Keep Your Gates Open

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. Isaiah Chapter 60 verse 11.

There is a correlation between open gates and wealth, abundance, prestige, honor, favor.

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call [thee] by thy name, [am] the God of Israel. Isaiah Chapter 45 verses 1 to 3.

Open gates symbolize progress while shut gates symbolize lack of progress, stagnation and retrogression. The people of Jericho probably understood this which explains why they shut the gates of the city of Jericho against the children of Israel enroute to Canaan. The closure of the gates in order not to allow the children of Israel passage meant that the children of Israel would wait endlessly and ultimately die of hunger and thirst without ever getting to Canaan. But God intervened in their situation and they made progress to Canaan.

When the enemy shuts out certain gates against you, it is for the purpose of frustrating you, bringing you to  appoint of doubt and sometimes unbelief and when you stagnate in doubt and unbelief, you retrogress into what the devil and his cohorts wants; which is absolute mistrust of God and His word so that you walk in the ways of the devil and become an enemy of God.  The ultimate purpose of this is destruction.

Divine Pathways to Fame 1

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English defines fame, an uncountable noun as the state of being known and talked about by many people.

Fame comes by consistently doing the work God assigned you the way He wants you to do it, where He wants you to do it, where He wants you to do it, when He wants you to do it and for whom He wants you to do it. It is the work that is done, albeit the quality of the work that God uses to bring about the fame. It is not jumping or running around other people who are conscientiously and diligently doing their work; engaging in idle chatter and frittering time. It is investing time, God’s precious time in the work God calls you to and has taken ample time to equip you for through His divine deposits of your unique gifts, talents, skills, expertise and divine connections. It is the impact of your work that brings about transformation in the lives of people that ultimately dovetails into fame. It is true that God is the author of fame and blesses His children with fame. However, that fame comes about by doing exactly what God wants you to do. 

Fame and honor comes by doing what God requires of you in the way He wants it done, when and where He wants it done and to whom He wants it done for and not necessarily how you want it done, where and when you want it done and whom it should be done for. God is the Only One who has the capacity and capability to order your steps into fame, wealth, and honor as you walk in divine purposes and timing as you work for God, do your work as unto the Lord. Fame is a function of your total and prompt obedience to God.

Who could be more famous than Jesus Christ? Nobody. How did He become famous? By doing what God asked Him to do in the way and timing and specific places where God asked Him to do what had to be done and by reaching out to the specific people God wanted Him to reach out to. Jesus Christ did not set out to be famous – Philippians Chapter 2 verses 5 to 11. Rather, He always set out to do what God required of Him and in the process, fame and honor followed him – John Chapter 4, Mark Chapter 1 verse 28, John Chapter 9 verse 4.

Elevate Your Tastes

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Where you are presently, no matter how seemingly satisfying it is; is a place of transition. You have to keep moving up the ladder, updating yourself spiritually, physically, martially, intellectually, emotionally, financially and materially. You should continue to add color to every area of your life. For instance, you are obligated to dress to match the position and resources God placed at your disposal. A person’s dressence and grooming to a large extent is a reflection of where the person is headed in life. Some cuts and style of clothes reflect rigidity and a refusal to move with the times. Such people are usually stuck in their ways and will not move in any new direction. In some cases, it is as a result of ignorance or lack. Once such people are empowered, they will move in the new direction God wants them to move in.

Be open to fresh unctions, changes from God. Change is a constant and necessary ingredient for progress. Change your methods to match who and where you are. It is time to move up the ladder. Move out of limiting environments, relationships and circumstances at the speed of light. Identify what God does not want you to carry into the new things He is doing in your life. They could be fear, doubt, disempowering relationships, limiting thought patterns, study habits, eating habits, etc. For instance, when experience becomes tradition, it becomes dangerous because experience boxed in becomes bags of limitations.

