Favor Coach Corner: Destiny by Design

Are you learning to walk in God’s favor? If so, today’s blog post about vision boards is going to fire you up with Holy Spirit’s inspiration!

Related: After you read this article, read my vision-boarding testimony in Why and How to Make a Vision Board.

Today’s post is a guest post from my friend Maria Bankston. Maria is one of the people I respect most in the world. She’s fun, funny, gorgeous, and anointed. She’s gifted by God to teach and write, and she has REVELATION.

One of her biggest areas of expertise is in teaching, from her own experience, HOW to receive from God. Maria loves the Word of God so much. She really does live by every Word that proceeds from God. Because of this, she walks in so much favor that it’s almost unbelievable. Everything she puts her hand to prospers, and she hears so much from the Lord about how to prosper MORE!

It just makes me stand in awe of her–and of Jesus, who shows her these things!

As a matter of fact, I call Maria my FavorCoach.

I have learned so much from her, including:

• How to create vision boards;
• How to dispatch angels to work on a vision;
• The importance of taking communion and vision together;
• So much about the power of the blood of Jesus;
• How to make money your friend; and more!

Seriously, folks–and I don’t say this lightly–Maria blows me away. 🙂 I wanted you to glean from her revelation too, so I asked her to write a guest post about vision boards, and she did! So, without further ado, I give you the words of Maria Bankston, my FavorCoach!

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The concept of creating a vision board isn’t a new one. In fact, the most successful people in the world have been making them for hundreds of years. Vision boarding, also know as treasure mapping, is the practice of putting your goals, dreams and desires on paper in order to direct your subconscious, conscious, and superconscious minds to manifest these to you as your reality.

A vision board/book is a visual representation of your goals, dreams, and desires.

You are crafting a schematic or map of your dream life. These are usually compiled of photos, phrases, and declarations of faith from God’s Word to state the case that these things are the new day!

I have been making vision boards long before I called them that.

I started out knowing them as prayers of petition. The first time I did this was in 1995, and it was for our house. I went to church with a lady that told me how she designed and declared her dream house in the spirit by writing out her desire on paper and praying over it. I decided that if God did it for Wilma, then He would do it for me too.

I had been house hunting since January of 1995, and every house I found had something that didn’t fit our family. So, in October of 1995 I sat down at around 10:00 PM and wrote down every detail of the house I could perceive and dream of.

I modeled it after a childhood friend’s house. She had a “fancy” house compared to mine, so when I envisioned my house I included things like chair rail, shadow boxes, lots of steps, 3 floors, a pretty view on top of a hill.

I didn’t stop writing until 3:00 AM. I wrote in extreme detail all the things that I loved. Then, I got out a Strong’s Concordance and found the Scripture about visions, writing my dreams, and having the things that I asked for come to pass. I typed it all up and printed the massive document off.

The next day, Mike and I prayed together, took communion, and I started praising God for the manifestation.

Eleven short days later I drove by my dream house.

We had just gone to see several other houses that didn’t fit our dreams. I remember we drove down the road; and, as we topped the hill, there sat the house that I had prayed for. It looked like a little doll house with two pretty maple trees that were starting to turn the most brilliant red. I thought, “That’s the one! That’s my house!”

This pretty house wasn’t for sale. We turned the car around and drove past it again and said how much we liked it. Six days later my Realtor called me and said there was a new listing in Shannon Hills on Peyton Drive. She said there wasn’t a picture available but I went anyway.

The house was in our price range. I drove right up to the house with the pretty trees. That weekend we toured the house, put in an offer on the house, and won the bid from 4 other perspective buyers. That made a believer out of me.

I’ve learned so many things since that day and I have been making vision boards for goals that we have as a family ever since then.

This works; and part of the reason that I believe it is so powerful is that it is an easy, fun way to combine your faith with your dreams. In the past 23 years we have manifested so many things we needed and things we wanted too. I will list a few of these, not to brag or boast, but to glorify God!

