The Process

THE PROCESS Being Equipped

Elvis George Dundas Izetta Blessing David Samuel M. Deputy

Published: February 2020 [email protected]

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Dedication We dedicate this book to: “our mentees and all those entrusted into our care.”

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Table of Content Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 I. Processing Chapter 1 Foundation Laying ------------------------------------- 3 Chapter 2 The Process in Life Itself ----------------------------- 11 Chapter 3 Things Involved: Understanding the Process---- 24 Chapter 4 Mentorship ---------------------------------------------- 71 Chapter 5 The Road to Greatness-------------------------------- 93 II. The Believer’s Life Chapter 6 Dimension of Processing ---------------------------- 121 Chapter 7 Parameters of Processing --------------------------- 125 Chapter 8 Putting Your Mind to Work ------------------------- 134 III. Making It Personal Chapter 9: Salvation Calls ----------------------------------------- 141 Chapter 10 Associations: Managing Your Inner Circle ------ 145 Chapter 11 Keep Moving: Diligence and Efficiency --------- 154

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Introduction Everyone wants a fairytale ending—a happily ever after—but, very few people value the preparation and thus, attain it. I have observed that the emphasis of most modern pursuits is the outcome. “You are only smart if you score on a test” so, many people cheat their way into prominence; “you are only beautiful if you look this way” so, many fake their way into it. The list goes on and on, and never has a generation at any time been more obsessed with the feats despising the process. One famous statement that validates this observation is, “the end justifies the means”. In other words, I presume, it doesn’t matter how you get there, what matters is getting there. In truth, the process is equally as important as the outcome; sometimes even more. The quality of anything, I believe, is a function of its processing. Whatever affects the processing affects the outcome. The process must be engaged with outmost regard because money may buy you accolades and even give you a dream but only “Good Soil” processing can sustain it. What makes a great song is the processing of the artist. It is the process that adds value to outcome, it fuels passion and tenacity. A razor cannot cut down a tree not because it isn’t sharp but because it does not have the requisite processing. Struggle only exist outside of processing. A monkey doesn’t struggle to climb trees; likewise, a fish does not struggle to swim: they are equipped with the requisite processing. Great books do not make great people: it is wise decisions that are made from reading and learning from those writers and books that make great people. It’s now in your hands.

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I. PROCESSING

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Chapter 1 Foundation Laying

Gold Processing Gold is a very valuable metal, and we have used it since the 6000 B.C. It is both valuable and beautiful. The beauty is due to its brilliant yellow color and its value is based on the fact that it is not as common as other stones or metals are. Also, it is a very stable metal unlike other metals. This is because the compound it forms with water or oxygen easily decompose (they don’t stay bonded under normal conditions) thus, making gold very good at being on its own. Iron, for example, forms a compound with oxygen. It is this compound we know as ‘the rusting of iron’. Take a typical iron and pour water on it leaving it outside for some time, and you’ll see it changing color to something like brown-red. However, we can use gold to make things and those things can stay uncorrupted for a long period of time. An example is coin. After noting that gold is not easily found as other metals, it is worth noting that even after finding it one cannot just shout “eureka, eureka” (I’ve found it, I’ve found it). This found gold has to be processed as it is not of its high value to the market just yet.

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The process of ‘gold’ starts from the geoscientists. They firstly have to excavate and examine various parts of the earths to have a clue of gold-rich areas. After they have confirmed an area of being so, the miners now come in. These miners have to go through a lot of difficult, complex and risky steps in mining. For example, they may collect a thousand Kilogram (Kg) of dirt (ores) in which you won’t see any gold by looking with your eyes. Out of this thousand kg of ores only about a few Kg turns out to be gold. This may be seen as a little yield. However, this process itself is worth it. When this ore is collected, then the real gold processing begins. Someone might ask, “Why is gold processed anyway? Why don’t you just use the gold like that?” Well, sometimes (rare times), we can come across nuggets of gold in rivers, streams or among rocks: these are called alluvial gold and they were the ones mostly mined during antiquity. These were formed by the weathering action of wind, changes in temperature, rain and sometimes leaching. Secondly (and mostly), gold is found mixed with crude materials and other materials of the earth. In the first instance above, the gold found is not even completely gold: it contains a lot of impurities though it may look completely gold. For the second case, the gold has to be separated from the ore then, it would be further processed and refined. The gold can be extracted from the ore using at least one of several methods: electrolyte process (electricity usage in electrolysis); chemical process using chemicals such as strong acids; and smelting (extracting the gold from its ore by melting and heating).

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Care has to be taken when smelting as the ore contains some strong substances that are very harmful to the surrounding. The ore is pulverized by pressure. This act separates the crude matter—binding the ore—from the gold minerals, which are now in very fine particle form. This fine particle form is heated to a temperature above one thousand degree Celsius, and it burns out most of the impurities although some metal elements remain. Next, these metal elements have to be removed. We could apply a chemical like potassium cyanide that reacts with these metal elements separate these traces of metal elements by all the gold particles coagulating as one and forming nuggets. The clumps are removed leaving behind most of the other metals as dross. Gold is sold in the market in the form of bars that are of various size and weight. The nuggets would then be melted so as to give it the shape of a gold bar. After this is done, the gold can be made available in the market for sale. However, depending on the intended usage of the gold, it would have to be further purified. This can be done using either the Miller Process which uses chemical and produces 99.5% pure gold or the Wohlwill Process which uses electrolysis and produces gold of 99.999% purity. In the miller process, the chemical (mostly chlorine) being applied reacts with the present metal traces but not the gold itself. These chlorides are collected leaving behind the gold itself. As for the Wohlwill process, pure gold strip is made into the cathode while the impure gold which is being further purified is made into the anode with a chemical such as chloroauric acid 5

as the electrolyte. As electricity is applied the gold from the anode gets deposited at the cathode leaving behind those other metal traces impurities.

Similarity with Life The whole process of getting pure gold from its ore involves steps, it takes time and it’s very demanding. This whole process of getting a highly pure gold can be used as an allegory of life. A man who would want to achieve and maintain something great and marvelous in this life must first become great and marvelous in the process. THE HARSHNESS As seen in the smelting of gold, a high level of heating is needed. This heating is symbolic of the heating a man (in the sense of both male and female) must be subjected to on his path to greatness. This could be an initial start of difficulty or training activities or even some tough discipline being taught. What does Scripture say? “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” The Greek roots of the words ‘chastening’ and ‘exercised’ also mean ‘training or disciplinary correction’ and ‘to train’ respectively. Inserting these terms, the above Scripture could be understood as,

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“Now no [training, disciplinary correction] for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are [trained] thereby.” Just a night ago, I was having a discussion with my younger sibs (mostly children). I asked the question, “Do you think spanking a child is of benefit to that child”. One of them spoke out saying, “No, because it will make the child think you don’t love him/her”—exactly what Scripture has already said. As seen in the smelting process, the gold is subjected to harsh conditions smelting (using heat), or electrolysis (using electricity) or treatment with chemicals (example, acid). These conditions are harsh. By letting your skin come closer to either of these, you could seriously be hurt. So, in a way, the gold is hurt—but hurt in a good sense—in order to make it better. So, the same way, you are hurting. Do you want to escape? That’s like asking, “Do you want to remain the same—in a poorly useful state? If you respond, “No! Of course, no”, good news: greatness is much closer to you than you realize. TIME CONSUMPTION Often times, the smelting of gold takes more than the time required to take a plate of meal. In fact, what is that in comparison to smelting a gold! It’s very important that the person doing the smelting is a professional at it. If this is not the case, the gold itself can be lost and even the ones that are even extracted may still be far short of the purity at that stage. At other times, the smelter can even be harmed during the smelting. Gold ores most times contain some chemicals that are

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very dangerous to health—such as mercury—that can even affect the environment if care is not taken. Who is a better professional than the owner and maker of the gold itself? Let God do your smelting: he knows it better. How do we know? Here’s a clue to what Scripture says, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire”. Don’t be in a hurry. Don’t run faster than the smelter. Can a gold smelt itself without any smelter? Of course not! Since it is needed for smelting and you too need smelting, choose to be smelted by the perfect and right smelter. THE FURTHER PURIFICATION With all the heating, cooling, melting and smelting in general, the product is still not yet the purest form of gold obtainable. The product gold thus far is pure—but not as pure to be worth the top-most in the market. With the way the gold is, currently, it can be sold in the market— get me right. However, if you want to get the highest reward for effort and product, something has to be further done before putting it out there on the market. The two widely used processes for this further purifying are the Miller Process and the Wohlwill Process. The Miller Process uses heating in combination with a chemical—mostly chlorine. The chlorine reacts (in a way, combines) with silver and the other metal impurities but not with the gold itself. The purer gold of about 99.5% can now be

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separated from the chlorides (compounds formed with the chlorine). As for the Wohlwill Process, a gold of about total purity is needed. This gold is made into the cathode of the electrolytic cell. (Electrolytic cell is the set-up for electrolysis and electrolysis is the breaking down of a substance into smaller units by using electricity; this electrolytic cell needs two poles—cathode and anode.) The anode is made of the impure gold that needs to be further purify. As current passes through the cell, the anode dissolves and only the gold from it gets deposited on the cathode. After, the cathode can then be melted, and the gold retrieved. This process produces the highest purity of gold we can obtain so far—99.999%. If you want the very best, you would have to go for the Wohlwill Process although it takes much more time than the Miller Process. As you can see in this process, an already established standard is useful in separating the gold. We will look at what this standard means as we go on. USEFULNESS OF THE FULL STAGES Depending on the intended use of the gold, the smelting stage alone can be good enough or not. Different people have different purposes thus, everyone may not have to go through all the stages or any one stage the same manner. If you have to go through all, good. You cannot skip a single stage that is meant for you and not be impaired. Why will you want to do that? Do you not know that when a man is born prematurely his chances of survival has been tempered with? Or are you not aware that you cannot make a car and leave behind its engine in the factory? 9

Every single stage—no matter how you see it—is very important.

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Chapter 2 The Process in Life Itself “Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” –Isaiah 66:7-8 (NASB)

Birth Have you ever seen a woman gets pregnant in a day and delivers the same day? A woman first goes into labor then, delivery can follow. Any other thing is un-natural/unusual. In such cases, the babies may be immature and experience some abnormalities while growing up. Naturally and ideally, a woman enters labor (birth pain) for a while then she delivers the child. If this wasn’t the case, we would be seeing so many things. One could be, you are watching people moving along the street. Suddenly, you see this pregnant lady walking to her car. By the moment you turn your face for a few seconds and look again, she has become a mother! No travail—everything happened just within no time. What a scene that would be! However, that is not the case as we see. Now as it is, we have just focused on labor pain and delivery. What about what happens before the two? Pregnancy. For 11

pregnancy to occur, the timing has to be correct and the gametes of both sexes need to be fertile. After pregnancy has occurred, the woman would have to harbor the fetus in her womb for some months—about nine. During this time, the cells are being multiplied and nourished into a human baby. Once the child becomes fully nourished, a day would come when the mother would just start to feel pains— the sign of full nourishment and signal that it’s now delivery time. The child has to be nourished before delivery and the pain signal normally comes before the delivery occurs. If not, the delivered baby would be premature, and the chances of full survival becomes slim. That is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. A whole lot of things—probably every good thing—follows very much similar fashion. Children’s maturity; education, relationships, careers, the growth of a nation and almost any other thing is a process. Going on, bear in mind that the process is the most useful and beneficiary time of one’s life and the growth of anything.

From Childhood to Maturity Raising a child is not as simple as eating bread and butter. You would have to aid them in everything from the start—except the crying and sleeping parts. You would have to feed them, bath them, help them wear on their clothes and the list goes on. Firstly, what a baby would know how to do is lay down. Before they walk, most of them go through sitting down and crawling. 12

The moment they start these, the parents need to start programming their minds. Programming is a portion of training your child and it is very useful for his up-bringing and future. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” –Proverbs 22:6 Children are meant to be programmed similar to the way you would program a computer system. (I think the programming of the computer is a similitude of how the human mind works.) If you, the parent, don’t intentionally program your child’s mind, don’t think their minds would stay unprogrammed long. It would be programmed—just not intentionally by you. The mind of humans is like a fertile ground and that of children’s is no exception. If you have a fertile ground and wisely plant a seed there, the soil favors the seed to bud and produce. If you leave that ground without planting something and check it after a while, don’t be surprise to see grasses and weeds growing there. Even more, don’t be surprise thinking you didn’t plant them. Even if you had intentionally planted seeds into that ground, the grasses and weeds would still have grown but not in high value as if left unattended to. Now, you have to care for the seed you have planted by protecting it from the weeds lest it be choked. Programming your child involves both your words and actions. Be mindful of what you say to them and around them. You are like a “small god” in their eyes and at a much younger stage, they think you know everything—that you are correct about everything—so they copy you quickly and directly. In whatever you do around them, be cognizant that children are smart, and are watching. 13

When they go wrong, correct them. Scripture has told us that, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” – Proverbs 22:15 Every child has this type of foolishness called naivety. It’s a very harmful type of its kind because it makes the child thinks and feel he is already wise and ‘knows what’s best’. It’s the job of the wise older ones in whose care such children are placed to help them in making corrections. One of the most important things about being a parent is, you have a big say in the future of your child. The world is occupied by a lot of people who are misplaced—some are not in the career arena that aligns with their inbuilt potentials. In most of these cases, the misplacing started from as early as childhood. Children are mostly with their parents (guardians) through most part of their childhood and teenage years. During these time, he/she plays and get in a whole lot of things. A smart and observant parent would be able to perceive the child’s potentials and could start building on these potentials this early. Rather than both parents working themselves out and having little or no time for the children, make time for your children. Don’t expect a nanny or nurse to do your job excellently as you would. Some have this misconception that it is the mother’s role solely to bring up the children, but Scripture says, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” –Ephesians 6:1

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The father has a role in this. The father may be away working most times. However, he should remember that he also has a responsibility to his children—not leaving it solely to the mother. That’s why Scripture has said, two are better than one. Nowadays and even as in previous times, children can be influenced by peer pressure. As a parent, you want to be watchful of this and influence the company your children keep—watching them both in words and in deeds. You can easily differentiate two youth brought up in countries with very different culture. They would behave differently and have characters unique to the culture of their upbringing. The upbringing is a process. This process influences how they behave, and this effect goes as far as into adulthood. In order words, it shapes them and has a say in the person they become.

Education The process can be likened to a good home teacher preparing his student for school exams. At home, he gets to teach and test the student in assessing his preparation for the school’s exam. If the student refuses to study at home and has not understood the school’s material, do you expect such student to excel in the school’s exam? Even school itself is just the process. It’s nurturing and preparing you for the future. If you desire to become a medical doctor, you would have to go through years of training: high school, the university then a medical center.

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Where does somebody wake up one morning and just becomes a medical doctor? Or where does somebody wake up one morning and just becomes a neurosurgeon? Who’s going to allow you to start working on peoples’ body? Even the subject mathematics is a process. Some run from it because of what is involved. Mathematics, unlike other subjects, has to be done continually to know it. If you’re going to be good at mathematics, you must practice mathematics. It is one subject that is mastered only by doing it—the process also.

Career Wise Most successful people today, had a very small beginning. In business, you would see a man start small—sometimes, from a start of investment with little or no profit. It’s okay to start small. With such man’s continuation, after no time, he is already seeing growth. Then, he ends up with a very big conglomerate. The difference between the conglomerate and his small start is the process. Those who have been through the process are very effective, resolute and astute. No wonder most employment policies request for job experience. Even in the world of sports no super star is born within a day. If one is a superstar today, check his or her background and you would see the process. Search into the lives of some world leaders today. Most of them started small perhaps, by leading small groups in their communities, school, church or other small organization. 16

Relationship too! Relationship takes time and resources. Having a very intimate relationship with another person is not something that happens in a flash. A man won’t see another person on the street for the first time and just expect them to become best of friends on the spot. I have observed this thing a whole lot of time. You may know someone that you don’t like right now. I dare you to start spending some really good time with that person and before you know it, you’re already liking him or her. If you stay long enough at the barbing shop, you could get your hair cut. If you don’t want to go out with a guy, spend less time with him. If you don’t want to eat that cake, stop looking at it. As a husband, learn to spend more time with your family— especially your wife. I know a man who overlooked it. Rather, he spent more time with some other woman and before he knew it, he was already falling for this new lady. That’s because one of the pillars of relationship is love and love is built by time spent together and things done for each other. You want your wife to be a part of you: she’s your baby after all. If you don’t want to go somewhere alone, rather than taking someone else, why don’t you take your baby along? Over recent times, I saw a video based on true account. This guy had recently married, and things were really tough with him and his wife. He got a job with a firm, but the firm went bankrupt not too long after starting the main job. He and his wife had to go out on the job hunt again. She spotted a job and 17

told him of it. He applied and got it. He became the star man at his new job. Soon, he decided to start his own business—very similar to where he was employed. He started off and was soaring high in this business. The business was good all by itself until he started involving some illegal acts. He stopped ‘gisting’ his wife about the business as he used to. He then preferred taking other girls out with him but there was one that really caught him more. He got fond of her and spent more time with her than his wife at home. Soon enough, he divorced his wife to make way for this new “duchess”, and they got married soon enough. After some years, the authority got on his neck for the illegal acts connected to his business and almost all of his possessions were to be confiscated and he sentenced to serve in prison for some years. Surprisingly—or is it—his new duchess put in for divorce. How could he expect the new duchess to stay with him through the tough time? She doesn’t know of being with him during the lows. He erred in spending more time with her when he was stilled married—that was where he started falling for her. Let me repeat again: relationship is a process. You’re a husband? Then know that your wife is a part of you. Is your hand a part of your body? That’s similar to how a part of you she is. You want to love her and care for her. Do you you love your body and care for it? “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” – Ephesians 5:28 Dear wife, please be mindful. You don’t want to go out with anybody when you know the danger is high. Always be wise

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and calm. There is that power in your words and actions that can turn your husband’s heart towards you—or away from you. SEXUAL LIFE Some people have it, “The only reason I’m sleeping around is because I’m not married. Once I marry, I would stop sleeping around.” Who says so? You really think it works that way? Have you not already seen a lot of people saying so but still carrying the same thing into their marriages? Don’t you know what the scriptures say? “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 If you want to be faithful tomorrow in your marriage, why not start it today rather than await tomorrow? Sexual behavior is developed by the process.

States and Ventures THE ROMAN EMPIRE We know the Roman Empire as one of the greatest empires that has existed in the history of mankind. It has influenced a lot of the things of the modern world. However, the Roman Empire didn’t start out with greatest on her shoulders. Rome is an area that was located somewhat at the center of modern Italy. Beginning 1500 BC, Italy was being inhabited by Indo-European people—one of such being the Latins which lived in the region of Latium very close to Rome. However, most of Italy became occupied and influenced by the Etruscans 19

and Greeks. Rome then was just a speck as compared to the regions occupied by the Etruscans. In fact, the Etruscans helped transformed Rome into a city by its building program. Etruscans kings did have influence over early Rome up to 1509 B.C. In this year, the Romans established a republic after having overthrew the then Etruscan king. Rome got into wars that lasted hundreds of years in defeating the enemies in the other parts of Italy—the Latin States, Greek States and the last remaining Etruscan states. Now, Rome had full rule over almost all of Italy. The Romans felt threatened by a then very powerful state in the Mediterranean known as Carthage. Carthage was very influential, and its territory was mostly in regions of what is now northern Africa. The drag for Sicily—an appendage of Italy—led to the start of a series of war (about three of them from 264 to 146 B.C.) between Rome and the state of Carthage. This series of war came to be referred to as the Punic War. Rome was on the brink of disaster during the second Punic War and almost totally ransacked but they refused to surrender. They bounced back with war became known as the third Punic War. At the end of the third Punic War, Carthage was burned down to the ground and its inhabitants were sold into slavery making Rome the most dominant power in the Mediterranean world. Just a hundred years later, Rome started off on the path of Empire with Octavian as the first emperor. Today, we see the influence the Roman Empire has had: our system of government, democracy, literature, house construction, just to name a few.

