Bishop TD Jakes Shares Secrets to Building Vision and Embracing God-Given Opportunities

Bishop T.D. Jakes recently sat down with Pastor Steven Furtick, lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, to talk about his new book, "Soar!" and its concepts of entrepreneurship and leadership.

"At the core of everything, 'Soar!' is saying is, don't be limited. Don't put a period because you did one thing that you can't do something else, that you can't be something else, that you can't evolve as an individual, that you can't explore other idioms of thought," said Jakes.

Jakes says understanding what our God-given calling is should start early on, at home, as our families help us identify our gifts and strengths.

"The very first command God says to Adam is to be fruitful. You can only be fruitful if you are seedful. So we're talking about the difference between fruit and seed; identifying your seed is what causes us to be fruitful. The first revelation of seed should happen in your family. You should have parents who are looking at their kids, looking for seeds," Jakes said.

"Directing that child to an area where you can cultivate what God has planted down inside of them is important," he continued.

Jakes said that even as adults, we all still have seeds inside of us that haven't been touched yet, as we live out what people expect instead of our own dreams. 

"I'm throwing fertilizer," Jakes told his audience, "and if it hits a seed it's going to give birth to companies and businesses and books and artistry and drama and all kinds of stuff that's in this room that people have never given themselves permission to burn their plow."

"If you don't devour when you're young, you'll have nothing to divide when you're old," Jakes continued.

He encouraged the audience that it's OK to try something and fail, as long as they then go try something else. 

"It's OK if it's not the thing, it will be the thing that leads to the thing," Jakes said.

He concluded by sharing we will always be frustrated when we "sit in a place of movement."

"You're trying to use rationale to put up with the situation that you're not called to. What keeps needling you is, 'I belong up there and yet I'm stuck right here.' And there you are in a place of movement watching other people take off and wondering what in the world is wrong?"

"That frustration is God nudging you...if you are not moving something is broken," Jakes said.

You can watch Jakes' full interview here: