It Takes Diligence To Become Rich..............

^{I saw a statement recently on Facebook and it got me thinking. The statement says:}

^{“A large salary does not make a person rich. But it is a diligent hand that does ( Sunday Adelaja)”.}

^{It has taken deep root in me since I saw the statement.  Before now, we were thought to go to school and come out with good grades that will enable us secure good jobs.  Many people came out with good grades and got good jobs with “fat” salaries.  But years down the line, they have not changed and you can’t say they are rich or poor though they are earning huge salaries, driving good cars and living in big houses.}

^{Some people work in multinationals and blue chip companies but their lives are still in circles. They are just living their lives. When people see them outside, they may think that these guys are very rich. But to them, they know that they are not rich. Instead, some of them are indebted to banks, their companies and they have a lot of bills to foot at the end of his month.  One or two might have considered committing suicide as a result of the large debts they owe though they earn so much at the end of each month.}

^{What does it mean to be rich? I have asked myself that question several times. But the statement I saw changed my mindset completely. Having a large salary is not synonymous with being rich. It takes diligent hand to become rich.  It means that if I earn so much and I am not diligent, I can still lose what I have or earn monthly. It also means that it takes diligence to convert the large earnings into riches. If one is working, we see him as a diligent person. It takes discipline to wake up in the morning, go to work on time and carry out one's work. Also,  it takes diligence to go to work every day though; at times we don’t feel like going. A diligent person can multiply what he earns and not spend it carelessly on frivolities. Diligent people go for information that will help them grow and keep what what they have. It takes diligence to add value to what you have and upgrade yourself.}

^{Proverbs 10: 4 says,}

 ^“ Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth”.

The above scripture buttress what we have been saying. It takes diligence to bring wealth. Earning big salary does not make you a rich or wealthy man, but diligence brings you wealth. If one is working and earning

Also, Pro 12:27 says, “The slothful man does not catch his game or roast it once he kills it, but the diligent man gets precious possessions”.

A slothful (lazy) man can’t transform, process, add value, to the resources he has but a diligent man does it. 

Lastly, Pro 22:29 says, “29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” ( KJV).

Diligence will bring you to the places where your job can’t take you to ordinarily. It will bring you before wealthy people. They will look for your services no matter where you live and the background you came from. It will also make you stand out from your peers, though you are in the same kind of business and trade. Wilson Ileogben

 

Scriptures Of The Day: " Proverbs 10: 1 - 32".

Proverbs of Solomon

¹The proverbs of Solomon:

A wise son brings joy to his father,
    but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

² Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value,
    but righteousness delivers from death.

³ The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
    but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

⁴ Lazy hands make for poverty,
    but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁵ He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,
    but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

⁶ Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
    but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.^[a]

⁷ The name of the righteous is used in blessings,^[b]
    but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸ The wise in heart accept commands,
    but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

⁹ Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
    but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

¹⁰ Whoever winks maliciously causes grief,
    and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

¹¹ The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
    but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

¹² Hatred stirs up conflict,
    but love covers over all wrongs.

¹³ Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,
    but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.

¹⁴ The wise store up knowledge,
    but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

¹⁵ The wealth of the rich is their fortified city,
    but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

¹⁶ The wages of the righteous is life,
    but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

¹⁷ Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
    but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

¹⁸ Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips
    and spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹ Sin is not ended by multiplying words,
    but the prudent hold their tongues.

²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,
    but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

²¹ The lips of the righteous nourish many,
    but fools die for lack of sense.

²² The blessing of the Lord brings wealth,
    without painful toil for it.

²³ A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes,
    but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

²⁴ What the wicked dread will overtake them;
    what the righteous desire will be granted.

²⁵ When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone,
    but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶ As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
    so are sluggards to those who send them.

²⁷ The fear of the Lord adds length to life,
    but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸ The prospect of the righteous is joy,
    but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹ The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless,
    but it is the ruin of those who do evil.

³⁰ The righteous will never be uprooted,
    but the wicked will not remain in the land.

³¹ From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom,
    but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

³² The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,
    but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.



Famous Successful Failures.

Abraham Lincoln, received no more than 5 years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.

Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer of classical music, is widely regarded as one of history's supreme composers. His reputation has inspired - and in many cases intimidated - composers, musicians, and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music - a deaf man composing music, ironic isn't!

John Grisham's first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses. He went on writing and writing until he became best known as a novelist and author for his works of modern legal drama. The media has coined him as one of the best novel authors even alive in the 21st century.

Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade. However, that never stopped him to work harder! He strived and eventually became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in Britain and world history. In a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002 to identify the "100 Greatest Britons", participants voted Churchill as the most important of all.

Thomas Edison who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S patents to his name. When he was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. When he set out on his own, he tried more than 9,000 experiments before he created the first successful light bulb.

Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft, has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 21st century, by simplifying the way computer is being used. He happens to be the world's richest man for the last one decade. However, in the 70's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that, he started a software company (that was soon to become Microsoft) by purchasing the software technology from "someone" for only $US50 back then.

By acclamation, Michael Jordon is the greatest basketball player of all time. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire. Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. Before joining NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person, so ordinary that was cut from high school basketball team because of his "lack of skill".

Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Isaac was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became clueless in improving his grades.

Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed. That did not stop him from incorporating Ford Motor Company and being the first to apply assembly line manufacturing to the production of affordable automobiles in the world. He not only revolutionized industrial production in the United States and Europe, but also had such influence over the 20th century economy and society. His combination of mass production, high wages and low prices to consumers has initiated a management school known as "Fordism". He became one of the three most famous and richest men in the world during his time.

Walter Disney was American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney founded a production company. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney company, makes average revenue of US $30 billion annually. Disney started his own business from his home garage and his very first cartoon production went bankrupt. During his first press conference, a newspaper editor ridiculed Walt Disney because he had no good ideas in film production.

Akio Morita, founder of giant electric household products, Sony Corporation, first product was an electric rice cooker, only sold 100 cookers (because it burned rice rather than cooking). Today, Sony is generating US$66 billion in revenue and ranked as the world's 6th largest electronic and electrical company.

The Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original five-and-ten-cent stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth and soon grew to become one of the largest retail chains in the world in the 20th century. Before starting his own business, Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employer would not let him serve any customer because he concluded that Frank "didn't have enough common sense to serve the customers".

Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 and "for his services to Theoretical Physics". However, when Einstein was young, his parents thought he was mentally retarded. His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, "Einstein, you will never amount to anything!"

Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation during a job interview as "engineer" after World War Two. He continued to be jobless until his neighbors starting buying his "home-made scooters". Subsequently, he set out on his own to start his own company. Honda. Today, the Company has grown to become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the most profitable automakers - beating giant automaker such as GM and Chrysler. With a global network of 437 subsidiaries, Honda develops, manufactures, and markets a wide variety of products ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

Kingdom Song Of The Day: "Trading My Sorrow".

 

Women OF Faith

Trading My Sorrow

I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord
We say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Amen

I am pressed but not crushed
Persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I am blessed beyond the curse
For His promise will endure
That His joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

We say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
We say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
We say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Amen

 

"Trading My Sorrow "

 lyrics are property and copyright of

" WOMEN OF FAITH"

The Price of Quiet (By Kirk Franklin).

If you live anywhere on the planet earth, you would agree that this year has been LOUD.
And we’re only 5 months in! 
Sometimes, we have an uncontrollable array of sounds. Some good, some bad. The noise from Baltimore was both good and bad. The cries of the overlooked and disenfranchised exploded onto the streets and brought both attention and destruction to the national spotlight with a narrative too common over the last year.
Then the deaths of thousands in Nepal overwhelmed us to the point that most of us checked out unfortunately and had to be reminded that “oh yeah, that did happen.” Sad. The return of LOVE AND HIP HOP ATLANTA got the streets riled up again about our favorite urban soap stars fighting and setting up scenes to bust each other in love triangles lit and well directed for our voyeurism and escapism from our own normal lives stuck on repeat. THEN, there was THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY…..sorry, I fell asleep blogging… anyway.
It’s been loud. Then, add to all of that your kids getting ready for prom these next few weekends, planning for graduations, jobs that don’t have nothing to do with your major, and you’ve got a life that’s just been too busy for… you know who.
Do not think it strange, my friend, that the spiritual battle in the heavens has not predestined within it a plan to disengage you from your life source by filling your life with noise.
See, my people, the more the noise, the more distant the voice of the Father becomes. And never forget: God will never yell over your noisy life; He shouldn’t have to, because yelling is a sign of competition. We yell to compete with whatever noise is taking place during an attempt to create dialog. The creator of your very existence will never compete for the attention of that which He has created… for Himself.
Your confusion is a sign of lack of direction. You can’t hear God, so you don’t know where to go. If your days are stuffed with quick satisfactions and temporary getaways, loss will meet you every Monday morning. It’s up to you to choose what you benefit from the most. Like anything that has long term nutritional value, that pursuit will not always be exciting and sexy. Just necessary. If you’ve been out of the game for a while of making time with God, it must be INTENTIONAL UNTIL IT BECOMES NATURAL.
We often think that sitting at the breakfast table before the kids wake up for school with a cup of joe and your Max Lucado devotional is the only picture God can receive from a true seeker. It’s not the prettiness of the pursuit that makes God smile. It is the fight to knock down the noise, to say no to the after party or turn off the TV at night so you can get your lazy butt up a little earlier because your life is at stake if you don’t hear the Father speak. I know you look at some people and they make time with God look so polished and easy.. you’re not them! You’re a train wreck and so am I. Guess what?
SO ARE THEY.
And God loves the damaged parts as much as your pretty parts as long as you’re not the one trying to make them pretty. Between the noise of this world and the still voice of God, the world will always win… if it’s left up to the noise to decide. These past weeks are a reminder that the choice is up to you.
What will you eat and what will you turn away. God’s best is waiting for those who choose it.

By  Kirk Franklin

 

God Wants to Use You.(By Ann Voskamp).

