Luke chapter 8
Today we are walking in: Now You Go” TRANSFER THE VISION
Habakkuk 2:2
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
VISION
Today we look to the word VISION- H2377 chazown- vision(in ecstatic state), visions (in night), oracle, prophecy (divine communication), vision (as title of book of prophecy) from H2372; a sight (mentally), i.e. a dream, revelation, or oracle:—vision. to see, perceive, look, behold, prophesy, provide, to see, behold, to see as a seer in the ecstatic state, to see, perceive with the intelligence, to see (by experience), to provide
The Torah testifies........
Numbers 24:4
He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision H2377 of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
Numbers 24:16
He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the vision H2377 of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
The prophets proclaim.........
1 Samuel 3:1
And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days;there was no open vision H2377.
Jeremiah 14:14
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision H2377 and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
The writings bear witness.........
1 Chronicles 17:15
According to all these words, and according to all this vision H2377, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Psalm 89:19
Then thou spakest in vision H2377 to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
Chapter 23
“Now You Go”
TRANSFER THE VISION
MY FIRST MENTOR was my father. He taught me how to love work as he provided for all of his eleven children. He demonstrated the manhood necessary to lead a home both spiritually and emotionally. He mentored me by letting me observe him as he prepared sermons. I watched him minister publicly to crowds. From my early teens, I watched how he dealt with stress. He even taught me how to be married to a woman, setting an example as he was married to my mother for fifty years until her death. For these and other reasons, he was my most important mentor as a man.
My mother was my second mentor. I was able to observe how she had a hunger for the word of Yah. My mother taught me how to read the Bible. My father taught me how to preach the Bible, but my mother taught me how to
read it. She taught me how to love people. I do not think I ever have seen anyone who loved the poor as much as my mother did. While raising eleven children, she would practically take food off our table and give it to poor people. She mentored me in caring for people who are less fortunate.
Mother also mentored me in the act of prayer. I used to hear and watch her pray, even though she did not know I was observing her. This is true mentoring—when people can see the spiritual act of a person. Her example left a great mark on my life, and I pray daily as she did.
In addition to this great experience of my parents, I had two powerful mentors in college at Oral Roberts University. One was a professor in the school of theology who taught a class in New Testament studies, Dr. Jerry
Horner. I took that class and instantly realized this man knew so much that I wanted to learn. I submitted myself to him. Today Dr. Horner is on my board of trustees and still is one of my chief mentors. He has been with me for more than thirty-five years. I have been able to observe him closely during the years, visit his home, and see his family. Jerry sleeps in my home every time he comes to the Bahamas to speak at one of our conferences. It is important to note that he is white, and I am of African descent. The people I mentor come from many different ethnic groups.
“Just as I received the gift of mentorship, I have a duty to pass it on.”
Another great mentor of mine, Oral Roberts, died recently. I vividly recall one time I was on a television show as a student. As soon as I saw those cameras, I began to shake visibly as he was interviewing me. I was petrified because I had never been on television before. This commanding orator who had preached before thousands in live appearances and to the world through the airwaves acted instinctively to calm my fears. With one hand holding the microphone, he reached over with the other one and gently patted my knee as he was talking to me. His touch melted all the fear. He knew what he was doing. He was calming a frightened mentee, and I never forgot that. It has been more than thirty-five years since that day, but I can still remember the touch. The affirming power of a mentor’s touch will last you a lifetime.
When I first came back to the Bahamas in 1980 after college and graduate school, I began this ministry. Some people said I was a cult. They would talk negatively about me on the radio and television, and ministers used to preach against me. I used to be sermon material. One of the highest compliments they ever paid me was, “He thinks he is Oral Roberts.” That was flattery. At least I was not associated with some preacher who was not doing anything or who was misleading people. I was glad to be associated with somebody who was doing something.
