SUPER GOD............................................SUPER MAN part 1

SUPER GOD……………………SUPER MAN I was watching a particular movie series (which I don’t do often) titled FLASH. It is the story of a young man who was involved in an accident that occurred during a scientific expenditure. He went into coma after the accident and woke up later to discover he has super-human speed. About 2 hours into the movie a verse of scripture popped into my mind. This verse is related to the story in 1 King 18. Elijah the mighty prophet of God came to reverse his declaration of drought. He went up to the mountain to pray for rain. God released the rain but the man of God was about to be drenched in the rain if he did not hurry. 1 King 18:46 say “The land of the Lord was upon Elijah and he outran the chariots of Ahab”. This statement may not sound incredible to the reader until one remember that a royal chariot normally has at least two horses. Now, a 21st century reader of this incident would say that it is only possible if one is “super-human”. The term Super-human is normally used to describe fictitious characters with special abilities that enable them to perform feats way beyond the ability of the average person. This topic became more interesting to me when it dropped in my spirit that God actually planned that mankind would be “super-human”. At creation, we were imparted with his divine nature which provides the “super” component. That’s why Adam was able to name over 4million species of animals and insects without formal education. Even after the fall, he created a way for mankind to access divinity. That’s what enabled Moses to part the Red sea, Joshua to hold the sun in its position and many more. Still not satisfied with how much access we had to divinity, he gave his son to die for our sins so we can have complete access to divinity through him. That singular sacrifice established our super-human status forever. It is therefore unfortunate that majority of mankind especially Christians are living a life below their super-human status. Mankind became convinced that Super-Human exists only in the realm of the fictitious i.e. a figment of man’s imagination. A proof of this is the fact that these days movies are our only source of encounter with the super-human. Worse still, most super human characters in movies are demonic. As a result, we no longer belief in our original identity. The people who accept that the super-human realm exists resort to demonic practices in their quest to access it. Others are so scared that they never step in. This completely robs us of our potential and prevents us from fulfilling the Gen 1:28 mandate. Interestingly, truth remains constant whether or not it is believed or acted upon. This means that our super-human capabilities still exist within us even though we don’t utilize them. It also implies that anything we began to deploy our “super powers”, the doors of extra-ordinary achievements will open to us on its own. We can then live the meaningful, prosperous life God intended for us to live. Allow me to offer a few tips on how to tap into and maximize your super power for the benefit of mankind. TIP I: - RECONNECT TO GOD. Mankind lost access to it’s super powers in the garden of Eden. We also lost something much more precious; an intimate connection to God. This connection is the source of our super powers in the first place. But thanks be to God because in his infinite love for us he made it possible to restore our connection to him and get back our super-powers. He gave our fathers the Law which is actually a set of instructions which if fully obeyed would allow a measure of reconnection and access to our super powers. However, the law was just a stop gap to preserve us till the appointed time when his son would appear on the scene. Then through him, we can have our connection fully restored and we can be so empowered that the devil can’t overpower us again for ever. However, for any man to enjoy this reconnection and empowerment he must approach God through faith in his son Jesus. This means that he must believe in his son Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross for mankind. He must accept him as saviour and lord. When this happens, every sin hindering your connection is paid for in fall. You can now come bold to the throne of grace as a son. This process gives you your super power back. FAITH: - Even though you have your powers back, you may not see them manifest except you absolutely believe you have them back. This is where the enemy goes to work on the mind of human beings. This is because he knows that if he can convince us that we are powerless, he has won a flawless victory. To do this, he bombards us with various obstacles and then says “if you are powerful, why is this happening”. The problem is that many people believe him because they lack adequate knowledge to give him the appropriate response. If that is not going to work, he works on promoting beliefs that shifts our focus from God’s power within us to ourselves or the devil. These days when a person performs extra-ordinary feats, people automatically conclude that he is being assisted by a demonic power. Even the person himself attributes his success to other things except the power of God within him. This is a direct opposite of the state of mind of Apostle Paul when he said “I am what I am by the grace of God”. Even though I work hard and pray hard, every result I have is by God’s grace. To combat this strategy of the enemy, it is important to daily feast on the word of God. The more of God’s word you read, hear and understand the more empowered you are against the enemy. You would be able to sense the enemy at work and you would have the right instruments to dislodge him. It is also advised that you pray constantly in the Holy Spirit. The bible enjoins us to build up our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit. So when the enemy comes, we would be ready to win.

ATTENTION NIGERIAN YOUTHS; CHANGE IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY

