There will never be any progress or advancement in a community until they have a critical number of Spiritual people. This is because spiritual people understand what it means to work with God for the common good of everyone. They are driven by selflessness, love and taking responsibility for others. A religiously minded person can not be an effective light of the world or watchman, they must become more spiritual.  Are you truly spiritual or merely religious? 

To explain the concept further, here’s an extract from my book: UNLEASH YOUR INVENTIONS: THE SECRET ORIGIN OF CREATIVITY AND INVENTIONS: 

The easiest way I have found to distinguish between both is captured in the following sentence. The religious mind-set says “God will do it for me”. The spiritual mind-set says, “God will empower me; make tools available for me to get it done”. 

Religion says there is something out there, incomprehensible and completely beyond us. Let us try to be on their good side, appease them with gifts and sacrifices, stay in line and all will be well. The mind-set being, “How do I please God and stay in his good books?” Spirituality says there is something out there. I am one with that force, I am in union with that force. Spirituality leads you to critical thinking and excellence. The mind-set being, “How do I channel more of God? How do I improve my performance today than I did yesterday?” 

The religious person declares “Jesus will do it” and goes to sleep, but the spiritual person understands clearly that it is human beings on this plane of existence that enforces every mandate of heaven on the earth. God requires someone to keep watch over their world. Someone to “stand in the gap” and look out for the collective interest of the community. Even though God is all-powerful and sovereign, it is very clear that there is a role human beings have to play. Our prayers matter, our works matter, and if nobody steps up to do the work, nothing gets done. 

Watching the World begins with that commitment to lead with selflessness, love and taking responsibility for the advancement of your world. This is true spirituality.

If GOD is all knowing, all powerful, and truly sovereign, why would he need anybody to take responsibility to “watch the world”? God is clearly in control of the universe, and he will do whatsoever he wants. He does not need anybody to do anything. This mode of thinking that shifts total responsibility to God is a major cause of slothful behaviour amongst people of faith. If God knows everything and can do everything, then we don’t matter, our work doesn’t matter… and why do we even pray? However, we know for a fact that reality is different. Our work matters. What we do matters. 

If God knows everything and everything is all predetermined, then we would have no choice. There would be no stakes and nothing would matter. You do not need to study the bible too deeply to see the many flaws with this mindset. The Bible is full of stories and circumstances about things changing in response to people’s prayers and action. Adam and Eve chose to sin. Gideon was summoned and commissioned to raise an army. Jesus charged his disciples to preach (angels can not get people born-again!). The Bible contains stories of how people’s actions caused a setback to divine plans. Think about Genesis 6:5 – 8 or Tower of Babel or even King Saul. 

If what we do doesn’t matter, then what is going on at: 

And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Ezekiel 22:30 ESV 

God would not steer the world without being in partnership with someone. God would not heal the world without being in partnership with someone. It is a partnership of the divine working through human agents. Your actions matter, you have to take responsibility.

The world; the human society we have created, has seemingly lost its way. When you take a look around your society and reach a conclusion that the levels of injustice, poverty and illiteracy observed are not fair. You have identified that there is a problem here that needs solving. Problems with the world’s systems, whether they be economical, governmental, religious or cultural, can be solved. The only important point to note is that you do not solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it. 

That is why the world cannot save itself. 

You do not need to think or research too deeply before you realize that today’s world and its economic, governmental, religious and cultural systems are all man-made. Someone proposed them at some point with good intentions (presumably), but over time, those ideas might have peaked or got corrupted over time. To solve these problems, one needs to channel a higher intelligence than the one that created the problems in the first place. It takes God working through a yielded vessel. A watchman realizes that it is time to dig deeper and, yes, save the world. The world can be redeemed by anyone who is selfless enough to take on the responsibility. 

16 “For thus God loves the world (the universe; the ordered arrangement; the organized system [of life and society]; or: = all mankind), so that He gives His uniquely-born Son, to the end that all (or: everyone) – the one habitually believing, putting confidence and trusting into Him – would not lose or destroy himself, or cause himself to fall into ruin, but rather can continuously have eonian life

17 “For God does not send forth His Son as an Emissary, or Representative, into the world (or: System; aggregate of humanity) to the end that He should continuously separate and make decisions about the world, but to the contrary, to the end that the world would be delivered (or: that the System could be healed and made whole; that the ordered arrangement should be restored to health; that the aggregate of mankind may be saved – rescued and re-established in its original state): through Him! 

John 3:16-17 (JMNT)

This portion of scripture is Jesus stating clearly his mission to deliver the world, heal the world and make it whole again, restore the world to health. Some may think that these are things that would happen after rapture, but they are simply misguided, as anyone can investigate the scriptures themselves and see that Jesus never mentioned that saving the world happens after rapture. Not at all. I think the bible makes it clear enough that you are expected to function as a salt and light of the world right now, not after the rapture. This is the true mission of Jesus. 

It is up to us; you and me, to take responsibility and fix this world. The world cannot save itself. Where are the stewards of the Almighty God?

