This Is Rufus

#This #is #Rufus

#If #Rufus #Can #do #it

This is Rufus. He became an orphan at age 3, as he grew up to find out about it that later.

Growing up, Rufus lived with an aunt, uncle, and two brothers, successively.

As a boy Rufus worked as a job man in brick layering, weed cutting, sand packing, brick loading, plank loading, firewood hauling, bamboo cutting, rock gathering and breaking, and bread hawking jobs, to make money.

Today, Rufus is a Ph.D. Student at the University of Tennessee. His determination to become somebody in life makes him believe his background should not be an excuse for failing to succeed in life. 

If Rufus can do it, anyone can do it.

I am Rufus, and I will be available for job positions by this time next year!

Three reasons why you need to start a relationship with God.

Spirituality

In my previous post, I identify spirituality or Godliness as one of the three pillars for building a well-balanced life. Here I want to explain what is spirituality and some three benefits of spirituality. I use the word spirituality in this article to mean Godliness. 

1. Spirituality means having a strong connection or relationship with God. This means getting in contact with the Almighty God and allowing His Spirit to gain access and control in your life. In life, you either on your own, in connection with God, or with Satan. 

2. Spirituality also means knowing and living according to God's commandments. In other words, a spiritual man is a man that knows God's words and does God's words. He does not walk by what everybody else thinks, says, or does. He only walks according to God's principles, not according to man's dictation, and God's principle is the only perfect principle for humans.

3. Spirituality also means believing and trusting in God for your life. This means depending on God for your protection, favor, and success. You do this by always praying to God to keep you safe from all evil, and you always depend on God for wisdom, strength, resources, and relationships that will bring prosperity.

Benefits

1. One benefit of spirituality is that it gives you peace and rest of mind. Since you have put all your worries and anxieties on God, you will have no worries and you will not be afraid. When others, who are not spiritual, are afraid of many uncertainties, you are not afraid because you know that God is watching over you to keep and prosper you. Also, because you walk by God's commandments, you are naturally kept from the consequences of breaking morals and established laws.

2. Another benefit of spirituality is that spirituality gives you happiness for many reasons. You will be happy and joyful for enjoying God's protection, wisdom, guidance, progressive life, good relationships, favor, and many other reasons. 

3. Spirituality gives you the ability to love and serve others. As a spiritual or Godly person, you will become a blessing to others, because the spirit of God in you will make you want to love and serve other people. You will want to share what you have with the needy in your neighborhood, and among friends and family. You will also want to share the goodness and love of God with everybody around you, making you a positive social influencer. 

Again, spirituality is a strong pillar in building a well-balanced life. In the midst of troubles, while others are shaking and falling, those who have a strong connection with God will be strong and will never fall because God will hold unto them. These people enjoy unspeakable peace of mind, joy and happiness, steady progress, and they are positive social influencers. 

I am able to tell you this because this is my personal experience. Even though my biological parents passed away when I was just 3 years old, among the major reasons why I have been able to come this far was that I started my relationship with God as a little boy when I was 11 years old, and this is what has been keeping me going stronger. 

So, start or recommit yourself to your spiritual journey today, by moving closer to God, learn about Him, and walk (trust) in Him. 

Why you need a mentor and how my story can benefit your career.

Mentorship is receiving timely guidance and counsel from an experienced person in an area of life or career. When the right mentorship is missing, people become a victim of negative societal or peer pressure. In other words, when people are not in the hands of deliberate mentors they will fall into the hands of wrong mentors who will indoctrinate them with wrong mindsets that could lead them in the wrong direction and destination.

I was thinking about this lately. I thought most of the troubles people battle with today would never be if people have good mentors to train them.

Growing up as a younger person I had the opportunity of being guided by many great people who mentored me. And except for their mentorships, I would have probably ended up in the wrong direction, being misguided by peer pressures and societal influences. 

The first person that mentored me was my late Brother Wilson Olatunbosun Akinrinlola. You may have read in my previous articles that he was the person that taught me how to read and write. He was also the person that first told me what it means to be a Local Champion. Do you know what that means? A local champion is a person who is superior only in the midst of local unskilled people. Once he or she gets outside in the midst of skilled and excellent people he or she becomes inferior because he or she is only superior to illiterate and unskillful people in the local environment. 

Brother Wilson explained to me why I was feeling great about being the best student in my class in my local hometown grammar school. He thereafter transferred me to a better grammar school in my state capital city, where indeed I met a lot of students who were more excellent and superior to me. It was there that I was exposed to quality education and first learned about the possibility of going overseas for further education.

Another mentorship I received from Brother Wilson was after I completed secondary school. That time I thought that settling for a temporary job or getting recruited into the Navy will suffice for me, but Brother Wilson told me that pursuing higher education will be better than both options in the long run.

