DILIGENCE: Key Factor to wealth Creation

 Diligence, a word used by many but actually understood by few, can be defined in various ways. The Webster’s dictionary defines it as being hardworking, industrious, conscientious, and not negligent. Diligence according to Wikipedia is steadfast application, assiduousness and industry; the virtue of hard work. Diligence is a work ethic which demonstrates that hard work is good in itself.

Diligence in Christianity is the effort and ability to do one’s part, while maintaining faith, reliance and total dependence in God. Hence, diligence and faith are two sides of a coin. Sometimes, we don’t know how, but despite one’s effort, it just works out, but spiritual success is guaranteed when diligence meets with faith.

Diligence is acquainted with thoroughness, completeness, and persistence of an action, especially in matters of faith.

In your desire to create wealth, the issue is not what you don’t have but what you actually have and then ignorant of how to utilize. Diligence is the basic factor that can translate a thousand dollar business into a million dollar one. 

Many a times, we believe the little in our hands is not enough, but actually it’s more than enough. The holy book says that God has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness.

           

          2Peter 1:3; According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue…KJV

In other words, all you need to make it in life has been freely given to you. The question is, do you know what you have? And can you effectively utilize what you have to achieve the wealth you desire.

By and large, do not despise your little/humble beginnings; the little in your hand today is the hallmark to the much you’re looking forward to tomorrow. All you need do is to be diligent and faithful in your business and endeavors and you will be surely amazed at what you can achieve.

Consider this, if you start an investment with probably 10,000naira and you gain 2,000naira as profit on monthly basis.  In a year, your profit is 24,000 hence your business is worth 34,000naira or probably 30,000naira assuming an expenses of 4,000naira was made. It seems small right? Yeah, it is but better late than never and then again the old proverb ‘slow and steady wins the race’ comes to mind. Just take a moment and imagine what this business will be worth in 10 to 20 years’ time. It will only cost you lots of diligence, consistency and patience.

Being diligent will make you a boss and keep you in charge. You can be who you want to be, living a fulfilled and respectable life just by being hardworking. Consider these scriptures;           

           Proverbs 12:24; The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor…NKJV

            

           Proverbs 12:11; He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, But he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding…NKJV

 By all means avoid slothfulness in your business and in all your endeavors for that matter, because laziness profits nothing. Remember, the old saying "no food for the lazy man"? Well, in my own words,"nothing for the lazy man". 

           Proverbs 18:9;He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster...KJV

If you are privileged to inherit wealth from your family; note that inherited wealth could be the quickest means to poverty when laziness creeps in. Utilize what is available, invest wisely, take risks but don't test the depth of the sea with both feet. 

         FACTORS WHICH ENCOURAGE DILIGENCE

•   Motivation

•   Discipline

•   Concentration

•   Responsibility

•   Devotion

•   Patience

•   Consistency

•   Planning

•   Excuses

•   Prayer

I will be discussing these factors which encourage diligence in details in a later post.

                     HOW TO BE DILIGENT

1. Always be sincere in all your endeavors
2. Never fail in your appointments
3. Always bear in mind, your customers/clients are always right
4. Remember, quality always stands the test of time. So concentrate on quality than quantity
5. Be time conscious, learn to properly manage your time
6. Be contented
7. Learn to make proper plans (Proverbs 21:5)
8. Be patient
9. Set an achievable goal/target

Tags:Diligence, wealth creation

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The 7 Words of Jesus on the Cross

        The 7 Words of Jesus on the Cross

 

 

1. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34

2. "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

3. "Dear woman, here is your son"and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." John 19:26-27

4. "Eli Eli lema sabachthani?", that is; "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34

5. "I am thirsty" John 19:28

6. "It is finished" John 19:30

7. "Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!" Luke 23:46  

 

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Have You Ever Wondered Why You Were Created?!

As a young boy in secondary/high school, I looked at life, people and basically my family. People(adults) wake up in the morning and go out to their work places, they come home at evening and rest preparing for the next day. They go out in the morning and come home in the evening everyday just to put food on the table, live in a good environment and be clothed. Students also wake up in the morning, run to school, come back home at dusk hoping that after schooling, they will have a decent job/endeavour and comfortably provide for their families. So, I wondered why life is existing since we all labour to eat and live. We live to keep working. Here's the funny part - we know everything is vanity. We all know we will die someday and all our endeavours will JUST PERISH.

