Why multi-talented individuals often fail in life
To be multi-talented is a divine gift for the enrichment of one’s path towards the attainment of life goal. It should be received with thanksgiving and not lamented as an excuse for lack of focus and the associated failure in life.
So often does one come across awesomely polyvalent individuals who eventually do not make much of their lives. The invariable reason is an inability to focus. The tendency for such people is to become “jack of all trades” (master of none) which also means “success at none!” But this need not be so! God who gave the multiplicity of talents certainly did not intend it to be the reason for failure. On the contrary, the purpose of the talents-mix is to satisfy the full requirement for success in such individuals so that attainment of goals is easier. Michael Jackson would not have been such a successful entertainer if his only talent was a beautiful voice. Or just good physical appearance (which he tried his best to destroy). Or just excellent choreography. Or just musical composition, etc But he had ALL together and utilised them towards a single focus of entertainment. This required of him two major things:
1. An identification of the life purpose, and
2. A determined life of discipline in walking towards that purpose.
And this is where many multi-talented people miss it. They neither identify their purpose nor exhibit the required discipline to achieve it. Therefore, (because they are gifted in so many areas) they keep changing focus, moving from job to job, project to project, activity to activity, never actually staying long enough on any one to succeed. Eventually, what is meant to be an enviable blessing is turned into a curse. But the fault is that of man, not God, the Giver of the talents.
I pray that each person who is already in this type of situation will take a fresh look at the two requirements listed above under the guidance of God and begin to enter into his/her abundant success.
Do you really love God? Answer this question!
Most people who believe in God like to say that they love God. The truth of the matter however is that most of us do not really love God but we love what we expect to get from Him. You may assess yourself with this hypothetical question:
If God’s place were to be in hell and the devil were to be eternally in heaven with all the characteristics of the two places, will you still follow God or satan? (Don’t try to dodge by saying it is not possible – I have said it is hypothetical. It is only to test your heart – so be sincere to yourself and God)
The Blood of Jesus and Believers’ Future Sins
The current teaching among certain Christians that the soap has been mysteriously applied to all future sins ahead of their being commited is not scriptural. If this were to be so, it means confession and repentance are entirely unnecessary and useless, but the Scriptures are clear about the need for confession as the means of accessing the once-available and efficacious spiritual soap. Christ made the provision but confession enables the actual application.
Now, if a believer utterly neglects to come to the place of confession (perhaps under the notion that it is unnecessary) then such unconfessed sins remain in his/her account despite his/her justified status. If he/she should die in such an unconfesed state, the Bible is clear that no uncleanness or any offensive thing shall enter heaven.
Some have tried to beg the question by saying that a true Christian will not neglect to confess so that the issue of it remaining cannot arise. I will not be too sure about that especially in view of the rampart teaching nowadays that whatever a true Christian does is allowed (i.e. anything goes) because “he is of God and his sins have been forgiven upfront” This is insisted upon just so that the doctrine of Once Saved, Always Saved” may be upheld. But this is not our immediate concern now.
The point here however is about the provision for believers future sins. Are already cleaned or they will be cleaned when the blood id applied? It is to be stressed that if future sins have indeed been forgiven in advance, thus technical pre-anulled, then God is inconsistent and hypocritical to demand for confession and repentance for sins comited after being born again.
My Influential Dozen
Numerous resources have been very useful to me in my Christian walk and ministry. They came as books, tapes, seminars and workshops materials, etc. The following twelve books, none of them perfect, and none of them fully adequate for my purposes, none-the-less served me especially well through their content, presentation and the sheer appropriateness of their timing in my life. They are my Influential Dozen. I remain eternally grateful to God for using them to bless me.
1. Beginning with Christ – H. L. Heijkoop
2. 30 Days to Understanding What Christians Believe – Max Anders
3. The Spiritual Man – Watchman Nee
4. Word Alive! – John Schwarz
5. The Ministry of God’s Word – Watchman Nee
6. Opposites Attract – Tim LaHaye
7. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage – Kenneth E. Haggins
8. They Shall Expel Demons – Derek Prince
9. Systematic Theology – Louis Berkhof
10. The Art of Leadership – Dag Heward-Mills
11. Unveiling Islam – E. M. Caner and E. F. Caner
12. Leadership Seminar on Gifts and Calling _ Paul Jinadu c.1996 (not a book)
I believe each of us has his/her own gems too. Care to share?
