my life has been a revelation of interwoven synchronicities, it’s like a never ending loop of i knew it, i felt that, or i kinda perceived that but i couldn’t quite articulate it. everything has something to teach me – the instructions, the experiences, the results, the cards i’m dealt, the choices i make, the fixes, the straits, the good, the great, the bad and the ugly all happen to teach me something. things happens for me; creation is on my team; this revelation is hinged on a very intentionally crafted perspective and it’s really comforting.

i thought long and hard about how to title this reflection, i’ll probably still do that even as i proceed to elucidate my perspective; it could have been titled as “i talk to the holy spirit as i would my best friend”, and still be accurate because he’s literally my best friend- one i’ve never had. you see, i grew up in church and while this is no slight to my parents and our home church at the time, picture a beam balance with religion and relationship on each side, we hung pretty tightly to the religious end of the balance. i heard diverse doctrines and personal opinions taught as law but in all these, i had no personal experiences so i knew God by hearing – i heard about him, i knew about him but i never really knew him personally. there was a long list of do’s and don’ts but no real insight or understanding. i mean i get it in hindsight, in a bid to hedge against sliding into error, there was a silent but pervasive frown against expressing personal experiences in our walk with God and that was well, sincere but with many blindspots. 

 i served in church too and i did so diligently, i really enjoyed doing so but i did without a clear definition of the why, at that point, it was just the right thing to do and i did my bit before i left for school and as you can pretty much guess, i drifted- hard. i paint this picture intentionally because it’s important for you to understand where this reflection was birthed from. although i was never in total apathy when i left home, i still went to church, i still prayed – even if the chiefest part of that exercise was either asking for things or the expression of the need for a quick intervention and looking back now, the bulk of it was in ignorance. this drift was slow till it crystallized, mostly because there was no personal relationship and the underlying lack of understanding. freedom further established that gap because there was no obligation to do things religiously like i was erstwhile required to. no one made me pray or made it a point of duty to make me go to church, so the need for it dissipated until there was a need.

 consequently, he felt very far even while he was close and yeah, i definitely wasn’t in a good place but the good thing is i found my way back and when i did, i really did. now while i don’t frown at the structure of parents, guardians or spiritual heads enforcing the need to pray, partake in spiritual exercises and fellowship, in fact i think it’s a great moat, my point is that i truly believe that teaching and imparting understanding is a more excellent way. i believe that dwelling on the why, why we need to will always be superior to just drilling in the fact that we have to. empirical data backs this perspective, that it’s more effective when a person understands the why of a principle as opposed to just applying the principle. this is relevant in every realm of human endeavor and it can also be applied to systems and structures. for instance, a man who understands the wisdom in discipline will always outcompete the man who is just instructed in discipline if all other factors remain equal. replace discipline with any other proven principle and this statement still holds true. why? because understanding establishes consciousness.

 when i found my way back, i tried mechanically to sustain the relationship for a while and then i got baptized in the holy ghost and this was a watershed moment for me, not necessarily because of the tongues at first, but because of the ease that became available for intimacy and fellowship; i no longer had to do it by the strength of the flesh, there was a supply of help, i know that help to be grace now.  months later, i heard a preacher talk about how reading benny hinn’s book, “Good morning Holy Spirit” became a turning point in his walk with God.  i’m naturally very inquisitive, so i took it as a cue to read the book too and true to form, it radically adjusted my perspective, it gave me a revelation of who the person of the holy spirit was, it helped me conceptualize and contextualize the reality of the trinity and most importantly i saw a man express without holding back what a joy it was to have a relationship with God and i never want to recover from what that did to me. i honestly think everyone should read that book, because stumbling into truth does one of two things to you, it either affirms that you’re on the right path or it sounds the alarm that points out the need for an urgent detour and this is where my contemplation really begins. 

you see, where i come from and even now in society, talking about the holy spirit and a personal walk with him was almost esoteric. you either get it or you don’t, you were either in the club or you weren’t, and from the beginning it was not so. another perspective that birthed this reflection is my personality, i’ve never been one to have a lot of friends, acquaintances yes but even in those circles there was a few in the few. i enjoyed being alone, i’d rather be inside than outside, i like to listen more than i speak, and i’d rather observe the show than be the show and if i had to sell you on why, my big pitch would be wrapped around the fact that i get to hear my thoughts clearly. i can think, reflect, talk to myself and respond to those thoughts as they flow out of my lips, it’s like meditation but out loud. so for someone with a personality like mine, hungry for more spiritual realities while trying to conceptualize and understand the things i was experiencing, it was like striking gold when i read that book and that’s when my conversations with the spirit began. 

