IMPACT OR DEPART By Aleele Paago

Earlier on in this series, I had advised that the Holy Spirit’s role in your life is not restricted to speaking in unknown tongues. That is a gross underutilisation of the power of God. You cannot live in an environment with so much challenges and problems and all you do day after day, night after night is to speak in tongues and bind demons! Right next door to you is an unbeliever, who is moved by the problems of his society to do something. He comes up with an invention to make life easier, cure a disease, or provide entertainment. Who do you think has blessed humanity more? Who do you think heaven is more interested in blessing? Oh, yes heaven will bless you because you are born again, but heaven will make the unbeliever richer and famous and as earth remains celebrated, because heaven delights in blessing the works of our hands.

I am tired of a brand of Christianity that has nothing to show for it. Christianity was not intended to be practiced in church halls on Sundays. The founder said, “Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” Matt 10:16

Read it carefully, snake is a symbol of satan, wolves are eternal enemies of sheep. We are sent out to live our faith right in the face of the world. He said we should be as WISE as the serpent. Why then do we allow the children of the serpent to take the lead in inventions and business? We start by condemning the inventions, then when they have revolutionised society we shamefacedly embrace it. Heaven is tired of this. Heaven is looking for youths who will stand head to head in every field of human endeavour and demonstrate the power of Christ. It is not only in singing and dancing that we should excel.

C’mon! There is more to the Christian youth than that. The TV was invented by a Christian. The first artificial heart transplant surgery, the hearing aid, the traffic light, CD and DVD were all invented by people from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What invention can you boast of from your own church? When will your youth fellowship move beyond dance and drama groups, to inventions and business youthprenuers? If you are a youth leader and you are not thinking in this direction, I suggest you bury your head in shame and cry until heaven gives you the vision of the role of the emerging Church in Nigeria. If you are serious about positioning your church and your youths for these new roles, DeepWords will gladly offer to have a session with you. It will be mind-blowing.

Let’s go beyond lip service. We must either impact or depart from the scene. Everyone has a role to play in this.  

God bless Nigeria. God bless Nigerian Christian youths.

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian confidently Christ-like

SHOW ME YOUR BP NOT DP By Aleele Paago

What makes one country better than the other?

Egypt was once the most successful and most powerful nation. Why? Was it her chariots, her army, the Nile or her gods? It was none of these. It was her human capital as measured in her intellectual property. Egypt invented the science of writing; started astrology that budded into the various branches of mathematics, physics, and architecture and so on. Probably the first ever university was in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Greeks took over by sending their best brains to understudy the Egyptian university. Again, the era of the Greek dominance was not because of their military prowess, but the quality of their intellectual property. Think of the great philosophers.

Nations wax and wane on this one factor more than anything else. The British once claimed that “the sun never sets on the British empire…” But they were ill prepared for the technological age that they started with the invention of the steam engine (Thomas Newcomen and James Watts). It was the beginning of the industrial revolution.

From the moment that America took the lead in the development of computers (at the Universities of Iowa and Pennsylvania), ushering in the space age and the information age, there is no doubt who the world superpower is. It is not a measure of the weapons of mass destruction available to each nation, or the size of their military, but a measure of their brainpower.
 

Of the top 100 Universities in the world 54 are in USA. Of the top 20, 17 are in the USA, 2 in UK and 1 in Japan. As at 2014, the US has 353 Nobel Prize laureates, followed ‘closely’ by UK with 114! Do you now see where the super power comes from? Intellectual property! By comparison Nigeria has only 1 Nobel laureate.

 
The difference between leaders and followers is best measured in brainpower (BP) and not how fine your DP is. Does it not bother you as a Christian youth that your country is not excelling in this regard? Forget the crap about environment and our schools not being at an optimum. If you are reading this, you have access to more information than a professor in any country of the world did just 15 years ago. If you are not using these resources, please blame yourself.

I hope today’s entry makes you realize that what will take this country to the top is not the government in power, but the brainpower of the nation – symbolised by we the Christian youths.

I am here to make a difference. What about you?

“And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm” Daniel 1:20 (KJV).
That is BP.

 
I pledge to God my Creator, to develop and use my brainpower to solve a national problem. So help me God!

