A major requirement for delivering results

“… the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” Isaiah 37:3b

Many dreams are aborted in infancy. You need strength to deliver. You need strength to convert your dreams to reality.

Strength talks about your ability and capacity to successfully carry out your plans and accomplish your goals. It is also the ability to solve problems or deal with challenges. It also talks about the ability to make wise and godly choices.

The stronger you are the more successful you are likely to be. So develop your capacity to deliver results.

You must develop strength in the following areas:

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1. 1. Physical and health. Be in shape and in tune. You need your body to enjoy and not endure marriage. Develop your faith for dealing with sickness. Eat right and keep fit physically.
2. Emotional. To be emotionally strong is NOT to be driven by your feelings but by your character: your values. You don’t make decisions on the basis of how you feel but what you know is right.

Don’t live from your shame, regret, anger, fear or suffering. Rather, live from your hope, faith and your expectation of a better future. Live from the promise of God.

Emotion is a beautiful thing but it should NOT be wasted on the wrong person or things. You must be strong enough not to get carried away by everyone who shows interest in you. Be sure the person is not carrying a hammer. If you give your heart to someone who does not value your essence, he or she will soon drop it and shatter it into pieces.

Don’t invest your emotions on anyone who has no respect for your opinions, feelings or dreams.

Flimsy interest does not warrant deep commitment.

Wounded souls tend to look for solution in wrong places; so the cycle continues.

3. Spiritual. Adam was well connected to God. He communed with God regularly and his life was God-centred. He was spiritual. At this stage of his life, he saw in the spirit and not in the flesh. He was able to recognise his wife when he saw her. He recognized the bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh. What you see in the spirit is different from what you see in the flesh. You will fall for anything if you cannot see in the spirit. Anything or anyone that catches your fancy will appear to be the one.

I fasted for 30 days and was able to see my wife in the spirit. She also saw me in the spirit. Many people cannot differentiate their flesh from their spirit. They confuse every feeling or impression to be that of the spirit. They shift from one person to the other. But the Spirit of God cannot be confused and is not the author of confusion.

Develop a sound prayer and study life. Develop the discipline of fasting. Train your spirit to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit. Make up your mind to live by the Word of God regarding your finances, relationships, ministry, etc.

4. Mental. Mental strength is determined by the strength of information available to you. What you know determines how far you go. It is clear from the Bible that wealth is a product of knowledge: you will prosper to the extent what you know (3John verse 2). I am talking about information that is relevant to your progress or destiny. Many people know things that cannot help them to achieve success. You must first decide what you want and commit your time to learning what it takes to have it. Most of the time, lack of time is not the problem but lack of direction. However, those who fill themselves with the Word prosper because they acquire unfailing financial wisdom and principles.
5. Financial. Isaac had a developed career before he took a wife. He was a farmer. He tilled the ground and earned a good income from it.

This is the reason men and women are marrying late today. Most young men take a very long time now before they are ready to get married. They simply don’t have the means! They have nothing doing are they are not earning much.

Women tend to get ready much earlier than men. Women turn their passion to profit while men parade the place with their CVs looking for paid jobs.

Meanwhile, the girls set up make-up studios, start ‘mixing cream’, making hats and dresses and everything that makes money.

The boys wait for the big time to arrive in one day. It doesn’t; rarely does!

So the girls begin to grow in age and in bank balance. Ripe for marriage but no man is plucking because they are still waiting.

I have noticed that men who have their handwork tend to marry earlier than those who work for pay. Mechanics are married, most technicians are married; most traders are married. The list goes on and on. Why are they married? They have money coming in daily or regularly. Most men were not trained to make money. Most people were trained to read and write and acquire knowledge that cannot feed them.

To make money you need:

1. Vision. Have you decided what you want to become? Have you decided where you want to go? Have you decided the future you want to have? Have you decided what your purpose is in life?
2. Understanding of your potential. How can you turn it into profit?
3. Passion which is doing what you love or enjoy doing. Passion points to your potential. If you do nothing you will earn nothing. Eph 4:28. What do you enjoy doing? How can you turn it into profit?
4. Training. All training is not beneficial. Vocational training helps you to develop your potential and passion into skills that bring in money on a regular basis. Vocational training is learning to work with your hands and not only with your pen. The Bible in Ephesians 4:28 talks about working with your hands if you want to acquire money.
5. Mentoring. Someone to midwife what you have inside and bring it out. They help you to work out plans and a set of actions until you passion becomes a revenue earner. Ibo traders go through apprenticeship. It is a concept that has been officially adopted in the UK. People are attached to businesses to learn a trade they can practice after training.

Set goals if you want to succeed. Jesus said in Luke 14:28, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” I think the QS profession took its roots from here. They cost your project for you.

Goal setting is the winning practice of champions and successful people. Success begins with a desire. Those who are hungry for success never fail to achieve it. A burning desire is a requirement for changing levels and becoming successful. You will have no energy to pursue what you have no desire to achieve.

However, most desires never find fulfilment. The key is to convert your desire into a goal and draw up a detail plan for achieving it within a particular time period. Without goals, you will spend time and resources with nothing to show for it. Success is a product of what you do and not just what you desire. Joshua 1:8

Those who set goals are in the top 3% the society.

What tower are you planning to build and what plan do you have in place for building it?

Success begins with a desire but it is accomplished through works. May God grant you success in all your undertakings, in Jesus Name! Have a blessed week.

Bishop Dr Charles Olowojoba is the General Overseer of Dayspring Bible Church Worldwide with HQ in Abuja, Nigeria & President, Dayspring Christian Ministries Int’l.