The Essence and Focus of Work

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

At creation, God gave man work to do (Genesis Chapter 2 verse 15). In Genesis Chapter 2 verses 5 to 15, the Bible describes how the Garden of Eden was created - again without the effort of man. The trees that bore fruit for food grew out of the ground and a river watered the garden. Man did not even have to do the watering – God prepared the river to do it. Man’s assignment was to tend and keep the garden as well as feed from it. What bliss!

The essence and focus of work is on being productive to be financially rewarding and not on being busy. Therefore, be purposeful, productive and profitable in your work by investing time to engage in in spiritually, physically, mentally and financially productive and rewarding processes as well as relationships in your work. As much as possible, avoid time wasting relationships, activities and utterances. People without clear  cut visions and even when they have visions but do not have clearly identified goals, SMART objectives. Therefore they do  not have clear road maps of where they are headed in life because they have no idea where they are going. If you must spend time with such people, make it really minimal otherwise you will be caught in their maze of a circular dance that does not take or move anyone forward in life. Spending quality time with such people is akin to hanging around a dried up brook in a long period of drought hoping against hope that water will suddenly come from nowhere.

Beloved, the sensible thing to do is to move away as fast as your legs or any means of transport at your disposal can carry you out of a dried up brook. Dried up brooks have nothing to offer. God instructed the prophet Elijah to move out of a dried up brook. Please see 1^st Kings Chapter 17 verses 3 to 10.

Why You Should Not Borrow

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you. Deuteronomy Chapter 15 verse 6 

The Lord will open for you His good treasure house, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verse 12

But you shall remember [with profound respect] the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy Chapter 8 verse 18

You are a lender to the nations. Why should a lender to the nations borrow especially when God says you will not borrow?  Secondly, the Bible says that God will give you power to get wealth. The Lord Who promises to give you power to get wealth will always ensure that wealth accrues to you so that you will always have more than enough to live on. But you must be productively engaged like the wise and faithful servants who received five and two talents each. They deployed the talents diligently and multiplied them. Beloved, if you are productively engaged in financially, mentally and spiritually rewarding activities, God will honor His word and bless all the work of your hands as stated in Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verses 12, 8; 30 verse 9, 24 verse 19, 23 verse 20, 16 verse 15, 15 verse 18, 10, 12 verses 7 and 18.  Additionally, God in His infinite mercies and wisdom will give you the wisdom you require to own unlimited financial resources so that you always operate in and walk in financial dominion. The Biblical King Solomon is a classic example.

Soul winning Births Wealth

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Soul winning is not struggling for positions but service to humanity – Luke Chapter 24. It  is about doing good to the people. You are a soul winner when lives are positively impacted for Christ. The gospel and not personal lives or wealth should be preached. Jesus had vision, mission statements and a clear job description – Luke Chapter 4. Jesus did not act independently. He acted on the father’s instruction based on the divine mandate he received. The presence of the Holy Spirit is Who you need to minister. If God is in it, then go ahead. Soul winning is not about crowd, it is about impact. The primary reason for Pentecost was for believers to become effective witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pentecost was therefore designed for believers to receive power to become witnesses to God on a global scale To witness is to give evidence or be an evidence yourself, in this case proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the lives of believers.  That is why the Holy Spirit was given to believers.

