Transcription
I'm sharing this morning on how the lack of passion, personal initiative, is hindering the fulfillment of people's destinies. Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 4, easy to read version, it says, "But there are some things that you cannot be sure of. You must take a chance. If you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds. If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops."
Now, the mindset of a man, the mindset of a woman, is a critical factor in how far such a person will go in the race of life and destiny. Now, talking about mindset, the mindset is defined as a mental attitude or inclination. It's also defined as a fixed state of mind. Your mindset controls your thoughts. Your thoughts influence your actions. Your actions determine the results you get in different realms of life. Putting that together, it implies that your mindset determines the results you get in the process of time and life. Your mindset is a critical factor in how far you will go in your journey of progress in life.
It can limit how far you go. Yes, it can limit how far you go. It can also enhance and propel how far you will go. Having the right mindset on different issues can take you very far in life. And having the wrong mindset on same issues can hinder and has continued to hinder many people from going as far as they could have gone in life. If you want to build something great, you go work for it instead of hoping for a miracle, an absolute miracle where there is no human effort, there is no human initiative, and whatever you are dreaming of is expected to just happen all by itself.
Says, "The salvation of this nation will happen when we roll up our sleeves and get to work all the way from the top to the very grassroots." Now, are certain divine promises and revelations that people have had that eventually, in the course of their lifetime, never came to pass. And some of those cases were due to some reasons. But one of those reasons is what we want to quickly identify so we can also avoid making that great mistake that many believers often make. And that has to do with the need for personal initiative.
Now, millions of Christians never see their dreams and destinies become a reality because they are just expecting such dreams and destinies to become a reality. They are just waiting for it to become a reality with very great expectation. They don't realize that revelations by dreams or prophecies reveal what is supposed to happen, what is supposed to happen, and not necessarily what is bound to happen. I've shared this many times with those on the irreversible will of God that from our very, very comprehensive study and research, we observed that majority of future events, including revelations of things that should happen in the future, come with different degrees of probability. A lot of them, even up to 99%, but they are not absolutely certain. Something can still go wrong at the last minute to avoid it from happening. Only very few things carry the irreversible confirmation of God. And when that is done, then nothing can stop that thing from happening. But those such cases are rare. And from our understanding, constitute about five percent of the totality of what the Lord has programmed should happen.
So, most people don't realize that revelations, whether dreams, by prophecy, or any other channel of divine revelation, reveal what is supposed to happen, what is supposed to happen, and not necessarily that it is bound to happen. So, there are certain steps you would need to take for it to happen. Certain steps would need to be taken at a point in time for that thing to happen. So, it is up to you. However, up to you to do what is necessary to make it happen. David was destined to be king of Israel. However, it took personal initiative. The personal initiative of David was key, was key to the first major breakthrough in his life. And that shot him into national prominence instantly. And what was that? When David decided on his own to take up Goliath on behalf of the nation of Israel. There is nowhere you read in scripture, before or after, that God commanded David to go forward and confront Goliath.
There are so many other instances where God deliberately inspired, instructed, directed his vessels, his chosen instruments, to go forward and fight certain battles. But there are some instances where God says, "No, we will hold on. And there is a plan in place. But within that plan, it's going to take the personal initiative of the chosen instruments." So, if you have a some aspect of your destiny that is dependent on you taking a personal initiative at a point in time, that aspect of your destiny will be on hold from manifestation, even when the time has come, until you take that personal initiative and do the needful. I pray that as you listen to this message, the spirit of the Lord will open your eyes. I pray that the Lord will show you what you ought to do now in different realms of your life, in agreement with God's purpose for your life, in the name of Jesus. This, you know, is the same challenge that certain people have. And people qualify them as daydreamers. This is the same challenge that people have. And people qualify them, classify them as fantasizers. So, because every year, daydreamers will imagine, they would desire, and expect far better things to happen that new year without making adequate effort to attain it. Without making adequate effort to attain it, they will expect, they will imagine, they will desire great things to happen in a new year without doing all that is necessary to make it happen. They will be expecting a big vision to come to pass without taking those big steps, those big steps that are capable of making such a great vision, a big vision, become a reality. Some will have a huge sum of money to raise within a specific time, sometimes within a year, for purpose later in the year. Yet, they would not take realistic steps to acquire or save such an amount of money ahead of that time.
The project of the Tower of Babel carries a lot of lessons we should learn from. The only thing that was wrong with that project was the fact that the objective itself was contrary to the revealed will of God for that same time and season. However, certain things that happen within that project are lessons we should learn from in life and use expediently. In Genesis chapter 11, verse 4 to 11, Genesis 11:4-11, we read about the story of the power of the Tower of Babel. Now, what are those things we should note? These people moved beyond just having a big dream or a great project in mind. Most people have a big dream. Most people have a revelation of a great destiny. Most people have a big project, a great project in mind. This was the same, this was the starting point of the Tower of Babel.
