Tag: christianity

Date: October 11, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 22

“When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.” (2Kings 2:1-2NIV)

One of the things we learn from Scriptures about God is that He appreciates determination. Yes, He is a God that gives freely to people without complaining about them (James 1:5). However, there are times that He considers people’s determination to receive from Him before giving certain things to them.Why did many of the children of Israel that Moses brought out of Egypt perish in the wilderness and did not make it into the Promised Land? One of the reasons for this, as we are shown in the bible, is unbelief. They did not believe that God was able to give the land to them.

But something also assisted their unbelief. That was insufficient determination to take what God wanted to give to them. (Cf. Numbers 13&14; Hebrews 3:19)But there were two people from that same generation that made it into the Promised Land. They were Joshua and Caleb. Why did they make it there? They made it there because apart from the fact that they had faith in God, they were also determined to make it there.

So, it is not enough for God to promise to give us something or to show us visions of what He wants us to be or enjoy in life; It is also important that we are determined to have what He wants us to have. If we are determined to have what He wants us to have, we will be willing to go all the day in doing whatever legitimate thing we can do to take what He is giving to us. But if we are not determined, there is every tendency that the challenges that we will encounter on our way (and we will surely encounter challenges) will bring discouragement to our hearts.

We mighty, then, stop believing and taking steps of faith towards taking for ourselves what He wants us to have.As we see in our opening bible text, even though Elijah had made it clear to Elisha that God had chosen him to take his place as the leading prophet in Israel, he was still prompted by God to test his determination to take the place He had already chosen for him. So, when the time came for him to be taken to heaven, he told Elisha to stay in Gilgal and not bother to follow him to Bethel, where God had sent him to go.

But did Elisha agree to stay? No! Instead, he told him that he would not leave him until he was eventually caught up to the heavens. Also, when they got to Bethel and Elijah told him to wait there, since God had sent him to Jericho, he told him that he would still not leave him. And though the prophets there also tried to discourage him from following this man of God, he did not listen to them. The same thing happened when they got to Jericho and Elijah told him to wait there, he would not leave him or pay attention to the words spoken by the prophets there to discourage him. Instead, he followed this man of God on to the Jordan. (Cf. 2Kings 2:1-6)

Why did Elisha act like that? It was because he knew that he had not yet received the spiritual authority and power to function in the prophetic position Elijah had publicly anointed him for. And he was determined to receive these things before the man was taken away from him. Otherwise, all that he would have was just a prophetic title; he would have no authority and power to back it up. Then everything he left behind in order to follow this man of God would have amount to nothing.

Thankfully, because of Elisha’s determination to take the place God had chosen for him, he eventually received from God the authority and power to function as the lead prophet in Israel. But do you know that Elijah had a servant that was serving him before God asked him to go and anoint Elisha in his place? He did. Why, then, was this servant not chosen by God to take his place? We are not told the reason in Scriptures. We are not even given his name. Why? It may be that God saw that he was not someone that was determined enough to serve Him in his master’s place.Look at all that is said about him in the bible: “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there.” (1Kings 19:3NIV)

It was after this, of course, that he received an instruction from God to go and anoint Elisha in his place instead of looking for the servant that he had left in Beersheba. But why, in the first place, was this man not with Elijah when God was talking to him? Why did he agree to stay in Beersheba instead of following his master all the way, regardless of where his path may lead them? We have no direct answers in Scriptures for these questions.

But it is clear from Scriptures that Elisha was utterly different from him. He was not going to leave the man God had appointed him to follow and serve until God’s reason for placing him under his leadership was fully accomplished, regardless of the level of stress that may place on his life. That is determination. And it paid off for him.In like manner, we too need to be determined to have certain things God wants us to have in order for us to have them.

Yes, we need to pass His tests of determination for certain things He has already chosen for us to be ours to possess and enjoy. We may, of course, be faced with all kinds of challenges on our way to taking for ourselves what He has chosen for us. But as long as we trust Him and are determined to have what He wants us to have, He will surely clear the way for us to have it.So, be determined to see God’s promises to you and the visions He has shown you come to pass in your life.