 

Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother’s arms. She held a blunt torso. Her firstborn had no arms. No legs. No limbs. Just this one twisted flap of flesh, a foot flipper. She swaddled him close and prayed and he lived, thrived.  Doctors never knew why Nick was born without limbs. Today Nick combs his hair, brushes his teeth, jets around the world on speaking tours, and, astonishingly, even swims.
But it’s his words that jolt:   “. . . People are touched just by my smile. It’s important to be open to the way God wants to use us.”
Often we aren’t. We think we need to be someone else, somewhere else, for God to use us. We think we need a certain talent, a certain skill, a certain work for God to use us. We think it’s about the gifts in us and not the God in us. We forget that his indwelling is the only reason he can use us.
I watch Nick, a man with no biceps, no thighs, just teeth and a “‘flipper,” get himself a glass of water, type on his keyboard, share his hope story with thousands of hurting people. God uses people willing to minister not out of their strengths but out of real weakness. Isn’t that how God himself ministered to the world?
So it is with us. God gives each individual singular gifts, but those talents can only be poured out onto the world through the cracks in our lives. Why do we think we need to be in a better place, spiritually, geographically, financially, professionally, before God can use us? He can’t leak out of those who think they have it all together. It’s right now, out of our own brokenness in this place, that God seeps out of us and into the world.
It’s part of the divine paradox. God gives us gifts, and we offer our talents, the work we do with our hands, our minds, back to God.  This act is the very way God himself meets the needs of our community. Martin Luther writes, “God . . . hides himself in the ordinary social functions and stations of life, even the most humble. God himself is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.” In our everyday common work, doing that which we may not even recognize as a particular gift, we bring God to those we serve through our own humility and brokenness.
It may be an encouraging word to a colleague, a hearty handshake when meeting a neighbor. It may be a project well done at work, a warm tone of voice when answering the phone, a line of gratitude in an email.
It may be startlingly simple. Because human gifts ebb and flow and fail, and we really only have one true Gift to offer.  To offer in our work, our words, our daily ways, “Here, all I have to give is Christ.” He hides himself in all we do so that even the simple, the daily, is enough.
And the truth is, God may never choose to bestow that talent we yearn for, that valued position we jockey for. He may never choose to give even arms or legs. But isn’t that the point? God has a plan and it’s his, not ours. We may be very receptive to God using us in the ways we imagine, but are we open to the way God wants to use us? He has a unique and distinctive vision for each of us. And it involves using us today, exactly as we are, where we are, doing what we do. For if we can’t serve God in this day, in this work, in this brokenness, when will we?
I watch Nick maneuver his wheelchair down a sidewalk. The last I see of him, he’s smiling. Turning towards my husband, I murmur lingering angst. “Do you think he ever gets depressed?”
My husband’s quiet words echo long, “I’d think it’d be most depressing for him to see all of us who’ve been given much and don’t use it.”
I have arms. I have legs. I’m broken. I’m in this place with these people. I have Christ. It’s important to be open to the way God wants to use you. It could be as simple, as wonderful, as smiling.  It could begin now.

 By Ann Voskamp

The Loneliness of Transition

 
It’s been about six or seven months now since we said to each other, “Hey, let’s keep in touch!” I’m probably equally as much to blame, but I often wonder what happened to the phone. Is it broken? Did they take a vow of phone-silence? I barely even see them on Facebook anymore. Did they lose Internet service too?
One thing I never expected about going through transitions in my life is how lonely it can be.
I often feel like the Israelites just after the Exodus these days. I wander through the desert without a place to call home.
For me it started about a year and a half ago. My wife and I had questioned if we were in the right church for about three years before we finally left. It wasn’t a bad leaving. We still believe in the ministry of that church, and we left on good terms. It just wasn’t the right place of ministry for us.
But not being there on Sunday mornings may have caused people to forget about us. The phone stopped ringing as much as it once had.
Then, just about seven months ago, I was let go from my job of thirteen years. During the first day or two after that, messages and phone calls were passing at record pace. People wanted to know how things were going and expressed a strong desire to keep in touch with the utmost sincerity.
But just like with our church transition, within a few days the phone stopped ringing, and hasn’t rung since.
And once again, I am alone.
Part of me wonders how deep and sincere those relationships really were if they have so easily faded away. But I also blame myself for not being more intentional in reaching out. If these major transitions in my life recently have taught me anything, it’s that I can’t rely on someone else to help me feel connected. It’s something that I need to own and make happen.
I continue to navigate through the wilderness as I settle into new places of work and worship. Gradually, I’m forming relationships with new business partners and have been attending some small groups in the new church we’re attending now. We’re even planning to lead a small group in our home.
This time, I’m being intentional about making that extra call to see how things are going or dropping a note on a friend’s Facebook wall, because those relationships don’t just happen. Relationships develop because people invest in each other.
Things are slowly getting back to normal for us. I can see the Promised Land from here, and I’m excited to grow some new roots.
Have you ever felt alone through a transition in your life? If so, how did you connect with people and overcome that feeling?
Culled From : www.highcalling.com

ScripturesOf The Day: "Genesis 1:1-31".

The Beginning

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  

² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  

⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  

⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”  

⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 

¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.  

¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  

¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,  

¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.  

¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.  

¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,  

¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.  ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”  

²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  

²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”  
²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  

²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  

³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.