I was also privileged to be mentored by another person as an undergraduate student. That person was a professor, Dr. Tony, who has a great heart for his students. One day Dr. Tony told me, "Rufus, with your Second Class Upper degree, you can get anywhere and any height in the world that you wish to get". Before he said that, I was being discouraged, thinking that since I failed to graduate with a First Class degree it would be difficult for me to achieve my career goals. Later on, Dr. Tony, told me what I needed to do to apply for a scholarship to enter a graduate school in the United States. And here I am today,  8 years later, a Ph.D. student in a high-ranked university in the United States. 

Any time I think back on these things, it reechoes to me that every person needs a mentor. And this takes us back to the picture posted with this article. That was six years ago, as the president of my community development society group - PEER EDUCATOR TRAINERS - I was speaking to some teenagers in Ilorin, Kwara State Nigeria about the need and how to protect their future. I was telling them is better to avoid premarital sex so they could focus on building the future they desire for themselves. 

The truth about mentorship is this, everybody needs a mentor regardless of our age or achievement. There is always someone who can show us what we need or needn't do to avoid a regretful end but takes us to a rejoiceful destination.

Getting the right motivation

Any time it comes to getting the most informative and dependable motivation, go for a motivational worker, not a motivational speaker. Only listen to motivational speakers if they have experience working in the same field or area that you need motivation. Except you are ready to swallow more or lesser than you can chew, only listen to motivational workers that speak from their work experience, who personally understand the challenges and opportunities of the work, not professional motivational speakers that know the subjects through books. 

Thinking through this topic, I see that a large percentage of motivations that come from motivational speakers - especially individuals coming from different fields of career - can be misleading. This is mostly because most would either exaggerate or belittle the context of the situations being discussed.

Imagine a professional public speaker telling a bricklayer, carpenter, or a farmer that he shouldn't rest when he's tired, but rather he should rest only when's he has completed his job. If they listen to that kind of motivation, they might not live to come to work another day.

Similarly, there are some clergymen that will tell you that all you need to succeed in life is the word of God. Hmm, that may be true if your success is a kind of manner that will fall from heaven, or if you are also a clergyman. But to succeed in another profession in life, you need adequate training and knowledge of your work - not Bible knowledge. Now, I know there's a place for asking God for wisdom and divine knowledge about your chosen profession. But more importantly, I think you need training and mentorship by the people in your area of career focus. 

If you are in Business, you need to know how business works! If you are a scientist, you need to know what it takes to carry out groundbreaking research, and if you are a student, you need an adequate understanding of what is expected of you in school. Stop listening to people that will mislead you. Go to the right source for the training you need. Go to the people who have done or doing what you want to do.

If you want to be a writer, listen to, and learn from writers. If you want to succeed as a politician, go and join politics and study towards that line. To be a motivational speaker, listen to motivational speakers, and to be a pastor join a church leadership and get training that will turn you into a successful preacher.

It's nice to be a strong Bible student as a Christian, to enable you to understand the spiritual approach to life challenges,  but after that, except you are planning to be a gospel minister,  please spend more of your time on the career you have chosen in life - that's your own call in life. And if you think your call is to be a preacher or life coach, please spend more time with people in that line. Stop wasting your time, hanging around a building you will never enter. Focus on your own direction and move towards your own destination.

Let me say it again. When it comes to getting instructions and motivations regarding your profession, seek them from people who have walked or walking in the same pathway you are. Don't let the people who have never been in your shoe tell you how to wear it, except you are ready to play try and error with your life.

Here is the bottom line, the summary of my thoughts. Be selective and careful when it comes to listening to motivational speakers or even some so-called pastors. Only listen to people that speak from personal experiences that are related to your direction or potential direction. A wrong motivation can make you live lesser than your potential. It can also make you break your backbone. But right counsel will direct you in the pathway that will lead you to a destination that is best for you. 

I don't think you will get the best from a professional motivational speaker, a clergyman, or any individual teaching you what you need to do to succeed in a field they have never practiced or trained for. It would be like getting a random person to read a coaching material and coach a football team to succeed. 

Winning with words

Your words are powerful. The words you speak or hear can either empower you or weaken you. They can either heal you or injure you. In fact, depending on how you use your words, your words may kill or save your life. There are two ways I can explain this to you, using the natural and spiritual knowledge. I will explain both ways in the following passages.

Natural knowledge

Good words. 

Think about this! The words you speak to yourself or others speak to you can make you feel good or bad about yourself.  When you hear good words like thank you, good job, well done,  excellent job, you are smart, awesome, handsome or beautiful, or cute, etc. about yourself, this will make you fill great about yourself. Throughout that day or any time you think about those words, your head will 'swell' and you will probably secretly smile to yourself. This would go along way to affect everything you do that day. Because it would generate a sense of happiness within you that would make you approach everything with a sense of worthiness and self-esteem. This will make you want to do more of what you are doing excellently, and thus make you more successful. 

