Daily Devotionals

In the beginning, after God created heavens and the earth. God created man in his very own image. Within creation, God gave humans a special responsibility to cultivate, protect, and use wisely. We have the ability to create and innovate in such a way that the utility of everything God created is increased. When you look around and consider everything humans have created. You will find a pattern of increasing the productivity of creation. Your creative talent will not just empower you to produce more results. You are increasing the range of what’s possible within your domain.

It is important that you know that God created humans with a special role. God gave the gift of intelligence to mankind, and this empowers us to increase the utility of everything that is unintelligent around us. God made the unintelligent things in creation to be under the command of the things that are intelligent. He made it this way, so that you can administer your intelligence, and make things better. It is up to you. You have to determine what God wants, and steer your world towards it. Your world awaits your creative contributions. That is the only way people can unlock their potential.

You do not have to think deeply before you realize that digital platforms enable humans to explore their creativity. It boosts our productivity in this way. Your smartphone can be a tool for maximising your utility. Humans possess the magic and source of creativity, you are not an exception. You have to consider how you are increasing the utility of everything around you. The furniture industry increases the utility of the trees God created. The energy industry harnesses the things God made, and transforms their energy into a form that humans can use. Without humans, creation will never reach its full potential.

One of the most well-known stories about the biblical King David is the story of his victory over Goliath. A young David defeated Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, in battle. David went on to become his country’s next king. One of the lesser-known stories is that King David went on to train soldiers capable of defeating giants. Apart from the original Goliath, 2 Samuel 21:15-22 describes how King David’s trained warriors defeated four other giants. King David secured his legacy by seeing to the growth and development of his “destiny” company. A watchman must be conscious about this dimension of the mission.

A popular proverb of African origin says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others”. David’s victory over Goliath was celebrated, but it would have been meaningless without the next generation of warriors to carry on the legacy. A commitment to assisting others in growing requires a significant investment of time, energy, and resources. Personal ambitions may have to be set aside for the sake of collective progress. A forest is much larger than a single tree. In the long run, a growing collective will accomplish more than a single superstar.

If you’re not sure whether you should invest in the growth and development of others, consider the long term. Thinking in decades will help you avoid many future problems. If you do not help others now, it will have a negative impact on your own work in ten years. A true spouse must be willing to invest in their significant other’s growth and development. The primary reason marriages fail is that the two parties do not grow together. If you want to have a long-term relationship with your spouse, make sure you both grow together. Read books together. Discuss what you are reading and thinking with them. There are people in your life right now with whom you should grow. You can be useful to each other in the long run if you grow together.

Every believer should grow beyond simply professing faith in God and accept the yoke of discipleship. You have such faith in God that you are willing to devote yourself to his work. Every believer is a steward and a watchman. You are to keep an eye on your world and help steer it in the direction that God desires. You must understand that the abilities you possess have been bestowed upon you by God. There must be an awareness of this stewardship. And, as a faithful steward, you must seek out opportunities to serve.

You are a steward; look for ways to serve. Your presence in a community should be a vehicle for God’s grace to illuminate that community. You accomplish this by committing to using your gifts and talents for the greater good. A mental shift is required. Stop thinking of your spiritual gifting as personal property. And begin to consider it as something God has entrusted to you for the benefit of everyone in your world. How will your brilliance illuminate your world? How can your special gift inspire others to be more productive?

Your gifts and talents may not appear to be significant at this time. That, however, is not the point. God bestows grace on those who are willing to do the right thing. Seek out opportunities to serve without financial compensation. A chance to put your talent to good use for the glory of God and the benefit of humanity. That is how one should honor God. Luke 12:37-48 (ESV) says, “And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

You are never going to get anything done if you are ruled by your emotions. The watchman serious about their mission soon realizes this. You need an accurate picture of the world in your mind. This helps you think through issues and take actions. Emotions interfere with this. Some emotions are so intense that it has an effect on your mind and how you process events. If you have ever remembered an important event in a different way from how things happened. That was your emotions substituting feelings for facts. You will never get anything done if you don’t get your emotions in check.

Several sins can derail your mission to keep an eye on your world. The most powerful is when emotions shape your reality. It prevents you from receiving the feedback you require to correct your course. This is one of the reasons why passion projects fail. The visioneer is overly invested in the project. They will never see the flaws in their methods. And as long as they prioritize what they want to hear over what they need to hear. Things get worse and worse until failure becomes impossible. This can happen in any organisation.