Still another of my mentors, Dr. Fuchsia Pickett, taught me how to have a zeal for the things of Yah. She taught me how to pursue Yah with a passion, how to fast, and how to sacrifice for greatness. She also affirmed me in my desire to train leaders. She actually told me I should proceed with my global passion for developing leaders in Third-World countries.
As I matured as a leader, I had access to all of these people. I could call them at any time. They could rebuke me, correct me, or instruct me. Many times they would caution me in certain areas of my life. That was and still is
important to me. I am still being mentored, even though I mentor thousands of people at a distance and hundreds of people directly.
Consider the Lion
In the introduction to this book, I talked about the lion. We consider this creature the most successful in the animal kingdom. The lion’s effectiveness in survival and its ability to face down other creatures regardless of their size,
weight, or power impresses us. The lion is a perfect example of a creature with the qualities necessary for effective leadership. That includes its courage, grace, and strength, but the most important is the way the lion mentors its offspring.
First, lions do not associate with any other animal. This is interesting
because if you want to be a leader or maintain your leadership, you must first
be mindful of the associations you form. You want to be with people who
think as you do, people who walk and talk as leaders should, people who
have leadership experience. You want to learn from them.
The second thing about the lion is that it travels in a pride. That is a family
of lions who live, hunt and work together. In this way, lions have created an
environment for mentoring their offspring.
That is what I find most interesting about the lion. At the beginning of the book, I spoke of our safari in South Africa, where I had the privilege of watching the lions hunt. I noticed little cubs around, and I saw the mother
lion pick up the cubs by the back of the neck with her mouth, take them over to a shady bush near a tree, and drop them down one at a time. She came back, picked up another one, took him over to the tree, and left him there.
Then I saw something strange. She walked away, and they perked up looking at her but never moved. Four other female lions joined her. They all began to crouch toward their prey. The cubs never moved, and they watched their mothers. I was intrigued as I saw those lions strategize as they crept along in the grass, moving toward the target—one to the left, one to the right,
one over to the side, and one stayed back. They were all in position, working toward the attack.
Still, the cubs never strayed, but they perked up, watching every move. Suddenly, I realized this was mentorship in action. This was an opportunity to preserve the future of the pride. Then I realized that the lioness had not just placed her young ones near the bush under a tree, but had set them up on a little mound where they had a perfect view of all the action. The mother chose a high place so that they could observe every move.
No wonder the lion is still the king of the jungle. The lion does not leave leadership training to experimentation. They do not risk mistakes or let the next generation learn by trial and error. They intentionally train.
What I also find interesting is that the lionesses are the real hunters in the lions’ pride. In the lion kingdom, the father does not do the kill. The women go out and get the meat. Lionesses take the young ones with them on a hunt
and find a safe place for them to observe how, when, where, and what to kill. The cubs can see the lionesses’ movements, their strategies, their systems, their attack modes. This is mentorship by observation. This is the reason the lion is so successful. They continue to reproduce leadership.
You are responsible for creating a “pride of lions” mentality around you for those you mentor. Let them see how you do things. Many times leaders in our day hide what we do from the people around us. We do not want them to observe what we do because we are insecure. We believe that if they learn what we do, we will lose our position. However, we forget that the entire purpose for leadership is to reproduce leaders and that the greatest measure of success for a leader is to mentor a potential replacement. For this, the lions are a great inspiration.
Just as I received the gift of mentorship, I have a duty to pass it on. The greatest obligation of a true leader is to transfer a deposit into the next generation. As a leader you were given a gift, you developed a vision, and
you carried it out to the best of your abilities during your tenure. Perhaps you exceeded your own expectations, or you did not finish. Either way, as part of the mentoring process, you have tried to instill your values and your vision into the next generation of leaders. If you have done things right, they “caught” your vision. Time is up. You must relinquish control, pass the baton, and trust that your successors will succeed.