Jesus gave procedural instructions on how to bear witness of Him. First, from your home, in your community, nation and then on a global scale so that if you are effective witnesses at home, then you can succeed outside. To be an effective witness, your lifestyle should reflect the nature of Christ. The world out there does not see Jesus physically. They see Jesus through you (Acts Chapter 4 verse 13, John Chapter 1 verses 40 to 46). The world around you needs to see the character of Jesus in you. Your qualitative lifestyle – changed lifestyle in appearance, talk is a proof that Jesus is raised and is a tool for evangelism. There must be a clear difference in the behavior patterns of believers and unbelievers. We should live lives that other people can copy. What people want to see is the proof of your encounter with Christ (Romans Chapter 2 verse 24). It is one thing to proclaim the resurrection and another to reflect the glory of His resurrection. There must be a difference between a believer and an unbeliever in their lifestyles. This is what the Apostle Paul meant in 2^nd Corinthians Chapter 3 verses 1 to 3. Our lifestyles commend and recommend people to Christ. You are the Bible that those who have no access to the bible will ever read. Therefore, you must live the Christlike life. Jesus lived the life he preached and Jesus was teaching through His lifestyle. 1^st Corinthians Chapter 4 verse 16. Paul did not preach a single message. But the manner in which he handled the viper attack made the people refer to him as a god. Wherever you are, you are an open Bible that people need.

If your lifestyle does not support evangelism, then it is a blasphemy. As Christians, we are expected to live exemplary lifestyles that glorify God (Matthew Chapter 5 verse 14). Your lifestyle is the beginning of evangelism (Acts Chapter 1 verse 1). Some of us wear character masks (2^nd Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 16). It is possible for a child of God to be a negative witness.

Pay Attention to Financial Abundance

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

What you pay attention to is what gives you direction. Reject every satanic suggestion, experiences, thoughts, imaginations, and ways of coping with lack. Rather, ask God for what you need and want instead of making do with what is available and run down, that ideally should be thrown away so that you get what works. Also, discard the lie of the devil that such times are periods of trials from the Lord when the devil is actually the one causing such lack in your life. Reject all these evils from the enemy, uproot and destroy them from your life and plant in God’s eternal structures of faithful provision and abundance in His word.  Please see Psalm 23, Deuteronomy Chapter 15 verse 6, 28 verses 11 to 13, 30 verse 9, 2^nd Corinthians Chapter 8 verses 9, Colossians Chapter 2 verses 13 to 15.

The God who gives you the power to get wealth, to be a lender to the nations, who became poor so that you will become rich, who wiped away every handwriting of poverty concerning you and who promises severally to bless the work of your hands (Deuteronomy Chapter 24 verse 19, 23 verse 20, 16 verse 15, 15 verses 1 to 18, 14 verse 29) is not the one behind financial lack in your life. It is the devil and that devil and his cohorts stand and remain rebuked by God and His Word to you concerning financial abundance.

This is the time for you to experience and walk in financial abundance. However, you need to pay prime attention to financial abundance. This is because as you pay attention to financial abundance, you will be directed in the paths of financial abundance, taught the principles of financial abundance, given great grace to implement and you will become the owner of great financial abundance. Please see Romans Chapter 8 verse 14, 1^st John Chapter 5 verses 14 to 15, John Chapter 10 verse 10.

God is not the one opposing you in your journey to financial independence. It is the devil and his cohorts. Match them force for force and eliminate to dispossess them. God did not create you to be poor, in lack, in debt and borrowing to live. He created you to prosper, be wealthy and to be happy. Whatever then limits you from prospering is not of God, is satanic and should be destroyed completely in Jesus mighty name. Therefore, destroy every opposition on your path, dispossess them and move on to the land of promise. Whoever, whatever comes out to attack you on your way to the land of promise is not of God, has no power over you as God has stripped them of all power to hurt you. Therefore, strike hard, eliminate them, dispossess them and move on to the land of promise on your knees. If ever there was a time to pray it is now. Eliminate the opposition in prayers as the Apostle Paul did to the wild beasts of Ephesus. Uproot and destroy the strongholds of satanic financial lack.

Take Vantage Positions 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Cities do not happen on hills by chance. They are deliberately, purposefully, consciously and strategically planted, built and set on hills for specific purposes or reasons ranging from protection, security, visibility, etc. whatever be the reason,  the import is that cities are set on hills purposefully and by choice.

