THE PLACE OF A MAN AND WOMAN IN FAMILY, CHURCH AND SOCIETY

 EXORDIUM

In God’s economy, humans are triune beings (possessing body, soul and spirit (I Thess. 5:23) with tripodial relationships (aside the Godhood, Family, Church and Community). We are first spiritual, then physical and social entities. We have been called to function in these realms. Striking a balance amongst these three has remained the epicenter of our daily activities.

Humans are first members of their respective families and by extension, members of their communities. If perchance they enter into a covenant relationship with God in Christ, they become members of God’s Family, the Church. While family remains the most important socializing factor in a person’s life, his social activities are carried out within the community. However, the influence of the Church community upon an individual remains to be seen, the most vital.  

By default, humans affect and are affected by these three institutions: family, church and community. How they behave towards these institutions determine to a large extent their influences (good or bad). Because actions and reactions are equal and opposite, what goes round comes round.

For a Christian man or woman, these three institutions are platforms for ministry. Because charity begins at home, family of a Christian should serve as pulpit to church and community. In New Testament settings, homes were considered as extensions of the church. This explains the concept of “home church” or “church in the home” that we read of at Romans 16:5 and I Corinthians 16:19.

How each member of the family behaves goes a long way to affect or improve her collective testimony. As family goes, so go both the church and community.

The responsibility of moderating family life rests squarely on the shoulders of a Christian husband and wife. The man is considered Husband as well as House-band – meaning he is spouse and supporter of his wife and home. Failure of the family is blamed on him, but success of the family is his glory.

God expects men to be men, not just males. They must be men in their homes, not just males at home. The difference between males and men is simple: while males have all the physical features of the masculine gender, men have character. Every man is a male but not every male is a man in the strictest sense of the word.

While males want to be bossy, men lead with character: they are fair and firm. God needs men in every home to be people of character (rationale and uncompromising).

PLACE OF CHRISTIAN MEN AND WOMEN IN FAMILIES

Understanding the place of family in God’s scheme of things defines the roles of Christian men and women in families. The family is of great importance to God, considering that it is the bedrock of human development and advancement. Malachi 2:15 states why God established the home,

“And did not He make one? Yet had He the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That He might seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

The purpose of God for the family is to raise Godly children. This explains why God was happy when Abraham fulfilled this Divine mandate. At Genesis 18:19 He said of Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

God expects families to serve as platforms for training and dissemination of His Will for mankind. For this reason, family should be a place where God is honoured, obeyed and worshipped; a place which demonstrates knowledge of God and radiates His glory.

We need more families like that where Timothy was nurtured in the fear and admonition of the Lord (II Timothy 1:5; II Timothy 3:15); where children learn God’s ordinances, and are prepared to be positive change-agents that our world desperately needs.

What Christian men and women are expected to do in their families are to set appropriate Christian examples of worship, obedience and guidance. When men fulfill their responsibilities of being Christian men/husbands and Christian women care for their families with decorum, chastity and virtue, we would be on our way to unleashing an army of well-groomed children who will transform their societies.

Duties of men in their homes are to make provisions for the wellbeing of their families (I Timothy 5:8) while women do the noble work of caring for each member of their homes. Together, they provide support.

Fraternal cohesion of Christian families is one of the most powerful testimonies of hope to a world fragmented by wrong value systems and unguided moral persuasions.

It is the family that moderates the moral and spiritual tones of both church and society. If families churn out miscreants, church and society are negatively affected, but if they churn out godly children, church and society are made better. Therefore, raising godly children and stabilizing societies are the greatest roles of Christian men and women in families.

To achieve these objectives, Christian men and women in various homes must collaborate to ensure that these are achieved. Mike Udam (2014) wrote that Christian men and women (husbands and wives) should take care of each other as they seek to play their roles effectively. He wrote that a husband should:      

§  Provide for his wife’s needs.

§  Show interest in her health and how she is feeling at any particular point in time.

§  Show interest in helping her family.

§  Make her feel the way she was feeling when he was courting her.

§  Surprise her with gifts once in a while

§  Meet her emotional needs.

§  Criticize her privately, rebuke her gently.

§  Make her feel important.

§  Share his dreams and visions with her.

§  Be transparent in his financial dealings.

§  Have strong shoulders to take care of the needs of his children.

§  Pray for his wife’s success daily.

§  Protect and defend his wife.

For the Christian woman in the home, Brother Udam wrote that she should:

§  Listen to her husband’s instructions at all times, except when it conflicts with plain teachings of God’s Word.

§  Consider him as “lord” or “master” as well the driver of the family bus.

