He That Watereth

Always keep your focus on the fundamentals. For example, the economy is simply a reflection of the collective productivity of the people. Even if you try to manipulate data or present your situation more positively than it is, the core essence remains productivity. If the people are not willing to work, the economy never improves. Business isn’t just about endless meetings and talking up a storm. It is all about adding value to a company. When you fail to mentally connect value creation with wealth accumulation, your business suffers. It is not about prestigious offices or lofty titles. It all comes down to getting things done.

Ecclesiastes 10:16 (ESV) delivers a poignant warning: “Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!” This verse underscores the perils of leadership devoid of wisdom and diligence. When those in authority indulge in frivolous pursuits rather than attending to their responsibilities, the land suffers. It serves as a timeless reminder that effective leadership demands maturity, discernment, and a commitment to fulfilling duties over fleeting pleasures. Your job is to get clear on exactly how you are creating value in your own little corner. And ensure that you turn up every single day.

You can make a significant impact on your nation’s economy by understanding the core principles of wealth creation. Start with a clear focus, gradually enhance productivity, and stay attuned to your objectives. Wealth creation and prosperity do not occur as a result of a sudden, unexplainable inflow of money. The sustainable and proper way to create wealth is by increasing productivity. You must start small with what you have and work your way up. Remember Proverbs 14:23, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”

Slow to anger is a valuable characteristic, as confirmed by James 1:19-20 and Proverbs 15:18. Managing emotions and allowing the spirit to control them are critical. Emotions must be directed and subjected to the ways of the spirit. It takes intentionality to walk in the spirit, cultivating inner strength. Patience and emotional control are widely regarded as essential characteristics. You must take care of it and ensure that you have these fruits of the Spirit. It is a critical decision that will shape your thought patterns, interactions, and, ultimately, your destiny.

Consider two people in a difficult work environment. One reacts rashly, fueled by strong emotions, while the other responds calmly, drawing on inner strength as supplied by the Holy Spirit. The latter’s approach not only gains respect over time, but it also leads to constructive problem-solving. This demonstrates the power of a mind under control. This is one valuable lesson we can learn from the Bible. Understand that your emotions can overpower your mind, especially in tough times. What best prepares you for battle is not necessarily more knowledge or more intellect. Internal discipline and toughness are what make your mind stronger and more capable of controlling your emotions.

It’s worth noting that this strength isn’t acquired through mere knowledge absorption. One cannot become a skilled pianist by reading about playing the piano; similarly, the mastery of emotional control demands practical application. Every athlete understands that muscles are built not by reading about exercise routines but by putting them into action. In the same vein, strengthening emotional resilience involves deliberate practice, experiencing hardships, and emerging stronger through the process. Give up control of yourself to something more powerful than you, including all of your emotions. You will develop the inner fortitude necessary for a life of success over time.

You can either despise or admire Elon Musk, but ignoring him in 2023 will be difficult. When he claims that “nobody changed the world working 40 hours a week.” You can consider it and come to the conclusion, “yeah, that makes sense.” There are no major biblical or historical figures who have had such an impact who are not also described as workaholics. Nobody builds multigenerational wealth while working 40 hours per week. If you are serious about your mission and want to fulfill your mandate, a “normal working hours” approach to your work will not suffice.

You should read, think about, and reflect on the gospels. You will notice the work ethic, discipline, and no-nonsense approach that our Lord Jesus demonstrated during his earthly ministry. George Whitefield, the great revivalist once wrote, “Fear not your weak body; we are immortal till our work is done. Christ’s laborers must live by miracle; if not, I must not live at all; for God only knows what I daily endure. My continual vomitings almost kill me, and yet the pulpit is my cure, so that my friends begin to pity me less, and to leave off that ungrateful caution, ‘Spare thyself!'”

Nobody in business, ministry, or government is making the kind of impact you envision and doing “whatever they can, whenever they can.” Hebrews 6:12 warns us not to be lazy, but to seek to imitate those who have grasped divine promises. In 1 Timothy 4:15, the Apostle Paul exhorts his son in the faith to devote himself completely to the task at hand. You will not be able to accomplish anything if you continue to devote a few hours each week to your core spiritual mission. You must go all in.

