A life of Excellence

A life of excellence? Hm what does this entail I kept asking myself. I searched dictionaries to understand exactly what excellence is. Some of the definition I came across were; an outstanding feature, of the highest quality, exemplary performance; exceeding normal expectations of performance, performing well in excess of the norm; outperforming most.

I am still left with a sense of dis-satisfaction with these definitions. It all seems to be measuring a person’s performance to a set of human standard. Particularly as a Christian, should my performance or the quality I exhibit be to meet my fellow human being’s standard? For what? To feel a sense of achievement? To amass accolade from my fellow human being? To feel important? For whom? Myself?  To leave a legacy for my children?

I kept asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten me. As a Christian, we know that we are created for God’s pleasure. We did not create ourself but we are all created by God, who has a plan and purpose for us even before we came into this world. He gave us free will yes, but He expects us to willingly worship Him with all our heart, your soul and strength and obey His commandment, only then would we live in line with His plan and purpose for our lives.

As I ponder on this, I suddenly remember a book I read titled ‘A life well lived’ by Charles R. Swindon and everything fell into place. We can’t live a life of excellence without God. Our excellence is not from the work of our hands but through the gifts that God gave us when He created us and His grace upon our life. A life of excellence is a continuous process of living a life of complete obedience to God, a life of virtue & integrity, a life of servitude to our fellow human being, a life of humility, a life of demonstrable peace and bringing joy into people’s life. We might not be in a position of authority, have amassed material wealth or academic achievement. But a life that has profound positive impact in the life of all those that enters your life at different stages, not because of any material giving but through the content of our character. A life that influences others to give their life to Jesus Christ.

Charles R. Swindon asked God in one of the best/worst seasons of his life; ‘ What do you expect of me?’ He found his answer in Micah 6:8; ‘He has told you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you. but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.’  This encapsulates for me what a life of excellence entails;

v  Doing what is right, irrespective of the circumstances and challenges. This forms the core of integrity and a virtuous character. Even when you are perceived as ‘holier’ than thou, looked down upon and ridiculed, you know that God approves and rewards your faithfulness.

v  Loving and demonstrating kindness to all those that cross our path. Kindness requires us to empathise with others, show compassion, and have a forgiving heart. Cultivating a kind heart is a challenge, yet as Christians we are expected to love our neighbours as ourselves. No matter our cruel people treat us, we must not repay evil with evil.  we must remember that God will judge each person individually by your actions. We won’t be able to give excuses. Let God be the judge of other people. I learnt so much from King David. He always reports people to God. Our responsibility is to show love and kindness at all times

v  Walking humbly with God by submitting ourself completely to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to teach us and transform us inside out. We must be willing and ready to demonstrate humility in all areas of our lives. This requires us to see and treat others as better than ourself. We must learn to readily accept responsibility for our mistakes, never gloat when we are proved right, never demand our rights, accept constructive criticism, desire and learn to grow from our failures, listen more than be listened to and never respond to anger with anger.

All these might seem like a tall order but a life of excellence is a process which we must strive for continuously all the days of our life. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, when we demonstrate these three qualities not only would we bring pleasure to God, but our fellow brothers and sisters would see qualities of excellence in us. And we would then be truly ‘ the light of the world’ and ‘ the salt of the earth’.

By Adeola Akintoye
Copyright

The Heritage of the Servants of the Lord

The Heritage of the Servants of the Lord (Isaiah 54:17). The Holy Spirit guided me a couple of days ago to the aspect of prayer. Not so much about how to pray rather how to focus our prayers. I was reading John Eldridge’s book on ‘Walking with God’, a section where he was talking about not quitting when we pray and we don’t immediately get the answer to our prayers. I immediately sensed an insight from God that it is not about quitting per se but the effectiveness of our prayers. In James 5:15 we were told that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

The first aspect of prayer is being righteous, without which our prayers would not be effective. In James 4:3, we were told that we do not get answer to our prayers because we pray amiss. Yet when you read what Jesus said in John 16:24 that anything we ask for would be given us, it makes you wonder how come some prayers are not answered.

