The concept of randomness in the subject of the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding of a true Christian. A man born of the Spirit is unpredictable (see John 3:8); this means your spending is not based on a piece of cooked-up plan but on a leading of an intangible force. This last statement will not seat right with the carnal mind because it's definitely not logical. Is there a framework or a borderline to this randomness? Yes, that must be YOU because the spirit of the Prophet is subject to him.

Personal Finance is a very difficult thing to preach with varying ideas from varying gurus; «do not spend above your means» is a concurred platform amongst these gurus. «If you spend more than you earn, you are likely to burn». Despite the fact that it makes sense, I am yet to see an extraordinary success that follows this rule. Suddenly, I realized that it was not about spending more than you earn but it was about spending on your core competence.

Two stories in the bible illustrates this point; King Solomon did an extraordinary thing by sacrificing a thousand burnt offering and God was so moved that God gave him a blank check (1 King 3:3); another story worth mentioning is the woman  with an alabaster box of precious ointment (Mathew 26:7); she poured the precious ointment on Jesus. This precious ointment must be worth so much because it did not only anger the disciples, it aroused betrayal in one of the disciples.

Now, a logical mind will definitely not do what these two characters in the bible did; spending extravagantly on your core belief (It is similar to burning the money). This is the path to extraordinary success (someone that leaves his footprint in the sands of time). You can limit your spending in every aspect of your life except your core beliefs. Your core belief is your signature on this earth; it is your in-road to influence; it is the peace you seek for; it is your life; do not trade it for anything. Have a lovely week!

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The force motivating electrons to «flow» in a circuit is called voltage. When we speak of a certain amount of voltage being present in a circuit, we are referring to the measurement of how much potential energy exists to move electrons from one particular point in that circuit to another particular point. Without reference to two particular points, the term «voltage» has no meaning. It is possible to have voltage without current, but current cannot flow without voltage.

It is imperative we understand this concept when we are talking about moving forward in life especially from one reference point to another. As I indicated in my earlier post; «Are you frustrated with work?» The average worker is frustrated because he is not progressing but in order to progress, you must face resistance. This resistance produces the potential energy (the voltage) to move you to the next level in life. The potential energy is always there but it is not productive without resistance.

This is what happens to someone who wants to move from a 2million net worth to a 3million net worth, from singlehood to married, from employee to self-entrepreneurship, etc; as long as you are moving from one point to another, you will need a certain amount of voltage to get you there but this amount of voltage cannot be produced without resistance which is the reason why most people give-up on their dreams of moving forward. The question then becomes; «how do we combat this resistance that appears to stop us but we need to move forward?»

David in the bible may have opened our eyes to an insight in combating resistance and moving forward; in order to move forward, you must think backwards. According to 1^st Samuel 17, David explained to Saul why he believed he could combat the resistance that troubled Israel; «I catch Lions and Bears by the jaw and club them to death whenever they attack my father's sheep; if I could kill lions and bear, I can kill this Philistine Giant that troubles the army of God».

David looked back at his testimony; he instinctively knew that if God could give him victory over lions and bear, there really isn't any challenge that God could not give him victory over. This is the attitude we must take when faced with any resistance. For every person reading this article, God has at one time or the other giving you victory over some particular resistance; you must use this testimony to build an attitude because 100% of every resistance that is overcome is a function of attitude.

How we see the resistance (attitude) is more important than the resistance itself; even if you have never encountered the resistance before; drawing back from past victory is all you need to solidify a winning attitude. Attitude discussed here, is equivalent to the voltage of an electric circuit because without the right attitude, you can NEVER progress from one point to another in this life we live in. Always think of this anytime you decide to move forward in life. Have a lovely week!

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It’s kind of funny that one of the most difficult things for Christians to handle is disappointment which is believed to clash with expectation but before I delve deeper into this topic, I would love to differentiate the difference between a Christian and a Righteous man. I believe a proper distinction would save a lot of Christian the headache of depression that is associated with disappointments. A Christian is someone who identifies himself with Jesus tenets and culture while a Righteous man is one who obeys the voice of the Lord (the voice here can depict characteristics like promptings, knowing, peace, etc).

This is one level of conflict that Christians face and this creates a struggle in their faith walk. The promise in the first paragraph is for the Righteous man not the Christian. If you are disappointed at any particular thing, look at the situation squarely; “was this really God’s inspired?” Well, some can claim they don’t even know how to hear from God ‫ well, the truth is that those that hear from God and are truly convicted, learnt to do this through use and exercise to get to the maturity state they enjoy. However, there are situations where one is convicted and the reality he faces appears overwhelming.

Hey! Don’t fret. I would tell you the story of a man named Moses. According to the bible, he spoke with God after experiencing an “unconsumable” burning tree. To show him that he was not dreaming or seeing a vision, God showed him signs while talking to him ‫ turned his stick to serpent and back to stick and transformed his hand to leprous hand and back to his normal hand. Despite this wholesome experience, he faced stiff opposition and disappointments on his “sent” mission to free the Israelites from Egyptians. Well, your righteous status does not free you from disappointments.

Disappointments are expected to be viewed from the perspective of expectation ‫ the war is a bigger picture to the battle. The chess game depicts the true picture of reality ‫ it does not matter the amount of your pun or royal emissaries that are killed as long as the King is not “check mated”, the war is still alive and you have the window of opportunity to win it. The bible promises that you would win the war not the battles ‫ the defeated battles if learnt from, prepare you to win the war. Disappointment reveals your “unpreparedness” not your destiny. Have a lovely week!

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Almost 2 years ago, I wrote an article on Tithing titled “Tithe or Tight”; it is imperative you read it before delving deep into this article; you may click HERE to read it. Tithe as it is general agreed by the Evangelicals, is giving one-tenth of your increase (profit) to God. This particular definition may have been a stumbling block to accessing the promises inherent in tithing. Wait! Let me point out that there have been series of abuses for this particular concept called tithing. I have witnessed firsthand that religion is actually the opium of people ‫ people can literarily “die” to protect a religious view rather than a Godly view. This people rely so much on a laid out culture/tradition that has guided their religious assembly that it becomes difficult to respond to their inner promptings.

The ineffectiveness of tithing is actually premised on the neglecting the inner prompting of the Spirit and embracing the cultural norm. Cultural norms are inherently faulty ‫ from the interpretation of what tithing should be and the expected result. First of all, is the issue of physical blessing ‫ about 98% of those who practice tithing in Nigeria do it to gain physical blessing whether it is financial or health inclined (this statistics is simply empirical). And the number one reference would be Malachi 3: 10 ‫

«Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it»

I am not going to go into any interpretations because I believe the Holy Spirit shall reveal that to you if you yield yourself to Him. However, I shall deal with the expectation regarding the physical blessing. The blessing that was revealed in this particular chapter has nothing to do with physical blessing. Well, I guess I have to do the interpretation or I may never be able to do justice to this article. The verse above simply means God will open our hearts and minds, that is remove the scales or veil (our carnal opinions and theories about God) from the mind's eye. The removal of this veil from our mind's eye is the window of heaven opening in us, whereby the Messiah's words that are Spirit and Life are received and understood within us. The blessing he is bestowing on us is spiritual in nature.

Ok, I hope I have not burst the bubbles of those who say; “ever since I paid my tithe, I have never been sick or my finances have not been wasteful ever since I tithe or my X financial worth became 2X ever since I have started tithing”. All these statements are delusional and lack any biblical truth. The deeper meaning of these aforementioned statements is that God has become a merchant that you procure good health from or a money “doubler” that increases your finances based on your input to progress His kingdom activities: For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

In some circles, there are arguments concerning paying tithe or not; tithe is the Lord’s not yours so it is essential to pay. The percentage of what to pay may be confusing ‫ while some say 10^th of your increase, others say 10^th of your salary. It is a general agreement that the former be used for the independent business operators whiles the latter for the workforce. This takes the confusion to an utter high because if a salary earner thinks like a business man, he would remove the transportation, tax, vehicle maintenance, etc cost from their salary before tithing on the remainder. This is why a general rule does not work; this is why every man should know God for himself ‫ God is more interested in uniqueness rather than conformance.

