LOOK INWARDS!

“The great tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still in him.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When you come to know who you are in God and discover what you are wired up by God to do you will find success and satisfaction. Learn to look inwards. Looking around will get you nowhere. You are loaded! Discover your gifts and talents. It’s your inside advantage – the very key to the riches, the success and the fulfilment you’ve been looking for. All you need do is discover it, develop it and display it.

An ancient legend has it that at a time in the history of man, society so abused wisdom that the council of wise men decided to hide the secret of happiness and success from mankind. A council meeting was convened. The following discussion ensued:

First Wiseman: “Let us bury it deep down in the earth.”

Chief Wiseman: “If we bury it in the earth, man will learn how to dig deep and will one day discover it.”

Second Wiseman: “Let’s carry it to the top of the highest mountain.”

Chief Wiseman: “If we take it to the top of the highest mountain, man will learn how to climb to the top of the mountains and discover it and use it for himself.”

First Wiseman: “Let us sink it deep in the ocean.”

Chief Wiseman: “If sunk into the deepest ocean, man will learn how to dive in and will one day discover it.”

After a long silence the Chief Wiseman said, “Here is what we’re going to do. We will hide it deep in the inside of man himself, for he will never think to look for it there.”

Today, are you not still running to and fro, digging, climbing and diving, searching for something you already possess within yourself? Think about it. YOU WILL SUCCEED!

PictureSpeak

This is so true!

When Books Commit Suicide!

I had always believed that we should raise our kids on books and not on the TV. And here I found supportive evidence.

But by the way, how will you raise your kids on books when you yourself, don’t read. I am an avid reader. I love books. And I read like there is no other thing else to do. And my wife and I are raising our two kids to do the same too. We try as much as possible to reduce TV time and substitute it with reading. Think about it. If you watch too much TV, we might never see you on TV. (I mean, you just might not make that much impact in life to ever warrant an appearance on TV). Today a reader, tomorrow a leader!

Let me conclude with this quote: “I strongly believe that we should turn the TV way down in our lives and get back to reading – reading broadly, deeply, outside our comfort zones and outside our professional fields.” (Stephen R. Covey, The 8th Habit) You will succeed!

THOUGHTS TO CHEW ON

Faith is holding as true, the reality of what I believe God for (knowing that He has done it for me); and holding in an atmosphere of expectancy the evidence that it is done even though I as yet cannot see it. – A personal paraphrase of Hebrews 11:1

THOUGHTS TO CHEW ON

God needs manpower
And man needs God’s power
But God works
Only when man works –
The work of praying
For, when man works,
Man works
But when man prays,
God works!

HOW DO YOU DEFINE A FRIEND?

Who is your friend? What and Who, is a friend? What is friendship? How do you define a friend? Have you been asked that before? It’s a question I have been trying to proffer an answer to, from God’s Word. Let’s explore in these series of posts, the essence of friendships. And please do let me know what you think. Blessings!

Friends are not just acquaintances. And real friends are more than just school or work mates. No! AGREEMENT is the keyword in friendship. Two people cannot walk together except they are agreed. The axe is laid at the root of every relationship. If it does not produce, get rid of it! Friendship does not have to be by force.

Wrong friends (not necessarily bad ones) will corrupt your destiny. “Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) Amnon was King David’s firstborn son. By descent, he was heir to the throne of Israel. But his destiny crashed through a wrong advice from one of his so-called ‘friends’ – Jonadab the son of Shimeah. The ‘prodigal son’ too had a glorious destiny but not with the wrong company he kept. Beware of the friends you keep for they determine your destiny. He who walks with the wise will be wise!

So how do you define a friend?

A TRUE FRIEND ADDS VALUE TO YOU
“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17 NKJV)

Henry Ford said, “Who is your best friend? I will tell you who your best friend is. Your best friend is the one who brings out the best that is within you.” And I think that is so true.

Every true friend brings an investment of value into your life. They do not lean on you alone; they bring something to the table in the relationship. Someone who does not sharpen your focus on your assignment is not a good friend. Anybody who does not improve your life is neither. Some relationships do not add but subtract from you, which is no friendship but parasitism.

No relationship leaves you neutral; if it’s not adding to you, it is subtracting from you whether you’re aware of it or not. Watch out! Some folks are ‘subtracters’, not ‘adders’. They are ‘dividers’, not ‘multipliers’. They are ‘minuses’, not ‘plusses’. When you discover such people in your life, it’s time to go shopping for some new friends!

YOU WILL SUCCEED!

20 DEFINITIONS YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT (part 3)

Oh! Oh! Oh! Are you feeling this? Words are powerful and the meaning you attach to them defines you. I mean, you define words and in turn, they come to define you! Let these definitions help you, motivate you, encourage you or anger you, if need be. But please do not be indifferent.

Just check out these last set of definitions: having an education is not about going to school; worldliness is not rocket science, John Wesley cuts it to the bare bones for us. Enjoy and be blessed by these. You will succeed!

