TOPIC: THINGS YOU CAN GAIN FROM IMITATING FATHERS

OIL ON MY HEAD

Ecclesiastes 9:8 says

“Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.”

Psalm 133 says

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

In this session, I want to point out the distinguishing marks of the leadership God puts a man under for destiny moulding.  God will mould you for the destiny He has prepared for you by puting you under a leadership that:

1.       Has what you lack but need in life.

There is a vast difference between your needs and your wants in destiny.  Your wants are things that affect your circumstances BUT your needs are what affects your destination in life.

2.       Has gone to where you are going

Like Caleb and Joshua.  They know the road to where you want to go.

3.       Has walked or is walking on what is troubling you in life.  Mark. 4:35.  “And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side.”

4.       Has an answer to the questions agitating your heart.

5.       What is strange to you is common to them.

I Corinthians 10:13.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Carry the spirit that you need to fulfill your destiny.  Look at Moses and the seventy elders of Israel. Number 11:25 says “And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.” The same children of Israel that ran from Goliath under Saul became giant killers under David’s giant killer spirit (1 Samuel 30).

6.       Has the missing jigsaw puzzle of your vision. It was Moses that supplied the purpose to the skill and talent of Bezaleel. It was Jesus that gave meaning to the tomb of Joseph Arimethea.

7.       Has conquered the enemy you will still face. It makes a lot of difference who is disciplining you for destiny.

8.       Know the STEPS you need to take and the STOPS also. It is as important to your success to know the STEPS to take as well as the STOPS; without the stops you will go into error.

9.       Know the enemies you must KILL if your throne will be established. Read (1 Kings. 2:1-10).

Here David was not teaching Solomon revenge, on the contrary, he was showing him the forces that made his own throne unstable. Many young people today would fare better if they had elders or leaders who will be honest enough to tell them the forces that made them stumble so they can slay those forces on time.

Imagine a father who lived in debts being honest enough to tell his son to be merciless and kill indiscipline or a mother who raised her kids alone as of divorce being honest to tell her daughter to kill arrogance and forces that destroy marriage. That is what David was telling Solomon here. We need leaders who know the true enemies of our futures in us and around us so we can slay them before they slay us!

10.   Has developed the faith that will finish your assignment. Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey them that have rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

The body of Christ needs more fathers and leaders with follow-able faith and not follow-able dress-sense

11.   Has the commanding assignment/vision that contains or influences your own.

Acts 7: 46-47 says

“Who found favour before God, and desire to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house.”

12.   Has the supernatural file to sharpen your dull axe. Ecclesiastes 10:15 says “The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.” Not only to sharpen you when you are dull, they also have eyes to see the missing ax head and ears to hear the hollow sound of wood on wood. In 2Kings 6:1-10 when the ax head fell, the young men could have been pretending by hitting the trees with ordinary handle, but godly leaders know when you are not on course spiritually and they can help you retrieve your lost ax head.

13.   Your meeting them brings ORDER, MEANING to your life. They bring PACE, FOCUS AND DRIVE to our spiritual engine. They introduce you to the processing of God for your life.

14.   Have the strength and depth to correct you for excellence. (HEB. 12:5-12).

15.   Many times would start what you will finish.

16.   Most of the time are conquerors in the field you are to be more than a conqueror. They remove the mystery from the key issues of life for you.

17.   Know you in your purpose not just in your problem. Most times majority of the people will only know and define you in your problem but key leaders in your life will only know and define you in your problem but key leaders in your life will know you in your purpose and see through all the problems to the purpose inside.

18.   Create the atmosphere to turn you into what you are to be. 1 Sam. 22:1-4. Look at what all those men became under David’s anointed headship. They were the same people who couldn’t confront Goliath under Saul’s leadership.

19.   Have the LIFE you need not the TITLE you are looking for. 2Samuel 5:1-3 (Read please)

Note that David was the real leader with no title. But he had the real life and experience. Today, many young men lose their destiny because they go after the prominent and not the real. They go after big titles but not real life. Remember, what moves God is very different from what moves men.

