The Audacity of God's Grace: 10 Strategies To Living Your Best Life Now (25 page)

Industrious People are Ambitiously Imaginary

Imagination impel people to act upon the plans they scheme because even though a person makes thinking positively his way of life, if he is not able to creatively make the things he has thought about or imagined to come to pass, the thinking stands alone on a sinking sand and becomes useless.

“Positive thoughts bring about great business and life saving ideas that enables a person to creatively acquire wealth.”

There is power in your ideas. It works like dynamite. It can explode you into greater success. It is either a positive or negative thought that propels a man or woman to make his or her desires a reality. There is a good reason why the Christian Scriptures in (Proverbs 6:10 NIV) warns about laziness. A little slumber and a little folding of the hands to rest encourage indolence and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. Laziness or idleness is like identical-conjoined twins for evils. Being in want all the time makes people unhappy and unable to appreciate the good side of life because being well-provided makes life fun-filled and joyful. People who are idle or lazy can be easily recruited with a peanut to do evil because they have nothing seriously occupying their hands and minds.

You Are Good Enough

In my journey for success, I have witnessed many poor people who work with all their strength and are contented with what they have. Whenever I see such hardworking people, I always cherish their hard work and also encourage them to keep moving forward. I remind them that I use to be where they are and empower them to know that they can do better because there are so many opportunities to grab around and walk away from poverty. Some of these poor people are even proud about their little achievements because there is something grand in creatively making something happen by you. The poor man or woman may not have everything he wants but he is able to provide everything he needs and will not be in misery. On the contrary, there are also some rich people that I know who have everything a poor man do not have and yet, they are unhappy, unfulfilled without peace of mind and find it difficult to live their best life now. Don’t believe the lie that you are a miserable person. You are good enough. You can make good things happen to you and others.

Sharpen Your Skills, You Will Need Them

For most rich people, something is lacking in their life. They are not satisfied with their life after all the money that are readily available within their reach because they have been born with the silver spoon and are not trained to enjoy the honor of hard work and accomplishing some task by themselves. Many children of the wealthy who got wealth transferred to them by their previous generations lack skills. This is why we need to broaden our understanding of poverty, doing well in life, and living our best life now. Poverty is not all about money. There are so many people who are rich or have been born to rich or wealthy families, but who are poor both in the mind and in their actions.

“When people are poor in their mind, nothing much including wealth and riches will bring about change and satisfaction in their lives.”

They are the “Never Satisfied and Never Enough” groups that are never happy in life. Chances are that such people will be unable to manage their inheritance or asset with reasonable lifestyle, which God has positioned them even when these assets has been transferred to them due to reckless living. An individual without meaningful skills could be a disaster to society.

You Can Avoid Failure, But You’ve
Got Some Work to Do

Our failure starts the day we stopped being ambitiously imaginary. What happens if there is a misfortune and you lose all your wealth? This is the major reason why majority of lottery winners go broke in a short time. The true story of Michael Carroll, who won a £9.7m National Lottery jackpot in UK in 2002, is a good example of this group of people. After winning the lottery Michael appeared in court more than 30 times and was jailed for drug related offences. In 2008, he admitted that ‘just’ £500,000 of his windfall remained. How did a man who was at his peak when he won Britain’s £9.7 million ($15 million) jackpot in 2002, ran out of the funds just a few years after he won the lottery? The answer could be traced to the spirit of poverty that infect and inflicts people with small minds, poor judgment, and a lack of ambition and discipline. Michael Carroll lacked the imagination to see beyond his immediate or automatic wealth. Remember what I said before that those who are under the influence of the spirit of poverty are more concerned about immediate reward or compensation, not what is next. He did not plan well what was next. He had a penchant for a life in the fast lane—cocaine, parties, hookers and cars—all of sorts which will later put him back at square one in five years.

Have an Attitude of Excellence

Numerous rich people who are docile or who have the spirit of poverty in their imaginations and who depend only on the availability of their immediate assets, cash, and funds may quickly recline into unnecessary excesses and may not attain the satisfaction the industrious poor man enjoys. This is one of the major reasons why there have been cases of many rich or wealthy people who have shortened their lives with suicide or drug abuse, because they lacked the imaginary power to plan their lives properly and the discipline to strategize well. Why do we have so many poor people including the children of the rich who live recklessly—doing drugs, engaging in all kinds of sex, crime, partying, gambling, unable to complete their formal education or learn a trade, running away from their families etc.? If you don’t develop an attitude for excellence, you will be unstable and life victories will elude you.

You Cannot Succeed With Laziness

Some people, in their quest to find satisfaction may resort to things they think would make them happy such as drugs, liquor, wines, wild parties and sex and gambling etc. Jesus parable of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15:11-32 illustrate this better. This is a commonly observed fact that bad choices and in many cases, sinful acts and crimes often result from wants and wants that are born from laziness or from people who never worked for what they are enjoying; and others who are not ambitiously imaginary. There have been many instances of wealthy people who after they died, the law suits and prolonged court cases messed the families and organizations they built overtime because of the ways they lived their lives. Therefore, it could be said that persons who keeps themselves busy by making the best out of every little opportunity are productive persons who are able to be contented about life, and enjoy their everyday life achievements with great hope and optimism that the future is brighter, even with their little beginnings.

