SUCCEEDING WITH PRINCIPLES

THE AVERAGE AFRICAN BELIEVES IN LUCK. He believes that this world is
under the control of some extraneous and overwhelming forces that man
should not bother to control. That tends to deaden the rational part
of his brain. He is unable to do things he should do to exercise
control over his environment and circumstances. This irrational
thinking has laid the foundation for our belief in luck or fate.
Because success is so scarce around here, we tend to think that the
few people who achieve success only make it by a stroke of luck. We
need to abandon that mindset.
When success does not rest on principles, it is temporary. It is like
building a house on sand. The house is standing because the weather is
favourable. However, when bad weather comes, the house will collapse.
The person who builds on principles has no fear when the wind is
blowing. It does not matter whether the weather is favourable or not.
All those building their lives and pursuits on unstable ground will
have to look for you when instability comes into their lives. When
your life is built on principles, your sense of security, success and
worth comes from inside.
Principles are unchanging truths or universal facts. Our world is
under the control of principles. The more you understand those
principles and satisfy their conditions, the more mastery you have in
our world to get your dreams and aspirations fulfilled. Principles are
external road maps; if you are travelling, you do not need to invent
your own map, especially if you do not know the road. The thing to do
is get an authentic road map and follow the directions. That is what
principles are, they give us directions, and they make decisions easy
for us in life.
Until we align with principles, we cannot tap into the power that God
has reserved for us for the achievement of great visions.
The discovery of principles results in a paradigm shift for you. Many
things in life are unpredictable. On the other hand, principles make
life predictable. They are fixed, they do not move for circumstances
and people, people and circumstances move for them.
There is an old story of a captain who was piloting a ship at night.
Then he saw another ship far – off, at least he saw light. He went on
the radio, got the frequency of the other ship, and said, “I am coming
in the direction, move” The person speaking from the other end
replied, “You are the one that has to move.” This man said again “I am
captain so and so. This is the name of this vessel, I am set on this
course and I am not going to change course, you are the one that must
change course.” The voice on the radio insisted, “You are the one that
must change course; I am not going to move.” With anger, the captain
said, “I am giving you the last warning now. I am the captain of this
ship and this is the name of this vessel, move now”
Then the man at the other end said, “WELL, I am the man in charge of
the light house.” (A lighthouse is a tall round tower with a powerful
light that stands in the middle of a river or sea to guide sailors).
The man thought it was a ship, but the moment he heard that it was a
lighthouse he quickly changed course.
I am trying to make a point. Your personal beliefs are formed largely
by the experiences you have had over time. Some people, for example,
believe that all men are the same. Some believe all women are the
same. Some hold certain beliefs about specific nationalities. They
believe some are not to be trusted, some are not neat, some love money
and so on. Now these are not principles, they are just opinions and
prejudices. However, when you come across a principle like love, you
realize it is not going to change; you are the one that has to change.
If you decide to plant your maize seed at the wrong season, it will
not grow. If you choose to align with the principle and plant at the
right season, you get a harvest. When you shift your paradigm in
alignment with principles, you experience transformation and get
better results. Those results inspire people to follow you.

For prayer, Praise report, Counselling or further inquiry, write to
pastoritawisdom@gmail.com or itamani@yahoo.com

how do you see failure

1. Lucille Ball’s (I Love Lucy) career didn’t start off so well. She was once dismissed from drama school for being too quiet and shy.

2. Big companies that have gone bankrupt:
- Quaker Oats (3 times)
- Pepsi-Cola (3 times)
- Borden’s
- Aunt Jemima
- Wrigley’s (3 times)

3. Clint Eastwood was once told by a Universal Pictures executive that his future wasn’t very promising. The man said, “You have a chip on your tooth, your Adam’s apple sticks out too far, and you talk too slow.”

4. Albert Einstein did poorly in elementary school, and he failed his first college entrance exam at Zurich Polytechnic. But he became one of the greatest scientists in the history of the world.

5. Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.

What if these people listened to the naysayers and gave up? What if they let their negative experiences stop them from pushing on?

Many of their great contributions and successes would be lost.

How does that fit into your life? Are you letting the negative setbacks pull you down? There are always going to be people who can’t see what you see. There will always be circumstances that shape your thinking and slowly begin to cause you to lose that drive and determination you may have once had. The key though, is to never give up and do what you feel is right. Constantly reinvent yourself and what you do. If you come across someone who doesn’t believe or share the same vision you have, be reminded that God gave YOU the vision to fulfill a certain purpose. Sometimes others just don’t see the same thing because God gave them a different vision to pursue.

Live out your dreams, stay focused and change the world.