He focused his vision on God and His greatness, and all the great and mighty things God had done for His people in the past. He isolated a particular project – building the temple – and set that squarely down within the covenant purposes of God. He led the people to see the project as God did, according to His Word, and He showed them all the benefits that would accrue to them and to the nations as this project came to completion.

David captured the minds of the people of Israel. He placed a vision in their thinking that undoubtedly became a topic of much animated conversation as people talked together throughout the land. He gave them words to use in their conversations and worship, the words of Psalm 68, so that they had something clear and concrete to wrap their minds around as they considered what their part in this project must be.

But David didn’t stop with informing the minds of God’s people. He drove straight to the hearts, stimulating their affections in powerful ways, so that they would desire this vision and project enough to do whatever was required to bring it to pass.

Let’s take a closer look.

A wide range of affections

David understood what his son Solomon would insist on in Proverbs 4.23: All the great issues of life proceed from the heart. Unless the hearts of people are fully and appropriately engaged, any action they may take toward realizing a vision will be less than whole-hearted and, therefore, likely to fail.

David drove his vision into the hearts of his people as surely as Peter drove the Word of God into his hearers on that first Christian Pentecost. The people of Israel were “stabbed in their hearts” as David held out God’s vision for them, so much so that they could not not respond to his call.

David held out the promise of much rejoicing – of joy and gladness – to the people of Israel. As God comes to dwell among His people they would rejoice and sing and praise the Lord and be filled with gladness in His presence (vv. 3, 4). No one will take up the challenge of a merely intellectual vision – a promise of more members or new buildings or further outreach or new programs. But show them, and persuade them, that your vision will fill them with rejoicing and praise and thanksgiving, and you’ll begin to win them to it.

Notice also that David encouraged the people that God’s coming to dwell among them would give them new boldness to engage their enemies and proclaim the greatness of the Lord (vv. 12, 20-23). David did not call the people to be courageous; he promised them that, once the temple was finished and God had filled it with His glorious presence, they would simply be bolder by His being among them.

Finally, we note David’s appeal to personal significance, the feeling of importance, that I matter and that I have something to contribute to God’s Kingdom. He encouraged the people to see themselves as abundantly blessed with many gifts from God. But he also led them to think they would be able to come into the very presence of God, with whatever their gifts, offerings, or possessions might be, however great or small, and to present these to God for His pleasure and purposes. Everyone had something to give, David encouraged them to see, because everyone was being abundantly blessed by God. And the record, as we have seen, shows that the people rallied to that sense of significance and gave abundantly for the work of David’s vision.

Visionary leaders know they have to capture the minds – the imaginations – of those they are seeking to lead to greater heights of work and achievement for the Lord. They need to paint large, bold pictures of what God is planning to do with them, and to communicate that vision over and over and over, so that it becomes fixed in the minds of the people, as evidenced in their conversation with one another.

But visionary leaders also need to go for the hearts of the people as well, to stimulate their affections, shape their desires and longings, and help them re-order their priorities accordingly. David did this amazingly well, and all he was doing was building a temple. We are called to join Christ in building His temple, His nation, His Body, the salt, light, and leaven of the world! How many more of the affections of God’s people must we seek to engage with so glorious a vision and grand a promise as this!

Next steps

What are you excited about in your church’s vision? What gets your heart beating and takes over your desires as you think about contributing something to the work of your church? Talk with some fellow church members about this question.

Additional Resources

Download this week’s study, Visionary Leadership.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

Need vision for a revived church? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, Preparing Your Church for Revival, from our online store.

And men, download our free brief paper, “Men of the Church: A Solemn Warning,” by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.