HOW TO END THIS YEAR ON A HAPPY NOTE...

As we slowly but surely travel towards the end part of the year, it is so vital for us to review our strategies and dispose of whatever isn’t working or producing for us...
I have always believed that life is more spiritual than physical; despite all the book knowledge, broad exposure and wide ranging experiences we may strive for have, nothing substitutes for God-knowledge and God-consciousness.

Therefore, to have a productive and happy ending this year, you truly have to make God a central part of your every step.
The Holy bible says: “Who is he that plans a thing and it comes to reality, if the Lord’s hand is not involved...” It further says: “Except the Lord builds the city, the builder builds in vain...” and “Promotion doesn’t come from the South, East or West, but from the father ABOVE...”

At the end of the day, “Except the Lord watches over a city [business, family, relationship...], the watchmen watch but in vain...”

Dear friends, as we live each day and go about our dealings, let’s hold firm to the Creator of all creatures so we can enjoy His creation and live life as He designed.... No doubt, you may still have huge challenges and goals you thought you should have achieved or risen over before this time of the year.... It is still very possible!

Folks, it took God only 6 days to create this entire planet.... including all the wonders in it that amazes you...
Between now and the end of the year, you still have over 74 days for a miracle to take place in your life... there is more than enough time for God to do the unimaginable in and through your life.... This year will not end until your story changes and your dreams achieved!

THE KEY? ASK, SEEK, KNOCK! Nothing comes from Him except you A.S.K for it.... “For I will give you the desires of your heart...”
Your asking Him is a proof of your total dependence, reliance and confidence on Him and a reflection of the fact that your hopes are not entirely on your strength.... It is only Him that can crown the efforts of our hands with good success!

When you A.S.K, He will give you direction and send relevant people into your life to make your dreams fulfilled and desires achieved.

Dear friend, you can still end this year very happily. The key is in your hand... “For God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can think, ask or imagine...”

Your creator is interested in your wonderful and successful ending. But, it will never be possible when you alienate and keep distance from Him...
“FOR THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY....” The goal of the ENEMY is to ruin your end part of this year. The ENEMY doesn’t fight your START; he waits for your END part. He doesn’t fight conception, he fights delivery... He didn’t fight January – September, he is waiting for October – December!
This is why it is very important to hold on to the one who came to: “GIVE YOU LIFE AND LIFE IN ALL ITS RICHNESS AND BEAUTY...”

You must happen!

THE DANGERS OF UNRESTRAINED ANGER!

For what? I won’t let go!

Not in this life, I must get my pound of flesh!

Me? Never! I must fight back!

Let the heavens fall, my mind is made up – he must go through same pains I went through!

When you hear words like these, it is a pointer that some person is incensed, exasperated or enraged at some other person, event or experience and thus has his/her mind made up on some form of REVENGE! More like, pay-back!

Perhaps I should start this piece by saying that anger is common to man. Each one of us was designed to get angry at some point or the other; it is in our make-up. In other words, every man’s anger has a price tag! The Holy bible doesn’t condemn anger; it only spoke against UNCONTROLLED anger. This, in most cases, is what leads to revenge. I always tell my folks that "before you embark on a revenge plot, make sure you dig two graves – one for you and the other for your target." What’s my point? Revenge always takes something from you. It takes more than it brings! It puts you on a lower level against the person who offended you. It makes you look guiltier!

ANGER IS A PROSPECTIVE DESTROYER. It also doesn't respect gender or age; it ruins anybody who can’t control or keep it in check! Many marriages and relationships have been wrecked on the wings of this destroyer! Many folks have lost their jobs and source of livelihood because they couldn’t manage their anger. A number of well-known celebrities and personalities have been seen fighting and cursing in public arenas because they couldn’t keep their anger in check.

When you fail to control your anger, you will inevitably ruin yourself, your dreams and become a disappointment to those who love you. Let me stress this again: ANGER IS NOT A SIN; IT BECOMES A SIN WHEN IT IS NOT CONTROLLED. By the way, there is old maxim that say: "keep your temper to yourself, nobody needs it..."

Guess you can still remember the story of Moses, it was [uncontrolled] anger that ruined him.... despite all the wonderful things he did for God and his people, anger deprived him of getting his reward. He patiently waited for his reward for forty years, yet [uncontrolled] anger killed his dream...