It is a complete delusion to believe that the gateway to physical wealth is by tithing (whether you agree with it consciously or sub-consciously): Thus, tithing would express worship to God; tithing would indicate to you, your love for God through the support of God’s Kingdom; tithing would continually remind you that God is your source, tithing would reduce greed, selfishness and materialism in your life and finally tithing would open the windows of heaven in your life where God would speak to you directly. If God speaks to you directly, you are wealthier than the richest man in the world. This is why you must learn to lean on the inner prompting of the Spirit rather than culture of your general assembly. The inner prompting of the Holy Spirit becomes strengthen in your life when you obey Him and would fade away each time you disobey. Have a lovely week!

The video below was published in You Tube and I decided to share with my dear readers: What do you make of it?

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Since most of us do not keep the end in view when taking decision, we tend to focus too much on our immediate challenge. When our minds engage too much on the immediate challenge, we lose touch with our destiny and purpose. The immediate challenge becomes the compass to our lives directing us in our everyday choice like what we need to pray about. What we pray about is definitely a function of what engulfs our mind which definitely slips in our conversation with God which ultimately gets answered.

Last week, I pointed out that the perception of the lion is what ultimately crowns it the king not the talent that it possesses. The same scenario appears in our prayer lives; while one man is praying to get a job another one is praying to create jobs; the same human, the same theme but different perception hence different outcomes. The illogical thing happens: The man that prays for a job becomes offended with the man creating the jobs. This is definitely not an aberration but a norm. Suddenly, I realize that it takes the same energy to pray for different outcomes so why not focus on what you really want.

Two weekends ago, I organized the cash flow 101 game and I witnessed firsthand on the way people think to make decisions. The goal of the first stage of the game is for people to generate enough passive income to offset their bills but I realize all the players prefer to accumulate their paycheck. I realize they derive joy in having a lot of cash doing nothing than to generate passive incomes. This kind of thinking also affects the way they pray ‫ “God, I need a good paying job to buy a duplex and marry the woman of my dreams; have three children; buy two cars (one for my wife and the other for me) and one bus to take the children to school”.

I shared different praying perception with the Delta Youth Corpers using the character of Jacob to drive home my point. When Jacob left his father’s house to his uncle’s house, he experienced a divine visit from God in his dream. God said; “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. After the initial shock and finally acknowledging God’s visit, his prayer perception was filled with his ongoing challenge; “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God” (Gen 28).

If you really did not grab my point, the nutshell was that God promised to increase his influence through his seed and to make him prominent round the world but his prayers were divergent to God’s purpose for him; he was more worried about what he would eat and wear and was bothered about returning in peace to his father’s house. God answered his prayer by making him a bondservant in the house of his uncle ‫ he had clothes to wear and food to eat. It took him twenty years to realize how wrong those prayers were when he was faced with the possibility of facing his brother; his prayers changed (Gen 32):

“And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude”. This time Jacob was praying according to purpose and God answered him with the challenge of wrestling with a man which he won and his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. Prayer is a conversation with God; it is important to pray what God tells you not the challenge you are facing.  The man in this text could be symbolic for the right challenge that would lead us to fulfilling purpose. When we pray right, we would be faced with the right challenge that would ensure our footsteps in the sands of time. The name Israel has become a country, a people and a culture hence the need to pray right according to our purpose.

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I hope it’s no more news to you that 300 (three hundred) Zain executives were laid off last week and despite the fact that I have some other articles to write about, I have no choice than to invoke my calling by educating those that believe that this kind of thing can never happen to them. It is actually not what has happened but the feedback of what has happened and the chain reaction that can easily develop from this kind of event.

 

Fear is the direct consequences of this action; everybody tend to sit tight following the same vicious cycle and wising that one day their condition would change. The worse thought line by an average worker in Nigeria is wishing that God would reward their labor of love and the time they have put into a company only to get retrenched, by-passed for a promotion, abused by their boss, etc. God would definitely reward your labor of love but those based on an exit strategy.

 

God makes a distinction in the bible about the way we are expected to serve (or should I say work); we serve as either a bond servant or a hired servant. God prefers the latter admonishing Masters in Leviticus 25: 39-40; “And if your brother that dwells by you be waxen poor, and sold unto you. You shall not compel him to serve as bondservant: But a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you and shall serve you unto the year of jubilee.”

 

God expects you to work for a period of time as a sojourner and then quit to form you own. The difference between the hired and the bond servant is that one uses the job to garner experience, economic leverage and viable networks with an exit strategy in mind while the other has no exit strategy in mind. The bond servant believes that whatever is the Master’s own is his/her own. God warns the bond servant about this in Leviticus 26: 13.

 

The bond servant mentality is a rat race mentality. The whole concept of rat race conjures up the image of lab rats whose life is an endless series of activities that get them nowhere. Rat race can thus be defined as an endless and futile attempt to achieve something in competition with others that is unachievable. In your company, look at all your colleagues and ask yourself what are the chances that you can become the MD, DMD, GM or Senior Manager. Supposing your chances are high (which I very much doubt); how long? Supposing you can wait the time; how sure?

 

The expectation of the righteous man can never be cut shut but the righteous man is the one who listens to God not the one with a moralistic inclination. God does not want you to bond yourself to any company but to leverage the company for your exit strategy. In any given company, hired servants are thus more productive than the bond servant because they know that they have a limited time to learn and practice for their own outfit. They are not the 8-6 workers but the ones who are ready to stay odd hours and give what it takes to achieve success.

 

 

Jacob’s chase for Rachel shows the true nature of a bond servant; working for seven years to obtain a dream but deceived by his boss to work for seven more years. How many contemporary workers have been promised a raise or a promotion without getting exactly what they want? Jacob changed the whole dynamics for productivity; if you give me this, I would produce this. This particular change made Jacob wealthier than his employer. This particular story shows that working for time can never make you wealthy but working with the aim of getting out of the cycle makes you wealthier than you can imagine.

 

The paradox of the whole thing is that hired servants are hardly laid off because their productivity is always eminent except God sets them up because God has impressed it on them to leave but they have been scared thinking about what they would eat. Mahatma Gandhi could not have distinguished the essence of eating any better when he said: “You will not eat to satisfy your palate but your hunger. A self-indulgent man lives to eat; a self-restrained man eats to live.”   

 

To all those who have been laid off and those who may still be laid off in the nearest future; I would not reiterate the normal Christian encouragement that all is well because all is definitely not well. You have entered the night season of your life and things would not be the normal way you are used to but things would be far better if you corporate with the Holy Spirit. This is the pruning season of your life preparing you for greater action and achievements.

 

This is not the time to abuse the power that God has placed inside you by complaining, doubting yourself, lacking confidence and boldness or blaming Zain for the predicament that you seem to be in. This is the time for solitude and reflections, not the time to start throwing your CVs everywhere so that you can be bonded again. This is the time for new direction and a new level.

 

 

To all those who are working as bond servant, it’s time to seriously convert yourself to a hired servant. A hired servant starts building systems that would take care of his/her every day bills. If you have ever played Kiyosaki’s board game known as Cash Flow 101, you would realize that the easiest way to get out of rat race is when the income generated from your asset is maximally paying your bills then you move to the fast track position. Always push your energies (even if you have to borrow) in building passive income because therein lies your way to freedom.

 

 

If you are working and interested in playing this game, I would be organizing a meeting called “Beating the Rat Race” in June (all my May weekends are booked). To secure an early seat amongst the 10 players, please click HERE. I also want to point out that no matter how long you work, you would end up going into one form of business or the other because your pension if it comes regularly can never satisfy you. You may listen to my podcast on Pension Conspiracy by clicking HERE.

 

Why wait 25 years or more when your risk tolerance would be very low. Sharpen your business reflexes as early as possible through your wife and vice versa. For those who know they would end up in business, it’s about time you start reading about business. I am giving out a book free of charge titled; “HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN”. It is more than 300 pages and quite easy to read. If you are interested in this book, simply make an intelligent comment below on this topic; it can be either against or for my views. I would love to read your perspective as we build the right mentality to work. Ciao……. 