Be determined to go all the way in praying, meditating on Scriptures and taking all the legitimate steps you can take to be that person God has shown you that you can be. And my prayer is that He will count you worthy of His purpose for you and also fulfil every step of faith you take towards becoming all that He wants you to be in this life. Amen.

Date: September 27, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 19

“Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” (Mark 1:43-45NIV)

Who did Jesus send away with a strong warning? It was a man that he had healed of his leprosy. As the account goes, this man had approached the Lord and begged Him to heal him of his leprosy. And He had compassion on him, touched him and cured him of his leprosy. Then, as Mark shows us in our opening text, the Lord proceeded to strongly warn him not to tell anyone about what He had done for him.

But why would the Lord warn this man not to share his healing testimony with anyone? Was it not a good thing that He did for him? And would the sharing of his healing testimony not bring even more people to Him, so that He could minister to them as well? What exactly was on the Lord’s mind when He strongly warned this man not to share his testimony with anyone?

Well, no one knew the answers to these questions until the man involved disobeyed the command the Lord had given him. As we further see in our opening bible text, despite the strong warning the Lord had given him not to tell anyone about how he got healed of his leprosy, he still went around, speaking freely about it and spreading the news. Consequently, the Lord could not openly go anywhere without being besieged by crowds of people. 

Now it is true that among the reasons Jesus came into the world was to heal and set men free from all their sicknesses and diseases. But He could not have possibly been doing this all the time. He too was a man. So, like every other person, He needed to eat, rest, sleep, visit his family members and do other things that are normal and legitimate for every human being to do. Also, He needed time to pray and study the word of God and meditate on it. Otherwise, exhaustion would soon set in and make Him useless in ministering effectively to those coming to Him.

So, when the Lord told that man not to share his healing testimony to anyone, it was so that He would have enough breathing space to freely go around and minister in an organised way. That way, He would be able to minister effectively to more people and in more places without calling undue attention to Himself or wearing Himself out. But that man robbed Him of all this through his disobedience.

Yes, the man must have thought that he was helping the ministry of Jesus by publicising what He had done for him. But he was wrong. He was not helping His ministry at all. Instead, he was hindering it. The only way he could have helped His ministry was to have listened to His instruction and kept quiet. But he did not. So, he made it hard for Him to minister in that area according to His plans.

Now what is the point of all this? It is that we don’t know better than God. So, when He gives us an instruction, whether directly or through any of His servants, we should take it seriously and not act otherwise. Yes, as people with brains, we may think differently about something God has already instructed us about. Nevertheless, if we indeed agree that His foolishness is wiser than our wisdom, we will do as He has instructed us.

See, it is not every time that we will immediately understand why God is asking us to do something or not to do it. There are some things that we will not know the reason God has given us instructions about them until we obey or disobey Him. 

How, then, would you feel, if you had to learn that God is wiser than you through your disobedience and that you had missed something good He had prepared for you? Or how would you feel, if you had to find out that you had messed up God’s work, your life or a loved one’s life while you actually thought that you were helping Him? 

Those are hard questions to answer, right? So, when next you receive a spiritual instruction, see to it that you do as you are told instead of trying to follow your mind. Otherwise, like that leprous man whom the Lord healed, you too may end up messing up things. And who knows how messed up they will be?

Date: August 30, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 1

“Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help. Ahaz took some of the things from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace and from the princes and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.” (2Chron 28:20-21NIV)

One of the things made abundantly clear to us in Scriptures is that no one can help anyone that God does not help. So, if you want true help about any matter of life, the one you should turn to is God. Otherwise, anyone or anything you turn to for help apart from God may end up making an already bad situation worse for you.

