Be positive or Be Quiet

You are where you are today in part because of what you’ve been saying about yourself. Words are like seeds. When you speak something out, you give life to what you’re saying. If you continue to say it, eventually that can become a reality. Whether you realized it or not, you are prophesying your future. This is great when we’re saying things such as, “I am blessed. I am strong. I will accomplish my dream. I’m coming out of debt. “That’s not just being positive; you are actually prophesying victory, prophesying success, prophesying new levels. Your life will move in the direction of your words.

But too many people go around prophesying just the opposite. “I never get any good breaks. “I’ll never get back in shape”. “Business is slow. I’ll probably get laid off.” “Flu season is here. I always get it.” They don’t realize they are prophesying defeat.  It’s just like they’re calling in bad breaks, mediocrity, and lack.

 

The Scripture says, “We will eat the fruit of our words.” When you talk, you are planting seeds. At some point, you’re going to eat that fruit. My challenge is: make sure you’re planting the right kind of seeds. If you can’t plant cactus seeds, poison ivy seeds, or mushroom seeds you’re going to reap fruit from the exact seeds that you’ve been sowing. In other words, you can’t talk negative and expect to live appositive life. You can’t talk defeat and expect to have victory. You can’t talk lack, not enough, can’t afford it, never get ahead and expect to have abundance. If you have a poor mouth, you’re going to have a poor life.

 

If you don’t like what you’re seeing, start sowing some different seeds. Instead of saying, “I’ll never get well, William. This sickness has been in my family for three generations,” plant the right seeds by stating, “God is restoring health back unto me. This sickness didn’t come to stay; it came to pass. I’m getting better and better every day,” you keep sowing those positive seeds and eventually you’ll eat that abundant fruit-health, wholeness, victory.

 

Instead of saying, “I’ll never get out of debt. I’ll never rise any higher,” you start speaking he promises of God: “I will lend and not borrow. Whatever I touch prospers and succeeds. I’m coming into overflow, into more than enough”. Start sowing seeds of increase, seeds of abundance. No more “I’ll never accomplish my dreams.” Instead, “I have the favor of God. Blessings are chasing me down. The right people are searching me out. New opportunities, new levels are in my future”. If you’ll keep talking like that, you’ll reap a harvest of good things.

Your Cup Will Run Over

 

David was out in the shepherd’s fields. It didn’t look like anything was happening, but he came into his due season. King Saul sent a message say, “send me David who is with the sheep. I need him in the palace.” David started working for Saul. That was another step on the way to his destiny. He wasn’t on throne yet, but at least he made it to the palace. Notice this phrase: “Send David, who is with the sheep……” you may feel like you are with the sheep today. In other words, you are doing something that feels insignificant. You know you have more in you, but you have been in the background year after year. Don’t get discouraged. Your time is coming. You are not going to stay with the sheep. God is going to take you from the background to the foreground. You may be in the shepherd’s field, but don’t put your stakes down. Don’t get comfortable there. You have a king’s anointing. You are destined to do great things. The palace is coming. Victory is coming. Promotion is coming. People can’t stop it. Bad breaks can’t stop it. Sickness can’t stop it. Almighty God has anointed you. What he has spoken over your life will come to pass if you stay connect with Him be faithful.

Lack, poverty, sickness, and barely getting by are yoke. Do not accept that as your destiny. Jesus came that you might live an abundance life. We are to be the head and not the tail. And yes, we all go through dry seasons to test our faith, but those dry seasons are not permanent. They are temporary. At some point the drought will come to an end, and you will see an abundance of rain, and abundance of favour.

I like how David put it in Psalm 23. He said, “God anoints my head with oil.” He went on to say. “Because I am anointed, my cup runs over.” When you walk in your anointing, knowing who you are and whose you are, at some point your cup will run over. You will see God pour out blessings that you cannot contain. Don’t you dare settle with the sheep in the shepherd’s fields. The palace is coming.

My dear friends, we are created for victory, for abundance, for palace. The anointing in us will cause people to do good for us. It will cause us to be at the right place at the right time. Bringing favour for us. Promoting us. And increase us more and more.

Let us live to seek fresh anointing that will bring us to a new level of excellence

How You Can think as an Eagles

I read a story about an eagle that was born in a chicken coop and raised with a brood of chickens. For years he packed like a chicken, bawked like a chicken, and eat like a chicken. That’s all he had ever seen. But one day he looked up and saw an eagle soaring in the sky. Something deep inside said, “That’s what you were created to do.” His DNA was calling out to him. But when he looked around, all of his circumstances said, “You’re just a chicken.”

He got his courage up. He told his chicken buddies that he was going to soar like that eagle. They laughed at him and said, “Are you kidding? You can’t soar. You’re just a chicken.”

