COME DANCE WITH ME

     So many reasons make people dance either professionally or on personal level as the situations fits them. Dancing is an art, an expression of a feeling, emotion, or reality of what is on ground. Whatever is the reason why you dance, it appeals to your audience and gives them the message. Today however, I am inviting you to come dance with me.
     I live in an orphanage home, with children from different backgrounds and distinct histories. Some are orphans, some are from vulnerable environments, some are widows children, while others are missionary children. One distinctive thing that is common among these kids is that they all need to be loved, cared for, nourished, and to be treated as any other kid in any meaningful home. If you find yourself in a home like mine I wonder what you will do. For me, we have shared intimate moments together and sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry, sometimes we have enough and other times we barely have to feed. Irrespective of what befalls us, we still remain one in spirit and purpose.
     I am not writing to make you feel bad for kids living in orphanage homes, rather I am inviting you to come dance with me. To celebrate God's goodness and faithfulness in providing for us, protecting us, and giving us sound health. I am calling on you to dance because these kids are no different from kids living with their parent.
I am inviting you to go to an orphanage, children home, or a community center nearest to you and  reach out to a wonderful set of people that are richly endowed with potentials. Go and dance and celebrate them. This is one sure way of finding fulfillment in life. Our lives matter most when we bend low to bless others without expecting anything back from them.
Come dance with me!!!

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME

I was weeping as I knelt down in front of the kids I have been mentoring for the past three years. The reason is simple: One of them said so many heavy things and raised so many accusations against me. Why she is the way she is, why my prayers are not answered and will never be answered, why she will never learn anything again from me, why I am so partial but sugar coat love in talk and not in action, and so many other things that will make me emotional when I recall all that she said to me that morning.

As she talked, all the walls of my defenses crumbled and I picture the role I might have played in her life to make her so hurt, bitter, and depressed. I waited for her patiently to finish her allegations so I could talk but she pointed out that she don't even want to hear me talk to her. I realized that so many things have been going on wrong and my girl is judging me as guilty and responsible.

When she was done talking, I told her I am so sorry for hurting her this way. As I talked, I began to sop and my heart became heavy. I asked her to forgive me and then told her to leave my room. I tried to process all that had happened but couldn't control myself. I moved to the siting room and invited all the kids and told them I am sorry that I have hurt so many of them. My intention had never been to frustrate anyone but to see that they get things right and not repeat some of the mistakes I made when I was their age.

It is not about me, it's all about Jesus. I am not good in myself but weak and full of many short comings in different areas of my life. But in Christ Jesus, I see myself as an overcomer of all these weaknesses and strengthened to live above reproach by the Holy Spirit.

I am not going to play God in the life of anyone, but will point them to God. With this, my heart is no longer weary but rejoices in the spirit. It is not about my abilities to do things well or right but about Jesus living his life fully in me. He is the reference point in me and not I. I will never produce a type or kind of me but encourage everyone to see Jesus, desire him, model their lives around him and live like him in all ramifications of life.

I am not ashamed to say this again and again, "Not about me, It's all about Jesus" and the life I live now is his life flowing out of me.

Lessons from Galatians 2:20 

 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

1. I have been crucified with Christ: I am dead so I no longer live in myself
2. Christ lives in me: It is about Christ  who lives in me
3. I live now by faith in Jesus who loved me and gave himself for me

  

FIGHT ON

I realize recently that I am getting fatigued and my fighting instinct is weak and I needed to act as quick as possible to enable me function optimally.   

Winning laurels come as a result of battles fought and won in specific areas of life. In sports like football, your fight for a win starts from the beginning of the match to the very end of the match. You cannot relent at any time because your opponent will capitalize on your weakness and become victories. In serious matches that end up in stalemate, penalty kicks are models used to determine the winner. In this year’s European Champions league final between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid, the game ended up in a stalemate and penalty kicks was the only option to determine the champions. Even though Athletico Madrid played passionately before the penalties, one mistake from their side gave their opponents the leverage of winning the champions league. The moment Cristiano Ronaldo stepped forward to take the last penalty kick, the only thing that was strong on his mind was winning because he had a vision of scoring the winning goal for his club and sure he did.

I have fought so many battles in life that I cannot count. In some cases I win, lose, or end up in a stalemate. But one thing that characterizes people who fight is not about the last fight but the next one. I must never get carried away by past victories and forget the big fight ahead of me. Even if the last fight was not a win, I must plan for a win in the next fight. I must not forget to also fight The Battle of the Mind 
 Keep your passion going, fight on and become the person you dreamed of. Do not give up on your goals in life. Keep the fight till you overcome.

