MAKING EVERY OPPORTUNITY

 

Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash, King of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” – II Kings 13:14-19, NKJV.

 

This is a classic case of a lost opportunity. As Prophet Elisha was at the point of death, the king of Israel arrived. He needed help to defeat his enemies and so made his request known to the only man who could help him. His request was granted in full. He was given an open cheque when He was told to strike the ground – as many times as he would strike the ground would be the number of times he would be victorious over his enemies. Rather than strike the ground ten times or more, he only struck the ground three times. It was an opportunity of a life time, but he flunked it. He could not make the opportunity he had to count.     

 Have you ever missed an opportunity that would have made a difference in your life? Do you know anyone who has lost an opportunity? Many people have lost opportunities of a lifetime. Opportunities are brought our ways to make life worth its while. Therefore, when we miss opportunities, we miss making date with destiny.

I have been instructed to speak to you on the topic, “Making Every Opportunity Count.”  This topic excites me.

WHAT IS OPPORTUNITY? 

Oxford Dictionary defines “Opportunity” 

As a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something; a favorable situation for a positive outcome. 

Opportunity elicits interest in all of us because we all desire to have opportunities. To miss an opportunity is like losing a prized possession. 

Opportunity comes in various forms, shapes, situations and circumstances. The saying, “opportunity comes but once” is often true meaning that we should endeavour to take advantage of opportunities that come our way. 

On Sunday, April 30, 2006 Radio Nigeria aired a drama titled, “Wasted opportunity.” This reminds me of a home movie titled, “Wasted years.” In other words, wasted opportunities entails wasted years. 

TIME TO DO WHAT WE CAN WITH OPPORTUNITIES IS NOW

At John 9:4 Jesus says: 

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 

Many have died without taking advantage of opportunities they had to make their contributions towards their families, societies and the world in general. In other words, many have died with lost opportunities. 

The language of opportunity is “NOW.” Omar Iban, Caliph of a Moslem state who ruled from 633 - 644 AD remarked: 

“There are four things which come not back - time past, neglected opportunity, the spoken word and the sped arrow.” 

Kahlil Gibran wrote: 

“He that tries to seize an opportunity after it has passed him by is like one who sees it approach but will not go to meet it.”

In his classic book, The Richest Man in Babylon, George Clason wrote: 

“Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.” 

Opportunity favours only the prepared. 

Preparedness is a key element of opportunity. Some people are said to be lucky in life. Strictly speaking, there is nothing like luck. You must understand that luck is not some kind of mystical happening. Luck is preparation waiting for opportunity. L. Charley wrote:

“Great opportunities come to all, and the secret of success in life is to be ready to grasp them when they arrive.” 

Mario Andretti advised:                                                                                                                 

“Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.” 

WHY WAIT FOR OPPORTUNITY WHEN YOU CAN CREATE ONE?

If you want to make progress in life, rather than wait for opportunities, you can attract opportunities. Francis Bacon wrote: 

 “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” 

Bruce Lee, late famous Chinese Karate movie sensation said: 

 “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” 

Stop waiting for people to create opportunities for you, make efforts to create opportunities for yourself. In his book, Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, T.D. Jakes (2007:4, 8) observed:

Many of us attribute success or failure to fate or some external force. We believe that we have to be in the right place at the right time in order to achieve, much like winning the lottery. But success is a direct consequence of our wanting a more abundant life and working hard to earn it, like wadding through the mud puddles of life toward the beckoning sea…. Isn’t it time for you to direct your hope toward building your dreams instead of waiting on your dreams to build themselves?”    

Do not wait for life to happen, make life happen! Eric Thomas advised: 

“Stop being a victim and waiting for somebody else to open up an opportunity for you!” 

To do this, learn to scan your environment. When you do, you will find missing gaps. At Acts 17:22-23, Apostle Paul scanned his environment and saw solution to people’s need:

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.’ Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” 

Sometimes opportunities come disguised. This is where you need to shine your eyes so that you can make every opportunity count. Thomas A. Edison said: 

“Most people miss Opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” 

When you do not take advantage of opportunities, it results to poverty of some sort. It is said that the word, POOR means “Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly.” 