As we see in our opening bible text, there was a time that King Ahaz of Judah turned to the king of the Assyrians, Tiglath-Pileser, for help. Why? He was being attacked by his neighbouring nations from different angles. So, he was losing his people and his territory at a very alarming rate. (Cf. 2Chro 28:5-15)

But why was he losing his people and land in that manner? That was the first question he ought to have asked himself. His father, Jotham, did not lose his people or land at all. Instead, he made them stronger and richer. Also, his grandfather, Uzziah, did not lose his people or land at all. Instead, he made them stronger and richer. (Cf. 2Chro 26-27)

What, then, was his own problem? Why could he not keep what was passed on to him? He could not because he did not take God seriously as did his grandfather and father. Instead of worshiping God, he gave himself to the worship of idols and the practice of divination. Therefore, God withdrew His protection from him and from the land. That, of course, was the reason for his trouble. (Cf. 2Chro 28:1-8)

So, even though Ahaz needed help in order to be saved from his enemies, there was something he needed more than help. And that was repentance. If he had repented and turned back to God, the God of the nation that he was king over, he would have had all the help he needed to defeat his enemies and win his land and people back.

Ahaz, however, was too arrogant to humble himself before God and seek His face. Therefore, he turned to the king of the Assyrians for help. Unfortunately, as we are told in our opening bible text, instead of getting help from this man, all he got from him was trouble. And even though he gave him some of the treasures laid up by his ancestors in the temple of God and in his palace, all he still got from him was trouble.

Eventually, he gave himself to more idolatry and messed up the entire nation even more before his meaningless reign ended.In like manner, there are many like Ahaz today who are going from place to place and people to people for all kinds of assistance or support. But what they need may not just be help but to take God seriously in their lives and stop living according to their own ways. And as long as they do not realise this and act accordingly, any help they find may soon enough prove to be no help at all but trouble.

Then, like Ahaz, there are many all around the world who keep looking for help and solutions to the problems of their lives outside God. And will they get helped? No! Instead, like Ahaz, what they will keep finding are people like Tiglath-Pileser, who will keep taking from them but never giving them anything but trouble.

Now perhaps you already have such people in your life. They keep asking you to give them all kinds of things and taking you to all kinds of places, all in the name of wanting to help you. Yet their help is not forthcoming. If you are not careful, such people will be the ones that will run you dry. Then you will wake up one day and realise that your home, possessions, savings, health and everything else you care for are gone. Yet you have not been helped.

So, stop seeking help where it does not exist. Your help is with only one person. And that person is God. You just need to humble yourself, put your trust in Him and stop relying on your understanding. And He will see to it that you get the right kind of help you need without having to lose your head, sleep, relationships or resources.

Date: August 23, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 15

“The LORD said, “Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you can’t even stand up in open country, how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?”” (Jer 12:5GNT)

Those were God’s words to Jeremiah, when he began to question Him about His commitment to giving justice. In Jeremiah’s estimation, the wicked and the faithless in his land were becoming more and more prosperous. And that was happening at the expense of the righteous and godly people in the land.Yet he could not see God doing anything about it. He could not see Him punishing the wicked for their wickedness, dragging them off to be killed or destroyed. So, he got upset and began to take God to task about His justice.

Now when people begin to question God and find fault with Him about His devotion to giving justice here on earth, they may soon enough become part of the wickedness they have been complaining about. This is why Solomon says, “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” (Eccl 8:11NIV)

In other words, when people do not immediately receive due punishments for their wickedness or wrong acts, they will most likely encourage themselves in the practice of wickedness.But then, it is not only those who have been given to wickedness that this may affect. It may also affect those who have been given to righteousness and are looking forward to seeing justice prevail where they are. If they cannot obviously see the wicked being punished by the leadership of where they are, they will expect God to step in and punish them.

And if they wait for a while and can’t also see God punishing them in ways that are obvious to them, they may give up on righteous living and become a part of the problem they used to complain about.Perhaps this is addressing you. Perhaps you too have given up on doing what is right or are about to give up on it because of the injustice you are witnessing everyday where you are.

And that is because you have a feeling that God is helpless or slow or unconcerned, as far as matters concerning justice are concerned. Well, if that is the case, then, you are like Jeremiah of bible days. He too, as I pointed out earlier, at some point felt that God was not showing enough concern, if any at all, about the injustice in his country.

