New Year, New You
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
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People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will make the skins burst. The wine will run out, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins. Luke 5:37-38 (GW)
Someone defined insanity as "doing the same thing and expecting a different result"
Heart Transplant
Thursday, January 6, 2011
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NLT)
I was stunned to read an article recently that reported that about 3,500 heart transplants are performed every year with about 800,000 people having heart defect and need a new organ. I used to think that it was only possible to transplant other organs of the body from one person to another or species but not the heart.
Heart transplant is a surgical procedure that may involve taking a working heart from a recently dead donor and implant into a patient whether as a replacement or to support the patient’s heart.The Heart-Makers (2007)
Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold. - Zelda Fitzgerald
Hmm!!! I could not help but to take a deep breath and give thanks to God for life as I read more and more about the process involved in surgical heart transplantations. In 2006, a medical breakthrough was attained when the first transplant of a ‘beating heart’ was made from a donor to a patient. However, generally heart transplants are with varying complications and infections with the average post survival period put at about 15 years.
Before, I bore you with more of medicine, from the above scriptures it is clear that the Surgeon General- God Himself also carries out heart transplant but without complications. He says, “I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart”. Halleluyah!
In 2011, God is willing to enthrone many but this also means that others may have to be dethroned as was the case between Saul and David. God is always looking for men (and women) after His heart;
· who will stand up for Him out of the crowd;
· who will not compromise their stand with Him;
· who will not follow multitude to do evil;
· who will not sell out their birthright for a morsel of bread;
· who are men of integrity;
· who will choose not to curse God like Job;
· who will choose not to defile themselves like Daniel;
· who will do His will.
A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.- Edward Bulwer-Lytton
David was a man so blessed in scriptures such that he did not lose any battle being the most embattled king. What happened?- He had the right heart. The scripture says, ‘But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. Acts 13:22 (NLT)
In 2011, God is looking for men after His own heart with responsive, tender, broken, obedient heart and even if their heart is not yet right, He could carry out a heart transplant on them to take away the defective, stony, worldly and hardened heart and replace with a new heart.
The heart is the only broken instrument that works.- T. E. Kalem
Guess what, God does not need to stop any heart from beating like the doctors to carry out the heart transplant because Jesus Christ is the Chief Donor. He already donated His heart about 2000 years ago for you and the average post survival period is put at ETERNAL LIFE without any complications or infections. Praise God!
God is willing to do great things in your life in 2011 but your heart needs to be put right first. How? He says, O my son, give me your heart. Proverbs 23:26 (NLT)
Shall we pray;
Lord, give me the right heart to fulfil your will for me in this New Year. Amen
Define it, Imagine it and then Start it!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language
and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east,
they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden
them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone,
and tar was used for mortar.) Then they said,
“Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky.
This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.
“Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!
Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages.
Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world,
and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel,
because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages.
In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Genesis 11:1-9 (NLT)
Last year 2010 is gone. Whatever you did right or wrong does not matter anymore except to learn from past mistakes. We are in the wake of 2011 when we still have the opportunity to define what we want to see in this virgin year.
My last article was written in March 2010 on Control-Alt-Delete Yourself which simply means to re-boot yourself. And that was what I did personally and I can humbly say God has brought me forth as gold. Over the last 9 months, I have entered into strange realms of favour and lifting, I concluded my Masters degree with 1st class and many other things that I may not be able to share here, to God be the glory. I can tell you I have indeed seen God. And I believe you have experienced God’s goodness in your life too.
However, I am convinced that whatever we saw last year cannot be compared to what God is set to do in the New Year 2011. Why? Proverbs 4: 18 says God causes our path to shine brighter and brighter... He does not lead backward but forward.
What is God saying to all who will care to listen to what the Spirit is saying in 2011? The story in the above scripture is not new but God seems to be pointing out some principles from the story.
DEFINE IT
I noticed the first thing this group of people decided to do in Genesis 11 was to define their purpose without mincing words. , “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
This is the first step to fulfilment of your 2011 goals. State it. What do you want to achieve in 2011? Please write them down.
IMAGINE IT
They did not just define their goal but envisioned it. They have a picture of it in their mind and how they intend to go about achieving it. What do you want to achieve. How do you want to achieve it. Can you see yourself already fulfilling it? And guess what? You are free to imagine anything.. As far as your eyes can see.
