Barry Bennett - Shaping Your Future

ENDORSEMENTS

Do you know the plan God has for your future? Are you aware that you are the developer of your future? In this book, Shaping Your Future, my good friend Barry Bennett identifies the clear Biblical principles that are involved with you learning to bring forth your future in the kingdom. This is a must read for all who desire to fulfill the will and plan of God for your life.

Greg Mohr,
Executive Director of A.R.M.I.
(the Association of Related Ministries International)
and Post Education Development at Charis Bible College

To me, Barry Bennett is a powerhouse teacher and such an important figure in the body of Christ today! I am thrilled about this book and his expertise on faith, the power of our words, and reaching the future God has promised for us. Several years ago, I heard him preach a message on The Gospel of Clichs and was so impacted by it, that I had my entire staff listen to it! So many people fall in the trap of saying religious clichs and I love that Barry breaks these down and explains why many of them arent scriptural and go against the faith needed to shape your future.

Pastor Lawson Perdue,
Senior Pastor of Charis Christian Center, Colorado Springs, CO

Harrison House Books by Barry Bennett

He Healed Them All
Did God Do This To Me?

Copyright 2021 Barry Bennett

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. All emphasis within Scripture quotations is the authors own.

Published by Harrison House Publishers
Shippensburg, PA 17257

Cover design by Eileen Rockwell

ISBN 13 TP: 978-1-6803-1552-3
ISBN 13 eBook: 978-1-6803-1553-0
ISBN 13 HC: 978-1-6803-1555-4
ISBN 13 LP: 978-1-6803-1554-7

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 25 24 23 22 21

FOREWORD

B ARRY Bennett is a living example of the seed of Gods Word shaping your future. Ive only known Barry and his wife Betty Kay for 14 years but I recognize the maturity in them that only Gods Word can bring. When Barry first came to us at AWM and Charis Bible College, he humbly did whatever we asked him to do. He never told us that he had been through Bible College, a missionary in Chile, and directed a Spanish speaking Bible College. He never promoted himself.

He simply let the seed of Gods Word grow and mature in him till everyone saw the fruit. We asked him to take a chapel service in Charis and it was amazing! The students gave him a standing ovation and requested more of the CDs of his teaching than anyone who had come through the college to that date. We gave him more opportunities and it wasnt long before he was a regular in the college and even rose to leadership.

When Barry ministers it is evident that he has a fresh word from the Lord that isnt just parroting someone else. He spends lots of time in Gods Word. Thats what this book is about. Gods Word is like a seed that when planted, given the right conditions and time, just brings forth fruit effortlessly. Gods Word is alive and if you will let it live in you, it will produce the supernatural fruit only God can give.

Although Gods Word is a miraculous seed, it has to be mixed with faith for it to profit you (Hebrews 4:2) and faith is based on knowledge (2 Peter 1:3-4). Barry shares a lifetime of knowledge and experience with you in this book that will enable you to let faith rise in your heart and activate the miraculous power in the seed of Gods Word.

If it seems like your growth in your Christian life isnt what you want it to be and know it should be, then this book will be like Miracle Grow for the seed. Apply these truths liberally, give it time and an abundant harvest awaits you.

Andrew Wommack
President and Founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College

INTRODUCTION

W E had only been in Chile for a few days. After ten months in Guatemala studying Spanish, my family of five had moved to Concepcin, Chile to begin to fulfill Gods call to sow our lives into that beautiful land.

We had come to Chile to work with a Chilean pastor who was now taking me on a walking tour of downtown Concepcin. In the main plaza of the city, we sat down on the edge of the fountain. I noticed two unusually dressed ladies standing across the plaza looking at us. I asked the pastor about them. He glanced at them and quickly responded that they were gypsies. I had never seen gypsies before, but they certainly looked like what I had seen in the movies.

The two ladies walked across the plaza and stood before us. One of them asked, Would you like to know your future? The pastor turned to me and indicated that they wanted to read our palms. He then turned to the two ladies and said something I will never forget. I already know my future. Would you like to know yours?

The two gypsy ladies looked at each other and one said to the other, I told you he had power. At that, they walked away.

That encounter and that brief answer given by my pastor friend impacted me. I understood that he was speaking of the eternal destinies of those who are born again and those who arent. But something else was sparked in me. I began to think about the future not just in terms of eternal destiny, but in terms of our lives on earth. Can we know the future? Can we play any part in shaping the future? Are we simply at the mercy of world events, natural disasters, and political movements?

In this book, I want to challenge you to rethink the future. You may ask, How can I rethink something that hasnt happened yet? But what I am suggesting is that you rethink how you approach the future. Be willing to consider that you may have more influence over your future than you ever thought. In fact, I would propose that God has given us the potential to shape our futures.

The just shall live by faith, not fate. And faith is all about the future! The author of Hebrews spoke by the Spirit about faith and how it touches the future.

Now faith is thesubstance of things hopedfor, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Hope is always about the future. Faith is the certainty of a future that cannot yet be seen with the natural eye. Is it possible to have certainty about the future? In many ways, yes. Whether we can know every circumstance or not, we can have assurance of our own purpose and destiny.

WHERE WILL YOUR FUTURE COME FROM?

Most of us give only fleeting thought to the future. You may try to imagine what is in store for your family, your job, your living situation, and your health. Normal people desire a happy, prosperous future. However, the present can be so demanding and draining that the future gets forgotten. We are often just trying to survive the here and now. Where does the future come from? Can I really shape my future and that of my family?