MAXIMIZING YOUR LIFE

Maximizing your life

What is the meaning of the word MAXIMIZE? To maximize means to increase SOMETHING as much as possible, or to make the best of SOMETHING. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. International Student’s Edition. New 8th edition).

And Cambridge English Dictionary defines Maximize as “to make SOMETHING as great in amount, size or importance as possible.”

What does LIFE mean? Life according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. International Student’s Edition. New 8th edition says “the ability to breath, grow and reproduce.”

Another English dictionary says “life is the period between birth and death or the state or the experience of being alive.”

To me with the above definitions understanding what it means to maximize one’s life won’t be any difficult because I believe the above definitions are simple enough to put anyone on his feet knowing fully well that we have a limited time to work here on earth before we die.

MAXIMIZING YOUR LIFE, this is what I have to say or write about it:

1.      To make the best of SOMETHING while you still have the ability to breath, grow and reproduce.

2.      To make SOMETHING important as possible as you experience being alive.

If you look at the Dictionary definitions I wrote above you would find out that I wrote SOMETHING in uppercase. I wrote it like that because to me I believe that it is in the SOMETHING that whatever we need to understand lies.

Therefore you should know the SOMETHING here stands for ANYTHING you do now or will do after now. Whether you are teaching, writing, getting married, dating, eating, changing one’s life, dancing, watching movie, watching football, schooling, etc., or you are going to do these things in the future. They are the SOMETHING you have to maximize because they are your life. These things are the things you have to make best of. It is very simple; if you fail to make the best of them it means you have failed to make the best of your life.

Another thing of importance here to note is “we are not here to live indefinitely; therefore a time comes when we can no more breathe, grow or reproduce.” The writer of Ecclesiastes is so emphatic about this when he wrote Ecclesiastes 3:1-2  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  ² A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”

With this in our minds we are to know that we have very short time to write our names on the Marble or leave our foot prints on the sand of time. Therefore you don’t have all the time in this world to make impact. The only time you have is now. When I say NOW I mean today.

To maximize your life you have to do “that” SOMETHING you do now as if your life depends on it (in actual sense your life depends on it.) How well or bad you will live tomorrow is totally dependent on how you do “that” SOMETHING you are doing now or you will do tomorrow.

I know there are many people who don’t like hearing or reading about anything that has to do with death. It is funny because we all know that one day; one by one we all shall die. Death is inevitable. It is something none of us can avoid. The worst of everything today is young people die more than old people. It is something that worries me anyway.

TAKE NOTE OF THESE POINTS:

a.      You don’t have all the time in this world to make impact. The only time you have is NOW.

b.      You have a life given to you by God and that life is not given to you to live it as you wish. You don’t have to waste the life by leaving as you wish. The giver of the life will request you give account of how you spent it. (Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”)

c.       The life Giver requires you reproduce another life. The first thing God said when blessing the man, the image He created out of dust and sent His breathe in; is “be fruitful” (Genesis 1:28). That sentence simply means “be productive.” We all know every fruit reproduces its kind. That is natural law.

Here I am not talking about having children, I am talking about reproducing someone like you in the work you do. It is said “a success without a successor is a failure.” Whoever that made this quote first is a very wise person.

Maximizing your life has nothing to do with how many houses or cars you have but it has to do with your reproductive ability. (I am not saying having cars or building houses or other properties is bad. That’s not what I am saying here.) What I am saying here is this “people will not count you as one who has really maximized his life because of the properties you acquire but based on how many people whose lives you were able to impact by reproducing yourself in them.

NOTE: Whether you impacted people positively or negatively, you will be remembered in them all. This is why it is important we make positive impact on people. We have to reproduce the good part of us in the people we work with or even work for.

Don’t forget there is a time when we can’t be able to reproduce. There is always that time when we can’t be able to influence anyone. Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 talks much about this. Therefore the only time you have to maximize your life is now.

d.      Every second you spend here on earth, you spent it between your birth and your death and they are worth spending with care and caution. You have to be deliberate about your life and what you do with it. Do not leave your life in the hand of chance. Those who are successful in life are those who are DELIBERATE in their action. Nothing just happens, things happen because someone made them happen.

e.      Every second you spend on frivolous activity is wasting a portion of your life which if time is not taking, you won’t be able to recover it till death.