The Power of Focus

The chameleon is one of the best examples that comes to mind when talking about focusing on something. This is so because one of the main characteristics of a chameleon is it's ability to change colours. So what colour is your chameleon? The truth is, it has no specified colour because of it's unique feature.
Several factors are responsible for chameleon's change of colour. It could be as a result of emotions such as fear or victory, or environmental factors like light or temperature. In all of these factors, one thing is common, that is, the change in colour. When it focus on an object, the chameleon changes to the colour of the object.
The Power of Focus is very important in our daily living today. If we focus on one thing and give it our undivided attention, I believe we can achieve a lot more than doing many things without our due attention. Apostle Paul, in Philippians 3:12-14 has this to say about focus:

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. New King James Version

The reality that confronts Apostle Paul was so glaring and he enumerated some practical lessons that we can learn from to focus. The following will certainly give you the power to focus:

1. You are not there yet, therefore you must press on. No matter how well you wish to achieve something great, if you don't keep pressing on you will sooner or later be out of touch with it. You don't have time to waste, work daily and hold fast to your dream and God will take you there.
2. You must forget the past if you want a new future. The past reminds us of victories or failures. No matter the degree of your past victories or failures, you must let go of it and work hard toward your new future. If you don't walk away from your past, you will begin to feel comfortable about your state and procrastination will come in.
3. Your goal must be your focus. To hit the bulls eye in life, you must focus on the path of your goal and generate enough energy that will drive you to excellence. Make your goal your focus and that way you have nothing to distract you.

For Apostle Paul, the goal is the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. What is your own goal? Whether it is a spiritual, mental, emotional or whatever goal it is, you will hit the bulls eye with the power of focus. You can still achieve the same result with these principles. I therefore call you to move forward toward your goal. I just did one of my goals by writing today.

PICTURE YOUR FUTURE: TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE

 I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Confucius

Are you tired of making plans without fulfilling them? or New Year resolutions and breaking your resolved to take your future seriously only for you to fail before the end of the year? Welcome on board my friend. Before we go further, let me confess that I have had  my share of the trouble of not meeting up to my resolutions or plans for two obvious reasons: Fear and Procrastination. These two defrauded me until God helped me and I found some profound truths in drawing my future with pictures.

So how do we draw our future in pictures to take control of our lives? Jesus said to Nicodemus in their conversation in John chapter three from verse one to five that if you cannot see the kingdom of God you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

   ...unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. [emphasis added]

What you see is what you will go after. If you see yourself as one going to achieve a great result and planned towards it with a good mental picture sketched down, I believe you will get there.

I first learn about Mind Mapping from my writing mentor at Author Audience Academy, even though I have used the principles in the past, what I learn is so enriching. Her name is Shelley Hitz, and her advice stick such that I now have one of the many apps on Mind Mapping on my phone. The app helped me organize decisions to a logical conclusion and set datelines to achieve my goals. The experience was so exciting and the results were good. You can check for the apps on Google Store and download.

But what I want to share with you about using pictures to set plans for the future that you want to arrive at in life. These pictures will fire you up and help you to take good action steps that will yield results. Recently, I watched a talk on YouTube's one of the best TED TALKS of 2015 titled, "Draw Your Future- Take Control of Your Life", Patti Dobrowolski gave a powerful talk that consolidated the idea of picture mapping in my mind. You can watch it here.
Her advice is simple but very profound. You need a picture to set your mind on. When you see the picture and believe that you can achieve what you propose to achieve, and act on your plan it will come to pass in your life. To put it simple:

1. SEE IT: You must draw a new picture of where you are going to in details.
2. BELIEVE IT: You must believe that the picture is what you really want.
3. ACT ON IT: You must act on it to Achieve the success you so desire.

I trust that your life will not remain the same again and that you will put yourself together and face the reality that the future holds for you. You can turn things for good in your life and achieve 100% success. I hope you use the information here and trust God to guide you on a daily basis.

I Failed Into Success

 

Do you know that the quest to succeed today is so demanding? And because of this demand, many people are afraid of starting something new for fear of failure. They prefer to sit and watch other people play the game of life while standing as commentators or spectators. Isn't that ridiculous?

