Celebrate the God of Great Beginnings

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

What a day, 1st of January 2017. Welcome to 2017, the year of greater glory and astonishing miracles. Beloved, I am very excited. First, that God in His infinite mercy kept you and I to see the glorious year 2017, the year of greater glory and astonishing miracles. 

God is set to do you great good in 2017 not because you are more righteous or more favored but because of His great and unfailing mercies mercies to you. Beloved, God is faithful. He never fails and will never fail. It is His desire to bless you, expand your coast, move you to a greater realm of glory, give you an expected end and make your dreams come true. 

God is faithful. He will not let you fall, He will not let you down. He will not allow you to be laughed at. Rather, He will fill your mouth with laughter as your every Isaac will be birthed, nurtured and sustained to blossom. 

God is not a man that lies. His promises to you are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Therefore, celebrate the God of great beginnings in 2017. Shalom.

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Break with the Past

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Break with the past. Do not allow the past to hold you back. Do not expend your energy trying to fix what does not work. The past cannot be changed. Stop holding on to the past; do not allow your past bleed into your present to change your future. Do not allow the past to misdirect your life. The potential, the success inside you is greater than the previous and present successes you have experienced – Isaiah Chapter 43 verses 18 to 19.Therefore, do not let either past successes or adversity stop you from being the best you can be. Don’t let life make you change your name. Simply learn the lessons required from the past.

Be optimistic. Trust God when it looks like things are going backwards. Get to the point where you can trust God to let things go. It takes great peace to accept the times you are in. You may be aborting your own prophecies because you are trying to save what God has already cut off. Some blessings are seasonal blessings and once such seasons are over, you let go. God brings people into your life to do certain things. When their assignment is over, let them go and move on. The plan is a process leading to the purpose. Therefore, celebrate the new relationships in your life as well as what God is doing in your life now.

Challenges Are Stepping Stones

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The life of Joseph best illustrates the adage that challenges are stepping stones. Every obstacle and limitation became the very much needed stepping stones to his greatness. First, the jealousy displayed against him by his brothers did not deter him from dreaming more dreams, from obeying his father-Jacob when asked to take food to his brothers in the wilderness and working towards the actualization of his dreams.  Besides, the eventual sale of Joseph to the Midianite traders and eventually Potiphar did not stop Joseph from becoming who God purposed him to become. Not even prison in a foreign land stopped his global leadership goal. All of the obstacles led him closer to the goal in addition to giving him adequate preparation for global leadership.

For every challenge, God has a solution only if we remember to call on Him to solve the problem. This is because God usually has a prepared or should I say postpaid solutions. Take for instance the case of the four horns that had scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem unchallenged for a long time. I am quite sure that like you and I, the children of God wondered if God had any plans to deliver them from such evil powers with the evil intent of destruction. But God had His plan and timing to deliver His people from such affliction. Beloved, a scattered people cannot plant, harvest and gather or achieve any progress in life. Therefore their heads will always be bowed.  The devil or the enemy's intent was to prevent them from walking in the full plans and purposes of God for their lives so that they would not achieve anything. Unknown to the Israelites and the enemy, God was working out a great and total deliverance package. He had four carpenters prepared that would not only terrify the four horns but would also cast them out and end their evil reign and activities in the land of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem.

Celebrate You

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Why?

You are fearfully and wonderfully made – Psalm 137 verses 14 to 18. This speaks of gratitude to God for who you are, how He created you and why He created you. David understood this and that explains he was unusually confident, celebrated himself and excelled, and prospered wherever he went. I pray that God will help you to see who you are so that you can place the right value on you and celebrate you accordingly in Jesus mighty name.

God loves you and gave up his only begotten son so that you can be reconciled to Him. Please see John Chapter 3 verse 16, 4 verses 9 to 11, 16, 19 and Jeremiah Chapter 31 verse 3.

You are special to God. Please see Deuteronomy Chapter 7 verses 6 to 8.

God is mindful of you and takes care of you. Please see Hebrews Chapter 2 verses 6 to 8, Psalm 8 verses 1 to 9.

God crowned you with glory and honor . Please see Psalm 8 verse 5.

God visits you to expand and increase you, restore life to you. Please see psalm 8 verse 4, Genesis Chapter 21 verse 1, Ruth Chapter 1 verse 6, Luke Chapter 1 verses 68, 78, 7 verse 16, 1^st Samuel Chapter 2 verse 21.