Though I am a patriotic Nigerian who fervently desires a CHANGE in our fortune as a nation, I am not particularly excited about the ongoing efforts to bring about change. This is because we, who are the main drivers of change are not rising to the occasion when our country needs us the most. I know right now most of us do not think that we are powerful enough to bring about change in Nigeria. I used to think that way to until I came across a startling revelation while reading about countries that experienced positive changes. I realized that these countries were transformed by young people who looked helpless and powerless at the start of the journey. For instance, Nelson Mandela was 27years when he was imprisoned. That means he had become a national voice at least two years before. Also, majority of the people that fought to give us independence as a country were at that time youths. I can safely conclude that the surest route to the change we desire as a nation is for all of us to follow the example of our founding fathers. Their shoes have been empty for too long and as a result our country is suffering. I believe it is time for us to step into their shoes and fill it with all our might. They have played their part and we would never forget them. NOW IT IS OUR TURN. You may ask why this arduous task is our responsibility. It is because we are the ones equipped with the vibrancy, zeal, strength and imagination to effect positive changes in this country. I believe this is what the bible means when it states that the glory of the youths is its strength. We are also the largest part of our country’s population. That alone makes us an unstoppable force capable of taking out any obstacle in its way. With all these power and potential at our disposal, no real change would happen except we get out of our state of inertia and take our place in the ongoing battle for the heart and soul of Nigeria. We have been missing in action for too long that’s why monsters like corruption, terrorism; kidnapping and all the members of their family are having a filled day in our great nation. Having established that Nigeria is at war for its very soul, allow me to say that just like every war the soldiers need to be well prepared and motivated, weapons need to be available and an effective strategy needs to be in place. Our founding fathers and other people who fought for change in their respective nations understood this fact. So they spent time gathering all the needed weapons and formulating a winning strategy. I believe that we must do the same staring now if we hope to win. Allow me to state here a few of the weapons I found in the arsenal of most of the celebrated change agents regardless of nation, colour and personality. WEAPON 1 THEY HAD GOD ON THEIR SIDE- While most people would not want to hear this, I was surprised to find out that most of the people who successful brought about change in their nations were deeply spiritual people. The founding fathers of the United States of America went ahead to institutionalize their faith by inscribing the phrase ‘In God we trust’ on their currency and instilling deeply spiritual values in the American people. The result is that over 200years later, the whole world is still trying to unseat them as the most powerful nation in the world. Most leaders of nations in the world measure their performance by the approval of the country referred to as Gods own country by its citizens. Also our founding fathers and most of the leaders whose words echo through the ages were deeply spiritual men. I believe the beginning of the journey is for each one of us to be serious with his faith and dedicated to his God. This would give us power to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles we would surely face in this battle for the soul of Nigeria. WEAPON 2 INTELLECTUAL SAGACITY- The weapon of intellectual sagacity is an important factor that determines whether we win or lose the battle we are fighting. Agents of national transformation all over the world knew this as such they dedicated their lives to acquiring wisdom and knowledge. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the best lawyers of his time who extended his knowledge base beyond his profession. Same goes for Nelson Mandela, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King jnr. and others too numerous to count. In Nigeria we have the example of patriots like the late Chief Bola Ige who became the secretary of the famed Action Group at the age of 21, spoke about 19 languages fluently and bagged several degrees in his life time. I cannot forget to mention the likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and others who argued brilliantly with our colonial masters and bought us our freedom as a nation. I want to state here that the development of intellectual sagacity is not limited to academic learning. Otherwise the recent fall in that the quality of education would be a great hindrance. Rather it is our responsibility to ensure we sharpen our minds. Whatever is lacking in our ivory towers, let look out for other sources of getting it. We also need an open mind to learn what the schools cannot teach. Remember to win a war, you need a mind that can create a strategy better than the strategy of the enemy. WEAPON 3 THE RIGHT VALUES- Values are ideals or principles influences behaviour and determines result. People who won the battle for the souls of their nations understood that there are certain values required for the job. Therefore they acquired and sustained such values in their hearts. Such values include patriotism, honesty, integrity, hard work and many more. They measured success of failure by the presence or absence of these values. They also celebrated these values with pomp and pageantry. To win the war we are in, there is a need to return to imbibing and celebrating these values. This is because their absence is almost solely responsible for the mess we are in as a nation. For instance, corruption took the driver’s seat in our nation the moment we began to measure success solely by financial acquisitions. Before then you would be exposed and ostracized even by your own family if you took anything that did not belong to you. Now people steal government funds to the tune of billions and still get chieftaincy titles in their towns of origin. Someone told me a woman divorced her husband for returning a huge sum of money left in his cab by a passenger. I agree these values are not easy to live by but I assure you the reward far outweighs the effort put into it. When we exorcise our nation and take out the prevailing monsters of today, we the agents of change would reap the benefit of influence and opportunities that would produce tremendous wealth. In developed nations, no agent of national transformation is poor except he or she deviates from the values he began with. WEAPON 4 UNITY- It is the highest degree of arrogance for one person to believe that he can bring about national change without the help of other citizens of the same nation. This is one truth well understood by powerful nations in the world. For them, no affiliation is more important than their affiliation to their country. Therefore, they speak with one voice. Our founding fathers also understood this as such they played down our differences and celebrated our similarities. This action contributed largely to their success. For instance America is what it is today because of the collective effort of all their citizens regardless of their political, religious and ethnic differences. Sadly along the line our differences were resurrected by elements who benefit from the chaos our nation is in today. We now see ourselves through our political, ethnic and religious differences rather than through the lens of our national heritage. Allegations of marginalization are becoming more rampant in our days today. Opposition parties make it their calling to paint the ruling party in bad light without contributing meaningfully to national development. My people if we are to be agents of change we need to refuse to be divided against ourselves if we intend to stand as a great nation. We also need to desist from embracing leaders who seek to divide us. Most of the time, such people have a hidden personal agenda. We need to pull together our collective uniqueness so our dream for a better Nigeria would be one step closer to becoming a reality. WEAPON 5 POLITICAL POWER- This is not a weapon in the class of the first weapon but it is a potent weapon none the less. You see politics is a game of numbers and we are about the largest group of people in Nigeria. This means that whoever we do not support is almost certain to lose the election. If we decide not to support people who do not possess both the desire and capacity to transform this nation, we would be forcing this country to move steadily towards change. However to determine who to support, we need the first four weapons to prevent manipulation as we try to decide who to support during elections. We would be better equipped to challenge their ideologies and fish out people with hidden personal agenda. Let me tell you, most of our current politicians are frightened at the thought of intellectually developed youths who have the right values in place. Because they know that it is next to impossible to pull wool over the eyes of such people. That’s why they attempt to distract us using stomach infrastructure and other means. In conclusion, being an agent of change is not a jolly ride because human beings are the most resistant to change among God’s creatures. Be that as it may, I know nothing good comes easy. Therefore I am determined to remain an agent of change. There is room for more soldiers in this war. Remember if you allow an evil thing to continue, you are as guilty as the one perpetrating the evil. I am also sure that whether you are an agent of change or a perpetrator of evil, THERE IS A REWARD

