Productive Failure

 Many times, success has been born out of failure.

Inventors have often made discoveries out of what was called their failures.

Fortunately they didn't give up, today we enjoy what their hard work and right perspectives have produced on the earth.

We enjoy the impact of their contributions in the field of medicine, science, technology, product design and business.

We need to see clearer, better and have the right perspective to what we call failure.

Failure does not have to be what many people dread it to be or have the stigma associated with it if we have the right perspective to failure.

If you can find the gem in your failure, if you can learn the lessons from your failure, and glean wisdom from your failure you have not failed.

The failure becomes a learning curve and discovery on your way to your success destination, it is not the end of the road.

It's Winston Churchill who said "failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue trying that counts."

Face life courageously, keep going, keep learning, keep trying and whatever you do don't give up!

Productive failure is what I call failing forward.

It is the type of failure that comes with a benefit in it, it is failure that benefits you and helps you progress.

Many success stories today were birthed from failing forward, such inspirational characters failed productively.

If you are going to fail at anything make sure you fail forward.

Have the right perspective, learn to see life, issues and failure with a new set of eyes, an optimistic vision.

An optimistic perspective will make you see your failures as growth experiences.

We learn more from failure than we do from success.

The Scottish author Samuel Smiles put it this way "we learn wisdom from failure much more than from success."

There is learning and wisdom in failure.

People need to recognize this.

Mistakes help us and force us to analyze flaws and grow.

The wise dissect their mistakes, analyze their failures and evolve from it into better people with better ideas and winning strategies.

Failures teach us humility, they show our humanity, they can develop our empathy, help our emotional intelligence, and help us see new and better ways to accomplish our goals.

Edgar A. Guest in his classic motivational poem "Don't Quit" said "success is failure turned inside out."

"Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."

Vince Lombardi the legendary American football coach is attributed with perhaps the most famous quote ever on the subject of success and failure, the idiom "quitters never win, and winners never quit"

How true!

The purpose of failure is not to make us quit.

The goal of success is not to never fail.

While we shouldn't go all out trying to be failures, we should understand our failures can be springboards to our success.

Through failure many have been rightly directed in life and gone further than they would have gone if they has succeeded without any failure along the way.

I recently discovered James Dyson, the British inventor built 5,126 failed prototypes over 15 years before successfully creating his bagless vacuum.

Talk about perseverance!

How many times have you tried, and how many times have you failed?

It would seem that men who rise to the greatest heights in life do so on the highest heaps of failure.

Dyson has noted that success can make you stop wondering why things work, but failure forces you to ask why they went wrong.

Whatever you do don't give up now!

You might be one more attempt away from success.

You may be one email, one phone call, one prayer away from success.

You're close than you think.

You have come this far, and you haven't come this far to give up now.

You may be one last push, one more strike away from your breakthrough.

It is Thomas Alva Edison, credited for being the inventor of the light bulb who said "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a step, you may have failed along the way, you may have made mistakes but you are not where you used to be.

You've made progress, you've improved, you've learned, you've acquired knowledge and you're hopefully wiser.

Keep building, keep going, keep using the blocks of past failures to build a mighty edifice of sterling success!

It is in our nature as people to want to succeed, and we should.

It is a natural innate desire to want to succeed.

However, the path to success can have the bumps of failure in the way.

The great Physicist and mathematician Albert Einstein said "failure is success in progress."

Don't be fatigued because of the failures along your way, don't be defeated by the pressures failure can cause.

Success according to the great Winston Churchill is going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.

Your Star & Your Stock

Your stock on earth is linked to your star.

Every human being is born with a star.

Like Jesus you have a heavenly presence/body.

Your star is your heavenly presence, your heavenly body, your astral and spiritual presence.

When your star rises in the heavens, your stock goes up on earth.

When your star shines in the heavens, your stock gains influence on earth.
Your star is heavenly, your stock is earthly.
Your star is spiritual, your stock is physical.