 

 

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My dear readers, I have never been so wrong in my life; this was an A list biopic of George W. Bush. The film was so intriguing and captivating that I had to rewind some parts and watch again. The part that really got me thinking was the crucial board room session in the White House when they debated on going to Iraq or not without much evidence of Iraq having weapon of mass destruction. Collin Powel, the then Secretary of Defense, opposed going to Iraq despite his being there when W’s father won the operation desert storm. There were so many of the cabinet members for the war (all having their special interests at heart). The final decision to go to Iraq was made by W himself.

 

 

Sometime in life, we blame ourselves for the decisions we make or the decisions of those around us that directly affect us but our decisions are a consequence of what we sow and the decisions we make are sometimes beyond our comprehension. In 2^nd Samuel: 19, the soldiers were surprised and felt betrayed at King David crying for his son, Absalom’ death after all the atrocities he committed against the king; sleeping with his fathers’ wives in the open; rebelling against the king; killing king David’s son Amnon; etc. What they did not understand was that everything that Absalom did was not his fault but a prophetic word that God declared through Prophet Nathan for David’s abuse of authority and only King David knew this.

 

 

After King David killed Bathsheba’s husband and married her, Prophet Nathan declared God’s word in 2^nd Samuel 12:10-13; “therefore, murder shall be a constant threat in your family from this time on because you have insulted me by taking Uriah’s wife. I vow that because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did this secretly but I would do this to you openly, in the sight of all Israel.”

 

 

God watches over his spoken word; his word does not return to him void but accomplish that which he had sent it no matter who you are. This was King David, a man after God’s heart. King David was sober because he knew it was his fault that Absalom committed all the atrocities he did; it was simply God’s word coming to effect. The same thing happened to W; according to the film; before he ran for president, God called him and told him to run for president because there was a crucial decision that he was meant to make. At the time, W was the least likely candidate to run for president and he was not even the one that won the popular vote in fact the election was rigged to bring him to the presidency.

 

 

It does not matter what you do, this was simply God’s word and it would definitely come to effect. God’s word is not a popularity contest; it is his word and his word is for the good of common man despite our opposition. The whole world was in awe when W was elected the second time because the whole world did not know that W was called of God. Being called of God may not make you popular (check Jonah in Nineveh or the martyred Stephen) but would make you fulfill His spoken word.

 

 

W’s boardroom in the white house reminded me of Ahab’s decision to attack the Syrians at Ramoth Gilead. Collin Powell was like Micaiah who was against attacking Ramoth Gilead amongst 400 prophets that were for it. The problem was that the 400 Prophets were fulfilling God’s prophesy through what Prophet Elijah told King Ahab that he was going to die. There was nothing in this world that Ahab could have done, his decisions were already prophesied. This was exactly what happened to W; his decision was to attack Saddam and it was prophesied when he was called. He could not really justify his decision despite the lying spirit flocking him.

 

 

Despite the world’s disagreement with W on this decision; the decision has brought fruits that can never be denied; Iraq has been freed from the tyrannical Saddam; sanctions have been lifted off Iraq; Iraq has become a democratic state; Iraq’s economy has a huge projection of getting better; Americans have a forever grateful ally in the middle east and the list goes on. The impact of this war to the world has also ushered in the first black president to the United States ushering hope to the rejected. This war despite the world’s criticism would mark a turning point in the world’s policies.

 

 

I know there are so many people in the night periods of their lives; out of a job, left by your lover, threatened by your employers, career indecision, etc. These stories are simply to tell you to stop struggling because all the prayers and fasting of King David did not stop Bathsheba’s first child from dying. You simply need to align yourself to his spoken word because that is where the power lies. How would you know his spoken word if you do not get close to God. Your running up and down everyday would not get you to your destination, it is by following Jesus advice to Martha; “only one thing is needful and Mary has chosen it”.  

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The bible points us to the fact that God dwells in the heavens (the spiritual realm); the heavens have no time. So all time starts and ends on earth. God created the day and the night which is the primary index for time. If this is true, then all the time is God’s time if we look at it in terms of creation. So which time is God’s and which time is the best? I am sure you would understand why this particular adage makes no sense at all.

 

Now suppose we are looking at it from the lens of humans; this becomes a bit complicated because humans are not the same in terms of psychology, philosophy, demography, geography, etc. The general agreement I can surmise from people’s reaction is that God’s time is when what you are expecting comes to fruition. If this argument is true, what would you call the time that your expectation is not matched: Devil’s time?

 

So God’s time is every time: When you are going through pains, hardship, stress, emotional wreck versus when you are happy, excited, etc. In my early write-up; “The SUN comes down”, I made this same assertion that when the sun comes down, you are not expected to fret or struggle but to relax, observe what you are expected to do next and flow with it. I realize that one of the greatest challenges we have as humans is to change our existing activities especially when the activities appear fruitful.

 

A sudden loss of a plush job; betrayal from the wife you trust; a political law that affects your business negatively are examples of a sudden reversal from a fruitful activity. When this happens to you, you enter the night periods of your life. As I have mentioned earlier, the night is also God’s time but the night is uncomfortable to the flesh. It is this uncomfortable period that people regards as persecution, trials and challenges.

 

As human, Jesus understood this very well and warned us that these periods would definitely manifest in our lives but advised us to be of good cheer. Jesus understood that our whole purpose of existence is discovered during the night time albeit uncomfortable. During his days, Jesus could perceive the night time of his life and prayed to God to avert it. We should be glad that God did not listen to him because we may never enjoy the privilege of “sonship”.

 

Just like Jesus, nobody likes the night time but the night is necessary to the existence of our living. It is during this night that we discover ourselves and our purpose. There have been rumors of a downsizing activity in Zain and some friends have been calling me about investments, businesses, etc. This is definitely the wrong time for all that but I always indulge them by giving them a few; I was surprised at their readiness to start the businesses they were not interested in before. The worst thing to do is to invest or start a business out of desperation; it definitely would not work.

 

The night is the pruning periods of our lives; it’s the time to let go of some habits like anger, impatience, lust, etc that would destroy you in the next level that you are going to. The night prepares you for the new day in your life. This is why when people say God’s time; I wonder what they mean; if the night is necessary for your growth then why don’t you refer that night as God’s time. I am not saying the night is fun or pleasurable, I am saying you need to cooperate with the night to move ahead in life.

 

If you are already in the night period of your life and you are sitting down, waiting for God’s time. I hate to burst your bubbles my friend, you are in God’s time. If you are waiting for the day to dawn, you have to fulfill the prerequisite of the night. God’s time is not like the 24 hours where there is 12 hours day and 12 hours night and all you have to do is linger for 12 hours for the sun to rise; God’s time is about fulfilling the prerequisite of the night to enter the day.

 

In Genesis 8: 20-22, God changed the rule about cursing the ground; “I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. This is when God introduced a different set of time called Chairos.

 

This is not the normal chronological time we are used to (24 hours makes a day) but a period of sowing to reap; a period where the day would not come until you have sown during the night and vice versa. If you are waiting, crying and complaining through the night, don’t bother my brother, your day would not come that way. Your day would come by accepting the night for what it is (a period to sow, a period to discover, a period to rest, a period to stick more to God, etc). Understanding this principle would open you to why people pray amidst.

 

If you are very wealthy (like Bill Gates) and your 8-year old son asks you for a Range Rover Sport 2009 model, you would not give him because you love him so much. For the 8-year old boy doing the asking, getting the car is his day but you know that he is not ready to own one so you may tell him to wait till he is 16-years old and you would buy him a better car. He would definitely not be happy with his dad but he decides to wait.

 

If he is now 16 and you realized that he is DUI most of the time; though you promised to give him the car at 16, you would definitely not give him because you love him so much. It’s no longer the promise but love that prevents you from giving him so he will not kill himself or somebody else with the car resulting to jail sentence. But suppose at 14, the boy impressed you so much by being academically sound and very responsible; you may end up giving him the car at that age though he was suppose to wait 2 more years.