i’d ask him literally anything and wait for a response, some of these responses were immediate and for some i had to wait, then ask again; some explanations came in the same period that they were requested for and for others i had to build capacity first to even be able to grasp them when they eventually came but the beauty in all this was i’d found someone to run my thoughts by, and over time, a lot of assumptions got eliminated. i had a senior friend who knew all things and he’d found a very inquisitive friend in me, a genuine relationship indeed. before i read the book, my spiritual senses had just jerked back to life and i’d begun to see things, hear things, perceive things, have visions and dreams. i’d read my bible and while i was reading, i’d hear more than i saw in the print, i mean i always read the bible, but it was sealed, now these seals were breaking open and all of these experiences were alien to me, for a noob they felt weird and now in hindsight with higher levels of understanding i realize that that’s how he teaches, by walking you through a reality and then proceed to explain that reality by taking advantage of your curiosity. 

initially when they’d happen, i’d pick up my phone and rummage through search engines trying to find an answer or an opinion that explained what i was experiencing and occasionally, i’d bump into community groups where others were asking the same questions but there were no real answers, only speculations and assumptions at best and i’d settle for the notion that at least i wasn’t alone in the confusion. then i read that book and realized that those experiences were invitations to places of intimacy and understanding, that you don’t walk with a spirit by assumption nor by engaging your mind. i began to ask questions, all kinds of questions and the answers came in different ways. sometimes these answers came as direct responses, some as instructions, instructions like read this book, look up this teaching, listen to this sermon, read that article or listen to that song. some answers came as the names of some people who have gone ahead, walked the same path and have fruits to show for it, some answers came as a knowing of revelation, some were sensory perceptions and this is by no means an exhaustive list.

 i mean it was very interesting and soothing to know that he was willing to answer every question no matter how ignorantly it was phrased and that he was willing to satisfy my curiosity. he’d explain and then tell me why i had this and that experience years ago that i couldn’t understand, he’d revisit old decisions i made when i had certain choices presented to me and tell me how he guided me in making that decision when at the time if you asked me, my best answer would either be i just knew or that something told me, that something was a someone. he’d been in my life for a long time but almost like a stranger and that’ll never happen again. i began to understand his personality, gentle but powerful, he’d suggest but never impose on my power of choice, always close, never far. i’m an autodidact by nature and with a supercharged curiosity, i like to learn a lot, and i am predisposed to adding to my knowledge base in every way i can, from books to articles, to podcasts and documentaries.

 he took advantage of that and began to give me instructions, yes to this and no to that, watch this and listen to that, a little here and a little there, sometimes i’m reading a book by his instruction, and just a few chapters in, while i’m just getting around to the flow of the book, he says read another book and as soon as i obey, i see the beauty in the instruction, because a subject he was trying to teach me was explained better in the second book and i needed to read both to have complete understanding and balance. why? because knowledge in itself without structure can be a snare and structured knowledge is better than random knowledge. there are no words for this but it’s nothing short of amazing. this walk has shown me that spiritual realities can be understood, explained and articulately expressed to even the uninitiated and the proof is in the pudding. he’s really a teacher, one that’s interested in every aspect of my life and you see the excellency of his leadership by the wisdom revealed in his instructions.

 he brings you into the reality of truth, all truth. his wisdom transcends all subjects and fields and i speak by experience, he’s taught me things across board, from financial and relational wisdom and principles, to morals and character traits, to tips and instructions when i write code, to ideas and impressions that i write about. every manifestation of wisdom in my life, i credit it to him. i’ve found myself speaking on subjects i had little knowledge on and upon reflection, in my attempt to go for more knowledge on those subjects, i find that i wasn’t wrong. i’ve enjoyed help from key insights to bursts of utterance where he just takes over my tongue. he teaches you by leading you to materials that’ll expand your mind, which in turn gives him plenty of material to work with when it comes to inspiration, instruction and impressions. he knows what you need per time and if you’d obey, you won’t have to ask. this is true. by simple obedience, i’ve escaped from snares wrapped beautifully as flowers. emphasis on obedience because most times, he instructs without explaining why because he’s teaching you trust.

sometimes he does explain, but his modus operandi is to teach by walking you through it, and the explanation is in the process. failure to do this will leave you with many unnecessary scars. 

