Listen to Insight

11 FEBRUARY 2019

We have been studying principles transformational leaders must abide by in order to fulfill vision. Many folks have ideas and visions as to what they would love to do with their lives but never accomplish them.

We have based our study on the books of Dr. Abu Bako and Dr. Myles Munroe (late) , both titled in the second row of the table below. Without both author comparing notes, their works complement each other. Today we will consider the Dr. Munroe’s second principle for fulfilment of vision—know your potential for fulfilling your vision.

COUNT THE COST

As Dr. Munroe noted, “When you discover your dream, you will also discover your ability to fulfill it. Second, you will never be successful in your vision until you truly understand your potential”.  As simple as that statement sounds, it is true and reminds me of a saying of Jesus:

Luke 14:28-29 (AMPC)

28  For which of you, wishing to build a farm building, does not first sit down and calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?

29  Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to complete [the building], all who see it will begin to mock and jeer at him,

Before one embarks on fulfilling a vision, it is important that they consider their  hidden, innate capabilities and capacities, evaluate their given strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, calculate the cost of the project or vision and then ask themselves,  if they have what it takes to pay that estimated cost. Our visions are in line with our callings and what we are called for, we are equipped for.

Although God will sponsor a vision with the requisite capacity  if the vision is God breathed, it is still prudent to do a feasibility study to ascertain whether you have what it takes to get to the place of fulfilling vision. Evaluating your potential is not the same as determining if you have physical resources such as  money and manpower. To understand how to evaluate potential, we must first understand what potential is. Let us consider Dr. Munroe’s definition of potential:

“Potential is hidden capacity, untapped power, unreleased energy. It is all you could be but haven’t yet become. Potential is who you really are, in accordance with your vision, even if you don’t yet know your true self. Potential is the person who has been trapped inside you because of false ideas of who you are—either your own or others’”.

To evaluate your potential is to evaluate your hidden aptitudes. If you are called for/to a particular assignment or vision, the capacity, aptitude, grace needed to accomplish it is given by God and God will make the physical resources available for the fulfilment of the vision as you walk in obedience towards implementing that vision. However, it is impractical to expect anyone to sponsor a project headed by a person who has no capacity and aptitude for it.

GOD IS AN INVESTOR

God gives ability to fulfill responsibility as Dr. Myles was fond of saying. Responsibility is a compound word that comes about as a result of fusing the following words:

RE+SPONSOR+ABILITY

Re                   – return

Sponsor          – a person or organization that pays for or contributes to the costs

   involved in fulfilling vision

Ability            – possession of the means or skill to do something.

When a sponsor sponsors a sponsee with an ability (skill, talent, proficiency), responsibility dictates that the sponsee give back to the sponsor a return on the investment that the sponsor gave / invested in the sponsee. As we see in the parable of the talents, God does not like to get

back only the initial principal of his investment without profit/interest/returns—rather, he

demands a return on that investment.

The goal of investing is to make money, so it's natural to pursue investments that offer the greatest possible return. Return on investment, or ROI, is a commonly used profitability ratio that measures the amount of return, or profit, an investment generates relative to its cost. ROI is expressed as a percentage and is extremely useful in evaluating individual investments or competing investment opportunities.[1]

Return on investment (ROI) is a financial ratio used to calculate the benefit an investor will receive in relation to their investment cost.[2]

CONCLUSION

Know your potential and make sure it is enough to take on the task of fulfilling whatever vision you have. If the vision is in line with your Calling, you are equipped for it—meaning you have the innate hidden ability to get the job done. Talents, skills, proficiencies are meant to be exploited in such a way that we have a return on investment to offer God. If he plants seed in our hearts, he expects not just the seed back but fruit that remains.

The question about potential corresponds to Dr. Bako’s fifth fundamental question—How do I get there? If I know how to get there (the place of fulfilment of a vision), then I can ask myself whether  I have what it takes to make the full journey. Case in point, if the vision is to reach the summit of Mount Everest and I know the answer to how do I get there is hiking, but I neither have the stamina for mountain climbing plus I am afraid of heights, I can safely assume I do not have what it takes to get to the summit.