Wake Up the Giant

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Giants should not be allowed to sleep because they usually sleep for too long; in point of fact, far too long to remember to wake up at just the right time. Another reason why giants sleep for far too long is that people are usually afraid to wake up the giant because a giant awake and alert to his or her responsibilities is a threat to the opposition. Samson was a giant in quote – he had the spiritual and physical prowess to intimidate the Philistines and bring to a great halt the harassment of Israel by the Philistines. The Philistines were so intimidated by Samson that rather than enlist the support of other nations to fight Israel as a whole, the Philistines deployed huge resources to eliminate Samson  because they knew that if Samson was eliminated, it would be over for Israel and they could walk rough shod on Israel for as long as they wanted to.

Unfortunately, Samson lacked personal discipline and spiritual discernment despite the great unction of God upon Him coupled with his unrivaled physical prowess. He therefore fell for the wiles of deceitful Delilah and for a long time, Samson slept the sleep of death. Please see Psalm 13 verse 3. Samson was harassed, humiliated and even blinded by the Philistines. Why bother to blind him?

The ability to see is very important in daily life and when that is taken away, you may require assistance to carry out most tasks. Additionally, you cannot see the divine beauties God created in the Universe. And if a giant cannot see, how will the giant walk around to intimidate anyone? Rather, S/he would be a slave. So Samson was enslaved at the mill grinding stuff for the Philistines. But Samson did not give up for in the long run, He did wake up; and destroyed hundreds and thousands of Philistines at a go. But he would have achieved much more if only he was disciplined.

Beloved, losing spiritual visions, business visions, family visions, career visions, academic visions, financial visions, parental visions; in point of fact, vision of any kind is as bad if not worse than losing physical vision. Once you lose clear vision of what you are called to do and where you are headed in life, you will no longer see the beauty and glory of that vision. Rather, you will become satisfied with visions that are not yours but which appear to be great and over time you will immerse yourself in those visions and unfortunately end up in slavery. Please see Genesis Chapter 49 verse 14.

Issachar had great potentials but lost them when he lost his vision to a vision which appeared to be great. Issachar was divinely endowed with the leadership strength of knowing what Israel ought to do at any point in time. In point of fact, that was a great strength as Issachar provided direction and leadership influence so to speak for Israel. Issachar was a leader, a giant in leadership yet because Issachar became enchanted by the beautiful surroundings he found himself in, Issachar gave up his leadership role and submitted to forced labor. In point of fact, he became a slave, a band of slaves because he had committed his children to slavery. Perhaps, becoming a band of slaves was what Issachar required to wake up from his folly because in the book of 1^st Chronicles Chapter 12 verse 32, the Bible records that the sons of Issachar had woken up to their calling and were providing direction for Israel. The sleeping giant had woken up.

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Connect from Transit Points

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Genesis 49:14-15 

 “Issachar is no better than a donkey That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.  But he sees that the resting place is good And that the land is delightful. So he bends his back to carry the load And is forced to work as a slave.    Good News Translation

 “Issachar is a rawboned^[f] donkey lying down among the sheep pens.  When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor. NIV

 “Issachar is a strong donkey,    crouching between the sheepfolds.  He saw that a resting place was good,  and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear,  and became a servant at forced labor. English Standard Version (ESV)

 Issachar is a strong donkey,lying down between the sheepfolds. He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.… Berean Study Bible

Transit points are not final destination points. They are connecting points to final destination points. They should therefore not become rest points but should serve the divine purpose of connecting you to your final destination. This is because a person in transit actually has no rights and privileges in a transit point. But in a final destination; either as a tourist, short to medium or long term visitor; a person has rights and privileges and is not likely to become a slave.

If Joseph for instance had consented to the sin of sexual immorality with Potiphar’s wife which appeared pleasant then – he was liked by his boss and colleagues; Joseph would have remained a slave forever, enslaved to Potiphar’s wife who would always blackmail him if he refused to continue in sin, assuming he consented the first time.

Even prison was not Joseph’s final destination. It was another transit point; a connecting point to his final destination. Significantly, Joseph took advantage of every transient point he found himself in. He used them as transient points and not final destination points as in the case of Issachar. Issachar chose to settle down at a transit point because the transit point appeared to be pleasant, pleasant in quote because that pleasantness was the reason for his slavery. Sadly, Issachar became a band of slaves simply because he chose to rest in the wrong place, a transit point which would have connected him to his final destination where people would serve him.

Do Not Give Up on God

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

What does it mean to give up on God? To give up on God is as good as walking out on God or walking away completely from God because you are convinced that God did not come through for you, will not come through for you. Beloved, the truth and reality is that God always comes through for His own even when the answer He gives is NO. You may not understand the reasons for His NO because you cannot see beyond now. But God sees beyond now to eternity and forever. He therefore has very cogent reasons for saying NO or even WAIT.

God loves you and has great plans including resources for fulfilling the plans He has for you. However, God unveils the strategies one step at a time and sometimes you may not even understand as some strategies may appear to be working against you. Take for instance the case of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his siblings. Unknown to both Joseph and his siblings then, slavery in Egypt was one of the steeping stones to actualizing Joseph’s global leadership goal. How about when he was eventually thrown into prison for no just cause? Unknown to Potiphar’s wife, Potiphar and even Joseph himself, that was the final rung on the ladder to the palace. Can you imagine what would have happened if Joseph gave up on God? He may have missed the coming glory which appeared elusive considering the very unpleasant circumstances he found himself in yet was very close. Just a little patience coupled with absolute faith in God and Joseph made it to the top.

How about King David of Israel? Severally, David could have given up on God on account of the extenuous circumstances that constantly assailed him such as the several threats to his young life by King Saul that rendered him homeless for years( he had to seek refuge in the land of the Philistines). When Saul eventually died, there was a long feud between David and the house of Saul until God eventually gave David victory and established him as King in Israel. How about his travails at the hands of his son Absalom, the treachery by his trusted friend Ahitophel; and the subsequent humiliation by Shimei (a close relation of the late King Saul who rejoiced at Absalom’s treatment of David); and who rained curses on David and pillaged him and his entourage with stones? In all of these, David did not give up on God. He was steadfast, stayed true to God and was eventually vindicated by God.

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.

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.

Dare to Succeed

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Break barriers, leapfrog limitations, rein in your thoughts and emotions, refuse to be overwhelmed and overburdened by situations that appear to be challenging and intimidating by controlling your thoughts and emotions and focusing on your God given goal to succeed in His plans and purposes for your life. Please see Joshua Chapter 1 verse 8, Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verses 12 to 13.

Ignore catcalls and sniggers, whispers, deliberate provocations from people and situations determined to stop you from making progress. Instead, pay attention to your goal. Nehemiah ignored all the contrivances of Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem and their other cohorts. The gates of Jerusalem were rebuilt and repaired. Please see the book of Nehemiah. Ezra and his fellow workmen under the leadership of Zerubabbel, Governor of Judah completed the task of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem despite the stiff opposition to the task. They chose to and dared to succeed. Please read the entire book of Ezra for great insight into this amazing story of a people’s determination and courage to succeed in spite of all odds.