Bad words 

However, if for one reason or the other you or somebody said to you these words - foolish person, stupid, ugly,  dullard, worthless, failure, poor, etc., this would probably destroy your happiness that day or any time you remembers those words. Especially, if you continue to think about those words, you might begin to believe they are actually true for you. That would make you feel bad. You may become sad and feel worthless. Unconsciously, your face may become frowned and your look becomes sadly and unfriendly. This could make you lose your excitement and interest in the things you are doing at that time. It may even make you postpone important activities or tasks until a later time. It could result in making you doing things poorly, and affect your end results badly, leading to failure. 

These two scenarios demonstrate how words can naturally make you successful (win) or lose in life. Now I will explain how words can affect your life using spiritual- biblically - knowledge. 

Spiritual knowledge

According to the spiritual knowledge revealed in the Bible, the spoken words are a spirit. The words we speak have life. They are a living entity, that can give or take life. This was shown in several places in the Bible

The Lord Jesus Christ said: 

                "It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life".

                 John 6:63 AMPC

Hmm,...the words I have been speaking to you are SPIRIT and LIFE. Here, Jesus Christ is saying His words are spirits, and that they have life and can give life. Jesus Christ proved this to be true several times in the Bible when He spoke His words to heal the sick and used His words to affect many things including humans, fish, ocean, trees, death, etc. 

Just as it was true for the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe the words of every man or woman also have life. Your words and my words are spirits. They have life and can give life. In another place in the bible, the Word says;

                "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him                       from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

                  Romans 10:9

This means it is not enough to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, you have to say it out with your mouth for you to be saved. 

In some other places, the Bible says:

                "The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you." 

                Matthew 12:37 NLT

                

                "It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."

                Matthew 15:11 NLT

                "If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling                    lies." 1 Peter 3:10 NLT

                ".........let the weak say, “I am strong.”
                Joel 3:10 KJV

All these Bible passages point to the fact that your words and my words are spirits and have life, and depending on what we say or hear, our words can save or destroy life. 

As you can see, words can naturally affect you positively (good words) or negatively (bad words),  and spiritual knowledge shows that words are spirits and they are able to give or take life. In fact, every man is at the mercy of the words he speaks or hears.

Therefore to win with words, you must engage yourself only in hearing and speaking positive and encouraging words. You must ensure that the words that enter you or come out of your mouth to yourself and others are words that make people win. So the rule is, "speak positive words or don't speak at all." 

3 tips for having a well-balanced life

A well-balanced life is a life that is based on the right priorities. A person is living a well-balanced life if such a person has found and committed him/herself to only the things that matter most in life. In this video, I share the three most important areas of life you can focus on to have a well-balanced life. It is not enough to only focus on only one of these areas, it takes the three areas to enjoy a balanced life. Click READ MORE below to watch the video!

The first pillar in building a well-balanced life

A well-balanced life is a life that is based on the right priorities. This happens when someone commits him or herself to only the things that matter most in life. It also occurs when a person takes responsibility for every area of his/her life. I call these areas of life pillars.

In my opinion, the three most important pillars to build a balanced life include yourself, knowledge of God, and your relationships. Any person built upon these three pillars will enjoy well-balanced life. In this article I write on "develop and maintain) yourself" as the first pillar in building a well-balanced life. 

Yourself 

The most important entity in your life is yourself. To become anything in life you need to first stay alive. Also, to build a balanced life, you must build your self up with some 'pure stones', comprising of health, talents, skills, and education, which are needed to build a strong pillar for a successful and well-balanced life. 

1. Health. 

It's very important to first know your health status and do everything to improve your health. You cannot do anything if your health is bad. So you must do everything that is needed to stay healthy. This may include living a clean life, eating well, eating balanced diets, fruits and vegetables, doing regular exercise, and avoid bad eating and drinking habits including smoking cigarettes and drinking too much alcoholics. Aslo visit medical clinics regularly for medical checkups to ensure that your health is on point. Maintaining your health will enable you to enjoy every other areas of your life 

2. Talents. 

Your talents are your gifts, your natural abilities. These may be natural abilities to sing or compose songs, write poems. Your talent may be public speaking, running or any other sporting event. Whatever it is that is your talent, identify, develop, master, and use it everywhere any time you find the opportunity. Never forget or abandon your talent. Package your talent and let people know about it everywhere. Doing this will help bring the talent to those that will appreciate it and as well pay for it, and make you useful in that area. This can contribute to a well-balanced life.