But their own did not stop there. They didn't sit down and wait for God to build a tower for them. They didn't sit down and expect a miracle to just happen. And that great dream, that great project they had conceptualized, visualizing their minds, would now manifest suddenly in the physical. No. The last thing they did was that they came up with a realistic strategy to attain the goal. They came up with a realistic strategy. Many strategies could have come into play in the process of discussion. But eventually, some were found not to be realistic, especially given their peculiar terrain and circumstances. So, eventually, they found out a realistic strategy. The next thing was that they were ready to pay the price required to attain such a big goal. They were ready to pay the price. So, so many people had to be moved from what they had been doing. They had other things they were doing normally. And these people, these workers, these officers, had to be removed from what they were doing and diverted to execute this project. They were moved to focus on this project. A lot of resources had to be gathered. A lot of resources to achieve this kind of project. They were ready to pay the price. What was the next thing? They were taking action. They were taking action towards turning their goal to reality. If we ask ourselves today, are we currently taking any action to see a new Nigeria that is free from the major challenges that we are so pained off? Are we taking any action today? Like that man said in that article, there is a place for prayer. There is a place for fasting. There is a place for repentance. Those are, you know, they are all components of prayer and intercession. But after you have prayed, there must be action. But what normally happens is that after a lot of Christians have prayed, they start waiting for God. They are, they start waiting for God to carry out the action. Sometimes, depending on the circumstance, it will take man taking action, then God will intervene and assist such men to succeed in the action they are taking.
Whatever action you will need to take now for certain aspects of your destiny to manifest in the physical, may the spirit of God inspire you. Can the Lord hear your amen? They were taking action. The reason why the Tower of Babel actually moved from drawings, so to say, at the very beginning, and then it turned, they went to the stage of foundation, and they successfully built the foundation, and then they started raising it up, and it was growing higher and higher, was because they were taking action consistently towards turning that great dream, that, you know, big project they had conceptualized, into physical manifestation. They were taking action. There are some big things you are expecting to happen this year. Are you already taking action? Are you already taking action? So nobody calls you a daydreamer at the end of the year. So nobody calls you a fantasizer. Because many even have dreamt of something bigger than you are currently dreaming of, but they never took action. All some do is that they pray, they fast. And after fasting and prayer, they are waiting for God to just come down and do what man can still do.
When Jesus was going to raise Lazarus back to life, in John chapter 11, there was a big stone that was used to cover the entrance to the tomb. And before he performed that miracle, which was a divine, the supernatural aspect of what needed to be done, there was still room in that scripture for the divine intervention, the miracle that was going to happen that day. There was still a part of it that will be fulfilled by man and fulfilled by human effort, by human strength. And so Jesus, the same Jesus who was going to perform the miracle, he could have called on an angel to remove that big stone. But he didn't. We read from the scriptures that the Lord Jesus told the people around, "Remove the stone. Remove the stone." And he waited. The supernatural part of what was supposed to happen could not be done by any of those people. Jesus was the one, through the anointing of God upon him, to perform that supernatural part of it. But he gave them an instruction, "Remove the stone." And until they removed the stone, what he was going to do supernaturally was not done.
So, there are challenges. When there is something we are supposed to do by a personal initiative, we are supposed to do by human effort, after which God will now intervene. He will not crown our effort with success by releasing his supernatural power and grace to make that thing successful, to make whatever was supposed to happen, happen. But that whole story will begin with us humanly doing something in the physical, taking action. It's time for someone listening to me to take action. Take so that what God said concerning your family can come to pass. Can somebody say amen? Take action so that that great vision you have had can move from that realm of vision to physical reality, to a testimony that we all will rejoice over. Take action so that all we have continued to hear about a new Nigeria, a better Nigeria, will become a physical reality. Take action. And until we take action, God will not move. And sometimes, you will be surprised how God will move, at the magnitude of the move of God, if only you would use your initiative and first of all take action. Many times, so many things look impossible until it is done.
When they came up to Esther, through the uncle Mordecai, "Please, Esther, use your position. God, it's not by proof, it's by providence that you happen to be the queen at a time like this. Your people are, you know, facing a severe threat to their existence. This, so your being queen at this time could have been orchestrated by God. Please, Esther, use your position to influence things to save your people from the conspiracy against them." And initially, you know, she tried to look at, you know, the usual protocols in the, in the villa, and she was going to back out. And then the uncle gave her counsel. "So, if you choose to be quiet, to be silent at a time like this, your preference for God's people shall come. But now, it will come through another channel. May we never be replaced. May you never be replaced. Whatever God has destined you to do, at the last minute, may God not have to use someone else to perform that role. May you never be replaced in playing a role in your glorious destiny, in the name of Jesus." So, thank God that Esther eventually rose to the challenge. And it looked like, you see, it was a great risk. Ordinarily, if she took that step by approaching the king on the only day she had no appointment, she was not invited, according to the law, she would be executed, even as the queen. So, certain things to happen in life, it will involve risk. But sometimes, you have to weigh what is at stake. You have to weigh what needs to be achieved compared to the risk involved. It is still better to pursue, pursue the actualization of that goal.
And so, Esther began with a two-way strategy. One was spiritual, and followed with action. So, Esther said the word, "Please tell the people to pray and fast along with me. Three days. Three days, no food, no water for three days." But it was not going to stop there. We have done the same thing like Esther many times. But the only challenge is that we stop at prayer and fasting. The action that you follow, the bold step, the bold step that should follow that risky move that must also be made after prayer and fasting, is not made most of the time. So, after prayer and fasting, we are just expecting some angels to come down. We're expecting God to just do the miraculous. The spiritual power of God will just manifest, and what needs to be, you know, done will just happen. And we, you know, we begin to have all kinds of imaginations in our mind of how the divine intervention will happen without taking action. It's time to take action. It's time to take action.