(4 minutes read)

We are all in a fight. Everyone is currently fighting a battle. It might be small. Big. Obvious. Or even hidden but everyone of us is fighting at some level. Maybe that’s why some refer to the church as the church militant. Because we’re fighting. Just that we fight from the place of victory that Jesus made available to us.

One of the fights that 99.9% of Christians face is the battle to fulfil destiny and lead fruitful lives. The enemy is always on the tab, devising crude and refined ways to stop any child of God he can, from fulfilling destiny. But it doesn’t have to be you. You will need to fight though because the devil don’t playing dumb. He means serious business but like I said earlier, you fight from a place of victory, demanding for all that is yours and commanding the devil to take his dirty hands off all that belongs to you. Because the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus has made a fruitful life possible for you. The enemy takes you seriously but deceives you into thinking there is nothing to you. Don’t believe him. His agenda is to give you blogs you aren’t prepared for because you weren’t expecting them

Now, If the fight in you is smaller than the fight against you, the fight against you can bring you down. If what is coming against you is stronger than what you’ve put inside of you, your chances of survival is seriously being jeopardized.

Read that again.

‘But how do I increase the fight inside of me?’ You may ask.

Good question. Simple answer but I’ll have to explain.

Just do these three things:

1) Soak yourself in the revelation of God’s Word that scripts your fruitful dream life. That is, Get that Word of God that sparks something on the inside of you and also describes your dream life. Let’s not get spooky though;. ALL word of God; EVERY Scripture, is inspired so it could be one that resonates with you as you study the Word (which is why study is amazing, you get the Word into your core); or it could be one revealed to you, so long as it’s God’s Word and it hits the subject, it’s okay.
When you get that word, speak it. I always love to say this: Seek it? Say it. Talk about it but mostly to yourself and God. Sometimes you don’t have to broadcast your dreams. Brooding over them in prayer before you tell anyone about them, can be powerful.

2) Gather the information relevant to your dream and build up on it. In other words; read, study and amass practical and applied knowledge. Develop your capacity on every frontier that will enable you fulfil your dream. This could mean intellectual knowledge, skilful/hands-on knowledge, even building strength to be able to carry out your dream.

3) Keep your dream before you, in pictures. Your mind’s core language is pictures so speak to your mind in the language it understands. And make it simple. Let me tell you what I did. I pasted my picture on a word document, wrote down my dream beneath it in my name and printed the document.  Its black and white but it doesn’t matter, it’s feeding the fight on my inside because every time i look at it and read it, I read about my future and I bring it into my present. I tell myself, babe, this is the path, we stay here! And we stay here by repeating the dream to myself in words and backing it up with Scriptures thus drawing it down into my subconscious from my conscious world.

So these three things –
The revealed Word,
Relevant Information
An envisioned future;
and you’ll be building the fight inside of you.

And when the fight gets tougher, because it will, remind yourself whose child you are. Tell yourself- I am (insert your name) of the most High.
As for me, I AM Aijay Ufomadu of El-Elyon and in my lineage, we don’t fail and we don’t back down! It might be tough and it might get hard but Greater! Is the God on my inside! Than whatever I encounter on my outside. If God said it, that settles it, we war with it and We STAY here till we possess it.


Hope that put some Holy-Ghost adrenaline on your inside. 

You have yourself an amazing God-Defined Weekend
God bless you


AijayUfomadu
Driven by value | Inspiring you to thrive

Sometime early this year, I had a deadline to meet that ended up taking much more of my time than I had planned so I literally worked on the task for three days straight.

By the time I had gone past the second day, I realised I wasn’t studying at midnight like I usually do and of course I told myself God would understand, it’s the season but by the third day, I was in a place of dire starvation but not from physical food. 

I wasn’t feeding my Spirit.

You see, I was reading my Bible a little here and there but my day to day demands require that I not only feed on God’s Word very well for myself, I feed to the overflowing because someone or something might draw on me. But here I was, just scratching by and managing, and I could feel that weakness inside that had nothing to do with my physical body. 

At that point, I knew something had to give so I don’t give.

Haha

It’s amazing all the parts of ourselves we have to take care of, to be in one piece; body, soul and spirit.

Before we go on, let’s look at an analogy.

Imagine that your life is a house and your dreams are the appliances in the house. And imagine that you live in my country Nigeria where power isn’t too stable and you have to get a standby generator and depending on the capacity you want, there is 1KVA, 2KVA , 3.5KVA and up to 100KVA generator and more, so you can keep your life moving when power goes off.

Now Imagine that you have this big deep freezer you bought to keep your foods fresh and when you went to buy a generator, you got a 2kva generator hoping it will sufficiently ‘carry the load’ of your deep freezer.

I know you’re prolly smiling now. You know the answer.

We all do.

Kolé werk

It’s not possible.

How can it even be? Even if the generator comes on by any miracle, it will have this really low sound like it’s rumbling, more like complaining – ‘Aunty madam or uncle Oga why you put his Kain load for my head’. Plus the deep freezer won’t come on. (If you can think of other things that will happen when the freezer is switched on, please hit reply and let me know. But please finish the post first )

Haha

Ok. Enough of the joke.

But hey, I’m serious.

Wait. how did we get here?

Oh I remember. I was talking about how I got hungry..in my spirit.

So while keeping this analogy in mind, let’s head back to my story.