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This great empire didn’t become great in the twinkle of an eye. She had to go through some things—some preparations—tough things too! Things that made her better and ushered her into the “Great Roman Empire”.

From Egypt To Canaan (The Promised Land) God had told Abraham, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” –Genesis 15:13 Jacob, grandson of Abraham, had he and his children move to Egypt at the later age of his life. When they went there, they were in good rapport with the then pharaoh of Egypt. After many years, a new pharaoh came into power that grew weary of the Israelites and saw them as a threat. He and the Egyptians afflicted the Israelites with burdens turning them into mere servants. Well, the LORD didn’t stop there with that prophecy to Abraham. He continued by saying, “And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” – Genesis 15:14 And truth being told, after about four hundred years, the children of Israel left Egypt after having spoiled their Egyptian neighbors.

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Moses was charged with God’s people—the children of Israel. The LORD could have taken them from Egypt to Canaan in a couple of days, but they couldn’t have borne it. “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:” – Exodus 13:17 The Israelites didn’t have what it would have taken for God to lead them through the way of the land of the Philistines. They needed to be taught lot of things—total reliance on the LORD being one of such. So, what should have taken less than forty days, took about forty years. Sometimes, what seems short can stand in the way to your real forwardness. In our modern time, we can move between those two areas (Egypt and Israel) in a matter of minutes (at most, hours). However, what they got to learn during that process makes the difference between their journey and any other one done today between the same two areas. One thing we can learn from this account is, the process can be lengthened. In the process, you are getting to a destination and you would have to be equipped with certain tools before reaching that destination. It’s better to gather the tools before reaching the destination than to arrive at the destination sooner but without the tools. During this time, record keeping is very paramount. Records were kept by the Israelites during this time giving rise to Exodus, Numbers and Joshua among others.

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The Growth of Christianity Today, nothing else has had a bigger impact on mankind than Christianity. It is faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God, that he died for the sin of the world, was buried and rose from the dead by the Spirit of God. Christianity started small—and not even with the name, “Christianity”. It is the expression of God’s love towards humanity and the expression whereby it is expressed by the Lord Jesus giving His life so that we may have life. Christianity started within a single nation. Now, it has spread throughout the world impacting the lives of those it has reached. This spreading took about two thousand years to be achieved today, going through some really rough and tough times with a lot of people willing to put their lives in harm’s way so that others might receive this truth—of God’s Love. You see, a whole lot of things in life have been through the Process. The next chapter takes a much deeper look at the Process and understanding it better. Put on your seat belt!

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Chapter 3 Things Involved: Understanding the Process Anyone Can Go Through It The sound of “the Process” may be different to different people. Some hearing of it may conjure up in the mind this magnanimous, farfetched, enormous scene—very complex to express in words. Others may picture a normal process of doing something—maybe anything. Yet others, just a blank sheet waiting to be occupied by what they are hoping to discover by going through these pages. Whatever category or categories you fall, you can still gather much, much from these pages. The process is actually for everyone—everyone that attains and retains greatness; everyone with a mark to make or that has made a mark. It’s not something for a particular race, gender or region. It’s available to the whole earth (to everyone inhabiting it). Look into the life of any and every great person around you and you’d be stunned to discover that he/she had been through the process—and probably still is. It is what makes a person great and retains the greatness. There’s an African Proverb, “Behind every glory is a story”. You may have heard of the nature-nurture debate where certain traits are discussed as being either something that came about—existed from the initial stage—making it natural; or whether it has been developed over time thus, making it nurtured. The process focuses more on development and improvement, and you can only develop ‘something’. 24

There has to be that a subject (person, goal, vision, business, life, etc.) that is being nurtured. You cannot develop something from nothing; Only God can and to-whosoever-He-chooses. As for us humans, you need an initial material to develop. If a man is going through the Process, there is something inside of him that is being developed. In fact, a whole lot of thing about him is being refined. THE KING Not everyone who’s born in the house of a king ends up a king. Look back at ancient times and you’d find out that the future kings had to be made—whether willingly or unwillingly. King David of Israel had more than ten sons in total (I Chronicles 3:1-9). However, when God had determined to make Solomon king after him, he had to train him—whether personally or by hiring another. Almost everyone agrees that Solomon is really one of the wisest kings that has ever walked the face of this earth. Solomon became king after his father, David; and after Solomon had gone to Gibeon and had offered a thousand burnt offering unto God, God appeared unto him in a dream. God said to him, “Ask what I shall give to thee” (I Kgs. 3:5). God was probably expecting Solomon to ask for long life, wealth or maybe the life of his enemies. After Solomon had made his request, see what the LORD said in the 11th verse: “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies…”

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What did Solomon ask that got God to make this statement? The man, Solomon, asked for Wisdom, knowledge and Understanding (II Chron. 1:10; I Kgs. 3:9). The question on my mind then, when I first read the above scriptures, was, “How did Solomon know that he should ask for Wisdom and not even all the other things such as long life, riches or the life of his enemies?”. Let’s hear from Solomon himself. In Proverbs chapter 4, Solomon is the speaker. Let’s take a look Proverb 4:3-4 “For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.” David further said to Solomon in the seventh verse, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” So, you see, David invested some time and training into Solomon (the future King). It was his teachings to Solomon his son, that led the young King Solomon to ask wisdom of God’s hands when that opportunity arose. Being born in the house of a king doesn’t necessarily make you a king. You have to be made. You may even be going through the very things—or some of them—that we are about to delve into.

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Keys to Note As much as everyone can undergo the process, we all don’t undergo the same specifics. This being true, each person faces challenges that vary. Even this being true, these different challenges all have something in common: the underlying principles are like the same for all of them. This thus meaning that they emanate from the same source although they are different in specifics. It’s like having several individuals. Although they don’t all originate from a single village, yet they are from the same larger region (for instance, a country). For the remaining of this chapter, we would be understanding the principles/ components of the process. While we do this, we would be using the lives of some men in Scripture (and history): • Jacob – the grandson of Abraham and the second of the twins between Isaac and his wife, Rebekah. God chose him to establish the covenant He made with Abraham • Joseph – the eleventh and first son of Jacob (Israel) and Rachel respectively. He was an Israelite that became ‘prime minister’ in Egypt • Moses – the man of God that brought out the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt • David – the second king in the history of the Israelites whom God considered, “a man after mine heart” • Paul – the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ through whom Christianity spread throughout Asia Manor, Achaia, Rome, and the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. And any other instance or account that proves itself useful.

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These things I’m about to share with you are not mere things. They are principles embedded in the natural and spiritual realms. They have been given to me by revelation. One thing about these principles is, most of them can work in similar fashion for an unbeliever as they would for a believer. Let’s delve into them.

At a Young Age The Process is just the events that mode a man that has already been designed to make impact here on the earth. With this being the case, that tells you that the seed of whatever thing that individual is to achieve is already within even from the very beginning. Moses: Moses was born in Egypt to Levi Israelites at a time when Israelite male babies were being killed by order of the reigning pharaoh. He feared that the Israelites would multiply greatly and then turn on Egypt. Moses’s mother could safely birth him but when she saw that she could hide him no longer, she positioned him in a well-designed basket and placed it by the river bank. Pharaoh’s daughter came to bath and found him. She decided to adopt him and raise him as her own. So, Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh. But then, something happened that caused Moses to flee Egypt. “And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses

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fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.” – Exodus 2:14-15 Moses had gone out into the field one day seeing how the Israelites were oppressed. At this very time, he saw an Egyptian oppressing an Israelite—guess what Moses did. He slew and hid the body of that Egyptian. The next time he went out, there was a misunderstanding between two Israelites: this time around he tried to talk peace between them, but one lashed out at him saying, do you want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian the other time? Moses now had to flee because Pharaoh wanted to kill him for this. At that age and stage, Moses was trying to deliver his people—the Israelites—even before God ever spoke to him about it. His natural purpose is what was expressing itself. Joseph: Even Joseph, when he was only about seventeen years old, he had already started having some interesting dreams. He narrated one of his dreams, “the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” (Genesis 37:9). His father gave the interpretation in the immediate verse, “What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” He had previously had a dream where he and his other brothers were tying up bundles of grains and suddenly his bundle stood upright while theirs bowed before his. Imagine at such a tender age. David: What about David? He was the one tending to his father’s sheep. He was caring for and leading them. Someone might say, “oh, that: it was a normal thing for an Israelite then 29

to have his children or some of them tending to his sheep.” As much as ancient Israelites might have had that culture, it was more than mere tradition in the case of David. Imagine, while he cared for the sheep, he killed a bear and a lion in protection of the flock. (I Samuel 17:34-35.) What would you call that? Coincidence? Of course not! it was no coincidence. The young man Joseph was like the shepherd of his father’s sheep. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Don’t you know that chasing after those wild animals was like David putting his life on the line for the flock and he could have gotten killed? David was not just a keeper or shepherd of his father’s sheep, he was the good shepherd of his father’s (Jesse) sheep as much the Lord Jesus is the shepherd of the sheep of his Father (Papa God). While with the flock, you could see the leader in young David. If this still isn’t enough, it was that David who stood up to face Goliath. The Goliath that even the bravest and strongest men of Israel—including King Saul—feared. Saul was amazed that a youngling like David would be thinking about facing Goliath the giant. “And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” (I Samuel 17:33) Guess what? David defeated Goliath at the amazement of the whole of Israel—at still a youthful age. Let’s Talk About you What are some of the things you have done during your youthful stage (however small or big doesn’t really matter) that suggests your future potential? Has someone else been able to recognize it?

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Proponent and Opponent It’s normally people with bright future and vision that go through The Process. Why do I say that? If a person goes through what he/she calls “the Process” but at the end wasn’t being processed for something, then that wasn’t the process at all. The Process is the middle between a dream and the actualization of that dream. If there’s no dream or vision, what can you call The Process. God spoke to Abraham and made him a promise of making a great nation out of him and giving the land, in which he was a stranger, to his seed. Abraham took that word to heart—making them what he hoped for: it became a vision. This is the very promise that gave rise to Israel (both physical and spiritual)! Every human being (spirit, soul and body) has what is required in hearing from the spirit world. And since that’s where visions and dreams come from, every human being can get a vision or dream. Yes, not only believers! Ever wonder why that guy excels though he is not a believer? The advantage we as believers have is, we can hear from God almost anytime (because He’s always here). If He is always here, not only can He give us visions and dreams, he can also direct us every single step from the point of the vision inception to its fulfillment. There is something about a vision: it attracts friends and foes. 31

While there are some trying to stop you in the way (intentionally or unintentionally), there are those lifting you towards the end of that goal. David: In the case of David, we see that after he had been anointed by Samuel the prophet, Saul requests his musical talent presence at the palace. David further defeat of Goliath the giant caused King Saul to retain his presence permanently at the palace. Saul had him as head of his men of war and Saul would send him on errands at times. On one time, David had return with victory over the philistines and the women of Israel went to meet King Saul dancing and singing “Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands.” (I Samuel 18:7 GNT) Imagine being the king and hearing this kind of statement. Well, Saul wasn’t pleased with what he heard. “And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?” –I Samuel 18:8 Since that day, Saul was turned against David to become an opponent. However, with all of this, David had a diehard proponent. After David had killed Goliath and was taken to King Saul at the Palace, the eldest son of King Saul— Jonathan—saw him and something transpired at that moment. “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” – I Samuel 18:1 While David had an opponent in Saul, in Jonathan he had a proponent—one willing to give even his life for him! 32

There was a time King Saul was to celebrate the New Moon feast and David was to be there. Prior to this time, Saul had sent three different sets of messengers to arrest David in Ramah where he ran to the prophet, Samuel. David, however, left there unscathed. David knowing of this, met with Jonathan a day before the feast and got in a league with him. David chose not to go for the feast and Jonathan would cover up for him. If King Saul overlooks his absence then, they would know that it is well; if Saul is angry, then it would show that the king has evil intentions against him (David). On the first day of the feast, the king noticed the absence of David but overlooked it. On the second day, he asked “Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to day?” – I Samuel 20:27 Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king's table.” – I Samuel 20:28-29 (ESV2011) Oh! When Saul heard this, he got so mad at Jonathan and said some really ugly things to him. It escalated to the extent that Saul threw a spear at his own son, Jonathan, to strike him. Saul said something to Jonathan at that dining table that the young man, Jonathan, knew and wasn’t fighting against. Jonathan himself had said to David, 33

“Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.” – I Samuel 23:17 How can the crown prince say this to a man who is not of the ruling family? We know that it is not normal for a ‘raw man’ to think like this before even talking about saying such! You see, Jonathan wasn’t ‘raw’; he was a vision proponent God had given David. You may be familiar with the terms, ‘destiny helper’. I have heard it used several times especially by ministers of the gospel. By this, they are also pointing to one’s vision proponent. Jacob: We even see it in the rising of Jacob. Jacob was destined for greatness even before the birth of he and his elder twin brother, Esau. He needed to get the privilege of the first born and blessing of his father to get on with his destiny of greatness. However, his elder brother stood in line for both of these. How could he go on to his great destiny with this being the case? One thing is, he had to go on and nothing could stop this since even God was the very one that pronounced it saying to his mother even while the twin was yet unborn: “two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” Jacob got the privilege on a certain day when Esau came out of the field from his usual activity (Esau was a hunter). Being tired and hungry, he asked of Jacob some of the stew being prepared. 34

Jacob asked for something in return—Esau’s birthright. Esau esteeming his belly higher and his birthright of little effect, gave his birthright to Jacob that day. This act and the ingenuity of their mother favoring Jacob also helped Jacob in securing the blessing of his father that was actually intended for Esau. With these two happening, Esau was offended and planned on killing Jacob—the only thing standing in the way being the death of their father since he had planned to kill him after their father dies. In protection of Jacob’s life, his mother uses her subtlety to get Jacob to leave home and escape to Laban, her brother. Looking through, you can tell that Esau and Rebecca were two major opponent and proponent respectively in the life of Jacob. I want you to notice something that a vision opponent can do. The opponents can act and then their very actions can push the person to his vision. The plot of Esau led Jacob to where he would obtain wealth and his wives—in the house of Laban! If you are familiar with the account of David, can you see how the attempt on David’s life by King Saul led David to even higher heights?

Joseph: What about Joseph? Are they also in the case of joseph? Yes, they are! Joseph’s brother (excluding Reuben of course) were interested in getting rid of him. On a certain day, their father (Jacob) had sent Joseph to check on his brothers feeding the flock far-far away and then report back. While Joseph approached them, 35

they conspired to kill him, but Reuben suggested that they just keep him in a pit (Reuben had planned on rescuing the lad from the pit later). They did that but, in the absence of Reuben, they had sold Joseph to the travelling Ishmaelites and Midianites. Thinking they were getting rid of him, they were actually propelling him to the dreams he’s long been having. Wasn’t it to Potiphar that Joseph was sold as slave in Egypt? Yes, it was! He excelled while in the house of Potiphar and the madam of the house set her eyes on him. She, being—should I say—frustrated and annoyed at Joseph refusing her, devised an evil report against him to her husband, Potiphar, who placed Joseph in the prison where the king’s prisoners were held. There Joseph met two servants of Pharaoh (title of the king of Egypt)—the butler and his baker. These two had angered Pharaoh thus, he cast them into custody and Joseph was assigned to serve them during their time there. One morning when Joseph went to serve them, he saw that they were sad from their faces. It was because they had both dreamt in the night and couldn’t fathom the meaning of their dreams. Joseph was able to interpret their dreams according to the power of God and just as he had interpreted, so it happened. The chief butler was pardoned and restored to his butlership while the chief baker was hanged. When it was time, it was this same chief butler that made mention of Joseph to the King of Egypt when he sought someone to interpret the dreams he had had. In the life of Joseph, Potiphar’s wife was an opponent while Pharaoh’s chief butler was a proponent. She, probably 36

intending to deal with Joseph or get rid of him, pushed him into just the right place for him to be better positioned for the accomplishment of his dream. Knowingly or unknowingly, a vision proponent can lead you just right into the core of your vision. The butler may not have swiftly responded to the plead of Joseph—remember me—after he (the butler) had been bailed out of custody, but when he played his role, it was just the perfect timing and situation.

Choices Affecting You One thing about the process is, it is highly affected and shaped by choices. A single day can be the terror of one’s life brewed by the wrong things and choices. The right choices and things happening can co-join into big blossoming over time. Some of these are choices made by others and on some other occasions, your very own choices. These choices affect you— directly or indirectly. For some people, the process can get to the point where you are left with a very tight pathway: you may have to go or be sent where you don’t want to. After David had escaped from the palace of the king for the safety of his life, he was still being chased down by King Saul. His dwelling was at this time not fixed. How could it be when he was on the run? During this time, he had two occasions to make a very big choice. You cannot but make them rightly.

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These occasions are recorded in the 24th and 26th chapters of I Samuel. King Saul had taken three thousand valiant soldiers with him in search of David in the wilderness of Engedi. On the way, Saul’s troop stopped to take a break and he himself went into a cave to rest for a while not knowing that David and his men were within the same cave. Here is a very good opportunity: Saul was alone in the cave and David were there with his men having the upper hand and he could end the life Saul (this same Saul that is trying to kill him) right there and right now. His men urged him to kill Saul and end the race for his own life. David had a choice to make: kill Saul and end the chase for your life or spare Saul and still be in danger of being chased by Saul. David chose the latter. Although he had spared Saul’s life and later informed Saul about it, Saul still sought him after a chapter. This other time round, Saul and his troop camped in the wilderness of Ziph where he had been told David was. While he slept in the midst of his troop at night, David came along with Abishai. Here David had the chance to strike Saul with Saul’s own spear that laid nearby. Abishai urged David to let him strike Saul, but David refused. He rather chose to later tell King Saul that he had another opportunity just like at Engedi but didn’t kill him. Since he chose to spare the life of Saul on these two occasions, his life would still be hunted by Saul unless unless. David then made another choice, “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall 38

despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.” – I Samuel 27:1 This was a very risky choice. David had been killing the Philistines army when he was in King Saul’s army. Here, he is deciding to escape into the land of the very people that had been enemy to him so as to escape the grasp of King Saul—a former ally. Won’t the Philistines kill him on sight? The good thing about this choice is . . . it was fruitful. “And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.” I Samuel 27:4 Joseph also had choices playing major roles in his life. His brothers (excluding Reuben) made the choice of selling him into the hands of the Ishmaelites traders who took him to Egypt—a choice he had no say in. In the house of Potiphar in Egypt, Joseph made a choice not to lie with Potiphar’s wife— and that choice took him to prison. It was in the prisoner that he met the man that God used to recommend him to Pharaoh. What if a person makes the wrong choice(s)? What if Joseph had slept with his madam? One of the benefits of having God on your side—or rather, being on God’s side—is, it guarantees that you don’t make the wrong choices neither are the wrong choices made concerning you. For the choices beyond your influence, God introduces something or someone to bail you out. There was a time while Saul chased David, he had David besieged in the wilderness of Maon and there was little doubt 39

of that day being the end of David. But something happened instantly—the Philistines had invaded the land and Saul was told so, he had to leave David and go after the Philistines rather. (See I Samuel 23.) The initial intention of Joseph’s brother was to kill him not sell him into slavery. However, that choice was reverted, and they put him into a pit before they ultimately sold him into slavery. Even when Jacob escaped from the house of his father-in-law and uncle for unfairness, Laban could have hurt him or rather still, taken his cattle, wives and children. But God wasn’t sleeping! “It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” Genesis 31:29 Jacob left Laban’s house a wealthy man, but he could also had left empty-handed: “Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.” – Genesis 31:42 What if you yourself make the wrong choice(s)? The choices concerning you as a person is in a way navigated by God. I hope you’ve seen a drainage system. You see, water normally and naturally moves in any direction. But in the drainage system we have built channels through which the water travels. The walls on either side of that system maintains the water in a fixed course as long as the system is not full to overflow.