 

God is motivated by love not by a chronological time; it is this love that breeds the Chairos. When the Israelites were promised by God to leave Egypt after 400 years, it took God an additional 30 years to get them out. God took the Israelites to a far longer route to Canaan than the 10-day journey because the Israelites were not prepared for war. God pardoned Hezekiah from immediate death despite sending Isaiah to proclaim his immediate death. God pardoned the people of Nineveh from immediate death despite sending Jonah to pronounce it. Jesus had to perform his first recorded miracle earlier than was set.

 

God’s time is infinite; the specificity of it depends on our readiness not on God’s. God loves us and expects us to rise above our present situation and be ready for both the days and nights of our lives. It is however important to prepare for the night because it shall surely come and also important to align ourselves with the night for they shall surely pass away. God’s Time is what he has given us on earth to be fruitful, multiply, dominate and subdue. Hope you are having or had a wonderful Easter holiday? Ciao,,,….

 

 

   

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The way a man thinks is the way a man is; what comes to your mind when the above phrase is mentioned? Take some time to think about it; my first thought is Malachi 3 verse10 where God promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there might not be room enough to receive it if you pay your tithes and offerings. The condition to the above promise appears quite simple (at least to me) but the perceived result is hardly attained.

 

Note that I use the word “perceived”.  If I tell you that for every comment you make below, I will give you ten dollars. You are very much aware of the outcome so it is easy to follow through on the task above but for the task discussed in Malachi 3:10, you are uncertain about the outcome or you are not achieving the perceived outcome. This is one of the least discussed topics in the Christian circles; why do people keep on sowing the tenth of their hard earned labor without achieving their perceived result?

 

First, let’s visit the concept of “sowing and reaping”; the bible has said in so many places that whatever you sow, you must reap not wherever you sow; another interesting thing about this concept is that if it takes labor to sow, it would also take labor to reap. This is the way I used think about this concept; if I earn three hundred thousand a month and I pay thirty thousand in tithes, I would miraculously get back the rewards. The question is when and how?

 

 

When I think about the way I used to think, I realize how spooky it was; how can I be stupidly expecting money to come; from where; from the sky; from my fellow brother and sister? I realize this type of thinking has never really helped me and it dawned on me that if I labor to sow, I would definitely labor to reap. This is one of the few verses that made me think this way; Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.”

 

 

Why would the harvest be plentiful and fewer laborers? Good question; because so many people do not expect to labor to harvest or cannot see the harvest. I would use the story of King David in the bible to buttress my point; David’s harvest was Goliath and he had to labor to get to it. After the death of Goliath, David came to notoriety. David’s seed was the killing of the bear and lion that attacked his father’s sheep.David would never have recognized Goliath as an opportunity to wealth and fame if he had not been killing the bears and lion that attacked his father’s sheep. While others were running away from Goliath, David was busy asking for the reward for killing Goliath. There are so many harvest that so many people are running from; the ongoing global financial crisis is one of them, living in a developing country is another and the list goes on.

 

If you have been seeding with the right frame of harvest, you would definitely be harvesting. Now what does the “windows of heaven” have to do with all this? Remember, it is windows (plural) not window (singular). “Windows of heaven” is a figurative term for a spiritual intuition. Jacob made the definition very clear to me when he had a dream on his way to his uncle’s house. In that dream, he saw a ladder set on earth, reaching the heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending. You may read Genesis 28: 10 ‫ 18 for full understanding.

 

Jacob described the experience as the window of heaven (NKJV). I really do not want to go onto full analysis because of time but this is what happens when you pay your tithe and your offerings; your eyes would be opened either through intuition, dream or inspiration to know where to labor to maximize your resources. The key word here is labor. Your level of productivity depends on what you are seeing; what you see depends on how far you will go.

 

When the windows of heaven are opened, you will see opportunities where people don’t see. It is now your conscious choice to labor to acquire it either by seeding or harvesting. Everybody that pays tithe can see but only a few percentage of them labor. In my controversial article titled Tithe or Tight, I compared tithe to taxes. You may read the article by clicking HERE. The three names in the first sentence of this article were nominated by the Obama transition team to run crucial economic sector of their country but they all avoided paying their taxes and this singular act would definitely affect the Democrats in the 2011 election. Imagine the effect of not paying your tithe…………

 

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“The means justifies the end and not the other way round because when you achieve the end without a valid means, the end becomes ephemeral.” ‫ Dipo Tepede

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being with me through 2008 when my theme write-up was basically about entrepreneurship. I was able to decipher why fewer people venture this path though it promises a life of financial independence and subsequently creates a chain of economic abundance for the city. Uncertainty is the reason for minimal traffic to this all important path. You may read Burden of Entrepreneurship to understand more.

 

Whenever, I am asked to speak on entrepreneurship, I open my audience to the greatest fear of entrepreneurship ‫ uncertainty. We discuss on multiple streams of income as a panacea to uncertainty and seasonal flow of cash. On hindsight, I discovered that multiple streams of income though good is only a survival mode to uncertainty not a springboard to great wealth which is needed to create influence (please, read my write-up on Purpose).

 

To get to the height of influence in whatever field you choose, you must go through process with patience and faith. Infact, the real cure to uncertainty is taking the step needed to your dream. If you dream of being a doctor, you must do what you can to get to Medical school; when you get to Medical school, you will be sure it is just a matter of time before being a doctor after going through the process. The process may be steep but that is what you must go through.

 

I have never climbed a mountain before but I remember climbing a hill with a group of friends. Our aim was simply to picnic on top of this hill. As we kept climbing, we had no idea how the top will look like; we definitely had an idea but we were not sure what to expect. This uncertainty was scary because the climb was very strenuous and at the same time exciting. There was however two things that gave me confidence that we will definitely get to the summit;

 

1.      People have climbed to the top of the hill before and have created a safe path to get there

2.      We were judiciously following the path that has been laid out so we were sure of getting to the summit.

 

The number (1) mentioned above is called modeling; it is easy to achieve what someone has achieved before and number (2) is called process; it is simply follow the principles that a model has set. No matter how uncertain we were about an endeavor, we simply need to identify a model and follow the principle of the model. No matter how high the hill was, as long as we patiently follow the principles of the model, we will get there.

 

Have you noticed that once a record of any kind is broken, so many people start breaking the same record? This record may have been unattainable but if one person attains the record, it becomes easier for every other person to attain the same record. What does this tell me on a personal level? There is really nothing impossible, just discover someone that has done it before and follow the principle the person used.

 

We are quite fortunate in this generation because we have so many models before us who have exploited uncharted regions. So the question is not if we would succeed but if we are willing to succeed, if we are willing to go through the process to achieve the desired end. The process is definitely not a low hanging fruit because if you are willing to climb the mountain, you will know the strain associated with climbing it.

 

So what happens if you decide not to climb the mountain? Let’s take a look at a recorded history in the bible about two brothers who decided to offer gifts to God; Cain, the eldest, offers the fruit of the ground while Abel offers the firstborn of his flock and the fattest portion of it. Abel definitely took the difficult terrain because he knew that would be accepted but Cain took the low road and the gift was not accepted.

 

God’s explanation to Cain when he was not happy about the situation summarized the concept of process; “if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door: its desire is for you but you must master it. If you decide not to climb the mountain of uncertainty and stick to the comfort of the plain, sin crouches at your door, ready and willing to sniff you because you will surely not be accepted.

 

We definitely live in an uncertain world; nobody can actually predict tomorrow but we can predict the way tomorrow will be after observing some certain process. It is important to note that God will never tell us our tomorrow but will allow us extrapolate our tomorrow from whatever we do today or even if God tells us about our tomorrow, God will tell us what we ought to do to get there because there is no tomorrow without today’s process.

 

The process is definitely not easy especially if you start the implementation; Jesus Christ felt the pain when he was about to be at the right hand of his father; “Lord, if it is your will, let this cup pass over me”. Surely if Jesus could feel this excruciating pain when he was about to save the world, you must understand that every glory has an overarching theme of pain. However, there are ways to mitigate this pain while going through the process;

 

1.      You must see the end from the beginning though the end may be a bit blurry; seeing the end makes the process easy to accomplish.