§  Consult with him before executing any of her decisions that can impact on the family.

§  Work with him in child discipline.

§  Seek approval from him before any major financial transactions are undertaken.

§  Never criticize his leadership style publicly.

§  Never deny him his emotional entitlements.

§  Take time to listen to him well before reacting.

§  Help to cover his nakedness and not to make announcements about it.

§  Pray for his success daily.

§  Have strong shock absorbers to accommodate his mistakes as the family bus is in motion.

PLACE OF CHRISTIAN MEN AND WOMEN IN CHURCH

Church is God’s Family (I Timothy 3:15; Galatians 6:9-10). She is the Divine ekklesia. Because family is the feeder of both church and community, Christian men and women are expected to play great roles towards growth and development of the church.

One of the greatest contributions of Christian men and women towards enhancement of Church growth is the gift of themselves. Making ourselves available is our best and greatest gifts to the Lord and to His Kingdom. To demonstrate the importance of availability, the Psalmist says, “In the days of His battle His army shall be volunteers” (Psalms 110:3). Again, “The Lord gave the Word, great was the company of those who proclaimed it” (Psalms 68:11).

II Corinthians 8:1-5 underscores the importance of availability when Macedonian Christians were commended for giving themselves first and then to the Lord. Giving ourselves or making ourselves available is an all-encompassing and all-involving transaction. It involves our time, talents, treasures and our lives in general.

In what ways can we make ourselves available to the Lord and encourage church growth?

By Cultivating Holiness 

          God can never make use of a person whose life is not in consonance with His Will. Christian men and women must rededicate themselves to living for the Lord (II Timothy 2:19-22).

          Holiness has always been the beauty of the believer. Nothing makes God happy to see that His children are holiness defined. Holiness is attractive. It is impacting and transformational. It defines the translucency of the Christian testimony, enabling unbelievers and those who are not New Testament Christians to see through us to Jesus Christ.

Holiness makes Christians to stand out from the crowd and to make bold statements wherever they are! Sinful lifestyles dim the light that should be the Christian. No matter how beautiful you can sing, preach and pray, lack of holiness makes nonsense of all these. The name of the Lord and image of our local Congregations will be subjected to ridicule when Christian make a mess of our testimonies (cf. Romans 2:17-24).

Who is a Christian? A Christian is one who is not ashamed of the Gospel, nor a shame to the Gospel (Romans 1:16; II Cor. 6:3; cf. II Samuel 12:14).

Cultivate holiness. Your sound moral life will bring sinners to the Lord. It will encourage people to be like you. It is an incentive to your preaching of the Gospel. Holy living will enhance our testimonies and impact positively on the growth of our local Congregations.

By Giving God and His Church Your Time

          Give God and His Church your time. Make yourself available for Church activities such as worship, Bible study, prayer meetings, singing practice, evangelism, visitation, etcetera. Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord and he said, “Here am I send me?” (Isaiah 6:8). No time is well utilized and invested than that which we spend in God’s presence and in doing God’s Will.

By Making Available our Talents and Treasures

          A lad (youth) gave Jesus his launch of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes (John 6:8-13). Peter gave the Lord his boat to preach on (Luke 5:1-11). Midwives cast their votes for the growth of nation of Israel in Egypt (Exodus 1:15-22). In each of these, people gave their talents and treasures and made them available to the Lord towards the growth of His work in lives and communities of men; each person received greater dividend than they had invested.

          When we labour for the Lord, He in turn labours for us. When we cultivate in His Vineyard, He in turn cultivates in our respective vineyards. You cannot out-give God. Give Him your talents and treasures. Ensure that you have a Kingdom-Investment Mentality (KIM).

          When we do these, we can be sure that our local congregations will experience new lease of life in activities, growth and further development. Take active parts in whatever your Congregation is doing. Volunteer to take up assignments during Worship services even when you feel shy and inadequate inside of you. Learn to fan your gifts into flame (II Timothy 1:6-7). Learn to do things. We only learn to do by doing. The more you practice, the more you perfect and horn your skills in those directions.

  Apathy is one of the major reasons Christian men and women are not playing their Biblically established roles towards growth of their local congregations. Some Christian men and women generally blame apathy to low motivation. While to an extent, they are right, fact, however remains that church is an investment. The joy derived in worship/fellowship is commensurate to what we invested in it — time, attention and interest.  David, the “Sweet Psalmist” and king of Israel (Psalms 122: 1, 6-9), our Lord Jesus Christ (John 2:17) and Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 11:28) were not apathetic. They were rather consumed by their passions for the Lord’s House.