SATAN PROVIDES A VALUABLE LESSON ON OPPORTUNITY

If there is anything you must learn from Satan, learn the need to take advantage of opportunities because he is an expert at that. The devil is a being of opportunity and he exploits opportunities to the full. At Ephesians 4:26-27 we are warned: 

“Do not give the devil an opportunity.” 

If the devil is a business man, he sure knows how to play the game of seizing every opportunity he has to achieve his objectives. At Luke 4:13 we read: 

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a more opportune time. 

Learn from Satan - learn to take advantage of opportunities.    

LOST OPPORTUNITY BRINGS REGRET

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin, but somebody who was with me then discouraged me from doing that. This same person later borrowed the same money I was to invest in Bitcoin and never paid back. Today, Bitcoin is selling at almost US$40, 000. 00 (twenty million, four hundred thousand Naira!). Today, as I stand before you, I am filled with regrets. 

In the year 2020, former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi confessed that one of the greatest regrets he had as a businessman was not taking advantages of the opportunities he had to invest in Zoom when it was selling for peanuts. He had opportunity to invest in Zoom before Covid-19 pandemic swept the world like a tidal wave. At the heat of the pandemic, Zoom zoomed. Today, anyone who had invested in Zoom technology is a multi-millionaire in Dollars. 

HOW TO RECOGNIZE OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunities abound around you - you only need to look to see these opportunities. Joel Osteen wrote:

 “We will never be able to recognize opportunities if we first don’t recognize all that we have and all that we’ve been given.” 

Michael Gerber said: 

 “The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look.” 

The opportunities you seek is probably around you and in you. What you are looking for in Sokoto are already in your Shokoto. Therefore, look inside you and in your environment. Nigeria is loaded with opportunities. Yes, things are hard, but difficulties also present in themselves inherent solutions. Judges 14:14 says, 

“Out of the eater has come something to eat and out of the strong has come something sweet.”    

Opportunities abound where needs and problems exist. In his book, Stop Worrying, Byron Pulsifer wrote: 

“A lot of times, we view a situation that causes us the real problem. However, if you turn it around and see a problem as a mere challenge, you will also see that there is an opportunity right before your eyes.” 

Myles Munroe observed: 

“If you call it an opportunity instead of buckling under the load of the words crisis or tragedy or disaster, then you can start taking advantage of what has happened.” 

In her book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, Tina Seelig wrote: 

An entrepreneur is someone who is always on the lookout for problems that can be turned into opportunities and finds creative ways to leverage limited resources to reach their goals. 

OPPORTUNITY IS HOW YOU SEE THINGS

Most times, what we see and how we see things determine whether we will take advantages of opportunities or not. At Jeremiah 1:11-12, God confronted Jeremiah and asked, “… Jeremiah, what seest thou?” Jeremiah replied, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” The LORD said to him, “Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.”

Jesus encountered a man who was blind. Realizing that the man’s life was filled with restrictions, took him aside to restore his sight. At Mark 8:22-25 we read,  

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw anything. He looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 

First, the man did not see as he ought to see. He saw men as trees. Jesus knew that he was not seeing clearly. He did what He did and the man’s sight was fully restored. He began to see clearly. I dare to ask you:

§ What do you see?

§ Who do you see? 

Where some people see problems, others see opportunities. Take a typical refuse dump for example – while some people, when they pass by refuse dumps close their nostrils, some persons upon seeing refuse dumps rush to them and begin to scavenge, looking for aluminum and metal scraps. Let me shock you – are you aware that a trailer load of aluminum scraps sells for about six million Naira while a truck load of metal scraps also fetches an owner millions of Naira? Winston S. Churchill said: 

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” 

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DO YOU SEEK - FOR SALARY OR FOR INCOME: SUBSISTENCE LIFE OR WEALTH - WHICH?   