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The Lord was using that illustration recently to clarifies how he directs the choices of those under his watch. The Lord influences and direct your choices even when you don’t know it. Your heart, the heart of kings, everyone’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He can turn it in any direction He pleases. We recently accounted that David spared King Saul twice. Let’s see how he made this choice. After David’s men urged him to get rid of King Saul in the cave at En-gedi, David went in a stealth manner and cut off a piece of Saul’s robe unknowingly to Saul. Something happened within David when he did this. “And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.” – I Samuel 24:5 That was the turning point of David’s choice, and he was smart to understand what that ‘smiting of his heart’ meant: “And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” – I Samuel 24:6 Exactly! The Lord had signaled to him to take that step. The Lord was guiding his choices. Many years after David became king of all of Israel, his third son (Absalom) conspired to overthrow him and much of the people sided with him—even David’s most renowned adviser. The conspiracy was so strong that David had to escape the palace for his life was in danger. Absalom intent was to kill his father and ascend to the throne permanently. However, Absalom was the one that got killed, instead, in battle and David could return to the throne. 41

Both Saul and David were anointed by Prophet Samuel but, at different times (I Samuel 10:1, I Samuel 16:13). Because Scripture says that, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 12:29), we know that Saul was the Lord’s anointed and so too was David. If David had ‘laid his hands’ on Saul when he had the chances, he would have been putting spiritual laws into motion. Who knows? If he had killed Saul, maybe his son Absalom would have also been successful in killing him likewise—many years later. In the case of Joseph, likewise, had he agreed to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, what would then be the need of telling Mr. Potiphar? And What would Joseph be doing in that prison (the same prison where he met that butler that was an aid to his life vision)? Not every opportunity is opportunity. Some are better off ignored. Joseph’s choice was founded on the Lord. Here’s what he said to his master’s wife: “Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Choosing an ‘opportunity’ outside of God could be harmful to the fulfillment of your purpose. Any success or growth— whether big or small—outside of your purpose, that can in turn hurt it, is not worth it. Even if Joseph would have attained a higher position had he slept with Potiphar’s wife, it would not 42

have been fulfillment of his life purpose. His purpose was to be prime minister of Egypt not the head-slave of some house in Egypt. How could he do that great wickedness to himself! The same applies to David. The Lord God guided their choices. HE signaling to them is one thing and they accepting to follow through is another thing. As long as you are under his watch, his signals can always find a way to your heart and cause you to follow through. The show of one’s purpose or life vision starts from an early age and the influence of the proponent and opponent of this purpose is continual—probably throughout. The choice you make—or rather, God leads you to make—at one stage can influence the subsequent stages.

Change in Position Looking into the lives of those that underwent the process, there were changes in positions for them—and in most cases, more than once. This change of position could be a geographical one or one of status. When the geographical change in position occurs, it could be you leaving because you know it’s best to leave or it could be that you are forced out against your will. After Jacob had craftily taken the blessing that belonged to his elder brother Esau, Esau planned to have him killed. The only thing holding the hand of Esau was the death of their father: he wanted to do it after old man’s death. Aided by the craftiness of their mother, Jacob had to leave for the safety of his life since

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their father was now much closer to death. Jacob left the land of Canaan for Padan-aram to his mother’s brother, Laban. Moses too, when it was found out that he had killed an Egyptian to help a Hebrew, pharaoh sought to kill him. And for this, he had to change geographical location: from Egypt to Midian. Even David had to leave the palace for the Wilderness because king Saul sought to harm him. These three—Jacob, Moses, and David—had to leave because it was best for them, but Joseph was forced out. His brothers sold him to traders that took him to Egypt. This change in position could also be one of status. When David left the palace, he went into the wilderness on the run. While in the palace, he dined at the king’s table and led the king’s men of war but when he left, he had to frame himself a mad man, and he was a wanderer in the wilderness—not having a fixed home. Joseph was at his home in Canaan, the most beloved of his father, but he was taken to Egypt a slave. In Potiphar’s house, he was the overseer of the house but, he left a prisoner. Moses was in Egypt--a prince—and could have possibly been the next pharaoh. He left Egypt for Midian not knowing what awaited him and there he became a shepherd. All these don’t still change the destiny. David was a leader although he was in the wilderness. “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves

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unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.” – I Samuel 22:2 He moved with royalty although he was out of the palace of Israel. He spoke with the king of Moab to take care of his parents. David was a guest under the protection of a Philistines King, Achish, and Achish even offered him Ziklag for himself and his men. Status or geographical location cannot stop a destiny that God Himself is the originator and supporter of. Jacob excelled and was favored when he served his uncle Laban. Likewise, Joseph grew and excelled both in the house of Potiphar and in the prison cell. If God would open the eyes of the master being served, he would sure notice that he’s been blessed more due to the presence of a God-supported destiny carrier close by. Potiphar, Joseph master, did: “And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.” – Genesis 39:3 Laban also noticed. Laban speaking to Jacob said, “I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.” – Genesis 30:27 Does the fact that David was with the Philistines Army when they defeated Israel and killed Saul and three of his sons ring a bell? 45

You may get satisfied when you switch to new location, but you must not be complacent. Rather, remember what took you there. Are you a man/woman on journey? Then, always be reminded! It doesn’t matter whether you’re away from home or your kindred or whether you are at a lower status than you used to be. Location and status are no limiting factors to the fulfillment of your vision. They are stepping stones rather.

Being Separated If a cook is making two things with the intention of them being different, he may have to use different recipes. Likewise, for your destiny you would have to be construed differently. Although you would have some similarities like other humans, you won’t exactly be like all others in certain things like character. The fact that you have a destiny to fulfill—a purpose to accomplish—there would come this time that you would have to be alone whether by choice or not. This is the stage where you get separated from others, sometimes even including close relatives. During this stage, you may feel alone, want to be alone or the circumstances around train you into being alone. In primary or secondary school, you’re the quiet guy or the weird one; at home or anywhere else, you just find yourself being alone. For some people to the extreme, it would look like there is no place for them—they don’t seem to fit into the society. (How can you be like everyone else in a society you’re supposed to transform?) If it’s you, let me tell you that you’re not alone in that boat. Many others are having similar 46

experiences like you. Even in the past, Joseph, David, Moses and others had similar experiences. Joseph: When Joseph was young, he lost him mother in the birth of her second child, Benjamin. As Joseph grew older, he was hated by his brothers and they “could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:4). Seeing that his brothers hated him, you could see that the number of people around him that he could freely move along with was reduced. That wasn’t all for him. He was separated from the only family he had known while just a teenager for a strange land and strange life. David: After David had slain Goliath, Saul the king required his presence more at the palace—he now had little time to spend with his parents. (someone might say, that’s a good separation!) When Saul sought the life of David, David had to escape into the wilderness to the cave Adullam. (I Samuel 22.) He couldn’t go home. No, not to the loving arms of his parents, but to a cave. Has the man who—by the power of God—had defeated the giant that threatened Israel now become a cave dweller? As if that wasn’t enough, Samuel died three chapters later. The Samuel that had anointed him; the Samuel he had ran to at one time when Saul sought him. Moses: Moses mother could only keep him for three months: she had to give him out when he was only but a baby. Although she later nursed him to an extent, he had lost touch of his true parents while Pharaoh’s daughter now became his mother. Even still, he had to escape to a land (Midian) he wasn’t raised in and was probably the only Hebrew there. He was—in a way—disconnected from ‘home’.

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Don’t you think there were times they felt ‘’alone in the world”? David might have probably thought, he was mad to think that he would be king—if Saul didn’t finish him first by the way. This period of disconnection is often very important to you (the destiny carrier). You need to discover yourself. How else could you better understand what your purpose is? Don’t expect to discover yourself when all you do is watch and listen to others the whole time. To actually discover yourself, you would have to spend time with where you’re truly from— the spiritual. Which other person is better to get answers from than God who is the head of the spiritual realm? You may find answers apart from God. However, if the true and complete answer package is what you seek, then, God is the person you want to meet. This stage is really important in the Process as a whole since you can uncover your purpose here. And by the time you come out, you come out a different person with different mindsets. One thing I have come to discover and learn is, most of the people that God entrusts with great destinies are initially not that strong neither mighty nor important. It’s probably because with this kind of status it’s very easy to synchronize to God’s will. HE can easily ‘tame’ and turn you. You have nothing so, He becomes everything you’ve got and when that happens, He can give you every good thing. That’s what Jesus meant by: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

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God tried using Saul at first but, Saul might have seen it as he was mighty; he trusted his judgment more than God’s. On a certain day, the Lord had sent the Prophet Samuel to tell Saul (now a king) to destroy Amalek with all their belongings not spearing any—whether human or cattle. But Saul thought he was wise (and very good at using his discretion): he destroyed the people but left the king alive and took the fat and goodlooking cattle. (I Samuel 15.) The kingdom was already slipping from his hand and with this his step, it got completely torn out of his hand. David, on the other hand, was one of the least (if not the least) among his brethren. Yet, he was the one chosen and we know how much David relied on and moved with God. Because the man David was already weak and of a low status, the only person he knew he had was not himself but God. Likewise, the case of Joseph. If God has chosen you and you’re not totally reliant on Him that chose you, there are either of two outcomes. God would take you through series of training to develop total reliance. If that’s not the case, then such a person won’t go far or achieve much as he ought.

Challenges People don’t like the word before talking about the situation. Another similar term is, “difficulties”. If you are going through the Process and being prepared for your future, you would encounter some challenges whether you like it or not.

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Most people have the picture of suffering, hunger, poverty, lack or some impoverish condition when they hear, ‘challenges’ or “difficulties”. Well, challenges are not usually those by themselves. In fact, you could be challenged without even experiencing anything on that list. Challenge is a strengthening strategy. For example, a newly promoted team in a league facing the top team in that league is being challenged. Challenge is facing something you haven’t really been accustomed to. Meeting strange things, situations, circumstances or sometimes— people. The main area of strength challenge seems to foster is that of the soul (mind and spirit). When Israel was on their journey into the Promised Land, they had taken a few other areas and now needed to take down Jericho. But here, they met a challenge: the city of Jericho had giants (ancient men of old). The Israelites before that time were accustomed to fighting normal men but not giants! So, this was a challenge to them. Even you as you’re on the journey to your destiny—your own Promised Land—you’d face challenges and most of the time more than once. So, brace yourself! Normally as humans, we tend to doubt—even God’s promises—when we are faced with tough situations. John the Baptist doubted whether Jesus was the messiah having after being subjected to prison for some time (Matt 11:2-3). This was the same John that had said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.” – John 1:29-31 50

And this was the same John that had seen the confirmation God had told him of: “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34 Was Jesus not the messiah? Of course, He was! It was the hardship John was experiencing that was washing off his faith and washing in doubt. (John had then heard some things about Jesus he thought, didn’t sound messianic.) John then sent messengers to find out from Jesus whether he is the true messiah, or they should expect another. In the presence of the messengers John sent, Jesus healed the blind, lame lepers, deaf, raised the dead and preached the gospel to them. Then, he told the messengers to go and tell John what they have heard and seen. (Luke 7:20-22.) Why did Jesus do this? John the Baptist was familiar with the Scripture concerning the prophecy of the messiah and Jesus had just demonstrated some scriptures (Isaiah 35:5-6; 61:1). In order words, Jesus referred John back to the foundation. Whenever you’re faced with a tough time, that’s exactly what you want to do—go back to the initial spark. If God has given you the vision, go back to the start and get a hold of God and that vision. That was exactly how Abraham responded: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the 51

dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:” Romans 4:17-19 This man has been promised—or rather, had been told by God that HE has made him a father of many nations. Yet, this man was old—about one hundred years—and his wife was old too. Besides his wife being old, she was barren. How could he possibly be (in the physical) what God has said when he didn’t have a child looking at his age and his wife’s status? Other neighbors around back then may have thought, “This Abram—calling himself Abraham (father of many nations)— must be joking!” There were so many factors surrounding Abraham that could have caused him to doubt, but this Abraham, the man refused to doubt. How can you against hope believe in hope? The man was hopeful of what God promised holding onto God’s word, “So shall thy seed be”. He was hopeful, not according to the physical factors surrounding him, but according to the word God had given him, “So shall thy seed be”. He still hoped in the midst of hopelessness. So, he was expectant—not according to his situation at that moment—but according to what had started him off—the promise word. If the situations around you ever seem to be rough and tough and it wants to make things look like there’s regression rather 52

than progression, hold on to the vision, promise or/and any other thing God has given you. Know that He is faithful; know that God is not a man to lie. That’s one reason why you should write down the vision and make it plain just as Scripture has said (Habakkuk 2:2). If you were feeling weak and tired, for each time you read that vision, you would be revived and receive vigor to run! This and your full reliance on the character of the one who has given you that vision will help you. It livens you and the promise up just as it did for Abraham: “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” – Romans 4:20-21 It would also bring that vision to full manifestation just as it did for Abraham in Isaac, Jacob and finally our Lord Jesus. Any word God has spoken to you don’t you think they are forgotten, seized or caught up in the traffic. No, no. They are on the way to the planned destination. Whatever you go through, know that God is not unaware. He’s there with you just as He says: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” – Isaiah 43:2 And God always keep His word. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood on the Lord and refused to give in, they were 53

cast into the burning furnace whose heating was increased seven times. As it turned out, three of them were cast into the fire but a fourth man was later seen and none of them were burned by the scorching fire. (See Daniel 3.) Difficulties stems out during different stages of the Process. It is probably one of the most difficult moments of the Process. You would be tempted with lot of things. You might even be tempted with the thought that this life is very difficult. Why not just relief yourself of the difficulties? Yeah, that thought comes! But you must cast it out and not entertain it—not even for a moment. You are going to win . . . not quit. You’ve got God’s ‘genes’ and God is a winner! Don’t run from that challenge: face it! How can you be a champion if you have not faced anything? You must have overcome something to be a winner. You tell yourself that whatever tough time you’re going through will pass just as it has always passed in the lives of the patriarch of the faith—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and even our Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine the case of David. Shortly after he was anointed by Prophet Samuel, his presence was requested at the palace so, he might have thought, “Wow, I can see the fruit of that anointing—the prophecy is coming to pass so soon!”. Suddenly, things changed! He was “chased” out of the palace; Samuel who anointed him could not fully protect him; later, Samuel died. David was out of his parents’ home; not with his sheep as before; and the little straw delivering some palace 54

juice to his tongue has been taken away and he had to go on living in the wilderness. Now, here David was—with everything now seem to be going backward (at least in the eyes of many). David experienced so many different types of emotions during these times: despair, helplessness, failure, joy, uneasiness . . . you name it. BUT! David never gave up. Oh no, he never did. He could have committed suicide due to everything happening around that he may not have understood but, he never gave up. He held onto something—the faithfulness of the LORD. The nature of your destiny is a major factor concerning the nature and extent of the challenges you face. Most times, you can be able to tell a person’s destiny based on the challenges he faces—especially if you’re spirit-filled. In dealing with this time, you would need strength to make it through. Guess What. You’ve already got it: for the joy of the LORD is your strength. “Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10 Having a broken spirit at this time is harmful both to you and the process. It hurts you more and slower things down. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22

Activated Complex The term activated complex is from chemistry—one of the branches of science. It is the point in a chemical reaction where old bonds are breaking, and new bonds are forming. For 55

instance, we know that the chemical formula of water is H2O. Oxygen and hydrogen react to form water: H2 reacts with O2 then we get H2O (as far as we know in science). The point at which the H-H bond and the O-O break off and start forming the H-O-H bonds is the activated complex and it’s like the “climax” of the chemical reaction. At this stage, old destinations and routes are being dropped for new ones. You would be making major but tough decisions concerning your life. The point of David’s life from the day he was anointed by Samuel the Prophet up to the point of him returning to Judah were the climax of his life—especially the point when he chose to escape from the palace. For Gaius Julius Caesar, it was about the point that he started the Gallic War, and later crossed the Rubicon River deciding to wage war against Pompey and the Roman Republic. Once you take this step, there’s no turning back. You want to go with undivided commitment. Turning is no longer an option—because it can cost far more than completing the path you chose. When you pass this stage, it’s now all about getting your vision. Nothing else really matters. At this stage, you need to be circumspect about the associations you keep. Prioritize on keeping the ones that are leading you to the path you have now chosen and if there are any trying to drag you behind, you want to do yourself a favor and drop those ones.

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Stay Focus Going through the process can really become daunting throughout or at least at certain stages. Knowing that you are chasing a certain end but all you see in the surrounding is just so opposite to this end can really be frustrating and discouraging. During the whole time of the process, especially these daunting times, it’s advisable to focus. Stay focused on the present not the future or past. Don’t forget the future—keep it on mind but don’t jeopardize the present by overly focusing on the future. Your present is happening now, and it is one of the writers of your future. You want to write your future well—so write well in the present. Joseph had had dreams of dominance but there he was, after being sold into slavery, now kept in a prison. Also, David had been anointed and was to be the next king of Israel, but there he was literally living in the lowest of places—the wilderness. Do you think they didn’t get frustrated when they thought of the present and the future they had been destined for? In the midst of all else, they were not ignorant or dormant to their present. Was Joseph not diligent in his work as attendant to Pharaoh’s two prisoners he was given charge to serve? Was he not attentive to their visage? He could have been so discouraged about his current state and not be attentive but just give up. With that, he wouldn’t had care whether Pharaoh’s chief baker and butler were happy or sad—since he himself would be sad. If they had focused so much on the future, they had gotten a glance of, they may have sunk even before reaching that future.

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You’re standing on the shore at one end of a large body of water and there’s a treasure at the other end. If you choose to go to the other end, You would have to leave where you are to where the treasure is. But, you would need a medium to do this. Let’s say you’re so focused on the destination and started stepping on right away without any medium (bridge, boat, nothing). Naturally speaking, you would sink and may drown especially if you’re not a swimmer. Going on a long journey would require a medium of transport for the path. The most time-consuming thing is not starting, but the journey itself and it is the way to your destination. You must stay focused on the journey lest you slip. If you do the opposite, focusing on the future more than the present, you could somehow get frustrated. If the Lord had told you that you would be the wealthiest man that has ever lived but at the moment, you’re scraping food off the street for meal, you could get frustrated—really frustrated. Imagine the huge gap between that future and the present! Don’t forget the future; remember it—just not at the expense of the present. For some students, while in the university, they dream of big jobs with high pay. So, some of them, upon graduation, reject a lot of jobs with the words that, “I didn’t spend years in the university for that crumbs of bread.” While it’s true that you as a graduate should be well paid, starting from that very ‘’bread crumbs” may be the gateway to your dream job. It has the propensity to build your CV, reinforce your competence, expand and brighten your network for a better future. What good opportunities are currently making knocks on your door? Would you start from there? Can you just focus on your present and enjoy it as the future is being made?

