Review Author: Moses Sakai
I was inspired when I first read this book and I actually read the book five times. Based on my understanding of the book, I wrote a review. Please feel free to make any comments.
Introduction
The Principles and Power of Vision is a very amazing and inspiring book that is required to be read by not only the people who are living in Third-World Nations as far as the author himself is concerned but for all the citizens of both developed and developing countries. The Author, late Dr Myles Munroe reveals to us in his book the significance of why individuals were born to do and how they going to discover their purpose or why they were born to do. In fact, by default, we were all designed by God to be headed to a destiny because God already designed our end before He begins us. The Bible clearly states that God had chosen us before He set the foundation of this world. (Ephesian 1:4). In other words, we were pregnant in the mind of God before the Creation and we were appointed a prophet to the nations before we were formed in our mother’s womb. (Jeremiah 1:5). The book also gives me the significance of having a personal vision in life and how to realize the vision despite the challenges because Dr Myles, being the Man of God and having written this book based on his experience, has revealed to us most of the bible scriptures concerning the ultimate plan of God upon each one of us. That very plan that God has for us individual is eternal (Psalm 33:11) thus that very plan that God has for us is not to harm or spoil us but to give us hope and prosperity (Jeremiah 29:11). Therefore, as individuals, we have to seek God in our daily lives through prayer for Him to reveal to us the visions and dreams that He had placed in our hearts because He is the source and the vision-Giver.
Body
Vision is the source of hope and life because the greatest gift that God has ever given to mankind is the gift of vision and not the gift of sight. Sight is the function of the eye but vision is the function of the heart. This is because eyes that look are common but eyes that see are rare.
Having read the entire book, it really challenged me to make use of my TIME by prioritizing what I can do as much as I can to realize my vision that God has placed in my heart and even to discover who really I am in Christ because our real identity and definition is only found in Christ. In addition, the book also reveals to me that the poorest person on earth is someone without a dream. Since God loves dreamers, He only works with them to make sure their dreams and visions may come to pass. One thing that I’ve learnt in this book was that God would only intervene to help you realize your dreams and visions that He had placed in your heart if and when you commit yourself truly to achieve that vision with passion and perseverance with all your heart. Because God is a God that sees human heart and He would only intervene to help fulfill our dreams if we start making concrete plans and commit to those plans.
On the other hand, Dr Myles also tells us that the most frustrated person on earth is someone who has a dream but don’t know how to make it come to pass. I was absolutely shocked when I read that statement because though we may have dreams but if we do not know how to make this dream and vision come to pass then we are the most frustrated people on this planet earth. In fact, in reality, it’s happening to most of the people who haven’t yet realized their dreams and who haven’t yet discovered themselves that, by default, they were designed by God to be headed to a destiny thus that destiny demands diligence.
The Lesson that I learned from this book in relation to Vision
The other thing that I’ve learnt in this book was the secret and significance of God’s purpose upon our life when God wants to reveal to us the vision that he had placed in our hearts. This secret lies between a job and a work. As far as Dr Myles is concerned, a job is always temporary and a work is permanent. This brings me to the story of young prophet named Nehemiah which I’ve read in this book. Being in exile and a captive in Babylonia, the young prophet had an opportunity of becoming the King’s Cup-bearer and was the highly respected man in the King’s royal palace and administration.
Having that job as the King’s Cup-bearer, Nehemiah realized that there’s something needs to be done in terms of rebuilding the broken Walls of Jerusalem. Thus the Bible clearly states that Nehemiah succeeded in everything that he did in terms of rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem (i.e. Nehemiah’s true work-his vision) despite the outside challenges from Sanbalat and his friends. In other words, what I’m trying to say here is that if we succeed in finding a job or having a job currently in private or public sector is not our true vision. God place us to do certain jobs in our lives for the purpose of equipping, shaping and molding us to really find out whether we are capable and committed so that later He would reveal to us the vision that He had placed in our hearts-our true work-and would definitely help us to make it come to pass.
