Daily Devotionals

Dreaming is when you allow your imagination to run riot. Without any regard for your skill or abilities. Creativity is when you have the skill, knowledge, and ability to act upon what you have imagined. You cannot create anything from the shadows of ignorance. From Proverbs 19:2, “Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.” When there is no knowledge in your soul, all you will have are desires, dreams and fantasy. Knowledge is the fuel for real creativity. If deep creativity is important to you. You must develop skill and expertise with deep domain knowledge.

Nikola Tesla, the great inventor, wrote in his published autobiography, “My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatsoever; the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything.”

We can see the productive environment Nikola Tesla created in his mind. A mind so powerful that he can imagine and test things in it. So he dreams up a device. He considers the materials required to make it. In his mind, he can test his assumptions and correct them. His soul was filled with knowledge. You must gain skill and expertise through in-depth domain knowledge. That is the only way you will be able to fully utilize your creative abilities. Creativity is a productive affair. You have to be ready to commit to knowledge acquisition. It might take you up to a decade to get your soul ready. Don’t rush the process. Your patience will be rewarded.

If you are serious about accomplishing great things, you must first accept the fact that you cannot do it alone. Across all of time and history, nothing significant has ever been achieved by a single person working alone. There is no precedent for that. It doesn’t matter how brilliant or gifted you are. You are not going to succeed alone. When you accept this fact, you will approach relationships with a different perspective. Relationships can frustrate you. They will demand your time and resources. But it is the most efficient use of your time. If you are serious about guiding your world to a better future.

The success of world changers throughout history has not been due to the brilliance of a single individual working alone. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) gives a hint about what’s possible when people come together. Early Jewish and Christian traditions reported that Nimrod led the development of that project. Moses worked with Aaron, Hur, Miriam and Joshua as his close team. Not counting the other leaders he had working with him. When you read stories about world changers, pay attention to their team and leaders. Any movement that impacts the world requires a “level 5” leader, and an army.

Every company, organization or mission will require a face. Someone that embodies the mission as an avatar of the spiritual ideal. But they never do it alone. Good people must learn and understand this. You will achieve more when you operate as part of a team. You should be ready to bury your personal ambitions in service of something bigger than yourself. You do not have to be the face of the mission. Accept the role that is available if you are serious about being the salt and light of the world. Whether as the mission’s commander or as a faceless army soldier. It should make no difference to you.

God wants us to be bold, loving, and sensible with his gifts. He does not want us to be timid about them. Nobody is without one or two areas of special talent. The issue is that these gifts have been buried for a long time. Never to come into the light. If you go deep and search within yourself. You will discover that you are exceptionally good at one or two things outside of your thoughtless and undisciplined life. This is the time to grow into your gifts. Your gift will make room for you, and bring you before great people. (Proverbs 18:16)

The Apostle Paul charged Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” that was in him (2 Timothy 1:6). God’s gift can lie dormant within a person. And you must accept the discipline required to maximize your abilities. Without structure and discipline, your talents are essentially useless. Your armor is preventing you from growing into your gifts. You have fears. You have reservations that keep you from pressing on the upward way. The mounting insecurities hold you back. You pretend you don’t care. But deep down, you do. Time to find the audacity to lead with your gifts. Cast away your fears. Leap forward with love and faith.

Your obsession should be around the greatest good you can do with your gifting and grace. It is time to show up. Show up every day, and with time you will be seen. Make a list of the most severe problems confronting your world. Then you can consider how your skills can improve the situation. Go big with your talent. No more dragging your feet. Clear your pathway and run as fast as you can. Simply begin working on project after project after project. Begin meeting new people and exploring new possibilities. You must begin doing deals after deals after deals. The time has come to develop your talent.

You are capable of doing great things, and you know it. The challenge is that you are not willing to do what needs to be done. Your mission will fail if you refuse to gather your strength. There are mountains ahead. You cannot get away from these challenges. Your failure is not due to lack of ability. But because you refused to grow a backbone. You have to find the strength and courage to do the things that must be done. Your greatest breakthrough awaits on the other side of the work you are avoiding. Your productivity is not at the level your destiny requires it to be.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV), “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” You will never amount to much if you refuse to give up your childish ways. The child just wants to have fun. The adult understands the full range of their responsibilities. Accepting maturity is not determined by your biological age. It is the result of a choice. Your decision to abandon your childish behavior. You must change and reinvent yourself to become the person your mission requires.