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When you overly focus on the future, this focus can be turned into worry or anxiety, especially when there’s this big gap between your now and the future. While we are even talking about something as big as one’s vision, there are other people that worry over things such as food and clothes. What does God’s Word tell us about this? “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Matthew 6:2532

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You need to really meditate on the above Scripture: let it synchronize with your spirit and mind. You’ve got to know that God has got you. Worrying won’t really bring solution to the problem. In fact, it adds to it. Worrying affects your health, your thought process, your creativity and your approach to situations. There’s nothing that important that deserves causing you so, so much trouble. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 The word, ‘careful’ is from the transliterated Greek word, ‘merimnao’. This is the same word Jesus uses in Matthew 6. It means to be anxious, to take thought. The dictionary on my computer defines anxious as: “very eager or concerned to do something or for something to happen; feeling or showing worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome”. So, you see why you mustn’t overly focus on the future. God— who is omniscient—doesn’t want us anxious. Anxiety brings fear and doubt and these two are stumbling blocks to faith. It’s preferable to just pray about it giving thanks and, that’s it. This is followed up by God’s peace which surpasses understanding guarding your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Why is this so important?

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We worry in an attempt to find a way around whatever problem it is; but worry is a negative state of mind so, the understanding of solving the problems are usually of low quality. Now, we give it to God, God’s peace is far more than the understanding you would need to find solution to that problem. God’s peace has within it the calm you need and the solution to that problem. It is this same peace that guards your spirit and mind in taking the right steps to the solution. The energy and time you would have spent on worrying, use it for prayer and meditation on the Word. That peace, God’s peace, is all you want. Glory to God! So, you see, no need to worry. Just give it to God and leave it. God’s word and peace is all you need to handle that issue! Are you a young man still under your parents’ roof and worrying on moving into your new place? God’s Word and peace is all you need, brother. Are you a young lady not yet married and thinking of “When”? Sister, God’s word and peace is all you need. Don’t worry about your future or your vision, God’s word and peace is all you need. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30 That’s how much of detailed attention God exhibits towards you. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:33-34 61

When this peace comes and it brings a word from God, hold this word and act on it. Your victory can lie right there. When three different nations combined to fight against Judah during the reign of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat first response was fear, but he didn’t let this be the only response. He sought the LORD and the Lord spoke saying “…O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.” – II Chronicles 20:18 Jehoshaphat held onto those words. He placed the musicians in the front row—ahead of the soldiers—which were at the back. When they got to where the battle should be fought, they had won the battle without they themselves having to do a single fighting: the three nations had fought against and slaughtered themselves. Another means of having this peace of God is by keeping your mind on Him. Can you keep your mind on God without His word/Spirit? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” – Isaiah 26:3 You don’t want to be distracted by worries or fears. You don’t want to halt between two opinions. Rather, you want to be in a calm, relaxed state with a peaceful mind. The peace mentioned here in Isaiah 26 is the same peace Apostle Paul spoke of in Philippians 4:7—not merely a physical peace but much of an inner peace. Most people today living in peaceful towns or cities are at war, serious war, within their minds. We know that not much development can be 62

achieved during times of war as compared to the amount of destruction that the war can cause. Don’t kill your destiny even before it starts. Rather than spend time having fearful thoughts of the future or guilty thoughts of the past, spend the time with the LORD— communion with the Holy Spirit and meditate in His word. This brings success—sure one too! (See Joshua 1:8)

Entering—Timing When you’re to go through the process, you don’t enter before time or leave before completion. When you’ve seen how sweet and wonderful your future is you might be tempted to want to bye-pass the process. You don’t want to try that. You would come back right into it. Ask Moses. I have read some really strange true-life stories. You would have a successful and “well-to-do” person who would get tired with life one day and just takes his life. Digging deep into the story, the man had accounted that although he’s now rich and comfortable, he doesn’t see the essence of life. He sees life as meaningless. I like the football video games (PES/FIFA). There is this mode of the game called Master League (Manager Career in FIFA), and I play it a lot—when I schedule for it of course. In this game mode, you can choose the difficulty of the matches you play and a whole lot of other things. I had started playing at an easy level and I mastered the level so well that I could really ‘trash my opponents’. Suddenly, the whole game got unexciting to me. I placed it on the hardest level and the table turned—my opponents won throughout. The game turned the 63

other way—it got frustrating. After a while, I came back and changed the difficulty level this time putting on a level higher than the first but lower than the second. As I played, the games were challenging. Although I could win, I would have to put in a whole lot—good formation, good players and a lot more—to secure my wins. There, the game was at the most exciting to me. The LORD used that experience to draw up the picture of life to me: telling me, my experience in that game mode is how humans are made to be with life. Humans like things when it’s interesting and calling for more. When we’re engaged by it, it gets our attention and interest. Are you seeking to escape the process for just the sweet life? Beware! Go through it: the process is really fun, interesting and benefiting. Since the process is for preparation, it has to be in the business of delivering you unto the purpose it was preparing you for. Usually for this to happen, you would often be moved to take to some really bold step(s) to enter. Jacob: Jacob had served his uncle, Laban, for about twenty years now. His uncle has not been the fairest of men and the sons of his uncle don’t seem to be happy about the fact that God has been turning their father’s flock into that of Jacob’s. Now, even Laban doesn’t seem to be giving Jacob a good face. The LORD speaks to Jacob and tells him to leave Laban’s place. “And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.” – Genesis 31:3 64

If Jacob escapes at this time, Laban with his men and sons could chase his and cut him off. They could hurt him and take everything he had earned while with Laban—probably even his life. This Laban is a very cunning man that had deceived and changed the wages of Jacob about ten times. Jacob escapes but it’s only a matter of days before Laban discovers and rightly catch up to him. Here, Jacob could lose everything, but God intervened because the LORD was on his side. (see Genesis 31:24.) Rather than lose anything, Jacob got his freedom this day from the house of Laban—away from evil intentions. Now Jacob that had left home with barely nothing was now returning a rich man. However, there was another issue: this “land of thy fathers” Jacob was returning to is where he had hurt Esau by taking his blessing as first son and Esau was in this land. Esau had already wanted to kill Jacob before he left for Padan-aram—he was only awaiting the death of their father, Isaac. Now, Isaac wasn’t really in the picture and Jacob comes into the land. With Laban, Jacob could have lost his belongings then maybe his life. But with Esau, he could lose his life first. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau saying, “Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.” The messengers went and returned to Jacob with the following report, “We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him”. (Genesis 32:4-6.)

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You can tell the state of Jacob at that moment: afraid and distressed. He immediately divided his possessions into two parts: so that if Esau destroys one, the other can at least escape. Jacob got into prayer putting God into remembrance and making his request. The night came and passed and here was the morning. “And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” – Genesis 33:1,4 You can imagine: what a turnaround! Jacob’s step of faith, although risky, has got him freedom, safety, peace with his brother and beautiful land to stay in. David: Saul died when David was still in the land given him by the Philistine’s King, Achish. About a week after Saul died, the news reached David; he and all his men mourned. After this, David enquired of the LORD. “And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. So David went up thither” – II Samuel 2:1,2 David going to Judah wasn’t as simple as that. (Judah is a tribe and place in Israel.) Those at Judah could have said, “While our King—Saul—lived, this David was a fugitive. Now he is come here. Doesn’t he deserve to die since he had been declared an enemy of the state of Israel?” However, things turned out differently. 66

“And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.” – II Samuel 2:4 Things—everything—could have gone bad for David but, they ended up in him being king over Judah. Well, I think that was a bold step of faith taken by David. Faith, as in what he was acting on came from God. He had sought the counsel of the LORD and He told him to go to Hebron in Judah. After about seven years, David started living in the ultimate vision of his life—being king of all of Israel. “So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.” –II Samuel 5:3-5 Something to notice here about faith is, you have to be acting on something that has come from a higher authority. Which other authority is higher than that of God’s? So, you want God to be for you. You don’t want to be on your own. (In fact, there’s no such thing as being on your own.) Abraham: Father Abraham had to leave his home country to a strange land. Abraham was seventy years when the LORD made him the promise, yet he got Isaac when he was one hundred years old. (He was promised to, be turned into a great nation.) Even when he didn’t have the child of the promise, he accepted to change his name from Abram (meaning, high father) to Abraham (meaning, father of a multitude) when his Sarah was barren, and he was about ninety-nine years old. 67

After a while, the LORD God returned and asked Abraham to offer up Isaac (the Isaac Abraham had received after waiting for about 25 years). Abraham denied God not of Isaac. God was moved by this man’s step of faith. Today, God’s promises to Abraham is a perfect fruition. Another individual in the Old Testament took a step of faith that has really stunned me since I meditated on it. Many today might have considered it “unwise, foolish, crazy”. It is likely that the people during his days knew nothing about rain (Genesis 2:5; 7:4) and probably knew nothing about boat before talking of a ‘gigantic boat’. Besides, such a thing as the earth being completely full of water is something they had not seen nor experienced in their time. So, yeah, there were reasons for Noah to doubt, and for him to be ridiculed if he didn’t. Then suddenly, this man called Noah started building a big boat, probably saying, the whole earth would be flooded and he’s on the project of keeping safe those living things that would survive the flood. Those around Noah then might have thought he was crazy until, of course, they saw the rain and the fountain of the deep breaking open. You may be stirred up to do or give something that could usher you into your purpose, and this ushering would only happen when you take that step of faith. Not taking that step of faith is like God calling you into your purpose but you refusing to heed to His beckoning. What you’re led to do may appear insane to others; perhaps, even to youself. I can tell you this because a step of faith doesn’t normally appeal to the physical senses. 68

Start and End Someone might ask, “How long does the process last?” Truth being told, I cannot tell; only God can. What I know is, everyone doesn’t go through the process in the same manner. One mistake you should not make is, to expect to see everything discussed in this chapter or book in the life of everyone undergoing the process, that has undergone the process or that would undergo the process. You not seeing a particular thing or so in your life, doesn’t mean you’re not going through the process. As I stated earlier, anyone and everyone can undergo the process because everyone has a purpose (destiny/future) on this earth—whether believer or unbeliever. David came into the limelight still a youth; Joseph at the age of 17; while Abraham at age 75. David got into his purpose at about 23 and then 30; Joseph got into his at about age 30; while Abraham at about age 100. One thing I would like you pick up from here is, the period between receiving the vision and the actualization of the vision. This period is the process and in the three cases as mentioned above, it took years—a couple of them. We’ve probably heard of, “the waiting period” referring to the time of waiting on God’s promise or Word to be fulfilled in one’s life. This waiting period is the making period. And it’s a part of the process.

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Since the process is all about learning, developing and become better versions of ourselves, we discover that, as long as you’re growing every time, you’re undergoing the process. Unless, of course, you want to stop growth immediately after entering the fruition of your vision. Even with this being true, the process is only highly tense and noticeable during the early stages before entering into your vision fulfillment. Once you’ve entered, you have been made and equipped mostly and if there’re any other finishing touches to be made, they are usually minor. So, cheer up! Start-up and continue on the journey to your future.

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Chapter 4 Mentorship Humans naturally look up—either to the creator or the creatures. As much as God is the creator, He makes use of creatures to govern creatures. HE, the LORD, was taking the Hebrews out of Egypt. HE, however, didn’t do this directly though He could have since He’s in charge and the source of everything. Rather, He placed Moses in charge and made Aaron his assistant. (Exodus 3:10.) Since Pharaoh was in charge of Egypt then, he needed to be told to allow the Israelites leave. “And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” – Exodus 7:1 Neither Pharaoh nor the Israelites would have been able to directly interact with God from the onset. So, the Lord brought someone in—the man Moses. After the Israelites came out of Egypt, there was a time God—in an act of strengthening their unbelief—came down to speak directly with the Israelites. Here’s how the people responded: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” – Exodus 20:18-19

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Moses was more than a leader to the Israelites. He was a mentor. A mentorship relationship was ongoing. Mentorship has a long-standing history before the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans—although not with the name, “mentorship”. The term, mentor, is actually taken from someone (a fictional character though) whose name it was and it’s being used today because of the role he played from what we know from Homer’s The Odyssey. In this epic poem, Odysseus—who is the subject character— wanders for about ten years from Troy before finally returning home to his dear wife (Penelope) at Ithaca. Before he left for Troy, he had placed Mentor in charge of his house. Mentor (or his form) took up the task of helping, guiding, encouraging, and advising Odysseus young son, Telemachus. Today, we have a lot of other things we do—although with different names—which are forms of mentorship. Discipleship, where a mature person in the Christian faith teaches, trains and helps younger Christians grow up in the faith; tutorship, which is a form of teaching-learning connection between a teacher and a single pupil or small group of pupils; apprenticeship, involving someone new in a field serving under someone more skilled or experienced in such filled. In either case, the person being mentored, the mentee, is being helped in improving in at least a particular area by the facilitator, the mentor. The relationship between both the mentor and mentee is called mentorship. Mentorship can be done in almost anything—education, work, business, politics, engineering, spirituality, you just name it. As 72

long as someone seeks growth and another person is capable of providing the avenue, and the both parties agree about this— that’s mentorship right there. The classroom teacher, lecturer, or professor can be your mentor as long as you can get access to him/her to discuss and ask question one-on-one about that specific field of study. As much as these are true, there’s a major form I’d like to point out: Life Mentorship. A life mentor mentors his/her mentee in all important areas of life possible. At the early stages of life, your family members or other older ones around tend to be your mentor. You learn from them and behave just as they tell you to. As you mature, you become more specific with whom you’re mentored by—not just anyone. Even the friends of young people can mentor them. (when it’s mostly bad, we tag it ‘peer pressure’.) ONE-ON-ONE/GROUP Mentorship is good when done in group so that you, the mentor, can impact many people at once. However, beware that certain forms of mentorship produce best result when done one-onone. I had to learn this lesson when I newly began mentoring others. There was this time I was mentoring two young people at the same time. Sometimes, I would do it individually while at other times I would have a joint session or discussion (whichever is more appealing to you). With time, I noticed that rather than getting more from the joint session, I could get more from the one-one-one session. By having the joint session, I would only expend about half the time I would have expended in having the single session. Besides, I would be certain that both mentees 73

have been given the same material in a somehow equal proportion. However, they would get distracted by the presence of their very selves. (Imagine, they were both of the same sex. What if they were opposite?) Also, the level of frankness I get from each of these mentees is way much higher in the one-on-one session than the joint session. I recall when I served as an undergraduate-teaching assistant, I would teach the class on a particular topic and leave. One or two of the students that were very good at timing would come and meet me to explain the same topic to them. I would do so. After a while a few said, “I don’t know why when you lecture in the classroom, I don’t understand but when you explain it to me one-one-one, I understand better”. Even myself, I don’t know. Some universities around the world have noticed and now use both classroom lectures coupled with tutorship sessions as teaching methods.

Being Led to Lead; Being Taught to Teach “Can the Blind lead the blind?” That was the question Jesus started a parable in Luke chapter 6 with. “And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the 74

beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.” – Luke 6:39-42 If you are helping a blind man out, it’s most likely because you’ve got something he doesn’t have—eyes that see. If a guy that needs your help is blind and you don’t see much better than he does, what are both of you headed for? Whatever help you offer to someone in any specific area is because you have got something to offer that person—a skill, finance, knowledge, revelation, network, or gift. A crippled man and a blind man can form a wonderful partnership. (Don’t you think?) One person has functional eyes to offer while the other has capable legs and arms. Combine the two and they both are complete. If you would be very good at something tomorrow— anything—you would have to learn it well today. Whatever you want to give out to others tomorrow, you would have to start gathering them today. Get equipped and build capacity. Learn from the best you have available to you. MOSES, INVOLVED IN MENTORSHIP Joshua was like a mentee to Moses. Do you know that Moses was mentored also? Moses stayed with Jethro for about forty years after he fled from Egypt where Pharaoh sought to kill him. Moses even married one of his daughters, Zipporah, and catered for his flock. Jethro was a priest of God. (see Exodus 2 &3.) Moses left Jethro and went on the assignment of the LORD to deliver His people out of Egypt. When this was done, Jethro heard that Moses and the Israelites were now out of Egypt, so he went on to see—taking along Moses’ wife and sons. During 75

his time there, he noticed something. Moses would sit all day, from morning to evening, to serve as judge for all the people’s case—about a million Jews left Egypt. His father-in-law saw this and responded (you’ve got to see this for yourself): “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.” Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.”. – Exodus 18:14-22 NASB What a counsel! The part that even got me most of all was the final statement made by Jethro.

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“If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” -- Exodus 18:23 NASB Glory, Hallelujah! That was the part that sealed it! Jethro was telling Moses to change to the method he had suggested only if God HIMSELF agrees to it. Did God agree to it? Of course, the Lord did. It was just two chapters later that the LORD gave Moses the Ten Commandments (other laws and ordinances then followed). DISCIPLE NOT ABOVE MASTER. At the lower level of school, there is only a single teacher for a class. During my primary school time, I had a single teacher for my class—I think first grade specifically then. She taught us a topic. The next day we came to school, and she asked questions on that topic. She asked me a question (I don’t recall it now), and I answered. Her response was, “Elvis, where did you learn that?” (I had learnt that from my home teacher the day before that class.) She was surprised because she didn’t teach us that. If she was the only teacher, I ever learnt that topic from, there was no way that I could have known more than she had already taught. I know this principle very well that’s why when I’m mentoring a person, I always direct them towards the source—the origin. In my mind, “This is what I have taken from. Go there and take, likewise, as much as you can.” As a mentor, you never want to limit your mentees to you and you only. If you do that, you would only be turning them into a photocopy of you—and there’s no one better at being you than you yourself. A wise mentor knows that every mentee has 77

traits that make him/her unique. Help them discover that uniqueness. If you’d look at the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, you’d find that they all had their uniqueness. Although being the Lord Jesus he could do anything, he gave them the fundamentals rather than erasing their uniqueness in anyway. Looking at the New Testament church, we can see the benefits it got from the uniqueness within the ministry. Apostle Paul spoke of this uniqueness in the ministry: “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?” – I Corinthians 12:17 If you must help someone, you must have been helped. Mentorship is a very good thing. As you mentor a person, you must stay growing. We only see mentorship and other similar acts on the physical but something much deeper is happening. You give out from your inner self when you mentor, teach or preach to others. As you are helping, you must be paying attention to yourself. MENTORSHIP/LEADERSHIP/COUNSELLING This section has the heading, “Being led to lead; being taught to teach”. The appearance of ‘lead’ here needs to be talked about. (I perceive a question or more might have arisen in your mind.) Mentorship, leadership and counselling are not the same things. A mentor offers wise counsels, teaches, guides, helps, leads, comforts, exhorts, encourages and many other. A mentor does all these things for his/her mentee. The relationship between a mentor and his mentee is more than that of a professional thing.

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A mentor is a friend, partner, brother, sister, father, mother, leader, teacher, and any other role he or she can play. I have seen a lot of times how a mentor can end up marrying one of his mentees. (At this point, please beware.) It won’t be totally strange if you as a mentor sense that feelings are coming up for a mentee of yours of the opposite sex. Attraction between a male and a female is natural and has been around since creation. However, you don’t want to jump into a relationship of such form. Doing so may be at the expense of the mentorship. Focus on the mentorship not the feelings. A male is a male—he has his drives—and not even spirituality annuls that as long as he has on this earthly body. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” – I Corinthians 10:12 Even if your female mentee has forgotten that you are a ‘man’, you must not. (The same applies to female mentors.) “Leader” conveys the idea of the person who commands or directs a group, organization, state or the like. A leader is taking people to some place, end or vision. Does the president of your nation have a one-on-one relationship with every citizen he leads? A mentor has it with his mentees. The leader is focused on delivering something to or for those he leads. A mentor is focused on molding and improving those he mentors—with this they can be able to deliver themselves. Although some people today interchangeably use mentor and advisor, the two roles are not exactly the same.

