SOME HINDRANCES TO BLESSING ABOVE LIMIT

There are a lot that can hinder the flow of the blessing above limit, the list may be endless but I shall consider a few of these hindrances. The purpose of pointing these hindrances is for it to be known and avoided so that access to the limitless blessings can be secured. 1. Possessing a lack mindset. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. Those that think lack never cease from being in want. Their preoccupation is only what to grab at every opportunity that calls, they do not see life as what to contribute but what to grab. If they are giving a treasury to keep watch over, you see them stealing all; they take things they will make use of in life. Because to them life is all about what you can gather, they keep on looting and accumulating a cursed things. Other characteristic of lack mindset is that it make people view life from the negative prism of life, they think impossibility all the time. 2. Not being conscious of the blessing. The greatest discovery in life is self-discovery, but self-awareness is the first step to discovering self. You must be conscious of the blessing before you can become a candidate for blessing above limit. Until your effort is blessed you cannot access the blessings. Hard work is a very great virtue and must be inculcated in every life and believed in by all, but hard work needs blessing to deliver outstanding result. Consciousness raises expectation and expectation is the womb of manifestation. 3. Not knowing what we need. The monetized economy has indeed affected our thinking; people see money behind every need that comes their way. Money can buy all material blessing but you do not necessarily need money to have all material blessings. For instance, someone needs a car what comes to mind is how do I raise money to buy the car as if buying the car is the only way to have a car; you can receive a car as a gift. In a time in life, people lived without money and survived; so money is not all we need. This mind lock is the reason people no longer value the social aspect of life nor value other kinds of capitals like goodwill, integrity, your social network, etc.

BLESSED ABOVE LIMIT

You are not blessed because you are rich; you are rich because you are blessed. There are so many people that are in possession of money and riches that are not blessed. Often when blessing is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is money, riches, and wealth. But these are just a part to it but never the whole to it. Because many seem to lack this understanding, they do even the unthinkable to have it money. I say have because in essence they are not blessed; the wealth is gotten by their effort and lacked the blessing of God. Also it is not in man to bless himself/herself; it is God that releases blessing that makes rich – Labor not to be rich Proverb 23:4. The major reason for much labor for riches is due to lack of the understanding of the nature of our blessing and the mindset of lack developed over a long time. This mindset has much become part of many yet effort are not been made to deal with this mindset. NATURE OF OUR BLESSING The blessing has a nature peculiar to it and some of these natures are: 1. Our blessing is first spiritual, not physical first – Eph.1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Because the blessing is first spiritual we must not walk be sight but by faith; you must be able to see the blessing coming before it enters into your hands. Until Christ comes, our dealings with God must be by faith and faith alone. 2. Our blessing is based on covenant – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become the curse for us (for it is written, “curse is everyone who hang on tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith – Galatians 3:13-14, and this covenant cannot be altered – Psalm 89:34 – My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. 3. Our blessing is at the expense of Christ, Jesus fulfilled the terms of the blessing. Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become the curse for us (for it is written, “curse is everyone who hang on tree”), and 2 Corinthian 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich yet for your sake He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich. 4. The blessing covers all things of life, whatever the need is - Ephesian 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. He has blessed us with every, “EVERY” means all but none left. 5. The blessing is triggered by favor.

DISCOURAGEMENT

Discouragement is a feeling of despair in the face of obstacle, a feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out right; it is a show of hopelessness and loss of confidence. It is a disconnection from courage or a disconnected courage. You use to be connected to courage but for some reason you lost your connection; at this point of disconnect from courage hopelessness and lack of confidence sets in. In the previous post, we discussed about perspective. Discouragement has a whole lot to do with perspective; ones perspective could aid or abate discouragement. So which spectacles are you viewing life from, the lens you put on is purely you choice – if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small proverb 24:10. Sometimes, discouragement is inevitable and requires that it be well managed to avoid hurt. How to deal with discouragement: 1. Break up the circle of discouragement 2. Think of things that had worked out fine for you in the past. 3. Avoid setting unrealistic dreams and targets for yourself. 4. Encourage yourself like David did. Often people waits on others to encourage while they can actually do that themselves. 5. Seek the support of friends and family member by sharing your frustration with them and finding comfort and solution. 6. Avoid self-pity and blame game.