3. Skills. 

Skill is the ability to do something very well. Your skills are the things or works you can do very well. There are many kinds of skills that are needed to succeed in life. To get the best out of life it is important to identify your skills, develop them and more skills, and engage your skills in a way that will better your world and bring financial rewards or good recognition to you. This will make you feel fulfilled in the areas that you exercise them.

4. Educations. 

Knowledge is power and education is how to get it. Life is a dangerous zone for those who don't know what to do (to have a successful life). To build a successful and balanced life, you need relevant knowledge that will contribute to your personal, family and work life. To do this you need education. There are many ways to obtain educations, but broadly there are three forms of education. There are formal, non-formal, and informal educations. 

• Formal education. This is the education you obtain in schools. It is the kind of education you obtain from primary school to the university level. It is meant to provide you with the knowledge that will empower you to become an expert in an area of life, such as medicine, government, agriculture, administration, accounting, etc. Usually, you will receive a certificate or degree after completing formal education. Obtaining and using such education will contribute to your fulfillment and building a balanced life.

• Non-formal education. This is the education you obtain outside schools but structured to make you a professional in an area of life. It may be a form of training you obtain from professionals or experts in any area of life. It is similar to formal education in that it can make you become an expert in an area of life, but it is different because it is obtained outside school settings. Examples may school learning fashion designing, fishing, agriculture, trading, metal works, woodworks, etc. from professionals. 

• Informal or life education. This is the education you receive from life experience. It is a self or automatic education that you get from home and the community. This form of education is also known as unconscious eduction because it mainly comprises of the things you learn from life experiences, which you did not necessarily plan for. It is the most powerful and permanent form. It trains you on how to use other forms of education. Without informal education, other education may be wrongly utilized. 

To build a balanced life, you must continue to educate yourself using any of these forms of education, and apply the lessons to your life - family, work, and society. Combining sound education with great talents, skills, and physical health will make a great pillar in building a well-balanced life.

My first encounter with God's power

My first encounter with God happened when I was about 11 years old, when I was in darkness, not knowing who I was and what the future holds for me.

As a child I grew up to find out that I have no parents. What I was told was that my parents passed two (dad) and three (mom) years after my birth. And from then on I had been living with my parents' relatives, from one house to another. The home I was when I was about 11 was my second foster home, I think. The person that I was living with was my great uncle - my father's elder brother. I called him 'Bami' (my father). He was a very old man and spent most time in the village-town due to his farm work. So I had to live with him in the village instead of our hometown.

The village-town is one of the various farm settlements (camp) where people from our hometown do their farm work. Most people live there, working from Monday to Friday or on monthly basis and then spend their weekends in the hometown city for relaxation and enjoyment. Those who have nowhere else to go would stay in the village-town all through week days or several months before visiting hometown. I was always there most days of the years. I only visited hometown with Bami whenever he was visiting for a long time and there was no one I could stay with in the village before he returns to the village.

Most times, there were always enough food available in the village. But the numbers of my clothes were few. I would wear whatever clothes and shoes were provided and slept on leaf mat or plastic sheets meant for drying cacao. There was no luxuries, no birthdays, and no toys. But sometimes I do get gifts from people when I run errand for them. Though I was enrolled in a Village School at the back of my foster home, I didn't understand anything being taught there, and I always got the last position in my class. I couldn't recite ABC. I couldn't read or write nor understood any simple arithmetic, even though I was over 11 years old. Moreover, no one was really there to care about my performance in school. Bami was too old to undergo the stress of homeschooling me. 

However, when I was a little bit above 11 years old God showed up and changed my life. He came through my (now late) brother Wilson Akinrinlola to take me from the village-town (Omilifon Camp) to our hometown (Odode Idanre) and enrolled me into a better Primary School. There I was enrolled into Pry 3, instead of Pry 6, because I couldn't read or write - not even able spell out my own name. Afterwards, my brother would come to my foster home every evening to teach me how to read and write. He would teach me the Yoruba Alphabets and show me how to form syllables, to pronounce simple letter words. He did that almost every evening for many days.

Coincidentally it was during this period that I happened to come to know about God - about His ability and willingness to give wisdom and understanding to people that ask Him. And I remember one day, I prayed to God asking Him to Give me knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. I told Him to make me The Head and not The Tail, that I too want to be known for excellence among my peers. And God heard me and answered my prayers requests that day. 

Not too long from that day, I was able to read and understand everything I was taught, both at home and in school. It appeared to me that my eyes were just opened. I understood things clearly and could remember whatever we were taught in schools, even without having to read my notes. I can learn anything and do them excellently. I became very good that I became the best student in my class and got First Position starting from that term. And by the time we got to Pry 4 I was selected by our class teacher to replace our Class Captain, who was removed from office for stealing another student's item. Some of my duty was to maintain order in class and collect homework from my class mates for submission to our class teacher and vice versa. I maintained my status as the best student and Class Captain till my final year in Primary school, and also served as the School Senior Prefect Boy (Senior Boy) in the final year. Truly, my status was changed from being The Tail to become The Head as I requested from God. 