2.      Encouragement from mentors and models make it very easy to transit through this process.

3.      Sharing experiences and resources with fellow mountain climbers will enable the journey very enjoyable.

 

This year, I will be writing more on process; the number (1) solution above to easing the pain of process is your responsibility while I will try my possible best to provide the number (2) and (3), through interviews and articles. This is the promise of God to Himself after destroying the earth during the days of Noah; as long as the earth remains; seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

 

 

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 How can a man who appeared so invincible be scared of a threat by a queen? He was so scared that he prayed for death from God instead of death from the queen. This is a mysterious situation and so many explanations can be proposed for this reaction but one thing I am sure of is the way humans are blind by the power they possess. Impending situations or threats keeps us so uncomfortable that we fail to see the power we possess.

 

 

 Power is the ability to consciously and deliberately create the world around you; you become the victim of your environment or situation when your power is weak and cultivate a life of your own choosing when your power is strong. It is albeit important to know where this power comes from. I derive my power from God Almighty and I am not ashamed of His gospel because inherent in the gospel is the power to salvage all humans that come in contact with it.

 

 

I remember vividly speaking to a group of students from various universities in Nigeria and I was introduced to speak. I had sent my profile to the organizers earlier and the first sentence in my profile was; “I am the son of God through Jesus Christ.” The organizers of the program removed that part from the introduction and focused on my achievements. Immediately, I got to the stage, I took time to correct their notions:

 

 

I am nothing without Christ. All the achievements you heard from the MC is nothing compared to my relationship to Jesus Christ. I am simply a moon that reflects the rays of the sun on earth; I possess no inherent power. All that I have was given to me graciously by the Almighty God who looked at me through the lens of Jesus Christ. All Knowledge I have acquired from humans that are effective always pass the testing of the word of Jesus Christ.

 

 

There are countless of events that have proven the power of God in my life so it is useless to be ashamed of it. You only get ashamed of something that does not produce result. Recently, I was invited for a consultancy gig by some Norwegians and was asked to send my profile of 100 words; my first sentence as usual was; “I am the son of God through Jesus Christ”. This was a corporate business gig but I chose to tell them my root. I chose to tell them that the reason they felt I was so fascinating was because of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

They were not even bothered about that. If they were bothered about it, it will not matter to me because the word of God is the righteousness of God which is potent to salvage any given task or situation. Denying your power makes you vulnerable to outside influence. Your mind denies the power and registers a different presupposed dominant power. This is the way it works!

 

 

Another way you can deny this power subconsciously like Elijah did when he was threatened by Queen Jezebel is to overstretch your physical being. You must learn to balance your physical being or be burnt out. The activities Elijah did prior to the threat were too stretching for one man; he spoke to a huge crowd, did all the manual labor himself of proving the power of his God, and killed all the 450 prophets. He was too exhausted to rationalize things so he allowed a dominant power to overshadow his God.

 

I could feel Elijah on that level because I knew how afraid I was when I was faced with the threat of losing 2.4 million naira. I forgot that the power inherent in the money could not be compared to the power in me. The funny part of it is that it is a threat not a reality and just like threat of Elijah’s life, it may never happen. Then I wonder why we focus too much on situation instead of reviving the power within us.

 

 

This brings me to the concept of Baal and the whole existence of an impotent god. Why do people worship Baal so much and what they hope to achieve by worshipping Baal? Baal is a god that is associated with soil fertility and domestic animals which represent economic leanings of any nation. Baal is not just one god but a collection of gods which provides economic benefit to you.

 

 

In contemporary times, your job can be Baal; your business can be Baal; your farm can be Baal: Any group of system that produces economic benefit is regarded as Baal. You can understand why there is a huge traffic gravitating towards Baal especially during King Ahab’s rule when there was drought and deep hunger in the land. Queen Jezebel controlled the system and wielded her brand as such.

 

 

When Elijah felt cocky about not bowing to Baal; God corrected him by telling him that there are 7000 people who have not bowed to Baal apart from himself. Baal wields its influence in our world and most people have no choice but to worship Baal in order to succeed or what I call in order to be happy. Baal just like the matrix is in control of our existence and there are few people that are inert to its effect.

 

The replacement of Baal with Almighty God is a common phenomenal; I got to run to work, I do not have time to pray; no time to go to church; God will definitely not understand this part of my life; I need that 2007 Lexus badly so I cannot afford to tithe this month; everything is so hard, I really need to help myself with this deal even if it affects my fellow neighbor, etc.

 

 

Baal has eaten so badly into the world that the 90% of exchange markets all over the world are crashing; there are so many churches in the nook and cranny in Nigeria but the country is corrupt; Most African leaders’ refusal to leave office; ladies who have sexual relations with their bosses to keep their jobs and the list goes on. My call today is to align ourselves to our purpose because for every single time we deny our purpose for money, we worship Baal. This is why we need to cultivate the power within us to produce results instead of constantly depending on outside influence. For all outside influence will not help you when you need it.

 

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

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In other quality programs like TQM, Zero Defects, etc; emphasis are on the defect but on the SIX SIGMA strategy, the main emphasis is on the relationship of the service/product to the target customer. I would attempt to use one of my recent trips to China to drive home this point; I visited a factory where electric generators were produced. One of the fastest moving consumer products in Nigeria is generator because of the insufficient and epileptic power supply. They showed me various qualities of generator of the same model series.

 

 

The samples were graded from Grade A to Grade G with Grade A being the generator with the highest quality. The sample of generator that my partners I supply wanted me to import into Nigeria was Grade F. I immediately called my partners in Nigeria and told them what I observed. They immediately told me to import Grade G if possible and I was bewildered; I told them again the quality implication of Grade G and the environmental hazards but they did not bulge; they wanted Grade F or Grade G or nothing else. At first, I thought it was the cost profile and greed for huge margin that was speaking so I declined importing generators all together.

 

 

I was dead wrong about the attitude of my partners; my partners have been in the generator business for as long as they could remember and they have made their mistakes and stuck to the winning formula. They have made huge losses on Grade A, B, C and D generators due to low patronage while Grade F and G receive high patronage. TQM and Zero Defect strategy may focus on Grade A to C but SIX SIGMA will neither regard Grade A to E as long as the Nigerian Market does not patronize the product nor will it regard Grade F and Grade G for its defective features. This is the foundation of SIX SIGMA.

 

 

It is entirely based on relationship: When Jesus told Martha that Mary has chosen the needful; he simply meant Mary prioritized effectively. For those who do not know the story, it’s the story about Jesus visiting two sisters ‫ Mary and Martha ‫ living in the same house. When Jesus came into the house, Martha immediately did what an average individual will do; she started cooking, cleaning and doing all the stuff to make her guest happy. Mary on the hand simply sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. Mary got frustrated with her sister and asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her finish her chores. Jesus showed us the secret of success by telling Martha to stop encumbering herself and she should follow what Mary is doing.

 

 

Mary was bonding and forming a relationship with Jesus while Martha was working. If you want to remove a defective habit in your life, you simply need to form a relationship with someone with an effective habit. Trying to remove such habit in your life without a relationship will be cumbersome and if she achieves result alone, it is definitely going to be temporal. If you are on the obese side, and you want to slim down, you simply need a friend who is living a healthier life. This friend challenges you by going to the gym and eating healthy. Your relationship will give you the needed impetus to achieve your goal.

 

 

This is why the Christian faith promotes relationship rather than religion. If you want to stop a particular kind of sin, you do not will yourself to stop the sin; just move close to God through prayers, reading the bible and moving close to people with the same Christian culture. If you do this, you will realize that it is easier to stop the sin because a higher law starts working on you stronger than the law of the sin. The best way to overcome a law is to introduce a higher law not by physically resisting the law. This is the concept of the SIX SIGMA strategy by relating the process to your target market. It is easier to form a quality process based on your target market than to derive a quality process without the target market in view.