So, what’s the Gospel?
The Gospel is the GOOD NEWS that somebody, who is Jesus Christ, has atoned for the sins of every human being and thus freed us from the wages of sin which is death. This is good news indeed because we could never personally atone for the sins since those very sins have already disqualified us from being the required innocent blood of atonement. God actually planned this from eternity, caused His prophets to write it down in ages past, and practically effected it some 2000 years ago. All for you!
But one thing remains: We must appropriate the atonement. We must personalise it by acknowledging its necessity (which is our sinfulness) and sincerely confess its satisfaction (which is Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection). As it is written, we must believe in the heart AND confess with the mouth, then we shall be saved.
If you have never done this, you should do it right away. Salvation must not be delayed! (You will find the following link helpful in taking this step – http://www.fikayoadeyemo.org/services/evang/penitentprayer.php).
The Gospel, Faith and Grace
The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This means the following:
1 The Gospel is not just a power of God (as of one of many) but THE power of God.The article specifies exclusivity. God has made no other provision for salvation.
2 Only the Gospel is associated with God’s saving power. Whoever does (did) not come through the Gospel cannot (did not) receive the saving power of God.
3 The Gospel is utterly able to save, or rather, to serve as the avenue of God’s saving grace. The vehicle of salvation is our FAITH which must travel on the road of the Gospel to receive the salvation that has already been given by GRACE. Human faith driven on any other “road” isn’t going to find or receive the salvation sought regardless of the sincerity of the faith.
Therefore, as it is written, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, to you my friend who is called by the name of Christ, I ask this question, “Did you come to Christ by the Gospel, in response to it, or did you just happen upon it by virtue of habit, familiarity and/or birth?
And similarly to all my friends who are not yet Christians, I invite you to avail yourself of the power of God available in the Gospel unto the salvation of your soul.
God bless you.
No degree of temptation justifies any degree of sin
This is adapted from my recent post on fb. While the title may appear to give a sense of condeming whoever succumbs to temptation, the posit is not about condemnation but about the need to recognise that the buck of our lives stops with us. We must take full responsibility for our choices regardless of the difficulties that might face us while making those choices. The possibility of certain “grave” temptations may only be a reason for falling – never an excuse. The standard of sin is absolute, once defined, not relative. I have a great number of personal experiences where I succumbed to temptations (I dare say some of them were not even very great temptations yet I fell. lol) but in all these, I could not justify myself on the strength of the gravity of the temptation. I was only grateful that God’s mercy was available. So it was of Him who keeps on showing mercy and not of us who have any “case to argue or prove” for failing on the ground that the exam was too tough.
And at any rate, no temptation is ALWAYS and UNIVERSALLY insurmountable. Overcoming a temptation, any temptation at all, is always a possibility as one increases in appropriating the grace of God. Some temptations I fell for some years ago are no longer problematic to me today and some that I am still falling for today are no problem at all for some people higher than me spiritually. I know that soon, I too will overcome them as I grow. This shows that the problem was not the power of the temption to defy us but our own weakness under certain circumstances to resist.
Therefore, while in a status of weakness, we should not excuse ourselves but rather repent and pray as Jesus instructed (“Lead us not into temptation”), for God to make such temptations not to even come our way now, since if we fall, we will not be excused despite our weakness. But we may be pardoned.
The persecution is getting to a head
Christians to be banned from wearing crosses in the UK
Gradually, the current worldwide persecution is getting to a head, and this means revival is nigh. Incidentally, the tools of the enemy have moved from attacks on pure Christian values, through slander and now to a punishment for our own errors. For who does not know that icon use (with or without veneration) is alien to the New Covenant? Jesus told us to carry our life crosses upon which every vestige of flesh will be crucified rather than any physical object of adoration, as jewelry or talisman (or both) But God in His infinite wisdom has permitted the enemy to use even this in their rabid kicks against the goads. So, what ought we to do? Get back to God, repenting of our sins and relying on Him for our individual roles in His current move. We are about to experience an explosion and it shall be in holiness and purity. Revival is coming!