i could speak on his incontrovertible power to aid, save and advantage, but it goes without saying. his qualities and expressions are inexhaustible but i want to touch on the utter disadvantage of living in this realm without him. life as we know it is very spiritual, and the unseen realm is much more advanced in age, potent in power and pretty much decides what goes on in the realm that we do see. after all, the world as we know it was framed from the world we cannot see. brood for a minute, on the utter disadvantage in doing life by ad hoc opinions, assumption and conjectures when you have a literal tour guide who knows the way. he knows all things really, he was here before anything was and he’d also be around when this age passes away. i say all of this at the risk of sounding esoteric, because i know that without the actual experience, it’s mental ascent at best trying to understand spiritual things with the mind. 

you will never understand the gravity of a disadvantage if you’ve never had an advantage and you’d never value an advantage if you’ve never been in a prior state of disadvantage. for example, you might think you know the value of having two fully functioning hands but you don’t, and you won’t until you can only use one of them. you might think you value your eyes but you’d never truly value having eyes until you had them and now don’t. these are graphic illustrations i know but it’s an attempt to truly elucidate the concept of a disadvantage and i can only hope you get it but it really is as depicted- an utter disadvantage. as i’ve come to enjoy and take advantage of the relationship i have with the holy spirit, i think about those that currently are unaware of this truth or by reason of lack of true light have shied away from this reality. i speak as one who’s been there, i lived it and i marvel at the abundance of mercy that i enjoyed in ignorance and absolute risk. i think about the many mistakes i’ve made, from assumptions and pitfalls that looked right on paper to wrong associations, to being and living out of alignment and the many needless soul scars. i was empty and i just lived, tossed around by every wind of doctrine.

i lived a really risky life, i was skating on grace and mercy but i’ve realized that there’s a more excellent way. i found out my why and why i was by the help of the holy spirit. i’ve accessed help as insight, timely revelation, bespoke guidance and navigation – he doesn’t just tell you where you’re going, he tells you how to get there and as a bonus he’s willing to hold your hand and walk you there. when he teaches you, it never really leaves you and you can always draw from every lesson for future references. i touched on experiences a lot but not unconsciously, because that’s how he teaches but the balance is he’d never lead you, teach you or guide you against the established word of God. every experience is to lead you and bring you into truth, all truth. the lord himself said he had so many things to tell the disciples that they couldn’t bear-  bear as in handle, endure, understand, but when the spirit of truth is come, he’d guide – lead, bring you into, instruct and teach. if the master believed you need the holy spirit, you better believe that you do.

wisdom, revelation, understanding, might, counsel, the reverential fear of the lord comes from him. he’s the only one authorized to take from the father and give unto us. the fruits and gifts are his to give; renewal and refreshing comes from him. he’s the promise made fulfilled. i’ll speak on his power to transform, to change a man from inside out, from regeneration to reformation. i’ll tell you this for free, the character traits that society keeps looking for and have real trouble finding can only be produced in a people who have enrolled in his tutoring program, yielded their members and through process have come to a level of maturity. the world can’t explain it, but they know it when they see it. this is a school of many classes that you pass and make progress but you never really graduate from. through dealings and pruning you bear fruit, first downward and then upward. character is built into our frameworks by process and the holy spirit knows our tendencies so he fashions processes bespoke to those tendencies and he’d be there to walk you through that valley of pruning, a journey that’s usually unpleasant but absolutely necessary that he might bring you into places of understanding. he knows you better than you know yourself and he knows everything in the heart of the father that can only be communicated to you by spirit because he himself is spirit. 

this contemplation was supposed to be me talking about my relationship with him but as it developed into a full article, i found it pertinent to pass this truth across, that you can and should know God experientially. it’s an important part of our walk with him and while there’s the balance of doctrine and ultimate submission to the written word, i’m telling you for free that if you shut your heart off from the realm of the experiential knowledge of God, you’d be bankrupt of the very vital equipping this reality provides and produces in our walk with him. there’s a large dissect in the church today between the knowledge of God and information about God, like in the days that Jesus walked the face of the earth, the pharisees knew about God through the experiences of others, like abraham and moses but they never experienced him for themselves hence the ignorance and consequent hostility to the dimension the master was introducing. it’s why paul says that i may know him. know as in – to be taking in knowledge, come to know, recognize, perceive, understand. 

 experiences make truths real, like a stronghold. experiences or encounters as we’ve come to label them help to strengthen convictions and precipitate consciousness. for example, take two people, one of them has read about the God who’s a provider, the other has seen God reveal himself as a provider in a dire situation, who do you think is more conscious of God as a provider? i’ll leave you with this aphorism as you meditate on that question, that most if not all of the names of God we know today were personal revelations of God to his people, they had an experience and named him after that experience. i’ve had a love walk and a joyride with the holy spirit and it’s an experience i think everyone should enjoy. i ask him everything, and i mean everything, because for everything i know, there’s a revelation of the ton of things i don’t know.  i could rave on and on about this relationship but all of this and more is why i talk to the holy spirit like he’s my best friend and what’s more? he could be yours too – scratch that, he wants to be yours too. 

if you’re born again, then all you have to do, like benny hinn said is, say “Good morning, Holy Spirit and kick it off from there. if you’re not, it’s not the greatest place to be but you need him to translate from where you are to where you ought to be. 