Faith teachers have tried to teach us that true faith does not disregard facts and reality. Faith does not contradict reality. You’re not pretending you don’t have a problem. A person of faith does not ignore reality, but rather plots a course based on the current situation. The three main effects are reward, punishment, and stress. These are motivated by four emotions: joy, sadness, fear, and anger. You will not achieve real results if you crave rewards while avoiding punishment and stress. Do not put your need to feel happy above the need to know the truth. You should consider getting an independent, objective opinion about your work. Never get emotional with your mission.

A lot of people think that economic growth is not compatible with religiosity. This is not true. Religion is not just about your preferred vehicle to the afterlife. Religion is not just about worship and service of God or the supernatural. In a certain way, religion can also be thought about as Human beings’ relationship to that which they regard as absolute or deserving of special reverence. You need to understand that economic growth does not happen in a vacuum. It is shaped by the beliefs of the people. From the richest sheikhs of the Middle East, to the Americans. You must understand that they are bound to certain things they consider to be absolute. Those things shaped their culture and set them up for economic growth.

When you look back in time, the wealthiest and most powerful people-groups have always had some kind of religious identity. Culture drives economic growth. Religion, on the other hand, shapes culture. It appears that many billionaires of American origin claim to be agnostic or atheist. This obscures the fact that they were shaped by Christian homes. They grew up in an environment shaped by Christian values of love, hard work, integrity and selflessness. Religion has a role to play in economic growth. Religious leaders need to be conscious about the role they have to play in economic development.

Thinking of religion as a problem is deceptive. Eliminating religion will not result in the economic growth we seek. Your task is to investigate the religious beliefs that influence your world. Consider the values they promote as well. Basic Christian tenets of love, integrity, work ethic, service, and selflessness are proven drivers of economic advancement. If your brand of Christianity isn’t instilling these virtues in you. Then you are engaging in a corrupted form of Christianity. The task is not to eradicate religion. A more useful campaign would be to promote a religion that aids in the formation of a productive culture.

The Bible says, “If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth”. You are not getting any “rains” if your cloud is not full. This shows you the only way you are going to find the results, and the rewards you seek. Every single day, you are reaping the results of the labour done yesterday. While you could enjoy the fruit of the labours of others. You do not have a bright future if you refuse to labour in the present. Focus on your productivity, and make sure you show up every day. Doing the works of him that sent you. The results and the rewards will show up when your clouds are ready.

When you look closely at someone who becomes extremely successful overnight. You can be sure it was not a 12-hour night. It can take anywhere from three to five years to become an overnight success. To as much as twenty years. The global behemoth Amazon was founded in July 1994. Before you heard about them, the company had been around for ten years at the very least. Barack Obama’s political career began in 1997. He did not take office as President until 2009. For a very long time, the biggest names in religion, culture, economy, and governance have been loading up their clouds. They are enjoying the rain they laboured for yesterday.

Your cloud is yet to be full, that is why you are not enjoying any success. If you are creating value through your work. You will get paid. Kings will seek you out from afar. They will seek you out from all the four corners of the world, when your reputation reaches the four corners of the world. So, don’t worry about the money. You will get paid. You just have to think about how your work is having a positive effect on your local economy. When you find the connection, work hard on that mission. As you labour today in tears and hardship, you know with certainty that your future is secured with Christ.

The Parable of the Rich Fool is a clear warning against covetousness. It is meant to discourage you from devoting your life to the gathering and accumulation of wealth. You find the story at Luke 12:13-21. Verse 15 contains the key to understanding this parable. “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness,” says Luke 12:15, “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” The Bible is clear about this; God can (and is willing) to bless you with material possessions. But wealth is not the end, it is a means to an end. Jesus concludes his parable with a call for us to nurture a rich relationship with God.

After selling his company to Facebook for $1 billion, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom had this to say; “the biggest lesson coming into a fair amount of money pretty quickly, was that money itself is no end. It doesn’t make you happy”. Systrom’s mentor had warned him that money does not solve many of the problems that come with being human. “No matter where you are on the spectrum, you struggle in different ways,” Systrom recalled being told. Kevin Systrom’s experience is not unique. It is a common experience many people have. They come into money, and because they do not have that grounding in God. They are surprised to realise that they still struggle.

