill, not the light that is under a bushel. Your gifting is on display. So you need to know what it is, right? I mean, if you're on display, you definitely want to know what's being displayed.

Add that to what we said, put it in the vision, write it, make it plain so that you can run with it. Thirdly, what are the priorities that you set? Are you watching for and expecting the Lord's return? Do we know that you are because of the priorities that are in your life, the way that you prioritize the things that are on God's agenda now? Hey, he's coming soon. Soon means suddenly, how many times should we hear, I am coming quickly.

I'm coming soon before we realize he means exactly what he says. And fourthly, making disciples, are we doing that? Yes or no?

I mean, it's yes or no. If I am making disciples, I can name them. These are individuals I name. They're the ones that follow my lead.

Besides my children, besides my family, those that are following my lead, because I have chosen to go ye, and I'm using, I say I, you know, as an example, you can interject your name there. God said, go into all the world and make disciples. Don't just go into all the world, but go into all the world and make disciples, right? Again, John 17, I have manifested your name to the people who you gave me. We can do that.

We can do that. So again, the church has an unprecedented opportunity here. We can be, if we choose to be, the primary world-class influencer in every nation, everyone, and among every people group, not just my neighborhood and community, not just the congregation I attend or the small group that enriches my life, but everywhere I am busy going, and that means that my role as an individual believer is positioned, you know, for a time as this, such a time as this. See, it's actually a setup.

I'm telling you, it's a setup, the dream in God's heart is huge. It includes your path of influence and his vision for you is very wide and power packed demonstrations of his love for everyone on that path. So not only do you grasp and focus on the influence that you have determined to cut a wide path of influence, don't let it be narrow. Don't shrink it.

Don't squander it. Listen, we're living in the greatest time, not just because we are in the season of Sukkot in the fall feast coming to a conclusion here with the Feast of Tabernacles, which we proclaim they are the Lord's feast, so we proclaim them because we proclaim him. You see, he is the Lord. He is God, the Lord. He is God.

We proclaim him to everyone on the path. Don't forget. That's not small. Don't let it shrink. Don't let it get narrow on you. You can cut a wide path, a wide swath of influence because it's in God's heart.

It has been since before the foundation of the worlds. You can believe him for it. You can trust him for it and listen, you can do it. So lead on as a catalyst, a catalyst for biblical size, Bible proportion outcomes, results, supernatural working. That's the task. It's the task and it's who you are. Thanks for listening.