Tweet this: Followers have sweet DP, leaders have great BP (BrainPower)  #DeepWords

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christlike

PROPPORTUNITY By Aleele Paago

Life is full of ups and downs, nights and days. Some days are rainy; others are sunny. Each carries a seed of trouble or joy: a promise of hope to look forward to or a trial of faith to overcome. It appears that there are many more nights than days; many more sighs than laughter; and a lot more distress than hope in the average life.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention. A necessity is a problem waiting for a solution. Great businesses know that without a problem to solve you are not in business. They even take the concept higher. They go ahead to create a problem and then offer their solutions. Take the TV for instance. What was the problem before its invention? The radio, theatre and other entertainment means effectively met the information and relaxation needs. Then one John Baird invented the TV. Now, suddenly, a problem is created: we all want the theatre to come to us at home! The Video Game industry is worth over $111.1 billion according to the research firm Gartner. In the mid-1970s it was considered just a youthful fancy. There was no need for it – an opportunity without a problem.  Today, it is a problem on which several opportunities ride.

 

All businesses thrive on this one awkward word. Every successful business must look for a problem and the opportunity in it – think of computer viruses and the anti-virus industry. Stop looking at problems as just problems.  When Pharaoh had a nightmare, Joseph did not just see the problem, he saw the opportunity. When David saw Goliath, he didn’t see a giant, he saw a ladder to the national stage.
 

Inside every problem is an opportunity. I call it PROPPORTUNITY. Nigeria has tons of problems… are there any propportunists in the house? Rise up to the occasion. Stars only shine in the dark. This is your chance!

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like

MIND GAME By Aleele Paago

Before we can get into the practical solutions that the church must bring. I intend for us to address a major stumbling block. It is our mind set.  Every game changer seems to have a particular set of traits.

Don’t see the problem – see an opportunity to shine. Stars only shine at night. Every star must look for some darkness. If you cannot find your darkness, you will never be celebrated. Why do you see certain businesses thriving only in war zones? Is it just for the money? No. Look at Red Cross. They are non-profit. They see the world’s problems in a different light.
Don’t just see the opportunity – take advantage of it. It is one thing to see an opportunity. It is a different ball game to take advantage of it. 
You cannot solve a problem on the same level it was created. Your solution must come from a higher plane, if it must make an impact. A problem created by hate cannot be solved by hatred.  A problem created by lack and deprivation cannot be solved by lack. As obvious as it is, we hardly put it to practice.  This is the problem with the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The solution emanates from corruption and the need to manipulate so it can hardly achieve the right results.
You have to be prepared. How do you prepare for a race? By running. How do you prepare for a speech? By speaking. How do you prepare for inventions? By inventing. How do you prepare for big business? By doing small business.
Never blend in. In order to change the trend you have to do something differently. Change agents are non-conformists. This is so important that we will have to dig a bit deeper.

©TOUCH THE SKY DeepWords Devotional

MAD MEN WANTED By Aleele Paago

The learned scholars all believed that the sun and all the stars revolved around the earth. In 1609, one man, Galileo Galilei, dared to disagree. He showed by his observation that the sun was indeed the centre of our planetary system. His view so shocked the world at that time that the Catholic Church condemned him for heresy!

At a time when everybody believed that lightening was a phenomenon of the gods’ way beyond human comprehension, one man, Benjamin Franklin, dared to go against the popular opinion. In 1752, he set up an experiment to show that lightening was indeed electricity. In the process, he got a rude electric shock. What was the public opinion? That he was crazy!

The modern parachute was invented in the late 18th century by Louis-Sébastien Lenormand in France, who made the first recorded public jump in 1783. Note that there was no airplane then. When he took the leap off the tower, what do you think was on his mind? What do you think was on the mind of the crowd gathered to watch, including his family? Probably, it was something like “this man is a mad man on a suicide mission.”

Henry Ford was a man used to having his way. One thing was almost too much for him. When in 1905 he succeeded in designing a motorized vehicle that was a strange contraption of bicycle and combustion engine, Ford was viewed as a weirdo who had little future. When he drove by, people probably referred to him as a crazy young man. That madness set off the craze for cars as we know it today.

Nicola Tesla made a ‘bogus’ claim that he could talk to a person in a different town without the aid of a telephone or telegraph and he will be heard. Instantly, his friends sent him to a mad people’s home. The idea was simply crazy. His ‘craze’ was the birth of radio transmission.

Every time you have to push the frontiers of human experience, you must accept to take a risk of rejection and misunderstanding. It is a risk you cannot afford not to take if you have any worthy dream burning inside of you.

There are no jelly-skinned inventors or lily-livered adventurers. As a Christian youth, you need to add these values to your faith. The journey we are about to take is one that will challenge us and the system. They will call us mad. But we will answer only with our results. That is what David did, that is what Daniel did, and that is what Jesus did. That is what we must do.

A man with a vision is a mad man or woman until that vision is actualised. Are you ready to be called “mad”?.

©TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional

Proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like.

LIFE BRINGER By Aleele Paago

Opinions differ as to what should be the focus of the emerging Church. Believe me, the focus has not changed from heaven’s point of view. The primary reason the church is on earth is to bring life and to bring it abundantly. This was the mission statement of Jesus on earth. Since the Church is representing Christ, there is no doubt that this remains the grand focus of the body of Christ.