What the mind can conceive, the hand can achieve.
START IT
It does not matter what you define or imagine, without taking the first step, you cannot achieve it. While this looks simple, the reason why many people are yet to change level is just because they have found every reason not to start the business, the professional exams, the relationship, the degree or vocation. However, it is that same reason that others have found to dare the impossible. JUST DO IT. God confirmed about these people in the scripture above that nothing they SET OUT to do will be impossible for them. What are you set out to do in 2011.
Friends, 2011 is still fresh. It only going to take whatever form you want it to take. The world is waiting.
Make a decision;
To work according to God’s will. Don’t labour in vain in 2011. The only reason why those who built the tower did not achieve their goal was because they were pursuing a goal against God’s will. God’s will was for human to fill the earth but they wanted to stay in one place.
To work with people of like minds. Don’t waste your time hanging around those going nowhere. Dissociate yourself quickly with those going nowhere in 2011. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Move with those who understand your language (your idea, your dream, your vision)
To work out your dream. Stop day dreaming. Work, work and work in 2011. Nothing works until you work it. God does not reward laziness. Get out to the field of 2011 and you will reap bountiful harvest.
Define it, imagine it and start it NOW!!!
Happy New Year
Shall we pray
Lord, help us to give our 2011 goals the required push for its fulfilment. Amen.
Control-Alt-Delete Yourself!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Luke 15:17 (NLT)
I stumbled on excerpts of an interview that Sam Worthington granted last week and I was fired up by what I read. Before you begin to wonder who this guy is, let me quickly help you. You must have had about the film called AVATAR. Yeah! He was the lead actor in the movie where he played Jake Sully.
So, what’s new? I am not really a movie person if I were to be one, I would have been part of the Avatar premiere in London last December. But the thrilling thing for me was that Sam Worthington, who is now 33 years, used to be a bricklayer and just about 3 years ago he used to live in his car. But he said he woke up one morning and looked at himself in a mirror and didn’t like what he saw and guess what he did- in his own words, I CONTROL+ALT+DELETE-d myself (that’s smashing!)
‘Control+Alt+Delete’ is a computer command that restarts the computer. Sam Worthington decided to restart his life.
How? He sold all he had from flat screen TV to the least of his personal belongings and used the proceeds to buy a ‘crappy car’. He took some books with him and a few clothes and then drove off….. the rest his history. Today, just 3 years later he scaled through the auditions for the lead actor role of the movie that has recorded gross revenue of over 2 billion dollars and has beaten all the records available in the movie industry history and even that of Titanic. Sam Worthington has won countess man of the year awards to date.
It is never late to be right- David Oyedepo
Bottom line
I don’t intend to analyse any criticism behind the Avatar movie but that you can restart from wherever you are and still make good of this one life that you’ve got.
On Aston Villa match days, I observe the way people troop across the street where I live and pay so much for parking spaces. I live about 5 minutes walk from Aston Villa stadium and I just wonder how passionate people can be at something that adds nothing to their living. Worse still when I flash back at my times back in Nigeria how people do all they can to watch football matches by their favourite clubs with generating set, Satellite subscription and all the inconveniences for the football madness that has gone global. If only people can be as passionate about their very lives as much as they do for other things.
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music. - Ronald Reagan
What to do;
Come to your senses
Like the prodigal son in the scripture above, he finally came to his senses. Although he had taken his part of the father’s inheritance, he decided to have a new start. Sam Worthington restarted as young as 29 years and in 3 years he hit it. How old are you now? It doesn’t matter how old you are-start afresh.
Move from decision to action
Many after reading this piece will just discard of it. I desire that you will not just make a decision to start pursuing your dream if you have lost it but that you will back it up with commensurate actions. Get those books. Get the skill, the qualification or certification and develop yourself.
Be Relentless
Keep on….Obstacles will come. Sam Worthington has many weaknesses- he has a blurred vision, he lost at the induction to become the next James Bond but in spite of his failures and limitations, he bounced back.
Friends, when you look at yourself in the mirror of life, what do you see? Do you see yourself living in the reality of your childhood dreams? If not, do something. Don’t lose that dream. Like the prodigal son, if you have strayed from your Heavenly father, reconnect with Him and He will receive you back and stop chasing after the wind.