There are possessions money can buy and possessions money cannot buy. While we are looking for possession money can buy we must not lose the possession money cannot buy Real leaders give us possession money CANNOT buy.

20.   Contain in their vessels the substance you need for your own vessel.

21.   They are FOLLOWERS of Christ, the First and Last. They have followed Christ to the place that they are now allowed to REPRESENT Him. They have been so tempered in their followership of Christ that they won’t allow you or anyone to make them a replacement for Christ.

WHAT CAN YOU GAIN FROM IMITATING FATHERS

2 Timothy 3:10-11

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

2Kings 2:1-15 says

 Correct spiritual leadership drops something supernatural on your head and life. In this study, I  will like to discuss some of the things that biblical imitation and followership can  bring to your life. Although it is not an exhaustive list, spiritual fathers can give you the following:

1.       Their Spirit

2 Kings 2:15 says

And when the sons of prophet who were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

In fact Elisha got a DOUBLE PORTION of the spirit of Elijah. Anyone who follows correctly qualifies themselves to a share in the spirit in their leader  to fall on their lives. Can you imagine doing your medical practice with the spirit of your pastor? Can you imagine a business man doing business with the double portion of the spirit of faith resting on his destiny father?

2.       Their Faith

Hebrews 13:7 (Read please)

When you come in to a ministry or a man of God, you must know what to follow. You are to follow the faith not the fashion of the man of God. That faith that God invested in the original calling on the ministry is to be dispersed into the spirits of each person called to that ministry as they hear the man minister the words God gave him weekly. Romans 10:17 says “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

It is this faith that each members use to drive their own lives and assignment. When people don’t follow properly in the kingdom they are cheating themselves. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS THE WISDOM OF FOLLOWERSHIP. You can only follow, you don’t know tomorrow. Only God knows tomorrow. And God walks in your life today preparing you for tomorrow’s challenges and demands.

3.       Their Mistakes

There are two CRUCIBLES in which wisdom is formed. One is when we learn from our own mistakes. We call this EXPERIENCE. The other is when we learn from the mistakes of others. We call this WISDOM! The difference between the two is,   in our own experience we pay for the lessons ourselves. In the other, another person has paid for the lesson and we just get the lesson free through our followership.
Leaders, through their mistakes give us valuables lessons that we don’t have to pay for in our lives. But to get the wisdom that comes from a father’s mistakes you have to practice the sort of intimacy that will make them open that area of their lives to us.

4.       Their Testimonies

Psalms 78:1-8 (Please read)

The testimonies of fathers help to cement our faith and expectancy in God. If He did it for them, He will not fail us. Read Psalms 44:1-3

5.       Their Wounds

Galatians 6:17

The wounds of a leader make them believable. They are not angels but human being who have fought and got scars to show for it. The wounds of a leader tell us nothing is wrong with us when we carry pain on the road. The Bible calls us overcomers not draft dodgers. Fathers show us how to overcome.

6.       Their Trophies

1 Samuel 17:51-54

David carried the head of Goliath for future reference.  The trophies of True leaders and fathers tell us that:

        I.            Our giants can die.

      II.            Our mountains can be scaled.

    III.            Our valley can be exalted.

    IV.            Our problems can be solved.

As you go through life you will soon have a collection of trophies too.

    7.        Their Memoirs/Journals

One of the greatest blessings a father can give a follower is to share with them the record of their:

                                I.            Walk with God.

                              II.            Journey through life.

                            III.            Experiences in life.

In 2 Timothy 4:13, Paul told Timothy to bring the parchments, the books that he left at Troas. These were his archives. They were his jottings, memoirs and journals.

     8.       Their Experiences

This is the documentation of what they learnt from their own mistakes. It is one thing to make mistakes, but it is another thing to learn from their mistakes. You need to follow not a man who has never made mistakes or one who has not learnt from his mistakes, but one who has learnt positive lessons from his mistakes.

   9.         Their Wisdom

This is the documentation of what they have learnt from the mistakes of others. Wisdom is also the documentation of what they have learnt by instructions of God in their lives.

10.          Their Purpose in Life

2 Timothy 3:10-12 (Please read)

This list is a list of what to look out for in the life of one you are thinking of following. These are actually a list of virtues to follow in a leader’s life.

