Today's Success if not improved upon, will be become tomorrow's failure. Success without a successor is failure - Lester Sumrall. Stagnation is not about doing nothing, its doing the same thing, the same way, the same place , with the people all the time. Its time to move on to something new, and it starts here today - Now!!!
Today's Success if not improved upon, will be become tomorrow's failure. Success without a successor is failure - Lester Sumrall. Stagnation is not about doing nothing, its doing the same thing, the same way, the same place , with the people all the time. Its time to move on to something new, and it starts here today - Now!!!
Today's Success if not improved upon, will be become tomorrow's failure. Success without a successor is failure - Lester Sumrall. Stagnation is not about doing nothing, its doing the same thing, the same way, the same place , with the people all the time. Its time to move on to something new, and it starts here today - Now!!!
ISSUE NO 1 Published by Word Of The Spirit JULY 2008
TURNING YOUR STAGNATION
INTO MOTION (part 1) The will of God for you as a Christian, is forward movement. It involves you going for you to experience growth and motion from one level of achievement to another, in everything that you do in life. God is a be it in your finances, career, family, spiri- God of processes. Everything He ever tual life, relationships, academics, etc. God made, He made through a process. does not take people backwards, He takes Growth and motion are both products of them forward [Exodus 14:15]. God has the “processes of life”. Webster dictionary loaded you with enough potential to move defines, “Growth” as, “progressive devel- from the bottom of the ladder to the top, opment”. While “Motion” is defined as, from the back of the pack to the being a “an act, process, or instance of changing pacesetter in life. But if this is not happen- place”. ing in your life - could be in just one area - then you are going through a period of God’s destiny for your life is “Greatness”. stagnation, and you need to do something And greatness does not come to pass in a about it. day, but it is designed to unfold to you in “phases”. Life is made to manifest itself in This material has been inspired by God, to phases and God expects you to move from help you understand your present situa- one phase to another unto the full picture tion and to deliver to you some of the key of your destiny is unfolded. When you ingredients, that can help stimulate or pro- look at your life as a Christian and you voke motion in your life. I cannot claim cannot seem to see any kind of progress in that it will provide you with all the an- whatever you are doing, then you are ex- swers. But the principles shared here will periencing what is known as help you get moving again towards your “STAGNATION. God-given destination for your life.
Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the What Is Stagnation?
just is as the shining light, that shineth I know that many people will have differ- more and more unto the perfect day.” The ent views on what they believe that stag- path to God’s destination for your life is a nation really is. So what I will try to do n this book is to help you understand what in this newsletter is to help you under- as it happened yesterday, then God wants stand what stagnation is, from God’s you to forget about it and move on to point of view. something bigger.
Webster dictionary defines, “Stagnation” “Tomorrow’s success is bigger than yes-
as “a state of not advancing or develop- terday’s success” ing”. This definition is in line with what God said, in Deuteronomy 2 verse 3: God does not want you to camp around “the mountain of yesterday’s success”. A “Ye have compassed [roamed around] wise man once said that “success without this mountain long enough: turn you a successor is failure”. You will end up a northward”. failure when you don’t improve on yester- day’s success. When people become satis- When you find yourself stuck on the fied with what they have achieved in life, same spot for a long period of time, or the they tend to become comfortable and stay faces that you are seeing around you are where they are. John Mason said, “The still the same ones you having been see- first step towards going somewhere is to ing for the past three or five years, or the decide that you are not going to stay challenges you are facing today are the where you are”. same ones you have been facing for months or years, then God is saying to Again, In Micah 2:10, God says: you that you have become stagnated, and He wants you to move along to a another “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your level - a level higher than where you are rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy right now! Your life is due for new chal- you, even with a sore destruction”. lenges so get a move on. It time for you wake up from your slumber. It is not to your advantage to rest on your laurels. You are running the risk of pollut- Stagnation does not necessarily mean ing your tomorrow if you do so. Yester- that you are poor or lack any success day’s success is only good enough for yes- story. terday. You need new goals and new dreams. The people who were singing your When some people hear the term praise yesterday, will be the same people “Stagnation”, some of the words that first crying, “Crucify him, crucify him” , tomor- come to their mind are “poverty, failure, row, if you don’t do something new today. trials, and joblessness”. They are not nec- Your past achievements will do all they can essary the fruits or cause(s) of stagnation, to keep you where you are, but it is your though any of them could result from it. responsibility to let go of the past and em- Stagnation is an enemy that can destroy; brace the future. Apostle Paul gave us the we will come to that later. Stagnation secret of his fulfilled destiny in Philippians relates much more to a lack of movement 3:13-14: “Brethren, I count not myself to or lack of development. have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which God’s View on Stagnation are before, I press toward the mark for the It can be clearly seen from what God said prize of the high calling of God in Christ in Deut 2:3,that when you camp around Jesus”. yesterday’s success, then you are living in the stagnation zone. It does not matter This was a man who wrote two third of how big yesterday’s success was, as long This is what God said in Deuteronomy 30 new testaments, and did mind-blowing ex- verse 19: “I call heaven and earth to record ploits for the kingdom of God, yet he tells this day against you, that I have set be- us , that the secret of his success, was his fore you life and death, blessing and curs- ability to let go off the things he had done in ing: THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE , that the past, in order to reach out for the greater both thou and thy seed may live: things he