Shall we pray;
Lord, help us to make the most of this one life that you have given us. Amen
Focus Shift
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
Philippians 3:13 (NLT)
Do you find yourself easily distracted? Have you started facing some discouragement already in this New Year? May be the year doesn’t even feel NEW because of some of the experiences of last year like joblessness, emptiness, lack and struggles that you seem to still have. Yes, you laugh when your friends and family are there but when you are alone you know you’re on your own. You know these negative experiences should not continue if this year must bring the good that you are anticipating.
Like Paul, even with his privileged Roman citizenship, his training in the best schools of his day and all his achievements before He met the savior and after he said in the words above, ‘I have not achieved it (meaning he is not yet where he is going) but the only thing he does is to focus on one thing: TO FORGET THE PAST AND KEEP LOOKING FORWARD!
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future- Oscar Wilde
I wish I could sound it clearer. This kind of attitude will help you to move on with your life in spite of whatever you face in 2010.
Yes, you were just fired and your take home didn’t take you home.
Yes, since you have been applying for jobs not even one have called you.
Yes, you have a job but you are merely surviving because the job takes all your time and you live from pay cheque to pay cheque.
Yes, most of the employers have called you for interviews but their promise of getting back to you has never materialized.
Yes, you look at some of your colleagues, old school mates and you try to avoid them because of your situation.
Yes, you don’t have any stable source of income and you wonder if this is how your life will continue.
I am sorry to tell you that all these may continue until you deliberately and consciously decide to CHANGE YOUR FOCUS!
"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude”- Oprah Winfrey
I remember one of the most resounding instructions God gave me about this year is that I should be resilient, which is the ability to bounce back like an elastic rubber after being bent.
Three things to change your focus from this year;
From FEAR to FAITH
Fear incapacitates. Fear limits and sees impossibilities. But you can change your focus from fear to faith this year. Refuse to give up. Faith is seeing the things that are not yet as if we already have them. Don’t speak words of fear even if things around you are scary. Speak words of hope and faith about your future. Words of faith are power and they work. Don’t stand around fearful people because they will influence you. Just do all you can to move your focus from that of fear to faith. And faith comes by hearing what God says in his Word.
“The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”- Albert Einstein
From FAULTS to STRENGTH
We all make mistakes but the difference between people is that those who will succeed will not spend time morning their mistakes but just learn from it and move on with their lives. Who do blame for your present predicament? Some blame their parents for not sending them to school, others blame it on the government, economy or political party. Until you shift your focus from your faults and weaknesses and begin to focus on your areas of strength, then there is a problem. There is a something you can do better than others. As a matter of fact, everyone has an area of weakness and there is no situation that is peculiar to you. Dust yourself, look within and explore your untapped strengths. Stop playing the blame game.
“There is only one real tragedy in a woman's life. The fact that her past is always her lover, and her future invariably her husband” – Oscar Wilde
From PAST to FUTURE
Why do you focus on the past when you know you can’t do anything about it? Imagine you being in a vehicle and your driver keeps focusing at the back instead of looking ahead at top speed. What do you do? You scream- Face your front!
Anyone who focuses on the past is heading for a crash. This year is still new with so much potentials loaded inside it. Why do you want to continue driving the wheel of your life by focus on the errors in your past relationships, career choice, wrong investment decisions and failures? Can you unscramble eggs? There is no point crying over spilled milk.
Focus on the dreams of a better future that you have always had and continue to work at it. Work at it with all the strength in you as you look ahead. Let me scream it once again at your face. FACE YOUR FRONT, LOOK AHEAD BECAUSE THE WORLD IS WAITING FOR YOU!
Shall we pray;
Lord, because you live we receive grace to face tomorrow. Amen
Closing Stock
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Today is the first day of the last month in 2009. Companies generally take their closing stock in December and this closing stock influences the profit figures for the year. For you to arrive at your profit figures for 2009, you need to start taking your closing stock from now.
The worst moment for an atheist is when he feels grateful and has no one to thank. - Wendy Ward
To say that we have no reason to be grateful to God is not just to be short-sighted but to be an ingrate.
Not that there were no challenges in the year but that we are able to withstand the same that wept others under.