PERSPECTIVE

Perspective is a particular attitude towards a thing or way of regarding something; a point of view. Synonyms of perspective are outlook, view, viewpoint, point of view, standpoint, position, stand, stance, angel, slant, attitude, frame of mind, frame of reference, approach, way of looking/thinking, vantage point, and interpretation; all have a lot to say of perspective. Your perspective is you. It defines your interpretation and goes a long way to inform your action or inaction in face of situations and issues of life. We act differently because we understand differently, but perspective informs our perception and perception defines our understanding, understanding guides our action. I can say that the major reason people fight over issues is because there is difference in perspective; people of same perspective share common interest. People see same thing but respond differently; the variance in response is perspective. What angel of the prism of life are you looking from? What can you see? What you see is who you are and what you see is what you have chosen to see; it’s wholly a choice. Seeing from a wrong angel will certainly give a wrong view of life but your position as well is your choice. You can change your point of view; if what you see fall short of what you want to see, the choice you have is to change your position and see well. We have two eyes but one sight. Those that see possibilities do not see problems but those that see problems all over them never see possibilities. Twelve people were sent to undertake a feasibility study when God wanted to settle His people in their own land, ten saw the giants and were intimidated but two saw differently; they saw the green and fertile land and said we can have the land and they had the land. Were there giants in the land? Yes. But they choose not to see the giants because their mission was never to see giants but to see how habitable the land is. The two believed that it is what you look out for that you see, if you see what you are not looking for, you should ignore that and continue in the search for what you are out for. Please see life through the prism of life from the positive angle.

THE HABITS OF RESILIENT PEOPLE

There are habits and dispositions resilient people are known with. Their ability to bounce back better than they were with more power and more smart defines who they are but there are habits that proves that they are resilient. We shall take a look at some of habits and it is my desire that you will make frantic effort to develop these habits in your own life; remember in our last discussion we did say that resilience is developed.
1. They have defined goals. When goals are not known and defined, performance assessment becomes an impossible task. So resilient people defines what they are out for per time.
2. They believe the goal is achievable.
3. They are ready to go over it again and again until the goal is achieved. Sees opportunity not chance in every set back encountered; opportunity demands a greater commitment but a chance could be seen as something that will come all the time.
4. Understands that environment must not be favorable; all things cannot be equal. So he/she is ready to face the odds.
5. They are self-reliant
6. Do not want to explain it away nor blame any but face obstacle head on.
7. Takes responsibility. Ask the question what else can be done to get result.
8. Do not keep count of effort made but goals attained.
9. Sees failure as an event not an identity. They do not make repeated mistake and consider failure as a necessary learning step not as final.
10. They are full of hope and positive expectation; optimists. Ever looking at the bright side of life and able to see good even during the worst time.
11. Joy; they find joy and have a sense of humor. Laughter in the face of adversity can be pain relieving for both the body and the mind.
12. Turns adversity into opportunity for growth. Mistake for them is an experience not an event, they learn and hardly repeat same mistake.
13. They take care of their health and never allow stress to build up.
14. They possess an internal soothe mechanism and not from external sources like drugs or alcohol.
15. They keep great company. It takes an iron to sharpen an iron. They saying that opposite attracts and like repels do not apply to them. Resilient people seek out and surround themselves with resilient people.
16. They practice acceptance, never denies the facts. Pain is painful, stress is stressful, and healing takes time. They accept they do not have answer to all things.
17. They practice silence and quietness which aids deep thinking and meditation. By thinking I mean productive reasoning.
18. They have a support network, they do not isolate themselves from other because intimate relationship with friends and family provides a great shock absorber and raises self-worth.
19. They do not live with blames or regrets nor nurse their odds. No pity party.
20. Gratitude

RESILIENCE

Resilience is the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy. It is the property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity. Resilience defines the quality, strength, and stability of a product; and every manufacturer bears resilience in mind while designing his/her product. God is the master producer and man the greatest of all the products ever. He has created man with the capacity and ability to exhibit resilience. The road to resilience lies in working through the emotions and effects of stress and painful events. So resilience is not going through life without experiencing stress and pains because life without challenges is an illusion. The difference between those that are resilient and those who are not is that the former is smarter than the later; its smartness and not stress-free. Resilience according to Japanese proverb is ‘Never give up; fall down seven times, get up eight’. Resilience is bounce back better than you were before; with more power and more smart. It is the ability to thrive in the face of life’s ups, downs, reverses, and troubles. It’s gunning for result without minding the oppositions and difficulties on the way. A resilient person will always find an inner strength to bounce back from a set back or challenges. There is this story of a Tanzanian marathon medalist that clinched to championship with bruises all over his body. When he was been interviewed, he was asked why he did not give up with many falls and bruises, his answer was revealing. He said he was not sent by his country to come and sustain bruises but to win the medial; that’s resilience. Resilience is also not something that you’re either born with or not. Resilience is developed; it develops as people grow up and gain better thinking and self-management skills and more knowledge. Resilience also comes from supportive relationships with parents, peers and others, as well as cultural beliefs and traditions that help people cope with the inevitable bumps in life. Resilience is found in a variety of behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed across the life span.
Factors that aids resilience are:
1. Develop a positive mind set; optimistic about life. The heart and the brain are so inter-related in their functionality.
2. Cultivate the virtue of patience.
3. Focus on anticipated result bumps on your path notwithstanding.
4. Get it down into your being that life without challenges is an illusion; not a real life.
5. Make a choice to outsmart your challenges.
6. Deal with offenses.
7. Build up your skill; go for knowledge.
8. Find out your strength and make up for your weakness.
9. Understanding that there is always an opportunity to start a new; a new day, a new hour, and a new minute.
10. Understand you won’t be celebrated for your explanation but your result.