Any society where the church comes to and life and abundant life is not manifest, then the church is to blame. Can you imagine Jesus not being able to meet a need that was presented to him? So what is the problem with my society? What is the solution the church is offering?

Church is not a place for critics; that category belongs to the political class. Church is a place for solution providers. Government is not a place for solution providers. Government provides the environment and the implementation of the solution provided. No government cares whether the solution comes from a church, a university or a shrine. All they care for is the solution.

Egyptians abhorred nomadic shepherds even in the days of Joseph, but when the solution came, they never rejected it. They only asked Joseph to shave his beards. Babylon detested Jews, but not the solution that Daniel provided. Germany detested Jews, but not the solution they provided. The same is true for the church. People may hate the church, but they do not hate solutions provided by the church.

It is okay if people despise you. What is not okay is that you do not have a better solution that they cannot reject. The question is how can I bring life to my environment? How can I make a difference in Nigeria? I do not intend to give you “spiritual” answers. We have enough people praying and fasting for Nigeria. What we need now are men and women who will roll up their sleeves and bring out workable solutions. It is not for our fathers, it is a job for the younger generation. Are you ready?

Are you a life bringer? Can you play the role of Jesus? That is what it means to be a Christian.

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like

GAME CHANGER By Aleele Paago

The Church from its very conception and inception was designed to be a game changer. The entrance of the Church into any society is intended to be a game changer for that society. Check through all of history from the birth of Jesus. I will share a few challenging examples and hope that it will spur you to ask one critical question at least: IS MY CHURCH A GAME CHANGER?

First who is a game changer?

A game changer is one who changes the tide of events either for good or for bad. When a “Pharaoh that knew not Joseph” was enthroned, he was a game changer for the Israelites in Egypt. Their privileged stay in Egypt immediately turned into slavery. The birth of Moses was another game changer. Is your entry into your family or church a game changer?

A game changer is one who sets the trend. The early apostles were game changers following in the footsteps of Jesus. They turned Jerusalem upside down and the Jewish religion could not contain them any longer. Just at that point where it seemed they were settling into a comfort zone, Paul was introduced into the picture. He left the trend of Jewish Christianity behind and setup a Gentile Christianity path that the world has not been able to recover from.

The Catholic Church was a game changer, standing up to the Roman Empire and focusing the energy of the church into building sustainable structures with a voice in governance. When they have settled in their ways, a priest, Fr. Martin Luther showed up and nothing was going to remain the same again. The Protestant movement changed the face of Christianity.

In Nigeria today, the trend set by Bishop Benson Idahosa has not been overthrown. He was the first to print handbills for crusades. He was the first to hire stadiums for crusades. He was the first to start a radio and TV ministry. He is the father of the so-called Prosperity Gospel in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Church has reached a plateau. It is a high point. Everything is going well for this church. So we have settled into a complacent business as usual mode. We are at the point where we live the key issues and focus on the trivial. We need a new trend setter. Can heaven count on us?

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like

A STATE OF THE MIND By Aleele Paago

If Imagination is the greatest nation, then Determi-NATION is the strongest and most fulfilling nation known to man.

It will cost you nothing to be a citizen of imagination; it will cost your time, your finances, your relationships, and your all to be a citizen of determination.

What the mind can conceive, the man can achieve – through determination. No matter how high the goal, no matter how impossible it may seem, always realize that the only reason you will not get to your destination is if you stop walking. Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence. By sheer force of repetition, you can be good at anything; you can achieve any goal.

Determination has been called “stick-at-it-iveness”. It is the staying power that conquers every kind of defeat or ill wind on the journey to your destiny.

Everybody can imagine, but very few know how to be determined. Very few are ready to pay the price daily to see their imagination become a reality. It is only when these two ‘nations’ converge that greatness is birthed.

Every worthwhile dream has inbuilt opposition and deterrents; forces that seem to question the intensity of your passion and genuineness of your desire. It is only when these ‘natural’ impediments have been overcome that you earn your success.

Impossible is nothing in the nation called determiNATION. Are you determined?

As Calvin Coolidge wrote long ago, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” 

 As a Christian Youth living in Nigeria (or anywhere else), you are not permitted to stop just because of challenges. I don’t care what the challenges are – just PRESS ON.  As they say, “the difference between try and triumph is a little “umph””

“I can DO ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me” Phil 4:13

Yes. You can. So start thinking beyond yourself to finding solutions for all humanity. If we have this power, we had better put it to good use and stop waiting for the unbelievers to make all the good inventions.