Not that we are already where we are going but that we are not where we used to be;
Not that we didn’t lose anything in the course of the year, but that we didn’t lose everything;
Not that we know what tomorrow will be but that we know He who holds tomorrow;
Not that we don’t have needs but that we are even in our right minds to know what we need;
Not that we already have who to marry but that we are even marriageable;
Not that we have a job but that we are employable;
Not that we have a car but that our legs have not been amputated;
Not that we have the latest designer clothes, but that we know how to cover ourselves;
Not that we know how to celebrate this Christmas but that we know without you there wouldn’t have been any Christmas. You are the reason for the season.
I can go on and on… the list is endless, but I will allow you to think of what to add to your list of thanksgiving. The truth is that if you can think well, you’ll thank well.
Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes. - Oprah Winfrey
Personally, this year has been a great year in many ways. It has not only been that of the greatest challenges I have ever witnessed but it has also been a year of the greatest victories I have ever known. I have witnessed tremendous landmark changes that will influence many generations to come.
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves. - Henry Ward Beecher
I woke up early this morning trying to mutter the lyrics of a hymn, the lyrics of the song has inspired me to write this note to stir you to look at your life and still give thanks from January 2009 to date. I don’t know many things but I know thanksgiving will always set you up to receive more. Give thanks to God for what He has done already and then you will commit Him to do even more before the end of the year. Let the stock taking begin!
Count Your Blessings
Words by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1897)
Music by Edwin O. Excell (1897)
(Verse 1)
When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
(Chorus)
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!
(Verse 2)
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
(Verse 3)
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
(Verse 4)
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.
Shall we pray;
Lord, help us to shift our focus from the things you’ve not done to the things you’ve done in 2009. Amen
Dangerous Twins
Monday, October 5, 2009
You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions.So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed?A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!Proverbs 6: 6 – 11 (TM)
I feel so pressed to share some of my thoughts with you especially because another year of our lives is moving gradually. Let me quickly say that this note is aimed at making you give up two deadly and destiny-crashing twins called ‘Sleep and Idleness’. While sleep in itself is a good thing, however, if it now impedes you from maximising your life it has become an enemy and it is dangerous.
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (TM)
Are you really living the kind of life that you desire? Are you on the path to fulfillment? Can you still afford to get it wrong at this phase of your life?
The essence of this note is to give you a TAP from your slumber and to rid you from the claws of sleep and idleness. Jesus gave a parable of a man who sowed good seed in his field but while he slept, the enemy came and planted unwanted weeds in Matthew 13: 25 and we know that weeds share in the nutrients that the plants would have used in its growth. In principle, when we sleep spiritually we give room to unwanted vices to hinder our growth and progress in life. Please wake up!
Wake up from your sleep,
Ephesians 5:14 (TM)
THINK
Give a thought to how you have fared so far in 2009 and be sure you are not asleep in any aspect of your life such as your career, relationship, finances or academics. For instance, you should know you are asleep in your finances if you are already neck-deep in debt or running a deficit budget that you did not really plan for at the beginning of this year. But there is always a way out! Think
ACT
Our thinking normally should culminate in us taking decisive and calculated steps on how we intend to move out of our present condition to a better one. For instance, the prodigal son in scriptures after coming to his senses, he took steps to move out of his dilemma. He went to his father and he was reinstated. Take action regarding your career- make enquiries and act. Take action regarding your relationship, know what you really want and stop engaging in fruitless relationship. Take action regarding your finances, watch your reckless spending and make sure you can really differentiate between NEEDS and WANTS.
The hardest work is to go idle. ~Yiddish Proverb
I would normally pray before acting and it is important to commit your thoughts to God for direction at all times. One of the symptoms of spiritual dullness is lack of a solid prayer life. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, you will still need GOD. Why do we pray? We pray for spiritual empowerment, to receive divine helps and to secure mercy. And I have come to realise that prayer is much more than what we do, prayer is what we use. It is a spiritual weapon that is both defensive and offensive. But how can you pray to the God that you do not know personally, or a God that you keep hurting with your sins?
Make up your mind to get the best out of this very life that you have by confessing your sins to Jesus and accepting as your Lord and saviour. If you are ready for this new birth experience, please say this prayer: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again! Amen.
Shall we pray;
Lord, help me to make the most of my life. Amen