ESCAPING THE WORST DISASTER

Growing up as a child in Lagos state sometimes in the late eighties a much respected family member told me that there is a gas in the television that can kill if it ever was released into the atmosphere. As a result I was always cautious around the television set despite my numerous pranks. The interesting part of this story is that I believed this assertion into my adult years and never bothered to examine it. About twenty years after I was a student of engineering in a prestigious citadel of higher learning in Nigeria. I came home on holidays and was helping out with some domestic chores when I slipped right in front of our television set and was about to land on it. Not wanting to break the television set thereby releasing the ‘poisonous’ gas I struggled till I eventually landed on my left shoulder. The almost critical injury I sustained jarred my mind into action. What’s the name of this mysterious gas in the television set? How does this gas contribute to the operation of a television set? Where is the chamber storing this gas? How come it never runs out and the television needs a refill? Before I could go through these questions I realized with amazement that the gas in the television set was an imaginary one. My beloved relative told me that to prevent me from causing real harm to myself via electrocution and other means. After getting over the feeling of stupidity for believing such an audacious fallacy even as an engineering student this incident lead to some deep introspection. I realized the power of our upbringing and environment to influence our belief system. I also realized that we learn subconsciously from our environment and human influence. As such we may never validate our belief system since we are not even aware we have them. Then the next set of questions I want to ask you now hit me like a thunderbolt; • What other assertion have I been subconsciously holding as true that has been influencing my decision and actions? • What if I realize belatedly that major decisions in my life were taken based on untrue and unverified assertions? I realized that the worst disaster that can befall any individual is to realize belatedly that he made major decisions based on untrue assertions. How would you feel if at eighty you realize that you have been living by an untrue assertion for the past sixty years of your life? The dread of the possibility of this eventuality compelled me to thoroughly analyze my belief system with the aim of weeding out any belief I cannot validate. This evaluation process is a continuous one to prevent a re-entry of old thought patterns into my mind or the establishment of new ones. Please allow me to share with you some of the most common and I dare say most dangerous belief system I have encountered since I began the journey. I would be overjoyed if at the end of the day I can motivate you to analyze your thought pattern and weed out the thought patterns you can’t validate. SECULARIZATION OF THE WORLD Secularization as a concept attempts to create inter-faith unity by limiting people’s demonstration of their faith to their personal lives. So in our society today your faith is not something to consider when relating with you outside the sphere of religion. We encourage inter-faith marriage; we consider it inappropriate to consider an individual’s faith when considering him for appointments. HOW WRONG CAN WE BE? To start with, the world was created and is being sustained by powers that exist beyond our physical sphere. Multiple religions also arose from a desperate desire in man to relate with the personality in the realm that produced the one we are living in. From the above it is safe to conclude that an individual’s values are largely dictated by his faith. And we all know that an individual’s values determine his actions. Therefore we can see that an individual’s faith determines his actions. In the light of the above, I ask ‘How can we expect to relegate faith to the background and expect the world to run smoothly’. In conclusion, true unity is when people are able to freely demonstrate their faith without fear of persecution. YOU CAN BE SELF MADE The self made man is another myth many people grew up with and believe to be true. But the reality is that no man can ever make himself. Successful people would tell you that to achieve anything worthy of commendation you need the help of God and a lot of human beings. Even when you read a book, the author is helping you by providing wisdom needed for you to grow. Thomas Edison calls it standing on the shoulders of giants. The people, who encourage you, pray for you, buy/recommend your products and even ones who work with you all constitute the team that worked tirelessly for you to succeed. The danger of this belief is that it fans the flame of pride in human beings. People who think they are self made do not appreciate God’s help let alone give him glory. They also tend to look down on people at the beginning of their journey to success. They find it difficult to call for and receive help when they are in dire need of it. All these work together to make their journey to success a laborious on rather than an enjoyable one. They may eventually achieve success but would have lost irreplaceable things in the process. MONEY IS GOOD/ MONEY IS BAD This discussion has been going on for ages with a lot of wise people on both sides of the divide. But the bible makes a point that creates a new dimension to the discuss. The bible says the wealth of a fool will kill him. This tells me that money is neither good nor bad. Its effect depends on who has it in his possession. Understanding this point would help us realize that not everyone who has money benefits from it. We would then set out to grow ourselves to become the kind of person that benefits from his wealth. Then the world would be a better place to live in. YOUR EDUCATION IS YOUR MEAL TICKET This statement is one of the most popular assertions of my generation. Unfortunately it produced what I call the entitled generation; people who feverishly acquired an education with the expectation of food for life. Only to have their hopes dashed by the recent happenings in the labour market today. They are realizing belatedly that education is rather one of the tools that should be deployed to create your meal ticket. When we see education as a tool, we are better prepared to create things that would contribute to the development of our dear nation. I can’t go through all the unfounded ideologies in the world in one write up. What I intended to do is to challenge you to examine your belief system so you can fish out all ideologies you cannot validate. I also wish that you are flexible in your mind so you do not hold on to beliefs that have been made irrelevant by development.

