Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverb 4:7
This week, I want to throw a challenge: is it money you really need or wisdom? This is one question you need God’s leading to be able to sort out. I have been privileged to interact with individuals from humble background and with no connections who have created good wealth out of ideas. I have come to the conclusion that what most people consider financial problems are actually wisdom problems.
Let me illustrate my points with about two cases.
Some time in July 1997, a young Nigerian journalist thought of an idea which came to him while he was interviewing people and going about his reportorial work. He had discovered that many chief executives would prefer some intelligence information which obviously they were not getting from the regular newspapers.
He bounced off this idea with another friend who interestingly had also been thinking along the same line. They both came to the conclusion that it was a good idea that should be pursued. But their dilemma was where the money would come from.
They estimated that they would need about N4million to be able to start the business they wanted. In the process of scouting for investors, they ran into a friend who told them they should start with whatever they had. Two of them were on salaries of N13, 000 apiece per month.
This is what they did. They both contributed N10,000 naira each and got a company registered. They contributed another N10,000 apiece to enable them to produce about 150 copies of an economic intelligence newsletter which they dispatched to selected chief executives and some embassies, attaching subscription forms.
Two weeks later, about 30 of the people they sent the materials to wrote back to commend their efforts, and as a way of encouraging them also enclosed their cheques for subscription; some paid for six months, some one year. With a year subscription going for N75,000, they were able to generate N1.8 million from their first outing.
Now after that, many things began to happen. More subscribers came. Few of the subscribers to the newsletter eventually invested in the business which they considered very good. In less than two years, they had managed to grow the business into a N15 million business.
But the most interesting aspect of it is that because of their track record, they got an international consultancy job and another contract to manage a newspaper. The three gentlemen have been able to secure their financial freedom forever. Come to think of it, that business idea could have died if they had insisted on waiting to raise the whole money to start the business.
I have come to realize that God would not give you an idea without providing the means to bring it to fruition. But He wants us to task our brain; He wants us to apply wisdom which is the principal thing. When God asked Solomon to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon did not ask for gold, he did not ask for silver and he did not ask for the currency of the time.
He simply asked God to give him wisdom. And God gave him not only wisdom, but gold, silver and all other good things he did not ask for. The interpretation of this is that if you have wisdom, you have everything.
Somebody says he is jobless but he has three cars packed in his garage. Wisdom should suggest to him to turn two of the cars into taxis. I recently heard the story of how one of the owners of the luxurious buses in the country got into transport business.
While he was at UAC, the man and two others were given loans to buy cars. The two other persons went for the latest brands of Toyota while our man simply bought a second-hand Datsun car. While the two other people were cruising around with their cars, our friend simply engaged the services of a driver who would drop him in the office very early in the morning while the car would hit the road between 7.am and 6.pm to carry passengers.
In less than one year, the man repaid his loan and within three years, he had bought four other cars which he turned into a transport service. Today he has a fleet of luxurious buses plying all the states in the country. His other colleagues who collected the same amount of money were not able to fully repay the loan before leaving the company.
Wisdom was at work. Wisdom is to be preferred to gold and silver. If you have found wisdom, you have found everything. That is why I agree with Mike Murdock that we do not have financial problems; we only have wisdom problems.
Has it not occurred to you that God does not trade in cash but only deposits the thoughts and ideas in man’s heart? These thoughts attract the material equivalent. (Pro 23vs7; John10 vs35). If you hold a thought long enough in your heart, God flows its material equivalent into your direction.
But He will not bless you with a fresh idea if you refuse to implement the one He has already given to you. The devil is also creative: he attempts all the time to steal ideas God has planted in your heart through careless preoccupation with I don’t have the capital mentality. When the devil steals your revelation, he has stolen your future and your blessing! Bishop Oyedepo kept the revelation of Faith Tabernacle for 17 years. When it became a reality, money rushed in the direction of vision, money is pro-vision.
The truth is that you have everything you need to succeed. So I urge you to go for wisdom.
Start with what you have
Many have dreams, goals and plans, they know what to do but do not start because they are convinced that they do not have what they need to start with.