What kind of life do you want to live? Are you satisfied with monthly pay cheque or do you want to be the person to determine your own pay cheque (income)? Think of the limitations of salary and opportunities inherent in self-employment. 

When you walk down your street or major roads, do take cognizance of imposing edifices and glimmering automobiles that are driven past by you and ask yourself, “Who own these - Salary earners or Income earners?” 

Even though, I do not denigrate salary neither do I venerate income, I want to say that salary is not the only approach to life and survival. Anyone who lives by banking on salary may die without earning any. We need to reconfigure our minds from earning salary to developing skills. Developing our individual capacities and becoming self-employed is the way to go not only in modern day Nigeria, but globally as well. 

God has endowed each of us with certain potentials, which are yearning to be harnessed. I encourage us to see what God has deposited inside us to become what He has created us to be. One way to do this is to make the needed sacrifice: 

1.Leave the Big League to play in the local league (What you are looking for in Sokoto are already in your Shokoto). For sure, there is a future is shoe cobbling. Everyone wants to start and to hit it “Big.” Ask yourself, “How did Gucci, Dolce and Gabana, etcetera start?”   

2.   There are opportunities in agriculture, ICT (Software development) and in the Services sector. 

STEPS TO BECOMING ENTREPRENEURIAL  

1. Have Faith In Yourself and In Your Abilities

Sometimes, the temptation is to doubt certain abilities that we are endowed with. The only way to overcome this is to keep doing what we are doing until we perfect the art. You must learn to have faith in your faith and to doubt your doubts.  Israelmore Ayivor wrote:

“Those who mistrust their own abilities are being too wicked to themselves, discouraging themselves from doing what they should have been excelling in. If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can't be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges.” 

In his book, The Light in the Heart, Roy T. Bennett observed: 

“Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself. Believe in yourself, your abilities and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.”  

2. Do What You Can With What You Have Where You Are

I encourage you to adopt the resolution that Edward Everett Hale had made. He wrote:

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” 

3. Search Yourself To Know What You Are Good At

The journey into entrepreneurship begins with self-evaluation. This journey is half completed when you know who you are and what you can do with who you are and what God has endowed you. It becomes challenging when you do not have any idea of what you have been wired with. Speaking to youths on an AIT Programme, TEEN TIME on Saturday, March 17, 2018, Isaac Success counseled: 

“Find your place and everything will fall into place. When you do, you will become the master of that place.”   

YOU ARE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITY-ARCHITECT OR ENEMY

Sometimes we think that our enemy or friend is someone else without realizing that we are our own best friend or worst enemy. As regards opportunities, we are our own architect or enemy. In his biography of Andrew Carnegie titled, The Wisdom of Andrew Carnegie, Napoleon Hill wrote: 

“If you will analyze those who cry, ‘No opportunity’ you will find that they are using this as an alibi for their own unwillingness to assume responsibilities and use their minds.” 

In his book, Achieve Anything In Just One Year, Jason Harvey observed: 

Your life is rich with possibility, and you are the only one who can discover the opportunities that will allow you to live your dreams. 

Writing in The Science of Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone, Peter Hollins wrote: 

“... when we allow ourselves to get too settled in a comfort zone ... you stop challenging yourself, and you become too satisfied and docile. It’s during that ‘waking sleep’ that opportunities start to slip away.” 

CONCLUSION

As I conclude this presentation, I encourage you to make every opportunity count every day, every hour, every minute and every second. I leave you with the following quotes: 

“A neglected opportunity is lost forever, and past omissions can never be supplied by future diligence. Therefore, work while it is called day.” - Samuel Davies

 

“... think on the fact that the seconds, minutes and hours that have gone by will never come back. That is why we have to make use of every opportunity - seizing every moment.” - Rexford Sam, Creating Your Future. 

God bless us all! 

Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah (Evangelist)

Grand-Heritage Global Communications

Phone: +234 803 959 6919.

E-mail: hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com.