MENTORING

Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital and the psycho-social support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)". Over ages, mentoring has proven to be a veritable tool in character molding and skill development. The much an individual can do has a lot to do with character and skill. A man of skill without character is a tragedy; and often character unlike skill is acquired most through an informal process and training. Talking about informal training is more or else talking about home training and Bible says when a child is trained he will never depart from the training. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverb 22:6. The home is God’s ordained environment for child training and character formation. If this fails to happen in the home, the child of today becomes a dangerous adult of tomorrow. And ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, Deut. 11:19-20. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. Deut. 6:7 This responsibility of character molding and formation lies on the shoulders of fathers and mothers and by extension caregivers. It is supposed that a mentor is a man of skill and has all is required to replicate these skill in the protégé. So the question then is as a mentor, what do I have to replicate into my protégé? Following my step can my protégé end up living a life of influence and value. If my protégé decides to walk in my steps will he/she be seen as pleasing God; Solomon walked in the status and practice of his father David. Can your children walk in your steps and their life receives God’s approval and commendation, it’s a question every parent must give an answer to. Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes and practices of David his father 1 kings 3:3a

Commitment

Commitment is an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action. Synonyms that are related to commitment are responsibility, obligation, duty, tie, charge, liability, burden, pressure, task, engagement, undertaking, and arrangement. No venture in life thrives without commitment. Each ones success or failure in pursuit of any venture is a function of the level of commitment put forward. Commitment is the capital in any business. In a culture where freedom is well emphasized and advocated for, commitment becomes a near impossible task; as commitment all the time infringes on one’s freedom. Freedom and commitment are opposite side of two extremes; those who freely relinquish their right to freedom are the committed ones and are the real free ones but those who hold tenaciously to their freedom never have commitment for any reasonable course and in essence end up becoming the slaves of all time. So it is a choice for false freedom or commitment (real freedom). Freedom in an unfree world is an irony of life and the plight of many unfulfilled destiny. The world we live in never allows a free space yet people would want to hold on to their right for freedom. Life is a burden, life is an obligation, life is a duty, life is a fight and life is a responsibility. Any thought contrary to this understanding is a self-deceit.

Faith is reasoning with God’s Word

Faith is reasoning with the word of God. By this I do not mean reasoning with God’s word with a view of finding basis for argument or support a thought line not in accordance to the principle of faith. It is reasoning with God’s word to draw a conclusion and a basis for taking action. Abraham is the father of faith, he became such by his obedience in sacrificing his son Isaac to the Lord. In the book of genesis we saw how Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac but in the book of Hebrew we understand why he did that. Faith motivated Abraham to sacrifice his son. It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him Hebrew 11:7a NLT Abraham offered Isaac even though God had told him “Isaac is the son through whom your descendant will be counted” Hebrew 11:18 NLT In verse 19 of Hebrew chapter 11, we see how it was possible for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac the son through whom his descendant would be counted. Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense Abraham did receive his son back from the dead Hebrew 11:19 Abraham reasoned that the God who said that his descendant will be uncountable would not have his son through whom the word will be fulfilled killed. He so much trusted God and believed that he was safe doing whatever God asked him to do including killing his son. Abraham never lost focus of having uncountable descendants; he looked up to that and reasoned that if Isaac dies that God will raise him up. When we reason God’s word, we reason ourselves out of issues of life, our prayer concerns reduces; joy and peace comes. I had a personal experience; I was privileged of God to be nominated for an international training by the organization I work for. I had earlier prayed for the trip but when we boarded the air plane, fear suddenly took hold of me. I have been flying on air plane but I have not flown for the number of hours our plane was going to be air bound, so the thought of the long hours got me afraid. Just immediately the word of God from Proverb 10:22 –“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” ringed in my heart and I began to reason on this word. I reasoned that the training is a blessing as I did not talk to anyone to nominate me for the training in fact the slot given to me was my boss’ slot, he on his own asked that the slot be given to me. So I understand the training to be a blessing and that God cannot allow it bring sorrow to me, as I continue to meditate on this word the fear left me. Reasoning with that word of God built up faith in me and fear cannot stand faith, so once faith appears fear gave way.

Faith is Confidence in God’s Word

Faith is confidence in what God has said and trust in His person which leads to acting on what He has said in his word to prove your confidence in Him. Confidence need to be proved. But it is impossible to build confidence in what one does not understand Understanding strengthens one’s confidence and trust. Until the Ethiopian Eunuch had understanding he could not have faith for salvation. When understanding came confidence answered and salvation entered into his household. [Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian] Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Acts 8:26-37