Focus on your winning assets (1)

Jeremiah 1:4-10, 17-18

Here we see an interesting conversation between God and Jeremiah. While Jeremiah was characteristically focusing on his limitations and deficiencies and liabilities, God was focusing on his assets. 

We have a natural human propensity to dwell on what we don’t have rather than what we have. 

Men will show you what you don’t have, but God shows you what you have.

We naturally give excuses for failing. We give excuses for refusing to try. Faults are easier to see in a person than strength. 

What you don’t have does not determine what you can do but what you cannot do. What determines what you can do is what you have. God’s investment in you determines what He wants you to accomplish.

When people start with what they have, they end up getting what they don’t have.

Moses told God what he lacked and God again asked what he had in his hand. He replied, ‘a rod’. 

God has a way of supplying through others what you need to fulfill your life mission which He has not given you directly.

Here is what I want you see. God was saying to them, “YOU ARE BORN TO WIN.” “I CREATED YOU TO WIN.”

There are only two groups of people; winners and losers. God did not create losers; they make themselves.

One of the most important discoveries is the realizations that you were born to win. Maureen Dowd said, “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.”

Most people wait for luck but successful people prepare for their opportunity. People who wait for luck may have inadvertently settled for leftovers.  Like Lazarus, they are forever looking under the table for crumbs instead of over the table for the main dish. I destroy that Lazarus anointing in the name of Jesus! 

Walter Russell said, “Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed.”

When your self-worth goes up, your net worth goes up with it.

God appoints, anoints, and distinguishes people. He doesn’t like them to get lost in mediocrity. God gives us dreams to deliver us from mediocrity and to reveal our true selves to the world.

Born naked but not empty

God created you to win. We were all born naked but not empty. God created you with winning assets. But until you know how to identify and develop these assets, you will end up in mediocrity. 

Our spirits were designed to operate as God operates. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let Us make man in our image, in our likeness.” The word “image” refers to moral and spiritual character, while the phrase “in our likeness” means “to function like.” In other words, we were created to live according to the nature of God and to function as He functions in the world. 

He delegated authority to man. He gave you dominion over the earth. He gave you the ability to discern. He gave you intuition. He gave you the power of imagination. He gave you the ability to recall-memory. He gave you hands to work,

Winning assets

Life. Your number one asset is life. No one can succeed without it. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 9:4 says, “To him that is joined to all the living, there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Celebrate life, make the most of it. A living dog is better than a dead lion. As long as there is life, there is hope. A poor man today can become a rich man tomorrow. But if he is dead there is no longer hope of becoming anything. If Joseph had died of depression in the prison, he would have missed the chance of becoming a Prime Minister. Don’t live recklessly. 

1. Time. This is closely related to life. When you spend time you spend your life. Will it be a life well spent? The quality of your life is largely determined by the quality of the things you do with your time. Your greatest resource is your time, waste it and waste your life. Invest your time rather than spend it. It is impossible to manage time because it cannot be stockpiled. Each minute you spend is gone forever. But you can manage your priorities. Determine what brings the best results in your life and spend more time doing those things.

2. Your Unique Natural Ability or Abilities; Your Talent. It is not what you lack that stops you from winning; it is what you have which have chosen to ignore. A widow ignored her little pot of oil because she did not think it was significant. When a prophet showed her what to do with it, her life and the lives of her two boys changed. The disciples of Jesus ignored five loaves of bread and two fishes until Jesus called for it; it fed five thousand men. God created you to excel in certain places. There’s something you have that others don’t have. You have something I need and I have something you need. We came with potential, purpose, and promise. But between promise and possession is a process. We need the right people, process place, pay the right price to get to the right position. Those who ignore or fail to develop their talents end up cheap copies of someone else. You cannot become a champion running with someone else’s talent unless it is similar to yours. You sign up for mediocrity when you ignore your talent. God designed your gift to bring you before kings. Your greatness is tied to what God has wired you to do well. Joseph was had the ability to interpret dreams; he ended up at the top doing just that. He translated Pharaoh’s dream into reality. What do you have that you ignoring? It’s not too late to start developing and using it.

3. Winning Skills. You were not born qualified so you have to become qualified. Talent is what you are gifted to do easily; but skill is what you have trained to do for which you are rewarded. Talent is your potential; skill is your vital credential that makes you employable and valuable. Keep updating yourself and you will never be out of work. Your reward in life is tied to what you do and do better than others. Daniel was rewarded for interpreting a dream the king of Babylon which no one else could interpret. Many people who would have been great are wallowing in poverty because they have failed to train.

(To be continued…)

Bishop Dr. Charles Olowojoba is the General Overseer

of Dayspring Bible Church Worldwide with HQ in Abuja, Nigeria