God gave you dominion over the works of His hands. Please see Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26 to 28, Psalm 8 verses 6 to 9.

God inscribed you on the palms of His hands and your walls are continually before Him which explains why He cannot forget you. Please see Isaiah Chapters 49 verses 13 to 16, 44 verse 21 and 1^st Samuel Chapter 1 verses 19 to 20.

God cannot Fail

God cannot fail. He is not like man who is incapable of honoring his word on account of circumstances he cannot control. He is God the El-Shaddai and can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think of.

Severally, the enemy likes to give impression that God fails and He will always or sometimes fail us. But the truth is that God does not fail, cannot fail and will not fail. To start with, God is Almighty. He created everything and everything submits to Him. Please see Genesis Chapter 1, Colossians Chapter 2 verses 9 to 11. Secondly, all power belongs to Him (Psalm 62 verse 11, Deuteronomy Chapter 32 verse 39, 1^st Samuel Chapter 2 verses 6 to 10, Joshua Chapter 10 verses 12 to 13, Isaiah Chapter 38 verses 7 to 8, Exodus Chapter 14 verses 13 to 31, Joshua Chapter 3 verses 1 to 17, Ezekiel Chapter 37, John Chapter 11, Isaiah Chapter 45 verses 7 and Psalm 147 verse 5.

God can do practically everything except evil. Nobody can challenge His power or authority. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a clear demonstration of the power of God. Despite all that the enemy did to ensure that Jesus Christ would not rise (Matthew Chapter 27 verses 63 to 66, Romans Chapter 8 verse 11, Ephesians Chapter 1 verses 19 to 23), Jesus did rise from the grave, over death and hell, victorious.

Thirdly, God cannot fail because He honors His word. He does not make empty promises. When God makes a promise, He keeps the promise irrespective of what the circumstances are. Please see Isaiah Chapter 55 verses 8 to 13. He promised a son to Abraham through Sarah who was well past the age of child bearing. At the appointed time, Sarah gave birth to Isaac (Genesis Chapter 18 verses 9 to 15, 21 verses 1 to 3, Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 11, and Romans Chapter 4 verses 17 to 21).

Unravel the Greatness Within to Succeed

Witten by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

You are born great and you are greatly blessed. Before God created you, He put everything you would need in place. You were deliberately created to be great. That is why you are created in the image of God. You are not a biological accident. You were designed from the very foundation of the world to be great and everything you would need to achieve the greatness; both internal and external were put in place by God for you. Please see John Chapter 10 verse 34, Psalm 8.

The internal requirements are the innate possibilities deposited in you by God and they are within you for you to discover, develop and enhance to high accent for success in every area of your life. It does not have to be a great gift for God to use it in a great way.

God is the God of possibilities. There is something within you that God can use. There are innate possibilities within you that you can build on through shared information. What do you have that God can use? Believe God for the impossible because with God all things are possible. The things you feel are a disadvantage to you are things that God wants to use to magnify you. Therefore, do not doctor your resume, your status, etc. what God has planned for you is specific to you – 2^nd Corinthians Chapter 10 verses 12 and will come to full manifestation and success with what is within you.

Do Not Excuse Your Destiny Away

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

People who give excuses at all times never admit their weaknesses; do not accept responsibility for their misdeeds and failures. Rather than acknowledge their misdeeds, sins and repent, they give excuses; play the blame game, blaming other people for their misdeeds, sins and failures.

Adam disobeyed God, ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and rather than acknowledge and accept his sin against God, he passed the blame to his wife who gave him the fruit to eat. The one billion dollar question is – could he not have said no to Eve because he did not want to disobey God? Eve on the other hand also played the blame game and passed on the blame to the serpent. Unfortunately, God does not condone blame games and refusal to acknowledge sin and acceptance for wrong behavior. He judged all three of them, Adam, Eve and the serpent. Please see Genesis Chapter 3 for details.