Besides our home we have manifested:

• three completely paid for cars;
• a two-year-old 30’ Dutchmen travel trailer RV that we paid $225 for, valued at $11,000;
• dream cars that we wanted;
• a 1-year-old Dodge Durango SUV;
• paid cash for a convertible 3-year-old Volkswagen Beetle;
• paid cash for a 2013 Cadillac ATS luxury sedan;
• paid cash for a 2016 Ford Fusion;
• paid cash for a 2015 Dodge Charger;
• paid cash for a Chaparral ski boat;
• paid cash for two Sea Doos that had 50 hours on them and were in new condition;
• paid cash for a 1957 Chevy Belair; and
• paid cash for a 1999 convertible BMW Roadster!!!

We started our electrical contracting business this way too!

We have been in business for 14 years and have never advertised it and have an overflow of work every day! We have experienced God heal our bodies on so many occasions too. We live healthy and go years without doctor bills. We have been on dream vacations, seen other countries, and traveled in luxury all because we dared to pursue God’s best for us!

God is no respecter of people. You have a right to a life full of joy and blessings too!

There are many people who can’t name their goals and dreams. They have lost the ability to hone in and ask specifically for something.

In preparation for teaching a class on vision boarding recently, I asked ten people what their dreams and visions are for 2017. Here is what I found:

• Only 50% of them could quickly state their dreams and visions.
• Of those 50%, only 30% of them could decisively put their dreams into exact words with the feeling that they deserved their dreams.
• Only one of these people could in detail broaden their scope to include things that were completely new and that they had never dreamed of having.

The majority of people are listlessly drifting through life feeling powerless to their destiny.

You have the ability to step into a select group of people who live on purpose and with great intent.

Our lives should constantly be getting better and our dreams should keep evolving and expanding to include new visions and conquer new horizons. If there is something that you have believed for year after year and you are no closer than you were the first time you asked for it then get ready to see that dream come to pass! Challenge yourself to grow beyond your past.

Where do you begin?

1. Decide what you want to see manifest for yourself.

You are looking for balance in your life and therefore you need to include things from all the major categories of your life. The following list should help you to craft your goals. You may not have something in every category and that is okay.

You may go through eras in life when your shift or focus changes and you will have different categories to manifest.

• spiritual
• personal development and growth
• family and friends
• finances
• career
• romance
• fun and recreation
• giving
• health and fitness
• physical environment

Go through the list and jot down your goals and dreams in writing.

2. Board or book:

Decide if you want a large journal, a cork board, tagboard, a leather journal, or a mobile. I do a combo: first a book; then I make small representations of my large version; and then I take photos of them and have them on my phone, tablet and laptop. I keep this in front of my eyes as much as possible. I dwell on my vision.

3. Fun times:

Now become creative. My process is never the same! I use all manner of creative outlets: paint, stickers, Pinterest pictures, pens, markers, and MAGAZINES! I go through magazines and cut out phrases and pictures of things that can represent my dream.

If I want a new car, I will go to the dealer and drive that car. I ask for a brochure of that car and then I put the picture on my vision board.

If I want new windows in my house, I will go to a building materials store and take pictures of the windows I want. I will ask questions about the windows and I will ask for a quote so that I know where to aim my faith financially.

I gather all of my things together and build my pages. I construct them in a collage style and it tells me a pictorial story as I look at it. Lay it out and then glue it in place.

4. Find the scripture that backs up your goal or desire.

Write it, paint it, or print it and then glue it down on your board.

In my opinion, this is the key element that causes this process to work. God’s inerrant word does not return to Him void but accomplishes what He sent it into the earth to do. When you have His promise, you have power. The Scriptures that I have used through the years change, and I am always so surprised when I find His word backing up my dreams! God is so awesome!!!

5. Use your vision board to achieve your goals!

There is room here for inspiration, intuition, and anointing.

• Look for how you should pursue your dreams.
• Look for what you should pursue on a daily basis.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you.

That being said, there are steps you need to take to send the new impulses and ideas to your conscious, subconscious, and superconscious minds.

You need to look at your goals with gratitude, love, and a free flowing joy. You are choosing to stand on God’s promise for something. You have prayed for it. You are choosing to believe that it IS YOURS ALREADY, and then you are rejoicing over the thing already being yours.