This experience - how God used people (especially my late brother) to change my life and grant my prayers request, giving me knowledge, wisdom, and understanding - was the beginning of my journey and encounter with God. It was the first encounter that changed my life forever, and it was over 20 years ago! But there are still many more encounters I have had with God that is left to be written another day, hopefully. 

My hope is that this story will inspire faith in your heart to put you trust in God through Jesus Christ, His Son! May God bless  you!

Be a role model

One of the proven ways people become great in life is by living a life of a role model early in life. To be a role model means you are the kind of person that other people like to look up to because they respect the way you do what you do, and they want to learn from you.

One unique attribute of a role model is that they set standards and values by which they live their life. To be a role model means you do not just do things anyhow. It means you do things the way they are meant to be done. You do the right things in the right way - excellently. It also means you do not live by chance, you live by choice- you set your standards! If you check the story of every great person you know around you, you would find out that these attributes are part of their daily lifestyle. What's your daily lifestyle? 

I once ready about Ben Carson, who became the youngest Chief Pediatric Neurosurgeon in the United States at the age of 33. This man was also the first neurosurgeon that successfully separated conjoined twins joined at the back of the head, and also the person to first perform a successful operation on an unborn baby inside its mother's womb. And this person is still alive today, serving in the United States government as a senator.

Among other things, one fundamental secret of his success is traceable to a routine lifestyle he developed while he was a teenager. As a young boy, he was instructed by his mother to read and write a report on two library books per week. First the exercise was boring and seemed to be impossible to achieve, but later through this exercise he became addicted to reading, after he soon found out that his grade began to improve in school. And he later became one of the top graders in his class. It was this good reading habit that made him one of the greatest scientists and doctors that ever practiced in the United States. 

This is just one example, but I know there are many more people in the world who became a great personality because of the great standards they set for themselves as they grow through life. I hope people like these and the example I shared here will inspire you to set great standards for yourself and start to live a different lifestyle, so that you too could begin your journey to become a great standard in life - a great role model.

Dr. Ben Carsonn

You will go as far as your eyes can see

In life, you will go as far as you can see, think, or imagine with your mind. You will go far in life if you can see very far, but if you are shortsighted, you may not go far. In other words, your progress and success in life are mostly determined by your ability to see afar, that is your ability to envision and see yourself in a great place in life.

Why some people succeed and why some don't
People who become successful in life have seen it from the beginning. They know what they want from life before they get it. These people have a clear picture of the kind of future they want within their hearts. Before they became successful, they have seen themselves in a successful place in the mind of their heart. They just transferred what was in their mind into reality by taken deliberate actions. This is how successful people become successful in life. In contrast to this, people become unsuccessful in life because they could not see success in their future, or because they settled for a small success. They cannot imagine beyond where they are!

Ask two kids about their future goals

Imagine, you ask two young kids about what they want to become in the future. One responds, "I have no idea" and the other responds, "I want to become a lawyer". Fast forward to the next 10 years, you will find out that the kid who had something in mind about his future would most likely be more successful compared to the one who had no idea about the future. Also if one kid says I want to become A and the other kid says I want to become B, it is unlikely that Kid 1 will become B, and Kid 2 will become A. Each kid will likely become or near what each has desired according to his or her heart. This is why - a child who has a clear picture of his or her future would be more motivated to pursue that future, and a child without a definite goal is bound to flow with the tides of life, not minding wherever he or she may end up in life. 

Don't let your bad experiences becloud your future
Most times people fail to imagine themselves in high places because of their disadvantaged background. They think it is impossible for things to turn around for them. They accept fate; they believe that things will either remain the same way they are or even get worse. They fail to visualize themselves in a better place because they allow their future to be clouded by their many bad past and present experiences.

No matter what, choose to see a better future
If a person chooses to see a better life in his or her future irrespective of any past or present hardship, such a person will definitely experience that future. This is because vision is powerful. Vision has the capacity to empower a person to overcome his or her current hardship.  A vision can teach and guide a person on what to do to move from where they are to where they are supposed to be.

I wanted to go to Grad School in America
When I was in high school, I had the vision to come to the United States for my graduate school education. Even though I had no parents to sponsor my education, my vision kept me going. My vision made me to be more serious with life and caused me to be diligent in my educational pursuit. Then later I met a person who made my dream of coming to America to come true.