Go over this list again and see how much of these you have been following in a leader’s life.

HOW TO IMITATE PROFITABLY

STEP 1

Establish a link with the one you want to follow. Let Go9d guide you. Don’t force yourself on him or her. Allow them to open their heart to you. Remember you are the one that needs them not vice versa.

STEP 2

Sow their words into your heart. The words of a father must be treated specially and different from that of an instructor. Treasure every moment you have to drink from their well of wisdom. Separate them in your estimation from others. They are your divine link to the bank of wisdom in heaven. Get their materials and soak them into your life.

STEP3

Sow your seeds into their life and ministry. Find out what they like and enjoy and sow it to them.

Do your research very well. Your gifts are not requested for but do your diligence to sow accordingly and properly. Don’t be a thief around them. Be a giver to them also.

STEP 4

Be present when they are functioning in their field of expertise or calling.

Be alert to the things that make them special. That is what you are around them to learn. Be it decision making, hearing from God, faith, etc

STEP 5

Ask them questions if it is possible. But don’t go around them displaying your intelligence. You must know when to be quiet and listen and when to talk. Many people miss it here: they are consumed with their own intelligence and they get a mentor to close up instead of opening up to them. Don’t commit this grievous mistake.

STEP 6

Don’t be frivolous with them. Don’t go beyond the space they allow you. Carry yourself with an air of respect, respectability and sensitivity around them. Be humble with out being inferior. Be free without being intrusive.

STEP 7

You must pass the test of friendship with them (John 15:13-15). What is this test? You must first prove yourself a servant to them not a slave. Carry an air of servanthood around.

Look for ways to serve them. Let them lift you to the level of friendship, don’t invite yourself there. Even if a friend of theirs introduces you, maintain your quiet. Let them determine the next move.

Be careful not to close a door that could lead to your greatness. Even if “the gifts of a man makes room for him and brings him before great men”. It is the sensitivity character and behavior that will keep you there.

STEP 8

Maintain a proper POSITION and POSTURE around them. You must know that where you are giving orders as a leader is different from where you are to receive instructions.

Posture can affect the level of flow that you get from them.

DANGERS OF HAVING NO ONE TO IMITATE IN THE BEGINNING STAGES OF YOUR LIFE OR DESTINY

This is not an exhaustive list but it will suffice to give anyone serious about fulfilling destiny some food for thought.

   i.         You’ll make too many costly mistakes early in life.

 ii.         You’ll commit avoidable errors.

iii.         You don’t have a history to fall back on for motivation and caution.

iv.         You can do too many things by trial and error which calls to question your leadership quality before your own followers

 v.         You can endanger those who are following you by the glaring lapses in your life which they will take as their own standard.

vi.         Discouragement easily comes when you don’t know that what you are going through now others have gone through it before you. You easily fall for the lie of the devil that your case is unique.

Pls read  I Peter 5:10-13, I Cor 10:13

ACQUIRING TRUE WEALTH

WEALTH ABIDES IN THE HEART

Luke 15:12-14

12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.  And he divided unto them his living.

13. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

The prodigal son fell for the deception of the pseudo-wealth he had gathered from his father.  Real wealth is not what you have in the bank or the buildings you have built; real wealth is what is in your heart.  Pseudo wealth has the tendency of deceiving people.  It’s one of the warnings God gave us in the church, don’t let pseudo wealth make you fail the test of pride because the more things are increasing in your heart, the safer for God to do more and give you more in your hand.  If there’s nothing substantial in your heart and the things in your hands are increasing, it will destroy you.  People like this permit success to separate them from God.  The premature departure of the prodigal son from his father’s covering is one of the symptoms of pseudo-wealth.   The elder brother had as much property as the prodigal but he stayed with the father.  Stay close to voices of reason and wisdom in your life, never disconnect.  Absalom departed from David’s counsel, Gehazi departed from Elisha’s counsel and their end was nothing to be desired in the next generation.