SUCCESS BY NATURE

Success is undoubtedly one of the most discussed topics in the world. The reason is simple, everyone wants to succeed. However despite the heavy discuss on the topic, a minute percentage of the world population can be said to be successful. I believe this is largely because we have not been able to reach a consensus as regards the definition of success. It is nearly impossible to work towards what you don’t know. As a result of ongoing discussions on this topic, I have been able to identify two existing schools of thought on what success is. The first school of thought believes success is an achievement. This means that you are successful only when you have accomplished certain tasks like built a house etc. This school of thought also implies that the more you achieve the more successful you are. The second school of thought views success as an attainment. This means that you are successful only when you have become certain things e.g. a husband, C.E.O, governor, minister etc. This school implies that the higher your position, the more successful you are. These schools of thought are not wrong in themselves. It is a good thing to achieve more and reach greater heights as regards position. But if you factor in man’s endless desire for success, these schools of thought produce individuals in a mad rush for achievement and attainment. This rush most times becomes so intense that it robs the individual of the ability to enjoy his/her achievements & attainment. They also produce a certain pressure on individuals which drives them to unwholesome lengths to achieve feats or attain positions / levels viewed as success. The desire to discover an understanding of success that leads to a life that is balanced and successful all round led me to startling discovery. “SUCCESS is PRIMARILY A MANIFESTATION”. This means that success is a state of mind you are operating from rather than a level you are working towards. The bible supports this assertion through the record of creation. In Gen 1:26, God said”Let us make man in our own image and let him have dominion over other creatures”. Verse 27, Goes on to tell us that God made man with the innate ability to exercise dominion. Note that when you can exercise dominion success is assured. Gen 1:31 says something very profound. God saw everything he has made (Man inclusive) and it was good. This means he succeeded in making everything to the intent of his heart and everything according to the purpose for which they were made. Remember that purpose for men is to have dominion which guarantees his success. Little wonder mega successes agree that they would not have been able to build their empires without first building than in their minds and spirits. A popular American billionaire was quoted to have said “take me to the desert and leave me with my books. In five years, I would have rebuilt my company in the desert”. This statement shows that success really flows inside out. If you have not developed a certain measure of the success in your spirit, it is almost impossible to experience and maintain that level in the physical realm. That is why many people who win huge amounts at casinos and lotteries become bankrupt almost immediately they receive those winnings. The power of this manifestation is that it sets you free to succeed. This it does by delivering you from some of the things that prevent you from focusing your inner energies to produce success. Allow me to state a few; • Those who view success as an achievement or an attainment are in a mindless competition with other people. They are only happy when they believe they are winning the competition. Paul describes such people as unwise. I agree with him because such people can’t focus on their goals and ultimately don’t achieve them. There is actually no basis for competition because we all are created winners. • Those who view success as an achievement or an attainment live a life of perpetual pressure. They do not know that they have an inexhaustible pool of success deposited in them. Therefore they waste precious energy trying to achieve more or attain more in other to be “more “Successful. Eventually they lose out on true success. • Those who view success as either an achievement or an attainment cannot enjoy the pleasure God ordained for man to enjoy in this world. They sacrifice other important things on the altar of success and end up miserable in their later years. On the other hand when success is a manifestation your achievement and attainment in life is limitless. This is because we can’t fully exhaust the success we were created with. It is also a jolly ride when compared to the other camp. This is because you are not alone in the journey to manifesting your success. You have the backing of God because what you are doing would be to fulfill his purpose and show forth his glory. In conclusion, my prayer for you is that you would not die without manifesting a considerable level of the success God created you with. In the words of REV SAM ADEYEMI, SUCCESS IS WHO YOU ARE.