Every advancement we experience as a collective (the human race in this context) and every setback we experience is always down to someone, somewhere. Someone made some important scientific discovery. Someone starting an enterprise to deliver solutions to more people. And someone else got greedy and as a result, they ruin the lives of many. There will always be someone or a group of people who are responsible for getting things done. If you are not part of the solution, you are automatically part of the problem. 

The world cannot steer itself towards a more peaceful and prosperous future. 

Show me a Watchman and I will show you someone who takes responsibility for others. Things don’t just happen, it requires someone to take up responsibility and drive it by the powers of their will. You have to be ready to take responsibility for something or a group of people. The idea that you have identified something that absolutely should be a part of our future, and you are serious enough about it to see it through. Every vision, every idea, every “work of God” will always need someone to midwife it spiritually, intellectually, and it eventually makes its way into reality. 

So, what are you responsible for at the moment? Something that’s greater than you. This conversation is not about your personal affairs. A watchman lives for something more than their daily food, drink, clothing and personal comfort. They have taken responsibility for something that on the surface is none of their business. Everything you enjoy today is a fruit of the valiant efforts of some people down history lane, and now, it is your turn to prayerfully ponder upon what meaningful contribution you will make to the society in your own days. 

The world cannot steer itself aright, someone needs to look out for the world and steer it towards where God wants it to go.

Long-lasting success requires grace. You will notice this pattern clearly when you analyse the lives of the most successful people of all time. Some people refer to it as luck or good fortune. Others prefer to use the word “God” directly. The bottom-line is that good success is always going to be more than following a bunch of step-by-step procedures to attain desired outcomes. There will always be events and circumstances that favour us, and we just cannot explain away. We’re grateful it happened, but cannot fathom why it turned out that way. This is why we should prioritize getting in alignment with grace. Make grace work for you. 

The first step to making grace abound towards you is to understand that life should not centre around you and your personal, selfish desires. You begin to understand the power of grace when you understand the need to serve the greater good. Having an ambition to do something is not inherently evil, but we must be careful to align our private ambitions with some greater good. The easiest way most people do this is by giving towards charitable courses. It is good and laudable, but a true watchman goes beyond that. The one that serves as a Steward of the Almighty God strives for complete alignment with the will of God. 

Thinking that all we need to do is to give money towards evangelism or other charitable causes is a gross simplification of this idea. Aligning with the greater good doesn’t mean that you have to run a non-profit. Some of the greatest lights of the world at the moment are actually running for-profit businesses, but they understand their stewardship and serve the greater good. So, you can run a for-profit company and still be in complete alignment with the will of God. Grace abounds towards you in whatever you are doing, when you embrace selflessness and align yourself with the greater good.

One of the greatest and most fulfilling change someone can experience is when their perspective changes from “me” to “we”. Traditionally, we are trained to focus on ourselves and getting what we want. The entire society seems to incentivize you to pursue your goals as ruthlessly as you can without sparing a thought for others. You need to be there for yourself, to protect your own interests and advancements. You want to create income streams for yourself and become more comfortable over time. However, this obsession with yourself and your goal violates a spiritual principle: life should not be about you. 

The most important lesson anyone can learn is to understand that life should centre upon something that is greater than yourself. Especially when you consider yourself to be a watchman, someone that yearns to function as a salt of the earth; light of the world. Principally, you are not lighting up the world for you to enjoy a better life. You’re rather pouring out yourself so that others can enjoy a better life. I like thinking about this as you take it hard so that others can take it easy. 

What will keep you going in life is the sense of purpose you can make out of what you do day in, day out. That obsession to do something that matters, something that will matter, is wired deep into every human being. You’ll realize that life is really about creating meaning, and meaning doesn’t come from what you get; it comes from what you give. When you focus on giving your time, skills and resources towards putting out fires, or crushing the mountains that have hindered the progress of many, you will find purpose and also position yourself for profit. You will eventually get everything you want when you begin to help others to get what they need.

There is something eternal and timeless about a true vision. Your vision comes from a place where there is no scarcity, no time, no limits or restrictions of any kind. Every single constrain around your vision was introduced by your mind on this plane of reality. It is all in your head. If you can develop the capacity, there is no reason you cannot scale your vision globally. This is essential because you get to change more lives that way. It is NOT your vision, it is God’s vision that you are channelling from heaven and actively cooperating with. You have to take it further.

With the proper perspective, you will be able to lay a firm foundation for your vision. A foundation that enables the vision to outlast generations and touch lives positively across the globe. It begins with the understanding that you are not here to merely “do what you can” or even to “do your best”. You want to alter the world forever through your vision. Nothing else would do. The tricky thing about a vision is that because it is being generated from nothing, there is always a chance that we end up constraining a divine vision within our current level of understanding or resources. This is truly a mistake, because your vision has a wider range of application and can bring about much more change than you are thinking. 