could yet do. Your tomorrow is far greater than anything you have ever ac- A large number of the events that take complished in your past. place in our lives are a product of the choices we make in life. Your choice will However, I think there is a need to strike a either make or break you. Neither God or balance here. Although, in order to explain the devil can do anything in your life what stagnation really is, I have been talk- without you directly or indirectly allowing ing about you not improving on yester- it. The choices you make will always give day’s success. But the truth is that your permission to something or someone to situation may have nothing or little to do happen in your life. So examine the qual- with your past success. There are so many ity of the choices that you have made in reasons why stagnation can occur in one’s the past, because there lies the key to your life. Your problem could have been caused personal freedom. People fail or succeed in by some other factors such as; negative at- life by choice and not by design. Every titude, unbelief, lack of commitment, and man and woman that was created by God, disobedience to God etc. The purpose of was loaded with enough potential for this book is to help you take a closer look “Greatness”. God is not a partial God and at your life so that you can get to the root He does not favour one person over the of the problem and deal with it. This book other. is about you and not your next door neighbour. God expects you to take full responsibly for the happenings in your life. It is easy to Self Examination: The Key to Personal point an accusing finger at people or Freedom things. If anything goes wrong in your life, you are the first culprit, you may not Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the know it, but it is true. Remember the story faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not of Adam and Eve in the Genesis chapter your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is three: in you, except ye be reprobates? And they heard the voice of the LORD 2 Cor 13:5 God walking in the garden in the cool of The key to personal recovery is self exami- the day: and Adam and his wife hid them- nation. If you are going to succeed in find- selves from the presence of the LORD God ing a lasting solution to your situation, amongst the trees of the garden. And the then you will first have to look inwards LORD God called unto Adam, and said before you look outwards. It is more easier unto him, Where art thou? to blame other people for your problems, And he said, I heard thy voice in the gar- but the truth is that you are responsible for den, and I was afraid, because I was na- whatever happens in your life. Nothing ked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who can happen in your life without your per- told thee that thou wast naked? Hast mission, whether good or bad. It is true thou eaten of the tree, whereof I com- that God has planned or designed your manded thee that thou shouldest not eat? destiny, but it is also true that He has And the man said, THE WOMAN WHOM placed it in your hand. THOU GAVEST TO BE WITH ME, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the problem” LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman When God got to Adam, He asked, “Hast said, THE SERPENT BEGUILED ME, and thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded I did eat. And the LORD God said unto thee that thou shouldest not eat? Adam re- the serpent, Because thou hast done this, plied, “the woman whom thou gavest to be thou art cursed above all cattle, and with me”. Instead of him to take the blame above every beast of the field; upon thy he passed it on. He first of all blamed God belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou and then blamed the woman. eat all the days of thy life: Gen 3:8-14 What he was saying indirectly to God is God had commanded Adam and His wife this, "if you had not given me a wife, this Eve, not to eat of the tree of knowledge and would not have happened” and “don’t ask me, good which was in the middle of the gar- ask the woman, she was the one who gave me den, But they disobeyed Him when the the fruit”. Does this sound like someone devil came into the picture. As a result of you know? So God left Adam alone for a that they lost their spiritual covering and while, and went over to Eve, to hear her became alienated from the nature of God, side of the story. She also passed the blame thereby dying spiritually. When God came on. She said, “the serpent [devil] deceived me? to the garden looking for the couple He None of them owned up or took responsi- could not find them, so he called out to bility for what had happened. And that is Adam, but he was nowhere to be found, the evil nature of men. I believe you know because they had hid themselves away what happened after that. Their excuses or from God. The question I would like to ask blames did not spare them from God’s is this. Why did God go to Adam first and judgement. not Eve or the serpent that had deceived Eve. This should therefore tell you that blaming The answer to that is, when God first gave others or giving excuses for your situation the commandment to Adam in Gen 2:17, will not solve the problem but worsen it al- Eve was not yet created [v 18]. Eventually together. The danger of always finding ex- when Eve was created from the rib of cuses for everything that happens to you, is Adam, Adam was made the head of that that, it will never let you see the true cause home. So when God had realised what of your problems. Be a man and take re- happened, He came straight to Adam. Yes sponsibly for your mistakes or problems. it is true that it was Eve, who by the decep- Have you not noticed that when you point tion of the serpent ate the fruit and gave to an accusing finger at something, one finger her husband. But God had put Adam in is pointing at the thing you are accusing, charge of that union, therefore he was to be one is pointing towards heaven and the held accountable for anything that happens other three are pointing at you? This means in that home. Have you not noticed that that at least two-third of the problem is the bible did not say, “And the eyes of them your fault. It is time to take a look at your- both were opened, and they knew that they self, and try to see when you have gone were naked; and they sewed fig leaves to- wrong, you may not be able to see all there gether, and made themselves apron”, until is to see, but God through His spirit is Adam also ate of the fruit. I believe that ready to help you if you will let Him. In our things would have been different had next newsletter we will be focusing on Adam refused to eat the fruit. A husband is some of the areas you will need to examine. the covering of his wife. Just be honest to yourself and make amends where necessary. “Blaming others for your own mistake will only prolong the life span of the To be continued....