New HorizonsSample

[IMAGE CONTENT] # Lift Up Your Eyes When I heard that the focus of our church was “New Horizons,” something resonated inside of me. The visible horizon is the intersection of the earth and the sky – the place where the earthly collides with the Heavenly. The horizon is where the natural collides with the supernatural. Seeing the horizon is all about perspective from where we are standing. Let’s say you are 6 feet tall, the horizon, the farthest point you can see, is a little more than 5km (3 Miles) away. However, if you were standing on Mt Everest at 8848 metres (29,209 feet) high the horizon is about 370km (240 miles) away. So, the horizon isn’t a fixed point. The higher your eyes, the greater distance you can see! On many occasions, God says to His creation to ‘lift up their eyes’. In the early stories of the Bible, God said to Abraham to come outside and look up (Gen 15). In Psalms, David would lift up his eyes to the hills and acknowledge that his help comes from the creator of heaven and earth. When we lift up our eyes, we see farther than our current season or situation. David chose not to look at what his five senses could see coming over the horizon. Instead, he focused his gaze to the Lord. He looked for the miraculous. When we are faced with adversity, where are we going to look? Do we look through our earthly lenses at our ability, our problem, or our circumstances, or do we make a conscious choice and choose to look through our Spiritual eyes? Do we also fix our eyes on God and look for the miraculous? As we embrace new horizons, my heart and prayer is that we would allow the invisible to become visible. I pray that we would lift our eyes and see the promises of salvation, healing, and provision; that we would not be fixated on or dictated by the temporary, natural things of this world. Looking to the horizon, may we see a compelling vision for our lives that is shaped by the magnitude of God’s love for us and His creation. Let’s lift our perspective and see from God’s vantage point, because once we get a proper vision of God, we can also catch a glimpse of how He sees the world; and our horizon shifts from focusing on our own needs and desires to a new set of “missional” eyes. We then have eyes that see the great harvest which is ripe for the picking. Lifting our eyes allows us to be imbued with a missional vision for the work and heavenly assignments He has prepared for us. As we read through today’s passage of John 4:3-38 together and journey through our New Horizons reading plan, I pray that our faith would arise and we would hear from Heaven by simply taking time to “look up.” Together, let us have courage to believe beyond what we can see. Pray With Me God, thank You for giving me new eyes to see. Please forgive me if I have chosen to lean on my own understanding and that which is temporary, rather than trusting in You. Today, I choose to lift my eyes and acknowledge You in all things. Thank You for leading me and showing me Your Kingdom in a greater measure. I choose right now to walk in faith, allowing You to shape my horizon and how I see people. Amen. Key Memory Verse 2 Cor 4: 18, "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Written by Mike Mulheran, Global Operations Pastor, Citipointe Church For Day 1 of our Devotion, we invite you to listen to PS Mike's 'New Horizons' message.