Having identified my challenge, I promptly worked on my schedule and created time for what matters – The Word of God, all the while wondering why my spirit couldn’t bear with me for a few days.‍  

As I sat down to study and feed my spirit, I heard the words – ‘Do not stop feeding what fuels you’

And like a rushing wind, it all came to me.

‘I’m a spirit being. I operate from my inside. My spirit is what keeps me and enables me function, live and thrive. But my spirit itself needs to be fed to do it’s work and what my spirit feeds on is not amala, it’s the word of God. ‘

And it is same for you, believing you’re born again. (If you’re not, write to me please and we can talk about it)

Do not stop feeding what fuels you.

I have dreams. Big ones. But if my spirit isn’t fit enough to sustain me, I can’t do much and I can’t go far. And as much as physical and emotional fitness is key, spiritual fitness is actually more important. 

And that is where the generator analogy comes in.

Some of us are carrying around ‘2KVA generator powered spirit’ and we have 100KVA dreams and we’re wondering why we aren’t making progress

Sis & Bro. Tiz not the village pipo o. They are innocent this time.

It is your spirit that you haven’t pumped with the kind of food it eats.

You need to be fuelled but only a well-fed spirit can fuel you.

Only a well fed Spirit can sufficiently carry you from season to season.

By all means you still need a healthy body and energetic mind and we will come to that in a bit. But life begins from your inside and till you get it clear there, you will be dragging yourself around on the outside.

Now you might ask, ‘Aijay I know people who are doing amazingly well but they aren’t born again. Let’s leave this church matter abeg.’

I agree. For the first part of the comment not the second.

But you see, these people you’re talking about are not born again (like we just agreed) so they definitely don’t have kingdom-minded dreams like you.

They aren’t Christians so the enemy isn’t so scared that they will partner with God through their dreams to draw someone to Christ. The devil knows that whatever good they do ends there. No one will be invited to church or be told that Jesus did this and He can do it for them too

In other words, they aren’t a threat to the enemy.

BUT. YOU. ARE.

Copy that?

You are. A threat. 

You are a risk to hell because when you become successful, God can use your success to draw men to Himself. 

When you partner with God and do well, you become a light and people will want to know Who helped you..and of course they’ll know God in the process.

You’re going to take more people upward with you than someone out here who ain’t born again and is so successful.

You’re a risk factor to hell

And that’s why the enemy won’t fold his hands and watch you do well. 

That is why if you aren’t paying attention to what you should be paying attention to, the enemy is taking you more seriously than you take yourself.

But what is the connection between this and that?

The connection is this: The only effective weapon we have against the enemy is God’s Word and for that Word to get into our life, we need to pass it through our spirit.

Do you get it now?

Infact, can we have a heart to heart roundtable discussion here? Cos I feel like we are all on this table, me inclusive.

Like we’re busy. So busy our spirits are getting bushy..with weeds.

We’re trying to make a life and in the process, we forget to live. Truly live.

This is 2021 and we’ll make a difference guys. We will.

But we will need to start focusing on what truly matters

Yea? Yes.

I’m going to also say that feeding what feeds you isn’t for your spirit alone. It’s definitely for your spirit first but there are other parts. Like taking care of relationships that light your inner fire.

Consuming relevant information that helps you grow.

Eating healthy foods that keeps you strong.

Handling your money a little better so it can multiply and be available for extra deeds

Fill in the gaps for yourself. You know what fuels you in other ways.

But first, pay attention to your spirit

I wish I could go on but I just realised I’ve passed my word count for my posts and I’m trying to get better at writing shorter mails. I’m not sure how that is panning out though 

But do you see the picture now?

It is some serious business.

And I’m not talking reading 10 chapters a day. That is not sustainable if you’re a busy professional. 

I’m talking sitting down with your Bible and an open heart and asking God to teach you, and if a verse of a Scripture is all you can do in thirty minutes, meditating and getting it into your heart on a daily basis, it’s enough.

I’m talking a real and practical approach to studying God’s Word that will stretch you but will still be sustainable for you. 

I’m talking about writing some verses on a sticky note to meditate on throughout the day or setting phone alarm reminders at intervals, to excuse yourself from the busyness of the day and go somewhere private to declare God’s Word for even 3 minutes.

Sometimes it is not really in the length of time, it’s in the heart you put into it. And sometimes, it’s both.

Truth is, the more effective you want to become, the more you have to make time for God’s Word. 

Get all the knowledge you can for your field or area of expertise because you need that edge to excel. But never rely on that knowledge alone. There is a God Factor.

And maybe if you can’t do much during the week, you can have a weekly word retreat during the weekend. Fight if you have to, but make sure you make it happen

There are different ways to do this but your heart has to be in it first. 

Do you understand?

So my charge to you this week is to get into the middle of your own life and make your life work. What you need to move your life forward isn’t outside of you, it’s on the inside of you and you need to pay attention to it.

I pray for you today that the light of God’s Word illuminating your heart will always exceed the light of men shining on you, and that you will not only show people the way to a great life, you will also live a great life.

As usual, I leave this with you

Let the Word of Christ —the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. 
Colossians 3:16a MSG

And this

“Now I’m turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends.
Acts 20:32 MSG

You go on and have a fruitful and amazing God-defined week ahead.

Lots of love, light and laughter!

Aijay.

The year has been panning out nicely and it’s been a mix of excitement and exhaustion. I’m a little behind on my goals but I have decided that I am a human and not a robot so it’s okay. And even though the Holy Ghost empowers me, even God rested so I have to rest to.