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An advisor just offers wise counsels during a particular crisis or in some specific field. You may only just contact him or her when you need counsel. The focus of the advisor is on the subject (situation or issue at hand). While the focus of the mentor is not only on the issue but also on you developing at the same time. So, you see, a leader is a leader; an advisor is an advisor; a mentor, is both and much more. David helped mentor Solomon. Who mentored Saul? Was Saul really mentored for the role of leading God’s people? (Check Scripture for yourself.) No wonder he couldn’t walk with God and consequently, couldn’t lead Israel. David led Israel well and even helped in mentoring the wise King Solomon of ancient times. Who mentored David? (That must have got you thinking.) Samuel? Saul? How could Samuel have mentored David when there is record of them meeting less than five times in scriptures. Besides, Samuel died when David really had need of a mentor. Saul? How could he have? In the first place, Saul had been rejected. Also, he tried—on several occasions—to get rid of David. God, HIMSELF, mentored David.

Benefits When benefits of mentorship is mentioned, almost all our attention turns toward the mentee. However, not only the mentee benefits: the mentor benefits likewise. Whatever field you are involved with, the more you practice well in that field, the better you tend to become. Even teachers learn as they 80

teach. There’s something about growth of potential and skill— there always is space to grow and further improve. AS MENTEE You tend to benefit in a lot of ways that could impact you for the entirety of your life. Firstly, self-discovery happens. In the words of one of my mentees, “Mentorship is making an investment into another person”. One of such investments aids the discovery of yourself. This is a foundation of any and every other thing you could ever do in this life time. In self-discovery, you get to realize who you are in terms of your purpose on this earth, your passion, your abilities and gifts. In time past, as I have learned, one of the best ways to do this is to seek your Maker. You were created by God; we all are— many, many years ago when HE created the first man and woman. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” – Genesis 1:27 HE is the one that possesses the blueprint of your life and that of every other person. Talking about walking with HIM would take a book all by itself. However, we have put something small together in chapter 9 to get you started. Well, I think that is the principal part and once that’s done, every other thing starts to pop up within time.

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Also, tough times (out of our comfort zones) can really be helpful for us recognizing our strengths and what we’re not so strong in. A runner who always trains within the 1 Km of distance for 0.5 hour finds himself bound within that distance. If he is to improve, he must push himself beyond what he’s been accustomed to. (That, then, would be out of his comfort zone and it’s usually there that development and improvement happen.) Your gift is so important because it gives you clue as to your purpose and passion (i.e., what you should be focusing on). Secondly, mentorship helps you build character. Character is what makes a man or woman. Without it, you’re just a human being. One of the characters of a man is that he should be responsible and provide for his family. During mentorship, skills are built. Since skill is “the ability to do something well” (Oxford Dictionary of English), one of them is character. It is however, not a normal type of skill. Another important character is patience (longsuffering and forbearance). The two words are very much related but there’s still a distinction. Longsuffering is holding on and being strong in the midst of issues (especially when caused by another) while forbearance is holding and restraining yourself from doing something (even when nothing else is holding you). Another word we might use for longsuffering is ‘endurance’; while that of forbearance is ‘self-control’. In Romans 2:4, both words are used: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

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The words, forbearance and longsuffering, in the above Scripture are used in place of the Greek words transliterated, ‘anoche’(meaning, to restrain oneself) and ‘makrothumia’ (meaning, fortitude) respectively. In times that you would normally give up, your mentor would be there to help build up your ‘makrothumia’. (He would help build up, not ‘be strong’ on your behalf. That part is for you.) Yet another character, a set, is trust and obedience. This is very important especially when walking with God. HE expects totally reliance on HIM and not yourself; if you are going to do this, you would need obedience in a high amount. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5 HE wants 100% of your trust—don’t even ‘lean’ on yourself. Well, this is something that has to be built up in you. You can’t just wake up one time and have total trust. The more you know HIM—His unfailing character—this truth grows and can turn into giant faith. Obedience is also needed when dealing with man. Obedience in a person is perceived as humility—especially to those we owe it. One of such persons being your mentor—life mentor. Also, it points you in the right direction. Your mentor is like a guard to you. He sees what you may not be able to see. When I was a child, my mom used to say to us, “What I can see far away, you may not see even when it’s right in front of you.” That’s similar role a mentor can offer to his mentee—especially a life mentor. It is beneficial if you, as mentee, pay heed to this. 83

We saw in chapter 3 how Solomon paid heed to the words of his father, David, in Proverbs 4:7. David just had to point him in the right direction. He followed it through and even God was impressed. A good mentor will give you several exercises in areas he intends to groom you. Some of these may not even look like exercises to you (others may). Whether it looks like that to you or not, you want to carry them out if you desire growth. For example, I ask my mentees questions then, I tell them to write out (a certain length) their response. Two aims for this exercise is to improve their writing skills and improve their understanding of their insight on such issue. AS MENTOR We’ve mentioned how mentorship aims at growth (growth of the mentee). What is worth stating is, it also provides a platform for the growth of the mentor. Do you know that teachers learn while teaching— (Not always necessarily from their students). Being a science student, there are a lot of concepts I have had to understand. There were several times during which I fully understood certain concepts, theories or models while explaining them to a fellow student. There I was, ‘teaching’ another student, and at the same time, teaching and learning myself and seeing things from new angles. Mentorship can be of such. Mentoring another person is really an investment—of time, knowledge, energy and a lot of other resources. These resources are things that are seen and noted to belong to you; so, you could decide not to share it—and no one would pick a 84

fight with you. After all, it’s seen by others and known to be yours. However, in mentoring another, you have chosen to share your resources with that person. You see, that alone by itself is selflessness. It shows your concern for others—example, your mentee. It makes clear how your mindset is similar to that spoken of in Scripture: The Lord owns everything, and we are only stewards of the things that we see as belonging to us. “what hast thou that thou didst not receive?; As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” – I Corinthians 4:7; I Peter 4:10 When you’re mentoring someone out of a pure heart and good conscience with love, you would want the best development and growth of that person. It then, comes to you that you have a part to play and you would want to play your part fully. We know one of the ways a child learn is by watching how the matures do things. You are the mature for your mentee. You would want to be a very good example and see to it that whatever he/she gets from you is good and can stand the test. This would push you to be a better version of yourself and want to improve every now and then since you can only give what you firstly have. Because a mentor naturally grows as he mentors, it is advisable to encourage your mentee to also start mentoring.

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Guide to Mentorship The first thing to know and note here is, the LORD God is the number one mentor. There is no form of mentorship greater than that of God’s. With all the results any other form of mentorship can produce, God’s mentorship is the best there is. AGE As pertaining mentorship, age is not a primary factor. An older person can mentor a younger person. Even so, can a younger person in an area mentor an older person. Have you not seen/heard of classes having students older than their teachers? As long as the area of the mentorship is the focus and the younger person is very mature in such area than his neighbor, he or she can mentor. OFF PERIOD Sometimes in mentorship, the mentor can be so connected to the mentee that such mentor can be tempted to “overly protective” his or her mentee. You don’t want this to happen. You want your mentee to be independent in a way if he/she is going to grow. Mistakes are not prohibited: they are part of the growth process. I have seen several times that a mentee can appreciate the mentorship much more when he is also getting his own experiences and learning from them. Sometimes, they may be reluctant in taking counsel on a certain issue. However, when they have experienced it for themselves, you won’t have to offer such counsel again. One useful technique is to care for them and not care for them at the same time. How does God treat His children? “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was 86

done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” – II Chronicles 32:31 It’s okay at times to just stand-by and see how your mentee would respond: It can give some clues regarding his/her growth state. You must be sensitive as a mentor: know this “off” period; don’t fight it. Give way when it’s that time; stay praying for your mentee just as the Lord Jesus did for Peter. “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” – Luke 22:31-32 Talking about prayer, if you’re mentor, it’s advisable to pray in the spirit before and after each session you have. (This is true; most especially for spiritual or life mentors.) GOOD STATE When we are feeling down or in some form of low state, things get better when we speak to another person. This is because we offload these things. Offload to where? “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” – Galatians 6:1 Offload it to the surrounding; at that moment, the other person is part of that surrounding. On a certain day, I was doing some work on the table. My baby sib chose to eat on the same table. After eating, he had left some 87

of the bread crumbs on the table. I called and told him to clean it up. Do you know what he did? He wiped the table with his hands wasting the crumbs from the table to the floor. The table was cleaner at the end all at the expense of his hands and the floor. That is similar to what can happen in offloading. You want to clean up yourself when such happens so as to still be helpful further. Consider thyself: you can only help your mentee when you are in a good state. HONOR YOUR MENTOR As a mentee, you need to guard your mind. Don’t be deceived into despising your mentor. This is a very big trap you want to stay far away from. During the Exodus, two of the Israelites (including Miriam) spoke against Moses. They despised Moses and saw themselves as, “we have heard from God also”. Well, God wasn’t pleased with it. (See Numbers 12.) Four chapters after this had happened, a group of more than two hundred fifty Israelites led by Korah, a Levite, rose up and became insolent towards Moses. They met Moses and Aaron saying to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord ?” – Numbers 16:3 NASB Korah himself along with his assistants, Dathan and Abiram, eye the top seats in the Israelites camp—the ones occupied by Moses and Aaron. They came in with words and points that 88

made it look like they speak on the behalf of all of Israel. They might have thought they would succeed with such a cunning style. Well, their end wasn’t that good. Miriam—being a prophetess—must have thought God has spoken through her just as much as he has spoken through Moses. “So, what’s the difference? We are all equals.” Korah thinking that he, being a Levite, can perform the role of Moses and Aaron. (After all, they have Levite in common.) The trap of despising or competing can come about when you start seeing yourself as having grown up to the standard or above the standard of everyone one else. This kind of thought is an evil that can hurt you in the long run. Live and grow in a state of humility of mind. Don’t seek to exalt yourself. It is pointless and foolish to compete with someone you should be learning from. This last point about to be made, without it this chapter (not even section) would be incomplete: as a mentee, your mentor’s life is different from yours.

Little More on Mentorship Your mentor is not perfect. (Always remember that.) Look out for the best in him. Every good mentor knows this. Your mentor would help and guide you in studying and understanding yourself. He leads you to the places of discoveries but, you yourself have to make those discoveries.

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HOW MANY? Just like the Lord Jesus with his twelve disciples, a mentor can have many mentees. However, a mentee having many mentors is risky although it can be rewarding if handled well. The rewarding part is, you now have two sources of being mentored—two sources of help, support, impact and development. The risky part is you trying to take them both at the same level. If they contradict at any point, it can cause you to be tossed to and fro. If you go on to have more than one mentor in an area, you must know which one is the number one. The Apostle paul speaking in the epistle of I Corinthians said, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” In this church, there were issues of confusion as to whose way to take. The Apostle Paul, in the above Scripture, is making clear to them their father. Just like for a child, his father teaches him; so would his school teachers and other adults. But, his father remains his father and he needs to know this—always. If you’re contemplating on having two mentors, you must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” (see Matthew 6:24.) HOW LONG?

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The king of Judah, Ahaziah, had died while out of Judah. The moment the news reached Judah, his mother (Athaliah) sought to kill all the seed of the royal family that could lay claim to the throne. She killed all, but one was hidden from her—Joash (also called Jehoash), infant son of the King Ahaziah. He was secretly being brought up in the House of the Lord by the priest, Jehoiada. After six years, Athaliah was killed and Joash was made king. Here’s what II Kings 12:2 has to say about him, “And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.”. He was being mentored by the priest before and even while he was king. During the mentorship of Jehoiada, he did things rightly and was on the right path. After the death of Jehoiada, he couldn’t remain on the right path. This brings up the question, “How long is mentorship?”; “When can you know your mentee has fully grown to stand?”. The length of every mentorship is also something I cannot specifically comment on. The length of different mentorships varies. As for the second question, it can be answered but not generally. When can you know a child (baby) has fully grown to stand? Concerning spiritual mentorship, you know your mentee is close to a standing position when he or she can now receive fresh revelations directly from God Himself with little or no stain in such revelations.

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Hear from a Mentee We would like to end this chapter with a response I got from one of my mentees. I had given the task: Do a 1-page work on, Your Best Understanding/Revelation About Mentorship. Although there are one or two areas that can be straightened up, it is good overall. Here is what came in: “I believe mentorship is a journey between a mentor and mentee. Mentoring occurs if only there’s someone willing to be led and taught; and someone experience to lead, teach and listen. This journey causes both to realize their strengths, weaknesses and abilities. The goal of mentoring is for the mentee to grow and mature in the area/areas he or she is nurtured. For some, mentorship is for a specific time while for others, a time isn’t attached. However, I think the period of mentorship depends on the availability of both mentor and mentee. Mentoring requires a lot of time, skills and other resource. It can be offered for almost anything. Mentorship is making an investment into another person.”

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Chapter 5 The Road to Greatness A man is climbing a hill. At different levels of this hill, there are thorns, grasses, bushes, gravels and any other unpleasant thing you can fathom. This hill also has some good things alone the way to keep this man up. (Or else, the unpleasant things on the way alone are enough to cut this man’s journey short. Oops! I’ve already told you he’s on a journey.) Where is he going? This man, my friend, is going to a place called—greatness. Getting to greatness is not a one-day thing. It is a journey of days, weeks, months, or perhaps, years. A lot of things happen during this journey and on this path. We say, every child is great. Yes, right! Not every child grows to become a great person. The true greatness is in the becoming. Look around and you’d discover that the percentage of those that are great in our world are very small compared to the total percentage of people in this world. (That should tell you something.) Every great person has been on a journey or—more correctly put—is on a journey. Even those considered great still want to get greater. If your parents or another entrusted you with greatness and you haven’t added to it, you are not great. You are only basking in someone else’s legacy. Achieving greatness can also be likened to building a house. Building a house involves a lot like time, energy, effort, plan, the materials and the builder. Building the house to completion 93

is greatness and the builder (owner) is the person who has achieved greatness. After building the house, the builder can still add to it for beautification, splendor and comfort—that’s making greatness greater. Even still, building more houses is adding to the already existing greatness. For most people, when they hear—"greatness”—the first thing that comes to their mind is, “wealth”. Wealth is indeed a form of greatness. However, wealth is not the only form of greatness. In fact, they even forget the ‘something’ that brought the wealth. What’s true is, greatness may attract wealth, but it is not just wealth.

Vision and Dream Another likeness of greatness is as that of a seed. A seed, being small, is planted into a fertile soil and conditioned well. With time and more supply of water, sunlight and nutrients, it sprouts eventually turning into a tree—a one much more than the seed. This tree bears fruit for eating and also gives us seed for the growth of more trees. We have used three similitudes for greatness: a man climbing a hill leading to a destination, the building of a house and the sprouting of a seed into a grown tree. In each of these cases, there is a start point. For the first, the destination; for the second, the house plan/design; for the third, the see. Every form of greatness has a starting point. A wise man on a journey first plans his destination before picking up. A wise builder has in mind what he wants, lays the foundation and 94

then, moves forward. A big tree comes out of a seed—even a small seed. Your dream/vision/goal is like the destination for journeys, plan and foundation of a houses; seed for trees. Dream, vision, goal—what are they? The terms, dream, vision and goal may be used interchangeably especially for the first two. Originally, a vision entails a sight seen from the spiritual realm (especially as shown by God Himself not the devil). Balaam when called by Balak to curse Israel prophesied saying, “He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:” Exodus 24:16 Balaam said, “vision of the Almighty”. What does Scripture say further about this? “And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” – I Samuel 3:1 “word of the LORD was precious” is an expression telling you that the word of the LORD was uncommon. We are aware— even in our ordinary life—that the rareness of something very useful makes that thing precious (example: gold and diamond). Visions too were uncommon. Coincidence that the both are rare at the same time? Why? The two—word of the LORD and vision—are from the same source. That source is the spiritual realm. The transliterated Hebrew word (chazown) translated as, ‘vision’ in that Scripture means ‘dream, revelation or oracle’. 95

Throughout Scripture, vision is a report as seen not from this physical realm but from the spiritual realm—especially from the hand of God Himself. Initially, dream only referred to a mental picture conceived usually while asleep. Dream can be from the spiritual realm or just physical. You could dream of something when you’ve had it on your mind for quite some time—even a short time—but during this short time, it had gone beyond just your superficial mind. You can relate to the fact that you have dreamed of things you have had on your mind. Even Solomon speaks of it in Ecclesiastes (NIV): “A dream comes when there are many cares”. When some of the Israelites (from Judah) were taken as captives into Babylon, others were left back in Jerusalem— Prophet Jeremiah being one of them. At that time, there were lot of prophets giving false words to the people. So, the Lord God truly spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah and he communicated this to God’s children in exile. In the letter were the words, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.” – Jeremiah 29:8 “to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.” See! The people were causing themselves to dream. How? The words the people were hearing from the false prophets was beginning to sink into them and they were even beginning to 96

dream of it—even though these words were all lies and deceit. They had received these impulses from the physical. When a dream is from the spiritual realm, it becomes a family of vision. Looking through the story of Job you would see that of all Job’s friends and even Job himself, Elihu spoke wisdom more concurrent with God. It was even after he had spoken that God responded to Job in a whirlwind. Elihu, in the book of Job, speaking to Job and his three friends said, “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed”. Even the prophet Isaiah wrote, “And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.” – Isaiah 29:7 (ESV 2011) That settles it. A dream/vision that a man accepts as being his future or destiny now becomes the result he hopes for and focuses on. And this is the meaning the words dream and vision have come to being used to denote mostly in our contemporary communication. Some see vision as the much bigger and broader picture of one’s life while dreams are within the vision (seen as the segments a vision can be divided into). However, we are taking the terms just as we have examined and explained them using scriptures.

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As for a goal, it is something you have your focus set on. Your effort, time and resources are directed towards achieving it. When you accept a vision/dream as your future, it automatically becomes a goal—or should I say, principal goal—for you. When a man refers to something as his dream although he didn’t get it while he slept, what he means is, that thing is a goal for him. The fact that dream is from the spiritual realm and every man has spirit (as part of his tripartite nature—spirit, soul and body), every man is capable of dreaming. (See I Thessalonians 5:23.) An unbeliever can have visions. Sometimes, we can receive things from the spiritual besides through the medium of dream or vision. One other means is revelation. A revelation can be received by both a believer or unbeliever. This is God revealing something to you. It could come in the form of an idea (like many successful people are where they got due to a clever idea or so that they acted upon). The edge a believer has is, he can always be connected to the Lord. Thus, He can receive not only the ideas, but 24/7 too; and also, every single thing that he would need to perfectly execute such idea. Also, he has the Holy Spirit as a sure partner, the seal of glory and much more. (If you’re mature, you’d understand how important these are.) When God’s word comes to you—be it in vision, dream, words of revelations or the likes—it’s for your consumption. You want to understand it and believe it. Focus on the picture it talks about. Focus on the word, walk with God to lead you. Forget about any other thing that may cause distraction. 98

Different Paths Imagine yourself in a house (it could be your house). You are in your room and your room is at the center of this house. You place your luggage at the center of this room and draw a small circle around it and walk around this circle. You then draw a second circle around the first circle and walk around it also. You then leave the room, go outside and draw a third circle— around the house this time—and walk around the circle. Do you think the three circles are the same? They may have the same center, but they are different distances around. It’s much longer and takess more time moving around the third circle— if the speed is constant—than moving around the other two. You can even see this by measuring the distance from the center to any point on the circles: this is the radius. The measurement of the radius increases from the first circle to the third. In a track and field race, this difference is taken into consideration. If you were to take a look at a track and field racing ground, you would notice that it is not completely circular. Rather, it’s oval with a certain part of two opposite sides being straight. The other pair of opposite ends is like portion of a circle—an arc. Travelling around the innermost lane of this ground, is much shorter than the outermost lane. The distance around increases moving from innermost lane to outermost lane. That’s why in race on this ground, the runners start at different points but finish at the same point—on the straight portion of the field. If all the lanes on this field were all the same, the runners would both start and finish at the same points. 99

Life is like a track and field ground, where the runners (we) are on different lanes. Like the track and field ground which is oval, everyone doesn’t have the same start point. Unlike the track and field ground, every doesn’t have the same finish point. You don’t want to compare your progress with that of the nearby runner. Remember that your path is different from that of the other person. If the tracks were completely circular and the purpose of the race is to completely go around your circle, he may have to cover a lesser distance to fulfil his task. While you, being on the outer circle, have more distance to cover to achieve your own purpose. Comparison hurts and kills: stay far from it. The next runner can serve as an encouragement to you, but don’t use him to hurt yourself. That is the mistake many need to beware of. You can learn from someone else’s life and experiences but, you can’t take it directly, completely and fully just like that. There’s a very interesting account in Acts 19. God was working special miracles by the hands of Paul that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were being used to heal the sick and send out evil spirits. It was a wow! Some Jews, hearing of it, saw an opportunity. Let’s see what happened: “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man 100

in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” –Acts 19:13-16 Well, it didn’t work for them. Paul had something they didn’t have. At that moment and for that situation, they were not moving on the same lane. In 60 B.C., three men—Caesar, Pompey and Crassus—led Rome forming what we know in history as The First Triumvirate. Crassus was known as the richest man in Rome then, while Pompey Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar were militarily astute. Crassus being envious of their military achievements, decided to go on his own military venture so as to attain the honor of ‘a military hero’. A way to do this was to conquer new territories that would be annexed to the Roman State. He went on a military quest towards the eastern side of Rome to conquer Parthia in the Middle East. Well, it didn’t end well: he lasted just a couple of months there before being killed in battle. It is reported that molten gold was poured into his mouth. Crassus’ was comparing himself to Gaius Julius Caesar (the military and political genius) and Pompey Magnus (the Great). Both of these men were military people. He probably should have focused on his lane and let go of foolish comparison. Focus on your path. When it comes to greatness, there is no skipping or shortcut. If you want it, you must go for it fully—on your lane, of course, not someone else’s.