Few years ago something happened that brought tears to my eyes and fear to my heart. I was invited to a church in Lagos for their annual thanksgiving service and when I got there, I didn’t want them to give me sit among the priests, pastors and clergies because I was not one. I was once a guest speaker in one of their youth programme. While waiting outside for them to make a space for me somewhere at the back as I instructed one of the ushers that came to welcome me. One man who by my own calculation would be in his 70s walked up to me and greeted me and I smiled as anybody in my position would do.

To cut the long story shot; the man told me that there is something he learnt from what I told them when I was there as a guest speaker that he has been putting into practice since then and it has been helping him leave a better life. I was happy to hear that because as a motivator or inspirational speaker my joy is always to see or hear people talk about how God through me has changed their lives. But the man now said something that brought fear and tears to my heart and eyes. He said “how I wish I have known it when I was younger, my life would have been a different story now.”  I became afraid as tears rolled down my eyes. My fear is this; when I will be in my 70s will I have any regret of what I would have done that didn’t do because of my personal mistake? The statement from that man shook the root of my entire life. Friends, my desire is that none of you reading this piece would say what that man said when you have become old or older.

TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LIFE you have to

1.      WORK WITH TIME:

Always remember that time waits for no man. You should know that “anytime you spend your time in doing something, no matter what it is, you are spending your life.” Your time is your life. If you waste anytime, you waste your life.

Youth Wing of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (YOWIPFN) in Mushin area of Lagos State invited to me to speak in one of their youth programmes and after the programme, another pastor took the opportunity to ask me to come to talk to his youths. I agreed and asked him when their meeting would be starting. He told me the programme would start by 6pm. I said okay. Then he told me that I should not bother coming by 6pm that I should come later. He told me that I should come around 7pm so that once I come in I would be given the microphone.  I smiled and told him I will be coming by 5 minutes to 6pm. And he was surprised to see me in his office before 6pm. I have many reasons why I like going to programmes where I am a guest speaker earlier or on time. (If you want to know then ask me in secret). Laughs.

People who are close to me know that I don’t joke with time. I don’t joke with time because I know my time is my life. The first thing I always ask any person or group of people whenever I am invited to speak is “when is the programme starting?” One thing I learnt from those who are mentoring me is managing my time and managing it very well.

One of the things that killed Sapphira in Acts 5 is misusing her time. If she was there on time with her husband and see what happened to her husband she would have told Apostle Peter the truth and save herself from untimely death.

a.      You don’t have to procrastinate. Procrastination is a thief of time. And anything that steals you time stills your life. John 10:10a says “the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” Anytime you procrastinate, you expose yourself, your life to danger of being stolen, killed and destruction.

b.      Create time for anything you want to do or you are doing. You must create time to play. Time to read or study. Time to do your work. Time to play with your wife and children. Time to surf the net, chat, sleep and time to just lie down doing nothing but relaxing. All these things I wrote above are very important if you want to maximize your life. If you work without playing, tendencies for you to die younger than God planned are higher. If you also play more than you should, the tendency for you to die a poorer person is higher too.

There is a saying that says “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” But I have added something to it “more play and less work makes you a poor man.”

2.      ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHT:

We are living in a world and at a time when what we see or hear are being dictated by our environment. When I say environment, it is not limited to where we live or places we go physically.

The word environment has changed with time. At this moment or time, internet, our phone, television or even magazines have all become “our” environment. I always tell me people that my friends live in my phone. The statement is true to every one of us especially young people. And this is one thing our parents or those of older generation do not understand. Our parents or people of older generation do not know that what their children face today is beyond what where they live physically can handle.

If you want to maximize your life you have to organize your thought. Decide what stays and what don’t. Do not allow your friends or the things that happen around you both in and outside your phone to control your mind.

Decide what you meditate in and what you don’t. It is not all manner of music you hear or watch the video or fashion you see along the road or in a magazine that you should get yourself involved with.