Yes? Yes  

You see, I’m a very ambitious child of God and I get kicks from plenty to-do lists and goals achieved but I have also learnt to take the breaks i need when I do, like i did pretty recently.

I decided long ago that I might want to act all smiling before everyone and pretend everything is fine but I would never lie to myself. Not even in naming it and claiming it, I won’t. 

If something was twisted in a way it shouldn’t be, I’ll tell myself the truth and focus on fixing it.

That doesn’t mean I will confess negative. No. But I’d like to identify what is wrong so I can seek specific solutions for it.

So if I need help, I won’t wait till I’m on the floor, I’ll ask. 

If I feel uncomfortable with something,  maybe a relationship or with a person, I won’t sweep it under the carpet, I’d like to identify what could be wrong and discuss with the person if possible.  But I won’t ignore it hoping it will go away.

For me, the exhaustion wasn’t welcome because I had some goals to crush, I still do. But I had to tell myself the truth so I don’t break down. And this decision to be true to my self and not take on more than I’ve built capacity for at the moment, got me thinking on something I have discovered in our generation: It seems to me that we are a generation that generally don’t like to say the truth to ourselves. We often lie to ourselves.

Sometimes it’s because of fear. Other times it’s the desire to impress.

Sometimes it’s because we’re living life very fast and crushing goals that we don’t stop to listen to our deepest feelings.

And at other times it’s the misguided religious conception that you have to fake it till you make it.

Or maybe you want to ‘blindfold’ your heart to the truth so you can indulge in your desires and not feel guilty.

Whichever it is, we’d rather put up a false appearance than acknowledge what we’re going through. We’d rather keep a plastic smile than admit something hurts or is wrong. We’d rather paint a situation to suit our desire than see it for the colour it really is. 

We’d rather live a lie

And I get it. You can’t trust everyone with your heart. I get it. Even Jesus didn’t take the praises of men to heart because He knew what a man’s heart was like. 

That’s why I’m not asking that you tell the world. I’m only asking that you tell yourself – the truth.

Learn to come home to yourself and accept the truth for what it really is

Even if you can’t let anyone in, let yourself into your own heart, tell yourself the truth and attend to yourself.

Pay attention to you.

Let me give you a few examples:

You have noticed your salary always finishes before the end of the month and you tell yourself it’s because you’re underpaid.

Honey, that’s not the reason.

Truth is, how you spend 1000 is how you’ll spend 1000000, prudently or carelessly. If you can’t handle what you have now well, you can’t handle what you’re looking to earn either. You need to tell yourself the truth – my money game is not good- and work on it.

You have exams you’re scheduled for and you’re giving priority to other things and then the time for the exam draws closer and you feel pressured and blame everyone but you. Honey,  wake up and smell the coffee.

You know you shouldn’t eat junk. You know it gets you tired. But you splurge on it and expect to wake up strong and active the next day.  Plus you’re not expecting to add weight. 

You know weightloss is 70% what we eat right?

You are close to a colleague at work and the platonic lines are getting tinier. You’re crossing the lines but you’re still telling yourself – he’s just a friend. And you’re married. Ahh!

You are an ambitious visionary going somewhere to happen. And you have a strong picture of your future but you haven’t sat down to draw up a strategy. 

You’re a Christian and you’re hoping to be a multi-influential personality and you want to do so without engaging God’s Word. You want to be successful as a Christian without playing your part.  That’s a strong spirit of deceit at work because as long as you’re a Christian,  the devil will fight you.  You need to stay awake!

You have some funny dreams at night and it’s  beginning to bother you. If you’re grounded enough in God’s Word, stand your ground and run the devil off. If you don’t have that confidence yet, that’s okay.  Reach out. Or start building confidence in God’s Word aggressively because the yoke will be broken when you’ve fed fat on the Word  of God.

Life is really simple. Let’s not get it complicated.

Year 2021 has just started and I believe you’ve made a decision to protect your peace like we talked about last week. 

To that decision I ask that you please add another- a decision to be true to thyself.

Like a famous person once wrote: “To thy own self be true.”

This mantra has helped me and kept me from getting into things I had no business being in.

It has helped me keep touch with my core so I can live from inside out. 

I can live an increasingly authentic life because I’ve learnt to stop and take count,  introspect, ask questions and really look at situations. 

It will help you know your strengths and grow them. And it will help you know your weaknesses so you don’t tempt yourself.

You will know what you can handle and what you can’t,  and acknowledge the gap so you can fill it up.

You won’t have to try to be what you’re not. Or live in false rhythms because you’re trying to be perceived in a certain way.

It doesn’t mean you won’t be disciplined.  It means you’ll be intentional. 

And it means you’ll start to operate from a place that is truly yours, as you grow to become all God has called you to be.

Authenticity is beautiful

Making a decision to be among the few who own up to tell themselves the truth will probably be one of the best decisions you’ll make this year because it will help you build a life that is truly authentic, something that is rare these days.

I pray for you today that the strength and grace to look inwards and grow your life from the inside out, will rest on you. And that you will from this time to thyself, be true.

I leave you with this: 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.
Proverbs 4:23‭-‬27 MSG

You have an amazing God-defined week.

God bless you
Aijay

Ps: If this blog blessed you, please forward it to someone you love. Better still, you can get them to sign up on www.aijayufomadu.com . Let’s share the love

Pss: Forgive me for any typo errors you might see.
 