In life, situations change and keep changing. Sometimes, things are rosy, while at other times, they seem to be on a downward trend. Things keep changing with people having the problem to adapt to the situation.
What do we do when challenges stare at us and our source of income changes?
When you come to such a cross- road, always know that the situation is not an end but a bend.
You should not drop an idea because you think you do not have capital. There is something around you currently that is the key to your breakthrough, the key to your movement to the next phase. What you have is the key to what God will do.
What God will use is currently within your reach in potential form but until you see potential, you cannot realise it. Adam and Eve had electricity in the garden but could not enjoy it until Michael Faraday discovered it. The solution to your problem is currently around you in the potential form. There is something inside you; you are gifted by God for something.
Discover it. Your discovery is what leads to your recovery. Pray through and think through.
Look for empty vessels to fill.
Look out and find them. All of us are empty for the gift you carry. We are waiting to be filled with your pot of oil. Read 2 Kg. 4:1 – 7 for inspiration on this.
A lot of believers have dreams, goals and plans. They know what to do, they have great desire placed before the Lord but a great deal of people have not been able to move ahead because they do not know how to go about it. When you start, the job is half done.
One of the major reasons why people do not start is that they are convinced that they do not have what they need to start with. It is a device of the devil to keep one from starting.
In life, situation and circumstances change and keep changing. The change of situation could be as a result of the death of the bread-winner, the loss of job, downturn of national economy, movement of your business contacts, etc. When a door is closed, rather than move to the other open doors, some stay with the closed one, weeping .
What do we do when we come to a bad situation, when challenges stare at us and our sources of income have changed ? When we come to such a crossroad, always bare it in mind that the situation is not the end but only a bend. That you approach a bend, that you cannot see ahead, therefore do not be afraid to approach a bend.
A perfect illustration to such a situation can be found in II King 4: 1-7 where a prophet died leaving his widow and two sons at the mercy of his creditors.
You at a crossroad need to find a way like the woman. You have a business idea and do not know what to do. You have been making excuses that if only you have capital. I have news for you, you have capital.
My prayer is that God will open your eyes to see it. You have something. Like the widow, what you have is the key to what God will do, this is the principle God uses. When we know what you have, then we decide what to do with it. There is something around you currently that is the key to your breakthrough, it is the key to your movement to the next phase. There is a pot of oil in your house.
Another principle is that what God will use is currently within your reach in potential form, but until you see potential you cannot realise it.
Until someone gains a rare insight and see its possibilities, it cannot be made possible. The solution to your problem is currently around in potential form . Ever before you had a problem, God had the solution waiting. Until you see it, you do not enjoy it because what you see is what you get.
There is something inside you that is the key to your breakthrough. There is a gift inside you. God has made investment in your life that you need to discover. You are gifted by God for something. Find it. It may be your vocational gift, a contact, a link etc. Your discovery is what will lead to your recovery.
According to Oliver Wendell Homes, “what lies ahead of us and behind us are nothing to be compared with what lies within us”. There is substance inside you.
Look for empty vessels to fill with your gift. It is a key to the breakthrough out of your present predicament. After praying, make good use of your pen and paper. Write down all the ideas you can generate, with all the options that open to you. Look out for those who need what you have.
If your gift is in the area of cooking, fashion-designing, etc., try to do something. All other people are empty vessels, all over the world, people export kolanut, gari, beans and other foodstuffs abroad. Find them all around, do not be static at a particular point. Dream big, plan big. Plan big for God is not small.
Beware of skeptics, cynics, those who do not see or understand what you are doing, avoid them. Do not associate with those who will cremate you, rather associate with those that will celebrate you.
Associate with positive people, that will appreciate your gift.
Adapt to change, move on to the next phase of life. Dream again, acquire another idea because business will not remain the same. You need to dream more because the day you stop acquiring more, getting new knowledge, expanding your horizon, God will not bring new breakthroughs. Life is never stagnant, it is either appreciating or depreciating.
Pray God to make your life a testimony of ever-increasing glory.