"On earth as it is in heaven" is what the scriptures say
As the heavens control the earth, so does your star control your stock!
There has always been a link between heaven and earth just as there has always been a link between the spiritual and the physical.
The heavens control the earth, the spiritual controls the physical.
Your star determines your stock!

Your stock is the work of your hands and the Lord promises to bless it.
May God bless the work of our hands and may our stock increase!
This is the Lord's will for you!

In the kingdom of God we have stars and have been made stars.
In the kingdom of God's dear Son our stars shine!
Our stars shine after the order of Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ is the bright & morning Star, He is the Day Star who shines by day and night!
In His kingdom we shine after His order!
No wonder the stock of Job went up!
He flourished, he increased. To the point that the enemy took a note of him and his stock.

We talk about the star of David.

We have earthly diagrams that try to depict the star of David.

It is a fact that David was a great star on the earth.

No wonder his stock went up!

Your star has the blessing! 

Your star the identity, the image and the likeness of God which is you!
You are a star in God's presence!
Sons of God are stars.
Angels are called stars and sons of God.
Our connection to God makes us stars.

Stardom increases stock.
The stock of every star is worth a lot.
The ministry, and works of Jesus (His stock) has had so much impact the world will never get over it even throughout eternity!
Abraham is the father of faith and we are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Abraham paid a price for his spiritual and physical descendants to come into what is known as the Abrahamic covenant of blessing!

The Abrahamic covenant of blessing has a lot of stock that manifests through it.
Abraham was blessed in all things- men & women servants, gold & silver, wells (business), sheep, oxen & a covenant relationship with God.
The man's stock when up as his star went up through a covenant relationship with God.

So should yours.

Our covenant relationship with God enhances us, makes us better, and makes our star shine.

When your star rises and shines, your stock will go up on the earth.

I see it happening in good time.

The Open Door

Open doors, open heavens, open gates and windows are not strange words in the scriptures.

They are portals.

They are spiritual portals that have an earthly impact.

They are spiritual portals that have an impact on individuals, lives, nations, and destinies,

They are life changing, transformative; in very positive ways.

An open door can start a positive new chapter in a human life.

An open window can release blessings into a live beyond human imagination.

Open gates can lead to greatness and liftings.

An open heaven is a spiritual breakthrough and it produces physical breakthrough.

There was a man chosen by God, a man who didn't know God but God raised him up for a purpose. A great man called Cyrus.

Cyrus, popularly known as Cyrus the great was a political leader, conqueror, military leader and the founder of the Persian empire.

Cyrus laid the blue print for what is now commonly known as constitutions in countries.

The Cyrus cylinder is a 2,500 year old cylinder document with inscriptions by Cyrus which is perhaps history's earliest document on human rights.

I've seen this artifact before, I saw it at the British Museum.

Cyrus the great became legendary because God gave him an open gate, God opened the two leaved gates unto Cyrus.

The open gates led to military dominion, leadership greatness and a place in history for Cyrus.

An open door was granted unto the church in Philadelphia as a reward.

The church of Philadelphia was rewarded for their strength, their resilience in standing for the Lord against all odds and not denying His Name.

They were rewarded with an open door which no man can shut!

There are doors men can shut against us.

Doors men have opened for us through our scheming, compromising, and rebellion can be shut against us by the man or men who opened them unto us.

If the kingdom of darkness opens doors for a man, they can shut the doors on that man at anytime and at any point. The enemy doesn't keep doors open for people for nothing.

It has a price, he takes his sacrifices.

There's a promise of an open heaven over tithers. 

Tithing is the one-tenth principle.

It is the giving of one-tenth of our profit or income to the Lord.

There is a lot of controversy about tithing in the body of Christ these days.

The reason for it is because there are so many schools of thought in the body of Christ.

So many different voices, so many different levels of understanding of the scriptures, bad teachers of the word, and other spirits working in people who teach the word which is not the Spirit of God.

Tithing is something that must be done in faith, with endurance, and consistently.