Here’s a quick prayer to get that fixed.

Lord Jesus, I believe that you’re the son of God that came into the world to die for me that I might be reconciled to God. I acknowledge my state as a sinner, I receive you as my Lord and personal savior and acknowledge you as the Lord of all in my life. I declare that the power of sin and death is broken over me and that i’ve translated from darkness into the glorious kingdom of God.  

That’s all it takes.  Welcome to the family of God 🙂

well, until the next one, damola out!

references:

“To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the milk,

those taken from the breast?

For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little.”

— Isaiah 28:9-10 KJV

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

— Hebrews 11:3 KJV

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

— Isaiah 37:31 KJV

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

— John 16:12 KJV

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

— John 16:13 KJV

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

— John 16:14-15 KJV

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

— 1 Corinthians 2:11 KJV

Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.

—‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭55‬ ‭NIV‬‬

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

— Philippians 3:10

being hidden for a time is a gift. you get to make the best reiterations, understand your essence, discern your unique prints and refine your perspective while you define your why and know why you are. you truly make the best adjustments in aggregated personal development while you’re relatively unknown or better put, in isolation.

empirically, it’s proven that it gets harder to morph when you’re a spectacle because you’ve ‘essentially’ crossed over from being just an individual to being an entity and these look like the same thing on paper but they’re not. with visibility, choices are highly leveraged and consequently, the implication of the slightest flawed perception can be beyond fatal.

the meat of this submission is that you molt the most in ‘relative obscurity’. embrace it, enjoy it and put it to good use because you’d miss it.

i think you should absolutely give a fuck, but only about things that set your heart on fire, causes that are worth living and dying for, solutions that posterity would appreciate you for, legacy, impact, and destiny. not giving a fuck is an illusion of a great sell of strategic complacency, selfishness and repugnant stagnancy.

faith, patience and trust. these three go together, inherently inseparable.

assumption can be, scratch that, is a very expensive luxurious item, you pay with pain and time. it’ll cost you significantly less to ascertain that you’re accurate. you can be sincerely wrong. wherever you can, be sure that you’re not.

one of the most important building blocks in becoming is process. it’s involved in the creation, birth, reiteration and even the decline or destruction of anything that was made. done right, you have something that lasts, when it’s botched, you have an eventual disaster at best. it’s involved in going from bad to good and good to great. the power of process can define outcomes, it can transform potential to legacy and whilst that’s great, it can turn potential to disgrace and rot too. silent yet loud, sometimes ignored but time reveals it’s importance. process is the midwife that helps you birth what you’ve incubated. a constant force, yet dynamic. sometimes fast and at times painfully slow. 

described with manifold expressions like ‘how’, ‘method’, ‘tactic’, ‘strategy’, ‘plan’, ‘procedure’ all of which are testaments to how crucial it is to arrive at a defined destination and consequently it’s always bespoke to the purpose of the conception – the reason for the defined creation. that would explain why the approach to the construction of a condominium is different from that of a townhouse. process is quite silent, usually unseen to the naked eye, just like barren and fruitful trees look the same until it’s bloom season and only then is there a visible separation. it’s prerequisite is a resolute value for patterns and principles, it won’t cater to your emotions, the requirements are defined else you risk an abortion. you don’t skip classes, you graduate, presented with testimonials to prove it and if you do cut corners you’re birthing the very deviation you acceded to. you have to go through that wringer just like a sword has to find pleasure in a furnace and crude oil in the refinery. 

process removes impurity, it defines the product with little room for error and it’s the threshing floor for character. character here is the aggregation of everything that defines an individual, from traits, to mental modules, experiences and values. it redefines your perspective and the lessons learnt never really leave you. just as heat transforms liquid to gas, nothing remains the same after due process. in this refinery a product or a person gets better and tougher – tested and proved. patience, stamina, grit and fortitude are all built and ingrained in this experience and these are building blocks that define and qualify you for the next stage because it never really ends, there’s a gradual promotion to a new level, and for every new level there’s a new process that builds adaptation and competence for what’s next. there’s always a next, with the exception of your becoming strategically complacent. 