Sometimes Christian men and women blame their apathy towards Christian activities such as worship, Bible Study, evangelism, prayer meetings, etcetera to the fact that Congregations of the Lord’s Church are not happening places like the denominations (cf. I Samuel 8:5). They long for where “things are happening.” The truth is – Church was not designed as a place of entertainment but for serious spiritual business (John 4:23-24). Worship is doing exactly what God says you should do (cf. Exodus 8:27) not doing what you like. Church is not a social club meant for social gathering but a place for soul-searching.  

Lack of commitment is the by-product of apathy to church and related activities. Cold shoulderisms, “I don’t care attitude” and “To your tents O’ Israel” Lifestyles of many to church programs such as evangelism, Bible study, prayer meeting and visitations are denying the Church of the roles expected of Christian men and women.

Daraprin (“Daraprin” was a Sunday-Sunday medicine) Christianity is a religion of convenience and not of conviction. God condemns this in Scripture (Matt. 20:6).

Some Christian men and women think that it is the work of a congregational preacher is to engage in the work of ministry (evangelism, visitation, etcetera) and because of this faulty assumption, they leave almost everything to him. Truth is, the work of preachers is not to go from house-to-house but to provide technical supports needed by members whose work is to engage in ministries (Ephesians 4:10-12). The primary work of preachers is coaching. Coaches are not players. Players are members.    

PLACE OF CHRISTIAN MEN AND WOMEN IN OUR COMMUNITIES

 The greatest roles Christian men and women are expected to play in their communities are: to provide leadership, become shining examples of who Christ is and to proclaim God’s Word. We should stop running away from offering ourselves for leadership to our communities. The power to lead is the power to do good. If we are convinced that we are eyes to the blind, feet to the lame and teachers of the ignorant, then we should do well to dictate the pace by providing leadership at every level in our communities.  

One of our greatest contributions to our various communities is to be of influence for good. This role may never be if we are not the kind of people we ought to be. In his book, JAMES: AUTHENTIC AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY, Chuck Swindoll asked, “If you say you believe like you should, why then do you behave like you shouldn’t?”

Who are you? Who do people say you are? It should be appreciated that we could be sending negative messages to people without really knowing. The image we project could mean life or death (cf. II Corinthians 7:3). Our lives are like perfumes – either putrefying or pleasant (II Corinthians 2:14-15). We are the Bible people are reading (II Corinthians 3:2-3).

If we are open, living Bibles, what then do people read when our lives are opened? I have said times without number that a Christian is not just a person who is not ashamed of the Gospel but one who is not a shame to the Gospel (cf. Romans 1:16; II Corinthians 6:3).

WHO DO OUR COMMUNITIES SAY WE ARE?

People’s perceptions of our personalities bother principally on influence. The influence we wield as Christians determine our levels of effectiveness and the command of our personalities. Several questions are germane to the issue of influence:

1.     Do darkness go away when we appear?

2.     Are evil discussions and lifestyles comfortable in our presence?

3.     Are we letting our influences bear on people and situations for good?

4.     What positions do people hold of our persons when they see us?

5.     Are we models of good life to people around us?

6.     Are our lights shinning before men so much so that they give glory to our God?

7.     Are we hiding our lights or are we radiating them for everyone to see through and with?

Job 29:8-17 describes the kind of influence godly people can have on people in their environments. Are we taking advantage of who we are to tell the world about the beauty of our God, His Son Jesus Christ and of His Church? Do we possess compelling or repelling characters? Are people attracted to worship God because of us (cf. Zechariah 8:23)?  

CONCLUSION

The place of Christian men and women in families, congregations and communities cannot be overemphasized. When we do what we are supposed to do when we are supposed to do them wherever we are, we will be playing the vital roles expected of us.

May our families, congregations and communities feel the positive impacts of our existence to the praise and glory of God.

DOES GOD STILL SPEAK TO US THROUGH DREAMS?

 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high - Hebrews 1:1-3

INTRODUCTION

Dream can mean a number of things: it can refer to a personal desire or aspiration. We have heard people say, “My dream is to become a faithful Christian.” This expresses desire. Dream also refers to a personal visual experience while asleep. What is dream? According to Wikipedia, 

A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, although they have been a topic of scientific, philosophical and religious interest throughout recorded history. 

Dreams are beautiful experiences. However, while some dreams are wonderful and inspiring, others are educative and entertaining while some are horrible and useless.

