Chazown, Revised and Updated Edition: Discover and Pursue God's Purpose for Your Life
256
Chazown, Revised and Updated Edition: Discover and Pursue God's Purpose for Your Life
256Hardcover(Revised)
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Overview
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18, kjv)
Tired of living half a life—or even a waking nightmare? Struggling to find meaning in a job you don’t like? Facing graduation or mid-life changes in a faltering economy? Wishing you could rekindle a dream you gave up long ago?
It’s time to get your vision checked!
In this practical, energizing guide, pastor and author Craig Groeschel shows how to live life fully by finding, naming, and achieving your unique, God-given goal. The secret: knowing your chazown, a Hebrew word for “vision,” “dream,” or “revelation.”
You’ll see how to identify your chazown by taking a fresh look at your core values, spiritual gifts, and experiences. You’ll understand the big picture—and the vital details. In this book—now newly revised and updated—you’ll find . . .
· A brand new introduction
· Step-by-step instructions to uncover your chazown
· Personal stories that show the principles at work
· “You’re the Author” activities to help you apply what you’re learning
· “Key Thoughts” that capture and make it easy to remember crucial concepts
· A lively, thought-provoking study guide for individuals or groups
“Is something missing from your life? Are you aware that God has more for you? Seek Him. He will give you a chazown. And not just any, but one that is tailored specifically for you.”
—Craig Groeschel
Hard to Pronounce, Easy to Discover
Chazown (kha-ZONE) is the Hebrew word for the dream, revelation, or vision God was thinking about when he made you. You’re one of a kind, placed on earth with a plan that’s yours alone to carry out. God isn’t hiding it. He wants you to know and embrace it!
Fulfilling your chazown is one of the most enjoyable, rewarding things you’ll ever do—because the blueprint is customized by your architect, the One who knows you best. That doesn’t mean it’s always easy though, which is why author Craig Groeschel provides plenty of battle-tested ways to stay on course.
Why waste another day aiming for the wrong target—or none at all? Take your first steps toward pursuing God’s chazown for you!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781601429988 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The Crown Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 04/04/2017 |
| Edition description: | Revised |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
For Those of You Who Are Newto This Whole Chazown Thing
I first used the word chazown in 2002. I was teaching a series about discovering the power of living out God’s purpose in our lives. I was thrilled to find the one word that perfectly captured this meaning, especially since it meant I got to frequently repeat my best throaty, guttural pronunciation in Hebrew. The amazing response I saw in the months following that message series led me to write the first draft of the book you’re about to read. In retrospect it seems a natural choice to have written my first book about something I believe in so passionately—helping people to catch a glimpse of the unique vision God has for their lives and then to take steps to live it out. In those days I never could have imagined writing an introduction for the rerelease of this book. Yet here we are. I’ve learned it’s easy to underestimate what God will do in the long term.
Now fifteen years later I see how faithful God has been to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask, think, or imagine. Since the book’s initial publication, more than 25,000 people in our church have sat around tables and shared their past experiences, gifts and talents, and core values at Chazown Experience events. We’ve also seen countless individuals and churches use the materials and videos for free from our Open Network. Many more have interacted with the content online or, like you, have read this book and worked through the exercises and questions it contains.
The responses have included inspiring stories from people starting businesses, paying down their debts, starting nonprofits, running for office, and even changing careers to join our church staff. God has used this material to inspire readers to take all kinds of life-changing steps.
Alongside those exciting highlights, I’ve seen something that is equally inspiring. Just as we see in the stories of the lesser known among God’s people in the Bible, I’ve seen people joyfully embrace their calling to unglamorous Chazowns. Sometimes finding your God-given purpose means a dramatic life change; more often though it means choosing a life full of sacrifice, trial, and even hardship. I’ve read testimonies of people who remained faithfully committed to God’s quiet purpose for them, tirelessly relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to give them the strength not to give up day after day, month after month, year after year. While it’s been a difficult road, they’ve found a deeper sense of purpose and meaning than they could have ever imagined.
For all the stories we’ve heard about people putting down this book and quitting their jobs to pursue an untapped passion, we’ve heard as many stories of those who obey God’s plan to stick it out in jobs that aren’t their passion so they have the margin to volunteer each week.
For every new ministry started, there are stay-at-home parents steadfastly dedicating decades to the ministry under their own roofs.