i’ve learned to yield and yield again, because by experience i know that’s the best mental module to adopt, and in doing that there’s a silent molting process that goes underway. we’re all inherently impatient but there’s wisdom in patience and process will teach you that. in the wringer, you question the advantage but in hindsight you see how expedient it was. it helps in expanding inherent capacity and it outwardly reveals maturity. in conclusion, i believe that there’s a process before every unveiling and you have the right(not obligation) to question any manifestation without a process. 

i observe certain characters and it’s really no surprise that they are symbols of excellence; perfectly positioned with respect to where they are and what they do. the world is shocked, but they’re not; the pomp doesn’t surprise them, because it was only a matter of time. undoubtedly grateful yet not astonished, because every step of the way they made conscious choices to the end that what has been a reality to them albeit unseen to others would manifest, they saw it and prepared accordingly.

perhaps the law of attraction, ridiculous delusion or whatever it’s called in the ever changing parlance of this age is a lowball attempt to contextualize the complete metamorphosis of vision – from ideation to finished product, and the whole point of becoming is to the end that process can run its full course. they all began with the end in view and evidently, that’s the right perspective because having a defined destination helps you count the cost for the journey. it outlines what is expedient and determines your method of approach, from the road you take and paths you follow, to the skill sets and strategies you acquire and apply and the ammunition you carry whilst defining the exact kind of help you need. counting the cost constructs your guardrails and helps you aikido distractions, it highlights the importance of structure for the voyage to attain that expected end. that’s what vision is.

history repeats itself and while most people will be surprised in a few short years with the shift in society’s definition of the new ‘normal’, this shift will come with the emergence of a select few people currently invisible that will not be astounded, simply because this new ‘normal’ is a reality they’ve been living in. they saw it before everyone else and prepared accordingly.

no association is neutral and no association leaves you unchanged, whether positively or negatively. every association influences you greatly in more ways than one and being ignorant of this reality makes that influence even more potent. every connection either adds to you or takes from you and a lot of times it’s both ways in different realms because we’re multidimensional. some influences are infinitesimal and others are enormous, lasting even for a life time. 

look at it this way, we’re all walking slates, everyone you meet either writes on your slate or erases something from it. this largely explains why people can have beliefs and ideologies ingrained in them and can’t explain how they came up with them or why and how they believe and align with these ideologies and consequently can’t define them.

association is a player in the formation of both warped and impeccable mindsets. it’s responsible for a lot of the pain of regret people walk around with today. it can be the reason why individuals navigate paths that leads to enviable destinies or one that leads to sorrow and destruction.  it’s why people can pick up interests that lead to the birthing of world impacting solutions or abhorrent vices that contribute to societal decadence. 

your company shapes you in no small measure and this gives you two choices, you either realize that you have a big role to play in curating that company or you ignore that responsibility, fold your arms and let the world choose for you, the law of cause and effect is set in stone to reward you handsomely for the choice you make. 

like belief systems, association contributes largely to the development of a perspective. it has the power to corrupt your vision or curate a corrupted one for you and on the flip side it wields the power to expand, steward and accelerate the birthing of your vision.  

like it or not, it’s built into the fabrics of creation, we were made to co-exist and be interdependent, but the creator also gave us a will, and with that will comes the power to choose. and you should, choose. decide who should be in your space, choose who you’re forming alliances with and expressly define why.  define your values, principles and ideologies correctly before you join a company because you’d either influence or be influenced and in the almost definite advent of both, you can ensure that your non-negotiables remain non-negotiables.

mistakes can be avoided, development, growth, ideation can be accelerated, refined, expanded by the power of the right association. time can be redeemed by the right association. numbers matter in defining legacy, every war won or lost, every innovation and revolution in history rode on the strength of numbers- people aligned with a shared resolve and resolution to get something done. networks and net-worths, growth and scaling all ride on the power of this law of association and relationships. 

association and relationships by extension is powerful, it’s a currency that can purchase things that even money can’t buy. so everyone you ignore or align with has the potential to advantage or disadvantage you, slow you down or give you uncanny speed. association has the power to open and shut doors, both good and bad ones, it can grant or revoke access to possibilities of ease, and it’s a determining factor for results, either good or bad. 

the unraveling of this mystery is a call to intentionality and responsibility, this knowledge is a guiding light to help navigate the roadmap to destiny fulfillment. associations either as friendships, marriages, work and business relationships, cell groups and structures, religious or secular organizations or the macrocosm of society as a whole should be strategically and purposefully defined.