Sir Winston Churchill said it best, “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.” The needs of your world are calling you. You have an assignment to watch over your world and steer it towards where God wants. This is not going to happen if you continue to avoid the hard work. Prepare yourself for your mission. Qualify yourself for your assignment. Your finest hour awaits.

The headlines were harsh. As at December 2022, Elon Musk’s fortune is said to have dropped by more than $200 billion. The first person in history to suffer such a loss. In the midst of this, Sky News reported that Elon Musk emailed Tesla employees. He told them not to be bothered by the stock market’s craziness. Predicting that Tesla is expected to be the most valuable company on the planet in the long term. It is important to approach business development and economic impact as a marathon. You need to remember what truly matters. Your ability to create socioeconomic value through your everyday work.

The secret to success is patience. It may be tempting to try to achieve quick results through tactics, but it’s the long-term strategy that truly pays off. This is something that you learn the hard way. If you stick with something, even if it’s boring, you can outlast your competition. It takes time to achieve success. It can be frustrating to see your tactics fail at first, but they will eventually succeed. Tesla stock has dropped to its lowest level in more than two years. Investors are concerned about how much time Elon Musk devotes to Twitter management. However, as long as the company remains focused on providing value. You can be certain that they will recover.

The media loves to celebrate overnight successes, but it’s important to ignore that pressure. You should focus on creating something that will last for a long time. Don’t listen to critics who are only interested in the latest trends. Don’t let investors push you into tactics that may not be long-term. Instead, pay attention to your customers and stick to your vision. Building something for the long term takes time. This is the mindset with which Elon Musk is working. This is why he is unconcerned about Tesla’s market cap falling by nearly $900 billion since November 2021. He is unconcerned that the company has fallen out of the top ten most valuable companies. Everything will be fine in the long run.

You can be more than this, and you know it. There are no limits to your potential. The problem is, there is no motivation for you to lean towards your potential. You are not performing at your peak because you do not need to. There is nothing in your everyday life that demands it. But something deep within begs to be expressed. The higher calling is calling. It’s time to reinvent yourself as someone who understands who they need to be. You have to be clear about how you are holding your world back. And find the motivation to embrace the transformation required.

Gideon’s story is told in the Book of Judges. In his day, this fearful man had to reinvent himself as a Saviour and military commander. We meet Gideon while he is beating wheat in the winepress to hide it from their enemies. In the winepress, hiding out and hoping for salvation and deliverance from the oppressor. He got an answer to his prayers that day. But not in the manner he expected. Gideon, this imperfect servant. A man ruled by fear, receives clarity. He understands what he needs to become. He is told to “go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

How often have you wished for a Saviour to appear in your world? Someone who has the courage to mobilize the necessary resources and get things done. You recall great leaders from the past. “If only my country had an Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther,” you imagined. We, like Gideon, live in these old stories and long for a change. This should serve as a wake-up call. Stop wishing for changes in your world and start being that change. What does your world need you to become? Let your answer to that question give you the motivation to embrace your transformation. Reinvent yourself as the person you need to be.

What is your best answer to the question, “Who are you?” This is not the time for some religious or thoughtless answer. You want to be specific and as detailed as possible. You are a primary school teacher. Husband to your wife. Daddy (not father) to your children. Consider your friends. Consider your professional affiliations. Furthermore, consider your religious affiliations. The idea is to express and name everything that makes up your current identity. With that knowledge, you can now consider whether that identity can produce the future you desire. If the person you are right now, cannot produce the results you want. You must consider the question, “Who do you need to become?”

What areas of your life are sabotaging your mission? You have been tasked by God to steer your world towards a better future. But your identity is not in agreement with this assignment. You are not the right person for the job. You are not on the path to becoming the person who can get the job done. The good news is that you change. You can change your mind today, right now. And declare that old things have passed away. You can chart a new course for your life. The beautiful thing about the Christian faith is that it allows you to embrace transformation. You can become a new person.

