Category: ARCHIVE

Low Information Diet: The Breakfast of Champions

I read a lot of books because I write a lot…

Or maybe I write a lot because I read a lot.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions”. Since books are compendiums of experiences, it is safe to assume that reading books can stretch the mind into new frontiers.

Last year was a great year of reading for me…I think I read about 50 – 60 books.

Pretty impressive, right?

However, I am starting to find out that I had been going about reading books the wrong way. I realized that I was focusing on ‘just-in-case’ information, rather than ‘just-in-time’ information. ‘Just-in-case’ information leads to action paralysis which is often due to mental clutter fluttering through the mind. You’re merely accumulating information just for its sake. You really don’t need that!

What you need is ‘Just-in-time’ information which would give you a competitive advantage over anything that life may throw at you.

 

David and Saul

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When reading the story of David and Goliath, many people fail to realize that the war between the Israelites and the Philistines was that prolonged because of ‘Just-in-case’ information.

Take a look at the following verses from 1 Samuel 17:1-7, 16.

“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him…

…And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.“

How were the Israelites able to measure Goliath’s height with stunning accuracy? Six cubits…and a span. It doesn’t get more accurate than that!

How were they able to know that his helmet was made of brass, and his coat made of mail…without even touching him?

How were they able to know that Goliath’s spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron, or that his coat weighed five thousand shekels of brass…all the way from the mountain where they were standing?

All these unnecessary information kept the Israelites captive to one man. For 40 days!!!

If they had put down their compasses, set squares, French curves and protractors, and simply got down to attacking the Philistine army, they might have had a shot at winning the battle.

If you can take this, you would be on the right path of simplifying your life greatly: Not every information is important!

I know this post started with mere accumulation of information from books, but it’s much more than that!

There are several of you reading this right now, who have been held captive to information overload from gossip blogs and news sites. For others, it is their Facebook feeds and emails. Still, others more (including yours’ sincerely), it is your favorite football team. You know your team’s latest scores, their transfer targets and the jersey numbers of everyone on the team – including the B team!

Regardless of the type of information, our minds are just being bombarded time and time again with ‘just-in-case’ information that we do not need.

I mean, who gives a rip about whether Kim Kardashian was really tanned or not?

How is knowing ‘the number of times Jon was stabbed when he was murdered at Castle Black’ going to benefit you?

Who cares whether EFCC has the best Twitter handler ever?

Not every information is important!

Goliath was trending and David didn’t even know!

This simple fact of David choosing to be ignorant about Goliath’s attributes and well-informed about the attributes of God positioned him for victory. What Saul and the Israelites saw as too big to defeat, David saw as too big to miss!

 

The Tetris Effect

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If you’re old enough, I am sure you should be familiar with Tetris. You know, that game where you had to arrange falling blocks into empty pockets of space at the lower part of your game screen. If you were not able to do this fast enough and the blocks got to the high enough to stop more blocks from falling, it was game over.

Well, some scientists decided to have some more fun with this game.

So, they got a bunch of Tetris lovers and made them play the game for extended periods of time – up to hours a day for weeks!

Here’s the interesting thing that happened next.

The gamers started seeing everything around them like, wait for it…falling blocks!!!

It was terrible. I can almost imagine one of the participants just sitting there chilling and busy figuring out the kind of block that would fit into the space between two cars following each other!

However, you shouldn’t be surprised with the findings. The Bible had been right all this while and it’s always nice to see science finally catching up with the Word.

Whatever you focus on continually would manifest in your life!

This is why Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’

A lot of people are not are not diligent with what they allow to go into their hearts. This can happen in two major ways:

  1. A lot of people are focused on all the wrong things. We are all aware that if you focus on the negatives, you would lead a stifled life. I’m not going to dwell too much on this.
  2. A lot of people are focused on too many right things at the same time! I’m more concerned about this second way because it is much more prevalent in our day and time.

Back in the days, I used to think it was cool to be focused on so many things at the same time. In fact, I used to pride myself on my ability to multitask because I had multiple talents. However, if you go through the path of trying your hands on everything you come across, you would find yourself living under the illusion of being an expert when in the real sense, you are not. It would also force you to be spread out too thin – since you are simply trying your hands on everything and not spectacular in anything. Man was not made to be spread out thin. Rather, he was created to have depth!