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

— Proverbs 13:20 KJV. 

 selah. 

being enlightened is always an advantage, a benefit, as every light or revelation you have is a key to ultimate freedom, on a roadmap to a life devoid of chains. i believe that one of the greatest disadvantages in life is being ignorant. ignorance is an opponent you have to continually confront, as in a video game. every thing you don’t know is like having a blindfold on, strolling on a sidewalk on a busy road. knowledge and ignorance are mutually exclusive and understanding is a level above knowledge, a higher realm but that’s not the focus right now. the crux of this paragraph is that you either know it or you don’t, it being a body of knowledge and unfortunately you pay for everything you don’t know with pain, time, legal tenders, sometimes for a lifetime.

understanding this is initially a trigger for the release of a dopamine hit, until you realize that you’re responsible for everything you don’t know from here on out.  how that for everything you know there’s a million others you don’t and for every word in your basket of vocabularies there’s a million other words you don’t know. if you’re like me, you begin to realize very quickly how much work needs to be done, how you have to actively make a choice to know, to learn and to understand from here on out. you take up that responsibility and you begin to grow, edit your perspective, contend for greater light, adopt better mental modules and consequently, you begin to see things differently, the world, people and their opinions. 

that’s when the cost of awakening begins to show up, you can’t pretend to not know better so you trash the unprofitable opinions you once had and the belief systems and mental modules that no longer serve you. you see from a higher vantage point now, so everything begins to take a hit, your interests change, your opinions evolve, you can’t find things that previously amused you funny, you discard the old, then your environment begins to take a hit. you outgrow the normal, you question status quo, you get uncomfortable with the state of things. you begin to see the dysfunctions in society and the things that desperately cry out for urgent change. then you have a choice to make, what do you with the knowledge you’re armed with? it becomes disingenuous to act like you don’t know what’s right or pretend you can’t see what’s wrong. 

now that you see things differently, conversations aren’t quite the same, you know that people don’t know like you do and you see the ignorance and the gap in understanding, again you have to make a choice, pretend to continue to fit in? or step out and begin the journey to emergence even if you have to walk alone for a while. if you’re really awake to purpose, there’s truly only one choice. you make it and your circle becomes smaller, you choose isolation so you can molt and morph into the new, you become different, people can’t figure out why or how but you’re changing, it’s fascinating when you consider how quickly humans notice change.  superior mental modules are built and enforced, you exchange old lenses for new ones and you begin to make superior decisions, normal to you but crazy to those with the lenses you discarded. i think it’s imperative to point out that isolation doesn’t mean being totally cut off or shut out from the world, it means the journey is usually a lonely one, a walk you take on alone, a transformation that happens within so you alone know what’s going on.  

next, you have to deal with the deception of being conceited, ostentatious and proud, that’s a snare in itself, because haughtiness triggers a silent descent that might be slow but definite and eventual. you have to be morally disciplined to handle superior levels of illumination, by learning to be a steward, being a thought leader with the desire to be ultimately an agent of societal and territorial transformation. you have to be cultured enough to understand that to whom much is given, much is expected. to help people see as you see by gradually introducing them to your perspective, to manifest light as you behold light, to the end that people around you see light in your light. 

naturally for the most part, you outgrow environments, friendships and relationships in general, there’s a defined season of molting and while that’s in motion,you have to move alone, a lot of times silently, when that’s done, the universe has a way of bringing people that have a similar level of illumination that you possess to you. new relationships are birthed, new alliances are formed, new goals and assignments are unlocked, visions are updated and the “hows” are optimized. for every pros there are cons though, so you still have to navigate with how these changes affect your old comfort zones, safety nets and how old acquaintances perceive you. a lot of times wrongly, sincerely but inaccurately. 

personality wise, you change, you can’t truly remain the same with greater light, changes require stretching, and stretching means the loss of comfort and safety nets, bigger challenges and higher responsibilities, you have to die to bring forth life, for every fruitful tree is pruned at some point for more fruits and for every level of illumination there’s a mountain that has to be brought under foot, no mountains are without inhabitants and sometimes these inhabitants are giants. it should also interest you to know that this isn’t a one time thing, it’s a life time commitment but those that choose this path get the crowns. before the crowns you get scars – a badge for the valiant. most people don’t see these scars but the crowns are visible for all to see. 

there’s a tale i heard of eagles where they go into isolation for a season at a certain age to crack their beaks and pluck off their feathers to grow new ones for greater exploits when that season is done, even though it’s been widely debated to be a myth, this reality is very true, maybe not for eagles but in life in general i believe it’s inevitable if you make the choice to be awakened from society’s psy-op and be delivered from being under the yoke of a crowd mentality. you’d be disagreeable for a long time before your thoughts begin to engineer people around you to think and dig deeper and to desire more than just the status quo. 

unfortunately not everyone would be willing to pay this price but those that do cannot be ignored. 

