Winning Life

Winning Life

By Apostle Felix

7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
8  Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

Proverbs 4: 7, 8

Winning in life takes wisdom and understanding. The scripture above informs us that wisdom is the principal thing,  meaning that wisdom is first in order of priority. It has to be sought diligently in order to be above the issues of life. Wisdom is not commonsense, but is a rare commodity that turns a man into uncommon person. Commonsense does not distinguish anyone because it is common. What makes diamond precious is its rarity.

13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14  For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15  She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

Proverbs 3: 13 – 15

Intelligence is not wisdom. We have very intelligent fools around. The Bible says, ‘A fool shall say in heart that there is no God,’ Psalm 14: 1. We have educated, highly intelligent fools, because they have denied the existence of God. It is no surprise to find a medical doctor, who has been treating patients with cancer due to smoking and yet himself is smoking. That’s foolishness. You will find a lawyer who has been defending the law of the land, becoming a law breaker himself. That is foolishness. A marriage counselor, who has helped so marriages to avert divorce, yet his marriage is on the rocks. That’s foolishness. These are individuals with knowledge yet they are suffering from the  consequences of knowledge deficiency. The problem is not lack of knowledge but shortage of wisdom.

22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

James 1: 22 – 24

The man portrayed in the above scripture by apostle James, is one who hears the word of God but does not apply the word in his life. He knows what to do but he is not doing what he knows. He is satisfied with the knowledge part but not the wisdom part. Wisdom is the right application of what one knows – knowledge. It is not enough just to know something. Applying the knowledge  yields more results than just accumulating it. Let us look at some of the enemies of wisdom that frustrates a winning life:

1. Fear – fear limits knowledge. One may know what to do but fear may interfere with application. The disciples in the boat feared to step out of the boat except Peter. They knew what to do because they all heard Jesus when He said, ‘come.’

7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

2 Timothy 1: 7

2. Wrong priorities – the failure to organize the to do list in order of priority may lead to failure. Wisdom is also the ability to recognize first things first. Someone has said that, good is the enemy of best.

3. Procrastination – oftentimes, the enemy of your progress is not your uncle in the village, it is procrastination. You don’t have to look far for the enemy. The enemy is within. His name is procrastination. Cure yourself of it and you will start experiencing progress. Be prompt to attend to commitments. and avoid postponing appointments unnecessarily.

4. Laziness – hard work leads to profit. The church is not a haven for laziness. We should not dress laziness with religiosity. The appetite for miracles, especially miracle money is just one way of trying to escape hard work in order to acquire money. Laziness also likes to shift blame to someone else. It will blame its failure on generational curses. Blaming the great, great, great grand father, a man that lived in 1400’s that he sinned. Cain prospered despite the curse. Esau prospered despite losing the blessing to Jacob. You and I have no excuse at all. God has blessed us in Christ. Just work hard!