Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential (12 page)

Moses. Let’s look first at the see-it stage in some of the Bible’s great leaders. Moses is a prime example of a leader who saw faith’s opportunity. When I look at the life of Moses as the author of Hebrews sums it up, I am impressed by the fact that Moses was motivated by his vision.

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. (Heb. 11:24–27)

Moses was a great see-it leader, a great visionary. I want you to see four things that Moses’ vision helped him to accomplish. Number one, it helped him to make difficult decisions. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. That was a difficult decision; he was giving up his royal position; he was giving up all the pleasures of Egypt. He was able to make that decision because he saw a greater calling, a greater vision.

The second thing that Moses’ vision helped him to do was to be willing to pay the price. The price was enduring ill-treatment with the people of God rather than enjoying the passing pleasures of sin. He was going to endure instead of enjoy—because he had a vision.

Third, Moses’ vision helped him to live for the eternal and not for the temporal. Because he had a vision, he did not have to live for today; he could live for tomorrow. He considered the reproach of Christ more valuable than the treasures of Egypt. Why? The treasures of Egypt were present, but he was looking to a future reward. He didn’t have that reward in his hands as he could have had the pleasures and the treasures of Egypt. Because he was a visionary, he lived for tomorrow instead of for today.

Fourth, Moses’ vision helped him overcome fear in his life. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.

I have discovered that having a vision will do the same things for us that it did for Moses. It will help us make difficult decisions. People who cannot make difficult decisions may feel torn between good things. What keeps them from being able to choose the best is that they have no purpose because they have no vision.

A vision will help us pay the price. It provides the motivation for us to give up good things now for better things later. A vision will also help us rise above fear. It keeps us from becoming immobilized by monsters so that we will be able to move mountains.

Caleb
. We’ve already looked briefly at Caleb, but let’s see what Caleb’s vision helped him accomplish. First, it helped him develop conviction. He says in Joshua 14:7 that when he saw the land, he told Moses that his heart had seized it. His vision gave him conviction. He was able to stand up against the other spies, to follow through on his vision.

His vision helped him obey God. Others’ hearts began to melt with fear, but Caleb said, “I followed the L
ORD
my God fully” (Josh. 14:8). Why? Because he had a vision.

It helped him stay young. We all hear about vitamin B and vitamin C, but the best vitamin you can have is vitamin V, the vision vitamin. When people take vitamin V, they are revitalized daily. Age never becomes an issue because they still have a goal, they still have a dream, and they still have a vision. At eighty-five years of age, Caleb was ready to go to war for the land. His strength had not abated. Why? Vitamin V. He had a vision.

His vision helped him secure the land. He eventually possessed it—because he first of all saw it.

I often meet people who are drowning in life’s problems. Yet it really isn’t their problems that are weighing them down; it’s their lack of vision. A big vision will help you overcome any problem, but a small vision or no vision at all will cause the smallest of problems to trip you up and keep you from becoming what you should be.

Abram
. The prerequisite for possessing new territory is sight. The story of Abram and Lot provides a great example. When Abram and Lot separated, Abram gave Lot the first choice of land; Lot took the well-watered plains of Jordan. Abram had what was left, which was the supposedly second-rate land. “The L
ORD
said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever’” (Gen. 13:14–15). Abram was encouraged to do three things. First God said, “Look.” Then he added, “from the place where you stand.” Now, this is more complex than it sounds. He was telling Abram that all the opportunities for being a success could be seen from where he was right then. The roving commentator for the local TV station would have been following Lot down to the well-watered plains of Jordan, because it looked like Lot took the best, but God told Abram to look beyond what looked plush and lush and green and fruitful and to look from where he was standing. He told Abram to see what opportunities lay before him.

Too often we want to go stand on someone else’s spot; we want to get on their mountain and look around at their green grass. But God was telling Abram, “Abram, there’s no need to run over there where Lot is; you stand right here and look. Where you are standing are opportunities.” The good news is that where you are, whatever your lot in life is, under your feet is gold. All you have to do is see it and believe it.

The third thing he told Abram is, “Look in every direction.” I don’t think it’s an accident in the Scriptures that He spelled it out: northward, southward, eastward, and westward. To miss seeing a section was to miss possessing it. He had to spell it out because some of the areas that Abram could see didn’t look too promising. Maybe if God had said, “Abram, I want to give you the best land,” Abram wouldn’t even have looked at some of those areas because he knew the land well.