All he had ever heard was chicken. Chicken had become ingrained in his thinking, but deep down something said, “This is not who I am. I wasn't made to be average, to live in this limited environment. I may be a chicken coop, but I don’t feel like a chicken. I don’t think like a chicken. I don’t look like a chicken. This is not my destiny. I have the DNA of an eagle.”

He started noticing that this wings were not like the chickens’. His were bigger, stronger, and wider. He decided to try to fly. Flapping his wings back and forth as fast as he could, the eagle barely lifted off the ground and crashed into the side of the chicken coop. his chicken friends laughed and said, “We told you. You’re not different from us. You’re wasting your time. You’re a chicken.” He didn't let that failure, not what the others said, not the disappointment talk him out of it. Every day he kept trying, being his best. One day he lifted up out of that chicken coop and began to soar up and up in the sky. With every breath he declared, “This is who I really am. I knew I was an eagle!”

Perhaps you’ve been in a chicken coop way too long. Let me tell you what you already know. You’re not a chicken. You’re an eagle. Don’t let that limited environment rub off on you. Don’t let how you were raised or what somebody said about you keep you from knowing who you really are. Check your spiritual birth certificate. You’ll find you’ve been made in the image of Almighty God. He has crowned you with favour. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. You were never created to be average or mediocre. You were created to soar. Abundance, opportunity, and good breaks are in your DNA. Now, get rid of a chicken mentality and start having an eagle mentality.

Inspiration of a True Leader

In the process of leadership development, inspiration is the point where the leader connects with other individuals; it is where his purpose intersects with their purpose. A leader’s passion for his purpose is like a flame, igniting new possibilities in the minds and hearts of other people, causing them to think in new ways and stirring up and revealing the convictions and vision within them. In this way, a leader’s vision gives meaning to others’ lives as it invites corporate commitment to a noble cause. People’s personal vision will always be found within a larger corporate vision.

Awakening Others’ Sense of Purpose

When you inspired people by your passion for your purpose, you won’t need to recruit them to help you, obtain their “vote of confidence,” or wait for them to approve you. As you awaken their sense of purpose, they will voluntarily join you in order to fulfill their own contribution to the world through participating in your vision. They will offer their time, energy, resources, and creative power to be part of a larger purpose to which their vision is connected. Likewise, other leaders will inspire different people who will join them, based on their innate purposes and gifting. There is a place for everyone to manifest his personal leadership abilities.

 Keep in mind that although true leaders draw other people to their vision, they do not “clone” them to be just like themselves; they do not seek to recreate themselves in others. Rather, they  enables others to use their unique gifts and abilities to fulfill their own inherent purposes. It should be clear that people don’t’ receive their personal from the leader to whom they are connected – they are enabled to fulfill their own vision as they help the leader enact his.

For example, suppose a leader’s vision is to manufacture a safety feature that would help prevent plane crashes under severe weather conditions. He has the idea and enough knowledge of engineering that he believes the device can be developed. However, he cant’s design and produce it by himself. As he begins to share his vision and passion for this safety feature, he will draw others to him whose personal vision is to participate in airline design and who have the innate gifts to develop and produce such a device.

 Free of Manipulation

Just as true leaders don’t seek to clone themselves in their followers, they don’t try to “collect” followers and supporters in order to make themselves feel good. They may identify particular people they would like to mentor, and invite them to help carry on the overall vision after they are gone, but they never actively try to recruit admirers.

Likewise, a leader who is motivated by his purpose, convictions, vision, and passion never uses or abuses other people. Genuine leaders seek to facilitate the personal visions of their colleagues, executive team members, managers, employees, and family members. At the same time, the manner in which they live out their vision and code of ethics is a positive example to those around them.

Inspiration is the opposite of intimidation and is absent of manipulation. When leaders fail to inspire others, they often resort to manipulation to force people to participate in their plans and do what they want them to do. I’ve studied many individuals who have portrayed themselves to the public as leaders but who are really professional manipulators. They play on people’s fears, use a carrot-and-stick approach, and threaten and coerce them. That is not leadership – that is sophisticated dictatorship.

Every leader must recognize the danger of falling into manipulation. Every day, all over the world, people manipulate their spouses, their children, their friends, their colleagues, their coworkers, their employees, their clients, or their constituents because they do not understand – or Respect – the leadership quality of inspiration. The moment you stop inspiring people and start manipulating them, you cease to be a true leader.

How To Think Big

The tendency for so many people to think small means there is much less competition than you think for a very rewarding career.

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches or pounds or college degrees, or family background; people are been measured by the size of their thinking. How big we think determines the size of our accomplishments. Now let’s see how we can enlarge our thinking.