King Saul of Israel also attempted to play the blame game. Rather than acknowledge his sin and disobedience, he blamed his actions on pressures from the people. God judged him immediately. Please see 1^st Samuel Chapter 15 verses 1 to 30, 13 verses 1 to 14. Compared to David, Saul never acknowledged his sin and even when he did, he preferred the honor of his people to publicly repenting before God (1^st Samuel Chapter 15 verse 30). David on the other hand acknowledged his sins and asked for mercy and forgiveness from God. When confronted by Nathan, David acknowledged his sin and asked God for mercy. Please see 2^nd Samuel Chapter 12 verses 1 to 15. God forgave David when he acknowledged his sin and repented. Also, when David numbered the people of Israel against the will of God, God sent Gad to tell David what he had done and David acknowledged his sin, repented   and even begged God to heap the consequences of the sin on him and not the people (1^st Chronicles Chapter 21 verses 1 to 19).

The Role of Excellent Communication Skills in Brand Enhancement

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Excellent communication skills open doors of abundance, influence, position, power and authority to people who have learnt to communicate excellently whether verbally or written or even through body language. Excellent communication skills are a total package comprising your choice of diction, tone, posture, grooming and dressence. All of these take constant practice as well as conscious effort to implement and improve upon what has been practiced. It is neither a one off activity nor a sprint.

Nabal is described as a very successful business man who had acquired considerable wealth and was referred to as very rich. Additionally, he was married to a very beautiful woman described as someone of good understanding. Despite all these successes, Nabal lacked communication skills and was consequently described as harsh and evil in his doings. Please see 1^st Samuel Chapter 25.

His caustic and very demeaning response to the messengers of David over a simple request to let them partake of his feast from the shearing activity attest to the fact that he had absolutely no communication skills. How? A polite no to their request would have been okay rather than the invectives on David who he referred to as not only a servant but a breakaway servant from his master and concluded that he would not share his food with men he did not know where they were from.

David was infuriated when his men reported back Nabal’s unguarded speech and embarked on a revenge mission that would have wiped out Nabal and his entire household but for the timely intervention of Abigail, Nabal’s very beautiful wife.

Exercise Dominion in Your Sector

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

If there is anyone that should succeed in any business, it should be you because Genesis Chapter 1 verse 26 says so. It is the will of God for you. This means that as a believer, you should be at the top because dominion is your DNA. You are made in the image of God.

There is no best business, place or profession or field. Every business has its successes and failures as well as the secrets that make certain people exercise dominion certain sectors and why some people do a sprint away from certain sectors. Your sector is your sphere of influence; an area where you authority rules. However, you require great skills and expertise to exercise dominion in your sector. If you do not have the skills and expertise, you either learn them or hire them as consultants. But most importantly, always apply the wisdom of God in whatever you do. It is the wisdom of God that will always give you the edge you need to exercise dominion in your sector. The wisdom of God is all yours for the asking if you care to – James Chapter

Additionally, and quite instructive is the need to apply yourself. While skills and expertise are great assets; skills and expertise without a corresponding grace to complete assigned tasks especially as directed will not place you at the top. If you do not complete tasks assigned to you, how then do you exercise dominion? An uncompleted building, art work or dress is never a master piece and cannot be showcased in any competition. Only completed buildings, works of art, dresses et al can be showcased and categorized as master pieces. Huram had the grace to finish tasks as directed. So also were Bezalel, Oholiab and the team of gifted artisans who worked with them – Exodus Chapter 38 verses 22 to 23, 39 verses 42 to 43.

Enhance Your Brand 3

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Grooming, cleanliness, personal hygiene, dressence, beauty enhancements, are also components of enhancing your brand. To be clean, to smell good and look good are all processes that lead up to brand enhancement. Cleanliness and dressing up are therefore critical to brand enhancement.

Esther is described as lovely and beautiful - having a good figure and beautiful face (Esther Chapter 7 verse 9) yet when she entered for the search for a queen contest, she also partook of the prescribed beauty treatments for twelve months – six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women (Esther Chapter 2 verses 3, 9 to 12, 15).

Ruth was Naomi’s daughter in-law. She came with Naomi from Moab and was gleaning to feed herself and her mother in-law. Naomi was concerned about the future of Ruth and decided to take advantage of a Jewish custom that benefited widows so Ruth could remarry within the family. So she advised Ruth on what to do.