Therefore, innovate, create and impact through possibility thinking, possibility speaking and possibility implementation to get to the top and stay at the top where you will be celebrated. There is an anointing for staying at the top. Get the anointing, get to the top and remain there. Make your stay at the top permanent. Get there and stay there. Stop coming back to ignorance, obscurity and mediocrity.

One way of making your stay at the top permanent is to expand the time you spend with God. That is the start point for elevating your tastes. Spend more time with God in the closet. Operate a more organized prayer life that should become the norm in your life. A diligent and fervent prayer life on a daily basis that is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God is what you require. Please see James Chapter 5 verses 16 to 18. A fervent prayer life is one of the keys that will improve and elevate your taste. Pray more, study the Bible more, talk less – prophesy when God wants you to and keep quiet when you are not prophesying. Grow spiritually in prayer, word study, praise/worship, evangelism, intercession. As you continue serious and sincere in prayer, be very careful to notice any signs of danger or trouble and give thanks. Be alert, be devoted, have a thankful heart (Colossians Chapter 4 verse 2).

Bask in His Favor

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Favor comes from God and significantly, the favor of God comes with numerous blessings that elevate a person from the ash heap of life to limelight, significance and honor. Esther was favored by God and became Queen. The favor of God elevates. Therefore, take advantage of God’s favor in your life to do exploits that will elevate you beyond your present position in life.

The favor of God comes with myriad blessings that are spiritual, physical, mental, financial, intellectual, etc. Beloved, God does not consult human beings before blessing His children with favor. He gives His favor to those who fear Him and honor Him. Keep loving Him and honoring Him so that you will experience immeasurable favor from Him. You will also be favored by God to become who God created you to be.

The favor of God also comes with the divine responsibility of accomplishing divine purposes. A number of young people enjoyed the favor of God in the Bible but they also used the favor to accomplish great things for God. Joseph, Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah were greatly favored by God and served the purposes of God for their lives.

As a child of God, you are divinely favored to do exploit for God and humanity through the gifts of God in you. Therefore, maximize the gifts of God in you and succeed through the favor of God so that you become an inspiration and blessing to other people. Start today what you have to do and experience God’s encompassing favor as you step out in faith. Do not neglect the gift that is in you…. 1^st Timothy Chapter 4 verse 14.

God Cares

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

In my lifetime as a Minister of the gospel of Christ, a Counselor, an Intercessor, a child, a wife, a parent, a trainer/speaker, researcher, writer, editor and what ever else I have done and am still doing, I dare say that I have come across many people, black, white and coloreds, globally and nationally. I have also seen many faces, beautiful faces, sad faces, angry faces, hungry faces, worried faces, fearful and anxious faces. Yet none has left such an impression on me as the very hungry faces that are hungry, not for food, material things or wealth, not even knowledge but for love.

They are hungry for someone to love them, own them, appreciate them, celebrate them and protect them in a world they are struggling to understand. What pain fills their hearts and reflects in their sad faces, their rebellion and aggression coupled with the inferiority complex that lack of love fosters on people!

Apart from weeping in my heart and praying for such people when I see them, I also long to share a smile, beautiful words of love and encouragement God regularly plants in my heart for such people. Sometimes they respond but at other times, the very deeply hungry who wonder if they could ever find love on this side of the universe just ignore such advances. Too bad! My tears go deeper into intercession for them so that someday they will know and understand the love that is greater than all loves and that can completely fill the aching void in their hearts.

Define Your Environment

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Joseph was born a five talent person - a dreamer of dreams, an interpreter of dreams and situations, blessed with the divine gift of solving problems and creating order out of chaos. Significantly, God was with him and he had divine favor.