This is why I say multitasking is the highway to mediocrity because the only thing you become good at doing is doing multiple things poorly!

 

There Is A Better Way

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I have said it before – God is The God of Principles.

Sadly, we live in a generation that gets the order of God wrong every single time:

We first try to accumulate the information we think we need and then we try to ask God to approve our agenda. When we find out that the agenda does not work out, we dump it somewhere in the recesses of our brain – alongside the information we gathered with it.

Wasting precious time and mental resources.

And then, we look for the next shiny information source to consume.

The cycle always repeats itself again!

Listen up: God is deliberate.

I do not think He created us to be Jacks of all trades, and masters of none.

Just the same way each cell in our bodies has a specific purpose which contributes to the general well-being of the body, I believe every individual has something specific to contribute to God’s wonderful ongoing story of creation.

The only way to find that specific purpose that God wants you to do with your life is to ask Him to reveal this to you. Only then would it make sense to start accumulating as much information as possible on your highly specific assignment.

We were not created to be spread out thin like shrubs. Rather, God designed us to be trees with depth in Him.

Find your purpose in Him first!

Then you can start building depth in God through the Word and cultivating expertise through accumulating “just-in-time” information within that narrow niche.

God bless.

 

Who Died And Made You God?

Within the space of two weeks, two different people within my circle of influence were visibly shaken by other people’s opinions about them. One moment, we were talking and jesting, the very next moment, they were wrapped with so much doubt and uncertainty in themselves. What I found most appalling is the fact that nobody had been physically present to make them feel bad.

I can empathize since I was once a victim too.

I had always attached a large importance to what people thought about me. In fact, in a bid to maintain my “Nice Guy” persona, I went to great lengths to conform to other people’s expectations of me. Not only did this leave me in the quagmire of mediocrity, I was also constantly overwhelmed and frustrated, because I was spread out too thin, trying to “meet up with the standard”.

Right now, God has cultivated me to the point where I really could not give a rip about your opinions of me.

Remember this?

By the way, you can still get your copy by clicking on the picture above!

Anyways, I may still have tendencies to be shy in a new environment, but I am secure in the love of the Father to know that He’s got me – any day, any time. Of course, by now, you should know that one of my favorite Scriptures I like to quote about this matter is John 12:3-5:

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

Are you like the way I used to be? Frustrated and overwhelmed with meeting up with the opinions of others? Pay attention to the following practical tips that may be helpful in helping you to a life of freedom and abundance – just as God wants it!

 

The Father, The Son And The…Donkey!

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I’m sure I’ve heard Ebenezer Obey sing a song about the story I am about to share. Ah! The good ol’ days…

But I digress.

So, there was this old man who had a son and a donkey. They were apparently going on a long journey and the father put the boy on the donkey, while he walked by the side. As they moved along, they passed some old women sitting in the shade. One of the women called out (I’m pretty sure she was a Yoruba woman), ”Ahhhhhh…..Shame on you, a fully fit boy, riding while your old father is walking. What is this world turning to? Ahhhh….the children of nowadays!”

The man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right, so they swapped positions.

Later as they passed by a group of mothers watching their young children play by the river. One (Yoruba woman, of course!) cried out in protest, ” Ahhhhh….eh!!! Oooooooo!!! Ahnahn! Ahnhan! Ahnhan! Wat hapin na? How can you make your little boy walk under this terribly hot sun while you ride! Ahnhan…don’t you have any conscience?”

So, what did the duo do? They simply decided that maybe it would be in their best interest to walk.

Next, they met some young Warri men hanging out.

“Oboi! See craze o! You guys have a healthy donkey to ride on, and yet you’re both walking!” one of them shouted.

So, both the old man and his son climbed the donkey.

Then they met a group of Animal lovers….

Of course, one of them shouted, “You people are so mean! Imagine you were the donkey, how would you feel carrying two people on your back?”

The old man and the boy saw that there was clearly no way out of their ‘predicament’, so they struggled to carry the donkey.

As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the really confused animal and it fell to its death in the river!

This is pretty much the first lesson to be learnt: Irrespective of what you do, people would always talk about you!

If you do something, they would talk. If you refuse to do anything, they would still talk. It makes absolutely no difference if you do anything or not, because people would always find a way to still talk about whatever you do.