Our mind is a battle field and many battles have been won and lost in our mind. Anybody who fails to take control of what stays in his mind in this generation will live to see himself rubbished. There are some programmes they air on our airwaves that I have kept asking what the sponsors want to achieve with them.

The writer of Proverbs 4:23, says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

The Hebrew word translated “diligence” here is “mishmar” pronounced “mish-mawr,” meaning; “place of confinement, prison, guard, jail, guard post, watch or observe.”

I won’t dwell so much on this point but by what is written above you should by now know what I am advising you to do to and with your thought or with your heart.

You have to put your heart in prison, you have to guard your because it is from the what keeps you alive or takes you to death comes from.

One thing that is certain about human being is this; humans are spirits that have souls and live in a body. Our soul which is our heart is the home to our emotion, desires, feelings and wills. This part of our lives can never get born again. Apostle Paul while writing to the Roman Jews told them to organize their thought. This is how he puts it, in Romans 12:2 he wrote, “…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

He told them to renew their mind, which in simple term means; do not allow wrong pictures and thoughts to stay longer than necessary in your mind. We should avoid mediating on those issues and pictures we see around us everyday that reduces us to mare objects.

Let me conclude by saying this. You can maximize your life if you so wish. God has given us all that pertains to live and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). All you have to do is to get back to Him and He will guide you into all truth.

Thank you so much and God bless you as I see you maximize your life.

Onuigwe Chidi Sirnoel

LOVE SO AMAZING

 

The greatest thing that can happen to any human being is to find someone that loves him and show him love expressly without asking for anything in return. The reason is because all humans seek after love. All of us want someone who will tell us how much he loves us and also go ahead to show us love practically.

Love is expensive and rare to find in today's world because humans cannot be trusted. Many people profess love but do not practice love. So many people have been hurt because they loved someone who does not deserve their love. Some people are devastated emotionally and psychologically today because of how someone misused the love they gave to the person. There are so much heart break and pain all because someone loved a wrong person. However, not minding all these pains and even shame, there is still LOVE SO AMAZING.

LOVE SO AMAZING is found in Christ. The man who responded to HIS Father's heart cry for love. God the Father looked down from His everlasting throne and discovered that men lacked love. He saw that men were and still in need of love; He them shouted out of desperation “whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Jesus Christ the only Begotten of the Father out of LOVE SO AMAZING responded in affirmative. He said “here am I; send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

God knew that for Him to show human being how much He loves them; He has to do something out of the ordinary. What did He do? He gave His only Son and all He is asking you to do is to believe in Him.  He is asking you to believe in Him so that you don't have to perish or suffer in life after now. (John 3:16) What God is requesting from you as a person is not easy but it is possible and achievable.

Jesus Christ does not care about how bad your life has been. He does not care if you have hated Him all these while. He does not care about the level of sin you have committed. He doesn't care if you have killed or shed blood through any means. He doesn't care if you live in lie or sexual immorality. He doesn't care about how much you have pretended to be righteous. He doesn't care if you have hated and persecuted believers and preachers. He knew that you are living in these sins before He agreed to die on your behalf. Jesus knows the level of your sinful life. He understands all your struggles. He knows everything about your secret and public life; yet He choose to die for you. (Romans 5:8)

My friend all Jesus Christ is asking you to do now is for you to come to Him. In Matthew 11:28 He says “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus Christ is calling you today to come to Him and enjoy HIS LOVE SO AMAZING.

Before you drop this paper in your hand, take a second to think about the type of death this man Jesus Christ died as a result of sins of mankind. Remember He was taken to Calvary and hung on a cross. He was nailed to that cross. He was beaten and people spat on his face. He was given a crown of thorn. He went through so many shameful and humiliating things just because He loves you. Remember He committed no crime of his own. 1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”

Do not ignore Him, come to Him today. Pray this prayer;

Dear Jesus, I am a sinner.  I believe you are the son of God and died for my sins on the cross.  Forgive all of my sins.  Jesus, I repent and ask you to have mercy on me, a sinner, and come into my life.  Give me your spirit and your power. Help me to follow and obey your ever loving teachings, and to live for you.  Jesus, I give you my life and my heart.  Please come and take full control of my life style from this moment upward. Write my name in your book of life. Thank you for hearing my prayer.  Thank you for coming into my life. Amen.