This week, I want to throw a challenge: is it money you really need or wisdom? This is one question you need God’s leading to be able to sort out. I have been privileged to interact with individuals from humble background and with no connections who have created good wealth out of ideas. I have come to the conclusion that what most people consider financial problems are actually wisdom problems.
Let me illustrate my points with about two cases.
Some time in July 1997, a young Nigerian journalist thought of an idea which came to him while he was interviewing people and going about his reportorial work. He had discovered that many chief executives would prefer some intelligence information which obviously they were not getting from the regular newspapers.
He bounced off this idea with another friend who interestingly had also been thinking along the same line. They both came to the conclusion that it was a good idea that should be pursued. But their dilemma was where the money would come from.
They estimated that they would need about N4million to be able to start the business they wanted. In the process of scouting for investors, they ran into a friend who told them they should start with whatever they had. Two of them were on salaries of N13, 000 apiece per month.
This is what they did. They both contributed N10,000 naira each and got a company registered. They contributed another N10,000 apiece to enable them to produce about 150 copies of an economic intelligence newsletter which they dispatched to selected chief executives and some embassies, attaching subscription forms.
Two weeks later, about 30 of the people they sent the materials to wrote back to commend their efforts, and as a way of encouraging them also enclosed their cheques for subscription; some paid for six months, some one year. With a year subscription going for N75,000, they were able to generate N1.8 million from their first outing.
Now after that, many things began to happen. More subscribers came. Few of the subscribers to the newsletter eventually invested in the business which they considered very good. In less than two years, they had managed to grow the business into a N15 million business.
But the most interesting aspect of it is that because of their track record, they got an international consultancy job and another contract to manage a newspaper. The three gentlemen have been able to secure their financial freedom forever. Come to think of it, that business idea could have died if they had insisted on waiting to raise the whole money to start the business.
I have come to realize that God would not give you an idea without providing the means to bring it to fruition. But He wants us to task our brain; He wants us to apply wisdom which is the principal thing. When God asked Solomon to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon did not ask for gold, he did not ask for silver and he did not ask for the currency of the time.
He simply asked God to give him wisdom. And God gave him not only wisdom, but gold, silver and all other good things he did not ask for. The interpretation of this is that if you have wisdom, you have everything.
Somebody says he is jobless but he has three cars packed in his garage. Wisdom should suggest to him to turn two of the cars into taxis. I recently heard the story of how one of the owners of the luxurious buses in the country got into transport business.
While he was at UAC, the man and two others were given loans to buy cars. The two other persons went for the latest brands of Toyota while our man simply bought a second-hand Datsun car. While the two other people were cruising around with their cars, our friend simply engaged the services of a driver who would drop him in the office very early in the morning while the car would hit the road between 7.am and 6.pm to carry passengers.
In less than one year, the man repaid his loan and within three years, he had bought four other cars which he turned into a transport service. Today he has a fleet of luxurious buses plying all the states in the country. His other colleagues who collected the same amount of money were not able to fully repay the loan before leaving the company.
Wisdom was at work. Wisdom is to be preferred to gold and silver. If you have found wisdom, you have found everything. That is why I agree with Mike Murdock that we do not have financial problems; we only have wisdom problems.
Has it not occurred to you that God does not trade in cash but only deposits the thoughts and ideas in man’s heart? These thoughts attract the material equivalent. (Pro 23vs7; John10 vs35). If you hold a thought long enough in your heart, God flows its material equivalent into your direction.
But He will not bless you with a fresh idea if you refuse to implement the one He has already given to you. The devil is also creative: he attempts all the time to steal ideas God has planted in your heart through careless preoccupation with I don’t have the capital mentality. When the devil steals your revelation, he has stolen your future and your blessing! Bishop Oyedepo kept the revelation of Faith Tabernacle for 17 years. When it became a reality, money rushed in the direction of vision, money is pro-vision.
The truth is that you have everything you need to succeed. So I urge you to go for wisdom.
Start with what you have
Many have dreams, goals and plans, they know what to do but do not start because they are convinced that they do not have what they need to start with.
