“I BELIEVE I CAN FLY…!”

That’s a classic line from pop singer R. Kelly. I believe I can fly / I believe I can touch the sky / I think about it every night and day / Spread my wings and fly away / I believe I can soar / I see me walking through an open door / I believe I can fly / I believe I can fly / I believe I can fly.

So goes the chorus from the popular song. Indeed I believe I can fly! R. Kelly was right. If only that once! And I believe too, dear friend that you can fly! No matter what you’ve been through or what you’re going through. You can soar. I see you walking through open doors into the fulfillment of the dream God has planted in your heart.

This reminds me of a story. A farmer found an eagle’s egg up in an empty nest. He brought it home, nurtured it and hatched it under one of his hens. The eaglet grew up, amidst the chickens. She didn’t know she was different. She scratched dirt and ran around with the other chickens. But from time to time, she sensed an inner stirring that she was different.

One day she saw an eagle fly overhead. Something stirred within her. She felt, “I can do that too!” But in the meantime, she kept scratching with the other chickens. Until she couldn’t bear it any longer, she looked at the sun, spread out her wings, felt the gust of the wind under her wings, and she soared!

I believe too, dear, it’s time you spread your W.I.N.G.S. and soar! You’ve scratched dirt with the chickens long enough. You’re an eagle born to soar. It’s time to release the dream long imprisoned in your heart. You’ve been dreaming it, now is the time for you to do it.

“For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings…” (Jeremiah 48:40)

If you will care to spread your wings, your dreams will take the world by storm!

“Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and SPREAD HIS WINGS…: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men be as the heart of a woman in birth pangs.” (Jeremiah 49:22)

It’s time to SPREAD your W.I.N.G.S! You say, “I wish I could just do that.” I tell you, don’t just wish it, do it!

“And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off…I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” (Psalm 55:6-8)

You can escape from the drudgery of mediocrity (that’s the windy storm and tempest) and live your dreams. If you will spread your W.I.N.G.S, God will help you. For “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31)

That’s why I’m inviting you to join me, if you’re in Abuja, Nigeria or its environs, at the PURPOSE ‘N’ LIFE SEMINAR where I’ll be sharing further on this same topic: Spread Your W.I.N.G.S!

I’ll be talking about knowing and believing in your WORTH, tapping into the power of INSIGHT, how you can NURTURE your nature, the power and impact of GOALS and developing the right STRATEGY for fulfilling your God-given dreams. You’ll need to hear this teaching in full.

It promises to be exciting: great music, powerful prayers and an anointed word. God’s power will be released in your direction for the accomplishment of your dreams. Date is Sunday, September 4, 2011 by 3.30pm at Bayelsa House, Plot 1038, Shehu Shagari Way, Central Business District, Abuja. For enquiries, please call 08135961690 or 07090502299. I’m expecting you. YOU WILL SUCCEED!

STEP INSIDE THAT JORDAN! (Joshua 3:7-17)

There is no security in security. There is no safety in safety. There is no comfort in a comfort zone. The only way to live is to die! The only way to gain is to lose!

Better to walk on water (like Peter) and cry, "Lord, save me lest I perish" while sinking than to sit timidly in the boat. The only way to make history or achieve anything meaningful in life is to dare to take a step of faith, make the move and take the plunge.

Bite more than you can chew and let God help you chew it. It is only when you put your feet in the Jordan that the waters will stop flowing. Come on, step inside that Jordan!

What's your own Jordan today?

When your harvest is due, that is when Jordan overflows its banks (verse 15). That is when your obstacles look more overwhelming, when all hell is let loose, so to speak.

But don't you give up!

It's time to intimidate your intimidations, embarrass your embarrassments, frustrate your frustrations, challenge your challenges and confront your confrontations!

Jordan will part, but you must step inside it!

TURN YOUR INTENTIONS TO INVENTIONS

I run into a lot of people who tell me what they want to do, things they hope to accomplish and regale me with stories of how it’s going to happen. This is common especially among young adults, though older people are not exempted from this syndrome.  

So, this will help you whatever your age range, even if you’re not in my constituency (as if I’m a politician!). My constituency for the better part of the last 18 years of my ministry has been the youths – young men and women full of life, full of dreams. After all, Solomon, ancient king of Israel said too, that the glory of young men is their strength, strength to pursue their dreams.

