The year 2020 started with a whole lot of excitement for everybody, so many prophecies have been given earlier to us and we were all ready to take the year by the horn and do all God will have us do in it. The fact that it is the beginning of another decade takes the excitement to a whole new level.

It's quite saddening that in less than three months into this glorious year we have been looking forward to, there is a report of a virus known to be responsible for killing people in their thousands. Whatever might be the origin of the virus is not up for debate today, but how can we best handle this pandemic situation that has put the whole world on hold is what we will be looking at.

A lot is happening all over the world due to this pandemic, people are dying, others are getting depressed and others are contemplating or committing suicide because of how affected they are with the aftermath of the situation.

People are losing their jobs, others are receiving pay-cut and some are not even been paid at all and still, we still have to keep surviving against all the odds.

Keep Choosing Joy.

While we might not know why all these seem to be happening and it seems our lives aren’t going exactly as we planned it at the beginning of the year, but in the midst of it all, keep choosing joy.

Why we have to keep choosing Joy is because it is a choice. We have the choice to choose between joy and the spirit of heaviness, and it is so glaring that there is so much heaviness everywhere. Even if you aren’t directly affected by the pandemic, the heaviness in the air just has a way of rubbing off on you if you’ll allow it.

Were you looking forward to graduating this year, but with the situation of things, it’s beginning to look like your graduation this year is a big joke. Keep choosing Joy.

Were you already thinking of hosting a program somewhere and the lockdown seems just be affecting the way you have things all mapped out? Keep choosing joy.

Were you supposed to start work in another office but you can’t even do that because of the situation in the world? Keep choosing Joy.

You can choose to be moody about what isn’t working or you can choose to be joyful irrespective of all going on around.

Everyone is experiencing the effects of the pandemic in one way or the other, while there is little we can do about what is going on the outside, but we can do a lot in controlling how we react to it and how we allow it affect us.

Things You Can Do To Keep Your Heart Joyful

Set Your Heart On The Father’s Love

The pandemic is not as a result of God’s punishment on us, and while the pandemic might have the whole world literally turned inside out, it is not in any way indicating that the Father doesn’t love us anymore.

You are still deeply loved by the father.

If there is anything you can keep banking on during this time, then it is God’s love.

Even When You Can’t See It, All things work together for good.

Romans 8:28 NLT       

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

I know this is a scripture preachers often quote when things aren’t going as planned or when they can’t see how the current situation will end, but indeed keeping this thought in mind is for our own good.

I believe that by the time this pandemic will be over, we will through the help of God have become wiser and better, and we will come out with a resolve to live life better than we have been living it.

We might not understand how all these means good, but in the end, we will see the good it was doing for us.

God has all things figured out, and it is going to be in your favor. He is working for you and not against you.

Guard Your Heart

This isn’t the time to just let any news keep coming into your heart. You have known almost all you need to know about the virus; it’s time to guard your heart. Do not allow bad news linger around you. You can’t stay joyful when you keep following the increase in the number of dead people around.

Don’t allow bad news.

Be careful of the thoughts you allow to take root in your heart.

Keep confessing positive things only.

Don’t lose your heart.

Create Out Time To Study God’s Word.

In a time like this, the word of God is a succor from everything going on in life, there is little or no good news anywhere again, but we rejoice because there is plenty of good news for us in the scriptures, there are so many good things that God has promised us in His Word, and while we might not be able to trust the health sector, God can be trusted because he always comes through on his word.

Create out time to feast on the word and keep warring with the words God has given you and that which He will give you.

Keep choosing Joy in spite of all the happenings around, we will come out of this entire situation better and with our faith increased.

Talk To A Friend

There are times when this sense of helplessness/hopelessness just comes your way and then it feels so overwhelming. The best of us also have our days.

When things like that happen, that might be a good time to talk to a friend. Just hearing the voice of a friend over the phone can be all you need for that weight of heaviness to be pulled off your shoulders.

Do not underestimate the power of a good community/friends. Have a friend or two who can bring you out of whatever pit you find yourself slipping into.

And when you are talking to that friend, be as sincere as possible.

Become Better

Fill in the time you have in your hands with things that are worthwhile. Remember that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.

This is a time to do those things you have been rescheduling for a long time. Find out what God would have you focus on in this season and time and follow them through.

There is a level of satisfaction that comes when you are doing the things assigned to you per time, find out what they are and start walking in it.

When all of these is over, there will be a new normal; make sure a new you will be coming out new too.

All of these will soon be over, Keep Choosing Joy!

Let me end with this scripture.

