This book however, is
dedicated to provide basic truth that will not only liberate them from the
shackles of ignorant and self limitation but effectively maximizing their God
giving gifts and talent.
POTENTIALS YOUTH
Friday 30 December 2016
Sunday 2 October 2016
THE YOUTHFUL MINDSET
THE
HUMAN MIND
If you want to manipulate a man hold on to
his mind. If you want him to talk more just hold on to his mind and stir it to
the point that he will start talking
The Webster’s Dictionary
defines the human mind as the element in an individual that feels, perceived,
think, wills and especially reason.
The human mind has the
following key characteristics:
(1) The Human mind is cosmic. It is the central point or element in man that has celestial nature and which enable him communicate with the unseen nature.
(2) The human mind is the seat of ideation, memory, visions, critical thoughts, insight and visualization.
(3) The human mind is also the central point which enables him transcends into the world beyond. This is enhanced through effective and consistent prayers and meditation.
(4) The human mind is dynamic and progressive. Romans 12:2, “…. but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. Ephesians 4:23, said “…. be renewed in the spirit of your mind”.
THE
TWO NATURE OF THE HUMAN MIND
The
Positive or the Spirit Man: The positive man is characterized by
a mindset that promotes healthy life style of the individual and the society. The
positive mind sees life as a gift and seeks the good and progress of the
society. This positive mindset bears fruits which include joy, love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The spirit man is always in the spirit and
operates in a positive attributes. It is
well organized, well thought-out and always guarded against selfishness,
competitiveness and self-centeredness, pride, vain glory, provoking and envying
one another.
The
Negative or the Fleshy Man: The negative or fleshy man operates
in the flesh. He is characterized by selfishness, egoism, worldly desire of
materialism, I-want-all syndrome and avariciousness which include Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, Envying, murders,
drunkenness, drugs addicts, homosexuality, medium practice, reveling, and such
like. The fleshy man is self-principle oriented. It has nothing good for others
rather it is designed to take from others.
These
two natures of the human mind are what determine your mindset. They are the
foundations of your mindset. They guard you to make decisions, take actions and
chose between what is right or wrong. Mindset therefore is defined as a complex
mental state involving beliefs, feeling, values, judgments, morality, opinions,
thoughts, principles and positions to act in a certain ways.
Mindset can also be seen as
the totality of what the mind perceived, grasp and become part of the mind. In a fixed mindset,
people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are
simply fixed traits. Most people have their mindset structured from Biblical
point of view. Others have their mindset structure from what happened to them.
To some, it is structure base on mental perception of life or circumstances of
life.
THE MINDSET AT CONFLICT
The mindset at conflict refers
to a critical point or stage of life when man is spiritual or psychological
detached from his real self. There are moments when our feelings
completely contradict what we want. At this point, we feel that there is a lack
of consistency in our behaviors and attitudes. At some points, we become
unpredictable, disorganize and almost lost about ourselves. Our behavior
becomes volatile. The activities of the mind become crippled. Decision becomes
indecision. According to a writer, “A person who has a scattered or
unpredictable behavior is usually the one who has a lot of inner conflicts that
have not been resolved, thus lacking a congruent inner space. A conflict simply
means that the mind is confused between are multiple “perspectives” and inclinations
and is not able fixate on a singular vibration of thought. A person who has a consistence
conflict of the mind tends to exhibit low self esteem, psychologically burden,
spiritually crippled and physically manifest changes in moods and personality.
This is where defence mechanism sets in, because there is a gap between his ego
and super ego. The spiritual nature is not in term with his real self.