This morning, as I was woken up by the Holy Spirit to pray, I was led to Isaiah 53, which is one of the prophecies about Jesus Christ. It was a reminder for me on what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross and the assurances I have about my salvation, healing (all round not just physical), my justification and righteousness with God. I was also led to read the next chapter which also highlighted assurance of peace and victory. What really stump me is the sentence in the past verses ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD’, which made me remember what God was teaching me about prayer once again. We ask for things which are already ours rather than thanking God for them and claiming them by faith.

Heritage means inherit, what belongs to you already? Why should we ask for something that already belongs to us?  It’s like saying I’m not really sure (doubt) and we know that doubt is an antidote of faith and it is a sin. We should claim our heritage without any ounce of doubt. What did Jesus Christ said about the mustard seed, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain to move and it will.

There are many insights on praying effective prayers, but I want to focus on one important aspect in this article. We must pray focused and direct prayers. I hear and I have also been a culprit myself, when we pray and ask Jesus to be with us.  Does this mean Jesus is not with us and we need to ask Him to be with us? In Mathew 28:20, Jesus said… ‘And lo I will be with you always even to the end of the age’. This is assurance enough to thank God for His presence with us and affirm our faith that He is with us rather than asking Him to be with us when He already is.

Let’s focus on Isaiah 54 to illustrate some examples and starting from verse 10. God said, ‘for the mountains shall depart. And the hills be removed. But My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed’. God’s kindness will never depart from us, He has promised us peace. Jesus Christ said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid”.

In Isaiah 54 verse 13, God said all our children will be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of our children. In this current age, we surely need to appropriate this promise. Every day, we should claim this promise for our children, that God would teach our children, every where they are, whatever they are doing and in whatever peer pressure they find themselves. God said He will do it and His word is yea and amen

‘In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. whoever assembles against you shall fall for our sake’ (Isaiah 54: 14-15). Aren’t these wonderful assurances of victory over our enemies? God is our righteousness, not the works of our hand and no matter how much we try to obey God’s commandments. His righteousness is by grace which He is saying here we are established. God is saying oppression will be far from us, not our portion because we shall not fear. If you suffer from the Spirit of fear, you are giving in to the enemy. You need to take authority over the power of the enemy and claim this wonderful promise.

Terror shall not come near us because we are established in righteousness. Whoever assembles because of us shall fall. This is certain; claim it over the visible, invisible, current and future terrors. As a child of God, the enemy will want to harm you directly or indirectly. He will use anyone and everyone around us. But God is saying whoever assembles against us shall fall. They gather for nothing and their gathering is their downfall. It is written and so shall it be. In verse 17 of the same chapter God said ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me.” This is as certain as day rises and night time comes. God is not man that should lie.

It is a dangerous thing to direct evil plans or judgment against a child of God. We must be wise as children of God on knowing and correctly applying the word of God over every aspect of our lives. The enemy tries (note he tries and he can’t succeed unless we let him) to fool us, manipulate our prayer focus because he knows that as children of God we have the power and the heritage of God’s promises over us. And that when we pray in accordance with the will of God, it is a done deal.

When you read the account of Jesus’ temptation in Luke chapter 4:1-13, do you know that Jesus did not pray and ask God to come and fight the enemy, douse him with Holy Ghost fire! He kept saying “It is written….” We can apply this principle to all aspect of our prayer life. There are promises in the Word of God that covers all aspect of our lives. Children of God, these are our heritage. We should appropriate them by faith, thanking God for them. This demonstrates our faith. Asking for something that is already ours shows uncertainty, and uncertainty brings doubt which is the enemy of our faith. Jesus said if you ask without doubting you will receive.

Above all, these would only work for you if you have already given your life to Jesus Christ and you are living a holy life under the direction of the Holy Spirit. If you have not done so, I ask that you reconsider. You are missing out on so many wonderful promises of a victorious, joyful and peaceful life in this world and the promise of eternity with Christ.

If you would like to give your life to Jesus, just repeat this prayer; ‘Father I come to you as a sinner, I confess I am a sinner, I believe that Your Son Jesus Christ came into the world and died for my sins. I ask that from this moment forward you come into my life and be my Lord and Saviour. Where you lead I will follow. Direct my paths from henceforth and help me to grow in you all the days of my life. Amen’

If you prayed this prayer, I encourage you to go to a bible teaching church as directed by the Holy Spirit and continue to pray for God to help you to grow spiritually. I would like to pray for you so write to me adeola@we-can-leadershipinstitute.com

SHALOM