Funny enough, in my experience, I was able to find freedom to live above people’s opinions of me the moment I realized that opinions would still be formed – regardless of what I do. If that’s that’s the case, I might as well go ahead with what I feel God is leading me to do per time!

 

Nothing Has Meaning, Except The Meaning You Give To It

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Some days ago, I wrote the following on my Facebook wall:

“All human phenomena are absurd outside context. E.g, money: ‘Give me this Ferrari and I’ll give you a piece of paper with digits. Deal?'”

I was with a person who posted Christian content on his personal Facebook wall.

Now, that would not have really mattered, except when you consider the fact that this person is a highly-placed individual in a very secular community. So, naturally, some people started criticizing him for posting such content.

That really got to him.

I mean, it’s not like he shared some nudity or pornographic images on his Facebook timeline. He only shared a few encouraging lines from the Bible and he was being criticized for it?

If you look at the issue the way I have started seeing things, you’d realize that some things do not even make sense at all, except you decide to read meanings. Everyone accesses social media via their phones and laptops and if you are working yourself up because someone criticizes you on social media, in the ‘realest‘ sense, you are actually getting worked up with your phone! Whoever is criticizing you online is not in the same room with you, and there is no need for you to waste mental energy rehearsing your rebuttal in your mind. There is simply no time for that!

I remember a story I heard while growing up. Now, don’t quote me anywhere because I’m not sure whether it’s fact or fiction.

So, this witch went to a party and she was served jollof rice and fried rice – topped with chicken wings. She took offense and some days later, she started afflicting the family who organized the party. One way or the other, the witch was soon found out and she was asked why she decided to afflict the family.

Her response? Her rice was topped with chicken wings, instead of chicken thighs!

While some of you might laugh at the story I just shared, a lot of you reading this post are just the same way. In fact, so many would be offended if they went to a party and were served water, instead of juice or wine. They would forget that water is probably the healthiest liquid you can drink. Rather, they would think that they have just received the worst insult that any human could possibly endure!

Don’t even get me started with those who feel offended because someone handed something over to them with their left hand – instead of the right hand….

 

Receive Understanding To Tie It All Together

You would not believe it (just kidding!), but God has an opinion.

He has an opinion about everything – and He has His opinion about you!

If there was ever an opinion you need to highly consider in your life – that opinion is God’s.

This is where Understanding comes in play.

You see, Understanding is a supernatural discernment and perception of reality from God’s point of view. In essence, it is perceiving and accepting God’s opinion about things, people and places per time.

The truth is that with Understanding, it is impossible for you to be confounded, depressed, confused or at a loss. Why? You have the benefit of a supernaturally elevated perception – one that is backed by the very breath of God. By understanding, you are tuned into the dynamics of the spirit and your comprehension of actions, events and intentions becomes razor-sharp.

To me, the most outstanding feature of understanding is that it is applicable to EVERY aspect of your life. That includes your physical well-being, career, social life, relationships, spiritual walk with God, emotional intelligence, financial health and so on.

Proverbs 8:9 says, ‘They are ALL plain to him that understandeth’

Understanding makes all things plain to an individual.

Understanding is all-encompassing.

When it’s in full manifestation in your life, you understand the ways and timings of God, you undestand people, you understand things, and most importantly, you’d understand how God sees you.

He sees you as righteous.

He sees you as anointed.

He sees you as wise.

He sees you as forgiven.

God sees you as beloved!

The more you focus on God’s perspective of you, the more you can walk in the full awareness of God’s love – without anybody’s opinions holding you to ransom!

And if they try, you can look them squarely in the eyes and ask them, “Who Died And Made You God?!”

 

The Secret Of Success

I remember the first day I came across the video of The Secret.

I was preparing my final year project and I did not have a laptop. Fortunately, a good friend borrowed me his and that was how I stumbled on The Secret – right there on his desktop.

When I clicked the play button, I remember seeing a blonde lady checking through the annals of history, searching and researching for the elusive secret to all-round success in life. She consulted the fields of psychology, philosophy, and even physics.

Yes, you read that right…Physics!!!

And not just any kind of Physics, but Quantum Physics!

YIKES!