Opportunities Abound, You Can Handle Them

If you cannot be trusted to handle little opportunities, how competent can you handle bigger opportunities? This is why Jesus, while illustrating the story of a merchant—the Chief Executive Officer of a cooperation who upon going for a vacation, entrusted his money to three of the closest aides who worked on his team. The Christian Scriptures according to Matthew 25:14-30 noted that the CEO gave the first business subordinate five money bags for investment. The first business aide invested using that five money bag and reaped an increase—a huge profit of 50%. The second business aide was given two money bags that equally doubled the money after he has invested with it. But the third business aide had serious issues with the owner of the cooperation. The problem in actuality was unconnected with the Chief Executive Officer, but with the business aide whose poor mindset was possessed by the spirit of poverty. Remember that the spirit of poverty makes people unable to see opportunities and take advantage of them. The spirit of poverty makes people not to be industrious, and even when they purport to be, they follow short cuts to success.

Humility is a Key to Your Breakthrough

In Matthew 25:25-28, Jesus parable makes it clear that the problem of the CEO wasn’t just the business aide’s failure to invest the money, but the arrogance, misjudgments and false conclusion the business aide drew about the CEO’s motive or intent for asking him to invest the money. Many people who are not industrious and who lack the imaginary power of ambitions always make excuses for their failure. They never accept responsibility for their actions. They are on the defense always.

Be Open Minded, Don’t Be Straight-Jacketed

Because of their defensive avoidance, they destroy trust, betray others, and are unable to sustain relationships. Matthew 25:24 accounts the false judgments, misinterpretations and false conclusions the third business aide drew about the CEO who wanted to lift him up and keep him standing according to the ability of the aide: Verse 24-25 announced that the following: “Then the servant with the one money bag came and said, Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you did not cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I dig a hole and hid your money in the ground. Look, here is your money back. ” “In verse 26-30, Jesus parable stated the CEO’s response: “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it. Then he ordered, take the money from this servant, and give it to the man who was given five money bags and he doubled it to have ten money bags. To those who will use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have abundance. But from those who do nothing (lazy people deny themselves the privileges of sharing in the enormous resources and opportunities that lurk around them due to the state of their unemployed mind) even what little resources they have will be taken away from them. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Don’t Be Jealous of Other Peoples’ Success

If you are not ambitiously imaginary, you will continue to lack the capacity to be successful and do better than you are doing right now. Apart from the third aide’s unwillingness to cooperate and invest, he had other issues that caused his failure. The third business aide was jealous of the other two aides who received more money bags than he did. But the reality on ground is that the CEO proportionately gave each of the three aides the money bags according to their abilities (Matthew 25:15).

Kill the Spirit of Poverty Within

Pastor Mark Pfeifer has said that: the spirit of poverty will affect the way that you see other people. Once you are being controlled by this spirit, what follows is that it will make you jealous of what other people possess. This is why we need to learn to rejoice when other people are blessed and thank God for their increase.

“Until you learn to rejoice in other people’s blessings, you will never experience true prosperity or success.”

You will never be ready to, or trustworthy to receive God’s best blessings. The spirit of poverty will make you feel threatened and insecure. It makes you suspicious of people who walk in a greater financial blessing than you do. The negative spirit can influence your mind and cause you to be distrustful of the very same people from whom you need to be learning from. Pastor Pfeifer said: A person suffering from a spirit of poverty will see someone who has what he or she wants and will make a comment like, “who do they think they are? They just think they’re better than everyone else.” Apprehension and misgiving fill their mind with critical thoughts and they become appalled by these blessed people. The reason is that the spirit of poverty has screwed such peoples mind and makes them feel lesser than those people all their life and when they see someone who has been successful and prosperous, they are particularly sensitive and insecure to their own perceived inferiority. They instantly assume the worst about the other individual and create an escape from having to admit their own failure and learning the other person’s secrets of success by saying, “Oh, she thinks she’s so hot (beautiful) with her new car and nice cloths. Praise God, I don’t need all of that to be happy.”

Stand for Greatness and Creativity

The implication is that a person who is under the spirit of poverty will find it very difficult to be teachable. Instead of learning from their superiors or those people who have become successful, they criticize them and many times blackmail them. Pastor Pfeifer noted that the spirit of poverty keeps people away from the very thing that they need in order to be blessed and advance the kingdom of God. He said: “The spirit of poverty gets involved and jealousy is aroused against those people who get promoted because it makes others feel inferior and insecure. So instead of helping promote those key people who can climb to new heights and help us achieve the same, we (become stone throwers and bottle hurlers) take aim with our stones of criticism and bottles of rebellion because we want to put them (down) in their place.” If you want to beat the reach, you must be willing to stand for greatness and creativity.

To stand for these values means that you are not easily distracted. In my journey for success, I have encountered many distractions that could have swayed my focus. However, a person with imaginary power, a man on a mission who has learnt to know exactly what he wants out of life always has a goal-keeper. That goal-keeper is called focus. When you are focused, you will stand for greatness, because a focused person is an achiever and an overcomer. He or she is always a winner.

“Your Goal Keeper to avoid distraction and life penalties and casualties is focus.”

When you learn to stand for greatness, you are not easily broken because creative people can hardly be stranded. This why the wisest man who lived queried in (Proverbs 22:29 NIV) where he said: Do you see a man [focused] skilled in [i.e. competent] in their works? He said: Such people will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.