Ever ask yourself, “What is my greatest weakness?” Probably the greatest human weakness is self-deprecation-that is, selling oneself very cheap. Self-deprecation shows through in countless ways. Mr. Ali sees a job advertisement in the paper; it’s exactly what he would like to do. But he does nothing about it because he thinks, “I’m not good enough for the job, so why bother?” or Mr. Obi wants a date with Miss Chioma, but he doesn’t call her because he thinks he wouldn’t rate with her.

Philosophers for thousands of years have issued good advice: know thyself. But most people, it seems, interpret this suggestion to mean know only thy negative self. Most self-evaluation consists of making long mental lists of one’s faults, shortcomings, inadequacies.

It’s well to know our inabilities, for this shows us areas in which we can improve. But if we know only our negative characteristics, we’re in a mess. Our value is small. 

Here is an exercise to help you measure your true size

• Determine your five chief assets. Invite some objective friend to help-possibly your wife, your superior, a professor-some intelligent person who will give you an honest opinion. (Examples of assets frequently listed are education, experience, technical skills, appearance, well-adjusted home life, attitudes, personality, initiative.)
• Next, under each asset, write the names of three persons you know who have achieved large success but who do not have this asset to as great a degree as you.

When you have completed this exercise, you will find you outrank many successful people on at least one asset.

There is only one conclusion you can honestly reach: you are bigger than you think you are. So fit your thinking to your true size. Think as big as you really are! Never, never, never sell yourself short.

Study and Evaluate Yours Leaders

Our culture teaches us to be impressed by leaders by power, academicals degrees, and/or wealth, thinking that those characteristics add up great leadership. Yet you most not imagine that your country will remain strong and established if you vote for someone just because you like the way he speaks or looks, or even if you approve of some of his accomplishments.

Before you follow anyone, you must know what that person truly believes and on what path he is taking you. You might find out too late that you don’t want to go where he is going. I encourage you not to place undue confidence on how powerful a leader is or how much knowledge he has or who his mentor was. Continually evaluate what your leaders stand for, as well as the policies they promote. Study their lives and convictions. Discover what they really think and value, and how their beliefs affect their policies.

Ask yourself questions such as these about individual leaders:

• Does he still have the same convictions that inspired me to follow him in the beginning?
• Does he share my beliefs and values?
• Does he demonstrate that he has ethical standards?
• What is his vision of life?
• What is his attitude toward other human beings?
• What does he see as the future of this company/organization/community/nation?
• What direction does he think the world should be taking?

Even if a leader’s beliefs seem good, you must still observe his life to see if his words and actions are consistent – if he lives according to his stated convictions.

 

If the Blind Lead the Blind...

I consider Jesus of Nazareth to be the greatest leader in history, and He warned, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Note that the blind leader doesn’t fall into the pit by himself. Both he and the blind man whom he is leading fall into it together. We have to make sure our eyes are fully open, so that we will know where our leaders are taking us, and can avert potential disaster. We must not allow ourselves to fall into a pit with them.

Moreover, since we are all leaders or aspiring leaders in our unique areas of gifting, we have a responsibility to those whose lives we influence. That is why it is essential for us to understand the priority of character before we move on to the other aspects of leadership. We might understand many of the keys and principles necessary for being a leader but, at the same time, embrace a negative or destructive philosophy that will undermine our leadership and hurt our followers.

Leadership influence is a powerful instrument, and must always be aware of its potential to bring either good or harm to others. Leader without character demonstrate power devoid of principles; they often manipulates people to achieve their own ends. But true leaders have a commitment to ethics and principles; they build up others and offer them a better life.

The Distinguishing Marks of a True Leader

People are looking for leaders who have the qualities to lead them. In the progression of leadership development, the stage in which one develops conviction is key for leaders if they are to move from the recognition of their purpose to establishing a solid foundation for becoming a genuine leader. It is not enough to know that you have a special gift that will give you a unique place in the world. You must be able to serve that gift in accordance with ethical principles that you are committed to follow as you pursue your vision.

Conviction and character are therefore the distinguishing marks of a true leader. They are what separate those who merely have titles, positions, and talents from those who make a positive difference in their families, communities, and nations – from those who make history, changing the course of human events for the better.

Consequently, the twenty-first-century leader must not seek only to find his purpose or to develop his vision. He must also desire to be introduced-or reintroduced- to ethical principles, and he must commit to developing character throughout his lifetime, demonstrating his trustworthiness to those who follow him.

Our attitudes and motivations always correspond to our character.

• Leadership, and the gift that enable it, are inherent endowments. 
• Leadership is not about gaining followers, but it is about pursuing purpose.
• Leadership is not about manipulating people, but it is about inspiring people
• Leadership is not about having power over people but it is about empowering people
• Leadership is not about controlling other, but it is about serving them.
• Leadership is not about doing, but it is about becoming a person of noble aspirations.