Welcome to this second part of our discourse. Still focusing on YOUR HUGE CAPACITY to contribute to your glorious future, we are looking at the encounter of the Prophet’s Widow with the Senior Prophet Elisha in 2 KINGS 4:1-7. When she cried out for help, little did she know that there was something she already had that would be key to her expected turnaround.
I’ll like you to note that when the Prophet Elisha asked her in verse 2, what she wanted and what she had in her house, her answer was “…Your handmaid has NOTHING BUT A JAR OF OIL.” The ‘BUT’ was the seed for her miraculous turnaround. ‘NOTHING’ was focusing on what was missing. The ‘BUT’ quickly recognized that even though so much and many were missing, the house is not empty. There’s still something left. It may look small and as nothing in the face of the huge challenge, but it’s a miracle seed.
Each time you say BUT, you are saying whatever came before it, is not the end. The truth of life is that when you state the affirmative it cancels the negative. Do not despise whatever is left. You may have gone through some real challenges, especially in this present pandemic. Some people have lost their jobs and businesses. For some their health have been badly affected. Some people have even lost family members and vital relationships; and you may be one of those who is wondering how you can ever forge ahead after such devastating experiences. I’m saying to you, don’t dispair. Look inward. You haven’t really lost everything. There’s something left. There’s always a way. God has always provided. Things always work out in the end. Instead of paying attention to your loss, fan what is left. What you have is the beginning of the process of change in your life.
It is not possible to walk backward into the future. Nobody moves forward looking backward. Those who face the back have no place in front. Those who dwell in their past, lose their place in the future. To concentrate only on celebrating the importance of the past can make you lose relevance in the future. To mourn the past is to lose the joy of the future.
FOCUS ON YOUR FUTURE
You need to release your past and focus on your future. Your past is history, it’s your future that will make the news. Even if there’s something in your past that is relevant to your future, you must learn to put them in God’s Hands and refuse to concentrate the energy for the future on them. God has a way He takes care of our past.
God can restore your years according to Joel 2:21-27, especially verse 25, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” God can restore lost opportunities. God can sustain and restore your Health as He did for Moses in Deuteronomy 34:7” “And Moses [was] an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” He can renew and restore your strength as promised in Isaiah. 40: 31, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”
The future is bigger. Concentrate on it. Where you are going to is far more important than where you have left. You were raised and loaded for something bigger than you have already seen. Don’t let your experience diminish your vision of and focus on the future.
YOUR MENTALITY MATTERS
Nothing defines destiny like mentality. Your mentality activates your destiny. A change of mentality is the beginning of the recovery of your dignity. A change of mentality is the beginning of the recovery of your royalty – Eccl 10:5-7. A change of mentality is the secret of productivity. Nobody becomes productive until his or her mentality changes.
For our Destinies to be actualized, we must possess possibility and success mentality. In life, never live like a man without an option. It is possibility mentality that makes a victor. It is possibility mentality that makes a giant. It is possibility mentality that guarantees success. It is possibility mentality that makes a winner. In the same way, it is failure mentality that makes a failure.
In life, it is our mentality and imagination that determines our destination. Joshua and Caleb demonstrated this in Numbers 13:26-30 “And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people [be] strong that dwell in the land, and the cities [are] walled, [and] very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”
Friend, you need to become a tomorrow thinker. Job 14:14 says “If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Make your future so big that yesterday disappears. Don’t focus your energy on your past. Focus your energy on your future. Don’t focus your energy on your pain. Focus your energy on your vision. Vision is the mental picture about the future. Vision is the insight into God’s plan for your life. Vision is a picture of your destined outcome. Your future is your bank account. Your vision is your pay-cheque. A poor person is not one who has no money in his bank account but one who has no vision for the future.
You are not just a face in a crowd. You are a special specie of God’s creation. A Royal Priesthood, A Peculiar person and a chosen generation. 1 Peter 2:9. You are the first fruit of God’s creation. First fruit is the first and the best. Don’t log-out yet, it is not over. There is a future for you. You have a future and not a funeral.
DECISION TIME
The best gift of life is time. The best gift of time is now. The best use of now is the decision to secure and prepare for eternity. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please don’t let this moment pass you. You’re just a decision away from a secured eternity. You can pray this prayer to surrender to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, I believe you died for me. I accept you into my life as my Saviour and Lord. Forgive my sins and give me power to live for you the rest of my life on earth”. Amen. Congratulations! If you have prayed this prayer, you are now born again. You can contact us to let us know about your decision or visit us at the address above to learn more on how to grow in your Christian life. God bless you.
… to be continued