The prodigal son had no plans for the future, no savings, no investments, and he went to a far country; this is false autonomy when you’ve not learnt to do things well under authority and you claim autonomy.   Such an individual will say “I can stand on my own.”  Ask yourself if it was God’s direction for you to start something of your own now, or is it the season for somebody ahead of you to cushion your mistakes so that you can learn under him and you would have also learned something that money cannot buy.  This is because the person under whom you’re learning will be paying for your mistakes.  When you eventually become autonomous, remember him.  He may be your elder brother who brought you under his wings in his shop and he’s training you how to do business, when you lost N150,000 he didn’t cut off your head because you’re of the same father and mother, he cushioned the pain and he paid for your mistakes.  There are some lessons in life that you will learn at great cost, don’t repeat them again.

I remember a young man whose wife made his life miserable and tough because she refused to work under anybody; her classmate who went to work at the bank ended up as a bank manager.  She was very cocky and her husband was struggling as a pastor.  Beware of pride; it always goes before a fall.  Some people move into false autonomy not because they are trained but because they are proud and don’t want to serve under anybody!  There are some people who can teach you the critical lessons of your calling, career and trade.  Some people got their wealth and success in an ungodly manner, such people will teach you how to die in sin but there are some other men who can teach you the legal way of succeeding in your business and you can learn from them.  Stay under them, stay under somebody.  Let somebody show you how to do something, learn it and learn it well.

Be sincere to ask yourself why am I moving into autonomy?  Some pastors have started their own ministries based on the evil of false autonomy without learning the critical details of their calling.  God may have anointed you to start something later in your life but you need to learn the critical lessons somewhere.  I regularly ask people “What are you learning?”  Mummy and I go to some places and when we left, she asks “Why didn’t you talk there, since you known more on the same subject than the people there?”  I would answer saying “      I wanted to know what they know.”  Most people are only interested in what they want to say, not what others want to say.  I decided years ago to do more listening than talking.  I’ve never seen anybody being arrested for keeping quiet.

Over the years, media people have asked me to grant interviews but I have said “I’ve never done it and I don’t want to do it.”  Television stations ask “Do you have anything to say sir?”  I say “I don’t have anything to say, if I do, I will say it on Sunday.  Don’t build your life on the comment of people who don’t know you.  In the far country, no one knew the prodigal son and they assumed he was a success, but he had disconnected from the voice of reason and wisdom in his life.  The people in the far country thought he was a success because he came with material things but had nothing substantial in his heart.  Remember: It’s what’s in your heart that will keep what’s in your hand.  If your heart is empty, your purse will soon follow suit.  Money flowed away from this boy because there was nothing in his heart that could preserve what was in his hand.  He had no father, no counsel, no caution, no control, he had no positive company and he espoused a wrong lifestyle.

Luke 15:13

13.  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Let your heart be filled with value, kingdom insights, concepts, instructions and solutions to problems.  Just keep stocking your heart and the material things for your hand will come.  Take time to assess yourself on how rich you are in your heart.  Don’t marry a man because he has a car, marry him because he knows where he’s going.  There are things that should be in your heart, that’s different from the things in your hand.

LEARN THE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST

Many years ago, there was a pastor who would borrow money to buy expensive clothes in order to appear impressive while his colleagues were investing their time and energy in preaching all over the country, organizing programmes, writing books, sweating and pulling the ropes of establishing their ministries.  Years after, they have cut different stories for the next generation of believers and ministers.  Today, they are pressing on to do all that God has asked them to do, but the other man has lost his church and everything he had because while he was buying clothes with borrowed money, others were stocking their hearts with the things that matter for ministry and things that will matter in the end.

One day the Holy Spirit ministered to my heart that “What you are doing today will matter on that day.”  There is no doubt that you have a God-given destiny but the question is, are you making daily deposits in the bank of that destiny?  Start minding and giving attention to the things that will matter in the end.  Stop trying to copy anybody or to impress people.

This prodigal son had only a spending habit and not a saving habit.  What is your habit today?  Is it a spending habit or a saving habit?  Do you have an investment habit?  He only bought consumables and liabilities.  He didn’t buy any assets; had he cultivated an investment habit under his father he could have bought all the land in that far away country.  He saw his father’s goods and he started spending it.  He didn’t learn the art of decision making from his father.  He didn’t watch the cautions of his father, neither did he watch the feelings and the perception of his father.