So I wondered: why on earth did God create man? To come and try to survive? That wouldn’t be fair. But, I thought to myself, He is always seated in heaven looking down to the earth, watching us struggle and even expects us to keep all His commandments while struggling so we don’t go to hell. I thought these things in my heart for months and months.

But studying God's word and listening to teachers of the Word of God has helped me understand a lot. Many people say: "God has a purpose for giving you life. He wants you to do something for Him while you are on earth. He wants you to achieve the goal He has set for you and impact peoples' lives positively". And they are very correct. Many people come to God to get their needs met. And God wants to meet your needs. As a matter of fact He "…hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…" (II Pet. 1: 3).

But brethren, God has not created you to get your needs met. There is no point in creating a problem only so you can solve it. He sure wants to meet your needs but that's not why He gave you life. He wants you to impact the world, achieve His set goal and work in accordance with His word, but that's not His primary reason for creating you. You could not have had any world to impact if He had not made one. Take a look at Adam and Eve. Why did God create them? I believe God did not create Adam and Eve to meet their needs, yes, He wanted them to do things for Him - He wanted them to dress and keep the garden, to bring order and control to His creation in entirety. But that is not His primary purpose for creating them. If they were created just to work in the garden, God would not have had to visit them at the cool of the day.

I bet you are already asking, "Why then did God Create Man?" That's the purpose of this write-up - to answer that question.

            "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: FOR THOU HAST CREATED ALL THINGS, AND FOR THY PLEASURE THEY ARE AND WERE CREATED." (Rev. 4: 10 - 11)

Stop! Read that verse again, consider the words in capital letters, think deeply(meditate) on that.

Can you believe this? GOD MADE YOU JUST FOR HIS PLEASURE? Yeah! He did. I really wish this is sinking into your spirit.

No wonder David exclaimed:

            "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…" (Ps. 139: 14)

Look! You are not a junk! You aren’t useless! God loves you and just wants to take pleasure in you not because you are lovely; but that is the reason he made you - to fellowship with you. You really need to understand this. God didn’t call you because of what you will do for Him; You are already doing something great for Him in just letting Him love you. God is by your side every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year! He never leaves you! He never will! He just wants you to know He loves you so much and just wants you to love Him back. Please, take your time to fellowship with God. Understand that He's with you always and wants you to attend to Him. He wants to commune with you when you're driving; when you're walking down the street; when you're eating! He is closer to you than your wife is; than your kids are; than your parents, your siblings, and your friends; He is closer to you than they all are. Don’t ignore Him. Allow Him commune with you because you are worthy to commune with Him.

That's the reason Jesus had to die and pay for your sins. The bible (in the 'law and the prophets') teaches that sin is the barrier between God and man. Habakkuk says:

            "Thou[God] art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:…"(Hab. 1: 13)

But thank God Jesus died and removed that barrier and man can now enjoy fellowship with God again.

What a blessing!

Praise God! Hallelujah!!!

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Anger: A Gift from God

Anger: A Gift from God!

Most people think anger is demonic and nothing good/righteous comes from anger; but The Bible teaches contrary to the above statement.

Anger is actually a gift from God to us humans. It is a very strong weapon against our adversary the devil. Take a look at this verse of scripture;

            "be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4: 26-27)

Look at that verse carefully, it starts with "be ye angry…"; it’s a command; it says: "be ye angry" and then it adds "…and sin not". Generally, this verse has been misunderstood and misused among Christians and it has been understood and used as: "God knows you're human, so go on and get angry and it's not sin if you confess it every day before going to bed" or for some people: "a little bit of anger is ok but not in excess". People of God, that’s not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying you should get angry with the anger that is not sin. There is an anger that is not sin. Most people think anger is of the devil; but the devil does not create anything; he can only pervert what has been created by the creator. God made everyone of us with the ability to get angry and He is telling us here to get angry with the holy anger.

We all know Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and that He was/is without sin yet the Bible said in Jn. 2: 13 - 17

            "And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14.)  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15.) And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16.) And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17.) And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

Brethren, Jesus was angry; He was angered to the point that He had to make a whip("a scourge of small cords"). He totally lost it that even the temple guards could not stop Him. His disciples and all others could only stand and stare. And yet, Jesus was (and is still) without sin.

The second part of Eph. 4: 26 continues "let not the sun go down upon your wrath" this sentence is not telling you to confess your anger every night before going to bed; it is actually telling you to not let your anger subside. Stir yourself up and don’t let your anger vanish.