For every bold entrepreneur, there’s a brave encourager.
And for everyone who makes a 180-degree career change, others go through the whole process only to be affirmed that God’s purpose for them is exactly what they’re already doing.
No matter where we find ourselves on the spectrum of public perception, our Chazown is beautiful when it leads us squarely to the center of God’s will for our lives.
For those of you who are familiar with thiswhole Chazown thing
If you feel as if you’ve been banging your head against this concept for a long time and just can’t get any kind of purpose statement out, you’re not alone.
Or wait, maybe you are and that’s part of the problem.
Another life-changing word that starts with a c is community. If God’s vision for your life just won’t come into focus, I encourage you to go through this book with a friend or a group. Change the reflection questions into discussion questions. We’re better together.
If you feel as if you know what God wants you to do but you haven’t taken any real steps toward it, you’re not alone. But maybe you have the same problem I just mentioned. You need community. You need accountability. The Christian life simply cannot be lived out in isolation. Like children on elementary school field trips, get a buddy. Set up regular check-ins where you talk about the steps you’re taking—or not—and why.
If you started living out that purpose statement you wrote long ago in a burst of inspiration, you may be back because you feel oddly out of sync. Maybe you’ve noticed vision is a much more slippery thing than you once thought. What you believe your Chazown to be may have shifted over time.
Is that a crisis? I don’t think so.
My Chazown today isn’t a word-for-word match with what I wrote down at the beginning of my journey. When I first knew God had placed a calling on my life, there is no way I could’ve seen the exact life I would be living now. I’ve refined some talents, uncovered some undeveloped gifts, had many years of new experiences, and even seen strong new values emerge.
So did God change His mind? Did He have a change of plans?
Nope.
Scripture clearly affirms the unchanging nature of God. Romans 11:29 is pretty straightforward: “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” So what is it then?
Is it me? Has my perspective changed?
I think so.
Stick with me. Maybe a vision from God is more like photographs of a mountain. My family has spent many vacations in the Rocky Mountains. If I took photos of the same mountain from different vantage points, all of them might be well composed, but they wouldn’t look anything alike. A wide shot from the plains below, another from the foothills, a blurry snapshot while I was hiking up the incline, dark images surrounded by underbrush, sunny clearings with a lens flare, and a spectacular panorama from the summit would show completely different versions of the same mountain.
Many well-lived Chazowns can shift views and perspectives just as that mountain does. If you are reading this book again, you’re now able to appreciate a new, possibly broader, point of view. Maybe you’ve already spent a few years pursuing that Chazown you first glimpsed. The moment you finally reach the summit of your mountain, what then? The view reveals that mountain was only one peak in a glorious mountain chain with many more peaks and valleys you couldn’t have seen before. Living your purpose isn’t a destination; it’s a faith-filled adventure following Jesus.
No matter what’s happened since the first time you wondered about your Chazown, God will be faithful to show you each next step. You just have to commit to keep moving onward and upward toward His purpose for your life. I’m comforted by Psalm 119:105, which says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” You will likely find that your hike toward following Jesus reveals your Chazown more by flashlight than floodlight—one step at a time.
Part 1
Seeing Clear to the End
Why you need a new kind of vision
Your Final Chapter
Most people take a long time to die.
(This is no way to start a book, you say.)
But think about it. There are those few who go suddenly. Accidents. Heart attacks. Gang shootings. A soapy slip off the edge of the tub. But for you, chances are that at the end of your life, you will die in bed. Waiting.
And while you wait, you will very likely have days, weeks, even years to think, to look back on your life.
Imagine yourself there, lying in bed and reflecting. Reading back through the chapters of your life story.
What did my life add up to?
Did I really matter?
What did I live for?
Who will remember me?
What will they say about me when I’m gone?
Why was it important that I existed?
So many questions. So much time. Will you lie there with no regrets? Some regrets? Nothing but regrets?
Imagine.
Or not. I mean, you’ll probably have time to think about it when you get to that bed. So you could just wait. (Millions do.) See what comes. Wait until the final pages of your life story to see how it reads to you then.
But that’s no way to end the story of your life.
Here’s one more thing to think about: the decisions you are making today are actually making the bed you will lie in while you wait to die.
Which is why I wrote this book. To help you see your life differently, to see it the way your Creator saw it before you were born. And to live it with purpose and passion.
Starting now.