It's one of the ways we prove we love the Lord and money doesn't have any control over us.

It attracts the blessing of an open heaven.

The church of Philadelphia was seen by the Lord.

The Lord saw their little strength.

Their little strength may have been their little influence, size, resilience and fervency.

God see us, and He is the One who rewards.

An open door no man scan shut is a great reward from God to receive.

God is the God of the open door and He rewards those who are able to persist in prayer.

He rewards those who persist in a lifestyle of worship.

He rewards those who are able to keep on with Him against all odds.

An open door represents opportunity.

It represents a God given platform to make something happen for you, for your benefit.

Open doors bring ease where things have been difficult.

An open door is a divine chance.

An open door from God happens in God's time.

An open door means God's time to make a specific thing happen for you according to God's purpose has come.

The uniqueness of an open door is that it is not for everyone, and it is not open to everyone.

Open doors, open gates, open windows and open heavens are all from the same 'family'.

Open doors are for those who have persisted and endured.

Your prayers can open doors for you!

Every door is opened by a key or some kind of key whether it is a forb, code, or a proximity card.

Prayer is like a key, forb or proximity card that opens doors unto us.

Every country, city, town, village or building has an entrance point.

The entrance point to a building is its door, the entrance point to a country or city is her airport, and your travel documents are your keys to accessing that country.

In the same manner your destiny has an entrance point, a door you walk through into your destiny, your inheritance, that which God has prepared for you.

May you find the door to your destiny and inheritance in God and walk through it.

The kingdom of God has an entrance point, a door that is open in this period of grace.

Jesus Christ is the Door!

He is the door to God's kingdom,

Repentance is the key, the code, the proximity card, or forb that opens the Door for you to access the kingdom!

Walk through the open door today!

 

Open My Eyes

 There are chances we will not take, opportunities we will not seize, paths we will not walk in and levels we will not rise to, not because we are cowardly its because we did not recognize them.

You cannot walk through an open door you did not see, you cannot seize opportunities you did not recognize and you cannot get to heights you didn't know the stairways to them exist.

A very long time ago, a lady called Hagar and her son had ran out of supplies- food and water. 

The ground was dry, the sun was scorching and there seemed to be no oasis in sight.

It was an arid environment.

She lay her thirteen year old son on the ground, it was the only bit of shade she could find, away from the intensity of the sun. He was crying, his name is Ishmael.

Ishmael is the first born son of Abraham the Patriarch of faith, his mother Hagar was the maid of Sarah the wife of Abraham.

By a twist of fate, Hagar would be considered a secondary wife of Abraham through conception and her being given to Abraham by Sarah her boss. Sarah, unfortunately had suffered barrenness.

Hagar, a much younger and fertile female than Sarah conceived easily, this cemented her place in the household and in time she became conceited.

Sarah would have her own son in the fullness of time by nothing short of a miraculous conception and birth, Isaac was born, the son of promise.

Hagar's overrating herself in the household by despising her mistress was a step too far.

It cost her.

Her mistress would not have it. 

She and her son had to leave, her son was also taunting Isaac like older siblings tend to do to their younger siblings.

Sarah was dissatisfied.

So Hagar and her son left.

She and her son were sent off with food and drink by Abraham, it was a tough decision.

With time, their food and drink ran out and Hagar found herself right where I described.

Ishmael her son was crying 

God heard the cry of the boy for Abraham's sake.

Abraham is a chosen one and a man who was in covenant with God,  The blessing of God spread to his children Ishmael and Isaac

So, the Lord opened the eyes of Hagar and she saw a well not far from her!

If the Lord did not open her eyes she would not have seen it!

The well was her breakthrough, the well was her ticket to survive, the well was God having mercy on her and her son.

Hagar survived, Ishmael survived, and they didn't die because the Lord opened her eyes.

Some people didn't make it in life because they didn't recognize what was set before them, they failed to see the blessing, the opportunity, the open door presented to them.