That’s hard for many people to accept. But look up this expression "THE SUN GOING DOWN ON SOMETHING" and you'll understand that if the sun goes down on something, that thing vanishes. If the sun goes down on your anger, your ANGER VANISHES. And now, The Word of God is telling you not to let your anger 'vanish' Stir yourself up and "…neither give place to the devil".

If you are not operating in anger, you're not operating in the way God made you to be and you will be giving place to the devil because that verse(27) tells you that if you let your anger subside, you are giving place to the devil. Your anger is a strong weapon against the devil and his vices.

I know a minister who shared a testimony of when he was so broke he couldn’t afford to eat, his rent was late and he had a lot of bills to settle. He confessed his riches in Christ "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" Phil. 4: 19, he believed God for his supplies and it just seems like nothing was working. Then a day came that he went into the church to pray; and as he prayed for some minutes, he became so "ANGRY" and shouted at the devil (because he realised God supplies the need but the devil, one way or the other, was stopping him from receiving what God has supplied) and screamed as if he was talking to a physical being. He said in his testimony; "if the devil was a physical being, I would have done him some damage". Then, he said, "I knew that our problems were solved and before I could get home to tell my wife that our problem was solved, she told me that some guy called in and asked how he could send them money". Praise The Lord!

Yes! You can start getting mad at the devil and stop him from working in your life. You can and should hate sickness, poverty, disease and everything that comes from the devil. As a matter of fact, you can't love God without hating what comes from the devil. If u really love your wife, you can kill anybody who tries to attack her. Not because you hate the other person but because you must protect what/who you love.

            "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."(Prov. 8: 13)

            "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."(Matt. 11: 12)

To [love] The Lord is to hate evil.

Nevertheless, anger may be demonic/sinful depending on what you are angry at or why you are angry.

Let's take a look at Prov. 13: 10;

            "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom."

Again, there is a Godly contention. But this verse is talking about the ungodly anger.

Now most people don't believe that this is in the Bible. But that’s scripture and is very true. It says "ONLY by pride…" it doesn’t say "for some people…", neither does it say "for people of some race…", "…colour…", "…tongue…" and so on. It's amazing the scripture says "ONLY…". That means; the only reason why you're always angry is because you're prideful. Some people will say "that's not true" or "that’s true for some people but not for me". Well, I think you're just trying to justify yourself. Or maybe you don’t know better.

Most people think pride is arrogance, and it is pride; but it is only one manifestation of pride. Can you guess the other manifestation of pride? You'll be shocked to know that 'shyness' or 'timidity' is another manifestation of pride. We have to define pride the way the Bible defines it: pride, in its simplest term, is "self-centredness". Pride is just thinking only about one's self; it doesn’t matter if self thinks it's better than everybody else or self thinks it's worse than every other person; it's all self-centredness - Always "me, me, mine, mine, I, I" always wanting to satisfy itself. Wanting to be pleased by all. And that's why you're always angry.

How do you feel when you are driving and the person in front of you just suddenly pulls over or just turns left/right and forgets to turn on the navigator light? You go mad most of the time right? That's because you think you are at the centre of the world and the whole world revolves around you. Beloved, there is only one God, and you are not Him. Everybody can't be pleasing you! You are not at the centre of the universe! Now how will you feel if God opens your eyes and you were able to see the heart of that person and, maybe, he is just coming from the hospital where his wife and kids are lying due to car accident or he just lost his wife and because of that his mind wasn’t really in the driving so he forgot to turn on the navigation light before pulling over/turning to another direction? I believe you will feel compassion.

My point is, if you know the reason people do the negative things they do, you wouldn’t always get upset with them. If you think about others more than you do yourself, you will never be angry with anybody. We have only one enemy - the devil. Knowing this helps us understand that people are manipulated by the devil and so our anger and hatred will directed towards the devil and not to our fellow humans. A lot of times Christians are angry and develop hatred for the unbelievers for their way of life and rejection of redemption. You have to understand this, there is nobody who understands redemption that will reject it. If they don’t believe, it's because they don’t understand. We are actually supposed to mourn for their sakes because they are perishing and the bible refers to them as "as them who the god of this age has blinded".

You really have to stop hating and getting mad at people. Develop your hatred and anger against the devil and his vices - that’s the reason God gave us the ability to hate and to be angry. By that, the devil will always flee from you. Hate sickness and he won't put it on you. Hate depression, with all your heart, and I can guarantee you'll never have to battle with it anymore.

Be Blessed!

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