Table of Contents
Introduction xiii
Part 1 Seeing Clear to the End: Why you need a new kind of vision
1 Your Final Chapter 3
2 Desperate for Vision 5
You're the Author: Plan Your Epitaph
Part 2 Circling the Truth: Where to look for your own Chazown
3 Discovering Your Personal Vision 19
4 University of Chazown 21
5 Graduation Day 23
Circle 1 Core Values 25
6 Hitting the Right Target 26
7 Spanning the Values Spectrum 29
8 Why Do They Do It? 31
9 The Anger-Bliss Factor 34
10 Unverified Values 36
11 Vacillating Values 38
You're the Author: Your Core Values
Circle 2 Spiritual Gifts 41
12 Keira, Red with Pie 42
13 Doing Is Believing 45
14 Use It or Lose It 48
You're the Author: Your Spiritual Gifts
Circle 3 Past Experiences 52
15 It All Happened for a Reason 53
16 Mining Meaning from the Past 55
17 Eyes to See 57
You're the Author: Your Past Experiences
Part 3 A Dream in Deed: How to name your Chazown and where to start
18 Three-Part Harmony 63
19 Perfect Fit: A Case Study 65
20 The Chazown Community 68
Naming Your Chazown 69
21 Closing In on Your Chazown 70
22 Impossible Mission Possible! 72
23 Of Course I Know Where I'm Going! 74
24 God Loves You (and Everyone Else Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life) 76
You're the Author: Your Purpose Statement
Moving From Vision to Action 80
25 Making It Up as I Go 81
26 Even God Thinks It's a Good Idea 83
27 How to Swallow a Moose 85
28 The Secret of Long-Distance Dreaming 86
29 Game-Winning Goals 88
You're the Author: Your Short-Term Goals
30 The Very Next Step 91
You're the Author: Your Very Next Step
Part 4 The Five Spokes of Chazown: Where you need to succeed "small" so you can succeed big
31 Picture This 97
32 Speaking of Spokes 99
33 Total Success 104
You're the Author: Self-Inventory in the Five Fundamentals
First Spoke: Relationship with God 109
34 Like Fish Need Water 110
35 The Accidental Disciple 112
36 What's Your Temperature? 114
37 The Answer Is Already Yes 116
38 You Can Get Closer to God 117
You're the Author: Your Relationship with God
Second Spoke: Relationships with People 123
39 Observations Along the Path 124
40 Viewing People with Purpose 126
41 Chazown and Good Company 128
42 As Good as It Gets? 130
43 Biblical Bridge Repair 133
44 Good Friend, Bad Friend 135
45 Dropping Dead Weight 137
46 The Journey Back 139
You're the Author: Your Relationships with People
Third Spoke: Finances 143
47 Disaster Down Under 144
48 The Spiritual Side of Money 146
49 Chazown and Cash 148
50 You Can Turn Around 150
51 Values, Vision, Victory 152
52 Chazown with Legs 155
53 Getting to There from Here 157
54 Its Gotta Hurt 160
You're the Author: Your Finances
Fourth Spoke: Health and Fitness 163
55 Fast Food for Thought 164
56 Staying Alive for God 166
57 Myopic Me-Management 168
58 Chazown in the Kitchen 170
59 Ever Body Needs a Little Love 172
60 "Properly of God" 175
You're the Author: Your Health and Fitness
Fifth Spoke: Work 179
61 Getting to Why 180
62 Labors Love Lost 182
63 The Ladder at the Top of Everest 185
64 Meaning in the Mundane 187
You're the Author: Your Work
Part 5 From Hereto Eternity: Why you can't realize your Chazown alone
65 A New View of You 195
66 Hazards Ahead 197
67 We're All in School 198
68 Moved by Accountability 200
69 Different Kinds of Dropouts 202
70 Fork in the Road 204
71 Tell Me When I'm Wrong 206
72 Help Me When I'm Weak 207
73 Surprise Comeback 208
74 Living for the Second Embrace 210
You're the Author: Your Accountability Plan
End Matter
75 Already Living with Regrets? 215
76 My Part Is Finished-Yours Is Just Beginning 218
You're the Author: My Chapter One
Chazown Conversations: A Study Guide for Personal and Group Use 220
Appendix A Learning from Past Experiences 227
Appendix B Clarifying Your Core Values and Spiritual Gifts 232
Notes 237
Acknowledgments 238