There is more to vision than meets the eye and I’m so glad you asked! More often than not when we hear about vision, we hear the words; purpose, dreams, calling, passion and gifts synonymously. It’s time to clear this up so you know what I am talking about. There are components to vision and understanding each one will help clarify your path.
But first, let’s talk about this word “dream” that you have heard so much about and how it fits into vision. While a dream is an important part of the puzzle, it is just the beginning. Dreams open up your imagination and ability for your mind to “see” what it is that you can conceive for your life. Many of us model our dreams afer the lives of others. While dreams open the doorway, there are 7 components of vision that are through the door that dreams assist you in opening.
I actually don’t like using the term “dreams.” It is another throwback to the good ‘ole days of motivational speakers that got you dreaming but did not show you how to actually achieve your dreams. The other reason I hesitate to talk too much about dreams is that they are usually rooted in materialism and are in response to your current circumstances. Dreams acknowledge the surface or material things you may want or desire and only begin to scratch the surface of what you are here to do for others. You’ve been dreaming, it’s now time to gain the clarity you need to truly manifest your vision.
PURPOSE
The first component of vision is purpose. Your purpose tells you the theme of your life; the reason you exist. Combined with your passion, your purpose explains your method or how you will carry out your Kingdom assignment. To uncover your purpose, ask yourself, “If money and time were not an issue, what I would do and If I could make plenty of money any way I chose, what would I do?” At the end of your life, what do you want to be known for? What do you want your legacy to be? Perhaps you were born to make a difference by alleviating hunger or helping neglected animals. Your purpose gives you a general idea and direction to move, but by itself, it is not the whole picture.
What is your purpose? Take some time to stop and write it out on the following lines:
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DESIRES OF YOUR HEART
The second component of vision is the desires of your heart. What do you really want (both for yourself and others)? The desires of your heart go beyond your surface-level dreams to those things you deeply long for, desire and are willing to work for. It is all too easy to have dreams, but not be willing to work for them. The desires of your heart compel you in a way that won’t let you go. They are those things you envision for yourself and may or may not share them with others.
You may deeply desire to have a certain kind of car, to have an incredible love relationship, to be able to be a tremendous blessing to others, to see your children do well in life, to help underprivileged children, to have your dream home, to see people live AIDS-free, to travel, to play a sport that you love professionally, etc. What do you really want? Take time to list it out and be specific. While your list may be similar to your dream list, it should uncover some other aspects of your desires.
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Scripture tells you that God will give you the desires of your heart if you put His Kingdom first. While dreams require nothing in particular to bring forth and may or may not come to pass, desires of your heart require obedience and are part of God’s grace, mercy and blessings that He has in store for you. Do you see the difference? While it sounds subtle, it’s a major distinction and understanding. This will help you learn to be and not just do. Yes, you need to be in forward action for desires of your heart to manifest, but it is different from the mantras of hard core persistence, striving and undivided focus that you have been taught that comes with bringing forth your dreams.
PASSION
Okay, enough about desires of your heart. Let’s talk about the third component of vision – passion. Your passion consists of those things that bring you joy and fulfill you when you are doing them. When you are operating in your passion, you experience a flow and effortlessness that makes it easy to stay the course. When you are passionate you are excited, inspired, motivated, focused, fulfilled, walking in your greatness you have a sense of feeling complete.
God gives you passion so you know your path to bringing your vision forth. In your passion lies the clues that will keep you going. For instance, while speaking is a gift and an anointing for me, my real passion lies in seeing the lives of those I speak to be transformed – not just changed – but never to go back to how it was before they encountered my work.
Perhaps you love seeing those around you fulfilled and enjoy the look on their faces after a great meal you’ve prepared and you want to share this passion with others as you open a new restaurant. Maybe you are passionate about helping people make money through their businesses or hearing the voice of someone in the listening audience when something you’ve said on your radio show improved their life. What do you love doing? What juices you? What makes you holler with enjoyment when you have just completed it? Your passion tells you the end picture of your purpose. It also gives you clues as to how you will apply your purpose. What are you passionate about?
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GIFTS AND TALENTS
The next aspects of vision to talk about are your gifts and talents. Your gifts are those things that just come naturally to you and are not actually taught, they were deposited in you from God. If you did go to school to learn more about them, you probably excelled in them or you were bored because it came so easily to you. Gifts are sometimes challenging to identify because they are such a part of you. You may find it difficult to distinguish them.
They are like trying to see your right arm or your foot as something unique when is with you continuously and you can do it with little or no effort. What gifts have God bestowed upon you? Talking, shopping, understanding technology, discerning good and bad spirits, writing, exercising, dancing, being organized? Hidden in your gifts are the additional clues you need to understand the methods God has given you to make a difference in your area of purpose.
