ou Have What It Takes To Succeed

• By Bayo Ogunmupe

JEHOVAH gave him success in everything he did,’’ Genesis 39:3. That is my prayer for you. To succeed in anything however, there are certain attributes you must have. One, morals: What are you willing to do in order to get to where you want to be? You can’t get there just any kind of way. You must have boundaries. Now, all of us have broken the rules at sometime. But thank God, we had rules to break. We were able to realign ourselves because somebody had pitched a tent on where right is. Today, folks don’t care what is right. Two, methods: your methods are your roadmap. A goal without a plan is like a road to nowhere. First, the goal, then the plan and then the process. Adopting these simple three-step formula helps you understand that you won’t just leap into the middle of your dream, or get there overnight.

There are methods you must employ and stay with. Three, means: When God gives you a vision, look for His provisions. If you cannot find any, either the timing is wrong or what you want differs from what Jehovah wants for you. God’s provision may come as an idea that hits you suddenly or a thought that incubates in you over time.

Certainly, Jehovah’s provision will always involve the help of others, so walk in love wherever you go. Four, management: Jesus said, ‘‘To whom much is given, of him shall much be required,’’ Luke 12: 48. Though some people may think it is over when God gives it to you. No, it is just beginning. And guess what your biggest management challenge will be? Yourself. That is why David prayed, ‘‘Order my steps in thy word,’’ Psalm 119:133. Most manufactures are imitations of nature. Aeroplanes are imitations of birds and the like. The Columbia space shuttle’s guidance system starts only when it is several miles up in space. The point is, God’s guidance system kickstarts when you are in motion. That means you have to move around, you must not get stuck in the same spot praying. God said, ‘‘you will hear from Me once you have done what I’ve already put before you.’’ Sometimes we know what God wants, but we don’t like it. So we pray hoping Jehovah will change His mind and rubber-stamp what we desire.

Likewise, ‘‘By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going,’’ Heb. 11:8. When you follow God you will go out not knowing as much as you would like to. Advisers, study groups, think tanks, business plans and projections notwithstanding, there comes a time when you have to move in God’s direction. Just as your car’s lights don’t shine round the next corner or over the next corner or over the next hill, God will give you direction on an ‘‘as need to know’’ basis. That was why Paul wrote: ‘‘We walk by faith, not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7. Indeed, that is the only way to go. It keeps you closer to the creator. God’s guidance system from where Columbia’s space shuttle was coined, usually takes a lifetime to learn.

God guides us by closing one door before opening another. Abraham didn’t know where he was to go, but he knew he could not stay where he was. That was enough to create movement in the right direction. Knowing you cannot stay where you are is often the starting point of Jehovah’s guidance. That was the time to move. In Paul’s dream, he saw a man in Macedonia, Greece, pleading with him, ‘‘Come over here and help us,’’ That settled it, Paul went over to Greece. God was sending him there to preach the gospels. Paul believed his gift to God was his willing heart and his mobility and that God’s gift to him was that He would always guide him to where he needed to be. What God prevents, denies or keeps us away from, is as much divine guidance as what He permits and opens up to us. Every door that didn’t open, every opportunity you didn’t get is as much divine guidance as those that clicked, so learn to live according to the will of Allah.

But we have seen how some missed their destinies by shunning principles and being attracted by filthy lucre. Bola Ige missed his opportunity of running for a life in Aso Villa through accepting to serve in Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet. Also some of our respected leaders, either through religious fanaticism or ethnic hatred, missed presidential slots and renown through dumping parties they helped build and missing the glory of achievement. Just to tell you that you can miss your opportunities by misreading divine guidance.

Our champion today is Karl Donitz, the German naval commander and creator of Germany’s World War II U-boat fleet which wreaked havoc on the Allies in World War II. He also succeeded Adolf Hitler as German head of state. Born in 1891 in Berlin Dotnitz entered the German navy as a teenager. He served as a submarine officer in the Black Sea and the Medilerranean in World War I, after Hitler came to power he supervised the creation of a U-boat fleet over which he was appointed commander in 1936.

In the middle of World War II in 1943, he was called to replace Admiral Erich Raeder as commander in chief of the German navy. His royalty and ability soon won him the confidence of Hitler. In April 1945, shortly before the collapse of the Nazi regime, Hitler appointed Donitz head of the northern military and civil command. Finally in his testament Hitler named Donitz his successor as president, minister of war and commander in chief of the armed forces of Germany. Assuming the reins of government in May, 1945, Donitz retained office till the end of the war In 1946 he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Tribunal at Nurnberg. Released from prison in 1956, and retired on government pension, Donitz published his memoirs in 1958. He died in December, 1980.