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Zig Ziglar really was making a point when he said, “There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.” Some people fear greatness. (Let it not sound strange to you.) These people are overly concern of what others would say or think if they were to fail. If you want greatness, you can’t be scared of criticism. People talking about you should tell you that you have their attention and only significant things get attention. Be success-minded to the extent that failure has no place close to you. One thing that truly great people have in common is, they’ve made mistakes and they’ve disappointed before. That is, they have failed at one point or the other. What distinguishes them from others who are not great is, they refuse to be their mistakes and past failures. If you fall, you get yourself up, wipe your trouser and keep on running.

Two Lane-Guides On a motor road, there are usually two directions: one direction moves from left to right while the other moves from right to left (If you’re standing perpendicular to the road). At the side moving in one direction (let’s say, right to left), there are lanes still. Each lane area is shown so as to keep the drivers from colliding into each other. Just in a similar way in this journey of greatness: you are reminded to stay on your lane by lines (guides) that are meant to always keep you on your rightful lane. These guides are normally two: one to the right-hand side and the other, the lefthand side. 102

These lane-guides are an allegory of two things: service to God and service to man. SERVICE TO GOD The first point to know and keep in mind is “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” – Psalms 24:1. God is the creator of heaven and earth, and everything within the heavens and earth—including you and me. This would also tell you that, it’s God that has put you on this journey; He is that one that determines your finish line; He is a guide to you staying on track in this race. Previously, we spoke of the seed of greatness: dream, vision, idea or revelation. Where can these come from? They come from the Lord God, of course! He gives you the seed; He directs you and help make every crooked path straight. Then, how can you not be wise? “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth” – Deuteronomy 8:17-18 Whatever wealth or greatness you have today (or would have soon), you must remember who the true source really is. You can toil night and day; work or think harder than everyone else, and at the end of the day don’t achieve success. However, with the Lord’s hand resting upon you, you can get result from even a little effort. Which do you prefer? 103

What does Scripture say, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” – Psalms 127:1 This applies to both unbeliever and believer because God, “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” – Matthew 5:45 The devil on the other hand, what he does is watch out for those whose house the Lord has built. He takes those ones and use them. The devil is never interested in an empty man. We know that, every good and perfect gift is from the Lord. (James 1:17.) The devil only looks for those with these gifts (they themselves not knowing what they have), and he uses them getting them to think that he is the one that has given them what they have already had. It’s very rare and I have not see a man offering service to God and mankind not benefitting from it. This brings us to the next lane-guide—service to man. SERVICE TO MAN David and the people of Israel had agreed to take the Ark of the Lord from where it was, Gibeah, to Jerusalem. (David was king at this time.) They prepared things and even made a new cart for carrying the ark. They started moving off with the ark in the new cart; Uzzah and Ahio were driving it as they went. On the way, the oxen shook, and the ark got in an unbalanced state. Uzza, trying to prevent it from falling, was struck dead by the Lord.

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Fear caught all present—even David got scared. Why would God kill one of them when they are carrying His ark to a good place—Jerusalem? So, they couldn’t carry the ark. Rather, they had to find somewhere to keep it for the time being until they can find a solution. If even David—the man God loves—was afraid of coming close to the ark, who would want to dare come near? However, they kept it in the house of a man, Obededom. Couldn’t Obededom had refused? He was actually doing all of Israel a favor by keeping what most of them were afraid of that day. Mishandling of the ark had just killed the son of the man that had kept it before that time: that was reason enough for any other to fear it. “And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.” – II Samuel 6:11 It turns out the man, Obededom, got rewarded for his act of service to the King and Israel. The Lord Jesus and his disciples were passing through Galilee; then, came to Capernaum. While inside, He asked them, “what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?”. They couldn’t say a word. However, on the way they were disputing about which one of them should be the greatest. (See Mark 9:33-34.) The Lord sat down, called them over and said to them, “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” – Mark 9:35 105

At another time, about a chapter later, two of His disciples came to Him and asking that they both sit at His side in His glory (showing that the disputation of ‘which of them was the greatest’ was still on their mind). The other disciples were displeased with their request. The Lord Jesus perceiving this, called them saying, “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” – Mark 10:42-44 As contrary as these two scriptures from the book of Mark may seem to what a person may have seen around, they are spiritual principles. It is even given more details in the second Scripture. In the natural man’s mind, you would have to show and exercise authority to be the greatest and every other person must serve you. Nevertheless, it is not so with us. The true and fundamental principle is, you serve others then, you are the greatest. Others perceive serving as a low status—even the word itself has connection to some words considered low status. The truth is wanting to be first means that you have to the last and the smallest of all. This is clearly a form of humility and it is the humble that is exalted. (See James 4:6; Matthew 23:12; I Peter 5:6.)

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Naturally, man is very selfish: continue doing good things for them and you’re on your way to greatness; focus and show interest in them and they would push you to greatness. Look around deeply. The Greats have done or given something to humanity or perhaps, achieve a remarkable feat that humanity is proud of. Everyone and anyone considered great in one way or the other, has added to the lives of others—the very same people and others that consider them great. It applies to both believers and unbelievers. The Lord Jesus, the Word, is God. Still, he was serving while on earth. In fact, it was offering service to mankind and God the Father that even brought Him to earth in the first place. Offering service to God and man are the two lane-guides of our path of greatness. We must keep in mind the principal. “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28 Here, let’s mention that you offer service to God by accepting Him and investing into your relationship with Him. (Hopefully, chapter 9 would help start you off on this if you’re not already part of the family.)

Self-Discipline There are several factors associated with greatness. Covering all could probably take up all the space of this book. Notwithstanding, we have handpicked three-four to discuss. 107

Besides, a lot of the things we have discussed before this chapter and even after it are all factors of greatness. Thinking of the word discipline just now, the first thing that came to my mind was: some time ago, I was telling a group, “If you don’t practice self-discipline, the external world would discipline you”. Discipline is training for a person to have a certain character; self-discipline is you training yourself. Discipline—whether by yourself or the outside world—is necessary when attempting to add to you something new that hasn’t been there before. Remember, greatness (success) is like a race: every race has rules. “Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.” – II Timothy 2:5 NIV Discipline is what you need in finding out the rules and sticking to them. Just like in a race where it is good to do your training at a time before the actual race, it is the same for a life of greatness. This time is the youthful stage of your life. “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. – Lamentation 3:27 Discipline helps you grow and mature. And until you have grown enough, you may not get access to or even be able to maintain what is yours.

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Discipline is so important that you would need it to absorb the other factors. Besides, It is needed to absorb anything especially from the genesis.

Faithfulness Jesus was giving a parable in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew about a man who gives certain portions of his possession to three of his servants before he left for a journey. (Quotation from this parable are from the ESV.) The division was, “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”. The servant receiving the five talents went on using and investing them; so too did the one receiving the two talents. The servant receiving the one talent did differently: he hid the talent in the ground—refusing to use it. The master returns and asks his servants to give account of the money given them. The first two had doubled what was given to them. Wow! the master was amazed. He said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.”. It is now time for the last of them to make report. He came forward saying, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.” Their boss was unimpressed. Lashing out at this servant, he took the one talent from him and give it to the servant with ten. Then, he finally punishes him. 109

This parable has a lot to do with faithfulness. Those servants who were faithful in what was entrusted into their care got congratulated and promoted—the first, from five talents to ten or rather, elven; the second, from two talents to four. The last guy, however, got demoted from one talent to zero talent and punishment. He saw reasons not to be faithful and took them. He gave excuses. That’s one thing faithfulness does not indulge into—giving excuses. Faithfulness-greatness, both of them, don’t give excuses. In this parable too, we can see certain setbacks to being faithful. The first is, you seeing what is there as very small. Most times, we want to do things—big things—but we have to start from small. This is of the first set of hills to success one has to climb. A big tree today was just a shoot yesterday; a mansion today was just…a ground yesterday. Success is not abrupt: success is growth. The Lord Jesus even speaks of this point again in another Scripture: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” – Luke 16:10 The other is, you seeing what is there as “someone else’s”. Sometimes, you may see it as a fear just like the last servant in that parable did. Saying something like, “My master is a wicked and unfair man. I don’t want to lose his money and get in trouble.” Don’t give into that: it is not a mindset you want to adopt. Whatever you have in your care today—whether yours or someone else’s—handle them all with care and faithfulness as yours. Because, even if you don’t have yours today, you

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surely will tomorrow; and by you caring for someone else’s, you simply are preparing yourself for the bigger. “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?” – Luke 16:12 Who shall give you your own? Scripture says, “Who shall give you that which is your own?”. A very important one there too. Everything that a person has, he has received. “what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” – I Corinthians 4:7 This boss wasn’t doing favoritism. As we can see from the opening Scripture of this account, the distribution was done according to each servant’s ability. You get what you can handle. Certainly, this last certain got what he was expected to be able to handle—one talent. Even at that, he proved unable to handle it so, he later got what his ability was perceived as— zero talent plus punishment. Stay faithful to whatever you start today. If you want to see real results, stay committed come sun shine/rain fall. Good things are normally not found on the surface lying about. If you want that promotion; you want that upgrade; you want that next level, you’ve got to be faithful with the one entrusted to you now. Faithfulness is very similar to commitment. If you would have to work on your faithfulness, do so. Your journey of faithfulness today would be what helps someone tomorrow.

Gift

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A person’s gift is his/her ticket to greatness. “A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.”—Proverbs 18:16 When others are trying to fight their way through, you don’t have to. You Know why? Your gift does all the talking. That’s the reason why your gift is so important. It is that unique thing about you—that your do or perhaps, that you have—that’s admired, can benefit others or has already benefitted them. In almost all cases, your gifts would be in similar direction of your passion. If it isn’t, you can develop the skill for your passion; or grow the passion in accordance with your gift. Your gifts, your potentials, is what you should focus on. They are the ones that attract wealth, greatness, fame and the likes. Your gifts are like a magnet and the good things you may want—like greatness—are the metals being attracted. What does Scripture say about this? “Neglect not the gift that is in thee”. Neglect there means to be careless of or show no regard for. Rather than this is, develop your gift. Paul Speaking to his son Timothy encourages him saying, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” – II Timothy 1:6 The Greek root for “stir up” means, to set on fire (as high as before or even more). In certain parts of the world, we use ‘fire coal’ (charcoal) for cooking. (They are especially made from 112

the heating of wood in the absence of air.) The charcoal has to be set on fire to be used for cooking. When the fire is initially kindled, it is very low, and the coal may not catch fire well. You may have to blow it for the intensity of the fire to be increased. Even still, as the coal burns, the coal turns into ashes. If you still want fire or more intense fire, you would have to put in some coal. You may have to blow it for better results if the coal is wet. Whether a talent or skill; or even perhaps, a spiritual gift, don’t neglect it. Stir it up! Set it on fire and make sure it keeps on burning higher and higher. When you are just learning how to light this kind of fire with charcoal, there are times you would scratch the match stick and place it there thinking it’s lighted. You would come back and see—no fire! This can happen a couple of times. After some time, you would light it and it would turn out lighted! Failure is all part of development. David knew his gift of battling. He stuck to it, and God gave him results. Solomon had wisdom, and it brought him fame and wealth. Gaius Julius Caesar discovered his military and political gifts: he used them and now we remember him as a military and political genius. Don’t make the mistake of Crassus who sought to enter a field because he sought to emulate a person in their own area of gifting.

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With all the gifts, never forget the most paramount of all—the God factor.

Excellence Excellence is not perfection! Get that first and get that right! Perfection is being without flaw or mistake. Excellence, on the other hand, is the quality of being outstanding and highly distinguished at atleast a thing; it is always growing. The highest form of it can be considered perfection. Excellence is a spirit. Daniel had an excellent spirit. Just as we defined excellence as being outstanding, this spirit of Daniel made him outstanding. “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.” – Daniel 6:3 The king intended to place Daniel over the then most powerful kingdom on earth. The kingdom already had 120 princes who reported to three presidents (of whom Daniel was the chief). Yet still, this same Daniel was to be promoted. Whatever this spirit is, you’d be wise to desire it. If you have this, you don’t have to compete with anyone—not at all. This excellence has you at the top far beyond the competition. All through Daniel’s life, the other officials envied him, planned against him, but Daniel just kept getting bigger and better.

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Excellence is not boastful neither is it complacent. It’s always moving whether others are moving or not. Another good news is, it can be developed. You start seeking it and walking in line, the next thing you know is, the Lord gives it to you. Excellence, O excellence, doing the right thing at the right time. LOVE IT Similar to wisdom, if you love excellence, it will come to you. Set your mind on it; walk in it. The starting point is, you must first love what you are doing and want to be very distinguished. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” – Ecclesiastes 9:10 Yeah, brother, that’s right. Sister, Scripture says, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” With excellence, you can seize your moments by the horn. LIVE IT On the road to being great, there are a lot of bumps. More than once, you may get thrown off balance and may have to restart. Whether you have to restart or not, don’t be dismayed. Get up and do it! We live every day. You getting hurt today doesn’t mean that you have to lie down and down. Joseph was in good state when 115

with his father at Hebron. Then he fell when sold into slavery; he rose in the house of Potiphar; then, he fell again into the prison. He rose in prison—rising later as second in charge in the whole of Egypt. You have to keep on. I don’t know how many times you’d have to rise to get to your dream. If you want that dream so much, consider the number of times as the sacrifice. You may not have to rise as the same number of times as another person as our lanes, remember, are not the same. In the first chapter of Joshua, God speaks with Joshua. Moses had just died so, the mantle of leadership of leading the Children of Israel to the Promise Land was now turned over to Joshua who was Moses’ assistant. The Lord God has given him words of assurance; God further said to him: “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous”. In the previous verses, before the one quoted above, the Lord God had given some good words to Joshua—making him promises. The Lord then stressed on him being “strong and courageous”. Do you think the Lord would do that if there was nothing to be strong and courageous about? Joshua had to be firm, steadfast, strong, persistent, established, alert, brave. Pressing towards a desired end requires you having that destination as part of your life. You’d have to press; to persevere.

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This is where you are going to win. You know why? Many people quit here. They give up, give in and stop pressing. No true greatness is without the pressing! Apostle Paul said, “I press toward the mark”. Are you thinking of pressing or quitting? You see, quitting is an urge—a really strong urge. When things seem to be going tough and you seem to be getting farther away from actualizing your dream rather than closer, quitting shows face as a way out. It might even echo, “You are the one giving yourself trouble. If you just live a normal live—earn a little for yourself—you’d be just fine.” Don’t listen to it. You may have to do a lot of “re”—restart, rethink, re-plan and any other “re”. Just don’t quit! Until you can make those impacts in the lives of others, until you win, it is not over. Be firm and be resolute, “I AM NOT QUITTING”. Quitting is a very selfish thought. Every great person to have walked the face of this earth had had it knocking on the door, but they are considered great because they didn’t give in. Greatness/success has the mindset of, “I just would not be beaten”. Your difficulty today is an asset tomorrow. As they happen, stay strong and courageous. Don’t give way to depression neither to any negative thoughts. When you’re facing the storm, know that your rain is close. If it’s being dark, know that your morning is coming. Don’t just hold on, keep on pressing. If you fully trust in the Lord, then, you know He will surely deliver into your hands that which he has promised. GET BETTER

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In the real estate business, you buy a land or building, develop it and sell it. When you resell, its price is much higher than the amount you had initially paid for it. The catch there is, you have developed the property adding more value to it. Even with excellence, success and greatness, you keep on adding value. You don’t get great today and then sleep off for the rest of your life. Greatness, I’d say, is a continual thing; so is every little success. If you stop growing, you start declining. For greatness, in its truest form, your resource keeps on expanding. One of the most important resources you can rightly make wise use of is—your time. Time, time, time. It is a very important resource yet, a lot of people don’t know neither do they understand it. They misuse it; they even see it as a burden. You would hear someone say, “How can I pass the time?”. One of the most important schemes you can make to help you manage your time wisely is—your schedule. It doesn’t matter how you first make it as long as you make it, and have it written. Let it help you out at the beginning stages. Time usage is so important that the first set of things you do before going to bed and after awakening affects the rest of your day. Habitually awake and use the time for productive things. You’d be stunned at the kind of results you get. I’m not going to suggest: you spend time meditating on it. After all, you’d know yourself better than I do. Talking about meditation, it is very important. You want to consider it highly. It is the place and time, greatness starts to be 118

birthed. Great men and women have discovered themselves and many other there. The Lord speaking in Joshua 1:8, says: “This book of the law [Holy Writ] 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.” For then, you make your way prosperous and have good success. Yeah, the kind of success that greatness is made of. I hope you’re a believer: there’s a whole lot of good stuff in it. (After reading this chapter, visit chapter 9 to find out how.) A third way or building resource is: Knowledge and understanding. (The first two being time management and meditation.) “He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.” – Proverbs 17:27 Know and know; understand and understand and understand. Never stop learning and seeking to understand better than you already know. The Hunger for knowledge and clarity pushes you further. Furthermore, your passion has to be alive. Never let it die. It’s good to stay in line with it and your goal. Why put yourself in a position that has neither your passion nor gift? You want excellence? Excellence loves those two. I Timothy 4:15 119

II. THE BELIEVER’S LIFE

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Chapter 6 The Dimension of processing The terms, Dimensions of processing, simply mean specialized schools of processing. These schools are not physical schools: they are establishments of the divine hence, the word dimensions. They exist on a higher plane of existence. Just as there are specialized schools that deals with imparting specialized knowledge so is it in the divine.