 

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like

THE GREATEST “NATION” ON EARTH By Aleele Paago

Which is the greatest ‘nation’ on earth? USA, China, Britain, France, or Soviet Union? Surprise! It’s none of these. “Please don’t tell me it’s Nigeria”, you are already screaming. I agree with you, but it is somewhere closer than you think.

Welcome to imagi-NATION.

This is unarguably the greatest ‘nation’ in the world. It is the greatest because it is the most powerful concept/philosophy known to the human mind. It is a nation that is not limited by size. Albert Einstein once said, “Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.”

Every invention by man comes from citizens of this great nation. They are the ones who see what others have not seen; they use their citizen’s passport to the benefit of all. They are often called insane by aliens who refuse to tap into the great resources provided by this nation; either because they are lazy, or because they are limited by culture, religion, their personal fears or worse still, knowledge.

Knowledge sets a boundary for practicality; imagination sets you free to define a new reality. Knowledge says it has never been done; Imagination screams, “watch me do it!”

Thomas Edison imagined that he could use electricity to light up the world. Critics laughed and said it was impossible. Yet he did it. Bill Gates imagined a computer that could be used by everyone, including the uneducated housewife. IBM said that it was impractical. See where we are today.  Graham Bell dreamt of a day when people would be able to talk to each other in different cities; people mocked the project. He gave us the telephone. His invention became so powerful; nobody believed there could be any improvement to it. But Martin Cooper imagined a day when he could leave home with the telephone in his pocket, after all, why should such a powerful tool be limited to only the moments you are at home or in the office. His competitors at Bell’s Laboratories (imagine the irony) laughed, but you are most likely reading this on a telephone.

Imagination defies reality and redefines it. It sees the boundaries and then breaks it – all the time. It is bold, but it is often ridiculed. It is strong, but so easily overpowered by fears, doubts and worries. The marketplace may be hostile to your idea; that is knowledge- redefine it!

“Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or IMAGINE THROUGH THE POWER AT WORK IN US” Eph 3:20 (Voice)

For the Christian youth, the Holy Spirit is the Visa to imagiNATION. His role in your life is not restricted to speaking in unknown tongues. Let’s get practical. If “your” Holy Spirit is not blowing your mind with ideas and solutions to national problems, you need to change it and go back to God for the authentic Spirit of God. Seriously.

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christ-like

A NATIONAL CHALLENGE By Aleele Paago

A nation is much more than just a country. A country may speak of a geographical entity demarcated for the convenience of governance, but a nation is much more than that. A nation is symbolized by a philosophy; an UNDYING and UNDERLYING concept that drives its citizens. It is this undying and underlying philosophy that we call the spirit of a people. It is what defines that nation. It is a common belief, subscribed to by the majority of its citizens and accepted as a guiding principle.

Take the United Nations for instance. Why did the founding fathers of that organization not opt for United Countries or United World as its name? They have conceptualized a defining philosophy which they hoped all the countries will subscribe to in order to belong. That concept was of world peace and good neighbourliness. Similarly, we can point to countries with a strong defining national spirit. The United States is known for the “American Dream” – you can be all you want to be.  Israel is defined by the philosophy of “God’s chosen people”. That philosophy kept their identity several centuries even when they never had a ‘country’.  The phrase “German machine” is more than just a phrase; it defines the spirit of efficiency for which Germany still remains Europe’s leading economy.  Palestine have no defined territorial boundaries, yet they are a nation, because they have a defining philosophy.

It follows from this that you can also have countries that are not nations. This is possible because such countries lack a defining spirit, a universal concept acceptable and accepted by the majority of its citizens. Africa is replete with examples of this kind of countries.

Some have argued that corruption is our hallmark as a nation. How sad! Nations are not built on negative principles.  Yes there may be systemic challenges, places where we have not been able to get it right. But these do not define our national spirit; it defines our struggles. The failure of PHCN is not a national character, it is a national challenge. The policeman that demands bribe on the roadside does not reflect our national character, he reflects our national challenge. The bad roads, the failed agriculture, the crises in education, healthcare, housing… these are not national characteristics but national challenges. And all challenges do have a solution. Or don’t they?

So what is the solution? You are the solution. The Christian Youth is the solution.

You are the light of Nigeria. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matt 5:16

The RCCG National Youth Convention theme 2015 aptly captured it – we are “Carriers of His Glory”. We have no business carrying His Glory if we cannot use it to solve a national challenge.

How do you show your light? It is time to raise the new set of National Heroes. I am one of them. Are you?

Tweet this : I am a carrier of His glory, I bring solutions to humanity. #deepWords

© TOUCH THE SKY

DeepWords Devotional …proudly Nigerian; confidently Christlike