Image result for the secret rhonda byrne video

What amazed me the most was that she actually found answers.

She found the secret to accumulating money.

She found the secret to successful relationships.

She found the secret to good health.

Back then, I remember feeling so excited because I thought that this woman had it all together.

I mean, her tenacity and focus had paid off and she had figured out the secret to the world and the secret to life itself – all on her own!

Or had she?

 

Available Response, Wrong Answers

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The central theme of The Secret is that everything operates under the Law Of Attraction.

In essence, you are poor because you attracted poverty into your life.

You are sick because you attracted it into your life.

You experience misfortunes because you attracted it into your life through your words, your thoughts, and action.

And if you want to have any chance of changing your life, you have to start attracting what you want.

To an extent, this is true.

After all, even the Bible says that one’s expectations will not be cut short (Proverbs 23:18).

But here’s the thing: God has ordained the whole world to operate on Principles.

Just as there are physical laws that govern our existence on this side of eternity, there are spiritual laws that govern the spiritual realm. Curiously, as much as we claim to know about our earth and the wealth of materials that are available to us, a lot of people are still in the dark concerning the realities of the spiritual realm.

We live in a generation of knowledge where our schools teach us about the physical laws of the universe, such as the laws of gravity or Newton’s laws of motion.

Yet, our institution for spiritual knowledge – the church – has clearly not caught up.

The truth remains that people are tired of the status quo and they are asking questions. Hard questions that the church is not giving answers to.

People are tired of hearing that God killed their children!

People are tired of hearing that God inflicted them with sickness to humiliate them and teach them obedience!

People are tired of hearing that money is the root of all evils! 

And because there is a void that needs to be filled, some have crept in to fill up that highly marketable void – providing responses to these harsh questions.

It’s a classic case of when the available becomes desirable!

 

New Age Prevarications

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If you have ever read or watched The Secret, you would find out a very nauseating worldview that every contributor seems more than happy to force down our throats. Every single entrepreneur, physicist, businessman, philosopher, psychologist involved with The Secret had the same devil-inspired, New Age idea.

The idea is this: There is no God!

They are comfortable to referring to vague terms like Divine Intelligence, The Infinite Mind or even…The Universe!

The Universe? What does that even mean?!

There is always going to be a clear delineation between the Creator and the created!

How can anyone with his right mind claim to talk about the secret of Success without the Originator of Success?

Little wonder Psalms 14:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”

The Secret then goes on to explain how you can get success with positive confessions, creative imagination of the reality you desire, as well as practicing gratitude.

If you practice these things, would you be able to have cash flow and lead the life of your dreams?

Maybe.

Why?

Simple.

God has ordained the world to be governed by Principles. And because His name is Faithful, if you key into the principles, you would get great results – regardless of your religious background, your personality or your beliefs.

Unfortunately, the New Age movement is relentless in its singular purpose of unseating God as the center of our lives and enthroning the flesh instead!

They tell you that you are God – outside Christ!

They tell you that you have power – outside the power of Christ!

They tell you that you are the creator – outside the context of The Creator God!

The New Age movement does not want to acknowledge God in any way.

In fact, they go as far as bending and twisting scientific findings to suit and fit in with their diabolical purposes.

 

Why Is This Important To You?

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What New Age practitioners would not tell you is that in the spiritual realm, there are evil spirits, as well as angels of light.

When you attempt to access the realm of the spirit without the covering of the Blood of Jesus, you make yourself an easy target for the enemy.

In Christ, this is impossible though, because the Bible says we, as believers, are complete in Christ, who is untouchable in a position of authority over the devil and his goons (Colossians 2:10). That is awesome!

This is why so many of the people who try to get success outside God and His Word end up afflicted one way or the other in other aspects of their lives – broken homes, disillusion with success, drug and alcohol addictions, among many others.

On the other hand, Proverbs 10:22 says,“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

Am I saying that positive confessions, creative imagination, and gratitude are all wrong?

Of course not. God approves of all these things and if we want to be sincere, all these things have a richer meaning in Christ Jesus.

 

The Real Secret of Success

Joshua 1:8 says, ” This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Notice how the last phrase of the verse says “good success”.

The fact that there is good success implies that there is bad success.

Listen, God has your best interests at heart and He is deliberate about your life and situation.