Your successor will not always do things just as you might have done and may not think,“I wonder what he would have done now?” Even as a parent, you might have to accept that your children will not always think, “What would Mama or Daddy do?” Fifty years from now, your ministry members will not say,“Reverend Jones always said…”
Some of us do ask,“What would Yahusha do?” as the popular saying goes. Often, however, we know very well what He would do because Scripture clearly outlines His vision for us. His parables prescribed what to do in many
key situations that we can apply to what we do today. The principles, His rules for living and leading, tend to work whether you aspire to be a Hebrew or not, whether you are in the ministry or the boardroom or in the streets.
Similarly, public leaders often like to read about their predecessors, and we encourage our youth to read about national heroes, hoping their lives hold clues for our own—that the vision will rub off.
The Advanced Class
The gospels leave us many clues about how Yahusha mentored His disciples. I find it interesting that among the twelve trainees or students, He chose from among the group three to mentor at a different level. Peter, James, and John received more intimate mentoring than the other nine. You will observe that on many occasions in Scripture, Yahusha would take those three to certain environments and leave the other nine out of it. He did it because He wanted them to experience certain things. Their knowledge of Him grew to a deeper level. Their leadership positions in the ministry in Jerusalem were at a higher level. Their work and teaching of doctrine was at a different level. Earlier, I emphasized that a mentor must devote time to the people he or she mentors.
Yahusha spent extra time with these three. You will find that Yahusha often chose to expose these three priority mentees
to different events and did not take the other disciples. In one example, when He wanted to raise the little dead girl, Scripture says He left everyone outside except those three and proceeded to raise her from the dead. That was an opportunity Yahusha provided for the three that He had singled out for close attention.
Luke 8:51–56 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Yahusha said.“She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But
he took her by the hand and said,“My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Yahusha told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
These same three were with Him at the Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:1 After six days Yahusha took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. Only they were with Yahusha as He prayed at Gethsemane on the eve of His death.
Mark 14:33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. These examples show how Yahusha shared time and set the stage for transferring His knowledge and spirit to these three in particular. He would imply, “Look, I only want you three to come.” What is Yahusha doing? He is taking them into an environment in which He did not want the other nine. He wanted to mentor these three at a different level and allow them to see things He did not
let others witness. He would tell them not to tell anyone what they had seen. He was testing them.
Yahusha also exposed His vulnerabilities. Mentoring requires that you expose your vulnerabilities when the occasion calls for it so the mentee can understand your heart. When Yahusha asked,“Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark 14:37), He showed His fear or anxiety to those closest to Him.
Do you have people in your organization you can take into some of the private parts in your heart?
You would normally entrust succession to those who know your strengths and your weaknesses. For the protégé to get past those obstructions in your life to understand your vision, you have to expose yourself. You have to convey your passion, and encourage the mentee to fall in love with what you love. Your successor must love you, your passion—what wakes you up in the
morning. If the mentee never captures that, then he or she will never be successful as your successor.
Let Them All Prophesy
At times, Yahusha shared lessons with all the disciples and He gave all of them His authority. When He sent them all out two by two to go into the whole world to bring the message of the kingdom, He was sharing an opportunity
with them. The Bible says He gave them authority to go, which means Yahusha wanted them to experience that environment, go out, and carry a message, dealing with people. Moses transferred his spirit in a similar fashion. When Yah told Moses that he needed some help to do the work, He told him to call seventy people from the group so Yah could transfer Moses’ spirit to them.
Numbers 11:16–17 The Most High said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them.
They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.”
The people who should be in your ministry or close to you in your business should be the people of your spirit. They should have the right attitude. They should think what you think, believe what you believe, and want what you
want. The Bible says that once these seventy got the spirit, they began to speak. The word the Scripture uses is “prophesied.” They began to speak what Moses was speaking. In other words, they sounded just like Moses.
This transfer of the anointing of Moses also leaked over to people who were not even present. They were in the camp, and they too began to talk and sound like Moses. Joshua became a little nervous. That was when he urged Moses to stop them. “They are all going to take your job!” That in a way was what he was saying. Look at the answer Moses gave. “But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake?’ ” (Num. 11:29). That is an important statement.