The biggest issue with the Rich Fool is that all he wanted to do was to make a showcase of his wealth. He was not conscious of the spiritual utility of his wealth. You must learn that your wealth, wisdom and powers are not meant for that. The will of God for your wealth, wisdom and power is known. It is not hiding in some glory cloud somewhere. You find it plain in the pages of the Bible. Jeremiah 9:23‭-‬24 (ESV) says, “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

The parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23), teaches us that the same seed can yield different results. The seeds that landed on the good soil did not produce the same thing. Some produced thirty times or sixty times what was sown. Others went as high as producing a hundred times what was sown. The most important factor of production here is the quality of the mind that received the seed. The same idea shared with a dozen people will produce a dozen results. Each result will be different and distinct from the rest. If you want superior results, you have to empower your mind.

Every human being possesses the ability to create. It is a divine deposit from God. But your ability to create is limited by the scope and structure of your mind. The wisdom and power of God is available in a spiritual sense to everyone that seeks it out. The difference in manifestation is due to the quality of the mind. Education and training are tools that aid in mind empowerment. You are only as powerful or as ineffective as the education you receive. The engineer and the doctor both have the same God. The difference in manifestation is due to each person’s education and training. Your spiritual gifts are channeled through the quality of your mind.

Your spiritual gifting cannot manifest beyond what your mind can permit. You cannot produce results beyond what your mind can understand. Someone will say, “Noah did not go to school or get a PhD in ship building technology, but he still built an ark. I can build anything I want with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit”. This mode of thought is nothing more than wishful thinking. It is the mindset responsible for so much mediocrity and lacklustre performance from believers. Miracles should not be oversimplified. You cannot create from a place of ignorance. Knowledge is the fuel for every creative and spiritual pursuit. He who has ears, let him hear.

Jesus said a lot of difficult things. He was never one to hold back. In Matthew 12:46-50, someone tells Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you”. “Here are my mother and my brothers,” Jesus replies as he extends his hand to his disciples. “For whoever does my heavenly Father’s will is my brother, sister, and mother”. Jesus is been explicit; your real family are the ones committed to the same mission as you have. Nothing is more important than the mission. This is a difficult thing you must learn to accept.

Family is important. Family is wonderful. Jesus does not abolish the family or the need for family. He is pointing out out that you need the right kind of family in order to succeed with your mission. As a watchman, you do well to recall that old proverb; “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. Jesus did not claim that there was no need for a brother, sister and parents. He rather revealed that he had found some people (his disciples), that fulfilled that role for him.

The Bible calls into question the value of family. As far as the Bible is concerned, God should be at the very center of your life. The place of God is non-negotiable. Family is not something you should serve with all of your heart. It does not belong at the center of your life. You need to look inwards. Is family where you focus the majority of your efforts? Is it your primary focus as you go about your day? Do you ever feel like your family obligations are competing with God’s will? If nurturing a family will result in a distraction from God. Then recall the words of Jesus. Allow those you consider family to be people who are connected with you in God’s work. They should support you in your mission.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”. Your heart determines the course of your life. Your heart, in a spiritual sense, is like a garden. With some careful cultivation, it will enable the life you want. If you leave it unattended, it will frustrate you. The life you want begins from the state of your heart. You cannot steer your world towards a better future if your heart’s not in agreement. When tough times come, you will need a resilient heart to keep going.

The parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23) illustrates this truth in a perfect way. Jesus describes a farmer who sows their seed without discrimination. Some seed falls on a path with no soil, some on rocky ground with little soil, some on thorny soil, and some on good soil. The seed is taken away in the first case; the seed fails to produce a crop in the second and third soils. However, when it falls on good soil, it grows and yields thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold. Is your heart restricting your success? Or are you on your way to massive success?

It is your duty to ensure your heart is in a condition to support your goals. The road to the wealthy place will take you through fire (Psalms 66:12). What will remain standing after you have been through the storms, floods, and fires of life? Will you stick to your mission even as everything around you devolves into chaos and madness? The solutions you seek are not difficult to find. You must exercise extreme caution when it comes to your heart. As instructed in Joshua 1:8, you must learn to read God’s word and meditate on it every day. Whatever happens, don’t let life’s worries and the allure of wealth divert you from your mission.