He has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and that secret that seems to be eluding you is wrapped up in The Word!

You are going to profit with the Word – if only you would take the time to plant it into your heart and let it bring forth its fruit in its thirties, and sixties, and hundreds!!!

Believers & Self-Image

In Christian circles, the term ‘self-image’ is often used with great caution. You might even be tempted to think that it’s a taboo word.

It’s understandable that Christians feel a bit weird about the topic, since the Word of God clearly condemns placing all our attention and focus on ‘Self’

As Jesus said, ‘…if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me’ (Matthew 16:24)

Unfortunately, a lot of people misunderstand what Jesus said, and as a result, they go the other extreme.

Christianity is not a religion, but a lifestyle.It’s not a doing, but a being. And believe me sincerely, you’d find it very difficult to BE a Christian if you have poor self-image!
Your self-image is simply how you see yourself. Depending on your choice, it could be positive, or negative, or somewhere caught up in the middle.

When Jesus was teaching His disciples about denying themselves, He wasn’t even talking about denying your self-image!

How could He? Jesus Himself had a self-image!

For heavens’ sake, Jesus Christ referred to Himself as the Son of God numerous times because that’s how He saw Himself!

When Jesus was talking about denying yourself, He was not referring to your self-image – He was referring to your sinful human nature!

That’s why Apostle Paul would later say in Colossians 3:5 that you should ‘…mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…’

Paul wasn’t saying that we should cut off the parts of our bodies. Rather, he was telling us to deal with our sinful human natures!

The sinful human nature has absolutely nothing to do with your self-image!

As I’ve said before, your self-image simply has to do with how you see ourselves.

When the right self-image is in place, you’d realize that you need to choose to love yourself for who you are!

You need to choose to eliminate fear!

You need to destroy self-doubt!

You need to change your self-talk!

You need to choose your association wisely!

None of these things are evil, and it’s hard to understand why believers would prefer give the impression of piety and somberness by beating themselves up and allow self-condemnation to keep them in bondage to an ordinary, mediocre life.

If I was an unbeliever and you came to introduce Christ to me with your poor, beaten-up self-image, I would most definitely not accept Him into my life.

As an unbeliever, I would be thinking thoughts like, ‘Why should I accept Jesus into my life when He can’t even take care of you’ or ‘I’d rather remain where I am than join you and become like you’

Little would I have thought that Jesus didn’t make you mediocre…your choices and ignorance did!

Christianity is an awesome and fun way to live in such a time as this.

Unfortunately, many unbelievers would never get to know this because of the poor self-image of many Christians.

Reality check: If you had a chance of preaching the gospel to a wealthy aristocrat or a beggar that sleeps in a dump, who are you most likely going to preach to?

I can bet that the majority of you reading this would go for the poor guy because you do not think you’re good enough to talk to the rich guy.

Am I saying that the rich guy’s soul is more expensive and valuable than his poor counterpart?

No! All I’m saying is that if your self-image is in the right place, it won’t matter to you at all if you had to talk to the wealthy or to the poor. All you’d be interested in would be in sharing the gospel. Period!

As a Christian, you have a mandate from God to be a bright and shining light in this evil world full of evil and darkness.

However, you would not be able to fulfill that mandate if you have no idea about your Self-image.

If unbelievers can harness the powers of a positive self-image and have powerful results in their lives, you can imagine what would happen when a Christian can understand his self-image and use it to his advantage.

Sky would be the very beginning!

Understanding Understanding

When compared with what has already been said about Wisdom and Knowledge in Christendom today, it’s a bit surprising to find out not so much has been said about understanding, in spite of the fact that the Word says so much about it.

In the Parable of The Sower, Jesus says that the Word will not profit you in the absence of Understanding.

‘When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart…’ (Matthew 13:21).

Understanding is deeper than what you think it is and we’d be trusting our Teacher to put us in the right path to understanding Understanding.

One of the most direct definitions of Understanding is found in Proverbs 9:10. It says, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding’

We’re more concerned with the second portion of that verse: ‘…the knowledge of the holy is understanding’

Now, I’m aware that some translations render that verse as ‘…the knowledge of the Holy One…’, but I believe that such translations are a bit limiting. We’d appreciate why shortly.