Again, the person who is jealous for you should succeed you. Joshua was defending Moses. This is when Moses shows his leadership maturity, when he suggests in so many words,n“I want everyone to be a leader. I want everybody to be a prophet.”
Is that how you think? Do you wish everybody in the office could have your job? Are you saying, “I wish all of you could do this job. I am going to train all of you to have my abilities”? True leaders are never married to a position. Leaders walk around with a smile debt they owe to humanity.
“I am going to pay my debt and continue paying
by mentoring and choosing the right successor.
” That is how I feel every day. I owe all of you what I am teaching. I have to do this. I owe you this. This is
not a job for me. This is an obligation. Moses was authentic. He was secure in his position—just as Joshua was secure in his. He was the servant, the aide—in other words, the one who was there to do anything and everything the leader needs. In fact, an aide outthinks you, always watches to see what you are thinking of doing next and does it for you. The aide thinks,
“He is going to be thirsty, so let me get some
water. He is going to need someone to rub his feet. He is tired. He is going to need someone to bring him food now. He is going to need someone to change his coat.
” The aide anticipates these needs and fills them. An aide is totally committed to the comfort of the leader. All Joshua wanted to do was to aid Moses since his youth, the Bible says. Joshua did not show up looking for power. He grew up serving. That is what qualified him to be Moses’ successor. If you are the boss, look around you. Who in your company, school, or ministry is like that? If you are a leader in training, are you a willing aide as
Joshua was?
At the Eleventh Hour
Perhaps you have read this far in the book only to realize that you do not have a successor in mind. You have not mentored anyone. Time is running out, and no one is waiting in the wings fully prepared to succeed you. You
need to go to work, make some changes, and find someone you can embrace as a potential successor while there is still a little time left. If you are the CEO of a company or a manager of a department, your first
responsibility to the board is to fulfill the mission and the expectation to the company. Your first obligation to yourself, even at this late hour, should be to identify an individual that you want to mentor to take your place. You might not have authority to choose your successor, but you want at least to mentor someone to take your place.
Given the circumstances, this does not have to be someone who loves you as I defined it earlier in this book. If you have not mentored anyone, chances
are you have not attracted that kind of love or loyalty yet. Chances are that during the years you turned away those who pursued you, begging you to be their mentor. You never acknowledged how talented, eager, and willing they
were. Many of them left for other opportunities. A few stayed, but you never groomed them for greater things, and most of them stalled or burned out. Now you have no one in the pipeline who is fully prepared, and your options
are limited. You will have to seek out someone you believe has great visionary potential, aspirations, or great intellectual capacity. Once you have identified the person, you might have to woo them. Initiate the discussion. Invite him or her into your office to explain your desire to mentor, and solicit that individual’s interest. Say to them,
“If you are willing to be developed, I am willing to develop you. I agree to help you. Do you agree to let me?”
People may be surprised when you approach them in this way, but the gesture will show that you care for them. I believe that very invitation to mentor them, the fact that you reached out, can be the basis of a caring relationship. Once the individual agrees, then proceed to mentor based on the principles outlined in this book.
Eventually that can lead to the kind of “love” you need in a successor, or at least respect.
Yes, you may be mentoring late in the game, but now is better than never. Advise your superiors that you are mentoring this person. Now you are opening up the possibility of succession. If you answer to a board, they will respect you for thinking beyond your time with the company. The board will also feel secure in knowing that because you are mentoring someone, they will not need to go outside the organization to recruit a potential successor. The board might even decide to pay you more for fear that you are planning to leave. The fact that you are being sensitive to the company’s needs for succession makes you the kind of person they want to keep around for a while. As a manager, you have a win on all sides. You have someone in training to replace you, you have a board that might feel more committed to
you, and you have an increase in salary. Just one act of demonstrating that you want to mentor can improve your relationship to the company, as well as your bank account.