When you are around people who know how to do things, study them.  Study the right things about them.  Jesus told his disciples

John 14:17

17.  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

They still wanted him to show them the Holy Spirit, but He told them since you have been with me; you have observed the Holy Spirit in me in everything you saw me do.  The times he wanted to pray but moved further, it was the Holy Spirit, they didn’t go beyond the physical.  Some people come to church and all they look at is the moustache of the man of God but that is not why you came to church.  You came to follow the faith of the man of God, not his moustache.  Imbibe how the man of God makes his decisions.  When you see the father God has given you calling people forward to lay hands on  people, observe how he lays hands on some and how he by-passes others, and for some others he only touches with a finger.  You should take note of these and ask him questions when you have an opportunity.  Don’t seek to memorize the operations of the gifts of the Spirit in the life of a man of God, some young men have committed such errors as this.  I knew a young man came to preach for me some years ago and all he did was to repeat the same words and moves of the Spirit which he say Benny Hinn demonstrated in one of his meetings.

For money to flow towards you, don’t develop wrong habits.  Rather, develop the habits that earn you money, keep money, increase money, multiply money and perpetuate money.  If we are going to have generational wealth, you need to develop work ethics.  The prodigal son did not work in the faraway country; he only spent and lavished his money in a riotous way.  Ask yourself real questions: “If you lose your job today, can you sustain your current lifestyle?  If you cannot, then you need to change your current lifestyle immediately.  It is important for you to surround yourself with godly wisdom.  Make it difficult and impossible for folly to reign in your life because the Bible says “The fool will soon be separated from his wealth.”  There’s no fool who doesn’t lose money somewhere.

A man of God once preached a message on 15 Descriptions of a Bible fool  and a fellow minister who was having financial struggles called him later and said “My friend, I heard your message and I now know my problem, I was fulfilling thirteen out of the fifteen descriptions of a Bible fool you gave.”  Thus, nobody needed to tell him why he was having financial problem.  Surround yourself with godly wisdom, make it possible for you to be a fool.

JOIN YOURSELF TO FATHERS

Do everything to bring up the voice of the Holy Ghost in you.  Find a pastor (or father) that is worthy in your life who will tell you the truth.  Don’t just flock around people who tell you smooth things that you want to hear and not the right things that are critical to your God-given destiny and generational wealth (Isaiah 30:10).

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-4:1

16.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;

17.  That the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

The word of God is to do four things: teach, reprove, correct and instruct but many Christians only go for teaching.  If you hear general teachings but you don’t follow the instruction that you should love your wife, your marriage will be less than the ideal.

Surround yourself with friends who are powerful people and not stupid friends.  Success will give you two things; true enemies and false friends.  Success will not give you real friends!  When you really make it big, expect true enemies and false friends.  Don’t deceive yourself that when you’re successful, you’ll have friends.  You must surround yourself with real friends now when there is so string attached; friends with whom you will settle certain things together.  I read about a man of God who joined himself with four other men during their days in the Bible School and they vowed and cut a covenant that they will succeed and have global ministries; they encouraged one another, propel one another, eventually trhee of them made it big, these are the kind of friends you should have in your life right from the secondary school or the university, you must set your face like a flint.

I have young men in church presently who are forming themselves into groups to succeed in life by pulling resources together for investment purpose.  I told them, “I’ll serve as your pastor and patron or whatever else you want me to do, but don’t bring in among you any stranger who won’t listen to your pastor’s counsel.  I know you and understand the four of you and I’ll counsel you, but if you bring somebody that’s not under my pastoral authority and you don’t know someone who can call such a person to order, that person is not safe”.  You need friends who will propel you, push you and challenge you when you are erring; people who can stand with you in the place of prayer, people who will see your success as their success.