All the while Ruth had been gleaning in the fields of Boaz, she was not properly groomed and dressed to attract the attention of Boaz in the way a potential bride should be. Therefore, Naomi instructed Ruth to shower and to be clean and free of grime, oils and sweat and dirt smells which cling and throw off  foul unpleasant smells that drive people away; apply cream that is oils to soften her skin and make her skin glow, attractive and appealing and people will want to touch and feel it; apply perfume for a more pleasant smell that will screen off any possible sweat smell after her walk to the threshing floor. Ruth was also advised to put on her best gown; dress well, dress up. Why? To enhance her brand as the best bride that Boaz could have. Already, Boaz was impressed by her devotion to Naomi as well as her care for Naomi. The additional beauty touches would be additional pleasant seasonings to an already delicious pudding.

Enhance Your Brand 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The widow of the indebted son of the prophet was a very humble person. She acknowledged their family financial situation - it was very bad, they were in debt that was long overdue for repayment and the creditor had no intention of showing mercy. He would show up at any moment to take her two sons away for debt bondage. Recognizing that such an action would further compound her situation – widowhood and losing her two sons to the creditor she acted. She cried out to God, by going to the spokesperson of God, Elisha the prophet. She told him the truth, the whole truth. She was not economical with the truth. She did not color the truth. Elisha then advised her on what to do. Again, she humbled herself and went to all her neighbors and borrowed empty vessels. She despised the shame and borrowed empty vessels in large quantities as instructed by the prophet. Thereafter, she processed and packaged the seemingly little oil for sale and that ended and destroyed the yoke of poverty in their lives.

Humility enhanced the brand of this woman, her two sons and their family from that of an indebted family to an abundantly supplied family with more than enough financial resources to live on after paying off their debts.

Please, permit me to emphasize the significance of empty vessels. The prophet Elisha instructed the widow to borrow empty vessels in large numbers after she informed the prophet that all she had was a jar of oil. The question is why empty vessels in large numbers? The empty vessels would ensure a continuous flow of the oil – expanding and multiplying the oil. In like manner, institutionalization of the grace of God in your life will always ensure a steady flow of the grace, expanding and multiplying the unction of God in your life; creating further opportunities and platforms for expansion in your life.

Enhance Your Brand 1

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

A brand is the sum total of your true worth, capabilities and influence.  This includes your contacts – all the people you know that can support your brand. Your brand is wealth worth billions if only you know what to do with the brand.

The Presence of God is what you need to enhance your brand. To start with, you did not create your brand. God created you and your brand and He alone knows how you can enhance your brand. That is why you need His Presence in your life to enhance the brand. Besides, He designed that brand in you for a purpose and therefore knows best what you need to enhance that brand to suit the divine purpose for which He created that brand in you.

Jeremiah for instance was divinely designed as a prophet unto the nations and within the makeup of a prophet unto the nations are special characteristics required to function effectively in that brand. Jeremiah obviously had to develop and perfect those characteristics over time in order to be effective in that brand. To achieve this, Jeremiah had to depend on God completely to develop and perfect the characteristics that would enhance his brand as a prophet unto the nations.

Run Away from Strife and Contention

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Contentions start with words, snowball into the strife of tongues and escalate to fisticuffs and who knows what next – sorcery as in the case of Moab, murder as in the case Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, Daniel and the satraps, Haman and Mordecai.

Strife and contention are akin to thorns and weeds in a farm that pierce the plants, compete for nourishment and space for growth. Strife and contention is the same as thorns piercing the plants – daily strife and contention can erode confidence, faith and determination as well as courage, the same function thorns perform to choke out life from plants. Strife and contention can wear out your resolve to excel which explains why the best solution to strife and contention is to always walk away from the strife and contention. Like weeds, they also contend for space in your mental processes - introducing bile such as anger, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness that if not wisely and instantly thrown out can block out productive, fruitful, spiritually, physically, mentally and financially rewarding mental processes. So rather than pay attention to your field, you expend energies fighting battles you should not be fighting because you are paying attention to strife and contention.

Isaac avoided contentions. Rather than contend with the Philistines who closed up the wells dug by his father, he dug new wells and when the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen over the new wells, Isaac and his herdsmen dug other wells and when there was no more contention over the new well, Isaac named the new well ‘Rehoboth’ meaning God has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

Mind Your Business

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Know your sheep by name: carefully attend to your flocks; (Don’t take them for granted; possessions don’t last forever, you know) and then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns, you can knit sweaters from lamb’s wool, and sell your goats for a profit; there will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter. Proverbs Chapter 27 verses 23 to 27, Message Translation

Pay attention to your fields, which is MIND YOUR BUSINESS. It is not the fields of other people that you pay attention to that will yield their strength to you. It is your fields that you mind and pay attention to that will yield their strength to you. Therefore, do not leave your fields fallow and unattended to while you mind the fields of other people. Mind your fields and pay attention to the details of your fields.  You can actually enhance your brand by minding your fields and paying attention to the details of your fields.