Spend several minutes before you go to sleep and several minutes when you wake up looking at your vision board. Ask the Holy Spirit for direction and command God’s Favor to work on your behalf!

Spend several minutes looking at your goals and saying, “Yes, thank you Jesus, I receive_____. I am so grateful and thankful for _______.” Make sure that you express gratitude in the present, not in the future. Your subconscious and superconscious minds do not differentiate between something happening or something going to happen. When you involve enthusiasm your mind perceives it as done.

Now, you might say, “Wait a minute, Maria. Aren’t you telling a lie if you say that you already have something that you don’t have?”

Let’s look at the word of God for that answer. In Isaiah 55:8-9 it says:

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than you ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’

If you want God-sized results, then you need to step into God kind of thinking, creating, and being.

You need to elevate your thoughts, your energy, your frequency, and your ways to match His!

So is it God’s will for you to be healthy, wealthy, successful, happy, peaceful, and a victor on every account?

Second Corinthians 1:20 answers this, “For however many are the promises of God, in Him they are “Yes.” Therefore also through Him they are “Amen” to the Glory of God through us.”

Isn’t this like wishful thinking? Yes and no. All your desires start out as wishful thinking. When you ground them in God’s word they become a promise from God himself. When you decide that you deserve the promise because Jesus paid the price for it then you can have it. According to God’s word you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Think on it this way:

If I promise to buy you lunch, then what would be the first thing you would say to me? It would be “THANK YOU!” Before you received the gift you would express gratitude.

That is what you are doing with this vision board. You are giving thanks that you have a claim to these goals and you are expressing gratitude that they are already yours.

Another example:

If I said that I would give you a new outfit, then what would you do? You would express gratitude and say “thank you!” Then:

• You would probably tell someone close to you.
• You would get them excited about your blessing too.
• You would take me at my word and you would be excited about the new outfit.
• You would look forward to receiving it.
• You would assume that I had the money to buy you the outfit and that I would keep my word.

Now let’s say that I promised to give you a new home. What would you say? You would probably hesitate. You might laugh or joke about it. I doubt that you would believe me, though. This would push you beyond the point of believing that I had the means to give you a new home; it would push you beyond the point that you would feel comfortable about receiving a new home from me.

We do this to God all the time.

We compartmentalize Him into doable blessings and outlandish promises. We can somehow believe that Jesus’ blood can save us, but we can’t trust that His blood can bring us a new job, or bring a
large unexpected sum of money, or deliver us from an addiction, to heal our body, etc. We place barriers on God and His blessings.

We need to look past these natural barriers and realize that God has set us free!

He gave us Jesus and His son righted every wrong! He established a level of order and blessing that we certainly do not deserve and can’t possible live up to! WHY? He did it because He loves US! He really loves us every moment of every day! The only limitations that are on us are there because we believe they have a right to be there.

In this way, you have to renew your mind daily on the word of God and trust in His promises.

He is a big God and all things are made possible to the one that believes. There must be a shift in your thinking though. This isn’t regular thinking. This is supernatural thinking. This is an understanding that the sacrifice of Jesus reestablished in this earth the grace or favor of God, and that you don’t have to do anything to earn this gift of favor.

As a child of God, you are walking in an entitled position.

You are entitled to receive grace. As you start calling on the favor of God and recognizing it and talking about the manifestation of favor in your life, the favor will show up more often and more powerfully! You will be overtaken by the favor of God.

6. I take communion over my vision book/board and remind God and myself that I overcome by the blood of the lamb and by my testimony (Revelation 12:11).

As I remind God of these things, I speak out: “I lay all of this before God’s feet and I command the angels to run with my vision I command them to bring it to me.”

Then, I rest. I keep looking. I keep praying. I keep moving towards my goals, but I keep it free and light. I don’t worry. I don’t obsess. I don’t negate my vision.

Do you need a vision to manifest in your life? If so, why not make a vision board today? Then, leave a comment and tell me about your board!

I believe you will enjoy making a vision book/board, and I look forward to hearing all about your breakthroughs!