(image credit to http://www.sharefaith.com)

BETWEEN YOUR PRAYER REQUEST & GOD'S ANSWER

Many times we tend to miss the answer to our prayers because of the little distractions that always occur between the time of our request and the answer to our prayers.
I won't actually blame anyone that misses it at that point because it is not always easy to wait. But experience has taught me that anytime we present our needs to God and God assures us of His positive response to our needs, it is worth it for us to wait.
God through His Spirit made me to understand that we always fall out because of distractions that we see when He is on His way to give us what we have requested for.
Let us take a look at Mark 5:21-42.
This is a story we all know very well. It about Jairus a leader of a synagogue.

HIS REQUEST:
Jairus came to Jesus Christ and requested that Jesus Christ follow him to his house to lay his hand upon his 12years old sick daughter. Of which Jesus obliged him.

I know that you who is reading this post or writeup has made many requests to God in the time past. I am sure that some of you just finished making a request to God few minutes ago before you started reading this. The way Jesus agreed to go with Jairus to his house is how He has agreed to meet you at the point of your need. In Jesus name. Amen.
Many of us always shout amen and jump up when a declaration is made upon our head from the pulpit in response to our prayer and heart desire. But soon we tend to become melancholic when we have not seen what we shouted hallelujah and amen for.
Our attitude at times makes it look as if God has lied or if the person whom He used to make that pronouncement is lying. But the truth is that God does not lie and the person whom God used to make that pronouncement didn't also lie.
The simple thing that happen is that the space between the time of our request and our actual receiving of our request is always filled with distractions. At that point we always lose focus.

BACK TO JAIRUS:
As Jesus was on His way to Jairus' house, two things happened in quick succession. The first thing that happened was a positive distraction which occoured when a woman who had been sick for 12years with a hemorrhage (24-32 The Living Bible) touched His cloth which produced her instant healing.
This type of miracle can also be a negative distraction to some of us. Imagine you have been waiting on God to release the answer to a promise He has made to you and out of the blues someone else who is not even as strong as you are in the Christian faith (as you think) just got a miracle even without praying about it as seriously as you have done.
The first thing that will come to your mind once you hear the testimony is God is either partial or He doesn't exist. The truth is God is neither partial nor a lying. But He does things in His own time not according to our own. He knows when best to respond to our heart cry. He knows when if He gives us what we are asking for the ovation will be highest.
God does not just things for doing sake. He is not one jobless god that has to do something anyhow to remain relevant. No! That not the God I know and serve.

What God has planned to do with the miracle He will perform in your life is to use it to shake your family. He wants to use it to make noise in your area. He wants that miracles to make headline news. Don't be distracted because all your mates seem to have gone far and higher than you. Relax trust God and watch Him shoot you like a missile.

The second thing that happened was when Jairus servants came to tell him not trouble Jesus any longer because the girl has died (35). These people that came with this information presented themselves as people who care so much about both Jairus and Jesus. But in the real sense of it they are harbingers of evil news and distractions to Jairus' miracle.

Everyday in our journey of life we meet these men and women on our way. They are always people close to us. People we trust and people who claim to love us. They present themselves as people whom God has brought around us for succour and favour while they are the people who have been blocking us from seeing the fullness of God's love in our lives. They will sympathize with us to the extent we forget God and His promises for us. Sometimes these people looks more Christian than us.
As you read this piece take time to think about those around you. Have you mate this kind of people before? Are they in your life right now.

These people are too strong for you to handle. You can't fight them off. You can't run or walk away from them. But what I am sure of is that Jesus Christ knows how to do away with them, and He will help you do away with them off your life. Amen.

DON'T BE AFRAID, JUST TRUST ME.
In verse 36 (The Living Bible) the Bible says, jesus ignored them and turned to Jairus and said "don't be afraid, just true me."
This day I am here to remind you that same thing Jesus told Jairus. Don't be afraid, just trust Jesus He will see you through.
Jesus went to his house and raise his daughter.

Friend trust God and He will not let you cry more than necessary...