Otherwise, He would have stepped in and begun to judge all those involved. But when God was going to answer him, the response he expected was not what he got. He probably was expecting God to comfort him and tell him to be patient with Him and that He was soon going to do something about the injustice in the land. But God did not say that at all. Instead, as we see in our opening text, He told him to stop being childish and grow up.

According to God, if Jeremiah could not cope in a race with men like himself, how would he cope, if he were to be in a race with horses? Or if he could not cope with life in an open country, how was he going to cope if he were to be dropped off in a jungle? And what did God mean by saying these things? It was that Jeremiah should not use the unjudged injustice in his land as an excuse for misbehaving or abandoning righteous living.

Why? It was because whatever form of unjudged injustice he could see in the land was nothing to compare to what was in existent in some other places. And if he could not cope with it, how would he be able to cope, if he were to find himself in a more wicked place?Now did God say these things to give Jeremiah the feeling that He had no interest in giving justice on earth? No!

Rather, He said it to let him know that whatever form of unjudged wickedness or injustice he saw in the land should not be used by him as an excuse for not doing what was right or for grumbling. As we see in Scriptures, God dispenses justice here on earth every day (Zeph 3:5).

And that it is not obvious to us does not mean that it is not happening. So, we should not use the fact that we have not seen certain acts of wickedness or injustice dealt with as our excuse for giving up on righteous living or for living a life of grumbling.

Instead, we should learn to concentrate on doing the will of God with hearts filled with thanksgiving. That is because regardless of how terrible the injustice or wickedness we see where we are may be, God will have us know that there are places where things are worse. And if we will not learn to take advantage of His grace to deal with whatever evil we are confronted with where we are now, how are we going to survive, if things should get worse there or if we should find ourselves in a worse place?

Date: July 26, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 11

“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16NIV)

What is Paul’s instruction to us in our opening bible text? It is for us to be very careful how we live. Why do we need exercise caution or carefulness in the way we live? According to Paul, the reason is that the days we are living in are evil.

Is Paul now saying that every day is an evil day? Yes, that is exactly what he is saying. And is that in line with the mind of God? Yes, it is in line with the mind of God. That is because our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when addressing us about the need not worry about tomorrow, says this to us: “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34NIV)

That means every day is loaded with enough trouble, enough evil to ruin anybody. However, the evil of any day does not have to ruin us or destroy us. And it will not ruin us or destroy us, if we know how to live. But if we do not know how to live, even the good of any day we witness may not do us any good at all.

As Paul equally shows us in that text, though the days we live in are evil days, something we all can attest to, they are also days of opportunities. In other words, the days we live in are not entirely evil but also good. What is important, therefore, is for us to recognise the good in every day and make the most of it to defeat the evil in it.

Now that is what Paul refers to as living wisely, living carefully, living thoughtfully. Yes, each new day will bring its own kinds of evil to our world.

But we must not just focus our attention on the evil happening in it but also on the opportunities God is making available to turn the evil happening in it around for our good. The bible says this to us about God: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28NIV)

Did you see that? Just as our enemy, the devil, is working hard to fill every day with evil for us, God, our Father, is also working to turn every ugly situation around for our good. And whose work do you think will naturally prevail? God’s work!

So, instead for you to allow all the bad things happening around you or to you to make you lose your mind and start misbehaving, focus your attention on the good things God is doing on your behalf and how you can make the most of them to frustrate the devil and defeat every evil thing he is doing to bring you down.

That was how Joseph functioned when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He did not focus on his slavery but on the opportunities that it afforded him to rise and shine. And did he rise and shine or not? He did. (Cf. Gen 39)

Also, when he was in the prison, he did not focus his attention on the bad things happening in the prison and what they could do to him. Rather, he focussed his attention on the good things happening there, on the opportunities available for him there to rise and shine.

And did he rise and shine or not? He did. In, fact, he went on from there to become the prime minister of the land of Egypt. (Cf. Gen 39-41)

In like manner, what will spell wisdom for us, especially those of us living in Nigeria now and who are faced with unnumbered problems, is to stop looking only at all the bad things that are happening in our land and to also start looking out for the opportunities God is providing through them to turn things around for our good.

