An evening with Fela Durotoye

Early in October 2016 I spent the day with my day one girl, Francesca. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with someone who not only gets it, she gets me completely. She’s gorgeous in and out, and is one of the realest people I know. But this post is not about her, it was about a ‘meeting’ we went to.

We went as a group to see Fela Durotoye and it was one of the best evenings out I’ve had in a long time! Anyone who knows or has interacted closely with Fela Durotoye knows that he’s such a profound and prolific speaker. And when you add that to the fact that he’s a Christian and has the wisdom of God flowing through him, any/every interaction is one that’s sure to be a blessing.

And so it was, that we spent the evening with his beautiful family. One of the first things I said to myself after spending a few minutes was I would work very hard to raise children that would bring God, us, and their societies joy. Pure joy.

When we eventually got to chatting with Mr Durotoye, I started taking notes, and I’ve reproduced them as is, simply because I stumbled on them recently and I was so blessed all over again I wanted to share. Most of the talk was centred around relationships, marriage (in the 21st century), and pleasing God.

Ready?

• Love (in addition to the many definitions that exist) – genuine desire and pursuit of the best well-being for another person. How do you measure love? Sacrifice
• Honour – Recognition of the glory of God in another (to the maximum). How do you measure honour? Adoration

The onus of admiration doesn’t lie on the woman but in the man… he must be admirable.

You can decide to love a person, even in spite of themselves. But you cannot honour them in spite of themselves.

How do we build a generation of admirable men? How do we prepare men that women will honour?

Proverbs 12: 4 – A prudent wife is the crown of her husband. It is the man who bejewels his crown.

There are stats to show that the economic, social, and psychological values of a nation are tied to the family unit.

And then we moved away from family, love, and relationships into nation-building.

Any generation must leave three things for the next’

1. Values
2. Environment (that allows the values to thrive)
3. A good name  (that opens doors of opportunity for the values to thrive)

If we’re going to build Nigeria into a desirable place to be and live in, we must fix the next generation of marriages.

The following are very key to passing on our values to the next generation

A. Transcend bias (religious, cultural, etc)

B. Show personal benefit

C. Be communicable (Messaging must be consistent)

D. Demonstrable

How could the devil who was described as perfect have pride in him? He discovered he was perfect, and his focus became in himself. That’s when he decided to ascend to the place where God was. It became about ‘self’, about ‘me’.

The mentality of ‘other centric’ – leadership… ‘self-centric’ – rulership

If you don’t frame and know your values, ou will acquire values as you go, and they could be positive or negative.

Every generation will have to explain why they ‘didn’t’ or ‘how they ‘did’ – which of them will we be?

Finally, Mr Fela talked about the tripartite, triangular relationship between vision/values, a road map, and people/projects, and how a mastery of all three will ensure you never have unfinished projects.

And then it was time to go home, because good things come to an end. Like this post. 🙂

 

 

 

How to become an element of change on earth

I attended church on Sunday the 8th of November 2015, and just as church today (in January 2016) is ending, I decided I wanted to share that word with you.

What church do I attend? HolyHill Church, which is on Lobito Crescent, Wuse 2. I love my church, and believe it is the place where God waters and feeds my soul. I love the worship sessions the focus on prayer, the commitment to the poor, and the informal, yet direct line to God.

Pastor Sunday taught on the title of this post, how to become an element of change on earth. Below are my notes literally copied and pasted, and I hope it blesses you like it blessed me.

1. My thoughts.

I’m the one who determines when my morning season comes. Regardless of Gods calendar for my life, if I am not willing and obedient I will not eat the good of the land.

There are certain things that come into my hand that I know are not mine. I must become attuned to the voice of God and ask whether the thing in my hand is seed or bread.

2. My dreams.

The dreams of God seek to establish His will upon the earth. Any dream that doesn’t factor in my community or helping people around me is an ambitious dream, not Gods kind of dream.

3. My words.

What am I saying to and about myself?

John 6:63 My words are spirits, they create my experience, my future, my world. Any areas of my life where I’m currently experiencing darkness just needs the Word of God for light to be shone there.

As a child of God I should speak the promise not the problem.

What’s within me dictates to my environment, reason why I should be particularly careful what I allow into myself.