Vision always comes before victory. James said, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Could it be that we don’t have because we don’t see? My wife and I know better than to take our son Joel into any store. He’s a little Abram.

That little guy can walk into any store and see opportunity. There are very few things for sale for which he couldn’t find a use. Be it a toy store or a drapery store, he never fails to find something he desperately needs and thinks he should have. He’s always ready to go out and possess the land. We would prefer to possess him and stick him back in the car, because what he doesn’t see, he doesn’t desire to have. The point is this: to have something you have to see it first.

There are four areas in which we need to fine-tune our vision. First, do I see
myself
correctly? How can we see ourselves accurately? Spend time in prayer and meditation. Notice problems that continually arise in your life. What kind of problems are they and when do they occur? If your problems are similar in nature and they occur in the same types of situations, you’ve never really dealt with the cause. Ask yourself some questions: What kinds of circumstances cause me to show strong emotion, either positive or negative? What kind of people do I spend my time with? What spiritual gifts do I possess, and am I using them? How am I living in the light of my knowledge of God? If there are areas in which you’re falling short, try to identify the reasons why.

The second thing we need to see is our
inner desires
. If you could be anything you wanted to be and do anything you wanted to do, what would you be or do? What would really bring joy to your life? If you can answer this question, you have identified your inner desires. Knowing this will help you reach your potential.

We need to see our resources, both internal and external. What are your personal strengths? What can you draw on to help you possess the land? Do you surround yourself with supportive people? Do you use past experiences to your benefit? Do you take advantage of opportunities as they arise?

Fourth, we need to get a clear sight of our God. We need to see him as the God “who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph. 3:20).

In Hebrews 11, there is a list of examples of active faith. The possessors of this faith are described in verse 13:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

First, they
saw
the promises—that’s see-it faith. Then they confessed, or said, that they were strangers and exiles—that’s say-it faith.

There are four steps toward possessing a say-it faith. How do you make your inward belief an outward confession? First you need the
confidence
to say what you believe. Many great dreams die because the dreamers lack the confidence to declare them. Whenever we are unsure of ourselves or our projects, we usually remain silent. We don’t say it because we want to save face.

Saying it takes
commitment
. Many great dreams die because dreamers lack the commitment to declare them. Other people cannot follow our inward hopes; they follow our visible commitments. It’s seeing the dream consume us and seeing the commitment that makes us act on that dream that causes others to follow it. Commitment is contagious. People will only catch what has caught you.

The third step to say-it faith is good
communication
. Many great dreams die because dreamers lack the communication skills to get it across. This is very important. There are four ways that people learn: listening, discussing, watching, and discovering, or participating. Discovering, or participating, is the most effective way to learn. You need to help your people discover that dream for themselves by allowing them to participate. They need to hear about it, discuss it, and see it happening. You will not have effectively communicated your dream, however, until they participate in it.

If we’re going to say it, there’s a fourth thing we need, and that’s
conviction
. Many great dreams die because the dreamers lack conviction to act on them. There’s a difference between commitment and conviction. Commitment keeps me going when things get tough. Conviction keeps others going when things get tough. People around us are motivated by emotion, our conviction, that tangible sense of morale. People do not follow a leader because of character; they follow a leader because of conviction. People do not do something because it is right; they do something because they feel that’s it’s right. When we act on our conviction, others are drawn to us. Without conviction we may communicate truths, but we’ll develop no disciples. We will have people who have the right answers, but we won’t have people who live the right lives.

Saying it, then, requires confidence, or knowing it; commitment, doing it; communication, showing it; and finally, conviction, feeling it. To have say-it faith you have to know it, do it, show it, and feel it, and then you’ll be able to say it.

Few will cross the Jordan to seize the prize. I think there are four reasons why some of us get right to the edge of the river and then don’t go on across and possess the land. First, we’re too close to success to risk failure. Fear of failure probably keeps more people from positive action than anything else.

The second reason that we do not seize it is that this level requires discipline. If you’re going to act on your dream, it takes more than just sitting around on the sofa. You have to roll up your sleeves and go to work. It does not take any discipline to dream, but it does take discipline to make those dreams real.

The third reason that many people do not seize it is that this level divides the concerned from the committed. I have found that you can get almost anybody to agree to almost anything. You can get almost anybody to show some kind of concern for something. But there are few people willing to leave the ranks of the concerned to join the committed.

This level takes time. If you’re going to seize your dream, you’ll have to make a time commitment. You can say your dream in a moment, but you can seldom seize a worthwhile dream in less than a lifetime.