THE MARK OF FATHERHOOD

Exactly today eight years ago my father Mr. Bolarinwa Olasode went to be with the Lord. I must confess the last eight years has been a bitter/sweet ride for me. On one hand I seriously miss his physical presence and that confident smile that takes away you fears. I wish he were here to celebrate my successes with me and encourage me in times of setback. On the other hand sometimes it feels like he never left this word. This is because since his death, there has not been a week past that I did not have a reason to remember his words or borrow a leaf from his actions. Many times I have been saved from heart ache and trouble simply by considering his words and actions before taking decisions. Thinking about it, I believe he deliberately lived a life that would speak to me throughout my journey through life especially when he was no longer there to speak to me. Of course he had his own short comings; I believe he did a good job as a father. In honour of this great man whose contribution to my life is immeasurable, I want to share with you a few things from his life that still speaks to me. MY FATHER WAS A HIGHLY DETERMINED MAN Born to an artisan father and a non working mother who were both illiterates, he was raised under conditions that could excuse his failure. However he was determined not to fail in life. Even his father’s death when he was 15years old did not deter him. With great determination, he went through many days that he was not sure he would get food to eat, many sleepless nights, a season of lack and many uncomfortable situations. At the end of his life he had bagged several degrees, worked as a banker and lived abroad. He was also married with kids who he did his best to give greater opportunities than he had at the beginning of his life. He used to say ‘ONLY WHAT YOU PERMIT HAS THE POWER TO HOLD YOU DOWN’ MY FATHER WAS A MAN OF DISCIPLINE AND INTEGRITY My father was a man not given to frivolities at all. When he decided to put a stop to any endeavour, no Jupiter can make him change his mind. He used to say that the measure of a man is how he took his word. So if he wasn’t going to do it, he would never say it. I can boldly say that throughout his life there was no other woman and there was no vice that threatened the sanctity and stability of our home. We could expect that our needs would be met according to his capacity and we were seldom disappointed. MY FATHER LIVED A HONOURABLE LIFE As a result of the conditions he had to endure growing up, some people would resort to unwholesome means to help themselves. Not my father. He abhorred anything evil with so much passion that all it took to lose his friendship was to attempt to get him to do anything bad. Even though I was a child then, I can recall many friends he dissociated from because they gave him bad advice. He used to say ‘THE ONLY THING THAT IS TRULY YOURS IS YOUR NAME.’ MY FATHER HONOURED WOMEN I am among the privileged children who can boldly say I never witnessed physical abuse in my home as a child. I remember being so aghast the first time a friend told me his father usually beats his mom. My father always said that it was a brute of a man that beats his wife. I was raised in an atmosphere where the men took on the physically exerting chores in the house like carrying heavy things, grass cutting etc. The beautiful part of this story is that his treatment of women was not limited to his family. He would not even allow maids to be maltreated. To him they were not maids but PEOPLE who help us to maintain and manage the house while we are away. Daddy, I thank God for helping you to be the kind of example that you were. By God’s grace I promise to take the baton farther to a place of greatness. I DEDICATE ALL MY PAST AND FUTURE SUCCESSES TO YOU AFTER GOD ALMIGHTY. You were a great dad who lived a powerful life. By God’s grace I know I would be at least as great a father as you were. YOU LIVE FOREVER IN MY HEART.

SPIRIT SENSE 2

IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST PART OF THIS PIECE, PLEASE VISIT http://titans-arising.blogspot.com IN the beginning of this piece, it was established that faith is needed to experience God’s promises in your life and SPIRIT SENSE is the key to walking in faith. I believe it is therefore important to talk about developing spirit sense. Every believer has the potential to operate in spirit sense because their spirits came alive at salvation. Unfortunately, not every believer fulfills that potential. This is because to operate in spirit sense there is a need to consciously develop the mind of your spirit to a point where it can subdue the mind of your flesh. With a developed mind in the spirit, you begin to reason like God. At this realm it is easy to understand his ways and believe his capacity. As a result experiencing God’s promises in your life becomes a natural occurrence. Having said this much, it is important to state that the key to developing your potential to operate in spirit sense is maintaining a close relationship with God. Psychologists affirm that we are most likely to become like the people we relate to the most. This statement is true both for natural and spiritual relationships. Another true assertion is that all relationships (including man’s relationship with God) thrive with communion. Therefore to maintain a close relationship with God you need to stay in constant communion with him. The exchange that occurs in your communion with God helps your spirit to mature which in turn increases you ability to operate in spirit sense. For the purpose of this piece, I want to briefly describe three basic avenues of communion with God. HIS WORD The word of God is the medium through which he communicates with his children. Through his word, God reveals his personality, attributes, actions and intentions to the believer dedicated to its study. To help us benefit maximally from the word of God, Jesus told us that the word of God is spirit and life. Thus the believer relates to God’s word through his own spirit and with the help of the Holy Spirit. Only then can he experience the renewing power of God word in his spirit. As his spirit becomes renewed, his mind becomes transformed and he is now able to operate his spirit sense. PRAYER While God speaks to us through his word, we speak back to him in prayer. However, prayer is effective as a means of communing with God if we understand his word. Otherwise, it is like speaking my dialect (ile-ife) to a French man who has never being to Nigeria. One thing effective prayer does for a believer is make tremendous power available to the believer. This power transforms the believer by empowering his spirit. With an empowered spirit comes increased understanding of the person of God through his word. When this happens, his spirit sense becomes more active and he to not only experiences God’s promises in his life, he becomes a channel through which God’s kingdom in established on earth. PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT I can’t talk about prayer without talking about praying in the Holy Spirit. Apostle Peter recommends praying in the Holy Spirit as a means of building up your most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit is important because it helps to break through language barriers and bypass all protocol to speak directly to the Holy of Holies. You can be rest assured that at the close of that conversation, your spirit man would be much more powerful. As such, you would not find it difficult to operate with your spirit sense. WORSHIP Naturally, an understanding of the personality and attributes of God produces worship in the heart of any believer. This heartfelt worship is a sweet smelling aroma to God and he responds with his mighty presence. Whenever divinity meets humanity in a scenario like this, the seed of divinity resident in humanity takes a step closer to becoming a mighty tree. The mind of man becomes more in sync with the mind of God. When this happens in the life of any believer, it becomes very easy to experience the manifestation of God’s promises. This is because your mind now agrees with God and all doubt has been completely destroyed. In computer terms, SPIRIT SENSE MODE FULLY ACTIVATED. In conclusion, the measure of God’s promises manifesting in your life is a function of the degree of spirit sense you are operating with. Take a step to improve the power of your spirit sense today and see your faith rise to the stratosphere. Remember, the world is waiting for you to manifest the promises of your father. MAY GOD BLESS YOU. IF YOU WERE BLESSED BY THIS PIECE, PLEASE SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. 08030633106, olasodeoladapo@gmail.com

