Minister: Pst. Sunday Adebamiro
Text: Genesis 13: 14 – 18 (NKJV)
Topic: Covenant Secrets For Supernatural Exploits In The Marketplace And Worlkplace: The Impact Of Vision
”And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.”
We are meant to be the light of the world; be the light of the sector we operate in; give hope to the sector we are planted in. We are the salt of the earth and society. One of the secrets to making an impact on the world is the Secret of Vision.
- Vision is the revelation of God’s purpose for our life: If you are in a sector or job position that God did not send you into or planted you in, then that is not Vision, this is Ambition. We must realise that ambition can and will never give you what the vision from God will give you.
It is important we know where God wants us to be. If we are not in the place God wants us to be, we can never make maximum impact. This is because where God did not send you to, He will not follow you into. God only provides backup for what He sends you to do. Anytime you move in a direction that is opposite to God’s purpose for your life, it will always lead to struggles and storms.
This is the reason why a lot of people struggle to make an impact in different sectors and industries – they were not sent there by God; God’s presence is not there. The reason why Joseph made the impact in Egypt he did was because God already gave him a vision. If you are where God wants you to be, you will succeed and prosper there. - Vision is a revelation of a better and more preferred future: There is always a better place for you with God involved. There is always something God has prepared for us that no one knows about regardless of how people treat you. We must believe that wherever we currently are in life, we will not end there.
1 Corinthians 2: 8 – 9 (NLT)
“But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”Psalm 30: 5 (KJV)
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
In the present, our lives may look and seem dark and foggy, but we must believe and understand that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. - Vision is a revelation of your greatest possibility and potential: The best of you is yet to come out – this best version can be achieved through vision. Vision is powerful. Vision makes it possible to make an impact and change our world. We must pay every price possible in order to discover God’s given vision for our lives.
Vision determines what you can access from God. From Genesis 13: 14 – 15, God told Abraham that the land He would give to him is what he could see. We must understand that whatever we can see, God would definitely give it to us; whatever we cannot see, God will not give it to us.
A perfect living condition is not necessary in discovering and seeing the vision of God for our lives, it can be done in our current difficult situations. Regardless of what we face, we can dream of more from there. In fact, our living conditions should be a reason for our desire and hunger to discover our life’s vision. It is our vision that can uplift us from our conditions.
We must realise we will never access more than what we can see. Anything you cannot conceive; you will never receive. God will only give you access to what you can see and dream of. The current reality you are experiencing is a result of what you can see. If you want to access, possess and experience more, you have to dream more.
Joshua 6: 2 (KJV)
“And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.”
If you can see it, you can be it, you can have it, you can become it. For example, if you see yourself becoming a billionaire and you believe it, by working towards it, you will become it.
Proverbs 23: 7 (TPT)
“For as he thinks within himself, so is he. He will grudgingly say, “Go ahead and eat all you want,” but in his heart, he resents the fact that he has to pay for your meal.”
You can never be greater than how you see yourself. This is the power of vision. Vision determines what you see. If you liken your vision to a container (thereby indirectly limiting your vision), you cannot sustain opportunities bigger than what your vision can contain. You cannot handle more than what you can see. If you attract opportunities bigger than what your vision can contain, you will end up losing them. This is why some lottery winners still end up bankrupt – their vision does not level up to the level of the provision they now possess. - Vision attracts provision: The word ‘provision’ is a compound word – the combination of ‘pro’ and ‘vision’. Pro means ‘for’ or ‘in favour of’. This makes the word ‘provision’ to mean ‘in favour of a vision’ or ‘for a vision’. Provision is the resources meant for the vision. This indicates that if there is no vision, there is no need for provision.
Provision only goes to visions, not to needs. People only invest their resources into your vision and not your needs. Any vision you can conceive will attract the provision necessary for it. God (and any other sponsor) will not waste provision on the life of a person who has no vision for it.
It will surprise you how much you can attract if you begin to invest your time in developing a compelling vision. Sponsors are convinced to invest provisions into your plan once you have a compelling vision. We must stop always seeing poverty as an indication of a curse; instead, it can be an indication of the absence of vision.
Habakkuk 2: 2 – 3 (NCV)
“The LORD answered me: “Write down the vision; write it clearly on clay tablets so whoever reads it can run to tell others. It is not yet time for the message to come true, but that time is coming soon; the message will come true. It may seem like a long time, but be patient and wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not be delayed.”
Habakkuk 2: 2 – 3 teaches us that people do not run with your needs, it is the vision they run with. This reveals that if there are no people running with your initiatives, then your initiatives lack vision. - Vision determines your speed: You cannot travel beyond the level of your sight. The movement of anything comes to a halt in the absence of vision. You can only move as fast when there is clarity in sight and vision. Clarity influences speed – the more the better. Visibility is required for mobility. Everything that travels must be able to see.
For a driver to use a car to travel from Point A to Point B, the provision of vision due to the presence of the windscreen is imperative. Irrespective of how sophisticated the system of an aeroplane is, a successful flight still hinges upon the provision of sight for the pilots to see where they are going. This principle applies to sailors navigating a boat at sea, they need the vision to see where they are heading.
Have you not noticed that during rain when it becomes foggy, drivers usually drive carefully, but certain cars confidently drive at high speed without worries? We can assume that it is because they can see better. This leads to the understanding that people will bypass you if they can see more than you. With this revelation, we realise that in any industry, it is no longer just about who entered the industry first. It is about who can see better. Even though you are a newcomer in any industry, if you can see further than the old-timers, you can surpass them.
