Do not Keep Your Life on Hold 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

This brings to mind what I have observed over time. And I am sure you have also done same. It is that certain people in certain environments choose to stay stuck within the rot and limitations of the environment because nothing, no one challenges them to break free of the rot and limitations of the environment. About everyone in such environments are dirt poor; live off bins and the generosity of other people; drug use is rife and high; prostitution and teenage pregnancy is the order of the day; refusal to excel is an accepted norm and way of life and any attempt by anyone or group of persons to excel is always fiercely resisted because the environment and nurture has conditioned them to hate and reject excellence in any form. It usually takes only extravagant grace to bring such people out of such environments where the blame game is the order of the day. They blame about everything on the government, members of their families, Churches, neighbours and what have you when in reality they should be blaming themselves for their inability to take positive life transforming decisions and actions to move their lives forward.

The very lazy man who refused to work in Proverbs Chapter 22 verse 13 kept giving excuses that there were lions in the street. The question that begs to be answered is how come the so called lions prowling the streets did not eat up the other diligent people going about their daily tasks and who also walked on the streets where the lions prowled?

Beloved, do not wait for other people to do for you what you can do and should do for yourself. Do not live a life of making excuses or blaming people and circumstances for your failures and misfortunes.

Do not Keep Your Life on Hold

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. 3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty [themselves] upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. 4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 5 As thou knowest not what [is] the way of the spirit, [nor] how the bones [do grow] in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. 6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both [shall be] alike good. Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 1 to 6.

To keep your life on hold is to fritter time away waiting for Godot who never shows up anyway before taking decisions; before acting, implementing, carrying out divine tasks which should move you forward in life. It is akin to waiting at the pool in Bethsaida for someone to give you a helping hand. Of course, that benevolent someone did not show up for thirty eight years; sufficient time to raise children who would in turn be raising their own children thereby making you a grandparent; more than sufficient time to build businesses which generate millions to billions; more than sufficient time to build ministries that are transforming lives across the nations; more than sufficient time be a blessing to humanity.

Beloved, the character who spent days and months waiting for Godot was appalled that Godot never showed up. Somehow, he was like the sick man at the pool in Bethsaida who stayed sick for thirty eight years because he was waiting for someone who would put him in the water when the angel stirred the water.

Ways in which the enemy can make you keep your life on hold

Always waiting for someone to do for you what you can do for yourself as in the case of the lame man at the pool in Bethsaida. For thirty eight years, he was waiting for a benevolent someone who would offer to put him in the water.

Ignore Distractions to Succeed

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

A distraction is anything which takes your attention or focus away from what, where God wants you to pay attention to or focus on. Distractions are also tasks which are not divinely assigned to you. These tasks may appear to be very urgent but as long as they are nor divinely assigned to you, they are not priority irrespective of how urgent they appear to be. Ignore them and focus on your divinely assigned tasks.

Ironically, distractions are not always or necessarily annoying circumstances or persons. They are sometimes very mouthwatering offers which are difficult to refuse.  The devil made such offers to Jesus Christ during the temptation but because Jesus was focused on divine purpose, He ignored the devil’s offers. No offer from anyone was greater than His divine purpose and mission on planet earth. Please read Luke Chapter 4 verses 1 to 12 and Matthew Chapter 4 verses 1 to 11.

Sennecherib also made mouthwatering offers of food security to the people of Judah if they would surrender to him and serve his gods. But the people of Judah under the godly leadership of King Hezekiah refused to be distracted from serving Jehovah, the El-Shaddai. They ignored Sennecherib and his threats of destroying Jerusalem. God honored their decision to focus on Him and destroyed both Sennecherib and his seemingly invincible army which was destroyed in one night by a single angel. Please read Isaiah Chapters 36 to 37 for details.

While some distractions come with threats and carrots and supposedly irresistible mouthwatering offers, some are veiled or disguised attempts to infiltrate divine purpose and activities in order to distract the work and bring it to a complete stop. A case in point was when the Jews were rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. Some people offered to help not because they truly wanted to help but because they wanted to infiltrate the people and the work in order to stop it and destroy it. But because the leadership of the people were sensitive to the Spirit of God, they refused such satanic assistance. Though their refusal culminated in threats and all kinds of ploys to stop the work by the seemingly helpful oppositions; God ensured that the work continued and the Temple was completed. Sanballat and his cohorts also attempted to stop the rebuilding of the broken down walls of Jerusalem; deploying several tricks such as ridicule, lies, infiltrating some of the Jews, intimidation and threats. Fortunately. Nehemiah and his men refused to be distracted from divine purpose. The walls were completely rebuilt to the glory of God.

From Obscurity to Limelight

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

God is the only One Who takes people, institutions, communities and nations out of obscurity into global limelight and prominence. This is because He is the only One Who has the capacity do so. The biblical Joseph was already imprisoned for life and had no chances of ever getting out of prison. But God created situations which made Joseph sought after. God had equipped Joseph with great people skills as well as the divine ability to interpret dreams and also blessed him with divine favor.