I think the top two things a visionary should get done is to give the vision a firm foundation and help it build up  momentum so that the vision can find greater expression. There is no vision that cannot go global, but you must commit to the work. The best way to get into this mind-set is to prayerfully ponder on what it would take for this vision to change the lives of one million people. This is easy to do, simply find out if your vision is applicable to a million people and from practice, we know the answer is more often than not, a yes. Build the capacity to design and execute your vision at the level of millions. 

Do not be in a hurry to see your vision manifest. That haste is bad for business because it will lead to making decisions that look great in the short-term, but are actually horrible in the long-term, all things considered. The vision that will go global would need to slowly develop strong roots first. It is going to take humility and patience to build something that will last. Humility helps you to keep things in proper perspective and that way, you don’t end up stifling the progress of the vision as it outgrows your mind. A vision is spiritual, and its limits are not determined by God. The scope of the vision is determined by us and how far we are willing to sacrifice for this vision.

One thing that separates the dreamers from true visionaries is how the former tends to complain about their lack of resources. This lack ultimately will make them abandon the vision and settle for something lesser. The one that triumphs understand that there is never going to be a time when one would have everything needed to get the job done. Dreamers fantasize about their ideas and the impact it could have, but are not ready to submit to the rigour required to make it happen for real. Real visionaries are spiritually and mentally ready to birth their visions from nothing. This is a core skill every visionary must master. 

We need to separate fact from fiction. It is not helpful to conclude that visionaries actively building out their vision every single day is due to the fact that they have the money. Thinking they succeed simply because they have money is insulting to the resilience, doggedness and ingenuity they display every day. It is not about having money upfront. You have to focus more on the unlimited potentials that exist spiritually over the limited resources you can see at the moment. You need faith – that unabashed confidence that overtime you’ll be able to convert more of that spiritual grace and power as you press forward with gratitude, in prayer and meditation. 

The secret to building out your heavenly vision is to learn to lean more on the spiritual and superimpose that abundance mindset upon this physical realm. You need to realize that visions originate from a source where there is no scarcity or poverty, and one must consistently be in tune with that source for optimal performance. Prioritize spiritual activities and understand that it is more important than anything you do physically. When you engage in spiritual activities like thanksgiving, prayer, reading, thinking and meditation, you will notice how much better you will get at planning and execution of your plans. 

A true visionary must learn how to build something out of nothing. Without this mind set to build from nothing, the vision runners will gradually water-down the vision until it fits comfortably within what they think their resources can handle. When you understand that you are building from nothing, it brings the perspectives you need to succeed, and you can focus on the most important things. How to generate all the daily activities required for a complete manifestation of the vision. And how to attract every single resource, asset or leadership required to move things forward. Building from nothing means you define the vision first and then try to attract everything you need later on.

Every human being can create something out of nothing, but only few of us would ever focus long enough to actually do so. The big challenge here is that most people are conditioned to go through life without any need to create something. They simply follow the path as laid down, no original thought required. Most people cannot create anything because they do not need to. A visionary must be creative and learn to create from nothing. The understanding that despite not having enough skills, resources or assets to get this done, one must find a way. A visionary must realize the need to be mentally ready to create from nothing and to understand how it is done.

How does one draw upon the invisible? How do you draw upon spiritual resources to drive the vision? It is as simple as having to prioritize spiritual activities over physical activities. That will ONLY happen when you have the perspective and understanding that everything physical, every resource or asset available to you, is actually generated from the spiritual. And when you do more spiritual activities, you’ll be able to create even more room for you to succeed. The vision came from above and always requires faith and a dynamic spirituality to keep it going. When you embrace the idea of “create it from nothing”, you’ll be able to open up yourself to greater possibilities unlike ever before.

A lot of God-given visions turn out poorly. The execution fails to reflect the beauty and splendour of the original ideas that got things started in the first place. We usually identify lack of knowhow and resources as reasons for failure, but it is deeper than that. Poor execution is the result of a lack of perspective around vision execution. The visionary who gets the job done is the one that understands that birthing a vision is all about creating something from nothing. Trying to hit a target that no one can even see in the first place.

An avalanche of teaching and testimonies has made seeking out a vision-driven life appealing to many. However, living a life centred upon birthing a vision is not as glamorous as one might imagine and it is certainly not a stroll in the park. There are times one will not have the required resources. There are times one will be clueless, confused and lack clarity on the way forward. This is normal and to be expected as one matures from dreaming up a vision and on to implementing the vision. There is nobody out there, NOBODY that has all the resources and knowledge they need. A visionary sooner or later learns patience and resourcefulness.

Primarily, it is not about having $5 or $5 million, it is about having enough faith in your ideas. You cannot save up money towards running a vision. A real vision will always be mightier than what you can get done with your personal resources. You will always need much more than that to get it done. You will have to approach your work as if you want to create it from nothing. This is a mindset that greatly empowers you for the journey because once you understand this “create from nothing” business, you are unstoppable. Running with a vision requires that you master how to draw upon something spiritual (unseen, invisible) and drive your vision from there.