Beyond uncontrolled anger, there is another twist to this, it is called: misdirected anger! Misdirected anger is as awful as uncontrolled anger. More often than not, it has wrecked many [business and romantic] relationships and marriages!

I have seen folks who were annoyed, irritated or frustrated by certain events or individuals, only to end up visiting their anger on innocent people. I mean, discharging their anger on people who are totally unrelated to it... Transferring aggression to the next available 'object', despite its innocence!

There are husbands who were been frustrated by certain individuals or [work] issues, only to end up unleashing their anger on their [innocent] wives... ANGER IS POWER ONLY WHEN IT IS CONSTRUCTIVELY AND SENSIBLY DIRECTED.

Dear friends, there are trouble-free and uncomplicated ways to handle/manage anger, irrespective of its height. To start with, see anger as a potential destroyer – let it sink in your brains! Nobody needs your temper, keep it! More so, when anger is not controlled, you lose the point you are trying to make.

So, when you are been irritated or exasperated by certain situations or someone, choose to see it as a challenge to prove something, certainly not to your disadvantage! That situation could be an avenue to prove the level of your maturity and self-control. Besides, you will lose nothing if you refuse to act wild!

The late Florence Nightingale was facing certain annoying situations at her place of work and was constantly been frustrated by her [work] colleagues, she chose to see it as a challenge to get to the top of her game, by all [legal] means possible. She did!

Dear friend, make it a deliberate choice to learn wisdom from every situation you are faced with. Avoid any action that will make you look guiltier than whoever offended you. Besides, you don’t have to whine, gripe or fight over everything. Life is too valuable to be wasted living in anger and constant bitterness

This closing point is very very important point: don’t be friends with angry people, else you will learn their ways – this counsel is straight from the Holy bible, God's word!

Therefore, if you are a business owner or a team leader and you notice some UNREPENTANT broody, angry, resentful and indignant fellow in your team, get rid of them as fast as you can, else they will infect others and crumble your entire organization.

Finally dear friend, if you fear God, comply with every bit of His word. The bible says: “anger rest in the bosom of fools...”
What this definitely means is that if you allow anger stay with you over a long period of time, you are equated to a fool.
There are folks who have a bad habit of keeping quarrels with people for ages, they find it impossible to let go! It shouldn’t surprise you that some of these individuals who are in the habit of ‘preserving’ anger at some point even forget what made them angry...

Dear friend, never ever sleep with anger in your heart... Let it go!

THE PLACE OF OUR FAITH IN OUR WORK

Hello people, it’s no news that for over a week yours truly hasn’t made any post. A million apologies! Fact is, I have been having crazy work schedules and this has given me little or no space for anything else. From the start, I had intended to make my post daily, but somehow man proposes and God...

I have been told by almost everybody who cares to watch my work routine; I really hope to do this pretty soon. Sure, I will!

The issue today is: YOUR FAITH AND YOUR WORK: WHICH SHOULD COME FIRST?

I belong to the Christian faith, but quite a number of my friends belong to different faiths. In fact, one of the most sincere persons I have ever had as friend is a Muslim. This guy tells is epitome of truth and honesty. He always tells the truth as it is, unlike most of my ‘Christian’ friends.

About a week ago, I was at a dinner put together by a friend – Teajay Chunu; this dinner was equally a medium for him to introduce his next big idea to all his friends present – a creative workshop/seminar tagged: IMAGINE IT. Please visit this website for more information.

Since Teajay is a Christian, it was very important for me at the end of his speech to ask him this very significant question regarding his workshop: “Under what platform are you coming out, is it as a Christian businessperson or as a conventional entrepreneur...” I needed to get clarity as to the platform being used, because this will determine in a great deal, the shape the seminar will take, being that I have organized several workshops/seminars using both platforms.

The responses that my question elicited were more than I could immediately chew. It wasn’t even coming from the host (Teajay) of the workshop, but from others who apparently cared more or were more angered by the question.

What was the gripe? They seem to believe I was sounding old-fashioned or off-the-point. My offense was that I used the term ‘Christian businessperson’. They believed nothing like that exists anymore, or that nothing of such should be promoted, talked about or fronted.