A friend in need is not always a friend indeed.  It is not when you are in sorrow that you know a true friend because your enemy can afford to sorrow with you.  A true friend is someone who is happy at your success as if it is his own.  A competitor parading as a friend will seek to mention his own exploits as well in the midst of your success.  Such a person does not enjoy your success.  In this light, you should ask yourself: how many friends do I really have?  Surround yourself with godly wisdom, and godly people who make it impossible for you to do foolish things.  Some people have done foolish things that made them lose everything; they lost blessings, favor and good things because real friends are walking away and keeping quiet around their advisers.

You will also need critics.  One of the powerful things you can enjoy is the criticism of critics.  A critic will show up whether you’re looking for one or not.  Don’t fight him, one of the reasons God puts Judas Iscariot in the camp of Jesus was that Judas was the best witness that Jesus was holy because if Jesus was sleeping around with Mary Magdalene, Judas would have mentioned it, so don’t be afraid.  When the critic is around you he will show your blind sides, since you can’t see the back of your head.  Critics will also help you to balance your life.  Caution:  Don’t stop the good work you are doing in order to listen to a critic.  A footballer at the front of goal will not respond to someone saying “That is not how to score a goal.”  Rather he will score the goal before answering the critic.  Tell him “Next time I will kick the ball better” but you should score your goal first of all.  It is important that you understand this because sometimes your friends may be afraid to say some things but your father should be able to talk.  You should go to places where people can ask you questions that make you uncomfortable to keep you on the right track.  You don’t need a pastor who is afraid of you.  For the past twenty-six years of pastoral ministry, I do not pastor anyone who I cannot discipline.  If I cannot discipline a man, I would rather resign or walk away from the thing.  I didn’t receive the call of God to destroy people.

WEALTH ABIDES IN THE HEART Luke 15:12-14

12. And the younger of them said to his father; Father, give me he portion f goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with rioutous living

14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

The prodigal son fell for the deception of the pseudo-wealth he had gathered from his father. Real wealth is not what you have in the bank or the buildings you have built, real wealth is what is in your heart. pseudo wealth has the tendency of deceiving people. It’s one of the warnings God gave us in the church, don’t let pseudo wealth make you fail the test of pride because the more things are increasing in your heart, the sfer for God to do more and give you more in your hand. If there’s nothing substantial in your heart and the things in your hands are increasing, it will destroy you. People like this permit success to separate them from God. The premature departure of the prodigal son from his father’s covering is one of the symptoms of pseudo-wealth. The elder brother had as much property as the prodigal but he stayed with the father, never disconnect. Absalom departed from David’s counsel, Gehazi departed from Elisha’s counsel and their end was nothing to be desired in the next generation.

The prodigal son had no plans for the future, no savings, no investments and he went to a far country; this is false autonomy when you’ve not learnt to do things well under authority and you claim autonomy. Such an individual will say “I can stand on my own”. Ask yourself if it is God’s direction for you to start something of your own now, or is it the season for somebody ahead of you to cushion your mistakes so that you can learn under him and you would have learnt something that money cannot buy. This is paying for your mistakes. When you eventually become autonomous, remember him.  He may be your elder brother who brought you under his wings in his shop and he’s training you how to do business, when you lost N150,000 he didn’t cut off your head because you’re of the same father and mother, he cushioned the pain and he paid for your mistakes.  There are some lessons in life hat you will learn at great cost, don’t repeat them again.

I remember a young man whose wife made his life miserable and tough because she refused to work under anybody; her classmate who went to work at the bank ended up as a bank manager.  She was very cocky and her husband was struggling as a pastor.  Beware of pride; it always goes before a fall.  Some people move into false autonomy not because they are trained but because they are proud and don’t want to serve under anybody!  Here are some people who can teach you the critical lessons of your calling, career and trade.  Some people got their wealth and success in an ungodly manner, such people will teach you how to die in sin but there are some other men who can teach you the legal way of succeeding in your business and you can learn from them.  Stay under them, stay under somebody.  Let somebody show you how to do something, learn it and learn it well.

Be sincere to ask yourself why am i moving into autonomy?  Some pastors have started their own ministries based on the evil of false autonomy without learning the critical details of their calling.  God ma have anointed you to start something later in your life but you need to learn the critical lessons somewhere.  I regularly ask people, “What are you learning?”  My wife and I go to some places and when we leave she asks, “Why didn’t you talk there, since you know more on the same subject than the people there?”  I would answer saying, “I wanted to know what they know”.  Most people are only interested in what they want to say, not what others want to say.  I decided years ago to do more listening than talking.  I’ve never seen anybody being arrested for keeping quiet. 

