by Larry Kreider
I have learned that an effective leader is one who has a clear vision from the Lord and can communicate that vision effectively. It took me over fifty years to learn this leadership truth, and I am still learning in God’s school.
A Healthy Leader Learns to Receive and Implement Vision
A healthy leader listens to God and to wise counselors, builds a healthy team and understands God’s timing and process in seeing a vision become a reality.
The Bible is filled with examples of people who received a vision from God, and they changed the course of history. They inspired those around them as they communicated a vision of where they were heading and why it was important to head that way. Every good leader is driven by vision and should endeavor to pass it on to others.
Vision keeps the big picture in front of you. This picture will bring motivation and energy to the daily grind of bringing a vision to pass. For a vision to be realized, faith is required.
The nature of vision is that it is beyond reality. That’s why it is called vision; it is forward thrusting, compelling, and pulling us into the future of what the Lord has for us. You must wait for it, and take the time needed to formulate a clear mental portrait of where God is taking you. Even if it takes a long time for it to be realized, patience waits until the timing is right. Impatience has resulted in the premature birth of many visions—before they are developed properly or fully.
There are three stages to every vision: receiving the vision, testing the vision, and fulfilling the vision.
Receiving the Vision
Every business, every ministry, every church, and every team needs a compelling vision that the Lord has given to someone or to a group of people.
Prayer and vision go hand in hand. Prayer keeps us current with God’s direction in our lives. Unity comes from praying together. Prayer is a powerful means of supporting each other and is a spiritually bonding experience. This is one reason it is important for husbands and wives to pray together. Remember the disciples who were disputing about what position they would have in the kingdom? They all dropped their desires for position and their ambitions in the prayer meeting in the upper room at the day of Pentecost. When a team comes together in prayer, personal agendas are dissipated and everyone is able to focus on God’s agenda for the team. Vision that is birthed in prayer is seldom second-guessed later.
Testing the Vision
Habakkuk 2:2-3 explains that a vision may be tested. Big visions sometimes must endure big struggles before they become reality. God’s purposes in the vision are moving ahead toward fulfillment, but there may be delays. What is God’s timetable for the vision and how urgent is it? It was twelve years after Paul’s encounter with God on the road to Damascus until he was asked to go to Antioch to teach. Moses missed God’s timing by forty years. Every team must seek the Lord to know how and when a vision will be fulfilled as they move forward to see it come to pass.
Are you prepared to pay the price? Be prepared for opposition. This is especially true if your vision has to do with invading the enemy’s territory and setting captives free.
Implementing the Vision
A leader should live with the vision for a season without moving too quickly. Pray for wisdom about the details for the vision. The One who gave you the vision will be the One to provide the means to accomplish it in every detail. Vision is conceptual, we must make it practical. The vision must always come down to an achievable project. In Nehemiah’s case, it was to build a wall. David received a vision to build the temple, but God said Solomon would actually be the one to accomplish it.
Vision is always about the future. It is about something not yet achieved or experienced. It is the stretching of reality beyond anything you are currently experiencing. My wife, LaVerne, and I had a vision in the early years of our marriage for a healthy marriage, so we started having date nights to keep our relationship exciting and alive. We are still enjoying those dates fifty-four years later. What we implemented worked!
If the vision is to be realized, it must be shared and owned by others. One person cannot fulfill most visions. God builds teams around us that work together to implement vision. In fact, many believers find direction for their own lives by embracing a vision that God has given to someone else. In the end, it matters little who received the original vision. When we embrace a vision, the vision belongs to all of us.
The Bible tells us in Habakkuk chapter 2 that we should “write the vision down on tablets so we can run.” There is something about writing the vision that helps us to formulate it clearly in our minds. It also helps us to not forget our God-given vision. And when it is written down, our “vision statement” becomes a tool to clearly communicate to others so that the vision can be fulfilled together by a team of people with the same focus.
God has a plan for everyone. Everyone has a job to do in His kingdom. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10). May you receive much grace from the Lord as you apply these biblical leadership principles to your life and leadership and experience great blessing.