In Proverbs Chapter 12 verse 11, the Bible refers to the person who follows frivolity as a person devoid of understanding while a person who tills his or her land will have plenty of bread. This is further reiterated in Proverbs Chapter 28 verse 19 (plenty of bread for land tillers and poverty for those who follow frivolity).

Prepare for Tomorrow

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Everything God created exists in time and everything God created has a purpose and a season (the time frame for the implementation of that purpose). The season is the time for improvement and the time to move your life forward. When a season is missed, there is usually a problem with change. There is a correlation between time and purpose. God in His infinite wisdom gives the exact amount of time to fulfill a purpose. When the time expires, it is assumed that the purpose is fulfilled but when the purpose is not fulfilled, a person becomes a victim of change and carries over a purpose. The issue of how time is used is therefore very critical. If you are caught up in a new season with carried over purpose, it means that you mismanaged time and when time is mismanaged, purpose and destiny is mismanaged.

Time is an equal opportunity employer. Some people use it wisely while others fritter it. Unfortunately, time cannot be managed, recouped, saved or created. Rather it is our lives that can be managed to achieve divine purpose and success. People who achieve much in life are likely to be those who make efficient use of their time. Conversely is the case with those who waste time. Effective use of time correlates with purpose. What separates successful disciples of Jesus Christ is the way they use their time.

Time, a rather limited resource is a resource given for the actualization of purpose, a resource to create value and wealth. Time is effectively used when time is used to achieve divine purpose. It is therefore a colossal waste of time to pursue things contrary to divine purpose. Man lives by purpose and not instinct. Purpose is the precursor of success. What then is the value of all the ever busy you if the ever busy you is not achieving divine purpose and success.  The model of Jesus Christ teaches on how to manage time effectively.  When it came to spending time, Jesus was conscious of His purpose. Jesus used time to achieve divine purpose and that purpose guided what He did, who He spent time with and what He spent time on. Please see John Chapters 12 verse 27, 9 verse 4, 4 verse 34 and 17 verse 4. He glorified God by finishing the work He was assigned to do on earth.

Succeed Through the Word

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off. Isaiah Chapter 55 verses 8 to 13 KJV

The word of God has creative abilities and capacities. These abilities are activated each time the Word of God is prophesied into a situation, our lives. To prophesy is poles apart from to proclaim or proclamation which is official declaration. To prophesy according to the OXFORD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English is to say what will happen in the future. However, because humans do not know or see the future except through the Word, it will be more accurate to say that prophesying is speaking the Word of God in the Bible into situations or he lives of people or your own life in order to activate the creative power in the Word of God. Please see Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 3, Romans Chapter 4 verse 17 and Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 1 to 14.

The Word of God has power, great power to always accomplish what God purposes – Isaiah Chapter 55 verses 8 to 13. Scripture cannot be broken. Therefore when you have the Word of God you have everything you could ever need in life. This is because the Word of God in your heart, in your thought processes, imagination, your desires, and your likes will give you everything you want as long as they are within the will of God – Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 3.

Elijah had the Word of God – he prophesied rain after a long period of drought and there was a downpour on the same day. Peter had toiled all night yet at the Word of God released by Jesus Christ, Who is the Word of God, Peter let down his nets for a haul and the boat was full of fish. In both situations bordering on despair, the Word of God reversed the situations to joy, happiness, blessings of God and abundance. Drought and fruitless toils that characterize unsuccessful activities are not of God. The will of God is for His children to enjoy fruitfulness, rain of blessings, success and abundance.

You are a Channel of Blessing

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

There is a difference between being blessed and being a blessing. God blessed you to be a blessing to other people, a conduit of God’s blessings to other people. This makes you a distributor of blessings and not a custodian of blessings. The circles of blessings are - be blessed, give, be blessed again and give again, an endless circle of receiving and giving. This implies that every blessing you receive must flow to other people to enjoy. If you stop being a blessing, you automatically stop the flow of blessings. Please see Galatians Chapter 6 verses 9 to 10. That is why every opportunity to give should be taken advantage of.