2 Cor 4:16

So I am not giving up. How could I! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on me, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

Not all Christians will have a full-time ministry job or will be serving God in the church premises full time. And due to the fact that we won’t always be in church or with other believers most of the time, then in our offices, we are bound to meet people who aren’t Christians, or people who are just neutral about God as the person next door.

While some people are of the opinion that they can only be the best they can possibly be only when they are in the church or amidst other believers, but that isn’t entirely true as we get to spend more time at work than we spend even with our biological families.

In doubt? Then let’s consider the time-frame we spend at work versus the time we spend with members of our immediate family.

Let’s start from the first workday of the week which is Monday, using my home as an example.

We wake up by 5:30am and have family devotion till 6am, after which some go back to rest for additional time and others start preparing for the day ahead. I leave home at about 7:20am in the morning because my official resumption is 9:00am. From 9:00am till 5:30pm in the evening, I have a new set of family at work and after work hours, I start a journey of about one and a half hours' journey back home. 

I get home around 6:30 or 7:00 in the night, and the next thing after greeting my Lord and my parent is food. I finish eating and then just probably read, attend one online meeting or the other or go out for a prayer walk. By time I am through with any of those things I decide to do, it is time for corporate night prayers after which everyone retires for the night, and this same schedule continues the next day, and the day after it, until the week ends.

On Saturdays, I try to indulge in a little more rest which is subject to if I am going for a program or going for a function which is so rare, I wash my clothes, have a personal in-depth bible study and just try to stay off the media until much later in the day. Sunday comes, we go to church and there are days my parents might not come back home until much later in the evening. 

We have a nice time teasing each other or just me disturbing my dad, sort out clothes for the week, and in few hours time, the 7:20 am cycle continues the following day which is Monday. While I might only spend a few hours every week just chit-chatting with my family (although Covid-19 made sure we had enough time to chit-chat), I spend most of my active waking hours with some set of people.

While your weekly schedule might be similar to mine or totally different, it still holds true that we all spend more time at work than we do in church, at home or any other place for that matter.

So, how do we shine our light in this market place?

1.     

     Know What Your Values Are

While some offices are different from others, but knowing who you are as a person and what your value system is  before getting into the office environment will help you stay away from  going in the way that you know isn’t pleasing God. 

Knowing what you hold dear would serve as a bedrock for you to make sure you do not do anything which is contrary to your faith.

The office environment is a very funny environment, and if you don't determine what your values are before time, you might find yourself doing things you never thought you could ever do, one of which is engaging in an extra-marital affair with one of the married men around.

2.     Be Careful Of Office Gossip

You can’t shine the light of Christ within you in your office and keep gossiping about other members of staff. You can’t always be found in the company of those who are always back-biting someone else.

One golden rule to be able to know if you’re gossiping or not is to ask yourself this question

‘If I am called to repeat every word I am saying at the moment, will I be able to repeat every single word, or will I feel like the ground should burst open so I can enter into it?

While some colleagues would be seemingly no-so-good, but determine not to be a talebearer.

You can’t be found gossiping and want to proclaim God at the same time.

Being careful of office gossip is not the same as being a snub, just be careful of all the words you listen to and that which comes out of your mouth.

3.     Be The Best You Can Be

Oh!

This point cannot be over emphasized.

Our life as Christians is not only in the fluency of our tongues or in the number of hours we can spend studying the word or praying. Our superiors/colleagues at work won’t get to see all of that, but they see how we do our job, they see how we strive to make sure we are giving our best to the task being assigned to us.

There are people who will be drawn to our God and His kingdom just on the wings of how we do our job and how well we do them.

If you’re one of those who feel a job is just what I have to do in order to earn a monthly income, then it is high time you started changing that mindset, our job serve as a tool in God’s hands to bring glory to His name. There are certain people who won’t go to church, but they can come to the Light based on our conduct and the way we approach things in the office.

There are times when our actions speak louder than any word  that could ever come out of our mouth.

It isn’t enough to be known just as the lady who is on natural hair in your department or the man who doesn’t involve himself in lewd jokes with other members of staff, be that SU who is also talked about on how efficient she is with the way she uses relevant software and tools, be that SU brother who they know can pray because of the times he had to lead prayers during meetings, but take it a step further by being known for how you use your capacities to the best of your knowledge to also promote the company you’re working with.

 Have A Mind Of An Ambassador

An ambassador is someone sent on a mission from a particular place to another location. While this person might be living in that land, he is not entirely a citizen of that place and this is shown by the way he conducts himself throughout his stay as he is aware that anything he does goes a long way to prove to the citizens of the land how things are done where he comes from.