In life, situations change and keep changing. Sometimes, things are rosy, while at other times, they seem to be on a downward trend. Things keep changing with people having the problem to adapt to the situation.
What do we do when challenges stare at us and our source of income changes?
When you come to such a cross- road, always know that the situation is not an end but a bend.
You should not drop an idea because you think you do not have capital. There is something around you currently that is the key to your breakthrough, the key to your movement to the next phase. What you have is the key to what God will do.
What God will use is currently within your reach in potential form but until you see potential, you cannot realise it. Adam and Eve had electricity in the garden but could not enjoy it until Michael Faraday discovered it. The solution to your problem is currently around you in the potential form. There is something inside you; you are gifted by God for something.
Discover it. Your discovery is what leads to your recovery. Pray through and think through.
Look for empty vessels to fill.
Look out and find them. All of us are empty for the gift you carry. We are waiting to be filled with your pot of oil. Read 2 Kg. 4:1 – 7 for inspiration on this.
A lot of believers have dreams, goals and plans. They know what to do, they have great desire placed before the Lord but a great deal of people have not been able to move ahead because they do not know how to go about it. When you start, the job is half done.
One of the major reasons why people do not start is that they are convinced that they do not have what they need to start with. It is a device of the devil to keep one from starting.
In life, situation and circumstances change and keep changing. The change of situation could be as a result of the death of the bread-winner, the loss of job, downturn of national economy, movement of your business contacts, etc. When a door is closed, rather than move to the other open doors, some stay with the closed one, weeping .
What do we do when we come to a bad situation, when challenges stare at us and our sources of income have changed ? When we come to such a crossroad, always bare it in mind that the situation is not the end but only a bend. That you approach a bend, that you cannot see ahead, therefore do not be afraid to approach a bend.
A perfect illustration to such a situation can be found in II King 4: 1-7 where a prophet died leaving his widow and two sons at the mercy of his creditors.
You at a crossroad need to find a way like the woman. You have a business idea and do not know what to do. You have been making excuses that if only you have capital. I have news for you, you have capital.
My prayer is that God will open your eyes to see it. You have something. Like the widow, what you have is the key to what God will do, this is the principle God uses. When we know what you have, then we decide what to do with it. There is something around you currently that is the key to your breakthrough, it is the key to your movement to the next phase. There is a pot of oil in your house.
Another principle is that what God will use is currently within your reach in potential form, but until you see potential you cannot realise it.
Until someone gains a rare insight and see its possibilities, it cannot be made possible. The solution to your problem is currently around in potential form . Ever before you had a problem, God had the solution waiting. Until you see it, you do not enjoy it because what you see is what you get.
There is something inside you that is the key to your breakthrough. There is a gift inside you. God has made investment in your life that you need to discover. You are gifted by God for something. Find it. It may be your vocational gift, a contact, a link etc. Your discovery is what will lead to your recovery.
According to Oliver Wendell Homes, “what lies ahead of us and behind us are nothing to be compared with what lies within us”. There is substance inside you.
Look for empty vessels to fill with your gift. It is a key to the breakthrough out of your present predicament. After praying, make good use of your pen and paper. Write down all the ideas you can generate, with all the options that open to you. Look out for those who need what you have.
If your gift is in the area of cooking, fashion-designing, etc., try to do something. All other people are empty vessels, all over the world, people export kolanut, gari, beans and other foodstuffs abroad. Find them all around, do not be static at a particular point. Dream big, plan big. Plan big for God is not small.
Beware of skeptics, cynics, those who do not see or understand what you are doing, avoid them. Do not associate with those who will cremate you, rather associate with those that will celebrate you.
Associate with positive people, that will appreciate your gift.
Adapt to change, move on to the next phase of life. Dream again, acquire another idea because business will not remain the same. You need to dream more because the day you stop acquiring more, getting new knowledge, expanding your horizon, God will not bring new breakthroughs. Life is never stagnant, it is either appreciating or depreciating.
Pray God to make your life a testimony of ever-increasing glory.
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