Secondly, each time God blesses you is an opportunity to for you o be a channel of blessing. There are people that are divinely connected to you to for you to bless them and as you bless them, you cause joy and thanksgiving to God which further expands your blessings and your capacity to be a blessing.  2^nd Corinthians Chapter 9 verses 8 to 15. However, if your refuse to bless them by giving whatever God expects you to give them, you cause pain and of course interrupt the flow of blessings to you. God put something in your hand to be a blessing and every time you allow yourself to be God’s source of blessing to someone else. God will always reward you. And significantly, you can never out give God no matter what you give. God will always out give whatever you give in His name. King Solomon’s sacrifice appeared great until God reciprocated.

The level to which you are prepared to be a blessing is the level to which you are blessed. That is why the Bible says that God gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Seed sowers multiply seeds as they serve as God’s conduit pipes of blessings to humanity. That is why they multiply and increase to become very prosperous and successful. Bread eaters on the other hand consume bread and the bread stops with them, in fact gets digested and is passed out as waste without necessarily blessing anyone.

Correlation Between Appearance and Success

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

What do dirty nails communicate? A dirty person.

What do stained nails communicate? A dirty and careless person who does not care about his or her appearance.

What does un-manicured nails communicate? A person who does not care about his or her appearance and that says a lot -  if you do not care about your appearance, what care will you show to the things entrusted to you? Please see Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verse 18, Proverbs Chapter 24 verses 30 to 31.

What does a rumpled dress communicate? A person who does not care about his or her appearance, has no desire for excellence and top – a mediocre.

What does sticking your fingers inside of your nostrils, and picking them,  then taking a step further to bring the phlegm out and clean it on your clothes, the chair handle in front you, especially in public places communicate? A very dirty person with filthy habits who does not care about other people; and has no respect for anyone.

Stay Relevant, Significant and Dominant

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Joseph became globally relevant, significant and dominant after he proffered solutions to the emergent problems/challenges posed by the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. At the point where Joseph went to prison, he was emerging nationally, becoming visible and accepted because God gave him favor. That was why he led in prison despite the fact that he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. But greater emergence, visibility and acceptance came when Joseph interpreted the dreams of the imprisoned butler and the baker of Pharaoh. Joseph’s acceptance and visibility soared and Joseph became nationally visible, relevant, and significant when when he was called upon to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. However, national relevance, significance, and dominance soared to global visibility, relevance significance and dominance when he proffered the solutions to the emergent problems and subsequently appointed next in rank to Pharaoh to implement the solutions he proffered. He was now a globally visible, relevant, significant and dominant leader controlling global resources in an efficient and effective manner – doing the job right and doing the right job.

To achieve global relevance, significance and dominance, you must be effective and efficient – you should be doing the right job as well as doing the job right.

Function in the Realm of Possibilities

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

God is the God of possibilities and He is the only one who makes impossibilities possible.

There are endeavors that sometimes appear impossible but which become possible when a person with the right attitude determines to make them possible. This happens when a person believes in his or herself that s/he can do it because his or her natural human faith has been exercised to do it. This means that if you believe that you can achieve your dreams and move to Success Street, then you can do it. However, you will need to have confidence in yourself by believing in you and your abilities. This requires a healthy self esteem that celebrates God’s divine deposits in you which are your competitive advantage to excel and be successful in life. Therefore give yourself great latitudes of beauty in who you are and what you can do. Celebrate YOU and stay in your area of strength. That is where you can always excel and outshine your competition. Check out all the successful people you know and you will discover that they honed their abilities and stayed in their areas of strengths.

However, there are impossibilities that you must turn to God who alone makes impossibilities possible. To do this you will have to develop supernatural faith which is distinct from natural faith. Supernatural faith is distinct from natural faith because it is the faith that God works with to turn any conceivable impossibility to possibility. Supernatural faith believes God, the Word of God and activates the power in the Word by speaking the Word to actualize the precious promises of God to you in the Bible. That was the faith Moses exercised in his negotiations with Pharaoh as well as the many miracles the Israelites experienced in the wilderness.