The far you look the farther you get
It is only those who refuse to settle for the bad present that will get to a better future. Only those who see afar will get very far in life. No matter what you are facing now, don't let it becloud your mind. Do not allow anything you might be facing to hinder you from seeing afar of, because the far you look the farther you will get. 

How to ask a college professor for a Graduate Assistantship by Email

The impossibles are for God

1. Do the possibles 

Many things are possible for man, but there are many things which are impossible for man (Note: man here refers to both men and women). Actually, the things that are impossible for man are not meant to be done by man - they are meant to be accomplished by God, and must be given to God. 

2. There is a division of labor 

The impossibles are for God. There are things which man can handle, and they must be handled by man alone - not God. The responsibility of life is shared between God and man. God has done, is doing, and will continue to do His own part. Man as well has his own part that he must do. Problems come when a man wants God to play his roles, and when some want to play God's role. 

3. The unstoppable man gives work to God

As a man we are meant to be unstoppable in life. Nothing should be able to stop us. We should be able to accomplish all that we want in life: we should be able to do the possibles and give (not leave) the impossibles to God. In every situation, when we have done all we could do, we should allow God to do the remaining tasks, and make them possible for us. We should be unstoppable because we share tasks with God.

4. The free access to God: Jesus Christ

There is a way to give the impossibles to God. This way is available for all, but not everyone has learn the way. The free access to God is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To give the impossibles to God by Christ, go into your room or a separate place anywhere or in your heart and pray to God using Jesus Christ Name. Jesus Christ in the Bible promised us that whatever we ask God (His Father) in prayers through His name, will be done by God (John 16:23-24). So this means we are free to give everything that is IMPOSSIBLE for us to God through Jesus Christ. 

5. How to pray

This is how to it: you may say, "God of heaven and earth, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. I come to you today in the name of Jesus Christ your Son. Please make ____________ possible in my life by so so time. Amen!" I have done this several times and saw God turned impossibilities into possibilities. 

6. My personal experience 

I remember praying to God when I was about 12 years old. I was in primary school then. I was doing very poorly in school because I was not smart: I could not read and write, not even my own name, and I always got the poorest grade in my class. Then I prayed that God should give me wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, to make me become a better student.  Afterward, from few days after I had prayed to God, my brother (late now) who was living in another neighborhood started coming to our house every evening to teach me how to read and write. After teaching me for a few weeks, my understanding opened up, and I was able to read and write. That same year, I became one of the best students in my class. That was God turning my impossibility into possibility because I gave Him permission to do so. God can do the same for you too if you can learn to give your impossibilities to Him. 

Please, do the possible you can do today and give the impossibilities to God in prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. God bless you and stay blessed. 

The Common Ways of Life

People are made in life by the ways they live their life. What they do and how they do what they do it make them what they become. Though there are different ways of life, but basically the ways of life can be grouped into two categories (1) the common and (2) the uncommon ways of life.

The common ways of life are the natural easy ways that people live or interact with their environments. It is the way people naturally react  or respond to things that happen to them. The common way is the easiest ways to approach life issues and circumstances. They are common because they are the easy ways.

Few examples of common ways include;
1. Lack of goals
2. Lack of formal /and informal education
3. Disorganized lifestyle
4. Lack of codes of conduct
5. Wrong activities and companions
6. Bullying others and pride
7. Disrespect for simple instructions
8. Lack of planning for ones future
9. Lack of good heart for others
10. Laziness towards life.

But here is the problem, people who practices the common ways of life end up being common or ordinary in life. They become people without any respectable achievement and contribution in their society.  These are the people who end up just living for food. People whose life circles around 'eat, play, and sleep; eat, play, and sleep'. And that's all they live for from the beginning of their life until they die.

People become like this when they fail to change their ways from common to uncommon ways early in life. This happens when people fail to master the uncommon ways of life early in life. This also occurs when a child grow up to become an adult without learning the uncommon ways of life. And finally people end up as as common man when they fail to take deliberate efforts to change their ways from common to uncommon ways.

But your greatness is sure when you DELIBERATELY and CONTINUOUSLY take steps to move from common to uncommon ways of life. You can be sure of a strong and happy end in life when you choose to go the road less traveled. Because that is the way of the uncommon man!

Building Blocks of True Success

Don't be misguided about success;
Success is not money.

Success is being or having:

1. Self discipline
2. Patience
3. Endurance
4. Humility
5. Diligence
6. Trustworthy
7. Confidence
8. Intelligence
9. Focus
10. Truthful
11. Kindhearted
12. Positively mouthed
13. Encouraging
14. Thankful
15. Respectful
16. Forgiving
17. Helpful
18. Passionate
19. Active
20. Creative
21. Goal-oriented
22. Attentive
23. Teachable
24. Curious
25. Prudent
26. Organized
27. Caring
28. Careful
29. Loving
30. Righteous (God fearing).