They presented a few reasons for their resistance. According to them: “Many businesspeople have used the toga of ‘I am a Christian’ to secure deals only to give mediocre outputs.” They said they believe “persons who claim to be Christian businessmen are the worst set of people to do business with... don’t ever say anything about Christian businessmen again... Christianity is an individual thing... Keep it in your house when you are going for business...”

One of us quickly added: “it is not everybody that is successful that knows the person of Jesus. The principles of Jesus can also make anybody successful. The truth is, anyone can learn and put the principles to practise to attain success, without necessarily giving any attention or emphasis on the person...”

With the mode and eloquence they were making their pulse felt, there was very little or nothing I could say at that moment that would change their deep –seated conviction.

Like you know, there are certain debates you just don’t want to continue in, for the reason that the strong beliefs you have about the issue can’t just be explicated through words.

I was quite surprised such issue could even elicit a debate, being that everybody at the dinner were Christian businesspeople/professionals. Several thoughts began to ruminate in my head as to why, at least this magnitude.

In the middle of the entire debate, I was lucky to have one of my “dinner mates” stand up for me. He apparently agreed with the points I was trying so hard to pass across to others

The guy charitably put it this way said: “what Sule is trying to say is that the difference between Christian and non Christian businessmen are in what their VALUES are. It is reflected in their work and attitude to business...”

Hard as he tried, his point didn’t help much as our fellow “dinner mates” listed few names of non-Christian businesspeople that are successful and exemplify exemplary VALUES, the kind they believed in.

Since my blog was created as one of the mediums through which I can express my thoughts and take on issues, therefore I am going to explain certain truth and fundamentals I couldn’t share with my folks at Teajay’s dinner last week.

I will not deny the fact that quite a number of us have had bitter experiences with some people in business who call themselves “Christians”. They put you under emotional blackmail just to get the deals, only to end up grossly under –performing. The sad part is that, you can’t take them up with the law, being that they are your “Christian brothers and sisters”.

On a personal level, most of the mediocre jobs that have been executed for our organization were handled by ‘brethrens’. Worse still is the fact that most of them tell all manner of lies when they default on deals. Yet, they claim to be ‘Christians’.

I have seen lots of jobs that were abandoned midway, by some so-called Christians. They either ran off with the money they were given for the job, without finishing the deal or they managed to complete it with second-rate equipments and materials. I have seen church building projects that were given to brethren to handle and they were executed disappointingly. In many cases, the buildings never reach completion...

These guys are given the deals on the basis that they will not disappoint, being that they profess Jesus as their Lord and Master, only for them to turn their opportunity into a monumental mess.

There is no gainsaying the fact that today’s world fears the wrath of the devil more than they fear God’s...

In the face of these challenges, the multi-million questions are:

How should we approach these all-important issues? Is it wisdom to say: “from this day forward, everybody should hide his/her faith in his/her pocket – ‘Christianity is a personal thing’?” Do we now belong to a shameful faith that should be treated like a second life? If Jesus were to be modern-day businessman, what would be the steps/actions He’ll take to change these wicked misrepresentations of Christian businesspeople? Are you of the opinion that we close our eyes to it and say it is not [or too much] a problem to be tackled?

Are we on planet mainly to make income or impact – to make money or influence our world for Christ?

I really don’t want anybody telling me, like most of my folks at the dinner did, that: “go to work, and let your results tell people about your faith...”

Fact is, I see this as an easy and unforgivable escape route. This attitude to Christianity doesn’t give you any sense of commitment. There becomes absolutely nothing to prove. You have just indirectly said to people that you are accountable to no one, but the deal. Thus, failing or disappointing your client could easily be an option – “in any case, he doesn’t know if I am a Christian, and this issue doesn’t even concern church stuff sef...”

When you have succeeded in hiding and de-emphasizing [or denying] the reputable name of your Father, there is therefore no name to go all-out to protect!

What I have discovered is that our selfishness now even swallows up our faith. Everybody wants to make money and a name for himself. Each one of us wants to be very famous and be celebrated by our world, undermining the reality that WE ARE MERE SIGNPOSTS, NOT THE SIGN!

I will have to talk more on this tomorrow, by God’s grace. By the way, I am using this medium to specially endorse Teajay Chunu’s creative workshop tagged: IMAGINE IT. Make sure to be there.
Do have a favour-full day ahead!

You must happen!