A hill is a conspicuous, strategic and vantage location that gives visibility to both people below the hill and those on top of the hill. Those below see the city on the hill easily as opposed to other nearby cities on lowland. And for those on the hills, they can easily see intruders, predators, competition, enemies and have sufficient time to prepare to repel such attacks.

The essence of a product or service is to impact and bless people by adding value to their lives. And when people discover this, they will definitely seek the product or service. But if the product or service is buried in a hideout, an obscure, inaccessible terrain, how does the product get to the people? How do people access the product or service? Therein lies the wisdom of setting cities on hills so that they will not be hidden. Joseph was thrown into prison, hopefully to obscure him into oblivion so that his lights would stop shining. Joseph chose the path of making prison a hill. He shone his lights as brightly as prison allowed him and prison became a launch pad, a springboard to global limelight, relevance, significance and dominance.

Beloved, make the effort to shine your lights as brightly as God would have you shine them wherever God placed you to shine them. That way, you will leapfrog whatever limitations and barriers that the enemy attempts to place in your path. This is not to say that you should sit docile and passive; refuse to make conscious, deliberate purposeful efforts to build and plant on a hill for global visibility. It is your responsibility to do so but trust God.

Take Vantage Positions 1

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

13 “You are the [a]salt of the earth; but if the salt has [b]lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery]. 14 “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew Chapter 5 verses 13 to 16.

God set you on a hill? Are you on the hill? Joseph was born for global leadership but he was born and raised in Canaan until circumstances that would be considered negative but albeit positive moved him to Egypt, the place of global leadership where his divine IPs were accepted, relevant and made him significant and dominant.

What dreams were there for Joseph to interpret in Canaan, the jealousy and envy of his siblings that had snowballed to hatred and death wishes for him? Canaan was no place for him at that point in time for him because it was not the hill God set him on. . Egypt was and God took him there; and he was celebrated because his lights shone as they ought to have shone, and significantly where they should shine; and people saw the good works of Joseph and glorified God for filling Joseph with His Spirit to bless humanity.

Beloved, I have no idea where you are presently but if it is not God’s hill for you, then you need to move urgently to where God wants you to bless humanity. If it is a place of strife and contention, I advise that you get out of strife and contention into God’s plans and purposes for your life. Do not be embroiled in fruitless mental processes, utterances and activities that do not lead anywhere and do not promote.

Strategize Your Way to Wealth

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Sometimes, a great mental paradigm shift is required for anyone desiring wealth to get wealth. This is because certain mindsets that are contrary to wealth production have to be discarded so that the mindsets that allow for wealth production are internalized and utilized for wealth production.

For instance, if you are blessed with the gift of strategic thinking that enables you to think, think through issues, analyze them to come up with solutions, then you are a strategist who should be productively engaged in strategizing issues. This is more like operating the gift of wisdom; a problem solving skill which is a gift from God that you are blessed with. Your task, job and responsibility is to strategize the solutions and not necessarily immerse yourself in the tasks. Joseph supervised the work of collecting and storing up the abundant harvests. He did not plant the crop, work the land, harvests the grains, bag the grains, transport the grains, and build the storehouses. Other people carried out these tasks taking instructions from Joseph. Joseph did not swamp himself in activities that would clog his mental processes, major tools he required for strategizing. He delegated the non strategizing processes to other people and concentrated on developing strategies - thinking and analyzing and in the process expanded the development plan to include the government land use act, sale of food to other nationalities to generate additional income for Pharaoh.

A strategist who does not delegate non strategizing processes is headed for oblivion. That was why Jethro advised Moses not to wear himself out in judging the people alone as he could actually delegate those processes to other competent people in the community.

The prophet Elisha never engaged in non strategizing processes. He always delegated, issuing instructions that only total and prompt obedience to provided solutions to those who needed the solutions. He instructed the widow of the indebted son of the prophet to go package oil - albeit in borrowed vessels. She obeyed and the long term siege of financial challenges that was fast becoming a trans-generational problem was solved.