These habits are the true measures or predictors of true success. Regardless of your present bank account status, you are or will be successful if you have and cultivate these habits.

Many have money, but because they do not have these habits, they still feel miserable and unfulfilled. Many do not have money, yet because they have successful habits, they feel successful and know that money will come to them.

When you have successful habits, you may not necessarily look for money, but money will look for you. This is because, people will only put their things and money where they feel it will be secured or multiply - in a successful place.  Everybody likes to deal with people with successful characters, not people with wrong habits.

This is why many people are looking for money bur never get it. They lack successful habits, so people will not deal with them with their resources.

The problem out there today is that, many people are running after money instead of running after success. Another one is that many people have money but not success, and that's why the world is going in the wrong direction today. We all seeking and running after money, instead of running after true success.

But DON'T be misguided: Success is not money. Success is good habits! Be first successful in your habits, and you will ENJOY good money. 

Ideas Are Ladders

Life occurs in steps and stages. One step leads to another step, and one stage takes you to another stage, but it's ideas (knowledge) that will carry you through each steps and stages, especially from lower steps/stages to upper ones.

In life, people with more ideas get to the top stage of life faster than people with lesser , little or no ideas. The more ideas you have the faster and higher you will climb in life. The lesser ideas you possess the slower you will climb, and lower you will descend in life. This is because it is ideas or knowledge that rules in life.

It is the level of your ideas that determines how productive you will be in life. Just like in school, students who provide more ideas (answers) during exams will get more high grades than students with lesser ideas. During interview, the candidate who gives the best ideas gets hired most. In public speaking, the speakers who have the best insights get booked more for speaking engagements, and in science, the inventors or scientists with more ideas have more inventions than those with lesser knowledge. So life is a race of ideas!

To make your life more relevant and productive in life, you must go for more ideas. To get to the top of your career, you need more ideas. To be a better man or woman, husband or wife, employee or employer you need more ideas. Even to be a better friend, you need more ideas. 

Where and how do you get ideas? From books and people - you get ideas by reading books and listening to people, and by thinking and making logical connections through the things you read and hear. The more you read and listen, the more the knowledge that will develop in your mind and more ideas you will have to challenge whatever comes across your paths in life. And the more useful contributions and impacts you will be able to make in life.

In returns to this, you would get a reward that would take you to the top of your path in your life endeavors. And you will be able to say "Life is truly in stages, but ideas are the ladders with which you climb from one stage to another".  So go for more ideas, go for more knowledge, today! 

12 Life Misconceptions

12 Life Misconceptions 

Life is complex, and this makes us view life differently from our different sides of life. Sometimes our views are right, and sometimes we are wrong. I identify here, 12 different views or misconceptions people make when they tend to focus on the first side of the coin while losing their view of the most important side. My views may or may not be the right view, but I am definitely making my points known here. I hope somebody would gain some insights from them. 

1. Life is not only in eating but in reading. 

What you eat can sustain you for a few hours, but what you read can carry you for life.

2. Life is not only in feasting but feeding. 

While feasting could result in wastage and obesity, feeding would satisfy your hunger and nutritional needs appropriately.

3. Life is not only in dancing but in marching. 

While dancing around will reduce your forward movement, marching forward will get you to your destination in time.

4. Life is not in sex (gender) but in sense (intelligence).

Being a male or female person does not make anyone great, it is our level of intelligence that determines our greatness in life. 

5. Life is not in lust but in love. 

While lust could lead to immoral deeds and crimes, love brings unity and peace to our community.

6. Life is not only about singing but about worshiping. 

People sing (consciously or unconscionably) to promote what they worship/ admire. Singing a song just because someone sings it could bring you into a "wrong world".

7. Life is not in enduring people but in enjoying them.

Enduring people makes people get sensational, but enjoying them makes them feel loved.

8. Life is not only in talking but in speaking. 

We talk to talk, but we speak to make a point. Only speak when you have a point (not always necessary to speak).

9. Life is not only in communication but meditation.

During communication, we give out knowledge. During mediation, we form the wisdom to forge ahead in life.

10. Life is not only in multitude but in attitude.

Moving with a multitude of people with the wrong attitude will end in being destitute, but moving with a person with the right attitude will command a multitude. 

11. Life is not only in the length of life but in the depth of it. 

It is not how long a person lives that makes a difference, but how deep is the impact of a person's life that matters.

12. Life is not only in what you feel but in what you think. 

What you feel does not control your life, but what you think determines everything in your life. 

Setting The Right Priority

Priority means first thing first. Setting priority means making first thing first in your daily life. It also means spending your time on things that are of most importance or value to you. It's like doing things that matters. It's committing yourself to tasks that would have grave consequences if let undone, or giving yourself to an assignments that would bring you the most profitable rewards. 