Psss: Have you checked out this website www.styledbyabba.com? You should if you haven’t 

Pssss: Sending you love, light and laughter

How has 2021 been for you so far? 

Some might say we just crossed the 1/3rd mark of the year so it’s somewhat early to judge.

Well, I’d say that whatever you decide to do, make up your mind from now to have an unshakeable disposition of peace towards the year.

Last year shook alot of folks to the core. There were questions, fears, unrest, deep concerns, lots of speculations etc. But if you observe closely, you’d see one theme underlying all events – the loss of peace. 

All around people were going through stuff mostly covid-related and social-issues-related, amidst other things.
 
Unfortunately,  without peace, there’s so little you can do. 

Peace is a mighty force. 

Peace gives you the clearheadedness and inner strength you need to proceed. 

Maybe that’s why it was a primary target because alot of folks came into 2020 (last year) pumped to pursue their dreams especially after the ten year challenge. And the decade 2020 was a little different than 2010 because social media wasn’t so pumped then as it is now. 

So we had alot of people showcasing their success so far in ten years and the rest of those who didn’t have much success to show, swearing that come 2020, they will do their own bit. 

No more dulling. 

People were charged, inspired and challenged and 2020 was going to be the year of great unveiling. 

That must have really scared the devil

Here comes 2020 and just when some folks  were waking up and gearing to unleash, a little bit of hell was unleashed and till now, the effects are still showing.

But this is 2021 and even though there might be alot of healing for you to do, depending on the level of loss or unrest you had, I’m here to implore you not to give up on your dreams and the one way you can achieve your dreams is to ensure nothing steals your peace this year. 

This year, guard your heart and pursue your peace.

You see, like I said, 2020 came innocent but the enemy threw in a curve that sent alot of us falling and with it went our peace, focus and joy.

But 2020 has gone. Thank God for it.

This is 2021 and we just cannot afford to play tag along again. 

We can not.

‘It’s too early to decide’ some folks have said.

Maybe. 

But you can decide right now that whatever happens in the year, you will do all you can to protect your peace.

If it means staying off news both on TV and social media for a while, then do so.

If it means getting off groups where all they share is bad news, who is sick or dead, where they are fighting etc, please do.

If it means pressing ignore button on some events or happenings around you, please do.

If it means getting a lot of healthy and well-scripted comedy skits and watching them whenever you feel unhappy, please do.

Maybe its staying off the phone or not calling some people

If there is a relationship that steals your peace, it might be time to hand it over to God and take some steps back because truth is, there is only so much you can handle, You need to deliberately guard your peace this year.

What this means is that you minimise your arguments, fights and disagreements. 

Sometimes you just agree to disagree so peace will reign, especially in matters that aren’t that important.

It means you identify what is really important and what is not so you know what to focus on.
 
It means you don’t react in every situation or give your opinion to everything.

It means you gauge your tolerance level for bad news and deal with yourself accordingly.  Do not expose yourself to news, environments and stuff that will drain and drown you.
Just because your neighbour can hear bad news all day and still go swimming doesn’t mean you can handle it. And it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, it just means you’re differently wired.

It might mean that you forget about what you think people think of you and focus on your life and moving forward

Whatever it is for you, fill in your blanks. 

You might not even know all it means for you now but commit to monitoring your emotions and taking note of situations that steal your peace,addressing them and documenting the appropriate response to them that will preserve your peace.

Because you see, 2021 is pregnant for everyone. But you can only deliver your own when you have the peace of mind, focus and inner strength you need to pull through.

We’re not sure what will happen in 2021 but we’ve made up our mind ahead of time to preserve our peace no matter what.

And I’d say that the most important part of preserving our peace is setting it firmly on God’s Word. Thats the way forward and the way is sure.

Bury God’s Word in your heart and your responses to life will be more peaceful.

You can start by commiting to reading a chapter of the Bible, preferably new testament, just one chapter and writing down one thing, just one thing you learnt. 

If you’d like to get a nice new journal with a biro you love or use an ejournal, by all means please do. Or just get a journal you can write in.

The important thing is that you do it.

Surely that’s not too much is it?

See, I know we’re busy but we’ve got to make time for what will keep us alive and strong so we can enjoy the fruits of our labour.

2021 will be a truly great year that might still have curves and twists..but the level of greatness it will be for you inspite of the curves and twists, depends on your ability to focus on birthing.

Remember a pregnant woman guards her baby by guarding her lifestyle. 

This year, guard your dreams by guarding your heart and peace.

Guard your heart. Guard your peace
Change your lifestyle.  Change the Game 

I pray for you that the God of peace will fill your heart this year and no matter what you hear or encounter, His peace will stand strong like a mighty oak in your life.

I leave you with this

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Colossians 3:15‭-‬17 MSG

Cheers to pursuing what gives us peace this year and beyond

Sending you love, light and laughter 
Have an amazing God-defined rest of the year 2021

God bless you
Aijay

I am a customer service professional and occupying that role in my organization means that you are able to multitask. In fact, one of our bosses humorously said that that’s why every CSO in my organization is a female, because of our innate ability to multitask. We are expected to be able to handle alot at a time and that’s what happens. It’s really difficult making progress in a day’s work if all you do is pick one job after the other. You just have to be able to do more than one thing at a time!

