LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
... equipping leaders with tools, skills, and weapon to provide effective leadership for nations to ultimately fulfill the Great Commission

Saturday, January 07, 2016

TITLE : The Power & Discipline Of Vision 5

Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish (show lack of discipline, throw off self discipline, run wild)." Emphasis added

A person without discipline is like a city with broken-down walls. Proverbs 25:28 (NLT)

In the last episode i shared that discipline is the suppression of base desire for the sake of a higher goal. Achieving your vision requires discipline. A person with a vision leads a narrow life while visionless people are loose.
Your vision determines the discipline you'll go through. We do not necessarily have to go through the same discipline (training, prunning) because our vision is uniquely different.

Discipline means discarding hindrances

The Greek word for “discipline” is gymnadzo , from which we get “gymnasium.” It came from a word meaning “naked,” because the Greek athletes would strip off their clothing so as not to be hindered from their purpose of winning their event. Paul understood this when he wrote :

"Like an athlete, I punish my body (discipline) treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, and not what it wants to. Otherwise I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside" (1 Corinthians 9:27 - Living Bible).

The point is, if we’re going to fulfill our unique purpose, vision or goal and reach our full potential there are hindrances we have to strip off. Yours may be unfruitful relationship, mine may be an attitude, another may be a poor eating habit, or poor nocturnal habit. We have to say no to things that hinder us from our purpose. Of course that includes all sin; but also it includes things that may be all right in and of themselves, but they don’t help you grow toward your goal. It certainly means controlling the TV set (coughs)

Discipline does not automatically make someone a leader, but no one can become an effective leader without it. John C Maxwell, #1 leadership expert in the world said " Great leaders always have self-discipline -without exception." People who try to lead a successful life without discipline are likened to travel in aircraft without Pilot, It is like a ply in a bus without a driver, it is to ride in a bicycle without break and handle. It's dangerous!!!

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 ISV says,

25 Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a medal that withers away.......

26  That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I fight, not like someone shadow boxing.

 27  No, I keep on discipline my myself, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

If athletes put themselves through years of hard work and training to get a silly gold medal, shouldn’t we be willing to pay the price to grow, achieve our vision and ultimately fulfill purpose?.