14. EDUCATION is that which we remember when we have forgotten all we learnt! – Unknown

15. COOPERATION is spelled with two letters: WE. – G. M. Verity

16. WORLDLINESS is that which cools my affection towards God. – John Wesley

17. COURAGE is fear that has said its prayers! – Karle Wilson Baker

18. THE WILL OF GOD is saying and doing the right thing in the right place with the right people at the right time and in the right sequence under the right leadership using the right method with the right attitude of heart. – Loren Cunningham

19. A GOOD MARRIAGE is a union of two forgivers. – Ruth Bell Graham

20. Okay now, add yours. I’m waiting.

20 DEFINITIONS YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT (part 2)

I am still talking about words and their meanings, or definitions. Check out these few more. Note especially how Akio Morita (the co-founder of Sony Corporation) defines who an entrepreneur is. Also I’m inspired by those three definitons of Profanity in case you are someone given to running off at the mouth. Receive wisdom! And I’m just so blessed by how Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo defines DIGNITY. Waoh! Let’s go…

8. AN ENTREPRENEUR is a man who falls down seven times and gets up eight times! – Akio Morita

9. PROFANITY is a public announcement of stupidity. Swearing is a lazy man’s way of trying to be emphatic. – Dr. Mike Murdock

10. PROFANITY is a device that makes ignorance audible. – Unknown

11. PROFANITY is the effort of a feeble mind to express itself forcibly. – Unknown

12. DIGNITY is a man or woman who carries himself or herself right in public, uninfluenced by his/her lack or affluence. – Matthew Ashimolowo

13. BIG MEN are only small men who lift up smaller men. – Yomi Olufiade

I’ll conclude this in the next post. YOU WILL SUCCEED!

20 DEFINITIONS YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT (part 1)

Words convey meaning. If you are like me, when I come across a word and do not understand its meaning, I reach for the dictionary. But here I am attempting to share with you thoughts from different people, myself included, on the meaning of some words. Please think about them because the definitions you’re about to read are not in your everyday dictionary. May you be blessed!

1. MEDIOCRITY is a region bounded on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by a lack of vision. – John C. Mason

2. COMPROMISE is accepting what we don’t believe because we refuse to fight for what we do believe. – Casey Treat

3. WORRY is an old man with a bended head carrying a load feathers he thinks is lead. – Corrie Ten Boom

4. FEAR is the dark room where negatives are developed. – Unknown

5. A LEADER is a man who knows the road, who can keep ahead, and who pulls others after him. – John R. Mott

6. OBSTACLES are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. – Hannah More

7. HARDSHIP is only a HARD ship. Stay on board, it is taking you somewhere! – Yomi Olufiade

YOU WILL SUCCEED!

LET’S TALK ABOUT MEEKNESS-2

Meekness is further displayed by a thirst for knowledge.

A proud and disdainful young man once came to Socrates, the Greek philosopher, and with a smirk, said, “O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.”

Seeing the shallowness and the vanity of the young man, Socrates led him to the sea into waist-deep water. Then he said, “Tell me again what you want.”

“Knowledge,” he responded with a smile.

Socrates grabbed the young man by his shoulders and pushed him down under the water, holding him there for thirty seconds. “Now what do you want?”

“Wisdom, O great Socrates,” the young man sputtered.

The philosopher pushed him under once again. When he let him up, he asked again, “What do you want?”

“Knowledge, O wise and…” he managed to spit out before Socrates held him under again, this time even longer.

“What do you want?” the old man asked as he let him up again. The young man coughed and gasped.

“Air!” he screamed. “I need air!”

“When you want knowledge as much as you just wanted air, then you will get knowledge,” the old man stated as he returned to shore.

Meekness will almost always reveal itself in a thirst for knowledge. Cecil A. Mace (1894-1971), emeritus professor of psychology at the University of London said in his book, The Psychology of Study: “The ultimate source of efficiency in observation, in memory, and in constructive thought is insatiable curiosity and the itch to know.”

Let me ask you, “Do you seek to be known or do you seek to know?”

Many are busy seeking to be known, embarking on futile ego trips. Stop seeking to be known. Start seeking to know. I can tell you from experience that when you get busy seeking to know, men will get busy seeking to know you!

Paul, the apostle after years of preaching the gospel and founding the churches of Asia yet cried out, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…” (Philippians 3:10). I always wonder, what yet is there for this giant of the faith to know. This was the man who wrote that some fourteen years prior, he was caught up to the third heaven and heard things which a mouth cannot utter (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-6). Yet he was meek. He still was thirsty to know God!

Solomon was widely famed for his wisdom but beneath that was a thirst for knowledge. He attained greatness, prominence and wealth yet he still had a thirst to know more.

“I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven…I have seen all the works that are done under the sun…I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge…And I set my heart to know wisdom…” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, 16-17)

It’s time to get on a fresh quest for knowledge. Like Plutarch said, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.” No matter what you know, there is still much to know. In fact, you will discover that the more you know, the more there is still to know. The more you know, the more you can make known. The more you know, the more you will be known. With all your getting, get this attitude of meekness! YOU WILL SUCCEED! (Excerpts from a yet to be released book by Yomi Olufiade)