That’s the advantage we have as women. It’s little wonder we combine so many roles well, being a Christian, a wife or significant other,a mom or mom to be, a sister, an employee, a CEO, a serial entrepreneur, and the list continues, all at same time. And for all these roles we find ourselves performing, giving it our best because we grew up knowing that’s the thing to do. Infact, when the picture of multitasking comes to mind, we most often see the picture of a woman carrying a baby in one hand, answering a call with a phone held between her ears and her shoulder, folding clothes into a box and keeping an eye on a toddler so he doesn’t harm himself while playing. It’s amazing what we women do that we see as nothing because we not only grew up seeing life that way, especially seeing the female influences in our life do it, we are also wired that way. A man on this journey will just experience an instant mental block. They aren’t wired that way. A typical man can’t do more than one thing at a time. It’s really rare. But then it’s a balanced situation. The calm and the logic we need to make carefully weighed decisions comes with the man who isn’t entangled with more things than one.

But with multitasking, there should be a limit. Multitasking on the wheel while driving is a no-no. And that goes from making calls, especially without handsfree, to chats and texts or even carrying a baby to drive, even if it’s within the neighborhood. You’re putting both you and your baby at risk. The other day I saw a lady driving with her baby sitted on her laps, on the driver’s seat, in the middle of a city traffic. Specifically, the city of Lagos. That’s a limit we shouldn’t venture to. Multitask and make progress in such a way that you’ll live to multitask again tomorrow.

Multitasking while cooking with a gas is a no-no especially if the other tasks is answering a phone call. Answering calls near a gas cooker is dangerous with a capital D.

Multitasking while making a call or having a conversation with someone is not only not right. It’s rude, except in cases where it’s absolutely essential that you combine the two. When making a call, focus on the call. When having a conversation, don’t pick your calls or if you have to, ensure you get appropriate excuse before you pick the call and excuse yourself.

Multitasking while reading guarantees that you don’t get the full import of what you read, in most cases anyway. So you end up wasting your time because the other thing you were doing was most likely not well done too. If you have to multitask, while reading, take advantage of audio books. But please listen to it at least three times to ensure you get a very good hang of what you audio-read because if you did it while cooking for example, you can be sure you didn’t hear everything; cooking requires your concentrated attention. If you’re listening while driving, it’s better and the more you know your route, the better because your movement is kinda automated thereby freeing up more focus for the book your listening to.

One level of Multitasking you should never ever do Is Multitasking while praying or studying God’s word. Let me just leave it there

These are a few of the instances where multitasking is not appropriate. And in some cases, the danger can be as much as involving life.

What other instances can you sight where multitasking is inappropriate?

I’m so sorry we had to take a little break to feature our guest writer Sylvia Chika and I’m sure we all enjoyed her post. It was a tremendous blessing to me. One of those stories that actually touches the heart and goes beyond that to heal your soul. And considering the feedback I got, I’m sure I’m not the only one. Please Sylvia if you’re reading this, biko let’s do this again sometime soon biko…?

So we’ll be concluding our series on lessons learnt from the just concluded world cup 2018 and I promise you, this is the last. Lol. It’s been a beautiful journey of leaning and learning though.

Let’s dive straight in

Lesson number… I can’t remember. I seriously can’t remember the number anymore. And I’m not willing to go check. I don’t want to stop my flow. Lol. But then maybe I’ll do so before the end of this post but just in case I don’t…I’m asking for mercy ahead of time biko?.
The next lesson learnt is this – never play with your opponent, in this case, enemy, especially when he is within sight. Never joke with your enemy no matter how harmless he might look. I got this lesson from that gift of a goal with Croatia. Now, I’m not sure if it’s the one Nigeria had for Croatia or the one France had for SAME Croatia (why were these guys getting goal gifts anyway?) But there was this goal that was just supposed to be a pass and somehow it landed in the net. The footballer was trying to casually pass the ball to the goalkeeper who was supposed to throw the ball back into the field I believe but somehow that ball got into the net. An opponent somehow got into the show and the ball landed in the net as an own goal. It was a brief moment of carelessness but it changed the dynamics of the game and gave the opposing team an advantage they wouldn’t have had if the guy had been more careful. Never play around with your opponent. No idleness. No sloppiness. Let me bring it back home. Don’t let the devil toy around with your mind, taking you on mental imaginations and mind journeys that are against God’s word and what you know you want for your life. Devil never has anything good to offer and he will always be a liar so never play with whatever nonsense thoughts he plays in your head. Rebuke it sharp sharp, with The Word of God and rebuke it OUT ALOUD. Now, it doesn’t have to be so loud that someone beside you hears it but it should be loud enough for your ears to pick it up. You don’t counter thoughts with thoughts, you counter thoughts with words, spoken words. Don’t even try to allow in your mind what you don’t want in your life. I know mind battles can be a struggle sometimes but keep at it. Have Scriptures handy for every nonsense the enemy might try to do and clear his doubt immediately he tries any thing. That’s the reason we should spend time in God’s Word studying, so these Words will go down deep into us, ready for that time when we will need them to wage war.

The next lesson is about love. Funny that a game of football can teach about love but then maybe that’s why some folks call it the game of life. Love keeps you forward. Love always keeps you forward. You can never go wrong with love. Hardly. Like a senior friend of mine used to say back in school in those days, ‘everyone responds to love’ and I saw this clearly with the France team. When those guys won, the way they treated their coach spelt love, honour and respect. I could literally touch it. And you could tell it wasn’t just because they won, it was obvious that was the norm for them. They loved up on thier coach and they honoured him. A leader that is loved and honoured will always give his best because every one responds to love. If you constantly criticise and disrespect your leader, giving you his best will be a hard thing for him to do. Love will keep you forward! Always.