It may appear that asking whether the cup is half empty or half full is a simple question, but it is a bit of a trick question. So, the answer is really dependent on how you look at it. It all comes down to perspective. What’s more, this concept applies to more than just cups of liquid. The questions we ask and, more importantly, the questions we choose to ignore shape our perspectives on life. These questions shape how we perceive the world around us. “What do you see?” God inquired of several prophets.

Your spiritual and creative abilities come from an infinite source. However, your ability to succeed is determined by your perspective. As well as the types of questions you can entertain. Peter needed to expand his perspective, and understand the time had come for Gentiles to be saved through Jesus Christ (Acts 10:9-16). Ezekiel pondered on the possibility of very dry bones to live again. Modern science began the day Isaac Newton asked,”What made that apple fall? And why does it always fall perpendicular to the ground?” God is all powerful, and anything is possible, but you have to ask the right questions.

The greatest shifts in society, innovations, and technologies always begin with asking the right questions. It is a helpful practice to think and meditate on specific issues. It is far more important to find out, and ask the right questions than to know the answers. No matter how wise you are, if you are asked the wrong question, your wisdom is meaningless. That is why it is good to spend more time searching for the right questions and questioning your questions until you find the right one. Finding the right questions leads to breakthrough ideas. It will improve your perspective.

There is a good chance you’ve heard the expression, “if you’ve never lied to a woman before, you don’t love her.” The notion that we may find ourselves in situations and circumstances in which we must lie to people we genuinely care about in order not to hurt their feelings. This should appal anyone who cares about righteousness and justice, and rightly so. Something is very wrong when we expect objective feedback from strangers and nothing but flattery from our friends. Nothing that has ever stood the test of time has ever been built on lies.

The Bible teaches that lying indicates a lack of love in a relationship (Romans 13: 8-10, Ephesians 4:25). You will never lie to someone you care about. There is a better reason to tell the truth for every good reason to lie. We often tell lies because we do not trust the other person to handle the truth. However, if you think about it, when the truth comes out, what hurts the most isn’t what happened, but the fact that a lie was used to cover it up. Your uncle wasn’t upset because you broke his favourite cup; he was upset because you lied and covered it up.

Not everyone wants to know the truth. They simply want a filter to apply to reality that will numb them to their folly. You must be wary of such people and act quickly to remove them from your inner circle. Proverbs 9:7‭-‬8 (ESV), “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” You are in a bad situation if your friends would rather lie to you than confront you with the truth.

When we delve into the biographies of accomplished individuals, a prevailing pattern gracefully unveils itself. It becomes clear that a significant aspect of success can be attributed to the grace of God, or what secular perspectives might call luck. The fact that, despite all of our efforts, strategic planning, and execution, the final outcome is beyond our control. Ecclesiastes 9:11 (ESV) says, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”

We don’t talk enough about the part of success that involves waiting. Getting things done in real life is nothing like it is portrayed in movies, where things happen fast. In the real world, you have to be patient. You must develop the necessary skills to achieve the desired results, and you must embrace the mindset and discipline required to move mountains. However, you must still wait for life to present you with an opportunity. Consider Abraham Lincoln’s words: “I will study and prepare myself, and someday my chance will come.”

So, don’t be anxious or angry because it appears that despite reading 500 pages a day and devoting yourself to your tasks, nothing is happening. You must trust the process, that your time and chance will come, and you will be ready to seize it. In the real world, it may take decades for the big ideas to come together, and you just have to keep going. Taking each day as it comes. That was Joseph’s story in ancient Egypt. That is Daniel’s story in King Nebuchadnezzar’s Court. It’s the story of everyone who has ever achieved anything. You prepare and then wait.

If you struggle everyday with negative thoughts, you are not alone. Psychologists estimate that we have 60,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day, with approximately 80% of those thoughts being negative or self-damaging. In fact, unless you actively seek to identify these negative thoughts, you may be unaware that they exist. The negativity is fueled by everything out there. The news is becoming increasingly depressing. Our minds are more likely to perceive the cup as half-empty and worsening. The solution is to strengthen the mind. According to Les Brown, you should train yourself to read 30 to 40 pages of something positive every day.

