Hey Blog Fam,

Trust we're all doing great.

Sister girl wasn't here last Thursday, I was a little bit down physically, but we are feeling better now, to God be the glory!

Let's move right into today's post.

I know I am not the only one who feels like it was just yesterday when the year started and we were all pumped up with goals and the things we would want to achieve.

We set our smart goals, created structures that would make our goals achievable, but like play like play, three months is almost rolling out of the new year that came to us.

At this time, most organizations are already planning on having a quarterly review, for some it will be just a day, while others will take longer period of time to be able to measure the growth or decline that they have recorded in the first three months of the year.

I sincerely believe quarterly review is an integral part of every life, not just something some multi-millionaire company do, but something essential for anyone who is building anything worthwhile with his/her life.

A quarter is almost ending out of the four quarters we have have in a year, what are you supposed to do?

Take a full day off everything you're doing, even if you don't have the luxury of having a full day off to yourself, how about having three-six hours for yourself.

Go back to the goals that you wrote down when the year was starting, look at them and measure your growth by yourself.

You said you would pray more this year, have you been able to do that?

You said this is the year you are reading the bible through, are you still on track, or have you missed more than 35 days in your plan already?

You said this is the year you'll be hitting your first seven-figures or eight-figures through savings and investments, look at how far gone in the right direction that you are.

You said this is the year you'll be reading two books per month, are you on your sixth book at the moment?

Are you hitting all your targets?

Is there something you are not doing right?

Most people do not like to review their goals because it makes them feel like failures, this is because sometimes life doesn't go as planned, believe me when I say I fully understand how you feel.

At the beginning of the year, you wrote down your goals and it was looking so real that you could almost touch it, then three months down the line, life makes it  look like you were just joking when you  wrote those things down.

I know how much it hurts to even look at those goals when you're in a season where you are just living a day at a time, but irrespective of that, you still need to review those goals.

While disruptions happen, things that we didn't plan for happens  sometimes, but in the midst of it all, you must keep moving forward. The destination in itself is not what we are striving for, it is the process, so enjoy all of it. 

Are you smashing your goals in every aspect, well done! Keep up the good work.

Do you need improvement in some areas, by all means, please be truthful to yourself.

For those who live in Nigeria, Easter break is coming next week Friday, and it comes with two days off work, both the Good Friday and Easter Monday, don't just use those days to go visiting and binge watch several films on Netflix or YouTube, all of that is good, but your life is more important.

Take out some hours of that free time to review your life, take stock!

The year is running out fast, and either we do anything with the time or not, it won't wait for us, so the best we can do is to make sure we are using the time well, and we are to make sure that we are moving in the right direction we believe God will have us move in this season of life.

Before we know it, December is here, but before the year ends, let it be said of us that we did the best we were strengthened to do. 

A year well spent doesn't just come, it is as a result of consistent moves in the right direction.

All will end well...

There is so much light***

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Hey Blog Fam,

Trust we're doing great and following hard after those things the Lord has place in our hearts and hands.

Finishing Strong is one of the books I read in February, 2021, I got so blessed by it, and I decided to share some of the lessons I learnt from the book here.

The book was written for men, but since everyone (both male and female) have the desire to finish their race on earth strong, then this book is not exclusive to men alone.

So, let's dive right into the lessons I learnt from the book.

1. Everyone Wants To Finish Strong But Not Everyone Will

I was surprised seeing the author write this, I mean if I want to finish my faith-walk strong, isn't that desire alone capable of ensuring that I finish strong, but no.

So many people want to finish strong, but not everyone will. 

This is not God's fault, because we as human also have a big part to play even as God helps us in our decisions

2. There Are Ambushes On The Way

This is what brings the first into clearer perspective, while everyone wants to finish strong, not everyone will as a result of falling into one of these three ambushes;

- Ambush of another woman (man)

- Ambush of money

- Ambush of a neglected family

These Ambushes are real, and how you'll finish depends on how you are able to overcome falling into these traps.

3. Some People Will Finish Not Strong But So-So

We all know what it means to finish a race strong, it means that at the end of the race you're still standing, but finishing so-so, is that although one finishes the race, but such individual didn't finish strong.

Steve gave some examples of those who finished so-so in the scriptures, people like David, Hezekiah.

Then their lifestyles were studied so that we as believers today, since we don't want to finish so-so, can learn from them. It is only important that we learn from the lives of those who fell in-between their race and take cues from them on what to avoid on our journey.

