Category Archives: Confidence
Your Best
Gal.6:4 “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else” [with emphasis]
1 Cor. 13:8 “Love never fails.” You can either live in love or live in fear, it is your choice. I pray that you will choose love. If you live in love, you fear God. If you do not fear God, then you will fear many things. Fear God or be subject to the fear of everything else. Your choice!
In order to banish the fear of failure, so far we have learnt the five R’s. Remember that everybody fails. Realize that failure is not fatal. Read the rest of this entry
Risk Taking
Prov. 13:4 “The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich” [NKJV, with emphasis]
Jesus is a Master of story telling. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us the story of a master that gave money to three of his servants while he was travelling. Two of the servants took a risk, invested the money and made more. The third servant was afraid of failing, so he did nothing. Matt.25:25-26 “…I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground . . . His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant!’” [with emphasis]. The master responded with strong but instructive words. When we do not push the envelop of our lives, God sees us as wicked and lazy. When we cave in because of the fear of failing, God says wicked and lazy. Read the rest of this entry
In Perspective
Isa.46:4 “I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.”
I know what it is to be rejected so I have a soft spot for people that are going through rejection. You should too because even if you have not experienced it, the Bible says we ought to carry each other’s burdens. Sadly sometimes we are not empathetic. We have experienced help from God but we do not extend that same help to others. To banish the fear of rejection, I need to put God in first place, put people in their place, and put myself in the proper place.
Line of Sight
Ps.27: 1 “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation. I will fear no one.” [GN, with emphasis].
Jn.12:42-43 “…many believed in Jesus. But they would not admit it for fear of the Pharisees… They were more concerned to have the approval of men than the approval of God” [Ph].
The last damaging effect of the fear of rejection that we will be looking at is: it Produces depression and unhappiness. Being more concerned about the approval of men rather than the approval of God produces depression and unhappiness.
Solution
Eph.5:25 “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her” [with emphasis]
Men, before you got married, you must have thought this was the easiest instruction to follow right? But a lot of men feel that if they were to love their wives, the women would begin to take them for granted. The truth is that some women do not know how to behave and for this reason they would abuse the love you give. But the answer and the only response to such people actually is love. Some men Read the rest of this entry
The Power
Rom.4:17 “…Abraham believed in the God… 18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” [with emphasis]
Abraham kept hoping even when everything was speaking contrary- his body was speaking contrary, his wife’s body was speaking contrary, and even his culture was speaking contrary. Abraham’s friends must have had a field day mocking him, – from Abram [exalted father] to Abraham [father of nations] and still no children; he must have been the subject of every joke.
Even though everything was speaking contrary, Abraham believed and maintained a single line of command. If God has said it Read the rest of this entry
Knowing I
Luke 21:33 [TLB] “And though all heaven and earth shall pass away, yet my words remain forever true.”
Over the next few days, we are going to learn six plus one ways of testing a message and recognizing God’s voice. This is not some clever way of getting you to solve a math problem. It is six plus one because the first six ways are indispensable. Every Word from God must pass the first six tests. If it fails even one out of the six, throw it out or keep it in the cooler. The seventh is also very crucial but again it is not. You can authenticate with just the first six. So let us just say the seventh is an added advantage.
Trust God!
“People with integrity have a firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall” Pr. 10:9.
If you have walked the path of integrity, you will have nothing to hide. You need to determine what is more important in your life, is it truth or is it things? If things are more important to you, you will compromise easily. Greed is the fastest route to compromise. If truth is more important, regardless of what it is, God will keep you and hold you.
#2. In compromising situations, the second thing you do is Trust God For Your Future. Sometimes you see unethical people and it appears that they are prospering. Do not worry; it is just for a short time, believe me. But again it is not even your business; just trust God for your future. You trust God for your future. “Don’t envy evil men but continue to reverence the Lord all the time, for surely you have a wonderful future ahead of you.” Pr. 23:17-18 [LB, emphasis added]. How certain? Surely! I can tell you this because I stand at the pulpit and I sit at the pew. Meaning, I face the same challenges you face.
I run a business and there was this solution I had an idea of. So I pushed the proposal to a friend that was the Chief Technology Officer of a bank at the time. It was going to save them millions of naira and overtime, hundreds of millions of dollars. My friend saw the proposal, jumped at it and he removed the commercial page. So he got a blank cheque approval for it. I was excited about the approval until I discovered he had removed the commercial page. He said my quote was too small. I need to multiply it by fifteen because of all the people we have to “settle”. That was my first business in the year. I thought, what kind of temptation is this? I needed that money, I have a family to feed.
But in compromising situations you do the right thing. I refused to connive with him to defraud the organization by inflating the price. And that was the end of the deal. The second thing to do in compromising situations is to trust God for your future. He ran into a mutual friend and recounted everything to him. But our mutual friend laughed and said, Femi would never do a thing like that. When I heard it I felt very happy that at least people know. I pray the same would be said of you.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to reverence You at all times and trust You completely for the future You have planned for me, in Jesus Name.
Confront It!
“The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones” Eze.37:1
Please read Ezekiel 37:1-14. God needed to work with Ezekiel to change the dry bones situation. God needs to work with you to change whatever situation you are facing. Whatever you forbid on earth, whatever you disallow on earth, will be bound, forbidden, disallowed in heaven. Whatever you permit, whatever you allow on earth will be allowed in heaven [Matthew 16:19 paraphrased]. God was saying to Ezekiel that you cannot have transformation if you are Read the rest of this entry
Fearless
“Then the Lord turned… said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel… I am sending you!” “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” Judg.6:14-15
The hero is just the coward that held on five minutes longer. Courage is a habit and you can develop it. The only person who has never fallen is the person who has never walked. Do not be afraid of falling. The question usually on a lot of people’s minds is what if I try and it does not work? Big deal! Get up again. Fear is based on exaggeration while faith is based on inspiration [God’s Word that has exploded in your mind]. You need to be courageous. Read the rest of this entry