The Difference between a ‘Job‘ and a ‘Work‘ from the context of this book
The bottom line is; a job is done on behalf of someone for the sake of common good for the purpose of equipping and shaping us to know the responsibilities of our vision God had placed in our hearts whereas a work (i.e. God’s calling upon our life) is done by yourself with the help from others and the direction from the Source Himself for the sake of common good. It implies making an impact in what you can and should do today so that others who are around you-the community, district, province, nation and even the entire world may feel and experience the positive effects of what you’re doing and when you die, the legacy will still be there which will also benefit the future generations.
The Principle that Inspired me
Importantly, according to the book The Principles and Power of Vision, Dr Myles has revealed to us the twelve principles that will help us to write our own personal vision statement. Out of all the twelve principles, principle#11 really inspired me because based upon that principle with the bible text taken from Hebrew 10:35-36, I derived my Mission Statement. Principle #11 says in chapter 14, Be Patient in the fulfilment of Vision. In relation to this principle, the Bible says in Psalms 37:7 that;
Be Patient and wait for the Lord to act, don’t be worried about those who prosper or those who succeed in their evil plans (NIV).
Also in Romans 8:25 it says;
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with PATIENCE (Gideons International Version).
In the second scripture mentioned above, the first sentence reads; “but if we hope for what we do not see”-this phrase really implies having a Vision because in reality we don’t see what we have hoped for but in our minds and hearts, we’ve already seen it. Therefore, in order for us to make it come into reality, we have to wait for it with patience. In fact, Hebrew 11:1 reaffirms Romans 8:25 because in Hebrew it says;
Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (NKJV).
Having faith in our vision deals with the heart because vision is the function of the heart and this really confirms principle #5 which states “Develop the Faith of Vision”. In addition, the Bible also says in Hebrew 11:6 that;
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (NKJV).
The visions and dreams that God had placed in our hearts will only come to pass if we have faith in Him who is the source of our vision but we have to wait with patience because God will reward us according to the faith that we have as we move forward in achieving our vision.
Conclusion
To conclude, after having read The Principles and Power of Vision, I discovered that I am not just as ordinary as what I always think about myself or from what others think of me because by default, I (and every one of us) was (were) designed by God fearfully and wonderfully to be headed to a destiny. God’s ultimate plans upon each one of us is eternal and that very plan will absolutely come to pass because I believe from the bottom of my heart that with God, everything is possible (Luke 1:37). I also came to realize that God’s vision for my life will never diminish from His mind and heart as long as I live, it will still come to pass. It is us now to seek God earnestly with all our hearts for Him to reveal to us the vision that He had put in our hearts because if we could called Him Abba Father as far as His Word is concerned in (Romans 8:15), then we’re His sons thus being a Father, He knows the needs of His sons and daughters. Even on that note, God has already chosen us before He set the foundation of this world (Ephesians 1:4)..WOW! This is a very powerful scripture!
God will still make His plan upon our lives come to pass; however, it depends entirely upon us individual to seek the Vision-Giver prayerfully to reveal to us our true work so that with all our hearts, we can fully commit to our vision to make sure that it will come to pass if it is from God. Our God is not a lazy God because God does not sit with sitters but He goes with goers. He is the God of ACTION and God who WORKS.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book The Principles and Power of Vision as the “best book for all in this 21st century in terms of self-discovery of our life’s purpose in God”. Most of the scriptures in the Old Testament and New Testament in the Bible which I’ve never understood before in relation to vision, after reading this book, I’ve come to realize that they meant something more in human life’s purpose and existence than just a mere scripture to be remembered and memorized. Most importantly and above all, the book has helped me to discover who really I am and why I was born to do because we were all not born by mistake or even by coincidence, but we were all born for a reason at this time and season because there is something more significant that we have to do for the sake of common good. Thus I believe that JESUS is our only HOPE because Jesus is the only reason for the season. I just want to thank God for His servant, Late Dr Myles Munroe to write this book The Principle and Power of Vision which has helped me to understand the significant power of vision and the principles to be upheld to write my own personal vision but it takes time and more effort and commitment to write our own personal vision statement-your own perfect life’s blueprint. As we progress in our lives, we will come to realize our personal vision.
Shalom