They couldn't see and seize the opportunity around them.

We don't have to be like that.

Ishmael grew up to become a mighty hunter, a fine man who made his mother proud.

He had twelve sons who became twelve sheiks.

Ishmael is the father of the Islamic/Arabic lineage.

It is important the eyes of our understanding is opened.

Its important important our eyes are opened to opportunities, God given opportunities.

May the eyes of our understanding be opened.

It is great if our spiritual eyes are opened too, even unto discernment.

It is worth praying that God should open our eyes to see what He wants us to see.

Not all opportunities come in lovely packages.

Some opportunities around us are not seen for what they are because they are disguised as hard work, challenges or battles.

Some opportunities will come as ideas that are not common, as ridiculous instructions that go against logic and as open doors many are not walking through.

Some people miss opportunities because they don't want to be different.

They want to do what everyone else is doing, they want to go where everyone else is going, they want their life to follow the path and pattern everyone else's is following .

They do not want to follow a new path, they want to be copycats not originals.

Making the most of life will require seizing opportunities.

It will also require courage.

It takes courage to stand, to follow unpopular paths and do what God wants us to do.

It takes courage to live different. It takes courage to trust, it takes courage to go in an opposite direction and it takes courage to do what is right or invest in things others are not seeing.

God opening our eyes can be God opening our eyes to physical provision, spiritual truths, and heavenly realities.

"Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink."

Genesis 21:19

The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam the misguided prophet to avoid being killed by the angel of the Lord right in front of him with a drawn sword which his donkey saw but he didn't see initially.

God opened the eyes of Gehazi the servant of Elisha to see the heavenly army around him and his master during a time of danger.

The natural and spiritual eyes of Saul of Tarsus of was opened after going blind for three days as a result of his encounter with the light of Jesus Christ which is brighter than the sun on the Damascus road.

Opened eyes gives us a new dawn, a new season, a new reality, a new identity, new opportunities and new encounters!

Ascend

 To ascend is to rise upward.

It is an upward movement or vertical climb.

It is a progressive vertical movement to higher heights.

Some effort will be needed to ascend, some help might be required too.

An upward movement will require a good degree of resilience, be resilient because there are forces that try to stop people from ascending.

Ascend to your mountain top.

Ascend to your higher ground.

Ascend to your height of glory.

Ascend to the heights of achievement.

Ascend to the heavenly places of reality, truth, holiness, righteousness and freedom!

Ascend through your spirit, your spirit man.

Ascend through your soul- your imagination, visualization, thoughts and desires.

Ascend on the wings of the Spirit, even the Holy Spirit.

Ascend on the wings of the promises, the exceeding great and precious promises in the scriptures.

Ascend through the word, the decreeing, the speaking, the confessions and professions of the inspired word of the Lord!

Ascend in the place of prayer.

Ascend on the wings of praise.

Ascend through your winning ideas.

Ascend by your God given inspired wisdom.

Ascend with your renewed strength.

Ascend, because you are created to ascend.

Ascend, because your are a 'star' and upward, high above is where stars belong!

Ascend, because it is what you are designed for.

Ascend, because it is the Creator's plan for you.

Ascend, because it is in the grand design of your destiny!

Ascend, because your potential is asking for it.

Ascend because humanity and creation wants to see and benefit from the real you.

Ascend, its part of your new reality.

Ascend, there is more room at the top, more space for your manifestation.

Ascend, your new identity demands it, it's eager for your ascension.

Ascend, you've been at the same level for too long.

Ascend, you will eat better at the top.

Ascend, you owe it to yourself.

Ascend because there is more in store for you at the top.

Ascend, you owe it to those rooting for you.

Ascend, your fulfillment beckons.

Ascend, there is a greater purpose you will know and experience.

Ascend, you're an eagle not a chicken.

Ascend because there is something better for you at the top.

Ascend, your critics, mockers, detractors and back-stabbers must be put to shame.