Whether we sleep, eat or work, we are to do all to the glory of the Father and of his son; Christ.

This is one heart I am consistently praying to God to have while on this side of eternity, the heart that although I am here on planet heart, but I do not fully belong to this realm.

You might be working for XYZ Group of companies, but you are only there as an ambassador of the kingdom you represent and everything you do there must reflect that fact.

From the way your office space is orderly, to how you treat other members of staff who are lower on the corporate ladder to you, to how you meet with deadlines, to how you close great sales for your company (if yours is a target-based company), to the excellence with which you do your job.

I am pretty sure some of the above listed can be a very daunting task and can be very overwhelming, as your corporate life isn’t the only dimension of you that exist, some people have to juggle the ball of being a father/mother, head of the ushering department in church, being a mentor to teens amidst other things. But in all, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.

On days when your heart is overwhelmed with different responsibilities, ask the Lord to lead you to a rock that is higher than you.

Superiors and colleagues should not be able to find fault in the things we do, while some would never give us thumbs up even if we walk with our heads, but we should make sure we are blameless before God. Then and only then can they be drawn to us and we then can get to witness to them the power which works on the inside of us and who makes all the seemingly good things we do possible.

We might find ourselves in the corporate world for a life-time or only for a season of life until our master calls us on to other assignments, either way, we are called to conduct ourselves in ways that befit a child of the Kingdom.`

Related: 7 Lessons I Have Learnt In The Corporate World

I love attending conferences and programs amidst other things to invest in my personal development, this is because I have come to realize that the degree of the quality of the life I live is proportional to the God I know and the information I have access to and use overtime.

Before the day, when I saw On the e-flier that a judge was going to be among the speakers, I was excited as I looked forward to her bringing us real-life issues from what she sees in her day-to-day life and I wasn’t in any way disappointed.

The theme of the conference was UNSHAKABLE: House On The Rock

 

What I gained from the Honorable

1.       ~ Marriage is sacred and was instituted by God himself

2.      ~  God desires Godly seeds from marriage and that is why it is such a big deal

3.      ~  Preparation for the institution must be more of internal than external

4.      ~ Values must be well defined

5.       ~ Excuses should not be made for bad behavior in one’s partner or oneself

6.      ~ Marriage is as spiritual as it is physical

She also mentioned the different stages of marriage

~ Honeymoon stage

~Reality stage

~Cooperation stage

~Reunion stage

~ Explosion stage

One of the real-life issues she shared was about a man he suddenly woke up one day and decided that he was tired of his wife and children. He wanted a divorce and the matter was brought to the desk of honorable's table and although she dissolved the marriage based on what they wanted, she made sure the man kept paying the bills of the woman as well as the children. She went as liaising with the company the ma worked for so that the account was set up in such a way that the upkeep was deducted straight from his account even before the salary hit his account.

Part of me was excited that the man got just what he deserved and that the wife and children wouldn’t be subjected to suffering just because their father wanted out of his marriage, another part of me prayed against having to deal with that in my own marriage. I indeed left there with a renewed resolve to build my Home On The Rock.

Mrs. Adesakin’s session was lit!

She is a financial expert who loves to give her lecture using acronyms and the same was done during the SMTO. The word she gave was SINGLE and this is the breakdown

S- Structure

She advised us to put more structure into our finances.

Budgeting comes under this and I have written something along this path, you can read about it here.

She mentioned a profound statement under this point that I have held on to ever since then.

It was a response she gave to a frequently asked question about how we can do things even when the government structure is saying otherwise. The question was about how she was able to store up food in the fridge in her home despite the epileptic light situation we have here in Nigeria.

This is my understanding of the response she gave

‘If the system of the government is not working, do your own structure in such a way that the system around your own life is working’

I doubt if I’ll ever forget that statement my entire life.

 

I -Investment

This is spending on something that has economic value.

Investment was likened to buying something that will go into the future with you

 

N- Net worth

This is simply subtracting your assets from what you owe others.

If what you owe is higher than what you have, then you have a negative net worth, while if what you have is greater than what you owe then you have a positive net worth and the goal is to make sure you consistently stay within the positive side of the equilibrium.

 

G- Growth

To be able to increase your earning, then you need to grow. Increase your talent, skill, and knowledge.

Growth must be pursued in all aspects of life.

 

l- Learner

Be an all-time learner

Keep learning as there is always one new skill to learn.

 

E – Earn

Have a legitimate means of earning money.

 

She mentioned three Ms of money

M- Make Money

M- Manage Money

M- Multiply Money

 

It was a great time in God’s presence, and I am eagerly looking forward to SMTO 6.0 if Christ tarries.