Setting priority is one of the most successful habit you can have.  It's one factor that contribute most to the success of every great individuals you have seen. It can makes somebody out of nobody, and can turn slaves to kings when practiced. 

This is it: setting priority makes things to become more important in your life. Once you give your time continuously to something,  the thing would increase and tend  to 'dominate' your life.  You would give more time, thoughts, actions and physical space to such thing. Everywhere around you would speak about the things you have prioritized in your life. 

For example,  if your first priority is to make money, you would always think about how to make money.  You would talk to people about money, you would purchase books on making money, and you would want to associate yourself with people that you know that can give you money - the thoughts of money will become your priority. It will dominate and control your time. 

The point I'm making is this: only give priority to things of high value in  your life. Abolish all the irrelevant things, and commit yourself to only activities that would make you great in life. 

Enjoy the people in your life

Enjoy the people in your life 

It is easy to see the people in your life as burden, especially when they seem to be discomforting to you. Your parents, siblings, or friends may appear to always get you annoyed, when they disagree with you or do things you don't like. Things like these often makes us think and sometimes behave as if we don't need them in our life. Sometimes we even feel like running away from them.

However, if only we could think from the other sides of life; a day is coming when we would love to have these people around us but it would be impossible. They would either be far away or being taken away from us into eternity. This kind of thought would help us to start enjoying the people in our life rather than enduring them.

For instance, there was time that I was always with my brother in our hometown. We would sleep in the same room, wake up, and go to farm together. He would carry me on the backseat of his motorbike as he rides to farm everyday. We would come back home together, eat lunch and take dinner, and we would go to bed in the dame room. We saw each other and did things together daily. But now, I am here in the US, while my brother is in hometown in Nigeria, thousands of mile away from me.

Another way to think about the people in our life is that is a privilege to have them. Many people don't even have anybody around them. They care to have parents or siblings to disturb them but hey do not have. Your parents or siblings may  seem to always get you annoying, but the truth is that if you lose them, you would miss them. Many people (like me) do not have any parent that can get them annoy. They do not have that person that would always lookout for them. Like your parents, who would always caution you, many people do not have any parent to guide their actions. So it is a privilege to have the persons you have in your life. Take time to enjoy them rather than seeing them as a burden. Enjoy the people in your life now when you still have them. This is good for your relational success in life

Your location determines your allocation.

Your location determines your allocation. 

Your location is where you are found in a given time. This may be the place you live; where you like to hang around; or spend most of your time. Also, your allocation is something that happens to you in your location. The point of the statement is that most things that happen in your life is because of your location, the place where you live or spend most your time. In most cases, if you can change your location, your experience would also change. To further explain this,  I will use this illustration; for instance, when it is raining, you can either stay inside the rain and become drenched, or hide away from the rain inside a shelter or any safe place and stay dry. The two different locations would have different effects on you.

In the same way, in real life, if you put yourself in wrong place, wrong things would happen to you and when you keep yourself in the right place, right things would happen in your life. For instance, if you move around with bad gangs, spend most of the night at night clubs, or  dangerous places, the probability that you would get hurt would be high compared to when you live a quiet and simple life. A quiet and simple life will keep you out of trouble but a troublesome and unrestricted movement would get you into it.

Also, if you spend your time in places like library, church, school, workshops or some other good places, the likelihood of you having a good experience would increase. Because of the kinds of people you will find in such places, you would not be exposed to bad experience. You might even meet people that would add value to you or expose you to good opportunities.

Your location determines your allocation. To regulate your allocation, you must regulate your location.

HOW TO SPEED UP YOUR DESTINY

                                                FOUR THINGS

                                                   THAT CAN

                       

                                                        SPEED UP YOUR DESTINY

Fulfilling destiny requires the application of some relevant great forces of greatness from Great God of destiny. I have identified four of them below;

1. Responsibility: YOUR ability to response to and take up challenges.

2. Faithfulness: Your ability to follow all instructions and do your assignments as required of you.

3. Accountability: Your ability to care for and give account whatever is committed into your hands.

4. Diligence: Your ability to be timely,timelessly and tirelessly committed to a given purpose or assignments  until its achieved.

When you commit yourself to these great forces in the right directions, you will surely emerge a king as fast as possible. As I  often say, "Only the diligent can become the dignitary".

In other word,from the scriptures, it says, "See thou a man diligent in his business,.... he SHALL not stand before ordinary men" Prov 22:29.

But my fear is this, many people direct these great forces in the WRONG DIRECTIONS and they become GREAT THREAT to the world today.

I pray for you today, you will achieve your destiny with speed in Jesus Christ Name.
Amen!

Don't forget; Jesus Christ is still available and still saves.
Love you!

Rufus.