Ascend, leave the pettiness behind. You are better than that.

Ascend, like an eagle to your highest height. A better view awaits you up there.

Ascend, you will will be glad you did.

Ascend, leave behind the sickness, shame, sin and Satan.

Ascend into your place of fulfilled dreams, manifestations and results.

Ascend, your rise will benefit many.

It is time to "come up higher."

Camels Of Provision

Camels are strong durable animals that can travel long distances, survive harsh weather, and endure till they get to their destination.

Camels are animals that can go for long periods of time without water but when it's time to drink they don't stop until their thirst is satisfied.

They drink a lot of water!

Just like donkeys and horses they are useful animals to humanity.

A camel is a good sign.

Camels have a positive Biblical representation and spiritual meaning.

They represent and symbolize provision.

The represent immense wealth, the supplying of needs.

In ancient times, owning a camel was a mark of high status and immense wealth.

It was evidence of prosperity, a camel was not an animal everyone had.

It is a good prayer to pray, that your camels of provision will not tarry.

It is worth praying, that your camels of provision will appear.

When Isaac was due for marriage, Eliezer the senior servant of Abraham was sent to get a wife by faith for Isaac the heir of Abraham the wealthy Patriarch of faith.

It was a tough task when you consider it from a logistics perspective.

The lady was to be picked from the region Abraham hails from and left years ago.

Eliezer didn't know who this lady would be.

He set out in faith and obedience with 10 camels and gifts for the lady and her family and provision for the journey.

He was traveling to a region he had never been to before, to find a lady he had never seen before, to convince her to follow him back to Canaan a land she was not familiar with and marry Eliezer's master's son Isaac who she had never seen, communicated with or courted.

From a human perspective, it was a herculean task.

Eliezer left with an entourage of camels without any information about who this lady is and what she is to look like, except the region to travel to; because his master is from there and gave directions she was to be picked from there.

He wasn't given any other information to work with except Abraham's instruction and prayer!

Eliezer set out in faith.

His faith was enough, Abraham's prayer and instruction was enough.

Sometimes, that's all we need- faith, prayer and instructions.

The story is seen in Genesis 24.

Eliezer was well directed by the Lord, he met Rebeccah who is  Abraham's niece despite the many ladies at the well, it was at the time of the day many ladies of the town are out to fetch water in the evening.

The timing was right, the lady was right, the location was right, her family was right, her attitude was right and she left with Eliezer the next day to marry a man she had never met before.

And camels played a bigger part in this story than many people realize.

When Isaac saw Rebeccah for the first time she was riding on a camel.

A beautiful woman with a veil over he head when she later walked towards him, she was first seen approaching on a camel.

Isaac was coming from the fields where he has gone to pray and meditate, he looked up and he saw the camels coming!

May your 'camels' of provision appear!

"And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming."

It is believed the Magi (wise men) who travelled from the East to worship and honor Jesus rode on Camels.

I have to believe so, there were no airplanes in those days, the journey took them about two years. It was a long journey which must have included travelling through some very dry arid regions.

Horses would not suffice for a journey of almost two years, donkeys are better suited for shorter journeys, Camels would be more suitable.

The came with gifts.

Camels are used by the rich for long journeys and to transport precious goods and treasures.

A part of Job's wealth were his 3,000 camels.

Jacob amassed a large heard of camels and used them to travel with his family.

Pharaoh gave Abraham camels as a dowry for Sarah.

Camels are the backbone of desert commerce and nomadic travel.

The queen of Sheba came to Solomon with a massive caravan entourage carrying lots of gold and spices.

Wherever a company of camels were seen, valuable items were usually on those camels as they were used to transport the items and belongings of the rich.

Camels were used in tribal warfare and raids, they were used to carry away the spoils of war.

Isaiah prophesied a time when Jerusalem would be covered by multitudes of camels bringing wealth to the city.

"Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the LORD"

Isaiah 60:6

The Ravens, The Prophet, The Messengers

The whole of creation responds to faith.