It’s been said that you cannot build a reputation on what you’re going to do. And it’s true! You will be respected for what you have done, not for what you thought to do!

Is there a dream in your heart? It is only an intention. You will be remembered, not for your intentions but for your inventions.

The Bible puts it strongly: “To him that knows to do good, but does it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). So, stop sinning against yourself. Dewey King said, “Unless good intentions are followed by deeds, they avail nothing.”

Do you say, ‘I have it in mind’? You may die with it! Wild dreams do come to pass, but only if the dreamer does something about his wild dream. May I put it to you: INVENTIONS ARE ONLY INTENTIONS THAT ENJOYED ATTENTION!

Do something about that idea in your head today. Tomorrow may never come. You will only be rewarded for what you did, not what you wished to do!

Write the first chapter of that book today. Let it be the first step towards making that intention become an invention.

Speak about that goal of yours to someone today. You may get the help and solution to that envisaged obstacle.

All great men live by this principle: it is inventions that count, not intentions. A visit to the museum will confirm this. Always remember that you will be remembered for what you did, not what you thought to do! Turn your intentions to inventions. Selah!

WHY DO I PREACH?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I do what I do?” I mean, why do you do what you do for a living? I learnt years ago that motivation is derived from ‘motive’. So, if you can identify your motives for doing what you do, staying motivated on your vocation/calling won’t be a problem.

What do I do? I’m a preacher! A preacher of the glorious gospel of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But that’s just the bare bones of it. This is because over the last decade, I’ve found different outlets to do that. As a result, I’ve been called different things: writer, author, motivational speaker, Bible teacher, pastor, leadership coach.

But basically, what I do is pray, study and think. Then I speak, I teach, I coach, I write. I find ways to help people by communicating the things I discover and learn from life and God’s Word via any and every available media.

Materially, has it paid off? Oh yes! But much more than that I’m fulfilled. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied doing any other thing.

So, why do I do what I do? Why do I preach? Why do I write? Why would I preach one more message? Write one more book? Why do I and why would I, honor invitations to speak any more? Why do I convene seminars, conferences and similar meetings? Why? Why? Why?

These are my reasons for doing what I do.

1.     I PREACH BECAUSE I AM CALLED BY GOD TO DO IT. Nah! I can tell you vividly the circumstances, the date, the time when and the place where it happened. And I still feel it, very strongly, till date. But, that’s quite subjective. Anybody can claim that he/she heard God’s calling and how would you prove that?  Every Tom, Dick, and Harry; Ojo, Aina and Suberu, anybody who is somebody, does claim that daily. So, I feel that’s not sufficient enough a reason. But for me, first and foremost, I preach because I’m called by God to preach.

2.     I PREACH BECAUSE I BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS IS THE ONLY THING THAT CAN HELP HUMANITY AND THIS WORLD. Nothing else can. No glib talk nor deep-sounding philosophy can. Jesus, and Jesus alone is the way, the truth and the life! (John 14:6) Because, He’s the way, by following Him you can’t miss it! He’s the truth, so all else is a lie if it’s not in consonance with Him (Romans 3:4). He is the life. Any other thing is perdition!

3.     I PREACH BECAUSE I KNOW THAT WHAT I HAVE TO SAY WILL HELP THOSE WHO LISTEN TO ME. I have something to say that will add value to you. That’s why I preach. I preach because I want to make a difference in people’s lives and situations.

4.     I PREACH BECAUSE I’M INDEBTED TO MY GENERATION. I’ve taken so much out of this life that I can’t but give back. God has invested too much in me that it would be outright unfair not to invest in others.

5.     I CONTINUE TO PREACH BECAUSE I’M LIKE JEREMIAH, the ancient prophet who said, ““I will not mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back. And I could not.”” (Jeremiah 20:9)

6.     I CONTINUE TO PREACH BECAUSE I SEE AND I’M CONVINCED OF THE DIFFERENCE, THIS MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL CAN AND DOES MAKE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES. I’ve seen sick bodies healed, the dead come back to life, broken homes and marriages mended, dead businesses revived; I’ve seen careers advanced and lives practically turned around. I’ve seen hope birthed afresh where disillusionment and despair reigned before. So, to see one more life touched is an incentive to keep doing what I do.