Cast a Wide Net
If you are not the principal of the organization, you can mentor a successor for your position, but not necessarily for the whole organization. If you are the principal of the organization, you have more authority over mentoring and succession. Everyone can mentor someone, however. You do not need to be the president or owner. The minute you have a position of authority, your
first act is to choose someone to mentor.
If possible, choose more than one individual to mentor and make them all aware that everyone will have the opportunity to advance and grow under the
mentoring program. Let them know you are not responsible for the future, nor can you guarantee any position. You can promise that you will position
them for any opportunity that will be available. This reduces the possibility of jealousy and infighting once your choice is clear.
I mentor hundreds of people from around the world. I also mentor twenty- two people within my organization. One of them is the one I chose as successor. Because I mentored all of them, none became jealous. Yahusha mentored twelve, but had three who were His favorites. Of course, we do have a record of James and John asking for a special place, and Yahusha had to correct them that everyone has a spot (see Matt. 20:20–23 and Mark
10:40). I think this shows that His interest in mentoring all twelve of them reduced the tension and the spirit of competition among them.
Put your eyes on one individual who may be a potential successor, but open up mentorship to a broader circle to encourage development of all the gifts that are under your influence. Encourage those you mentor to mentor. It
reduces the spirit of competition and anxiety when you require persons you are helping to help someone else. You will find that they all will develop aspirit of care and respect for one another.
The Greatest Failure
The worst mistake a leader can make is to mentor no one, choose no successor, and leave no legacy. The first example of this in the Scripture is the first created human, Adam. He died without any strong successor. The Bible does not indicate that he mentored anyone, not even his wife. He was so poor in his mentorship of her that his wife was subject to persuasion by a satanic force, and it destroyed his whole family. One son killed his own
brother. This is the worst form of lack of mentorship.
The next one would be Joshua, who despite having had effective mentoring, appears to have left no strong successor. So Joshua failed as a leader. After the death of Joshua, the Bible says it happened that the children
of Israel asked the Most High, “Who shall lead us now?”
Judges 1:1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Most High, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
The book of Joshua mentions no specific person he mentored—no aide to Joshua as he was to Moses. We ended up with a scattering of people with no organization. Israel never fully recovered. If we do not mentor, we create chaos. Another example of weak mentoring is Solomon, who did not groom anyone to follow him. David
mentored Solomon, but after Solomon died, the kingdom was divided and destroyed. In the New Testament, the trend continues. Yahusha chose Peter, but Peter failed to appoint someone, so there was chaos. Paul appointed Timothy, but Timothy failed to appoint someone.
The constant principle flows through history that where there is no mentoring, there is no successor. Where there is no successor, there is no order. Where there is no order, there is chaos. Whenever a void occurs in the succession of leadership, scattering and decentralization follow. Yah has to start all over again with the next
generation, saying essentially, “Let me find someone who understands this.”
Yah has to find someone new who can start fresh, carry out the obligation to mentor, and choose a successor before time runs out.
Can you accept the challenge to lead as if the future depends on it? Are your successors in place, trained and ready to go? Then step back, give them full authority, and send them forth to do greater things. Your supervision is
no longer needed here, and you too have better things to do.
You have conveyed your vision, you have produced leaders, and you have given them opportunities to apply their skills to practical situations, to practice the performance of miracles. Now trust that they will carry out—not necessarily your exact vision as you would have it—but a vision inspired by, shaped by, and formed from yours. You will have a legacy. This will be the ultimate test of your leadership. Can your successors perpetuate your
purpose, carry on your vision, preserve your legacy, and go on to do greater things?
When it is time for you to go, you will be able to say,
“I have transferred all I have, my grand vision, to my successors. I lived up to the mentoring agreement. I have trained them well. It is up to them to run on.” Your segment of the relay race is over. It is finished.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
2 Timothy 4:6–7 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Points to remember:
The greatest obligation of a true leader is to transfer a deposit into the next Ok generation.
The worst mistake a leader can make is to mentor no one, choose no successor, and leave no legacy
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