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

— Ecclesiastes 1:18.  

to the reader, i’ve made my choice, you have to make yours too, and i hope this helps you make the right one, ignoring this reality is still making a choice and doesn’t make it any less true. and for the champion who made that choice already and needed an affirmation, well you have it now, you’re on the right path, and you’d be just fine. 

resolve, grit, tenacity-  being resolute, ardent, unfazed, undeterred, never backing down. this is a character trait that’ll be needed to strike a chord in time that posterity will remember positively you for. you have to understand that life has it’s ways of testing your vision, as if to say- do you believe it? how far are you willing to go for it? what prices are you willing to pay? what sacrifices are you willing to make? what choices are you willing to make with the options available to you? what if you have to walk alone for a long time before others catch up? how long are you willing to wait for it? what if no one ever understands you enough to form an alliance with you and your vision? how many brick walls are you willing to run through? these are questions life will pose to you time and time again and you must have a response, each time. they say everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face or hit in the gut, this is true. life will give you that punch time and time again, how will you respond?

resolve is the ability to never get weary even you’re tired, the strength to take one more step, to make another right choice, where there’s no applause, no encouragement, when nobody sees the sacrifices or the discipline and consistency. the inherent quality that helps to you press because you know that the mountains before you will only be leveled by the choices you make and these mountains have no respect for your emotions no matter how genuine they are. life responds to and is governed by laws, physical and spiritual and one of such laws is the law of inertia, widely referred to as newton’s first law of motion, this law states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force, meaning it’s motion only changes if a net force pushes or pulls it. it’s self explanatory, nothing moves or changes in motion unless there’s a force applied to that effect and the force in this context is a resolution, a choice to move it, a decision to weary the resistance, a motion to push as many times you have to until there’s a shift. 

if you’re going to be a visionary that’ll do things that haven’t been done before, you have to agree with taking up responsibilities that others would shelf or shy away from, you’d have to pay prices others don’t pay; you must be willing to make choices others won’t make, chart courses others would rather not, but God’s laws of the universe would ensure that the world would celebrate you for the choices you made, eventually. i find it expedient to explain briefly what eventually means in this context, it means time will reveal the excellency of the aggregation of the choices you made,so it might take a while – months running into years, even decades but eventually the vision will speak. to birth new things or pioneer things bigger than you, you need to be stubborn, thick skinned, comfortable with the audience of one and dead to the idea of impressing others.  you must be willing to walk and be alone if the occasion serves it because a lot of times you alone will see the vision, sometimes for a long time. you must be wiling to put in the work for as long as it takes for people to catch up to your vision. 

belief is another essential building block, a non negotiable that walks in tandem with resolve. there’s no vision if you do not believe in it even if you’re the only believer. regardless of what it looks like, you can’t afford the luxury of listening to the voice of the circumstantial evidence around you. you must be tuned to the beat of a different drummer, having sights set on something beyond the now, a defined reality, a destination, something you’re willing to doggedly work on until what is around you matches what you see. for a long time it will seem as though you’re wasting away, you will feel like you could be doing something else, something easier or trendier. the path of vision is a largely lonely road and without rigid belief, challenges, roadblocks and even the scourging tongues of men can derail or deter you. you can’t work on something that’s proving to have a semblance of unfruitfulness for a long time without rock solid belief. in the absence of incentives, rewards, positive feedback and encouragement, belief in the goal would be the pillar you lean on when it gets overwhelming. it’s the only source of energy that’ll keep you going when every odd is stacked against you. giving up is the easy part, finishing what you set out do regardless of how rough the road is the very hard bit of it. if you’re sure that your vision is correct and not corrupted, if the end goal is defined and you have a picture of victory in your heart, with resolve and the power of belief behind it no challenge will be big enough to stop you, it will only be a matter of time. 

resolve is built on a mindset, mental modules and structured belief systems that keep you going even in the face of adversity, and i believe that there’s a grace from God to top it all, because nothing comes to man except God gives it. everything good and perfect comes from him and you can decide to ignore that fact but it doesn’t make it less true. human strength no matter how brute, is frail and will fail. it is written that by strength shall no man prevail. resolve isn’t being immune to emotions, it’s taking steps in spite of the emotions, and using the very emotions as the fuel that influences you to make the right choices. resolve is the force behind discipline and consistency. in conclusion, i believe that with the right structures, honour for precepts and principles, value for proven patterns and the help of God, challenges will always crumble. i write this for me, and for the generation that will be inspired by the wonders God will produce out of my life to the glory of his name. this is a post card to the future, i’ll read this someday, fall to my knees in gratitude and thank God that i didn’t give up. you shouldn’t too. 