4. My faith.

Until I come to a place of faith, there won’t be a performance of the things God has promised. Hebrews 11:1,2. Faith should be my lifestyle by default. I need to doubt my doubts, send faith to open the door when fear knocks. Faith is essential for reproducing the supernatural in the natural. Hebrews 10:38.

1 Tim 2:12

*When the devil comes to trouble me, if I stand on the word, he will leave because he is not omnipresent and has other people to trouble.

Jude 1:3

It is not over till I win. This is the only game where the referee is on my side and won’t blow the whistle till I win! Hallelujah! Hebrews 11: 6.

Faith doesn’t always produces instantly; it’s not always ‘name it and claim it. Sometimes it takes a process, for instance the Hebrew boys thrown in the lion’s den. Sometimes our faith is tested, and we must remain hooked/fixed on God the entire time.

I have the DNA of greatness, long as I don’t lose my faith; regardless of where I am, what people do to me, that DNA will reproduce. So quit fighting people when they wrong/cheat me, not only will my faith reproduce, I place vengeance in the hands of God. Think Isaac and the wells he was building till he came to his Rehoboth.

When things are going rough, ask God what He is teaching, how best to remain under His wings, and grace to understand the times and seasons and also to align myself with His will.

May avoid amplify these words in our hearts and cause it to do us good. Amen!

Joyce Meyer and TD Jakes in one evening? Boom!

Have you noticed that whenever you say you want to do something, it suddenly seems like everything aligns just to make sure you don’t meet the goals you’ve made? Shame on you devil, nothing can steal my joy, or stop me from getting to the end of January with all things I’ve agreed with God that I’ll do!

Anyway, so I waited on the Lord yesterday, and I decided that part of filling myself with the Word included watching sermons on TV. So, an hour to 6pm (and the end for the day), I found a channel showing a message by Bishop TD Jakes! Whoop! He taught on ‘There’s Nothing As Powerful As A Changed Mind”, I took notes, and they’re below.

From Hebrews 12:10 – 14, here are some ways to change our minds…

*Don’t refuse to be healed – I can’t allow my brokenness/pain/struggles stop me from getting to my destiny. I need to ‘let it be healed’. Ever thought about why Jesus asked the man who had been by the pool for 38 years “would thou be made whole”? That’s because, almighty as He is, God cannot heal us without our will!

Sometimes we create sicknesses so we have excuses for our weaknesses or failures; so we say we drink/smoke because we were raised by alcoholics/chimneys, etc.

*Vs 14 Follow peace with all men. Avoid putting my energies into negative ventures.

*Vs 15. Sins of the spirit/heart like racism, envy, bitterness, the sins people cannot see. Judas Iscariot must have been in every service Jesus held, yet he still plotted Jesus capture and downfall. Learn that not everyone who is at the right place has the right attitude.

There are three areas of my life we must budget for sooner or later – power, money, and sex (our bodies). If we don’t make the right budgets on these three, we will end up buying the things we want, and begging for the things we don’t need.

Just as I was getting done, I saw Joyce Meyer was up next, and so I told myself, two for the price of one! She taught on ‘Focus On The Positive Things In Life’ and my notes are below!

Quit worrying, learn how to focus on the positive things in life and not on moaning and sadness. We need to do our responsibilities, and then cast our cares on the Lord. And move on.

It is perfectly ok to enjoy my life while I wait on the Lord to take care of the problems I have tabled before him. Ephesians 6:13 says to “stand, after I have done all”.

Hebrews 12:2. Don’t be distracted, keep your eyes on the Lord! Nothing should be cool/hot/enticing enough to take enough to take your eyes off Him. Amen? Amen!

Learn to celebrate. Give yourself a break because no one will give it to you.

Romans 12:21

*Whatever God has will always be better than whatever the devil is offering. John 10:10. Galatians 5:16

Instead of focusing on trying to quit sin, focus on doing right and living each day according to God’s word. That’s a lot easier, and takes the focus off your sins, and on the Lord! Luke 15: 11 – 18.

The Prodigal Son mirrors new christians in our ‘give me, do for me’ attitude. You know you have achieved a level of maturity when you start to say to the Lord, ‘make me’. That’s in vs 18! Are you there in your walk with Him yet? Lord make us puhlease!

When the devil reminds me of my mistakes, I must thank him for reminding me of God’s graciousness for putting up with me! That should make him mad!

I saw Rod Parsley was up next and believe me I tried to watch this one, but I slept!

The End. 🙂