Processing of The Spirit The spirit is the school of light, and when light is turned on, darkness disappears. When a man submits to the tutelage of the spirit, light breaks forth in his life. The Scripture says, when she heard about Jesus... (Mark 5:27; John 6:44). Who told her? She may have heard it from the news circulating but, it would have definitely taken the Holy Spirit to cement it in her heart to produce such faith. One conversation with the spirit and light broke forth which ended a twelve yearlong plague in her life. This was just a conversation. Can you imagine the potentials of a fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Men do not rise by the conditioning of the flesh; but rather, the communion of greatness is gifted when men interact and avail themselves to be used by spirits. No one gains stature by default. It is the agenda of the Spirit that enthrones men. Show me a man who refuses to settle for the status quo—one thirsty for the divine—and I’ll show you a vessel schooled in the syllabus of the spirit.

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The orientation of the school of the spirit disseminates a consciousness that separates men from the realities of men and introduces them to a higher plane of existence.

Conscious of The Spirit Realm (2 Kings 6:17) The term spiritual or highly spiritual has become a mockery. (We are shocked at the things people call righteous, holy or too spiritual.) If you don’t listen to curse-full music or not associate with or entertain alcohol and drugs, they say, “you’re too spiritual”. If they are Christians, they get offended and strike back, “Are you holier than us?”. So did the Pharisees lash at Jesus and Jesus called them white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:27). Consciousness of the spirit realm means to be awake and aware of the realities of the spirit. It is shocking how many people trivialize issues that pertain to life and destiny like: who to marry, what job to take, which school to attend, which area to reside. These are the building blocks of life and destiny and shouldn’t be trivialized. No one can presume to have faith without the consciousness of the spirit realm because faith is the currency of the spirit. Nothing can be purchased in and from the spirit without faith. See, for instance, the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13) and the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28). They both had a consciousness that was lacking in their generation, and they both accessed a realm of God that far exceeded their time. How do you know that you have the consciousness of the spirit? The evidence of this consciousness is burdens. If you do not carry any burdens, you are dead in the spirit—that is, you have no consciousness— or you have not yet begun classes in 122

the school of the spirit. when you begin to carry burdens then you are beginning to become aware of the spirit realm. Burdens are distributed to those who value the voice of the spirit and this voice is what we term as revelation.

Burdens One morning I made a delicious sandwich for myself. The moment I was done I received a burden to give it to the driver—which I did—and since that day, a lot of people have been burdened to feed me. Another time, I shopped well for myself then, I received a burden that what I had bought is not mine. I struggled with the thought until I decided to let it go. Then, I asked the Holy Spirit to show me who and I give it to the person. Since then, clothes have never been an issue for me. August 2016, we (Footprints) received a burden for prayer and intercession which proffered a year of praying and fasting for our country from December 2016 to December 2017. During this period, we experienced the most peaceful elections followed by the most tranquil transition ever witnessed in our nation’s history. Burdens are unrests stirred up in our spirit that makes us aware of and wakes us to spiritual realities. They bring us to the place where we can submit to the teachings of the Spirit and follow His leading. They reveal the heart of God in a season and our part in the fulfillment of His Divine Plan. Burdens are the deposits in our spirit that will not permit our direction to be influenced by perdition. The first lesson of the school of the spirit is intercourse. I call it the defibrillator of the spirit. One who carries a burden has

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been impregnated by the Holy Spirit, and His seed is our mark or evidence of dominion. Admission into the school of the spirit comes with the pouring of fresh oil and it is this oil that furnishes burdens—Saul was turned into another man when the oil was poured upon him. Burdens covers all areas of life. They are to our benefit (the dwelling-in-houses-we-did-notbuild era is unleashed through burdens; Deuteronomy 6:11). It is the consciousness of the spirit realm that brings results in life (Elijah stalled until the time of the evening oblation to perform his sacrifice; Daniel turned toward Jerusalem to pray). (I Kings 18:29; Daniel 9:21; Ezra 9:5.) Many have been pressed to give me things—things I didn’t ask for. Burdens access grace—it was the burden of care that caused Joseph to access the grace of interpretation (Genesis 40:6-8). Burdens bring life to dead situations. It was a burden that caused the widow of Zarephath to Give the prophet her last meal and her jar never went out. You can understand and access the spirit realm through the fellowship of the spirit. You can spot people of the secret place by the attention they pay to revelation and their attitude towards it. When I made up my mind to accept that only the word can truly set free, I sat at the front during every Bible Study. Men and women of the secret place do not trivialize the voice of the spirit: they are known by the value they place on truth. They will travel far and wide for the importation of the word. No one told me to write revelations: I learned not to trivialize such raw truths. The process is incomplete without your spirit (inner life, including your mind) being processed.

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Chapter 7 THE PARAMETERS OF PROCESSING The seasons of life I recently encountered a story accompanied by some morals that shaped my mentality enormously. It goes this way: A man had four sons. He wanted them to learn not to judge things too quickly so, he sent them on a quest. The quest was for them to go look for a pear tree that was far away; but he sent each of them during different seasons. The oldest son went during winter, the second went during spring, the third during summer and the youngest during autumn. After all of them had returned, their father gathered them together to listen to their experiences. The oldest son told him that the tree was rotten, ugly, and dead; the second son disagreed and said that the tree looked beautiful and fresh with all green buds. The third son also said that it looked stunning with all the blossoms and the fourth son disagreed with all of his brothers saying that by the time He reached, the tree it was loaded with sweet and ripe fruits. The man told his sons that they were all right about the tree because they saw it during different stages of its life. He told them to remember this experience and never judge a person by only one season of his/her life. He also told them not to judge a person’s emotions only based on the occasion; our lives are a mixture of four seasons which changes as time passes by, and they are a mixture of emotions such as love, sorrow, and joy A person’s life can only be judged if you are familiar with all four aspects, never point fingers when you’ve only heard one side of the Joy. If you give up in winter, you will miss the promises 125

of your spring, the beauty of your summer and the fulfillment from your autumn. One challenging season will not decide your entire life. One day your flowers will blossom too, and you will get back on track. Never allow one difficult season to decide the fate of the rest. This story greatly describes the process of life. There are specific parameters that produce shift (change in seasons). There is a time and a season for everything, and with the right parameter or tool you can influence the seasons of your life. Seasons are programmed to occur at particular times when certain conditions are in place. Hence, there are certain parameters (preparations) that yields certain season in a person’s life. Every level, season and status are initiated and sustained by altars. These altars are what I term as Parameters. So, the Parameters of processing in other words means the altars that govern and validate processing; these parameters are channels of advantage for those whose faith is in Jesus Christ. The dominion of man in Eden was initiated and sustained by the altar of worship—obedience to instruction— (Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:11,23). When this altar was destroyed, the season shifted, and man was put out of the Garden. To restore this Dominion, an altar had to be built, so God established a covenant with Abraham on the altar of sacrifice. By this, he established that only the altar of sacrifice could redeem man and restore his dominion. This altar sustained the covenant until God wrapped himself in flesh as the ultimate sacrifice. There are three parameters or altars of primary focus. Three altars upon which faith is balanced, and all others flow out of these. They are the Altar of Prayer, The Altar of the word, and the Altar of Worship.

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The Parameter (Altar) of Prayer Until the altar of prayer was lit, the season of abundance of rain could not come (I kings 18:41-45). The disciples had seen the dead raised, they had seen the blind eyes opened, the crippled walked and many other extraordinary miracles but their request to Him was; Lord, teach us how to pray (Luke 11:1). Their request seems shocking. I expected requests like; Lord, teach us to raise the dead; or Lord, teach us to open the eyes of the blind; but, teach us to pray is such an unusual request. It is unusual but powerful. They saw that many times Jesus would isolate Himself to pray and when He returned, they saw Him work the impossible. The math was simple: the processing of personal, continuous heartfelt prayer yields miraculous outcomes. Four words, teach us to pray, turned a shaken reed like peter into a rock that all hell could not contend with. Every endeavor is sustained and validated by your level of understanding. How you define prayer is vital, because your understanding influences your approach and attitude on the altar. Let’s consider a few definitions of prayer by some fathers of faith: Billy Graham defines prayer this way: “At its deepest level Prayer is Fellowship with God: enjoying His company, waiting upon His will, thanking Him for His mercies…Listening in the silence for what He has to say to us”. “Prayer is often conceived to be little more than a technique for self-advancement, a heavenly method for achieving earthly success”. AW Tozer “Prayer is not a Monologue it is a Dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part”. Andrew Murray You must search out to gain an understanding of prayer (What it is, and how to pray etc.). what better teacher can one have 127

than the Holy Spirit? Samuel Chadwick puts it this way: “we are never really men of prayer in the best sense, until we are filled with the Holy Ghost”. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to pray. He may teach you through His word, materials and resources that are divinely inspired, visions or through the spoken word to name a few. WHY PRAY? A successful Prayer life is based and built on the word of God Among many others. Here are three points describing the power and essence of the prayer altar. - Prayer accesses the wisdom of the ages of the world to come: a decree was passed that the wise men should be killed because none could tell and interpret the King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams. Daniel understanding the power of prayer requested of the king to give him time to fetch the interpretation. Then, Daniel called a prayer meeting after which the interpretation of the King’s dream was revealed (Daniel 2). Prayer uncovers deep and hidden secrets many which are hidden from the eyes and minds of men. As you establish your pursuits on the prayer altar you access real time solutions for your world. Men of prayer are men of solutions. - Prayer adverts verdicts: the verdict was passed and signed by God Himself: it was time for Hezekiah to die (Isaiah 38:1-5). As soon as he heard it, he turned his face to the wall and began to pray. His prayer turned the verdict in his favor and fifteen years were added to His life. In the face of death, prayer spoke life. Many lives and destinies have been ruined because of what someone said. The very proclamation from a mother that her child is useless has programed that child for failure, but the altar of prayer can turn that proclamation around and make him a victor and a wonder to his world. 128

- Most of all, I believe, Prayer enables us to communicate with the Monarch of Zion (Jehovah God). The Bible says, God has His eyes fixed upon us and his ears open to our prayer (1 Peter 3:12). The effect that the communion with the God of the Bible has on us cannot be described with words. This is the communion of fellowship that gives men a taste of the riches of His Glory. Moses tasted and abandoned the status of royalty. Here is how the Bible puts it in Hebrew 11:23-29: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” Meanwhile, there are certain situations wherein prayer alone cannot access the solution: it has to be coupled with fasting. This kind cometh out not, except by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). Fasting is a channel of empowerment; it is not merely the effect it has on the stomach as it is the effect it has on our spirit. Fasting does real time damage to the flesh, the damages 129

done on the flesh cannot be faked or replicated through any other channel but fasting – it is a channel of empowerment.

The Parameter of The Word David describes the word of God as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm. 119:105). This suggests that it is the word which reveals the way of truth and life. On a deeper level, the word became flesh and dwell amongst us. In other words, the written word reveals the living word—Jesus Christ our Lord. The word is much more than just inspired verses, God released Himself to men, and they in turn reflected Him on paper. So, what you see written are not words they are Spirit and life—the pathway to translation and dominion. When we read the word, we are accessing the deep things of God. There is a scene in the movie, Dr. Strange, that really blessed me. In a conversation, he said to his mentor, if he had just gotten healed, he would have been a great Doctor. She agreed but explained that the world would have been all the lesser for it. He would have gotten fame and fortune, accolades and recognition but would have missed out on destiny. Being a doctor is not bad, but he was called to a greater purpose – to defend the universe from the decadence of evil. Our view of life and Destiny is blurry, but the word is that which makes our vision clear. So many times, people settle for far less than they were called to be. You are made in the image and likeness of God; you have His life in you. How then can you be ordinary? You are of global repute; refuse to continue working in what you were meant to own. You are adopted by the architect of existence. If only you will search, you will see clearly. The Bible says that Jesus found what was written of Him (Luke 4:17-19). Likewise, we must search and find what is written of 130

us. You have not lived if you have not been what you were created to be. All of these are not bad; but the truth is, we are called to a greater pane of existence. We must find and understand that which is written of us in the Holy Scripture.

The Parameter of Worship There are many conduits of worship. We may worship through songs and psalms, through our giving, throughout our conversation, through Honor and service, through righteousness and purity, through sacrifice and obedience— just to name a few. But these are channels and not substance— the substance is the secret place. This is where God and man meet face-to-face and discuss intimately. A song is the product of a yielded heart which flows through inspiration or creative genius, but the heart is taught to yield in the secret place. So, the product is all the above, but the seed is worship. When men die at the altar, worship comes alive. You can tell a true worshipper by the level of damages done to his flesh. From cutting experiences comes cutting edge anointing. MARKS OF WORSHIP The true worshipper worships in spirit and truth (John 4:24). This suggests that there are markers that define a worshipper. Just as a mad man does not need an introduction so a true worshipper needs no introduction. A growing worshipper can be spotted when he steps into his office, but a true worshipper is a carrier of the presence. You can tell even when he is playing golf or at a social event. There is a cloud that surrounds him; he has a track record of intimacy registered in the spirit. Let us

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consider two marks of worship; namely, the mark of Sacrifice and the mark of cutting. Sacrifice: Redemption was proffered on the altar of sacrifice, thus the intimacy it provided is sustained by sacrifice. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” – Romans 12:1 No one who is still ‘alive’ can profess to be a worshipper. Death of the flesh is the mark of a true worshipper. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” –John 12:24 Sacrifices are made of dead animals. However, the terms, ‘living sacrifice’ suggests the life that comes from death. In other words, allow your flesh to pass through death so that it can live Holy, and acceptable. Cutting: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – John 8:32 The truth is to the person as the knife is to the sacrifice. What the truth does is that it separates you from the lie—it cuts away the lie. The truth cuts out pride, and self. These three parameters are the pillars of what we term as the secret place. It is likened unto a water heater—the water goes in cold but comes out fiery. If you desire change or transformation, plant these altars. This is the good fight. The wrong fight is fighting that which is already defeated. These parameters unveil your identity in Christ, they empower you to walk as Christ and they impart you to produce Christ. A man 132

who has grown to a point where he sees these parameters as one does not only walk under an open heaven, but he is a carrier of the glory. He is an ark; when he steps, the Jordan dries.

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Chapter 8 Putting Your Mind to Work

The State of Your Mind The quality of a man’s life is determined by the state of his mind. Just engage the mind and you have engaged a life. One’s thought determines his worth in life. All that a man would want to be in life is right there in his mental faculty. (Proverbs 23:7.) God gave us minds so that we can gain access to the process and make progress in life. A mad man is a public disgrace but, a man of sound mind is a man of worth. (I Corinthians 2:16.) We, as believers, have the mind of Christ (that is, the mind of eternity). Natural things are temporal but spiritual things are eternal so, carrying the mind of Christ gives you the edge to walk in the supernatural and think outside the box. (II Corinthians 4:18.) Our minds determine the ultimate in life so, don’t trade it for anything. (Romans 8:6-10.) The wealth of the sinners will destroy them. A carnally minded person dies but the spiritual minded person has life and peace. When you have the mind of Christ, the world will mind you. (II Corinthians 2:14; Mark 4:11.) A wise man’s eyes are in his head (mind) but, a fool walks in darkness (Ecclesiastes 2:14.) In order to guard your mind, you have to firstly know the state of your mind because it is what you know that you guard. So, 134

when you know and understand the state of your mind, then, the next thing to do is to guard it. Until you put your mind to work, your life will remain stagnate. Guard your mind with all diligence because everything that has to do with your life comes from your heart. Your mind’s state will determine the state of your life. Plenty of thoughts pass through the mind—both evil and good—but make a choice to choose good. Control your mind. Bad thoughts paralyses one’s life. Philemon 14 tells us that without your mind God can do nothing about fulfilling your desires. May you not be like Reuben who had a glorious destiny but couldn’t excel for being unstable as water. (Genesis 49:3-4.) Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, so he will receive. (Galatians 6:7.) Whatsoever you soweth in the mind will produce result: good thoughts will reap good deeds and evil thought (like hatred) reaps evil deeds. Let your mind be in good spirit. Romans 12:2, be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Carnal mind cannot get the things of the spirit and the things of the spirit can help transforms and lead a person through the process. Things That you should guard your mind against: 1. Hatred 2. Worrying – worrying can put your mind out of work. Worrying is the devil’s weapon to take your life. It makes your heart unproductive. It gives heart attack (Matthew 6:25-27). To be productive in your mind, think on productive things that brings happiness. Worrying gives you setbacks. 135

3. Guilts about the past failures (Romans 8:1-2) – Guilts make you stagnate, not going forward. 4. Laziness, procrastination – Doing things half way. Sleeping too much is an enemy. Get rid of past failures and past glorying. Laziness is not of God. Don’t be complacent comfortably.

Ascertain Yourself I am a man of value. When God created me, he said, I am very good. I will not be limited or intimidated. I urge you to come out of every shackle of intimidation. My destiny will be fulfilled. Those are things to consciously remind yourself of. (Romans 8:1.) Stop condemning yourself; Start praising the LORD for the fear-inspiring manner in which you were created. You don’t have to live by people’s discovery, allegations, rejections, condemnations or intimidation. Believe in yourself: there is so much that is delivered from a poor self-esteem, poor self-image. Paul did not wait for the confirmation of man (flesh and blood) but rather, he conferred with God HIMSELF. I tell you, insecurities, fears, unworthiness—don’t feel these ways or use those words on yourself. If you do, you would not see what God has destined you for. From today, receive grace to consider yourself as being a part of the good things that God has made. (Jeremiah 29:11-13.) Never reject yourself. Like the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, it was only the mercy of God that located him. (The king will send for me; I will never be down again.) 136

Always speak positively. Always speak positively. Believe in what God has created you to be. Never look down on yourself or say things

Putting Your Mind to Work Mental dormancy is the reason for believers’ stupidity. May your mind not be void of use. Put your mind to work. Thinking—reasoning, planning, strategizing—is real work. Until you make your mind sweat through work, you don’t taste the sweet therein. You will not only improve but, will develop to become a wonder to your world when your mind works well. Great thinkers are great rulers. It is a thinking mind that makes the working hands a productive hand. Profitable things are born by the utilizing of the mind. Sit down and engage yourself in the thought of your mind and then from the mind to the hands. It is your mental picture that determines your future picture. Documentation process is in the mind while the realization process is in the working of your hands. All that we are celebrating in our world today is a bye product of the mind. Every act of a man starts in the mind. Many are not thinking: that is why they are sinking. Your mind is your greatest asset. You cannot think deep or well and not live better. Our world today is ruled by great and good thinkers. If you increase in your mind, you will increase in every area of your life. When you are too big to think, you will be too small to handle great things. Don’t despise little beginnings. Every great man started small. You have to bend down in order to rise up. 137

Mental Exertion is better than ‘laborer work’. How we think determines our height in life. Just embrace God’s thought in your mind and receive the treasures of life because the treasures of life are not found on the surface. They are found in the depth. So, think deep and when you find it, there shall be a reward. So, the process of thinking deep determines the progress of living better. Get yourself productively occupied. (Luke 19:12-13.) God has put something inside us to productively occupy, trade, work or do till He comes. Potential is given you by God to profit your life, to receive insight from God. Humility or meekness is required. Get productive because those who are not productive will be flushed out. (Ecclesiastes 9:10; I Thessalonians 4:11, Psalms 1:3.) There is what to do where you are now. Don’t waste away your life and precious time. Make time for God; redeem the time by taking steps now. Start with a starter’s humility and not an achiever from the beginning. (Ecclesiastes 5:9.) The profit of the earth is for all. (Job 8:7.) When you work with the little with excitement, with the consciousness that God is with you, then, you will greatly increase. Don’t despise little beginning. When you are too big to handle small things then, you will be too small to handle big things. You never earn your own until you’ve proved yourself faithful with another man’s own. So, a time will come when your faithfulness will speak for you. Then, you will be due for your own. So, whatever you have in your hands, whatever you’re entrusted with, ensure that you keep it and uphold the responsibility well. When you drive joy in the little, it will 138

eventually deliver to you the much. Where you start today, determines where you will end tomorrow. (Proverbs 12:24.) It is a diligent hand that bears rule. Be yourself. Don’t behave bigger than who you are. Your greatness is not dependent or traceable to any man but Jehovah God. What you don’t work for, you will not last with. Learn to start small, learn to start where you are. The work that you labor for is what endures/lasts with you. Start with the little then, God will commit much into your hands. Until you accept the responsibility of becoming a seed, you can never become a tree tomorrow. Get yourself dedicated; be service-oriented. Don’t give up: there’s no investment that yields overnight. (Galatians 6:9.). It’s your commitment and excitement to serve that guarantees success.

