God's Favour

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. - Philippians 2:13

One day of favour with God is more than a hundred years of labour. This reminds me of men like Henry Ford, who with minimal education, became a great inventor of automobile. At one time in his life, they asked him what would happen to his wealth if all he had was taken from him. His reply was that within five (5) years, he would have as much wealth as he had. According to him, money is the mere appearance of wealth and not wealth for real wealth is the idea a man has. The greatest work is thinking for thinkers rule the world. The greatest wealth is the mental wealth or wealth of the mind. That reminds us of Thomas Edison, a boy who dropped from school because his godly mother could not endure the insult of his class mistress who daily referred to him as scrambled headed. He had one kind of fever that left him deaf in one of his ears which affected his ability to hear in the class properly. His mother bought several books for him and began to teach him at home. She could see what the teachers could not see. She saw a brilliant Thomas and not a dull son. He became the greatest scientist that has lived in the last century because of a mother who would not give up on a son rejected by society. Thomas set himself a goal to come up with one major invention every six (6) months and a minor invention every ten (10) days. He invented the electric bulb after many experiments, and at death, Americans put off their electricity for five (5) minutes in honour of a man who lightened the world. He had a thousand and ninety-two (1,092) United State patents and over two thousand (2000) foreign ones to his name.

Men of vision, men of purpose like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and many others deprived themselves of temporary pleasures so that this world can be better to live for the rest of us. There are lessons to learn from the lives of men who turned their miseries to mission and adversaries to advancement.

1. When you stop going, you start dying; Whatever has life grows, and change is the order of life. When you do not want to improve, it indicates that you do not have a sense of destiny. There is a race to run in life

2. Obstacles are steppingstones to greatness; See every obstacle as a friend for opportunities are often wrapped up in a garment of opposition.

3. God is not your tormentor; he is your mentor so take the lesson of life serious. God can use the most difficult situation to get you to where He plans for you. God sees the total picture of our lives, and he expects us to trust him for a glorious outcome.

4. Don't see hardship or trouble as proof that God does not want you to get to where He plans for you; You do not ascertain God's will by your trouble but by his will and nothing outside or in addition can be valid.

5. Have a sense of destiny; Never believe like Lot who separated from Abraham-the most relevant man on earth as far as God is concerned. Lot went after his sight to Sodom: a land destined to destruction because of their sinful lifestyle. The righteous Lot pitched his camp among the wicked because of ephemeral wealth.