So Joseph was able to reach out to his fellow prisoners – Pharaoh’s baker and butler who were serving prison terms. But for the worrisome dreams which Joseph interpreted, the butler would not have known about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams and recommend him to Pharaoh. What is also significant here is the divine arrangement – the baker and the butler were in the same prison as Joseph and were serving different sentences at the same time. Talk about divine timing and divine connection. Even after the butler was freed and restored to his position in the palace, there was no respite for Joseph as he still remained in prison – two full years. But when it was time, God’s appointed time to favor Zion, God orchestrated events to work for Joseph. Pharaoh dreamt; very worrisome dreams which took away his peace.

He became restless especially when all the supposedly wise men of Egypt could not interpret the dreams. That was when Mr. Butler who had supposedly forgotten about Joseph remembered – Joseph could just possibly solve this problem and he mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh.

Beloved, ponder a while! What if Joseph had been released from prison before then and no one could account for his whereabouts, he would have missed the divine opportunity to stand before Pharaoh and achieve his dream of global leadership. Sometimes, what appears to be working against you because they are the wicked schemes of wicked human beings; designed to immobilize you and stop your progress may be divine orchestrations and even when they are not; they could be circumstances allowed by God to pan out for His overall good in your life when He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Joseph eventually stood before Pharaoh and not only interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams but also provided the solutions to the challenges created by the dreams. In an instant, in a single day, Joseph moved from being an unknown obscure prisoner without hope of freedom to become Prime Minister in Egypt. Some great leap, you would say but that is the doing of God Who alone always has the capacity to take anyone out of the back side of the desert and obscurity into global limelight, relevance, significance and honor. 

God Loves You

You Will Succeed

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

You are a strong brand. You can make it. You can succeed. You are a billionaire. Therefore, sidestep the limitations. The truth is that you can actually turn the limitations, challenges, obstacles, what appear to be barriers into opportunities and stepping stones through what you do with your divine gifts. You can leverage these to succeed and make wealth.

You also have a great audience, the great props, advantages of the internet and great devices with which you should be in constant communication with the great audience God blessed you with. Beloved, it is time to rise out of slumber and COMMUNICATE. ENGAGE your audience in the different platforms you are known in. You can use social media platforms as e-retail shops, pulpits, information sharing hubs, networking and collaboration platforms from where you can direct people to your services and products, etc.

Acquire celebrity status if need be and use it to great  advantage as a designer, educationist, scientist, chef, writer, development person, Minister of the gospel and fashionista and whatever good name there is – stylist, clothes, jewelry or accessories line. The point being made is increase, make progress and stop looking for mentors and leaders when you should be mentoring and leading people.

It is ironic that you have been looking for mentors when in reality God created you a mentor and has painstakingly worked at making you a mentor. Pray that God would help you to be strong and fulfill purpose; and help you to stop the endless search for strong people, strong institutions and build your own strong and valuable brand given you from the foundation of the world in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

You are an Achiever

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

You are fearfully and wonderfully made, that is say that you have the right appearance for YOU, specifically designed by God for you and you alone.

You are divinely wired to exercise dominion over every creation of God. However, you have to be rightly aligned with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for you to do so. Please read Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28, Psalm 8 verse 6, Job Chapter 22 verses 28, Mark Chapter 11 verses 22 to 24, Luke Chapter 10 verse 19, Matthew Chapter 17 verses 20 to 21, Mark Chapter 16 verses 17 to 18, 20, Acts Chapter 1 verse 8, 3 verses 1 to 9, 5 verses 14 to 16, 8 verses 5 to 8, 14 verses 8 to 15, 19 verses 11 to 12.

You are divinely created to make and enjoy wealth. Please read Deuteronomy Chapters 8 verse 18, 15 verse 6 and 28 verses 11 to 12 and 2^nd Corinthians Chapter 8 verse 13. The intimidating walls of Jericho coupled with the strong securely locked gates were enough barricades and barriers to Israel’s progress to Canaan to access the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places which God deposited in Canaan for the Israelites. Fortunately for Israel, God is the Way maker Who always makes a way where there seems to be no way. Supernaturally and miraculously, the intimidating walls of Jericho alongside the securely locked gates came down in a heap so that the Israelites could move forward and progress to Canaan, unhindered. God has given you guaranteed access to divine treasures and riches – no bitterness, no restrictions, no opposition because every opposition no matter how strong and fierce is subdued in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Please read Isaiah Chapter 43 verses 1 to 3, 45 verses 1 to 3 and Psalm 107 verse 6. God has broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. To uproot and destroy barricades and barriers so that you can access the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. SO GO FOR GOLD.

Additionally, the Lord is your Shepherd therefore you have everything you need. This is because the wisdom to navigate access to whatever you need is in God and you can always access that divine wisdom through the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift of God to you through Christ Jesus. So in Christ Jesus, you have everything, all your needs according to the riches of God in glory by Christ Jesus.