And to the last lesson; this particular lesson meant so much to me cos it showed the power of unity. I have never seen anything unite a nation, especially Nigeria, like football. At that instant when ‘our boys’ are out there playing against another nation, we are glued together back here, cheering them. No tribal issues. No Igbos. No Yorubas. No Hausas, no middle belt, no APC, no PDP etc; just one whole people rooting and cheering for thier nation to come back home with the trophy because when the trophy comes home, it comes home for Nigeria. We win it as Nigeria and everyone called a Nigerian is entitled to ‘own’ the trophy because we won it for us as a nation. We are all in, for one cause. For this cause. That when the cup comes home, it comes home for US as a nation. US as a people. Us. US US. No divisions. No demarcations.

I dare say that if the world sees us as one, let’s not come home and create divisions between us. Of course we are not all same tribe and that’s beautiful because there’s beauty in diversity. I’m talking about the attendant tribal issues we have in Nigeria. It’s been in existence for God knows how long but it started with people of long long ago. People who had stories that might not exactly apply to us today, whatwith our exposure and advance in technology. Should we stick to stories that are breaking instead of healing us? Are we going to let fears rule us or allow mindsets change us from the loving creation God meant us to be into something else simply because.. Why hold on to beliefs that are obviously not helping us. I mean I know stuff still happens. Yea. And truth is every tribe has thier evil but these things are more hyped than they are real. And when you have a mindset about someone or a group of people, you’ll most likely see what you’re expecting. Yes. The mind is that powerful. By all means be careful in your relations with people but that should be done with all people, even when you travel out,not just influenced by tribes. If being bad was a Nigerian tribal thing, we won’t have police stations abroad!

So back to our lesson, even though we’re still in it.
Why was it so? How come we could all sit to watch a game and in that instant forget we probably had issues with the person sitting close to us? Let me tell you. It’s because we were all tuned to a higher purpose, in this case, football and at that point, all we wanted was to win. Nothing else was important. Nothing else mattered.
See, keep your focus on a higher purpose and the little things will cease to distract you. If you feel distracted, it’s because you’ve taken your eyes off the purpose and if you are consistently distracted, it tells you something; it’s either what you’re focusing on, that is your purpose, isn’t big enough to hold your imagination. That or maybe you’ve not fully grasped the magnitude of what your purpose is all about because men and brethren, if your purpose grips you, you’ll stop playing with ants I tell you. You’ll grow up. No one will tell you. You’ll be so hungry for more that all you’ll have eyes for are the elephants, not the ants or even chickens. You’ll look at distractions and place them where they belong. As they say, the man whose house is on fire doesn’t chase rats. If you are still chasing rats, it’s because your heart has not been set on fire yet for God and for your purpose.
Go for that thing that will grip your heart. Let the pursuit of righteousness and God’s purpose for your life so consume you that you don’t have time for anything that isn’t relevant to your life journey. Go for that life that you literally have to ‘dabere’ Chukwu (lean on God), to fulfill. Only then my dear, will you begin to truly live!

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Oh k. That’s it on the few lessons learnt from Russia 2018. Hope you enjoyed reading it but most importantly, I hope it blesses and challenges you on every front to be better and do more, for God, because Jesus is the very reason each and every one of us is here in the first place.

Till I come your way again soon enough

Keep living..keep loving…keep shining

Loving you from the very depth of me!

And oh…Elkohen and Elnathan says hi?. Lol

All of the very best, from we the adults!

Aijay Ufomadu

Hello fam! How has it been?

So this is a continuation of my previous post on lessons I learnt from the World Cup 2018. I’m going to try my best to make this the concluding part of the series, so help me God?. Shall we?

Lesson 3: Have a personal definition of success and set high targets for yourself. Set a success goal and make it higher than the ones usually accepted. I learnt this from the last match France played with Croatia. I dunno, maybe because those guys have seen Croatia’s performance up until then, I have a strong feeling those France guys came for a kill. From the way they played the match right up to the very end, still hungry for goals, it seemed to me that they had decided to give Croatia 3 to nil, however that comes. Means that it doesn’t matter how many goals Croatia scores, they will be three goals ahead and it would have been so if not for that gift of a goal (according to the commentator) they gave Croatia.
So to us, they were winning and rightfully so, with 2 to nil but in thier mind, they still had one more goal or even more, to score. Success for them meant something higher than 2 to nil and the fact that they haven’t achieved it kept them playing with determined passion to the very end. At a time when most teams will up their defence to secure their winning, after all they were 2 goals ahead and that was okay, France was busy still chasing goals in addition to putting up defence. The criteria for success here is to ensure you stay ahead. The criteria for THEIR own success was stay very well ahead by scoring more goals and that standard kept them going.

So I ask you my dear reader, what standard have you set your success to? In your marriage, what does success mean to you? You know, because the world is full of divorces now, seeing a marriage clock 5, 10 years or more is a great success story and people who stay together this long are celebrated and rightfully so. But beyond that standard of success, how is your marriage within? Are you working to sustain the spark or are you just patching things up to keep it going? In that area of your life, what is your definition of success?