SPIRIT SENSE

SPIRIT SENSE (PART 1) One of the major things an avid bible student would notice are the lofty promise it contains for the believer. Naturally, these promises produce a healthy dose of joy in the heart of the student. Sadly, this joy can quickly become frustration because very few believers experience a manifestation of God’s promises in their lives. This has led many to conclude that these promises are either not meant for everybody or impossible to achieve. However, a closer study of the bible reveals conditions to fulfill to experience these promise. One of them is Faith. Several scriptures underscore the importance of faith in receiving God’s promises. Having established the importance of faith, it is important to say a few things on faith itself. For me, faith is (i) Believing the possibility of the promise located in God’s word. (ii) Believing in the capacity and integrity of the one who made the promise so much that you know he would perform his words. Carefully meditating on these definitions, it is clear how the enemy gets to work to make sure believers do not experience God’s promise. Although they believe in God, he convinces believers of the impracticability of God’s promise by appealing to their five senses (COMMON SENSE). To further nail the coffin, the enemy brings way more “Common Sense” people preferably those we respect is that we believe them saying to ourselves “this does not make sense”. At this point, it becomes completely impossible to experience God’s promises in our lives. After experiencing this for the better part of my Christian life I found God’s mercy. He suddenly revealed to me that all the people that experience God’s promises in their lives do not relate with Gods promises their common sense. Consider Abraham, a 75years Old man whom God promised a child and he believed it till the child eventually came when he was a hundred years Old and his wife 90years. Common sense would have him told him it was impossible; (common sense spoke to his wife) when he spoke of the promise to people around him I imagine them telling him what you are saying does not make (common) sense. Yet he was able to hold on to the promise till it manifested in his life. I believe this is because he said to common sense SHUT UP. Also consider with me the case in the scripture when the man of God suddenly said in the midst of famine that by this time tomorrow there would be “Super” Abundance. Imagine the most respected prophet in Nigeria saying “by this time tomorrow $I would be equivalent to #1. Just like the Kings adviser in that bible story common sense is crashing the operating system of your mind. In the end, the king’s adviser witnesses the manifestation of God’s promise but he did not experience it. When Abraham said SHUT UP to common sense, he opened the door of his mind to another kind of sense. A friend of mine aptly named it SPIRIT SENSE. Apostle Paul spoke of spirit sense when he said that the carnal mind (common sense) cannot discern the things of God because they are spiritually (SPIRIT SENSE) discerned. According to Paul, you cannot understand God unless you operate with SPIRIT SENSE. This is because God is a spirit therefore his thoughts and language are of the spirit. As such they require Spirit Sense to decode his thoughts words and action. Secondly the capacity of common sense is infinitesimal when compared to Spirit Sense. An attempt to deploy common sense to understand and relate with Spirit information is like trying to perform a task that requires a computer with 4 GB hard disk with a computer with 258Mb hard disk. That computer would malfunction and even crash sometimes. Incase you are wondering why I wrote this piece, it is to encourage us believers (Myself inclusive) not to let go of the promise of our Father because it is bigger than our common sense can understand. When the enemy tells you that a certain promise of God for your live does not make common sense tell him that it makes Spirit Sense. Because that’s the truth; we may not be able to comprehend God’s promises with our common sense. But in our Spirits we know all things including the fact that our God can do what he says would do. Let’s not loose hope rather lets place our hope in God. FOR HE WOULD DO WHAT HE SAYS HE WOULD DO. GOD BLESS YOU. N.B If this piece has blessed you. Please take a minute to do the following, Comment with God’s promise you have found in any area of our life and hash tag it makes Spirit Sense. E.g. the world belongs to me. #it makes Spirit Sense#. Let’s make this hash tag go viral. You would be blessing somebody. PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR THE CONCLUDING PART OF THIS PIECE. TITLED “DEVELOPING SPIRIT SENSE”