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III. MAKING IT PERSONAL

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Chapter 9 Salvation Calls Pick It The search for green pasture (a better life) is a universal quest and the price is very steep. The concern is not your arrival, not how green the pasture is, but the motivation and the power which birthed and guided the result. The system of this world requires the souls of men in exchange for success or advancement in life. At every gate of transition to greater heights there is a demand for one’s soul. (Romans 6:23.) This price is a circle that only ends with death (eternal death) and we are all guilty because we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). David cognizant of this Exchange wrote: “He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:3). He meant, in his journey of life he had made many costly deposits to attain green pastures until he came to the end of himself (Psalm 51 gives an in-depth outlook) and realized that it is God the shepherd who Makes one to lie down in green pastures and leads men besides still waters. (Psalm 23:1.) He found truth that in this kingdom you don’t have to lose your soul in order to advance. At this point, he saw the kingdom of the great shepherd whose medium of exchange is the salvation of souls. The code is to seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added (Matthew 6:33). He saw a restoration plan to redeem his soul from decadence. He realized that the deliverance of his soul was a function of yielding to the shepherd. My dear friend, in the process of life there are many issues and circumstances that tasks the soul (and 141

what profit is there to lose one’s soul in exchange for the world?); but there is hope. “The gift of God is eternal life”—Romans 6:23 In my country, LIBERIA, a boiled egg and a raw egg do not have the same price even though they are both eggs. The boiled egg is more expensive compared to the raw one. I believe it is this way because there is something that the boiling does to the egg that makes it more valuable or precious. The price of its worth has increased because of the price paid to prepare it. It costs more to prepare the boiled egg, so it’s worth more. Similarly, the price Jesus paid on the cross to redeem our souls brings value and worth when you receive Him as your Lord and Savior. It took excruciating stripes to prepare us for healing, deliverance, prosperity etc. so, we are not taxed by the enemy of our soul. (The kings of the earth tax unbelievers—the children are free; Matthew 17:25-26.) The Bible says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” – John 1:12 When you receive Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior you become the redeemed of the Lord and you are processed by His sacrifice; you are valuable because of the price paid on the cross—life for life. Jesus is God’s gift to us not just for redemption but also restoration. This is God’s way of saying you did not know what you had: this is why you sold your birthright for a bowl of soup. Here’s your birthright back: I purchased it from the one you 142

sold it to with the life of my son and here’s a fresh start paid for by his blood so that you can live. God wants You to live so he has ransomed you from every satanic deposit. As in the case of the egg, it is still an egg, but the process has made a difference not only in appearance but in value as well. The process of salvation makes the difference ( “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13) There are three steps to the greatest era of your life: Repent, Believe, then, Receive. These can be rounded up in a simple prayer of faith. There are no special words or language. All you need to do is to call out to him from the depth of your heart. You can pray a prayer like this: Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner, I repent of my sins; Come into my heart and make it your home. I receive you as both my Lord and Savior. Amen That’s it! Congratulations! You’re now a believer; welcome to the family.

What’s Next? Now that you are saved what’s next? The fact that you are saved suggests that a seed has been planted within you; this is to say, that God has planted himself 143

within you. A natural seed requires water, air, nutrients and sunlight to grow; this seed, however, is divine and what it requires to manifest is the filling of God’s word and Spirit. As the word of God settles in the believer with depth and clarity, he begins to grow. His preferences start to change, his desires are transfigured, and his pursuits become purpose driven. The term that describes this phenomenon is called faith—it is the empowerment to act, manifest, and deliver on the word. The Bible advises that faith comes by the hearing of the word (Romans 10:17) so, we encourage you to find and join a church that teaches the word not with enticing words of men’s wisdom but in declaration of spirit and of power. To find this, you will need a guide. Thank God that he has given us one—His precious Holy Spirit. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” – John 14:26 The Holy Spirit unveils the reality of Jesus. When you meet Him, He will teach you God’s word in power and truth, he will guide you into discovering and developing yourself according to the plan and purpose of God, and he will bring you to a place where you can deliver to the world that which God has deposited within you. He is the midwife of impact. He will process you into greatness.

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Chapter 10 Associations: Managing Your Inner Circle Every association has a link. There’s no association without a link. Even the word, association, talks about a collection/group of things or people. If there is a group, there is also something that links individual members into that group. A group of students; a group of houses; a group of footballers. What links the first group is, they are all in the act of learning; the second group is linked by the fact that they serve as areas of shelters and the third group is linked by the game of football (soccer). In the meaning of association given above, this grouping is done usually for a purpose. The people in your life that you relate to are your associations. For what purpose are they in your life; what role do they play? Your connection and relation to them makes them a part of your life. How good your life is and can become are questions that your association has part in answering. If the reason why you have a person as your friend is because he buys you a drink every weekend, the moment he stops buying you a drink and there’s no other linkage holding that friendship, that friendship is headed for cut-off. However, the more he continues doing what you like (buying you the drink), the friendship gets stronger. The strength of an association is grown by the link—especially at the onset.

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Inner Circle The associations you keep form circles around you. These circles are not all close to you in the same way, but you are at the center of them all. It goes like this: you are at a point, a first circle surrounds you then, the next surrounds both the first and you; the third surrounds both the first and second circles and you; and so on unto the outermost. Some people have much more circles than others. No matter how unsociable, everybody has at least an innermost circle. This innermost circle is worth noting. It can be very influential on a person based on its closeness to the center (that’s you). The radius (the distance from anywhere on a circle to its center) of this innermost circle is the shortest of all the other circles. The inner circle normally consists of a very few figures. This is the circle that can know a lot about you—including the deep things; this is the circle you are with most of the time. (For some people, in rare cases, they are influenced more by the largest of all their circles.) When you’re hurt, down or after something tough, this inner circle is the home you come back to. Jesus had as his inner circle, the Lord God and his closest disciples (Peter, James and John). When the event of the cross was close, the Lord Jesus was beginning to be sore sorrowful. (It’s not that he was scared of the death; rather, he didn’t want to be separated from the Father on the cross since the sin of all mankind would be laid upon him and the Father doesn’t behold sin.).

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“And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed” – Mark 14:32-35 We share the deep-deep things only with those in the innermost circle. This inner circle can make you or break you during tough and unusual moments. Let’s look at a man who had this experience. David has now become king and he has children born unto him—male and female. He had many wives, so his children didn’t all have the same mother. Amnon was the firstborn and his mother was Ahinoam; Absalom was the third son and his mother was Maacah. Absalom had a very beautiful sister, Tamar by name; Amnon loved her madly to the point that he got ill because of what he had for her knowing very well that it was ‘improper and impossible’ for him to have her. However, he had a friend by the name of Jonadab. Scripture tells us that this friend of his was a crafty young man. Such a feeling and thought that Amnon had towards his sister was not allowed in Israel then. (God has already given a law against such in the book of Leviticus, chapter 18, and Amnon was aware of this). Amnon must have kept this to himself as a very deep secret because even the words alone are dangerous. Amnon, however, opened up to Jonadab about his feelings towards his step-sister, Tamar.

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Jonadab, being crafted, gave Amnon a plan. Amnon would lie down in his bed pretending to be sick. As expected, his father David would come to see him and he would request that his sister, Tamar, come prepare him food in his presence that he may eat. At the end, as you may have thought, he raped her and later on, he lost his life because of this. (See II Samuel 13.) Why didn’t Jonadab just advise him on the path he already was on—letting it go? Jonadab was in his inner circle so, you can expect that any advice coming from him was less likely to face much resistance. How powerful inner circle is. Better is it to be good than bad.

Your Company Makes You By “make you”, we mean influences and impacts you. No matter who you are, your environment can influence you. The only thing you can alter is to what extent it does that. Earlier, we spoke of Jehoiada mentoring the young King Joash from childhood—after the death of King Ahaziah (Joash’s father). Now, let’s look into how King Ahaziah died. Joram, King of Israel and son of Ahab, was going to war against Hazael, King of Syria. Ahaziah, King of Israel and grandson of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, joined him to fight against Hazael. While on the battlefield, Joram got wounded and was thus taken out of the battlefield. He went into Jezreel (in Israel) to be treated. King Ahaziah then left and went to see how Joram was doing back in Jezreel.

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During his time there, something was happening at RamothGilead where they fought against Hazael and where Joram’s captains also were. The next thing they knew, a company of horsemen were riding towards Jezreel. Being alarmed, the wounded Joram and Ahaziah went out to meet these riding horsemen that approach them and behold, it was one of Joram’s captains, Jehu, leading the charge. Perceiving that the visitation was evil, Joram turned around in an attempt to escape but, was shot and killed by Jehu. (The word of the Lord had come to Jehu that he has been anointed king of Israel and he shall kill the royal seed of the dead King Ahab—Joram being one.) King Ahaziah, who was just a visitor to Joram and not of the lineage of King Ahab saw this and tried to escape. “But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.” – II Kings 9:27 What led to the death of King Ahaziah? Foolishness? Wrong judgment? Coincidence? Proverb 13:20 says, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” The people you associate with, determine your outcome to an extent. If King Ahaziah had not been in Israel with King Joram at that very moment, where would Jehu had seen him to kill? Would Jehu had had such an easy chance to kill King Ahaziah in his home territory (Judah)?

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Wise men are wise. (That may sound like a verbatim.) If you stay with wise men long enough, the next thing you’d see is wisdom protruding out of you. Fools on the other hand, are reprimanded and gotten rid of. Move with them for a long time, you get a share in their fate. Even in the life of Joash, his association determined the path he treaded on. “And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” – II Chronicles 24:2 Joash did right in the God’s sight all the days of Jehoiada. Jehoiada became an old man and died just as every other human will—except a few. What happened to Joash after his death? “Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.” – II Chronicles 24:17-18 See what the company you keep can do. “You keep” because there are options and two of these are: you accept, or you refuse. Joash erred in accepting that of the princes of Judah. YOUR PARTNER One of the most important of such companies is, your partner (spouse). There are lot of times that we see a man’s wife influence him highly—sometimes, for the rest of his life too!

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A very profound case is that of Solomon. The Lord God had told the Israelites not to marry outside Israel. (During then, Israel was the people the true God, YHWH, had chosen.) David followed through. However, King Solomon (his son) took in many non-Israelites women and the thing displeased God. “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel” – I Kings 11:3,9 Notice how God’s anger wasn’t directed at the disobedience of the man, Solomon, but at the effect it had on him. God tells us to do and not to do certain things not to have us as prisoners but to keep us from the negative effects of those things. To mention another, Jehoram (son of King Jehoshaphat): he was king of Judah. While his father walked uprightly with the Lord God, he did evil in the Lord’s sight. This is how Scripture speaks of him: “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” – II Kings 8:18 The kings of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord not walking with Him, and King Ahab was one of them. The above Scripture tells, King Jehoram of Judah did like the kings of Israel had done and offers a reason for this as being, “for the daughter of Ahab was his wife”. Can you see what is there? God is blaming his choice of spouse for the life he lived and the things he did. 151

There are a lot more cases—even in our world today. Your company can make you or break you. BE NOT DECEIVED “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” – I Corinthians 15:33 I was a junior student then—in the fellowship. We had a discussion on one of the fellowship days and the anchor Scripture for that discussion was the above Scripture. While the discussion was on, two brothers walked in and joined the fellowship. (It being a discussion, anyone and everyone was given the chance to speak.) One of the two brothers (let’s call him Simon) spoke saying something like, “I’ve heard this thing [evil communication corrupt good manners] so many times but I don’t think it’s true.” The Scripture tries to make itself so clear and understandable that you would need someone to help you misunderstand it. It starts with, “Be not deceived”. The Message Translation has it as, “But don’t fool yourselves”. Simon, above, was doing just that—fooling himself. Communication in this Scripture is taken from the transliterated Greek word, “homilia” meaning, “companionship/interaction”. Brother/sister, ‘don’t fool yourself or allow others fool you: the people you spend your time with influence you’. If communication influences manner and evil communication corrupts good manner, what does good communication do? (That is it!) It builds-up good manners.

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You may know the adage, bad apple placed in a basket with good apples spoils the good ones. Whether the good apples agree with this truth or not, it happens. It applies also to us, mankind: whether you see it as true or not, it works still. However, when you are aware, you become active in choosing the right companionship, and alter to what extent you get influenced. If you are going to be active in choosing your companionship, you would have to take some steps you probably had not being accustomed to. The Lord may assist when it comes to who you meet but, you have the responsibility to choose who comes into your inner and trusted circle. In closing this chapter, keep in mind that we don’t keep companionship of only people.

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Chapter 11 Keep Moving: Diligence and Efficiency Diligence When I think about diligence, what comes to mind is a good work ethic. Diligence means to be careful, focused, compelling in good work towards your faith in God, to humanity and to your profession. (Proverbs 4:23; Ecclesiastes 9:10.) Diligence should not be limited to work (a work place) and profession. Rather, it should be used in all areas of our lives. (II Peter 1:5.) Diligence in one’s walk with God leads to spiritual growth, a greater love for others and a greater love for Christ and a greater understanding of the gospel and God’s love for the person. (Jude 1:3; Romans 12:11.) A diligent person will always accomplish his goals in his/her walk with God and humanity. (Proverbs 12:24, Proverbs 13:4.) Those who diligently seek and serve the LORD God Almighty, will be rewarded with many things such as: a greater presence of God in their lives, a clearer understanding of their purpose in life and guidance in living and fulfilling that purpose. (Hebrew 11:6; Proverbs 11:27.) So, be diligent in your prayer life, in your life-style; in obeying God’s instruction to you, in fulfilling His purpose for your life and in serving your responsibilities to humanity. Jack Hyles said, 154

“Let’s be diligent in giving, careful in our living and faithful in our praying.” Please note that, it is your attachment to God that guarantees your announcement to the world. So, let your dedication to Christ be your motivation and add diligence to your life. (John 15:5.) Paul Chappell wrote, “Are you still diligently living for God and serving HIM even in these last days? Now is not the time to ease up but, to charge forward and to continue living for the LORD.”

Efficiency The Wikipedia defines efficiency as, “the ability to avoid wasting material, energy, money and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully and without waste. “ It is clear that God has not called us to be slothful; the Bible is full of admonitions against laziness. To list a few references: Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 12:24; Proverbs 13:4; Ephesian 5:15-16a; Colossians 4:5. These verses of Scripture are proof that diligence, wisdom and time management are parcel of being accountable for the time and resources that God has given us. If you look deeply, you’d notice that diligence and efficiency are complementary. By being diligent (careful and focus in doing things) your work gets the touch of efficiency (mindfulness of resources thus, not wasting them).

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Efficiency must be good because it brings out the best in diligence. Some people want to be more efficient for selfish reasons: because increase in efficiency would mean increase in effectiveness and increase in one’s standard of living. The danger of reasoning like this is, the more efficient such a person becomes, the further he or she would become self-reliant and self-justified. And this is not the will or plan of God for man. A closer look at the narrative of scriptures, we will see that, often, God works in surprisingly inefficient way. God bless the world and manifested his plans slowly through one man. Then, generation by generation, He patiently and faithfully brought an imperfect chosen-people through the circles of idolatry and ungratefulness and transformed them into a blessed people dressed in righteousness and humility. God sometimes works in our lives in an often frustrating and slow pace. He doesn’t just reveal Himself and His plan at a snap of the finger. Rather, He uses people and situations to shine His light and love—to convey His plans and message. (II Peter3:89.) Efficiency can be a strength as well as a weakness: It depends on how the person understands it. To have it as a strength, it will take the leading of God. That brings us to, how God leads.

How Does God Lead? (Isaiah 48:17.) God teaches us to profit; He leads us on the path to profit. God will not do anything wasteful or will not lead man down a path of destruction. Many have been wandering in the wilderness or valley of decisions because they did not know the way. But 156

thank God for this book, The Process, where God is showing you the way to guide you and direct you. (II Corinthians 3:17.) Wherever the Spirit of God is, there is liberty. (Galatians 5:16.) Walk in the Spirit; allow the Spirit of God to lead you. That is a way God leads—through the Holy Spirit. God also leads through our inner guidance which is the Inner Witness—the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 6:17.) Those joined unto God are one spirit with Him. (Romans 8:16.) God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit. The inner guidance is not a voice: there is a “spiritual feeling” such as joy, peace, liberty, ease of the soul. (Hebrews 12:2; II Corinthians 3:17; Psalms 25:13; John 16:22.) Christ said, your joy no man can take from you. An example took place at Lycaonia. (Acts 14:7-10.) Paul perceived in his spirit that the man had faith to be healed. Through your conscience, every word spoken is an expression of a thought that God has placed inside of you--in the mind of your spirit. Your own spirit or inner man is speaking to you based on the thought the Holy Spirit drops in you. Another way that you’re led is through your conscience. (Romans 2:14-15.) A dead-stony heart or conscience never hears the voice of God. (Acts 24:16.) Have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. Also, the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit: this is not often. God does it at will—if He chooses. Example of people in the Bible He spoke to with such voice are: Abraham, Isaiah, Samuel and Moses. With the help of the leading of God, one can effectively walk in efficiency and diligence for the

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fulfillment of the will of God—the purpose for which they were created—and for the processing of God’s agenda on the earth.

Utilize the Available Another point that brings out the best in diligence and efficiency is the understanding that, what I have is enough. Life is full of impossibilities but, it takes the available to handle them. God is not looking for the mighty or strong but, for the available. God does not depend on your ability: just make yourself available. (Matthew 9:12; I Corinthians 1:24-28.) There is something inside you or in your hand that God can use to meet your needs. When you make yourself available, man will look for you. Be convenient with the available to achieve the impossible. Great men are made out of little investments. Christ is the wisdom and power of God. Wisdom is all about taking step to subdue problems. The scriptural solution to everything is the accurate knowledge of God’s word being applied in that solution. When you pose to be the doer, you will end up being the loser. Men look but, it is God who sees the inside because Proverbs 20:27 reveals that, the spirit of man is the candle light of the Lord. The foolishness of God is wiser than men. The Bible says, God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. He calls weak, mighty; little, great; emptiness is converted into fullness. That which you’ve despised may be what God has chosen to accomplish the impossible.

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God needs a nobody to bring somebody out. There is no mountain anywhere. A man’s mountain is his ignorance. Your answer is in the wisdom of God. (Genesis 13:14-15.) Look from where you are; don’t be deceived by your surroundings. You don’t have to look like it: God is making you a wonder to your world. The answer to the questions of Moses’s problem was in the rod. (Exodus 4:17.) The problems of life only answer to the available. That which you have in your hand can speak; it is enough. Example of those who God used: (I Samuel 17:30-51) David used the available to achieve the impossible; (I Kings 17:8-16) the Widow of Zarephath. (II Kings 4:1-7) The widow with the pot of oil whose two sons were to be taken as bond by the creditor. These are all examples that God uses the present, the available, what we have now, who we are now in order to transform our lives now into what He has destined us to be. So, don’t look down on yourself because all you need to do and understand is to appreciate and acknowledge that what you have now is enough for God to use. Don’t be stagnant. Don’t get complacent. Don’t faint. Don’t stop there. Keep Moving!

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