scriptural references :-

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

— 1 Samuel 2:9 KJV

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

— John 3:27 KJV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

— James 1:17 KJV

embracing pain

pressed but not crushed

temporarily struck down but it’s not for destruction

being stretched but yielding

obedience when it’s contrary to intellect

understanding that promises trump challenges and circumstances

dying to live again

knowing that situations don’t represent a lack of love

because pruning means there’s fruit 

and the bending is making room for more fruit 

we know that the proof of his love is love

and he’s closer than close

seasons change, but he’s constant

and we understand that his thoughts are good, of peace

and there’s an expected end, a greater weight of glory

so we lean in more

trust more, seek more

believe more and find rest 

in his word, promises and his integrity

birthing stories to inspire others who will walk the paths we did. 

end of self

giving up the driver’s seat 

dying daily

relinquishing control 

that’s the beginning of the end of self 

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decreasing that he may increase 

his will swallowing up yours 

daily, not a one time rodeo

literally being the first officer(co-pilot)

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you don’t know the way as you think you do

there’s one with higher ways and thoughts 

the Lord most high

obedience first, understanding next

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it never ends, it’s a lifelong process

it’s in stages, hinged on trust

willful surrender, not forced

but for every level of death, life springs forth

it’s more than a token, it’s a currency. a legitimate unit of purchase both in the physical and spiritual worlds. spiritually it’s hinged on faith, belief. in the natural world it’s crux is honour for value, integrity, reputation or loyalty. 

it can be sown, grown, multiplied and ultimately harvested, it also can be lost. a lot of times, it’s usually a mutual resolution between parties and can be backed by proven track record.

trust is a faith business and that’s my emphasis. you need faith to trust anything, or anyone. faith is the substance of an outcome believed for. hope is tied to believing in the possibility of the manifestation of a certain result you believe for . 

you can’t trust without faith, you can’t have faith without believing and you sure can’t believe without hope. you either trust or doubt, they’re mutually exclusive and they are both conscious choices.  

trust is a key to certain doors, doors other currencies couldn’t open if they tried to.  it can give access to inheritances, seats and positions in places.

trust is cultivated with honesty, trustworthiness, healthy value for your word, integrity, diligent and intentional investment in relationships. i understand by experience that it’s built over time.

trust is a two way street, that being said, in life you should watch who you give your trust while making sure you can earn others’.  when you say you trust , you’re saying you’re giving a currency to someone, what they do with it isn’t necessarily in your control, you hope while you do it, on their understanding of what trust is.  

unfortunately, we live in a inherently selfish world, a world that rewards ignorance with pain. a world that takes advantage of sincerity, and while there are exceptions to this fact, taking responsibility is a better mental module.  understanding trust is a great way to guard your heart.  

with God our father, you access his promises by trusting him first.  you trust in his word, because it’s law. you trust his character because he’s good, you trust his integrity because doesn’t lie or repent, this revelation gives you hope and hope is a foundation for faith.  that’s how you believe, because you trust, and that my friend is faith.  – Hebrews 11:6, James 1:6-7. 

One of my greatest desires is to let the world understand that the spirit of God is an advantage.  To put the holy ghost’s wisdom, might and power on display for the world to see.  

I’ve learnt by experience and knowledge that in this world of men, those with exceptional results achieve it by the inspiration of a spirit, whether they know it or not.  As men, we’re always yielded to a spirit per time, there’s no neutral man. In this world, there are spirits, different types of spirits but that’s not my emphasis.  

Among all these spirits is the Holy Spirit, in a class of his own as his name implies. Pure, mighty, tender and gentle. He’s been here before the foundation of the world was laid and he will be when this world is done away with.  He’s the advantage of every son of God. 

I desire a world where his wisdom and power; his manifold expressions and advantages are put on display, where men rise with amazing results and they give him all the honor due him. A world where when men get asked, how did you do this? And the answer is by the impression and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  

This isn’t just wishful thinking, i don’t mind being the flag bearer, as a matter of fact, I want to be the flag bearer, and I will be by the grace of God.  In a few short years, I’ll be on world class interviews, known for exploits and excellence around the world and I’ll be asked, how did you get here? in record time too and my response will be- By the help and power of the Holy Spirit, He’s my comforter, my adviser, my advocate, my helper and my best friend. He’s my advantage.