EXCUSE FOR SUCCESS

The word “excuse” is defined as a reason put forward to justify a fault or failure. This definition makes an excuse the most powerful thing working against the success of any individual. The reason is that an excuse provides an opportunity to defend failure. Once failure is justifiable, there is no reason to strive for success. It follows that success is unattainable until an individual reaches a point where nothing is good enough to justify his/her present condition. Since an excuse carries in it tremendous power to convince a person of the necessity of a said condition, I hereby present 5 major excuse for success. This is with the hope that you would be so motivated that nothing would be able to keep you on the same spot. Please read through with an open mind and I am certain you would be blessed. EXCUSE I (YOU WERE MADE IN GOD IMAGE). If you believe that you were made by God exactly in his image, you would realize that you have no option than to be an outstanding success. This is because your maker has always been and would always be a mega success and you carry his “DNA OF SUCCESS” in your spirit. Therefore, success is not what you become, IT’S WHO YOU ARE. Once you get this, you are completely delivered from everything preventing you from displaying the success within you. You faith in God and your potential also increase tremendously. As a result, you would stop settling for anything less than the success resident in you. EXCUSE II(ANYTHING LESS THAN OUTSTANDING SUCCESS IS A WASTE OF GOD’S RESOURCES). To say you were created with success wired into the DNA of your spirit means that everything you require to manifest outstanding success was inputted into you at creation. If that is true, anything less is actually a waste of heaven’s resources. It is akin to staying hungry even though you have all the ingredients required to prepare a delicious meal. Allow me to state here that God hates it when his resources go to waste in this manner. Moreover, it simply does not make sense. If you understand this, you would set out to manifest the success resident in you with so much determination that no devil can stop you. This you would do with increased boldness because you know once have everything you need to succeed, success is not as difficult as you once believed. EXCUSE III(YOUR SUCCESS BRINGS GOD GLORY). The bible says “a wise son brings honour to his father”. Likeness, when you manifest your inner success, you bring glory to your maker. You also proof to the devil that he has lost the battle he initiated with your maker. Also, manifesting your inner success displays the supremacy of your maker over all idols and small gods worshipped in the world today. The devil understands this so he fights both and nails to ensure that God’s children do not manifest their inner success. But the man who understands the severity of this raging battle is already victorious because releases himself for God to reveal his glory through him. As such receive the full backing of heaver. Moreover, his love for God causes him to seek more ways to bring God glory. In the end, his success is immeasurable. EXCUSE IV (SUCCESS ENSURES YOUR UNENDING RELEVANCE). When you manifest your inner success, you become relevant to your generation. More importantly, the products of your life ensure that you remain relevant long after you have left the shores of this world. In other words manifesting your inner success gives you a legacy and helps you to preserve it. If you understand this, you would commit your life to a goal greater than mere existence because you know man has not really lived unless he leaves a legacy. You would also be ready to make the sacrifice necessary to manifest your inner success. In the end you would realize that you are much closer to being a blessing to your generation than you imagined. I know that many years to come; this piece would be part of my legacy to my generation. What would be your own legacy?. EXCUSE V (SUCCEED AND ENJOY LIFE). Nothing makes wealth and other thing you need to live comfortably flow to you like success. It ensures that the worry that comes with lack is reduced in your life to the barest minimum. The bible supports this ascertain with the saying that money is a defense. This is good because once lack is removed from a person’s life, the devils has lost a potent weapon he deploys to distract and derail such a person. Though it is God’s will for us to live above lack, he needs us to harness the resources he deposited in us so we can access every other thing he provided for us to succeed. Having said this much, this piece does not encourage the success by all means syndrome. Such ventures violate the true essence of this piece. Rather, it encourages every good, spirit driven effort. In conclusion, don’t settle for less. Never give up until you are that thing God ordained you to be. Don’t go to the grave with anything you were meant to bless your world with.