 

 

Relationships are thus the key to any breakthrough; there is no position or height, I want to achieve without a relationship connection. If I want to chat with Obama today and I am in Nigeria, all I need is to have my cousin in his campaign team. Because of the relationship I have with my cousin, I will be able to get to America, visit him in his office and may be fortunate to get introduced to Obama by my cousin. There is definitely no where you can’t get to as long as you are connected.  

 

 

The adage of “show me your friend” is thus justified because the upward spiral or the downward spiral of any individual is based on the relationship they keep. In part 2 of this series, I introduced the concept of intention, sowing and reaping as a prerequisite to manifestation but I failed to mention the elements that may deter or promote the three processes needed for manifestation to occur. Jesus was telling his disciples about a farmer that went to sow: He described four different scenarios; sowing on hard ground; sowing by the way side; sowing among thorns and sowing in good soil.

 

 

The story of the farmer makes us to understand that where, how and when we sow is of paramount consideration. The yield on the field is a function of the way we sow; the scenario of the thorns amongst your seed is a subtle scenario that can be missed by most people. The thorns represent toxic people in your life and they are ready to crowd and hinder every progress you make. It’s like gathering money and placing it in pocket filled with holes. There is really nothing as hindering as relating to toxic people but most of our hindrances come from within us.

 

 

As humans, we are basically social beings and relating to people is of paramount important for our well being. Our outcome in life is a function of the influences around us and there is no greater influence than the ones of those we are emotionally attached to us or those whom we feel a sense of responsibility to. It is therefore imperative we carefully consider those we allow in the inner circle of our lives because we become like those we surround ourselves with. There is also the challenge of separating ourselves from those that we feel use us as a crutch for their survival:

 

 

The bible depicts an interesting story about Jonah and a prospective capsized ship. The captain of the ship sensed that Jonah was responsible for the situation they were undergoing and the men on board had to throw Jonah into the sea. Immediately Jonah was thrown out of the ship, the ship was on course again. Every human being in this world has the capacity to sense the toxic relationships in their lives but emotional attachment hinders them from separating themselves from this toxic relationship. If Jonah had stayed in the ship, the ship would have capsized with all the people on board.

 

 

Imagine the inhuman feeling of throwing another human being to the sharks in order to save yourselves but that is what you must do in order to survive your journey on this earth. There is really no sentiment in this if you are prepared to fulfill your destiny, you must be ready to let go of the toxic relationships. Abraham had to cast out his own flesh and blood when there was contention between his wife and the bond servant, in order to bring the promise of Isaac to bear. This is what the SIX SIGMA breakthrough is all about; aligning the quality process to the customer preference.    

On a lighter mood, Ronaldhino' s move to AC Milan instead of Manchester City was as a result of positive networking rather than money. Ronaldhino believes with the right motivation and friends, he will be able to rekindle his form. Have a wonderful day! 

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The leader asked him for name of the street which he responded: “Listgomerykaz Street”. The leader was newly elected and was not familiar with the names of all the streets so he asked the troubled man to spell the name. “I don’t know” the troubled man said “but I will find out”. Ten minutes passed before the troubled man got back on line and said “I could not get the correct spelling of Listgomerykaz Street for you so I moved the dead cow to Easy Street. That’s spelled E-A-S-Y”.

I hope that was quite funny but I am sure it will not be funny anymore if I tell you that majority of the world’s population react this way. We major so much on the minor and develop a blind spot for the big picture. We are activity conscious rather than being result oriented. We can do the wrong things with great efficiency rather than ask ourselves what the effective way is. Efficiency is doing things the right way why Effectiveness is doing the right things. In other words, you may be doing things better and faster than anyone else but you need to be doing the right things to be effective.

Doing things in an effective manner is what SIX SIGMA is all about. For all those who did or are doing their undergraduate studies in Nigeria, you can recall the process of passing through the university. The pressure of pending exam or quiz forces you to cram the course work to get an “A” grade; the problem with this type of program is that the products churned out will always be defective. The products go through life with the same band-aid paradigm; in marital relationship, couples tend to be efficient in the way they communicate with one another; in a (wo)man’s chosen career, he/she tends to limited by the confines of his/her job; in business, the ones who did not see the four walls of the university tend to be smarter in achieving results than the graduates.

I recall my first exam in my MBA program in Sweden; I was given three months to study for the exam; I was asked to choose anytime of the day for my exam; I was asked to bring in my text book to the exam hall and I should feel free to consult it; I was told where to major in and I was given 2 hours to do 50 questions with 5 alternatives for each question to choose answers from. This was a joke compared to my Nigerian background but I was shocked when I saw the questions and I was more shocked when I saw the result which was given to me instantly.

I immediately complained to the professor who simply smiled and gave me the answers to the question. On close review, I saw where my mistakes were; they were mistakes that could easily be made from my paradigm; the questions forces you to apply your knowledge not just give back the knowledge. You can never apply a knowledge you do not fully comprehend. I realized that opening the book during the exams was a time waster; the answers were not just there (at least not literary). If I wanted to get a 100% in the exams what I needed to do was to be applying the knowledge over time before the exam. When the natives of Sweden were complaining that the time (3 months) was short for study, I started understanding what they meant.

SIX SIGMA conceptualizes the elements of “cause and effect” or in the agricultural parlance, the elements of “sowing and reaping”. It forces you to focus on the process (x) because the outcome (y) is a function of the process. Whatever you are today, wherever you are today, is a function of your yesterday; the process you went through during your yesterday is what makes you who and what you are today. Therefore, you do not need to be a prophet to know what you will be tomorrow. Just watch your process of today and your future is guaranteed.

On that note, it is important we fully understand the technical implication of SIX SIGMA. What is SIX SIGMA? I will try to make it as simple as possible without the technical buhaha: SIX SIGMA is a quality management strategy that focuses on financial target vis-à-vis the target customers. I hope that did not cause a head-scratch? If it did, I truly apologize; let me try and break it down. Quality Management is making sure that services/products offered is without error so as to reduce customer complaint; strategy is devising the best way to win in a competitive environment; financial targets include market share, bottom line profitability and cost savings and customer target is the demographic you intend to sell your products/service to.

SIX SIGMA is an offshoot of other quality managements like TQM, Zero defect, etc but what makes SIX SIGMA stands out is because it is tied down to the long term profitability of the company. It was discovered by a staff of Motorola in 1986 and has reportedly saved the company a whooping sum of 17 billion USD (this data was published in 2006). It has since then been adopted by Fortune 500 companies. What makes this concept so great? Let me start by telling you that for a product/service to be regarded as following SIX SIGMA strategy, it must conform to the 3.4 Defects Per Million Output. This means for every One million products produced, only 3.4 of those products would be defective.

The Sigma used here is a mathematical symbol for Standard Deviation which is simply a measure of dispersion. This is simply a metric for finding the standard value that has deviated from the original value. Assuming the original value is the perfect product, the SIX SIGMA says that there are Six Standard Deviations between the mean (average of products) and the perfect product. There is some talk of removing 1.5 of standard deviation from the Six to compensate for long term effect but in order not to go too technical, let us understand it as a process of producing zero defect products.

This simply connotes the fact that the product completely satisfies the customer. When a product completely satisfies a customer, the customer becomes an evangelist for that product offering free advertisement for the company through word of mouth service. With a huge momentum of other evangelists, it saves the company advertising cost, increases the market share of the company, increases the bottom line profit and the shareholders would definitely smile to the bank. Good, but how is this achieved? The SIX SIGMA makes sure the process of production is completely adhered to with step by step method to reduce defects.

Steven Covey puts it this way in his book “7 Habit of Highly Effective People”: Sharpen the saw and it will be easier to cut the wood. If you take your time to establish the SIX SIGMA strategy in your life that is making sure that you are baked properly before offering your services, your destiny is a sure bet. It may take time and conscious effort to achieve that near zero defects strategy but when you come out, you will surpass the half baked ones who are offering the same service. This is what the God said about Abraham when God observed his process; “Abraham will surely become a great man.”