Discard Limiting Mindsets

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The choices people make on a daily basis are major determinants of success or failure depending on the mindsets they are operating from. Mindsets vary and differ however, there are two basic mindsets that veer off into several branches – limiting and non limiting mindsets.

Limiting mindsets limit people by erecting mental barricades to progress. Non limiting mindsets propel people to heights they least expect as they act like eagle’s wings to help a person soar above what may appear as challenges but which are actually stepping stones. Some limiting mindsets are actually self imposed limitations because a person can never rise above his or her perception, a function of a person’s mental processes. Take for example the case of the ten spies who perceived themselves as grasshopper before the inhabitants of Canaan. That singular perception informed their decision not to attempt any further progress to the Promised

Land as they had concluded that the supposedly bigger and stronger inhabitants of Canaan would step on them (do not forget they had labeled themselves grasshoppers) and crush them. What a perception, probably an evil suggestion from the pit of hell that they refused to trash immediately it hit their mental processes.

Sadly and quite significant as well as very instructive is that the perception of themselves as grasshoppers against giants – an impossible match emanated from them and was their opinion of themselves. They were the ones who devalued themselves.

Some examples of limiting mindsets include:

Unbelief and doubt, extremely filthy garments that make people avoid you and refuse to do anything with you because they do not want your doubts and unbelief to rub off on their positivism. Discard this mindset and choose to believe God and His word so that the word of God can work for you – Luke Chapter 1 verse 45.

Water Your Seeds for Consistent Harvests

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him  Psalm 126 verses 5 to 6 NKJV

Consistent seed planting activates and ensures consistent harvests. However, every planted seed on good soils require watering irrespective of how great the soils are and the quality of the seeds are. Planting cannot stand alone. It must be watered. Besides, God expects you to be an active participant in His processes concerning you. Your active participation is the watering process.

To water is to nurture, care for, and protect to develop the seeds while they are growing. When you plant a seed, you do not sit down to wait for it to germinate and bear fruit without doing anything. You have to care for it – Luke Chapter 8 verse 15, Proverbs Chapter 24 verses 24 to 30, and Isaiah Chapter 5 verses 1 to 7.  Some of such watering programs include but are not limited to:

Prayer – accompany your planted seed with fervent prayers for the will of God to be done in your land – Zechariah Chapter 8 verse 12, Isaiah Chapter 30 verse 23. Consistent praying will dislodge every opposition to your harvests.

Understanding of the word of God – inadequate or complete lack of understanding of the word of God can impact your harvests negatively as you may be tempted to believe the lie of the enemy that God will not bless your seed to prosper and produce bumper harvests. However, opportunities increase as your understanding of the Word increases and this brings about productivity and fruitfulness, a function of your understanding of the word of God. Make a conscious effort to understand the word of God. You can ask the Holy Spirit to help you – Psalm 119 verse 144.

Initiate Abundant Harvests

Written by Uyoyou Charles-Iyoha

Every opportunity to plant seeds is an opportunity to be blessed and expanded by God. Everything you do in life such as utterances and actions are seeds and because every seed initiates a harvest, they will definitely produce harvests. You can therefore initiate abundant harvests by planting seeds at all times. Seeds vary from time, expertise, skills, money, love, care and concern to plant seeds that are planted for eating. Seed planting is not an easy task. It involves a lot of labor and pain, an investment of your time and other resources. Besides, you can be called upon at a time that is not convenient to plant your seed. Nevertheless, it is for your own benefit. By divine arrangement, Jesus chose Peter’s boat and Peter planted a seed by giving his means of livelihood for a preaching and teaching session by Jesus Christ. Thereafter, Jesus rewarded Peter for the kind gesture. Significantly, Peter’s reward was exponential.

Some seeds are not visible when they are being planted but when the harvests comes, they become visible.

As you plant the seeds of your time, your energy, and intellect to propagate the Word of God and expand the kingdom of God, you are actually working for God who rewards in multiples. God will direct you to plant generous seeds on the right soils so that several people will benefit from the abundant harvests that will accrue to you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. The harvests are usually more than the seed. Begin to plant your seeds today for harvests because the harvest of today is the seed of yesterday and the harvest of tomorrow is today’s seed. All plants do not have the same gestation period. This therefore calls for patience when you anticipate harvests.