This leads us to the next lesson, still on same match played between France and Croatia and the lesson is, if you do well, you’ll forget your mistakes. See, mistakes are inevitable. And sometimes that mistake can be grave, the kind that can affect and haunt you; some major kind of goofing, but if you can double up and do very well, your mistakes might just be forgotten and erased by your current results.

You know, France scored an own goal. I still remember the goal keeper’s face. He was really downcast and in that instant, I could see all sorts of questions cross his face. Don’t mind me, I have an uncanny way of reading people’s faces. I could imagine him dreading the closure of the match if they don’t win and him desperately praying to God that they win. Well they did. With 2 to nil (old story now. lol) And after they won, the goof was forgotten. No one remembered that France scored an own goal. I was looking at their faces to see if I would see any trace of ‘I wish it didn’t happen’ but you know what, no one thought of it. Maybe they remembered it but it didn’t show on their faces because it wasn’t important. They were greater things in front of them, things like the golden cup they were getting ready to kiss and the grand home-applaud waiting for them from behind stage all the way home! Even the goalkeeper was acting like he didn’t know what he had caused initially. And I don’t fault him. That’s what happens when you do well. You might not be able to avoid some goofing, but always make sure you do well. Whatever is committed into your hand, take care of it. Do well at it. Excel at it. Most times mistakes are remembered, not because they are huge or grave in themselves but because you have done nothing outstanding enough to negate or erase the effects of the mistakes.

Now imagine what would have happened if France had lost. Haa!! I don’t want to go there, for the sake of the player who hit that goal and the goalkeeper that didn’t catch it. After all he’s supposed to stop the ball from ever entering the net regardless of whose feet scored the goal. If they had lost, France would have counted that own goal as part of their undoing but because they didn’t, it didn’t matter anymore.

Mistakes will happen. But let your response to that mistake be a concrete resolve to do better and when you make that resolve, ensure you follow through on it. Carry God along and let Him bless your efforts and soon, your mistakes will be counted as part of your testimony too.

The third lesson is more like a resolve. Because I am not an expert on international politics, at least not yet, I can’t say just how true this is but most people have this strong opinion that African teams were deliberately set up to be failed out of The World Cup because no African team made it beyond the first set of matches. While some others say that the African teams cannot be compared to other teams in terms of skill and exposure. Well, I can’t say which is the actual reason and even though we all saw what happened with the cancelled penalty kick that Nigeria should have been awarded during the Nigeria-Argentina match, I wouldn’t want to use that to judge an entire set of football games. More like I don’t want to have a defeatist or victim’s mindset. But seeing as truthfully, Africans, especially Nigerians seem to be sidelined on the international scene, I made up my mind to give my best to whatever I do. I’m an African and proudly Nigerian and so anything I do especially on the international scene will first be filtered through my Nationality. Rather than seeing that as a disadvantage, I seize that as an opportunity to bring my country to light. People perceive Nigeria wrongly because of what some people have done. Newsflash! People will perceive Nigeria rightly still because of what some new-minded people will decide to do to make Nigeria shine. The ball is in our court. We can play it well or we can play victim. We choose. But for me, I have chosen to give my best in whatever I do. If I shoot for the sun, the least I will get to, is the moon or the stars, so I’ll shoot. With my words, my actions, my skills, my delivery and everything, I will shoot very far and I will shoot very high. What will you do with yours?

Ok. I was hoping I would conclude this series with this post but I still have a couple of lessons to talk about so we would need to do series 3 and that will be the final, I promise. Lol.

I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I’m enjoying it.

Looking forward to part 3

Do Stay Encouraged!!

Loving you and praying for you as always (and I mean it).

Have a great weekend ahead!!

All the very best and do live a God-Defined life

AijayUfomadu

PS: don’t forget to subscribe (if you haven’t) so you can get fresh updates when new posts are released.

The world cup 2018 just ended and even though I’m not the typical football person, I watched almost all the matches with so much enthusiasm I surprised myself. For me, it was a great way to connect with hubby on a whole new level. By the fourth or fifth match, I knew a whole lot of football terminologies to hold a reasonable discussion without sounding like an oboté (amateur).

Well, this post isn’t about how my love for football soared. Because it didnt. Swowi?. Not as much as my love for volleyball anyway.
It’s more about what the world cup taught me. Life lessons that are really crucial. I’ve always known football would be alot of fun to have people rave and fight about it but I didn’t know it would hold so much valuable lessons than meets the eye, if one looked a little deep into the art of the game itself.

Before I start though, lemme issue a disclaimer. This is my personal opinion and I hope it blesses you. If it doesn’t, well, that’s ok but be nice about it. I still have the right to block unwholesome comments.

Now onto the lessons itself.

First on the list is the lesson i learnt from Saudi Arabia’s match with Russia. That was the very first match. It was a game of 5-nil against Saudi Arabia and I heard all sorts of explanation as to why Saudi Arabia performed that poorly. The one that drew my sympathy was the gist on how that Moslems were still on fast as at that time and so the Saudi Arabian team was playing on empty stomach! Well, I personally think FIFA should have been more considerate and swapped them with another team, even if lots were cast. Maybe that would have helped.