THE LIBERATED MIND

Notable among the features of world powers like the U.S.A is the vigorous pursuit and achievement of Freedom. This is because freedom gives them power to chart the course of their lives in the direction of their choice. In plain language, freedom allows them to pursue their own dreams. Over time, this concept has been abused, misconstrued and misdirected. All the same, it’s relevance to personal, national and world transformation and development count be over – emphasized. Little wonder freedom is the major bone of contention in majority of the world’s struggle today. I can also safely conclude that the real commodity traded in the world market is freedom. Every transaction either gives you an increased measure of freedom or takes away a part of your freedom. Super powers understand that the man who controls the flow of freedom in the world wields tremendous power. Therefore they have devised several means of obtaining and directing the flow of people’s freedom so they can deploy it for their own benefits. However, freedom as a concept resides in the mental faculty of the individual that possesses it. It is therefore controlled using belief systems and ideologies. For instance, a man can remain in captivity if he is convinced he is still in bondage even though he is free. Ideologies are often deployed either to facilitate growth or limit it. Limiting ideologies serve to effectively keep people in bondage. A good example is the belief that women are weaker sex therefore they are unable to handle important tasks. Women who belief this lie do not even dare to dream of greatness. Those who do are deemed bad women and accused of all sorts of misconduct. On the other hand, history is full of proof both of the possibility of conquering limiting ideologies and the fact that greatness is assured once limiting ideologies are out of the way. Many people never attain their full potential because they have been convinced that it is wrong to dream that big. In Africa, when your dream is bigger than most people can comprehend you are termed proud & arrogant. People reset the successful for their riches and wealth. Yet they crave the financial freedom that comes with wealth for themselves. As such, they remain complainers instead of active players in the game of life. How then does one rise above limiting ideologies? As a child of God, I believe that it is by measuring them against God’s word. Once the infallibility of God’s word is established in your heart, limiting ideologies would automatically reveal their numerous flaws. For instance the story of Debora, a woman who led Israel into battle firmly disproves the notion that women are naturally incapable of handling great leadership responsibilities. Once you see the flaws in these ideologies, you can effectively override them by declaring in prayer what the word of God says and refuse to live by anything contrary. I would also suggest objective analysis. This is an effort to determine whether or not those limiting ideologies are true. It is interesting to note that objective analysis would disprove almost all the limiting ideologies of today. To analyze these ideologies, ask questions like what is the real reason behind this belief / ideology? What is the benefit of this ideology to the people who hold them? What is the best & worst thing that can happen if I continue to live by this ideology? And finally what is best & worst thing that would happen if I stop living by them. This task is crucial because to create a better environment you have to think differently. Your future would only be different from your past/present if you let go of the limiting ideologies of your past/present. This piece would not be complete except I advise you to be ready for stiff opposition as you attempt to invalidate the limiting ideologies of your time. This is partly because if you succeed, you would tap into a realm of achievement most people in your generation only dream about. It is also because human beings are creatures of habit. They would vehemently fight anything different from what they are familiar with. However, your doggedness in the face of opposition would yield multiple dividends when you achieve your desired results. You would have successfully liberated yourself and would be ready to liberate others around you.

THE BURDEN OF WISDOM

The role of wisdom in ensuring a productive life for either an individual or organization cannot be over emphasized. This is due to the numerous sterling qualities that wisdom introduces into the life of any individual. As such Wisdom is one of the most sought after qualities by individuals or organizations. The bible also supports this quest for Wisdom by saying “WISDOM IS ‘THE PRINCIPAL THING: Ironically wisdom appears to be as elusive as it is important for productive living. I believe this is largely because people in search of Wisdom largely do not understand what they are looking for. WHAT THEN IS WISDOM: The book of proverbs clearly tells us that Wisdom is a person. This implies that to possess Wisdom, one has to court him. The word “court” here is used to mean that one has to create an environment in your spirit that Wisdom can dwell in. To court wisdom successfully, one needs to understand the nature of wisdom so you can adequately prepare yourself for this great guest. At this juncture, it is important to say that Wisdom is prepared to dwell with you permanently if he is comfortable in you. When wisdom is in operation, there is creativity, innovation, easy problem solving etc. However, Wisdom seeks to confer a burden on his host. This desire of Wisdom is so important that Wisdom dwells with a person/organization to the extent to which they are ready/able bear his burden. Wisdom eludes many because they either are not aware of its burden or are not prepared to bear it. So I don’t loose your attention, I would go ahead to state that the burden of this great guest is RESPONSIBILITY. The word responsibility implies that it is your duty to bring about a certain outcome. This tells us that you would receive a reward it that outcome is actualized and a punishment it is not achieved. This thought hit me like a thunder bolt. “The more Wisdom you acquire in a certain area of life, the greater your responsibility becomes to inspire, actualize positive changes in that area” Meditating further I realized that the foundation of all development across human history based on the acceptance of this truth. King Solomon understood this when he asked God for Wisdom, Knowledge and understanding. Plato understood it when he opined that “It the wise refuse to rule (accept this responsibility), then they risk the ruler ship of fools. To underscore the kind of disaster it is when fools are in position of authority, the bible says “woe unto the city whose king is a child". Interestingly, this responsibility is not limited to people in position of authority. Anyone with Wisdom in a certain area can contribute to positive outcomes in that area. Leaders with Wisdom go all out to seek the Wisdom embedded in their followers because they know that no man has the monopoly of Wisdom and two good heads are better them one. Followers who understand and accept this responsibility are actively involved in the actualization of team’s vision. They do no not need to be cajoled, induced and/or forced to contribute their quota. In this situation, things move on smoothly and the team vision is actualized effortlessly. I believe that the above paragraph totally explains the reason Nigeria is in the comatose state that she is as a nation. The people endowed with the necessary wisdom to effect national development have abandoned the responsibility to do so. The result is that our nation is struggling with basic things after more than 50years of independence. Power now rests with people who are either not interested in national development or lack the capacity to effect change. This class of people over the years has ground Nigeria to a halt. Worse still, the people who are blessed with wisdom required how torn around to blame the leadership solely to the problems facing our great nation. We forget that this country is our country as such we have a duty to contribute towards its development. It’s our sole responsibility. Moreover the kind of country we pass on to the next generation is largely dependent on whether or not we accept responsibility for its revitalization. In conclusion, I want to ask in what area are you blessed with wisdom. What is that thing that you can do much easily then others? And lastly what one thing can you do to improve yourself, your organization and your nation. You need to answer this question and accept responsibility for that action if you are to live a productive and fulfilling life. YOU WOULD BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT YOU DID NOT FOR WHAT YOU COULD DO.