Understanding means possessing the knowledge of the holy, therefore, we need to know what ‘holy’ means before possess its knowledge.

So, what then is the meaning of ‘holy’?

Being holy simply means being set apart for God, by God.

However, nothing can be holy without God because God is the only one with the attribute of being holy and He’s the only One capable of inputing the attribute of being holy.

This inputing happens via the presence of God.

Throughout the scriptures, it is apparent that the Presence of God is what makes a place, a thing or a person…and even a particular time, holy.

For instance, the place where the burning bush burnt in Exodus 3:5 was not said to be holy AFTER Moses’ encounter with God. Neither was the place where Joshua met with the captain of the Lord’s hosts in Joshua 5:15 referred anymore as holy after the encounter. All these places became holy as a result of God’s manifested presence!

Great! But what does this have to do with understanding?

A lot, actually.

Since God is too big to lie (Titus 1:2), whatever He says is Truth. And whatever He declares as holy by His Presence becomes just that!

So, when you have understanding, you suddenly become highly perceptive to whatever, wherever, whoever God has marked and vetted with His Presence per time!

You become highly sensitive to realities of the Ultimate Truth from God’s point of view per time!

What do you think made the men of Issachar stand out from among their peers?

‘And the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…’ (1 Chronicles 12:32)

They were sensitive to what God was doing in Israel per time. They had picked up on their receivers that in the NOW agenda of God, David was the one who has been vetted by God to be Israel’s king. As a result, they broke camp with Saul and joined David.

When Understanding is established in your heart, you cannot be stranded!

When Understanding possesses you, you cannot be at a loss, neither can you be confused!

Rather, you’d find yourself in step with God and always one step ahead of what the devil, circumstances or the world throws at you.

Today, we live in a world where there’s a dearth of men and women of understanding and the Father is earnestly seeking and searching for men and women who would avail their hearts to stay sensitive to the realities from His point of view.

Would you be part of them?

Security In The Audience Of One

When it comes to forming opinions about ourselves, a lot of us are very sensitive to what others say about us.

News flash: Every single person would form an opinion about you, whether you do something or remain nothing!

Personally, I experienced first-hand the truth of that statement. You see, in a bid to become a ‘people person’, I was becoming a ‘people pleaser’.

For a while, I thought it worked. Everyone seemed to like me – males, females, seniors and juniors…

…that was until The Woman entered the picture.

Really, there’s was nothing I could do to please this woman!

It seemed as if she took pleasure in embarassing and humiliating me with every chance she got.

Back then, I didn’t understand, neither did I appreciate the lesson she was inadvertently teaching me.

Eight years later, it’s crystal clear.

You’d lose sight of yourself if you try to conform into other people’s opinion of you.

At that young age, I had been unconsciously trying to be the nice guy that did not want to offend anybody.

I didn’t want to disappoint the ‘expectations’ that other people had of me.

So, I put unnecessary pressure on myself to ‘perform’ and meet up with the opinions of others.

I most likely would have continued to tread down that path today, were it not for the intervention of THAT woman!

The lesson was driven home while I was meditating on some verses I came across many years back.

‘Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded’ (John 13:3-5).

Wow!

Jesus could perform the menial task of washing His disciples’ feet because He knew Who He was.

He was secure in the fact that all things had been given to Him.

Jesus didn’t feel pressured to meet up with the standards that were expected of a highly respected Rabbi.

As long as Jesus knew He was doing what the Father was doing per time (John 5:19), He didn’t give a rip about the opinions of anybody else – be it the Pharisees, the multitude, the Gentiles or even His disciples.

Look, we all know that doctors wear ward coats. But I tell you the truth, a ward coat without the doctor is just another piece of cloth. It’s the doctor in himself that gives value to the ward coat!

Similarly, when you make up your mind to see yourself the way God sees you, no one’s opinions matter anymore.

You’d secure yourself in God’s Love for you.

You’d develop an outlook on life that remains the same, regardless of people’s criticisms or approvals.

You won’t live your life trying to conform to other people’s expectations and opinions of you.

Rather, you’d get into the Word and walk in the reality of how God sees you right now.

Granted, you might make mistakes and errors of judgement along the line.

You might get it wrong at times and make a big mess of things.

People would not see eye-to-eye with you on so many issues.

So what? Big deal!