Anyway, onto the lesson.
Russia appears to be a strong team and ordinarily, Saudi appears not to be an equal match for them. This is a fact, I believe the Saudi team should have known based on carrying a suitable qualitative assessment of their football proficiencies as against those with whom they’ve been paired with. So armed with the accurate rating of how good they are, thier strengths and weaknesses compared to their opponents, they could have developed a strategy that will enhance their strengths and undermine thier weakness. Ok. Enough of this grammar.
Watching that match made me realise that Saudi wasn’t very good at striking. Russia was. But Saudi had most of its team members on the mid-field. For me, I would say since they knew that Russia was likely stronger than them the way Brazil is stronger than Nigeria, they would have given a whole lot of attention to backing up their defence so that they could at least control the hits and goals against them. If winning the game would be tough, they could have at least given Russia a little hard time by backing up their defence very strongly. That way, the goals just might have been less if at all.
For me, the life lesson there was to back up what works or could work for you. When facing life giants, capitalize on backing up your strengths. We’ve all been born with something that acts as a defence for us. Something we can fall back on when the going gets tough, back up on it. Don’t throw yourself out there with no defence for when attacks hit home. Have a strong defence on your home front for when the attack comes because it will.
For example, as we go out in search of success and fulfilling purpose, don’t leave your home open. Don’t neglect family in the search for success. Family is your backend. Make your defence strong there.

Second on my list of world cup lessons is the lesson I learnt
when Nigeria played Iceland. You see, Musa scored one sweet goal with a ball that he caught mid-air and drove it straight into the net from the air. It was something else. That just put him in the limelight as a baaaadddd player. But you know something else it did. It made him a target of the opposition. After that goal, Iceland players surrounded the guy. When he scored the second goal, the pressure intensified. That’s what happens in life. We are all striving to make a mark. For those who are purpose-driven, we have a heart to push through the odds and fulfill God’s call on our lives. And sometimes ab-initio, we don’t look like it. We don’t look like we are going somewhere. But somehow, we make a progress somewhat and all hell is let loose. And then we begin to wonder what’s happening. Suddenly we become too obvious. And sometimes we just want to run back into our cave and hide. For some of us, the attack comes even before we take the first step. But you see, whether or not they surround us, He that is with us is greater!!!! Nigeria still won that match and I’m glad we did. Because it drove home the point that it’s not about what’s happening on the outside, it’s about who we are on the inside and who is with us. The Nigerian might not have the typical Brazilian football strength but we went there with determination and we won. The oppositions will come, just face front and do your thing. He that is with you is greater!!

The third lesson. This should have come second though but then I’m not following it in a chronological order. For me, the third lesson was from a combo of the three matches Nigeria played and the three matches Croatia played.
Watching Nigeria’s three matches, it’s as if there was a trend. The seriousness with which Nigeria played was built over time through the three matches with later intensity higher than the former. The first match against Croatia wasn’t played with so much intensity like the other two after it. It was in the second half of the Nigerian- Croatian match that more intensity was introduced. By the end of the first match, The Nigerian team lost to Croatia. And they woke up. The next match with Iceland was intense. And the last match with Argentina was even more intense. Now, seeing the Nigerian team play the first match, one might think that was the best they could do. A layman though. Definitely not their coach if he knew his team well. But see what defeat and the reality that they could be kicked out first round, did to them. Unfortunately, the loss to Croatia put us at a huge disadvantage and we ended up loosing out at the first round. If we won Croatia or at least equalised with them, we could have had points that would put us ahead. That first match seriously affected everything after it. The question is, if the Nigerian team had that much skill and intensity in them, why didn’t they bring it out the first time they played? Why did they wait till the odds grew before the intensity in them came out. Don’t wait till you’re far ahead in the journey to give your best. Give your very best from the very beginning. Whether your audience is none, one, two or five hundred, give your best from the start because sometimes, if you’re waiting for a big stage to bring on your best game on, you might never have that stage. Mediocrity doesn’t go far most of the time.
See Croatia, they put on their best game on from the beginning. I dare say those guys came to kill. They won all through till the very last match. Those guys were focused. They knew what they wanted and they came for the kill. Even thier faces were telling the story. Be good from the word go. Set your mind to win in the game of Life. Bring your best game on and do that from the beginning. Don’t just bring it on, improve on it continually.

Another lesson I learnt from the above is that you start early. Don’t be deceived that you have time. Have you noticed that the time is moving, whether you stop or move, time is on the move. So whatever you want to do, start early. Don’t procrastinate. If indeed you’re to do it, start. If you’re not starting, let it not be because you are afraid or any of those reasons that are actually well- dressed up excuses. Face your front, focus and do your thing.

Ok. This has become a really long read. So I’m going to have to break it up into maybe a two or three part series.
So I’ll have to stop here.

Hope this has been entertaining as well as enlightening.

I’m so sorry for the abrupt stop. I feel like I was on a highway and then hit the brakes suddenly. Mabinu. I had to do that if not it would turn to a 20,000 word read. Lol. I’m really working hard to do shorter posts my readers can consume on the go again and again, trusting God that they are that much a blessing.

Thanks for taking time to read..

Stay Encouraged!!

Loving you and praying for you as always (and I mean it).

Meanwhile, I’ve got a surprise for you..

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Yea…That’s my bundle of Joy. He’s arrived. Glory to God!! He’s Elnathan Sombuliechukwu Enioluwa. You can call him anyone that fits your local tongue ?.

All the very best and do live a God-Defined life

AijayUfomadu

PS: don’t forget to subscribe (if you haven’t) so you can get fresh updates when new posts are released.