4. Teachability Is Key

If there is one person who will finish this race well, then that person will be one who is teachable.

There was a part of the book when the author mentioned how he visited a place and a lady was asking him what kind of man will be worth marrying, and out of all the qualities Steve could have mentioned, he mentioned Teachability, and I could not have agreed more with him.

Our world is always changing, bringing with it new ideas and all.

Anyone who thinks he knows it all is only one step away from discovering that he actually knows nothing.

If we want to indeed finish strong, we must remain teachable both to God and to the people who have authority in our lives.

Teachability is indeed an important bedrock if indeed we will finish this race well.

5. There Are Failures That Helps Us Finish Strong

I love this chapter.

There are times when life doesn't go as we have figured it out, and this is the time the Lord is taking us through some courses in order to get a degree.

It is not a B.Sc degree or even an MBA, this particular degree is called M.C.A (Masters in Character Acquisition)

If we look into every aspect of our lives, we will know that we need to take this course in the school of the Spirit too.

The failures we experience most times are building character in us.

There are some lessons we might never learn in life until we reach rock bottom, those places when it is just you and God (Trust me when I say I know what this really means).

To get this masters, there are four courses

* Unemployment 101

This is a time in your life when you can't seem to land a job. 

It is not every time that believers can't seem to get a job that is from the devil, there are times when the Lord is training you and taking you through this process to better refine you.

Remember that it when we are at our lowest points that we really look upward.

* Advanced obscurity

This is a course that a seemingly popular person takes, considering the life of Moses, he was quite popular and all of a sudden in Egypt being the son of Pharoah's daughter, then somethings happened and he had to run away from everyone who knows him to a land where he was not known.

Yours might not be to run away, yours might  be something that takes you from the limelight into a dark place. 

In that seemingly unlited place, God is there teaching you lessons that you might not have learnt if you were still up and about.

* Remedial waiting

I hate waiting for things.

I know most of us do too.

But this is such an compulsory course in this masters program.

The world is such a busy place, with everything moving at a speed of light, but then comes a time when we have to wait.

Some are waiting to have a job.

Others are waiting to get a promotion at work.

For another, it is waiting to conceive a child.

Another is waiting to be married.

And the list continues...

We all have what we are waiting for, but while we wait, character is being moulded in us.

And at the end of that session, the Lord will make all things beautiful.

* Intermediate loneliness

Yes, there are times that in the midst of our very active lives, there will be season of loneliness.

In the author's words

Loneliness is never a pleasant experience.

But God, in his wisdom, at times will seperate us from our normal network of family and friends.

Isolation is a time to get to know Him better.

I really gained a lot from the pages of this book, and I'd encourage you to add this book to your reading list to further learn how to finish strong.

We won't be on earth forever, there will be a day when we will take our last breathe, so it is only important that we learn how we will be finish strong when our journey on earth is over.

At the end of the day, we will finish strong.

To get a e- copy of this book, click Here

Hey Blog Fam,

Today, like the topic already indicated, we’re talking about how to get more intimate with our Father by talking with him.

I know a lot of us see or hear people who say they pray for two hours straight and you are wondering if you can ever be like that too, especially if you have never prayed for twenty minutes on your own.

A major thing that makes most of us believers not to seek God is because we think that certain people are expected to pray that much, or only some kind of people e.g pastors are those who have been called into ministry and so they need to create out time to talk to God.

Contrary to that opinion, we all have to seek God, not only because we are full-time minsters of the gospel,  and come to think of that word full-time, we are all full-time ministers of the gospel, just that pastors are pulpit ministers while the rest of us who go out to work have a ministry in the market place that doesn't involve the pulpit, if there is one thing is common to us all, it is the fact that we are all full-time ministers and children of God.

The enemy of our soul launches his attacks on us all, and he doesn't care if you're a pastor or just some random guy in the ushering department, or just some lady who sings in the choir.

If there is one weapon in our arsenal that we believers can't afford to joke with, then it is prayer. 

With that been said, let’s jump right into how you can have a consistent prayer life.

1.        1.   It Is Not A Day Job

The human mind loves going from zero to hundred in a few moments, but for anything that must be sustained, it can’t be so. 

For you who have never prayed for thirty minutes on your own before, then after you hear a powerful sermon, you get all geared up and you write in your to-do list for the next day how you want to pray for two hours stretch.

More often than not, such steam usually don't last

No one who communes with God for a long period of time  will claim that they have being like that from the beginning of their faith walk. 