Onuigwe Chidi Sirnoel

WAIT NO LONGER

Success belongs to that person that understands how to do. I mean that person that knows how to take the bull by the horn without wasting anytime at all. That person that understands how to do what should be done and is ready to do it NOW. That person who does not put things off in the name of NEXT TIME. Because from my own findings I have discovered that there is nothing that keeps a person down at a spot than “I will do it tomorrow or the next day.” It is called procrastination. Procrastination drains our ability to succeed. Because it keeps us from doing what needs to be done, when it is supposed to be done. A wise man said “procrastination is a thief of time.” And this is very true. Procrastination stole the time of many parents. It stole the time of many people who are roaming our streets and path ways, begging for alms. And it is still stealing the time of so many young people today.

When I look around and see old men who are engaged in things like truck pushing, Motor cycle riding (Okada) or who act as gate men and other hard and tedious jobs, I always ask myself; why are they doing this now? Is it because they were once well-to-do but situation turned around and things became bad or is it because they fail to do what they are supposed to do at a particular point when they were in their young age? Are they into this because their parents were not able to train them in something better? Or is it because they lost TIME to PROCRASTINATION? These questions most times push me into action because one thing I dread so much as a person is living a sympathetic life when I will be in my 60s or 70s.

One day I was invited by a church in Lagos for their thanksgiving service. I got to the church late because I had another engagement somewhere else. So when I got to the venue, I stood outside not wanting to draw attention because I have been to the church about two times or more (I can’t remember now) as a guest speaker. As I was outside waiting for one of the Usher to get me somewhere to sit at the back. Something that brought tears to eyes happen. One old man who would be either in his late 60s or early 70s walked up to me and greeted me. I responded with a broad smile. He said, “my son I know that you don’t know me.” I was quiet and still smiling because someone who is in what I call “speaking business” can never know all those that know him or her. He continued, “my son do you know that at my age I practice those things you taught us when you came here the last time. They are what I am putting into practice now and they are helping me. I wish I had known them when I was younger, I would have been greater than what I am now.” All the while I was smiling but after the last line of his words, smile was drain off my lips. Because something pierced my heart and fear gripped me. Fear gripped me because one thing that is hunting many old people today is what they could have done when they were young that they didn’t do. Not because there were no opportunity but because something that is less importance took away their time.

Even today there are many people who crying about unemployment that knows within themselves that the reason why they are unemployed and even unemployable is because they played away their time in school. Or that they failed to learn a particular skill that would have pushed them forward. The good news is that if you start today, you didn’t start late. There is no reason to allow regret of what you failed to do to keep you in chains. You can stand up now and start something, even if you can’t conclude it before your death or transfer, someone or whoever that concludes it will never tell the story of how it started without mentioning your name.

I have discovered that when someone is young, the person thinks that all the time in this world belongs to him or her. Most youths do not know that there is no time at all. Many young people are chasing shadows thinking that they are running after something tangible. Many youths live in what I call “optical illusion.” Following a road that leads to nowhere. My prayer for myself and every young person out there is this; may we never live to regret what we didn’t do which we could have done when we grow old. Amen.

Jesus Christ said, “I must work the work of Him that sent me while it is day.” He said this because He understood that one day ones light would be turned off. Some life would turn off by age, some by transfer others by marriage. There are things which If you don’t do this year by next year you can’t try it because your mates would have gone far above you. There are some things which if you don’t do now, once you get married, you can’t do them anymore. So please before night of any type falls around you, wait no longer, do what need to be done now.

Someone said, “today is my tomorrow, to take control and seize every opportunity.” I will also love for you to say the same thing. if you turn today into your tomorrow, I promise you by the time you see yourself next time, you will be glad you read this write up. You have to seize every opportunity that comes your way. Some things can only be ours when we grab them by force. Do not wait to be spoon fed by anybody. Take charge of your life and, make the most of it. The power that will give you a place amongst great men in the choices you make every day. The choice you must make after reading this piece should be, I WAIT NO LONGER. Do not wait any longer. Go into action and take action. Let me re echo what Harry A. Hopf said, “often greater risk is involved in postponement than in making wrong decision.” Therefore do not be afraid of making wrong decision. It is better than to make mistake than and learn from it NOW than not to make any mistake and die of heart attack from the pain of what you could have done that you didn’t do tomorrow.