Over the years, media people have asked me to grant interviews but I have said, “I’ve never done it and I don’t want to do it”.  Television stations ask, “Do you have anything to say sir?”  I say “I don’t have anything to say, if I do, I will say it on Sunday. Don’t build your life on the comment of people who don’t know you.  In the far country, no one knew the prodigal son and they assumed he was a success, but he had disconnected from the voice of reason and wisdom in his life.  The people in the far country though he was a success because he came with material thing but had nothing substantial in his heart.  Remember: It’s what is in your heart that will keep what is in your hand.  If your heart is empty, your purse will soon follow suit.  Money flowed away from this boy because there was nothing in his heart that could preserve what was in his hand.  He had no father, no counsel, no caution, no control, he had no positive company and he espoused a wrong lifestyle.

Luke 15:13

13.  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together; and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Let your heart be filled with value, kingdom insights, concepts, instructions and solutions to problems.  Just keep stocking your heart and the material things for your hand will come.  Take time to assess yourself on how rich you are in your heart. Don’t marry a man because he has a car, marry him because he knows where he is going.  There are things that should be in your heart, that is different from the things in your hand.

ELIMINATE WASTAGE FROM YOUR LIFE

Look at the following words in the life of the prodigal son: “Waste”, “Spent all”, “Famine” and “Want”.  Eliminate all forms of wastage from your life.  Eschew riotous living, flee from the wrong company because the company you keep will either bring rot or discipline into your life.  Which company are you keeping?  What effect does your company have on your life and your finances?  The prodigal son spent all!  You should prepare against the days of famine.  I taught in our church on how to develop a savings habit and that your target should be to at least save up to six months of your current salary. If anything happens in the present salary, you can at least have the same lifestyle for six months before you find something else to do.

Most times when young men come to see my wife to share their intentions to get married, they see my wife with the details of how they arrived at their decisions, either by leading or revelations, for example a young man may say i saw a vision, i saw a tree that stood over there and one stood here and fell down, the other one fell down and became tow rivers and they met together and i saw myself standing at one end of the river and the lady stood at the other end.  I often ask, “Where is your passbook?”  And he begins to stutter.  A man who does not have a saving habit does not have discipline, spending everything shows you are a prodigal son in the making.  You can’t be spending everything and think you are going to succeed in marriage.  I don’t have much respect for a man who doesn’t have a savings account.  He says, I’ve not opened one”, even though he has been working for two years.  It’s not too late to open a savings account.  Encourage your children to start and develop it.  There are things that the prodigal son should have seen and learned in his father.

Some brothers came to report a colleague of their who was living a life that was larger than his real level.  Anytime his colleague wanted to but sachet water, he would buy bottled water.  He assumed his colleagues were envious of him, but the reality was that he didn’t have caution in his life and one of the brothers who reported him had is upbringing with elderly people and he was able to move into his personal house  before his wedding so the matter of envy was out of the questions.  You should be doing major things with your life and not frivolous things;  why should you be comfortable to rug another man’s house when you colleagues are laying blocks on their building site?  Although i speak like this, i am not a youth minister but i am sent to talk to destinies of people.  Calling people back to their God-given destiny and speak to the destiny of people until it breaks forth.  I am committed to raising serious people who will be chief men in their generation.

You must know who not to marry and who not to work for.  If you work for a prodigal boss, like this man, the company will go bankrupt and they will owe you so many months’ salary.  If you do business with a prodigal person as your partner, he will spend your money carelessly along with his own.  This is not the type of person you want to trust with your investments.  Surround yourself with wisdom; you cannot find any unserious man of God as my friend, my friends create an atmosphere of soberness in me.  There are things we cannot think of doing because of the opinions of one another.

The prodigal son had bad habits; you must understand that habits determine your destination and not your vision.  Good vision or revelation of your future must be backed up by good habits if you will end up in a good destination in life.