And as we recognise these opportunities and begin to utilise them, we will soon see that the evil days are not entirely evil after all – they are also loaded with all kinds of good things for us to enjoy and flourish. My prayer is that God will open your eyes to see the good He has in store for you every remaining day of your life and also lead and strengthen you to make the most of it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Date: July 19, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 10

“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”” (Gen 4:6-7NIV)

Why did Cain end up killing his brother, Abel? It was because he failed to listen to God’s warning. As the account goes, after God had rejected his offering, he got terribly angry with his brother. But was he supposed to be angry with his brother?

No! Was his brother the one that rejected his offering? No! Or was his brother the one that kept him from living right before God, so that his offering would be acceptable? No! Nevertheless, Cain held his brother responsible for his own failure to get God’s approval. In like manner, we have many today who hold people who have absolutely nothing to do with their failure, stagnation or poverty in life responsible for it.

So, instead for them to examine their lives careful in order to see what they are missing or getting wrong, all they will be busy doing is considering how the progress of others is affecting their own progress.

I remember how I once had to sound a friend and colleague of mine out along this line. She and a number of others in my office had been terribly upset that very day with certain colleagues of ours that were handling their jobs anyhow. And I did not see anything wrong with that. It is proper for any of us to be upset with those we are working together, if they are slowing us down or messing up our work.

However, this friend of mine went beyond being upset that day to expressing her bitterness by saying, “We get to do all the work. And these ones that are messing up get to take all the money.

Yet they don’t have better papers than we do.” So, I had to immediately stop her from fuelling her bitterness by drawing her attention to the fact those so-called slothful colleagues of ours were not the reason she was not being highly paid by the company. Granted, those people may be slothful. But their slothfulness had nothing to do with her low wages. It was her choice to accept that job, even though the pay was low – nobody forced her to take it. So, holding those people responsible for her low pay was totally out of line. And if she did not quickly get rid of that idea, she would soon enough be filled with bitterness against them, something that may drive her to do something that would ruin them and her as well.

Now that was what happened to Cain. Because he held his brother responsible for God’s rejection of his offering, hatred for him began to fill his heart. So, God had to immediately step in and warn him. Why would God do that? God just rejected his offering. Yet He came to warn him. That means He did not reject his offering because He did not love him. Rather, He rejected it because He wanted him to see that he was not living right and needed to repent.

Otherwise, his entire life would end up being a waste.So, the fact that God has sent a word of rebuke to you about anything wrong that you are doing does not mean that He hates you. Rather, it means that He loves you and does not want you to continue to do what will destroy you or to keep on following a path that will end in ruins and regret. As the bible tells us, it is those that God loves that He rebukes; it is those that He accepts as His own that He disciplines. So, if He is continually setting you right, consider yourself precious to Him. (Cf. Heb 12:5-6)

Unfortunately, Cain did not see the love of God for him in the rejection of his offering. Also, he did not see it in the warning that came to him to guard his heart against all the evil thoughts that were coming to him. So, he ended up murdering his own brother, the very one he was supposed to protect. And that, of course, brought God’s judgment on him. (Cf. Gen 4:8-16)

What is the point of this? It is that if we do not watch the kinds of thoughts we permit in our hearts and master them or take them captive, we may end up holding the wrong people responsible for the failure, shame or stagnation our lives are experiencing. Or we may end up seeking happiness, satisfaction or peace of mind in wrong relationships or activities. And where this is the case, we may end up destroying the very people we are meant to protect. (Cf. 2Cor 10:5)

Look at Amnon, the first son of David, also. Because he would not master his thoughts, he began to seek enjoyment and sexual satisfaction from his own blood sister. So, he ended up raping her, a sister that he was supposed to be protecting from rapists. And that took away not just the throne of Israel from him but also his life. (Cf. 2Sam 13)

So, if you have been tolerating or nursing evil thoughts in your hearts, you may just be preparing yourself to harm those you are supposed to love, cherish and protect. And the word of God is coming to you now to warn you, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Date: July 05, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 8

“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.” The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”” (Gen 41:33-38NIV)

One of the things to learn from the bible story of Joseph is the need to get ready for elevation. Yes, God showed him all kinds of dreams of greatness as a young boy. But he would not have become great, if he had not been devoted to preparing himself for greatness.