Let me round of this piece with this German Proverb, “begin to weave now and God will give you the thread.” Just get it done and do it now.

Onuigwe Chidi Sirnoel

Follow me on twitter.com/chigold101

THE MAN BEHIND THE VEIL

Looking at how life kept turning many people around and how other people make some other persons feel inferior. I had this strong urge to write this piece because someone out there whom I may never know needs to read it and pick up the broken pieces of his or her life.

Let me start by telling you that what determines whom you become is not what that person around you told you. I will also say that your family and friends do not have the right to define your person to you. Even you who is reading this piece do not have the right to define yourself. The only person that has the full right to define you is the person that made you; the person that created you.

A car does not decide what it is built for. It is the manufacturer that determines what the car is built for and what the car should be called. The driver of the car might use the car for any other thing but that will mean “abusing the car.”

So many of us have abused our lives by the things we do with it. Some of us abuse our lives by the things we say about ourselves. Some of us have also abused ourselves by what we call ourselves. Many a time, we blame others for abusing us in one way or another while we are the greatest “abusers” of our lives.

You must dare to be yourself. May Sarton wrote, “We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” Become whom God has built you to be.

What I want to tell you that read this piece is that whatever it is the world around you and you yourself have called yourself that is contrary to what your maker calls you will stop having negative effect on you after reading this write up. After reading this piece the pain and emotional pain and psychological defect which have followed you for sometimes will fly away with the wind, never to come back.

Follow me…

THE SPIRIT THAT LIVES IN ME:

The Spirit that lives you is the Spirit of God. It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not. The Bible says in Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

God personally made you by himself not by His spoken word. He didn’t create you the same way he created animals and plants. I know some people that read this piece believe in evolution theory. However, years after evolution theory were introduced into this world. They still remains at the level of theory. There have never been any evidence to prove the theory therefore I will advice all those that believe in the theory to have a re-think.

Friend God made you in His own image and likeness. He transferred a part of Him inside you after making you. That part of Him which He transferred into you when he breathed into you is what put life into the sinew which you carry around every day.

What determines ones action is the spirit that lives in the person. A man cannot give more than what he carries inside Him. The Spirit you carry is the greatest Spirit you can find anyway. This Spirit is the Spirit is the Spirit of POWER and of SOUND MIND (2 Timothy 1:7). That Spirit is poised for action if only you can unleash Him.

In that place we read in Genesis God created human to dominate the things around him/her. God did not create human to be dominated by the things that happen around him/her. God created you to take charge of your circumstances. He created and gave you His Spirit so that you will “run things instead of things running you.”

Anytime you live in the cage people built for you by the way they treat you, it means you are not maximizing the Spirit of DOMINION which God planted you while creating you.

My good friend this is the time to pick up that which God called you prior to your creation. Look at those things that call you bad names and give you poor image, eye ball to eye ball and tell them that YOU ARE MORE THAN CONQURORS.

Always remember that people can call you whatever name they wish, but that does not erase the name God called you before you were born. You are not a biological mistake. Even if you were born by “human mistake,” you were never a mistake before God.

Go to your mirror right now if you have any. If you don’t have a mirror, look at your shadow. If you can’t see your shadow right now, place your hand on your chest and speak these words to yourself.

“The man behind that veil is a great man.”

“The man behind that veil is more than conqueror.”

“The man behind the veil is a man full of power.”

“I am far and better than what the world or people around me call me.”

“I am more than what I call myself.”

“I am whom and what God says I am.”

One of the ways to activate all the Lord has programmed for you is to draw close to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore let me close this write up by saying that Jesus Christ still receives sinners. He is actually a friend of sinners; therefore whatever sin you have committed will be taken care of, if only you will ask Him to take care of it. He shed His love when He poured out His life on the cross of Calvary. He doesn’t demand much from you. The only thing He asks of you is your heart. He is asking that you give Him a space in your heart so that He will direct your life.

Invite Him by saying: Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I come to you this day to surrender my heart and life for your leadership. Give me the grace to live above anything that brings pain to you. Give me grace to follow you at all time. Give me the grace to live and stay close to God. Thank you for making me one of yours. Amen.