Faith can control even the elements and nature.

We see this from the good Book.

There are unusual and uncommon happenings, events, and moments in history we can read about from the scriptures.

We read about the sun and moon obeying the voice of a man, we read about animals going in pairs (male and female) into an ark without being trained or forced to do so, we see winds, seas, plants obeying faith and we are told even mountains will move from land to sea at the voice of faith!

The scriptures is a treasure full of unusual and uncommon happenings!

In them we see uncommon vessels being used, unlikely people being qualified, and unusual messengers being used to carry out the Lord's purposes.

One of such unusual messengers were ravens, raven birds.

Ravens do not provide food for people, they don't feed human beings.

They are not responsible for that neither are they wired that way.

The natural inclination of birds is to feed themselves and their young.

Ravens are intelligent birds, they are social with one another and can be known for selfishness.

They are not messenger birds like pigeons.

Ravens are not the kind of birds you'd deliver your letter through.

The homing pigeon has remarkable navigational skills and a can travel over 8,000 miles away from its home, it navigates its way back to its nest successfully.

This is why the homing pigeon has been used  as messengers for thousands of years.

Falcons and eagles have also been trained and used by man to deliver messages from one person to another or one kingdom to the other.

These birds of prey do not have the homing instinct of the homing pigeon so they were not used as frequently as the pigeons, they were used for deliveries within shorter distances.

Ravens are not in these class of birds as messengers, they've never served humanity in that kind of way- taking written, sealed or bottled messages to its destination on their owners behalf.

The Lord is a specialist at doing things in unconventional ways.

A prophet of the Lord needed sustenance and the Creator fed his messenger twice a day- in the morning and in the evening.

This human messenger was the prophet Elijah.

Twice a day he ate bread and meat given to him, not given to him by any man, but brought to him by ravens!

He drank from the brook Cherith during this period.

We need the Lord's direction, we need the word of the Lord for our lives.

He was directed, the word of the Lord came to him. He was told where to say/hide.

The food was not brought to him by trained falcons or homing pigeons but by ravens!

Its remarkable that the ravens brought the food regularly and consistently twice a day without being guided, forced or trained.

Bread and meat are delicacies for birds. That's their food, they love it.

Why would they give them to a man?

It's not unusual to see people feeding birds, be it their domestic birds or free birds.

In public, at parks, at ponds or lakes people throw bird feed, or bread to birds, ducks, swans.

It is unheard of to hear of birds bringing food to man.

This was what happened with the ravens feeding Elijah!

It is a miracle many Bible students often overlook, though it is as remarkable as an other miracle in the scriptures.

The bread most have been fresh, warm and edible for Elijah to be able to eat it.

The meat must have been warm, cooked and hygienic enough to be edible.

It was a scenario of one category of messengers sustaining another category of messenger.

Those ravens played the role of God's messengers, in taking food to his prophet.

It displayed a beautiful relationship between birds (ravens) and a human being.

A lovely relationship between animal messengers and a human messenger, they were all messengers of the most High.

There are some mysteries around the story.

We have to wonder where the bread and meat came from.

Where did the bread come from, who cooked the meat, did the Creator inspire someone to send ravens with meat and bread out there to someone who needs it without the cook knowing who Elijah is?

If that's the matter, why is it Elijah the ravens took the bread and meat to, why didn't they miss their way?

Why did the sender use ravens when there are more reliable bird breeds to use considering the temperament and nature of ravens?

Could the ravens be angels, perhaps angels who took the form of raven birds?

If the ravens were angels, was it angel food Elijah ate in the form of bread and meat?

Why did the ravens obey and why didn't they eat the bread and meat themselves?

There are so many questions around the story.

That being said, I believe it.

Do you?

The supernatural and miraculous ways of God that is past finding out or understanding is written all over that story.

I believe in miracles, I believe in the supernatural, I believe in the wonder working power of God.

Do you?

"And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.  And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.  The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.  And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,"