As his account shows, as a young man, he encountered different situations that threatened to permanently take greatness away from him.

First, he was sold into slavery by his own blood brothers. Why? They were determined to make nonsense of his dreams of becoming great. He had been sharing those dreams with them and giving them the impression that he was destined to be greater than them in life. So, in their jealousy and anger towards him, they decided to sell him off and then watch how he would rise to be greater than them in slavery. (Cf. Gen 37)

Second, while in slavery, he got into trouble with his master’s wife and found himself in the prison for a crime he did not commit. And that made it look like he was under some curse or spell. That is because everything happening to him seemed to be taking him farther away from the dreams of greatness God had given him. He, then, would need to have great faith in order to continue to believe and to expect his dreams of becoming great to be fulfilled, in spite of all that he was going through.

Well, what this is showing us is that the fact that God has shown you dreams or visions that indicate that you will be great in life does not mean that there won’t be situations that will want to take greatness away from you. You can be very sure that there will be such situations. And you have to be ready for them. Otherwise, you will not respond to them in ways that will prevent them from destroying you or taking away greatness from you.Joseph showed himself prepared for greatness at every point in his walk.

How? First, he took God seriously and kept on believing that He was able to fulfil for him his dreams of greatness, regardless of where he found himself or what he was faced with. Therefore, he was ready to utilise any righteous opportunity that would take him near greatness. That was why even though he came into Potiphar’s house as a slave, he handled his work diligently and faithfully and ended up becoming the administrator of the man’s household and wealth. (Cf. Gen 39)

Also, when he found himself in the prison, he still did not see that as an end to his dream of becoming great. Instead, he saw every task he was given as an opportunity to bring himself closer to greatness. So, he handled it so diligently and honestly that he rose to become the assistant of the prison warden, managing the prison for the man. Then we see that Joseph did all that he could possibly do as a human being to avoid anything that could withdraw God’s favour from him or ruin his reputation. He would not steal from his master Potiphar. Instead, he showed himself as reliable. That was why the man could entrust everything he had to him.

Also, even though no man was watching and it was for free, he would not defile himself with his master’s wife. That, of course, got him imprisoned. But the situation could not chain or imprison the favour of God at work in his life.

Therefore, on the day that the opportunity for him to become the second-in-command to the king of Egypt came, he was spiritually and mentally ready. As we see in our opening bible text, he was not put in that position by Pharaoh just because he interpreted his dreams. There were magicians and wise men who used to interpret dreams and omens for the king in the land at that time. And none of them was made the king’s second-in-command for doing so. Why, then, was Joseph put in that position? He was put there because he not only showed Pharoah the problem that was coming but also showed him how to prevent it from happening.

Interestingly, he made this king see that the solution to the problem at hand had nothing to do with making elaborate animal or human sacrifices but purely administrative. And when he was done talking, both the king and his officials could see that he was not just a spiritually gifted man but also one that was sound in handling administrative issues and problems, even though he was coming from the prison.

So, when the king made him his second-in-command, no one protested.Now the point of all this is that you too have to be ready spiritually, mentally and physically for your opportunities to attain that great height you have been dreaming of. And you can be ready by following Joseph’s example.

How? First, take God seriously and keep on believing that He is able to make your greatness happen, regardless of the odds against you. Second, see every task or job you are given as an opportunity to bring yourself closer to that great height you want to attain in life. So, handle it well. That way, you will be developing in yourself those skills and attributes that will make you fit to handle any position of greatness.

Third, see to it that you avoid anything that could shut the door of God’s favour against you. Among other things, immorality, greed, jealousy, unfaithfulness, laziness and pride can shut the door of God’s favour against you. So, take advantage of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life to avoid them. Then, when the time for your elevation to that height of greatness you have dreamt of comes, you will find that you are ready to utilise it to your advantage.Cheers!