Unfortunately for Joseph, he was born and raised in a one talent environment devoid of the nurturing processes and care to express and utilize his five talents for the actualization of divine purposes. Additionally, Joseph talked endlessly about his talents and future goals by sharing his dreams of global leadership with one talent people accustomed to one talent environments, consciousness and mentality. This attracted the envy of his brothers who did not understand then that the potentials for global leadership and greatness were not dependent on the biological position of seniority which the birthright of the first son automatically conferred on the first son as the leader of the pack of the sons. They were therefore very angry with Joseph, became very envious of him to the point of hating him and refusing to speak with him. In their one talent environment, mentality and consciousness, Joseph was cheeky and a threat to their leadership security. As time wore on and events unfolded, their hatred grew to the point where they wanted Joseph dead. But for the intervention of Reuben, Joseph would have been killed by his blood brothers simply because of their one talent mentality, consciousness and environment.  

Eventually Joseph was sold into slavery, still by his brothers. Yet Joseph never for once allowed his environment to define him. He refused to be subjected to a one talent person even in a one talent environment ruled by a one talent consciousness and mentality. Joseph treasured his five talents and allowed them to shine. In no time, Potiphar noticed and immediately acted. Joseph was promoted Chief of Staff above everyone he met in Potiphar’s house. But even then, Potiphar’s house was not the five talent environment God had for Joseph. Therefore challenges that would orchestrate his movement to the five talent environment showed up and Joseph was moved to prison. Was this promotion or demotion? Joseph again defined the environment. He did not allow prison and the unfortunate circumstances he found himself in to define him. Rather, he defined the environment, his five talents shone through and he enjoyed privileges in prison.

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. 

Enriched and Enlarged for Success 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Chares-Iyoha

The divine enrichment and enlargement for success comes through the planting of seeds - Psalm 126 verses 5 to 6. Seeds vary but irrespective of the diversity of seeds, they all have a common charateristic. They must be planted to produce harvests. While it is the responsibility of humans to plant seeds it is the responsibility of God to produce harvests through His myriad blessings upon seeds that are planted. That is why anyone expecting harvests should plant seeds. The Bible in Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 4 to 6 admonishes believers on the need to plant seeds consistently, frequently, always, regularly. In point of fact, the planting of seeds should be a routine with an established pattern so that the seeds planted can produce the desired harvests. This is to say that giving in whatever form is not a one off activity. Significantly, God initiates and empowers us to do the giving – Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 10.

For instance, God expects your tithes to be consistent. You are to give as your inflow comes in. Your tithe obligations as well as other seeds must be consistent. Inconsistent giving is disobedience. Therefore create a personal pattern and routine or schedule for giving on the respective soils God assigned to you. Please see 1^st Corinthians Chapter 16 verses 1 to 2. When you plant consistently, your harvests are consistent but inconsistent planting births inconsistent harvests. Therefore, to receive consistent harvests, consistent inflow, your giving should be consistent. Tithing is a lifestyle of obedience that should be done consistently. Planting and reaping is a circle – Genesis Chapter 8 verse 22. It is a continuous activity. You can experience the power of routine and consistent giving. If you break it, you interrupt the flow of your harvests.

Pursue Your Own Vision

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Every one created by God was created for a purpose and that purpose is the launchpad to greatness, success and prosperity. Divine purpose accelerates your path to divine wealth and the top. Therefore, find the divine purpose for your life and pursue it. If you miss out on divine purpose, you will miss a lot as money comes by doing the will of God for your life that is walking in His divine purpose for your life. Every profession has its own goldmine. So stop pursuing other people’s visions and pursue your own vision.

You actually undervalue your uniqueness by doing what other people want you to do and not what God wants you to do. If you follow your Maker’s prescription, you will be successful and wealthy.

It is also important that you focus on your area of strength – that is to say that you expend energies on what you enjoy doing effortlessly that is spiritually, physically, mentally and financially rewarding. This usually relates to the talent God deposited in you at birth and which you have been using unconsciously. But a more conscious use of it will alert you to the many uses it can be put to and how you can refine it to high accent. It is already in you. All you need do is to tap into it and you will function in it without maximum effort.