Supposing Warren Buffet ‫ Forbe’s richest man in the world ‫ came to you and said: “I have been observing you and I know you will be a very wealthy guy”. I am sure you will take this as a self fulfilling prophesy; you will know there is something about your work ethic that he must have observed for him to make such proclamations. He must surely have undergone various processes before becoming the world’s richest man and he can surely know the process that will lead to wealth. You will definitely know you do not have to change your formula to living if you want to be very wealthy. Warren Buffet has said it, so shall it be.

That is Warren Buffet, a mere mortal whose life can be taken from him anytime compared to the Almighty God ‫ who created the first man ‫ has decreed some processes that if you follow, you will surely become great. All these processes are in the Bible. If you follow these processes, your future will be great; it is as sure as the sun rising and setting. You do not need to be afraid of the future if the process is completely adhered to. The strategies in the bible are better than the SIX SIGMA strategy; we only need to pray to God to open our eyes of understanding to see the riches of His glory and to give you the mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit to interpret correctly these processes so you can implement them effortlessly.

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In this contemporary time, we would say Jacob lived a Jewish dream just like most young men in Nigeria leave their father’s house or father’s country to seek for their Nigerian dream. Every dream has an economic imprint to it; the dream then becomes more substantiated if the person attained this economical progress through doing what he truly enjoys doing. Jay Jay Okocha is a living proof of a true Nigerian dream and was honored for it 2 days ago with a novel match. Not all dreams are accompanied with fame but you can imagine Okocha doing what some people consider as a hobby and making economic progress with it.

If we look deep to what we consider as a hobby, therein lies what we truly enjoy doing. What we truly enjoy doing is thus not necessary a sequential or regulated task we must accomplish in order to get emolument but a state of euphoria and joy when we tackle a project. This state of euphoria and joy is thus a state of being our true selves. The greatest challenge we have as human being is being our true selves. It is difficult for most people to discover their identity and align themselves to it. Some people are able to discover who they are but the difficulty lies in staying true to who they are.

Doing what you truly enjoy doing is your creative self expression; it is being who you are truly designed to be; it is where your unlimited power is tapped from; it is a life of freedom ‫ a life where possibilities overrides limitations. It’s a state that can be intuitively recognized and guided by deep rooted desire. Pablo Picasso ‫ a foremost painter/artist ‫ gives us a hint into what it is like to align ourselves to our true nature:

“I don’t know in advance what I am going to put on canvass anymore than I decide before hand what color I am going to use. While I am working, I am not conscious of what I am putting on the canvass. Each time I undertake to paint a picture, I have a sensation of leaping into space; I never know whether I shall fall on my feet. It is only later that I begin to estimate more exactly the effect of my work”

Just like Pablo Picasso mentioned above; whenever he wants to do what he truly enjoys doing, he is not conscious of the outcome and he leaps into space. Pablo Picasso is not governed by time but the possibility of his accomplishments. The time space continuum seizes to exist when you are in the flow of your true nature. Have you ever been involved in a task that you lost track of the time; you were literarily dragged away from it. It is like a deep sleep where you are not conscious of the environment. If you have ever been “in love” with a lady/man; you will understand this state of being your true self.

Look at Jay Jay Okocha; you can see the smile in his face when he loses an important direct kick and we can attest to his ability to experiment on the field of play. No matter how serious the match is, Jay Jay would always align to his true self. Jay jay’s true self is not football like most people describe their true self by what they do. When I hear someone say “I am born to be a doctor or I am a diehard writer”; I can’t help but smile at such ignorance because those profession or career line are simply a platform of expression. Jay Jay is a creative personality who can express his creativity best in the profession of football.

This is the cross that we mostly don’t understand because Jay Jay expresses himself best in football does not mean he is born a footballer. If Jay Jay was born into a home filled with academia, Jay Jay may have been professional writer authoring many text books; his environment played a big role in his platform of expression. This is where the concept of providence comes to play; God places us in an environment because God believes that environment would align us to our true self expression. While most people have blamed their environment for their lack of success, others have used their environment as a fulcrum of success.

The Williams sisters are tennis champions because of their African American heritage; this should ordinarily be a hindrance to tennis championship but it is what drove them to be extraordinary. If Mandela was born in the United States, I am sure the world would not be celebrating his 90 years birthday. Mahatma Gandhi became legendary because he was an Indian citizen. Our true self and finding the best place to express our true self lies in the environment we find our self.

So many people extol my writing prowess and I tell those who care to listen that I am not such a great writer; I simply write as a platform of expression. I know my writing skill have improved a lot from when I started putting time and energy into writing; for my professor in school to recommend my paper to the Swedish Environmental Board, I definitely know I have improved my writing considerably. I was not always good in writing in fact writing was my Achilles heel; most courses I did not do well in my undergraduate days was because I could not construct words properly. I used to loathe anything that has to do with writing but now writing is a platform to express my growth passion and love for empowerment.

This is the foundation of Jacob’s cross; expressing who you are in a dedicated platform. Jacob was a blessed man; whichever platform he engaged in, he was going to do the unfathomable. His partnership with his uncle Laban will give us insight into how to succeed financially in an uphill world. Jacob was already skilled in the arts of taking care of sheep before getting to his uncles house. His uncle noticed his good works and offered to pay him for it. Jacob instead demanded to work 7 years for his uncle’s daughter Rachel. In working for any organization, working for time will never make you financially free especially if your aim is to have one position or the other like Manager, Senior Manager, etc.

Jacob’s aim was Rachel and just like any other entrepreneur; they never live up to their promises until you give them more of your time. They dangle another offer your way, keeping you from your dream offer in order to buy more of your time. Jacob worked 14 years to secure his dream position and after attaining this dream, he was still financially impoverished. I can imagine many people who have waited longer than expected for promotions, salary raise, official car, etc and they keep getting disappointed. As they keep praying and waiting for this position, time is going and they gain nothing from it.

After Jacob attained the position he was looking for, he realized he had been chasing the wind. 14 years of his life slaving for someone without knowing who he was. Jacob decided to leave the organization and see what Laban the entrepreneur said “I will pay you more money for your time.” I have seen so many people stick to an organization because the entrepreneur is paying them more money. They know they are no longer aligned to the organization and their spirit and soul is no longer in the work but they stay because of the promise of more money.

Laban said something to Jacob that woke him up and made him understand who he truly was: “for a fortune teller that I consulted told me that many blessings I have been enjoying are all because of your being here. How much of a raise do you need to get you stay? Whatever it is, I will pay it.” This was news to Jacob just like most people in this world do not know their worth. He realized he was pivotal to the success of Laban but he should ordinarily have known this since he received the power of success from his father.

Jacob understanding himself decided to work for percentage instead of time. Remember for 14 years of working, he was still in the rat race; paying house rent, paying school fees, paying mortgage, changing car, occasionally travelling but he had no real economic power. After the decision to work for percentage, he became richer than Laban in six years; the speckled and the spotted sheep coming from all black sheep was something he has always known but he just put it to work after discovering himself. Despite the fact that Laban changed the rules many times, he was able to beat Laban to the game.

Understanding who you are and aligning yourself to it is the greatest good you can do to humanity. You encourage others who are afraid to take this path to do it. You will be able to FIRE YOUR BOSS by getting the proper respect you deserve. You will be able to make right judgments in investments and other important matter. I know money is a big factor that hinders people from being who they were designed to be but listen to what a billionaire film producer said; “Anyone who thinks money will make him happy hasn’t got money; happy is harder than money.” I will end this particular message with what Steve Jobs (billionaire founder of Apple Computers) said:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: if today were the last day of my life, would I do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something”

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Life without passion is meaningless; we simply exist and feel a sense of worthlessness. Passion is mostly a misconstrued concept because we have this vague imagination that passion is associated with something we enjoy doing. There are so many people that are passionate about what they do but do not enjoy doing it. I am sure you will want me to give you an example but I won't just give you any kind of example, I will give you empirical examples; something that happens every day and everywhere.