Leaving your life’s outcome to “que sera sera” is a bad strategy. “Whatever will be, will be”, is not a biblical strategy. A watchman is expected to seek God’s will for their world. Then proceed with faith, knowledge, and virtue. It will take time to reinvent yourself. It takes a second or two to decide to go for it. However, it may take a year or two for the fruits of that decision to become apparent. Here is a decision prayer for you:

Dear father, my current identity is not helpful. I am not moving towards my goals. This personality does not reflect the best that heaven has to offer me. And so, I pray today (mention the date), that you will deliver me from this person I have become. I know that with love and patience. You will help me become the new person I desire to be. I need to become (mention features of the new person). AMEN.

You undervalue your ability to reinvent yourself. To begin again. It makes no difference what you failed at. It makes no difference where you failed. And it makes no difference how badly you failed. The only thing that matters is your ability to start over. If you are feeling stuck in any area of your life. You have the option of doing something about it. You must decide whether or not to restart. Never lose sight of your ability to restart your life. There is nothing you cannot walk away from. You make the decision to start on a clean slate. And you get started, as a new person.

From 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Do not handcuff yourself to the old. Take advantage of a new year, a new month or even a new week. Break up with the past and declare the new. Moses, the man of God, reinvented himself at least twice. From being a prince in the king’s palace in Egypt, Moses became a shepherd in the Midian wilderness. But Moses did not stay a shepherd. He reinvented himself again as the Man of God. Equipped to force the release of the children of Israel.

Take advantage of your connection to the divine life. And restart your life. Everyday is a chance to evaluate your life. Think about where it is headed. And decide you need to seek new things. If you are in a pit, the first step is to stop digging. This is not to suggest that you avoid any consequence of your previous actions. You should make amends as much as you can. And serve out any punishment. Once you are done, walk away a new person. With a clean slate. Who do you need to become? What do you need to become?

God created mankind in his own image. If the nature of God is love. It follows then that if we want to love, we must walk in truth. If you are not being true, you cannot love. You cannot love if you are not true to yourself. You cannot operate with God’s kind of love and tell a lie at the same time. Truth itself must be at the very base of love. Refuse the temptation to build a relationship on a lie. Emotions should never be the primary motivator. It has to be the truth, and only the truth.

George Washington Carver said, “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.” Carver here teaches us a relationship between love, truth and knowledge. I can know anything I want. I just need to operate in love. Love reveals the true nature of everything and everyone. Love will lead to truth.

Some of the most important work revolves around cultivating relationships. However, we must proceed without deception. As you build relationships with family members, coworkers and authority figures. Don’t embrace the comfort of lies. When we build on lies, we have a false sense of peace and security. While you are thinking you have peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon you. You suddenly lose all the relationships and goodwill you have. There is no peace and security outside of the truth. And the truth does not matter, if there is no love. If you commit to the truth. You will build sound, strong and stable relationships with people. God’s nature within us is love. You synchronize with the love in your heart when you try to operate in truth.

It’s such a beautiful thing to work with prophetic guidance. A prophecy is a prediction issued by a prophet. A person instilled with their prognostic powers by a divine being. These prophecies help believers understand how to best position themselves in the present. To take advantage of such prophecies. Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) reads, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint”. You have an infinite number of ideas and options at your disposal. A prophecy from heaven will help you restrain yourself within the prophecy’s possibilities. A good prophecy will shape your goals. You are not operating with prophetic insight if the prophecies that come your way cannot be translated into S.M.A.R.T. goals.

A genuine prophet speaks about things to come. Predictions in economics, religion or governance are intended to help people plan. When you have an idea about how things will play out. You are empowered to set superior goals. This highlights the flaws in many modern-day spiritual prophecies. They are unclear and thus ineffective. They lack the logic and common sense, practical application that biblical prophets possessed. Joseph foresaw seven years of famine and a way out. Jeremiah predicted the fall of Judah to Babylon and advised his King to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Elisha predicted a seven-year famine and gave the Shunammite woman specific instructions to follow.

Prophecies do not involve seeing exotic visions that have no relevance in everyday life. A prophecy from God will contain intelligence for the people the prophecy is meant for. You are not working with prophetic intelligence, if there are no obvious paths to take. Your prophecies are meaningless unless they are translated into superior goal setting. The big idea is that you have a clear idea of what is coming in the future. And you are able to work towards it. Joseph knew there was a famine coming up, and he positioned his country for it. They made a fortune off the famine. If you don’t know what’s coming up in your industry or how to position yourself for it. What good are your prophets and your own prophetic ability? What are the benefits of all the prophecies so far?