Yet, gifts are only half of this component. The other half of this component is your talent. Your talent consists of those things you are naturally good at, but need to practice developing to perfect. Maybe you show talent in talking and being able to connect with people, but you need to practice interviewing skills to become really good at the delivery of your gifts. What are you good at, but need to be great at in order to effectively operate in your gifting? Together, your gifts and talents create an additional dimension to understanding your specific Kingdom assignment.
I am a good writer, but in order to be great and get across my passion and purpose, I have to practice, practice, practice, read a lot, and write several drafts before I can capture what I am really trying to say on paper. With my primary gift being speaking and not writing, I have had to read countless books about writing and have taken many writing classes to improve my writing. Yet, when I speak, I can develop thoughts coherently in my mind instantaneously and deliver them with clarity, depth and power the first time with little or no effort.
The challenge with talent is making sure you use it to further your vision and not to get stuck trying to make a living on your talent alone. While you may be good at it, your talent alone does not feed your passion and usually does not touch the depth of the desires of your heart to keep producing fruit for a lifetime. I hear many stories about people getting stuck making a living from their talent alone and their story usually begins with something like this, “I am an accountant and yes, it pays the bills and I’m good at it, but it’s not what I really want to do.”
You have probably heard stories of actors or singers who tried to live on their talent alone and never connected with their other six components of vision. They are the ones who were once a hit and now appear on the “Where Are They Now” television series. Your talent is a way for you to bring forth your purpose. Talent was not meant for you to get too comfortable working with only your gifts and talents. There are more aspects of vision to take into consideration.
AREA OF SERVICE
Your area of service is the particular target audience or group of people you were put here to serve. Another way to think about your area of service is your special niche. Two months ago as I was reading about God having appointed shepherds over their flocks and how this particular shepherd was lying around the hillside only thinking about himself and his own gain and not taking care of his sheep and they were scattered all over the hillside.
I realized a different way to think about my business in that moment. God created me to shepherd a particular flock and my purpose is to gather, inform and take care of my flock so they know which direction to go at all times. I am a shepherd and my job is to gather my flock. I have not been taking care of my flock. I had to stop and ask myself, “Do I know who my flock is? Do I know what my flock needs?”
This was truly an eye-opening moment because I thought I had clearly identified my target market, yet God was taking it to a higher level. It even prompted me to do a journal entry listing the needs of my flock. It became so wonderfully simple to understand on a deeper level that my job is to gather my flock from all over the world and provide them with what they need to be successful as Christian entrepreneurs and visionaries.
You are a Shepard. When you are a Shepard, your sheep recognize and respond to your voice and call. God has created you to oversee a flock that can only hear your voice. Who is your flock? Are they scattered all over the hillsides waiting for you to live your vision? Are they not being taken care of because you are in fear or are they tied up tending to the daily obligations that fill your calendar, but are not God’s purpose for you?
Who are your sheep? Who were you born to serve? What group(s) of people are in your heart? What specific group of people do you want to work with? Take this space to clearly articulate your flock:
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What are the characteristics of this group of people you most enjoy working with (special needs children from wealthy families, adults striving to create wealth or people with a passion for collecting and restoring Ford Mustangs – be very specific)?
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Once you’ve clearly identified your flock, make a list of what your flock needs. Do they need a one-stop shop website that gives them resources to carry out their missions? What topics do they need to know more about? What information do they need to be successful? What products would they purchase? This is what you need to get busy providing for your flock right now, even before you leave your job. Now is your time. It is time for you to urgently bring forth God’s vision for your life and for you to prosper from your good works. Can you feel it? It’s been trying to get your attention. It’s time to respond bigger and bolder than you ever have before...
What does your flock need?
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CALLING
I also refer to your calling as your altitude. Your calling or altitude is the scope of your Kingdom assignment (within your child’s school, the city, state, region, nation or world). Be careful not to confuse your calling with what you think would be nice to do. You may be a musician who loves playing the local nightclub scene. While you watch other musicians tour with major acts and you think it would be nice to do a national tour. If God did not drop that vision into your spirit, it is not for you. You will know if you are not fulfilling your altitude or scope of work if you cannot sleep at night trying to think of ways to catapult to the vision God has shown you. Everyone is not called for a national touring. If you act on something that is not your calling, you will rapidly see why it is not for you.
Focus on what God has shown you as your specific role. You will be completely fulfilled carrying out your calling even though others may be doing similar work on a broader scale.