I assure you, as long as you secure yourself in God’s Love for you, you’d have what it takes to learn from the experiences and move on.

Jesus was secure because He only had an audience of One – His Father.

You’d also find security too, when you come to the realization that, ultimately, only One Person’s opinion matters, and that’s God’s!

The Power of Broken Windows

In the field of criminology, researchers discovered that communities that had buildings with broken windows also had higher petty crime rates.

This led to a very interesting question:

Are the petty crime rates in the community causing more windows to be broken, or the broken windows in the community are attracting more criminals?

It’s pretty much like the ‘Chicken-Egg Paradox’. What comes first: the Chicken or the Egg?

Regardless of what the cause is, broken windows in a comnunity is always associated with lawlessness and crime. As a result, broken windows in the community attract more petty criminals that would break more windows which would attract even more criminals that would break even more windows…this can go on and on, but hopefully, you got my point!

Interestingly, in spite of the resources and efforts spent on improving the intervention and number of law enforcement agents, the antics of petty criminals in the community continued to be on the rise.

For some odd reasons, however, the researchers noticed that as soon as the broken windows were fixed in a community, criminals stopped associating the area with lawlessness – and as a result, crime rates dropped drastically! The fixed windows exuded the presence of law and order, and as a result, the criminals stopped perceiving the comnunity as a crime hotspot.

These findings make up the backbone of what’s now called the ‘Broken Window’ theory.

What’s more? The Bible had been telling us the same thing for a while now.

A classic example is the case of King Saul in 1 Samuel 10:10,

‘And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them’

A similar story can be found in 1 Samuel 19:18-24, where not only Saul, but 3 groups of messengers started prophesying by virtue of being where the company of prophets were.

Great! So, how does this relate to me?

It’s simple. There is power in association!

Your associations would go a long way in determining the quality of your experience.

If you decide to associate yourself with 5 prayerful people, soon, you’d be the sixth.

If you associate with 5 millionaires, with time, you’d be the sixth.

It also follows that if you associate with 5 idiots, soon, you’d be the [fill in the gap].

If you don’t like where you’re standing now, check yourself out, you might just be associating yourself with the wrong crowd.

Think BIG!

pdm 5

Many people cannot think big.

Fact.

Today, it’s not uncommon to hear youths making remarks like, ‘I really hope I can get a decent job when I graduate’ or ‘I hope I will be able to make enough money to pay my bills and stuff.’

Rarely would you hear a young person say, ‘By God’s grace, I see myself making millions before I’m 25’

I get nauseous when I hear things like that, because getting a decent job, or making enough money to pay your bills isn’t even the biggest thing you can do with your life!

Sadly, many people are going to live mediocre lives, far below God’s best, because they’ve set the bar very low for themselves.

Psalms 78:41 says, ‘Yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.’

When I was in secondary school, I used to write the following words across the front cover of all my notebooks:

‘Sky is the beginning, God is the Limit’

Clearly, in the light of Psalm 78:41, that was a very toxic thought that could have potentially limited what I could receive from God.

If I had persisted in that way of thinking and had managed to see some level of ‘success’, I would still have fallen short of the richness and vastness His plans for my life.

Listen to this: God never was, never is, and never will be your limitation.

In fact, it works the other way around.

If there’s any variable in the equation…you are the cause!

I don’t mean to condemn you. I’m just pointing you to the answer.

You really need to renew your mind (Romans 12:2)!

Many of us think that renewing our minds merely means changing your way of thinking so as to lead a righteous life.

Renewing your mind is far more than that. It also means changing your perspective of God, so you’d see Him for who He really is.

God is BIG.

His thoughts are BIG.

He thinks about YOU.

And His thoughts about YOU are BIG!

Why would you want to limit what God can do in your life because of your small-picture thinking?

You’ve not been thinking big, and that’s why you’re dissatisfied with where you are.

You’re made for more than your current experience, and that’s why you’re looking for a change in your current situation.

Why not change your thinking and start to discover the plans that the LORD GOD has for you.

Start seeing yourself for who you are in the sight of God: His Righteousness.

Start seeing God for who He really is: The Almighty Potentate.

Start seeing your situation for what it really is: Temporal.

Think BIG and watch your life turn around for the best…just as He has planned it to be!

 

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