It is a gradual process, and just like anything that is valuable, it will take time.

So instead of moving from no prayer life to spending three hours which you might not be able to sustain tomorrow, why not start from twenty minutes, increase to thirty minutes, then increase to forty-five minutes, before you know it, you’re already praying for one hour, and it can only get better from there.

This knowledge is important for every other thing you'll be reading in this post.

2.     2.   Go For Prayer Walks

Oh, Prayer walk!

I don’t know how I’ll have been consistent in the place of prayer if I don’t go for prayer walk.

Prayer walk simply means praying as you walk, while this is not only restricted to when you only find yourself walking on the road, but this means that you leave home specifically with the mindset of going to pray as you walk around. This can be within your estate, on your street, or around your neighborhood.

This is how I currently pray in this season of my life. 

Most of my days, when I come back from work, I get home, eat, chit-chat with my mom and sis, and change from my office clothes to a more casual wear, and off I go. I do this almost everyday.

My prayer life has increased extensively because of this.

If you’d like to adopt this method of praying, I wrote a more detailed post on prayer walk here.

3.      3.   Pray With Friends

This is another way you can get to pray consistently.

Have days of the week where you pray with some of your friends.

If you struggle to pray on your own, a friend in your core can serve as someone to lift your hands.

Even if you do not struggle with praying, praying with friends is still a very important key in maintaining a prayer life.

Nothing beats hearing your friends pray on top of their voice over the phone or even physically with you.

Talk to one or two of your friends and see if you can pull this off.

4.     4.   Have A Prayer Focus For Each Day Of The Week

My God!

This really helps.

I first knew this was possible when I heard the General Overseer of my church say that he always prays for the singles on a particular day of the week every week.

I have heard him say this a couple of times but I never paid attention to it, but when I wanted to get serious about spending more time with God in the place of prayer, the Holy Spirit reminded me of that.

So, what I did was, I took out my journal that day, wrote down each day of the week, then wrote down different categories of my life that I would be focusing on in the place of prayer on that day every week.

So on Mondays, I know what my prayer focus is and same goes for every other day of the week.

This has really helped me in praying for every aspect of my life, and it has made sure that every aspect of my life is prayer-covered.

Please note here that, this doesn’t mean that God can’t impress on your mind certain things you should pray about, on those days, the impressions you get in your Spirit must be duly followed, but on other days, the focus of the day helps gear you up to pray and you aren’t just wondering what you should pray about when you start praying.

Like every important aspect of life, our prayer life deserves all the intentionality that we can give.

Aspects of life you can pray about includes but not restricted to;

Your walk with God

Your Family (Present and future)

Your Financial life

Your friends

Your Mentors/ Mentees  

The body of Christ (Christians all over the world)

Your Career/ Academics

You should also have a day of the week where you are not asking for anything, but just thanking God.  

5.       5.   Be Consistent

H   How you can be consistent is by being consistent.

The fact that you prayed one hour yesterday doesn’t mean you have prayed for the next two days.

Consistency is key.

Get better everyday.

There will be days where the last thing on your mind is keeping up with your  appointment with the Father, but you still have to do it. 

Believe me when I say I don't feel like praying every day, since mine does not involve kneeling down to pray, I have to be actively involved, but I still go ahead and do it all the same.

If you only do things in your life to only when you feel like, you'll never do the things you want to do, so we have to pray even when we don't feel like it.

6.      6.  Pray At Every Opportunity

Since there is a focus for everyday, you can’t afford to waste any day, so as you go through your daily activities, pray. Pray on that focus, while the climax will be at your scheduled place or time.

Are you waiting for your friend at the restaurant? Pray

Do you have few minutes in between meetings? Pray

Keep talking to God, He never gets tired of hearing you talk to Him.

7. Turn Up The Music

Songs are a powerful tool, they can change someone who was crying to a happy person within minutes, and they can turn someone smiling to someone who is lookin sober in the next minute.

Engage the use of song in your communion time with God.

There are one-thousand-and-one gospel music ministers scattered all over the world who bring different dimension of God to us. 

If you're having a hard time praying or getting into the flow, a spirit-birthed song might be all you need to get your spirit man stirred up.

I trust this post blesses you.

There is so much light***

Related Post

 HOW TO GET BACK TO PRAYING AFTER A LONG BREAK

HOW TO MAKE TIME FOR GOD EVEN WITH A BUSY SCHEDULE