Saturday 1 October 2016
YOUTH AND THE POWER OF CHANGE
YOUTH AND THE POWER OF CHANGE
“Change will not come if we wait for some
other person or some other time. We are the change we’ve been waiting for- President Barack Obama
|
Change
always comes bearing gifts”- Price Pritchett. Change is part of life. It is part of man but the ideology about
change is quite difference from the reality of what is the true meaning of
change. No human being wants to remain in a place while time goes by,
development and improvement enable individual to move ahead as earth revolves- Abdulkareem Suleman. It is an
undoubtedly fact to say that change always brings us pain, discomfort,
complaint, sometimes tears, sometimes shares our bloods. This is because it
removes something from the inside of us that we did not prepare, and replaces
with something new and different we did not expect either. But then, this change
in the long run brings us joy, comfort, dynamism, gain, honor, progress,
promotion, and many good things. It could also bring us regret, pains,
unhappiness, tears and negative consequences if we allow the negative change to
visit us. Change is permanent, so they said. Almost every human being believes
change is permanent but don’t be confused to hear that the permanency of change
in itself is dynamism and that the only thing permanent is death. Change is
constant and continuous over time. Change in my definition is a force of
dynamism or regression. As you progress in the course of reading this chapter we
shall look at the type of change and its level.
DEFINITION:
Change
is a natural force responsible for the increase or decrease capability in the
live of any organism. Change can either be appreciating or depreciating. If the
change grows positively in terms of value, productivity, improvement, and
creativity, we say it is a positive
change. A negative change has to do with depreciation loses, regression,
decrease in its original value and declining in earning ability, as well as the
lack of happiness.
Change
is the only unforeseen force that displaces an organism from his original
position. This position could be dynamic or regressive. One thing we should
know about change is that it is a force that is determined and controlled by
the organism, spiritual forces, events or circumstances, and time.
TYPE OF CHANGE:
1.
NATURAL CHANGE: Natural change is determined by the environment where we found
ourselves, situations and events round about us, the church, and even our
cultures. This type of change is so powerful that if not properly controlled
could control and determine the extent of our changes. This natural change
influences the way we think, reason, our perceptions, as well as our personality.
Youths who allow the natural change to control them determine their fate by
chance or probability. This type of persons could be victims of accident,
victim of circumstances. Sometime, they can be victim of success by chance. If
you asked them how comes that you made it? You hear them telling you, I do not
know how it happens or still, they could attribute such success or
circumstances to natural forces. Some believe they were born to succeed, even
if they don’t do it they will still succeed. Others believe they have little or
no controlled over circumstances happening to them. These categories of youths
are like leaves on top of a river tossed about by every wind and waves.
2.
PERSONAL CHANGE: This type of change is specifically determined by the youth himself.
These set of youths make Deut. 30:15 their watch words, “I have set before you
this day life and death”. So it is all about their personally decision plus
God’s intervention. This involves the individual making decision and backing
such decision with actions. Here, the individual refused to be controlled by
unforeseen forces of natural change. It is important to state that personal change
occurs as a result of the individual mind
set, his mentality
and the level of his exposure
to circumstances. Personal change is part of the mandate that God has given us
the power to make decisions that affects our well being. Here, you make plans
and how you can executive them. These sets of people fail but never allow
failure to paralyze them, rather they live their lives doing what they know how
to do the best they can.
These set of youths have visions and will not let this
visions die. These set of youths are the one who say to themselves like Brother
Job: “I know my Redeemer lives”; or like Paul: “I can do all things through
Christ that strengthens me”, come rain, come sun, I will never call it a quit. They
will declare to themselves “God has made me for his purpose- Isaiah 43:6-7, I
shall not fail.” Unlike those who usually confess negatively saying “that is
how God wants it, there is nothing I can do about it”. These kinds of
statements are lies from the pit of hell. Who said God wants it that way? Wake
up and be the real person God programmed you to be.
YOUTH AND CREATIVITY
“If
you are trying to achieve a goal, there will be roadblocks, I have had them,
everybody has had them, but obstacles don’t have to stop you, if you run into a
wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it,
or work around it” - Michael Jordan.