We are surrounded by negativity, distractions, and people who have given up on their dreams all the time. We can’t avoid them from morning to night. This is a reality of our lives. You can, however, protect yourself from it all. Your mission is to train yourself to read, think and meditate on something positive everyday. And, because nothing is more positive than God’s word, this is your cue to read the Holy Bible every day. There is no other way. You cannot stop the negativity that exists in the world, but you can prevent it from taking root in your mind.

Your mind is a garden; take care of it. While you cannot control every thought, you can direct where your mental energy is invested. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” says Isaiah 26:3 (ESV). 2 Corinthians 10:5 (ESV) says, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Nothing is more effective than the word of God in combating negativity, but it must be consumed in tangible quantities. Invest the time to consume 30 pages of Scripture everyday, it will help you flourish.

The bible says, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). It is not enough to want to do God’s work. To achieve set goals, one must be willing to study and work hard. Your starting point is less important than your commitment to learning and practicing. Commitment is required for growth. But how hard do you have to work? How much studying is required? On that point, we can draw wisdom from Warren Buffett.

Todd Combs, an investment lieutenant at Berkshire Hathaway, got great advice the first time he encountered his current boss, Warren Buffett, in 2000, the year he started his MBA at Columbia Business School. The Oracle of Omaha was speaking to Combs and 165 other students during an investing class. In response to a question about how to prepare for an investing career, Buffett told the students, “Read 500 pages like this every day,” while reaching toward a stack of manuals and papers. “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”

This is excellent advice for preparing for a career in leadership or functioning at higher levels of life. To become the successful entrepreneur, governor, or pastor of your dreams, you must read far more than you may believe. Todd Combs took the advice to heart. As he began his investing career, he read even more, sometimes hitting up to 1,000 pages a day. 500 pages per day could take up to 8 hours. However, this is a small price to pay for the impact God can make through you. You will be able to build capacity to watch over your world as your knowledge grows and compounds.

There is a lot of confusion and controversy about what Christians are allowed to do and what they should not even consider doing. There are many questions around what is acceptable in Christian homes. Is it permissible for a Christian to consume alcohol? What about smoking? Is it permissible for a Christian to have tattoos? Leviticus 19:28 does not forbid tattoos in the modern sense. It seems to be a warning against a pagan mourning practice. Using that verse to vilify tattoos is weird, considering that Leviticus 19:27 commands men to never shave their beards. If you vilify tattoos, you have to keep your beards too.

So, in any case, should a Christian get a tattoo? Stephen Curry, the multiple award-winning Basketball Player has multiple tattoos on his body. Stephen Curry may have been meditating on Isaiah 44:5, as his tattoos serve as a reminder to him that he is unique because he is devoted to God. He has tattoos of 1 Corinthians 13:8 and John 3:30 on his body. The letter A is inked on the basketball player’s left ring finger. This is due to the fact that he is not permitted to play with his ring, and he wanted to carry his marital vows with him even on the basketball court.

There is no distinction between things like money, tattoos, cars, houses, and alcohol. They all have the potential to be used for good or evil. Our Lord Jesus gave us only one commandment: LOVE. We are to love the Lord, our God, with all of our hearts. If you love God, you are free to do whatever you want. Your job as a watchman is to make sure you love God and are completely devoted to Him. Then we must raise others to help them grow in their love for God; that is all we have to do. The tattoos, smoking, drunkenness and gluttony will all take care of itself.

Your energy and resources flow in the direction of your attention at any given time. To get what you really want in life, you must have a clear goal with purpose and meaning. With this in place, you should now learn to focus your time and attention on the goal. Remember that you will never fulfill your mission if it is not something you give enough attention to. 1 Timothy 4:15 (AMP), “Practice and work hard on these things; be absorbed in them [completely occupied in your ministry], so that your progress will be evident to all.”

It is time to take a stand and commit to the notion that one must be completely absorbed in their mission. It should be treated as seriously as a full-time job. A full-time position appointment would require at least 40 hours per week. A part-time job may require around 20 hours per week. What are we to say about anyone who devotes less than 10 hours per week to their mission? The cares of this life, such as food, clothing, security, and social standing, may get in the way. However, consider this: how important is it to you to find and fulfill your life’s mission?

You can’t achieve great things on the side. The commitment to take daily action was one of many factors that contributed to the rapid growth of the early church in the book of Acts. Acts 2:46-47 (ESV), says, “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” You should not work on your core mission for less than 10 hours per week at the very least.