POSITIONED TO SOAR VII: Focusing Your Access

Positioned to Soar VII: Focusing Your Access

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life - Proverbs 4:23

This message is the seventh in a series on soaring through focusing on what is important and best.  The message is about taking responsibility of the access points to your life in order to allow into your life only what is helpful to you and pleasing to God. You can focus/dedicate access to your life to what pleases him and fulfills his purpose. If you do not R.O.A.R. (exercise Right Of Admission Reserved), you will not be able to soar. ROAR therefore in order to soar. Your life is not an open access public property. It is private property that you manage. You are manager to your own life and have the right to accept or deny entry to anything or anyone. Put out clear signs to all that you reserve the right of admission.

Is your life crowded with stuff that is working against you? Who opened the door to them? How did they find shelter in your space? The good news is whatever the case, you can throw out anything that you do not like or deny it admission without having to justify your decision to it.  That is what reserving right of admission means. You are the manager who decides who to show exit or give privilege of entry. You can forcibly throw or kick out whatever is causing you problems. You have the authority to direct what goes on in your life in favor of Christ and your goals.

The Bible instructs, ‘Keep/Guard thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life’ (Proverbs 4:23).  To be able to guard one’s heart it is important to know things expected of you, things you accept in day-to-day decisions and things that get executed in the end.

Things God EXPECTS of You. To guard the gateways of the heart you need boundaries and foundations that show the area over which you have authority. Within the legitimate domain of your authority, you can exercise authority and expect compliance. Outside that domain your have no right to exercise your authority. If you do not know where to exercise authority, someone is going to exploit your ignorance to your disadvantage.  John wrote, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12).’  The Greek word used for power in this case was ‘exousia’, which means the authority to be sons of God.  Faith in Christ gives the right or freedom to make decisions as sons of God. Authority gives freedom to command and control by choosing ideas, words, actions, associations to hang out with, places to expose yourself to, conversations, etc

Identity of believers helps define the boundaries and foundations of their authority.  It points to privileges for which the believer is eligible. It defines the values and purpose that give the believer meaning of life. The word of God maps out the things over which a believer has authority. That is why it is crucial to read, study, believe and mediate on the word of God. 

Things you DAILY Accept. Based on the expectations from the boundaries and foundations, you can know how to respond to requests, invitations, intrusions, offers and knocks on their life doors. Their identity of being children of God guides them in deciding and applying faith on what to allow into or stop from their lives.  The boundaries indicate where to erect security walls and where to leave access points such as doors and gates. When the Bible says ‘let not’ it indicates times, you are at an access point facing something not to let in. For example, let not the flesh rule in your life anymore. If you do not stand up to keep it’s rule, the flesh will proceed to rule (Mathew 6:3; 19:6; John 14:1, 27; Romans 6:12; 14:16; Ephesians 4:26  and James 1:7).  Scriptures are saying that often you will need to be able to say no. You have to practice saying “yes” to God’s priorities and “no” to anything else.  To fear and obey God is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Yes is a tool for providing access. NO is a tool for affirming boundaries to be put to use more than yes. Walls are by far much longer than gates. If all you can say is yes, ok, and cool, you live a dangerous life without boundaries.

Living involves making a series of choices about what to let in and out of your life when, where and how. If you allow everything that comes to your mind, ears and presence you are like an open access public property. You need to choose carefully to what you expose yourself. Are your daily choices and behaviors consistent with your boundaries and foundations?  Some undesirable things keep finding access and a stronghold in your life because you have something of theirs of which you should have let go. They come to look for their friends, relatives and property. That is why you should not keep items from witch doctors, drug samples from their past lives, etc.

You have to ROAR at the gateways of your heart. Take charge of them. The gateways to your heart include things you let in and out through your five senses of hearing, sight, taste, touch and smell. They cover what you listen to, watch, read, learn, think about, are entertained by, websites you surf, and images and text you entertain on cell phone. Some are as a young believer who battled but failed to control his sexual urges. When I visited the room, he lived in there were pictures of scantly dressed up women on the walls. What you expose yourself to attracts its kind into your life. You will need discernment because some things present you with a worm by looking attractive but hiding the bait that will bring you into bondage and take away your life.

Some things may be lacking in your life and you will need to refuse a life without what belongs to you. You therefore pursue, hunt down and repossess them by faith in the word of God. You are not ordinary. You have roots or the DNA of God as his child. Jesus loosed the woman who had suffered under a spirit of infirmity that kept her back bowed (Luke 13:10-17). A condition where for eighteen years she mostly only looked downward and could not lift herself up to see the sky limits of opportunities. He healed her on the Sabbath and the Pharisees accused him of breaching the law. Jesus explained it had to be seeing she was a daughter of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:7). You also can rise up regardless because you are a child of God.

THINGS YOU MANAGE TO EXECUTE. Authority and decisiveness are not enough to make things happen. What is done is what you had adequate skill and resources to effect. That is why God promised you power (in Greek dunamis) for ability to enforce your decisions and commands in Christ (Acts 1:8). Dunamis puts authority into action. Authority puts dunamis under control. When you are unable to enforce your ROAR, you become a mockery before your enemies. That is why you need to grow spiritually and/or  be free in areas of your life where you experience constant failure.  The spiritual resources you need to make decisions within your authority achieve results:

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49; Galatians 5:16)

Faith in Word of God (Hebrews 1:3; Mark 9:23)

Apply word of God. Decide to put on and off (Colossians 3:8-14; James 1:23)

Prayer of a righteous person is power (James 5:16-17)

ROAR at your gateways to encourage yourself, inspire your friends, warn your enemies and glorify your God.

(This message is the seventh in a series on the importance and power of focusing on what is important and best (Hebrews 12:1-2)) 

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

 South Africa