The
second quote from a popular basket ball player reminds me of youngsters who
quit at the slightest instance of challenge or run away from life’s pressure. These
youths, who I consider as the live wire of any nation, seem to be the worst
victim of this phenomenon. Many have failed to realize that the art of success
lies in the process of facing challenges. According to Normal Vincent Peale, “When God wants to send you a gift, he
wraps it up in a problem. The bigger the gift that God wants to send you, the
bigger problem he wraps it up in.” Napoleon Hill in one of his books wrote,
within every problem or challenge lies
the seed of greater opportunity or benefit. Your job is to find it.
This page is however, dedicated to all youths who are almost giving up and running
away from their God giving responsibilities. Woodron Wilson reminded me that, “leadership does not always wear the harness
of compromise.”
So each time you are about throwing up the towel, think
about this; as a youth, you are a dealer
in hope- Napoleon Bonaparte. Youth is the most powerful and creative force
God has ever created. In all his assignments and responsibilities, He made use
of almost 85% of the youths in the bible. We have heard the stories of people
like Abel, Isaac, Joseph, Daniel, and the three Hebrew youths, see Daniel 1; 17.
In the New Testament we had the like of Jesus Christ, Silas, Timothy, among others.
In
this our modern age, the basic question we should ask ourselves is this, are
the modern youths excluded from this God giving responsibilities or the youths
themselves have ignored their responsibilities? How can we become creative and
purposeful to our God, the family we belong, friends, relatives and the society
at large? Yes, the answer is simply yes, we can, if only we are ready to apply
the following simple secrets:
1.
DEVELOPING THE “I CAN MENTALITY” Your success has nothing to do with God. God has
given us the will power to either
succeed or fail (Deut. 30:19). It is your personal decision that makes the
difference. Now note this, your brain has two cell mechanisms, one of these is
the cell mechanism for success and the other is the “cell mechanism
for failure.” It is what is activated inside of you that determine which of
this mechanism function effectively. One thing you must know is that, the cell
mechanism for failure is always at work, you do not need much to activate it
but you need so much to control and reduce its influence. It is the only part
of the human nature that is at work unconsciously. You do not need any lesson
to activate the brain cell of failure, but you need so much to control it. That
is the reason people do not learn how to be lazy, dull, dormant, and poor (spiritually,
mentally and psychologically).
You can just be sleeping while others are at
works and you achieve failure. Proverbs 6:10-11 rightly said it “ A little sleep, a little slumber, a
little folding of the hands to rest and your poverty (failure) will come upon
you like a vagabond and want like an armed man”. You see the benefits of
being a failure. You do not need to struggle to become a failure (poverty). You
do not need much to remain poor. What you need is just eat and sleep while
others are at work. You do not need neither planning nor commitment, simply sit
down and do nothing and you will achieve poverty. For one thing is sure, the
easiest thing to do is doing nothing.
But when it comes to the
success mechanism, it requires so much energy, planning and creativity. You
must understand that it takes so much more to activate the success cell mechanism.
It takes so much to nurture to seed or the brain cell of success to grow in the
right direction of life. This is the reason you see successful men doing a
whole lot of planning, commitment, and dedication. They put their mind and
brain to work even when they are sleeping. Napoleon Hill in his book “Think and
Grow Rich” put it this way; “whatever
the mind of a man can conceive and believe; it can also achieve.” Unlike
the failure mechanisms where you do not have to do much work to activate it
except you control it. The success mechanism requires the specify foods such as
prayer, that is why II Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing” meaning continue to feed the spiritual man
(the brain cell of success). Philippians 4:8 put it this way,” whatsoever that
is true, honorable, just, fair, excellence, pure,
grace, lovely, anything worth of praise (success) think
about those things, and continue to feed your brain cell of success with those
things. Very unfortunately, many have activated the mechanism for failure and
locked up the mechanism for success knowingly or unknowingly.
“Your thought determines your purpose,
your purpose go forth into
action; actions form habits, habits decide characters and character fixes your
destiny-
Tryon Edward.”
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