 

Failure is the institution that graduates one into success. Unfortunately, many people are ignorant of this truth. This is because people are not sincere or honest about their commitments to life issues or simply not seriously being deliberate about what they do. If you belong to this group then hang on for a while.

 

I learn this great secret from the Bible and I Failed Into Success. Proverbs 24:16 says, "No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again; but disaster destroys the wicked." GNT

The passage of the Scripture we are considering says something profound that we cannot ignore. HONESTY. As long as you are HONEST about an area of life that you want to succeed in, you will fail while trying to become free in that area but at the end of the day you will surely SUCCEED. The following are some of the things that can turn failure into success in your life.

 

WHY I FAILED INTO SUCCESS

1. FAILURE IS A SCHOOL: As a school, you must learn from all the steps that you actively engaged yourself in and find reasons why the steps did not help at first. This will help you pay close attention to what you are doing so that you do not repeat the cycle of failure. The more you learn from your failure, the better you are at succeeding in all spheres of life.
2. FAILURE NEEDS HONEST PEOPLE: When you are honest, you will accept the truth about your current situation and tell yourself that you can try again and do it better. I believe that an honest person will not take failure for a defeat but as a stepping stone.
3. FAILURE HUMBLES PEOPLE: The humility failure brings our way is to inform us that we are not yet as good as we suppose to be. It tells us that getting to the top in the particular area of life requires hard work, commitment and dedication to the cause at which we are pursuing. It also positions us to learn from others so that we will not be full of ourselves.
4. FAILURE PUSHES PEOPLE TO THE BRINK: Failure can also take us to breaking points, stretching and sucking out all the juices in us. This is so because you must decide to continue or not to do anything at all. Those who persevere will eventually get results.
5. FAILURE BUILDS RISK: One good thing failure does to us is that it builds our risk taking ability. An African proverb says that, "He who is on the ground need no fear of fall". If a situation knocked you down, you are down so just brace up and face the situation squarely. Apart from this, the lesson here is that risk is worth taking even if you failed in the process you did not fail but learn something new.
6. FAILURE CONQUERS FEAR: The greatest reason why people don't venture into things is the fear of failure. But if you are not afraid of failure, you will use failure as a learning tool to overcome fear.

 

The thing about failure is not as dreadful as we thing. It just informs us that something was omitted in the process. Once you find the missing piece, you can solve the puzzle. Thomas Edison said "I failed my way to success". He tried several times to come up with the electric bulb and failed until he succeeded.

 

So the righteous will fall even seven times and rise again seven times. Today, I charged you to embrace failure as a learning institution that will bring out the best in you.

I AM WITH YOU

      

  

   In the film Shawshank Redemption, an old man named Brooks was released from the prison and had difficulties because of loneliness. He had lived most of his life in the prison to the extent that he couldn’t connect with the reality of life after his jail term. He hung himself after gaining freedom from the prison. Nothing is good as knowing that you are not alone. When you are alone and lonely you put yourself in danger especially when you are depressed or disappointed. This is why today’s lesson is important. The Lord is saying “I am with you”.

Haggai 1:13-14

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying,"I am with you, says the Lord." So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God NKJV

THINGS TO BENEFIT WHEN THE LORD IS WITH YOU

1.      IDENTITY: God identifies you as his very own child, so your identity is his image in you. You are not an alien or a bastard but you are a legitimate son. What makes one an heir is the blood that runs through you. His blood purchased you. God identified with his people before he sent prophet Haggai to them.

2.      DESTINY HELPERS: God will send destiny helpers to put you through the path to which he will lead you. Haggai was the destiny helper for the people of Judah. He set them on the path of the Lord so that his spirit will energize them.

3.      STIR YOUR SPIRIT: The Lord will stir you up so that your spirit will be lifted high to live a purposeful life. It is called passion or in proper terms obsession to a call. Once you are obsessed with purpose nothing can stop you until you have achieved that purpose the way it was meant for.

4.      WORK: This is the practical application of the three above. God gives you an identity, sends destiny helpers, and stir up your spirit with purpose, passion and obsession to work. The work is according to his specifications that is why you are first his child. His spirit carries the manual that leads to do an excellent job. However, you must stand up and work hard enough to see the plans come through for you.

CONCLUSION

It feels good to know that God is with you. I have been richly blessed by this topic because the Lord is with me. May you find rest and comfort in the Lord when faced with life’s challenges. I can still hear him say “I am with you”.