Build and Enhance Your Capacity for Success

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Success does not fall on anyone like a bag of cherries. It is also not a catch phrase to be thrown around. Success comes by being engaged in divine purposes that over a period of time built and enhanced.

Every vision or idea is a function of capacity. That is to say that capacity precedes the implementation of every idea or vision. For every assignment, there must be relevant capacity from heaven to carry out the task. This is because visions are driven on the basis of capacity and not passion. Passion is not a substitute for capacity as a lack of capacity will show up in capacity gaps as you implement your ideas or vision without adequate capacity.

A person’s capacity acquired or received is a measure of a person’s gifted ability to perform a task or assignment. Therefore, always evaluate your capacity to midwife a vision or assignment to a successful end. Have sufficient capacity before embarking on implementation. If you discover that you lack capacity, or your capacity requires strengthened then be willing to put your vision on hold until you have sufficient capacity to midwife the vision. It is a misconception to think that capacity comes with the vision. The vision comes and then you receive the capacity to implement the vision by beginning a process of capacity acquisition through capacity building and strengthening activities based on your capacity evaluation. Please see Luke Chapter 14 verse 28.

Celebrate Your Divinely Elevated Status

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

God is bringing you out of the valley of irrelevance and obscurity into the mountain top of limelight and relevance. The dust and ash heap positions of life are obscure positions of life that only God can lift a person from. These are positions of darkness, without light and where a person is unknown. However, when light shines upon a person in obscurity, the person gets into limelight and fame.

The primary purpose of Jesus’ death is the redemption of man from sin. Additionally, the death of Jesus facilitates divine repositioning from the miry clay and dung hill positions of life to royalty and priest hood. Jesus Christ shed His blood to wash us from our sins. Sin pollutes the soul, leaves stain on the soul and degrades a person’s status in life. The only way to remove such stain and corruption is through the blood of Jesus Christ. He shed His blood for our purity and redemption and through that redemption made us kings and priests to God. Once you are cleansed of sin you have changed your erstwhile low status to become kings and priests as the blood of Jesus Christ takes you higher. There is therefore  a connection between being redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and being moved from the low social strata of life to royalty where you reign, rule and have dominion. Please see Revelation Chapter 5 verses 9 to 10. Once you are redeemed, you reign because kings are men with authority. Kings rule by their word – Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 verse 4. Additionally, priests administer the word of God. Therefore, exercise dominion with the word of God and function as a king in your domain.

Pay Attention to Priorities

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

One of the ways to succeed in life is to pay attention to priorities. What are priorities? The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines priority as something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first. priorities: the things that someone cares about and thinks are important. : the condition of being more important than something or someone else and therefore coming or being dealt with ...www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/priority.

This implies that priorities are more important than what may appear very urgent. True, there is some urgency that should be attended to especially a life threatening situation over a priority. However, there are some urgent situations that should never take the place of priorities. For instance, if a non life threatening situation that is not a priority, is not on your priority list of activities and is designed to infringe on your time; what to do is to ignore it completely and leave to the person who created it to deal with it. There are people who through their non chalance create urgent situations that should never arise if they paid adequate attention to their tasks for other people with whom they work. Unfortunately, they usually do not have the capacity to manage such urgent situations and are usually glad to pass them on to people busy on the way to Success Street. 

Speak Up about Your Skills, Talents and Expertise

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

There is wisdom in speaking up about your skills, talents and expertise. It is akin to marketing and advertising your skills. It is biblical to sell – 2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verse 7. Elisha instructed the indebted prophet’s widow to sell the oil. It was not to be given away as freebies.

The virtuous woman sold the linen garments she produced – she also supplied sashes to the merchants. It is therefore not a sin to sell expertise, knowledge resources, skills, other products and services. Lydia was a seller of purple - Acts Chapter 16 verse 14.

Even the business of trading in knowledge resources, skills, expertise and ideas, talents for money, fame, power, position is not new. The Biblical Joseph, Jacob, and Daniel are classic examples. Jacob traded time and his knowledge of shepherding flocks for board, wives and later his own flock – serving to become a master. Joseph and Daniel traded in their expertise and God given wisdom to become globally respected leaders who earned big time money. These two men served in empires that were world leaders who ruled the world and controlled the economies of the world. And despite being slaves and captives of war, they rose to the pinnacle of global leadership through the mercy and favor of God using their God given IPs.