Vision can put you ahead of others. It enables you to overtake people. To inspire or encourage us, sometimes, it might not be the spirit of competitiveness we need, it could be that what we simply need is the vision. You do not need to compete with others when you have a clear vision. It is one without a clear vision who has the time to be distracted and focus on what his/her competition is doing. Everyone’s timing and path might be different; however, everyone will get to their destination with a clear vision. - Vision gives you dominion: You can take over and become a god in any sector if you have a superior vision.
Exodus 7:1 (KJV)
“And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”
1 Chronicles 12: 32 (KJV)
“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had the understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.”
If you can catch a clear vision of the professional industry you operate in, you can be a leader in it and have everyone under your commandment. - Vision determines your association: Referencing Genesis 13: 14, we see that it was after Lot separated from Abraham that The Lord talked to him. It is possible that God can stop actively speaking to you when you are associated with the wrong people. It is important to note that it is not everyone that can progress with you to the next stage, regardless of how much you love them.
Genesis 22: 5 (NKJV)
“And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
From Genesis 22: 5, we learn about the journey of Abraham, Isaac and Abraham’s two servants to discover the location where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac. It is interesting to note that they had begun the journey together; however, when they were close to their destination, Abraham and Isaac had to separate from them for a moment because the servants had no effect on the next stage of the vision. You have to be ready to cut some people off because your vision will take some people away from you; it will also attract some people to you.
Ruth 1: 8 – 15 (NKJV)
“And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” So, she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!” Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
In the story of Naomi and Ruth, after Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, her daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah decided to return with her. However, during the journey, Naomi wanted Ruth and Orpah to return to their hometowns (Ruth 1: 8 – 15). For the next stage of Naomi’s life, we can see that Orpah was not equipped or determined to continue following Naomi and decided to leave them; however, Ruth did not leave.
We must understand that in our journey of life, we cannot carry everyone with us if we are about to transition to another stage. The act of carrying everyone along has a way of limiting the execution of your vision. It is your vision that should determine your association.
Luke 1: 39 – 45 (NIV)
“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil His promises to her!”
From the passage of Luke 1: 39 – 45, Mary (the mother of Jesus) had to leave her comfort and look for Elizabeth in Judea. The vision was for Mary to birth the Lord. It is interesting to see that when Mary greets Elizabeth, this causes Jesus still in the womb to leap. In the pursuit of following our vision, we must associate ourselves with individuals that will make our visions leap; not people that kill the vision. - Vision determines your focus and discipline: It is not every offer you can accept.
John 6: 15 (KJV)
“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”
From John 6: 15, we can see that Jesus rejected being made a king on earth by the people. Let us imagine how the situation was back then. For the people seeing Jesus perform all the miracles that He had performed, they felt it was appropriate and decided to make Him a king, by force. However, Jesus perceived this, rejected it and separated Himself.
The plan was for Him to save the world and be the Spiritual King of all existence and not the earthly king of a geographic location. Jesus did not want His ultimate vision to be taken away and be given an alternative, hence, He escaped. This teaches us that sometimes the greatest enemy of our vision is not a bad thing, it can be in the form of another good thing.
When you operate with a vision, it becomes a principle that you do not accept every offer or job given to you. You have to be ready to reject the most lucrative of offers if it does not align with your vision.
In the story of Joseph, Potiphar’s wife offered herself to him free of charge. However, he rejected it and ran away (Genesis 39: 6 – 12).
Genesis 39: 6 – 12 (NKJV)
“Thus, he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.”
A Visionary can be likened to a pregnant woman. In order to successfully nurture and birth the baby, the mother becomes extremely cautious about her actions and the food she takes. Even her sleep position becomes different for the period of pregnancy.
The right approach to achieving anything significant is to see what you want before getting it. You do not start hoping to achieve better results after things become better or you become wealthy. You cannot attract the provision made for a giraffe while having the vision of a turtle. Your legs can only go as far as your eyes can see. In the world of visions, the eyes must see first before the legs can go.
You eat at the level at which you see. Food is available at every level. The turtle and the giraffe both eat. However, they all eat at their own levels because they do not have the same appetite. The turtle cannot eat at the level at which the giraffe eats. It cannot even begin to develop the level of appetite the giraffe possesses. The turtle cannot see at the level at which the giraffe sees. The giraffe is capable of eating fresh leaves still on the trees; the turtle eats dried leaves after they fall to the ground.
Momentarily, the giraffe stoops low to eat what is on the ground, however, we can see it seems like an unnatural thing for it to do. This is because looking at the build of the giraffe, it is not built to always be looking down. This teaches us that at certain heights in life, you have to stop looking down.
When we translate this concept to humanity, sometimes, the problem is that people with the vision of giraffes respond to the criticism of turtles. In this context, as a giraffe, when we let turtle-visioned critics get our attention, we have to look beneath ourselves to understand them and this can cause the heart of the giraffe to develop problems.
The heart of the giraffe can be swayed due to subjecting itself to continuously looking down to the level of the turtle. It can be postulated that the giraffe is designed not to pay attention to the criticism of the turtle. The problem is that high-flyers who respond to low crawlers will always fall and get down.
One of the challenges of life is that the turtles will always criticise the giraffes because the turtles cannot see things at the level of the giraffes. If all you see is salary, you will eat at that level. If you hate the way you are eating from the fruits of your labour, then change the level at which you see.