 

 

 

Everybody knows Tunde ‫ your regular 5 star employee ‫ upwardly mobile, ambitious and relied upon to get the job done by his employer. He has won the employee of the month 11 times in a year for the past 5 years and just as he was about to get a raise and a promotion, Tunde dropped a bomb shell; he was terminating his employment with his company X and moving to a competitive company. Then the haggle starts; company X says I will attach a car to your new position; company Y ‫ a competitive company ‫ says I will give you a house in Ikoyi so you can get to work on time; company Z ‫ a start-up company which is not competitive ‫ says I will give you three times the combined money that company X and Y are offering

 

 

 

Let’s do an analysis of probabilities; for anybody to accomplish sterling performance like Tunde, the person must have passion. Passion is therefore a necessary prerequisite to successful venture but the real question we should ask ourselves is “what is Tunde really passionate about?” If Tunde chooses company Z, we can surmise that he is passionate about money not the job; if he chooses company Y, we can surmise that he is passionate about change of environment and enjoys what he is doing and if he sticks with company X, we can conclude that he is passionate about loyalty and prefers to stick with what he is doing.

 

 

 

The moment of truth when he makes this kind of decision declares his passion. Encarta dictionary defines passion as an intense enthusiasm for something. This enthusiasm is intense because it is mixed with overpowering emotions such as love, hate, joy or anger. Tunde may have been regarded to be passionate about his work before these three choices stared at his face courting him to a relationship. These three choices open us up to a different dimension about Tunde; does Tunde really enjoy his work or is he really grasping for the reward of the work?

 

 

 

When I hear someone say “I am passionate about what I do”, I wonder why people delude themselves. Nobody is passionate about work without a reward no matter how noble it may sound to tell someone I enjoy what I do. This is actually a sequel to “Talent and the Talented” where I emphasized developing of talents to skill which opens opportunity. The whole concept of opportunity is the reward we derive from it. The reward does not have to be money in fact money itself is not a reward. If Tunde ends up in company Z, it is not the money that drives him but what the money can accomplish; better school for his kids, better health care, etc.

 

 

I have established the fact that passion is derived from reward ‫ the reward of being happy. The longing for happiness is what precipitates passion. We go to school, work hard to get good grades because we believe we will get good jobs to give us good remuneration to marry, have kids which will make us happy. Have you realized that our whole struggle in life is to be happy? We are therefore defined as “species who want to be happy at every given time”.

 

 

If happiness is the end result of everything we do passionately we are therefore going in circles to be happy. Some people derive happiness from oppressing their fellow humans; some people derive happiness from learning new things; some derive happiness from playing football and getting cheers from fans, some derive happiness from dancing, singing, etc. If money is removed from this equation, then the happiness is short lived; we will then become frustrated. Though we are doing what we derive joy from but the fact that we cannot get money from it makes us go in circles. So our primal instinct is go for what gives us the money first then chase what we enjoy doing.

 

 

 There are some challenges associated with doing this; there is a 90% probability that you may not go back to what you enjoy doing because of the fear of not having enough. If you do not follow your passion, you become a slave to this world and you will be grouped amongst the data of world’s population. This means you just exist and you have simply not made any impact on this earth. If you are a Christian, you definitely know you have buried your talent like the one guy with the one talent. You will become a victim of this world because the talent you have will be taken from you. You will be debased and even with all your money, you will not be happy. You are simply a living ghost.

 

 

Kunle Afolayan, the son of Ade Love ‫ a prolific film producer and actor in the 80s ‫ left his progressive career in the bank to chase his dream of film acting and production like his dad. He was never known in his Local Government while working for the bank for 7 years but 1 year in the film production industry, he is known round the world; he was recently invited to London Film Festival to discuss his one and only film production ‫ IREPADA. Lalit Modi is one of the few billionaires in India but he was hardly known when he was running his family’s multibillion dollar conglomerate but when he ventured into his passion of cricket, the whole world sings the praise for creating the India Premier League. He is no more a census figure in India but an icon to reckon with.

 

 

How can we chase our passion and at the same time not be bothered about what we will eat and drink? The answer to the question has eluded so many people. Let us take a peek at the manual of our life; there lies all the solution we sought for in this world. Abraham was a man that could hear God like most people can. One day, he felt in his spirit that God was telling him that he was father of many nations. This was kind of rhetoric putting in mind that he does not even have one child not to talk of having the potential to have any since he was quite old and the wife he loves so much has passed menopause. He got confirmation on all side that he was going to have a child by visitors who told him he was going to have a child. This child was going to be the child of promise which Abraham quickly interpreted was going to be the seed of the many nations.

 

 

Intuitively, we know the seed that will lead us to the passion we desire but some us choose to ignore it while others try their best to force it. Abraham discovered the seed, explained to his wife and they forced it by producing Ishmael. Ishmael is a passion you decide to create outside your inner promptings; you build such seeds in lieu of your impatience. God rejected Ishmael as the passion of promise ‫ heir of many nations. When Abraham stopped forcing it, God gave him the seed in the form of Isaac. When Abraham stopped forcing the seed of passion, he made lots of money while waiting for the seed to manifest.

 

This is the secret my dear; when you intuitively feel a promise in you bigger than yourself that is definitely what you will enjoy doing. When you are on track with this inner-promise, the power of sin becomes useless in your life, you will be in fantastic health, you will not compete with your fellow brethren, you will be an icon in the field that leads to the promise and you will make money beyond your wildest dream. It may not be instantaneous and self gratifying but it would be sure. I did not make 200 thousand dollars by blogging; I made more than (>) 200 thousand dollars by following the inner prompting of promise though I did not know where it will lead me to when I started. It’s just like a pregnant woman who has no idea how the child will look when she puts to bed that’s the same way the promise is. You feel the birth pangs, you feel uneasy, you feel pains sometimes and when this child finally comes to the world, you eventually have a form and you name it.

 

 

It’s not easy to give birth to your passion just as it is not easy to chase after money; the work is the same but the rewards are different. If you chase after money, you will simply exist on this earth with the money because God himself made us understand in Genesis 11 that there is nothing that man sets his heart to do that he cannot do when God was talking about humans building tower to heaven. If you follow that inner prompting that will make you constantly passionate, you will leave a legacy for your children, you will be an icon, you will be very famous and wealth and health will run after you and finally, you can never be found wanting of sin.  

 

 

Rahab followed the inner promptings of her heart when she helped out the Israelite despite the fact that she was a prostitute, she became a prominent figure in history and was named in the biblical hall of fame. She had a choice to give out the Israelites and collect a reward from the king but she chose instead to follow the inner promptings despite the danger accompanied with it. This is a mere difference between passion and money. It is those that follow their passion that makes a difference in their world not those that decides to join the money wagon. This is why the young rich ruler that met Jesus felt inadequate despite his huge sum of money and following the law judiciously. It isn’t about obeying the law and chasing money, it is about following the inner promptings of your heart.

 

 

This is the difference between a 419 guy and a blogger; while the 419 guy may make immediate returns from his hard work because it requires hard work to be a 419, it may take the blogger some time but the blogger will eventually hit it when he/she is following her inner prompting. The 419 guy will violate his conscience because every human conscience goes against wrong dealings but he may deaden his conscience by justifying what he does. One of the craziest lines the 419 guys cook up is that the white stole from their fathers so they have a right to steal from them but the white guys are no more buying their fraudulent line so they deprive their fellow Nigerian brethren through telephone frauds. Later when they cannot defraud anymore, they will start carrying guns and ammunitions. The end is definitely sure for them.

 

 

The bloggers end that follows his/her inner prompting (not the one doing it for money) is also sure; the blogger will become an icon in his field and will therefore be consulted by the world. He will make tremendous amount of money and he will make a name for his children. The blogger will bleed along the way just like the 419 guy; he/she will have his low points and high point but the end is sure because the process is right. Lucky Luciano ‫ a famous American mob star in the 1940s ‫ could not have said it better when he said “it will take the same work to get money doing bad than it will take doing good.” I will rephrase it this way “it will take the same work following your passion than it will take chasing after money; you will both end up getting the money but the guy that follows his passion will leave his footprint in the sands of time.”   

 

 

 FROM JUNE 1ST; YOU MAY READ ABOUT BLOGGING ON THE ARTICLE CONFERENCE

 

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