By Onuigwe Chidi Sirnoel

WHO DO I HOLD RESPONSIBLE?

WHO DO I HOLD RESPONSIBLE?

Who do I hold responsible? This question has always come to my mind any time I look at myself with critical eyes. And I am sure that even you also have asked yourself this same question many times too.

Who do you hold responsible for the way your life has turned out to be right now? Will you say it is because of how your parents brought you up or will you push the blame to your friends? Humans are naturally infused with the spirit of blaming others when things go wrong along the line. In the Christian Holy Book, The Bible, it is recorded that when Adam the first person created by God made a weighty mistake and God came to meet with him as usual. God didn’t see him at their normal meeting point. God tried to find out why Adam was not where he should be. Adam told him that he(Adam) ran away when he saw Him(God) coming. God asked him why? He told God that the woman He (God) gave to him deceived him (Adam) into disobeying God. This is the same being that when Adam saw her for the first time he shouted at the top of his voice and was so excited that he gave her a name without thinking about it twice.

So it is a natural thing to blame someone when you didn’t get the expected result or make the expected impact.  But life experience has thought me that it is only those that do things that are not very natural that become outstanding in this life. This means that before you could be able to get to where you have dreamt all along to get to; you must stop the blame game and take hold of your life and your dream. You must go the way of the unnatural men to achieve greater success in life.

Steve Goodier wrote, “The day I realized that I am in charge of how I will approach problems in my life, that things will turn out better or worse because of me and nobody else, that was the day I knew I would be a happier and healthier person. And that was the day I knew I could truly build a life that matters.” Therefore to experience a better life and to experience a dream(s) come true. To be where you ought to be you must put blaming others aside and know that whatever happened, happened because you permitted it to happen.

Opera Winfrey said “you are responsible for your life, you can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction.” Because you are responsible for your life you have to do what Bradley Whitford said, “ Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.”

Two points you have to mark very well in what Whiteford said; number one is “Honor your CREATOR and the second one is “by doing what you can to make grace happen.”

Do not play God always remember that there is God somewhere above the sky and everywhere. Honor Him in everything you do. As much as you are asked go into action, never ever get involved with anything that is anti God. Do not look for success in a sinful way. Do not do drug. Don’t get involved in financial crime or cyber crime. There is nothing God cannot do if a man is ready to act upon God’s word. Do not stay idol waiting for grace to manifest. Go ahead and manifest the grace by doing what you have not done before.

I will like to tell you this in conclusion; “the end does not justify the means.” The means justifies the end. 

SOBER REFLECTION

I have been thinking about this life and why people struggle so much. Sometimes we work so much and never have time to enjoy our labour before death come calling. I never wanted to write any piece like this, this period but the urge kept coming and I have to obey the spirit that controls me and put down this shot piece. 
The greatest thing a man can do to and for himself is to always sit back sometime and take a sober reflection. Think about his relationship with his maker the God Almighty. This is a period when all we think, do and talk about is politics. Many people will be caught unawares and they might lose their soul to the devil in hell if something negative happen now. The way some of us are going about life this period shows clearly that we have little or no place for our God. Some of us have even turned our political leaders to our temporal gods. It is not the best at all. These men will always end up disappointing us but Jahovah will never disappoint any one (it doesn’t matter what you think of Him).
As much as we have to go into politics or should I say, vote in the candidate of our choice, we should know that there is a God who does not need election to be on the throne but needs our acceptance to come into our hearts and rule. This God is still around our heart telling us not to shot Him out this period. This God is asking us to open our hearts for Him to come in.
The aim of this shot piece is to make you take a moment aside politics and look deep down into your life and know if the relationship you have with God is still intact. If you think it is no more intact, why not retrace you step and place it where it should be. If you have never been with Him; you can also do that by asking Him to come in and take over your heart.
Jesus Christ is still the Lord and He rules in the affairs of men. Don’t vote him out because of your daily life pursuit. Probably what is taking your time now is not politics but whatever it is; don’t go far away from the shelter Jesus Christ provides.
Sticking to Jesus is still the best thing to do…