Tuesday, August 19, 2008

My thoughts...

There’s a scripture that tantalizes me and stretches my imagination. My eyes shine with delight whenever I try to plumb the depths of that scripture. It can be found in two places in the Bible; Isaiah 64:4 and 1 Corinthians 2:9. What now blows up my imagination is Ephesians 3:20.

Let’s look at them one by one. That scripture says eyes have not seen, ears have not heard and no man has ever thought of what God has prepared for those who love Him.

This means a lot to me and you. For me as a writer, it means God will inspire me to write books no one has ever written that will contain deeply challenging and life-changing ideas, insights and information yet unknown to man.

As a speaker, it means God will give me the tongue of the learned (Isaiah 50:4) and make me not just an orator, but also an oracle that will reveal His Infinite mind to my generation and generations to come.

A long time ago, God spoke to me when I was praying in the Spirit. Psalms 45:1 conveyed His thoughts of peace to me. Particularly the part that says...my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. There God gave me a powerful sense of direction and responsibility. God has confirmed this to me in my spirit many times.

There’s this drive in me to write, speak and minister as a problem solver to people, especially the younger generation. This is what warms up my blood and fires up my zeal. That’s the gospel truth. In a nutshell, I am designed to be voice that touches and transforms lives.

Recently, I was just feasting on 1 Corinthians 2:9 and I suddenly felt Solomon was wrong in a sense to have said there’s nothing new under the sun. God is the Ancient of Days, yet He’s new everyday. What God is about to do in my life and through my life will be entirely new to the world. A wonder-kid is what God has designed me to be.
I want to develop myself into a self-development expert who
· carries the tangible presence of God
· speaks not just as an orator, but also as an oracle (2 Peter 1:21)
· challenges people to develop themselves and go for greatness.
· demonstrates the message he sells
· writes deeply-challenging and life-changing books
· creates platforms to support the talented
· helps the helpless, the needy and the neglected

The cause and effect principle is very much applicable to the greatness dynamics. Then you will easily understand that there is a consequence for every choice you make. This is where values come in. Our values affect our choices. What sort of values governs your choices?
Many of you think I am a speaker, but I am not here to speak. I am here to sell vertex values to you. Always remember what I call the equation of excellence:
Vision + Vertex values = Greatness.
Do you know history tells us of some people who had the appellation “The Great” attached to their names? How many of you have heard of Alexander the Great? Born in 356 B.C, Alexander the Great conquered almost all the then known world at 33. He however died an untimely death because he violated one of the vertex values and was vanquished. It would baffle anyone that it was alcohol that abbreviated this man’s destiny.

With vertex values governing your choices in life, you’re on your way to becoming far greater than Alexander the Great. Then, history and posterity will attach the appellation “The Great” to your name. I hope you’re getting the picture. Greatness is the big picture, but vision and vertex values are the brushes (technical details) that you need to paint it.
William Shakespeare said “Some men are born great; some achieve greatness, while some have greatness conferred on them”. Now let us do some brainstorming about this great statement. Now, I want to hear your views. Let us break Shakespeare’s statement into three parts and look at each part closely.
· Some men are born great...privilege
· Some achieve greatness... passion
· Some have greatness conferred on them...providence
Now, I have reduced that statement to three memorable concepts namely: privilege, passion and providence.
· Privilege
This talks of a situation where you just had advantage of being born into a high-status family, where you had inherited wealth or adequate resources which accelerated your progress in life. This privilege gives you an edge over others in a sense. But, let us challenge this assumption. Does being born into high-status family guarantee greatness? Does history have anything to say about this?

History is a revealer. History is also a reliable judge. Find time to read history. He knows nothing that does not know history. Let us make issues clearer. If you had been born into the President’s family, would it have made any difference without your own choices coming out into play?
Get the picture: Greatness isn’t the birthright of people born into high-status families. My conviction is that

GREATNESS IS EARNED, NOT INHERITED.

· Passion
I cannot agree more with this with position. It takes passion to see visions of greatness and then follow on with persistence to pay the price. I love that verb “achieve”. Greatness is achieved, not free-of-charge. It reminds me of what Williams Jennings Bryan said: “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice, it is not a thing to be waited for, and it is a thing to be achieved”. In the same sense, greatness is a thing to be achieved.

GREATNESS IS EARNED.


· Providence
Here, I can imagine someone in his early twenties ensconced in a sofa watching a movie titled “Greatness on a Platter of Gold” and dreaming of becoming great in life without making any serious effort. Such thinking in itself is not just disgusting, it is also shocking. It is shocking that any right-thinking person can think that he or she would one day bump into greatness. Just imagine such a wishful thinker basking in euphoria and hoping for a stroke of luck.
It’s simply crazy to just keep waiting for greatness to be conferred on you by someone. Throw away such an idea, it won’t work. Greatness begins when you learn that -
GREATNESS IS EARNED, NOT JUST YEARNED FOR.

I want you to understand that greatness is earned by taking to the equation of excellence =
Vision + Vertex values = Greatness


Greatness begins with God
Greatness outside God isn’t really greatness, it is a farce.

Idowu Omisore, MRS= Motivation+Relationship+Self-development.

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