7.     I PREACH BECAUSE ONE DAY I WILL GIVE ACCOUNT of what I did with my life and the deposit God has made in me, the privileges I’ve enjoyed and the opportunities I’ve been given to Him who gave me life (Romans 14:12).

8.     Finally, and don’t fight me on this: I PREACH BECAUSE I ENJOY DOING THIS. I’M CONVINCED IT IS THE GREATEST CALLING ON EARTH. And I feel so blessed and privileged by God to be one of His messengers on earth. “No man takes this honor to himself except He that is called of God as Aaron was.” (Hebrews 5:4)

WHEN YOU GET THE 'MAN' RIGHT, YOU'LL GET THE 'WORLD' RIGHT!

Little kids are a blessing. My little boy, Samuel, is. Cute little bundles of joy, love and vivacity. But this very day little Johnny was more like a nuisance. Or so Johnny’s daddy thought.

He is a busy executive who had come home with a briefcase full of work. Five year old Johnny was demanding time but due to deadlines the dad reluctantly told his boy he had several hours of work that took priority. Johnny asked time and again, “Can’t you play now, Dad?” That was when the young dad got a brilliant idea.

Before him was a newspaper containing a map of the world. He tore up the paper in pieces and gave it to his son to put it back together, telling him that when the “puzzle” is finished, there would be time to play. He had bargained for some uninterrupted time. However, in a matter of minutes Johnny called his dad to look at the map. Astonished, the father asked how he had managed to do it so quickly. The young lad explained that on the other side of the map was a picture of a man and that once he got the man right, the world was right.

Once you get the ‘man’ right, it’s easy to get the ‘world’ right! You can change the world, but not until you change your world. Personal transformation is the key to national transformation. Personal change precedes corporate transformation. Personal transformation is the key to your professional, marital and material success. That is the message of my new book, YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR WORLD! coming out of the press in a few weeks time.

I do believe any man irrespective of his/her estate in life can change his life. You can!

See here is a rough draft of the cover artwork of my book. 

STUMBLING BLOCKS ARE STEPPING STONES! (Part 2)

Four, THE DOWNFALL OF A MAN IS NOT THE END OF HIS LIFE! It’s not yet the end of the road. You are only down; you’re not out (2 Cor. 4:7-9). It’s not over yet. It’s just a bend in the road, not the end of the road. Failure is not final. Delays are not denials. “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.” (Micah 7:8) “For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again.” (Proverbs 24:16) You may have fallen but you will rise again!

Psalm 37:24 says, “Though (he) fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” That’s you! Your downfall is not your end! For because you’re joined to the living, there is hope after a downturn (Eccles. 9:4).

“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the roots thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground: yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.” (Job 14:7-9)  “It’s not whether you get knocked down. It is whether you get up again.” (Vince Lombardi) A great man is not one who has no setbacks but one who has surmounted them. He is not one who has not fallen but one who has pressed on despite setbacks. No one is defeated because something happened TO them. People stay defeated because something happened IN them – they gave up! That downfall is not your end. Zoom past it into your success.

Five, YOUR PROBLEM HAS AN EXPIRY DATE! Whatever has a beginning must have an end. “And it came to pass…” It came. To pass. It came that it may pass, not to stay! You may have a lasting problem but you have an everlasting God! Pain passes. Barriers become bridges, adversities do become advantages. Tough times don’t last, only tough people do. If you’re tougher than the tough times, you will wear out the obstacle. You will outlast your storms. Don’t give up.

Every hardship has a life span. Every problem has an expiry date. Stumbling blocks are stepping stones. And finally;

YOUR PROBLEM HAS A NAME. “Therefore God has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” (Phil. 2:9-10) Every predicament has a name; therefore it must succumb to that ultimate name, the name of Jesus. When iron meets iron, the weaker one must bend! That is why I know that that stumbling block is a stepping stone in disguise. Set down is the ladder for a setup! Your breakdown is leading you to a breakthrough in Jesus name. Dear friend, I believe in your destiny, YOU WILL SUCCEED!

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