Dreams have been part of humanity from time past, time present and will likely continue in time to come. You may have dreamt last night and may likely dream this night. The questions have remained:

1.     What values do dreams present to us?

2.     Does God still speak to us in dreams today?  

Truth be told: sometimes, we dream about the things we imagine about or entertained in our minds in the course of the day. Ecclesiastes 5:3 and 7 say:

“For a dream comes through much activity….” (New King James Version).  

A careful study of The Bible shows that dreams are God’s communication tool for individuals:

Genesis 20:3

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.”

 

Genesis 20:6

 And God said unto him in a dream, “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.”

 

Genesis 31:10

And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.

 

Genesis 31:11

And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, “Jacob: And I said, Here am I.”

 

Genesis 31:24

 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”

 

Genesis 37:5

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

 

Genesis 40:5

And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

 

Genesis 40:8-9

And they said unto him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” And Joseph said unto them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you.” And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me.”

 

Genesis 41:8

And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

 

Numbers 12:6

And he said, “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.”

 

1Kings 3:5

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

 

Daniel 2:7

They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.”

 

Daniel 7:1

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

 

Joel 2:28

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

 

Matthew 1:20

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

 

Matthew 2:12

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

 

Matthew 27:19

When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

 

Acts 16:6-10

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul^[a] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 

DOES GOD SPEAK TO US THROUGH DREAMS? YES, HE DOES!

At Job 33:15-16, we read,

“In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.” 

It should be stated that at Joel 2:28, God spoke through His prophet:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

This prophetic declaration was replicated at Acts 2:15-17. It is pertinent to state that while “prophecy” and all the miraculous are expected to come to an end as explained at I Corinthians 13:8-10 nothing is said of dreams. In other words, dream is not going to come to an end – it will remain our individual experiences.

The question, therefore remains:

DOES GOD GIVE US GENERAL REVELATION OF HIS WILL TODAY THROUGH DREAMS?

The answer to this is a compound NO!      

God’s final revelation of His Will on what we must do to be saved, worship Him and live our lives are all revealed forever through Jesus Christ and written for us on the pages of the New Testament. Nothing is to be added or removed (Galatians 1:6-9; Revelations 22:18-20).

Take Note:

Any dream that is contrary to God’s revealed Will in Scripture is not from God. Therefore, whenever you dream always juxtapose your dream with God’s Word (I John 4:1).    

It is dangerous to build doctrines out of your personal dreams. It is also dangerous to universalize the applicability of your dreams. Always say, “I dreamt” and stop at that. Jeremiah 23: 28-29 says:

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my Word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

If you have dream about anyone, just say, “I dream” and relate same to such an individual. Avoid advertising it to others and do not come to Church to say, “The Lord told me.” 

CONCLUSION 

Dreams are God’s ways of communicating to man on individual levels. Dreams, however, can be hijacked by Satan. Enjoy your dreams. Take serious the lessons embedded therein, but be careful not to make mountains out of molehills.

May God continue to bless us all in Jesus’ Name!    

IDEAS AS FOUNDATION FOR PURPOSEFUL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

  “Let us be the minds to dream up the tools and technologies that power Nigeria and sub-Saharan development. Let us be the hands that mold the economic landscape of Nigeria for our own prosperity and that of the whole Nigerian nation.” -   Professor Barth. Nnaji 

We live in an age where it is no longer traditional to work hard, but to work smart. In this era, activity does not necessarily translate to productivity. In this dispensation, the person with better ideas wins and rules. The saying, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” is truer now than ever. This era justifies to its very letter the saying by Thomas Edison that “Creativity is 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration.”

Entrepreneurship holds the key to a vibrant economy. It is the solution to increasing unemployment in the land.  A nation that encourages entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs has no business with economic recession because entrepreneurs are change-agents and solution creators. A nation of entrepreneurs is a grand redefinition of economic prosperity. Entrepreneurs are men and women who think out solutions to myriads of social, economic, and political challenges. A civil service-oriented nation such as Nigeria with her vast amount of natural resources will always court economic troubles.

WHAT DOES BEING ENTREPRENEURIAL REQUIRE?     

All you need to become entrepreneurial is a simple value-adding idea. God had an idea and the world was created. Somebody had an idea and electricity was invented. Henry Ford had an idea and automobile was invented. Thomas Edison had ideas and many inventions were brought to life. Mack Zukerberg had an idea and Facebook was created. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had ideas and Microsoft Inc. was created. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had ideas and Google was created. The list is endless.

What is your own idea? No one becomes entrepreneurial without an idea. Get an idea and your success is born!

Ideas are foundations for purposeful entrepreneurship. We must take our destinies in our own hands. We must do for ourselves what no one else can do for us. We must take personal responsibilities for what we finally become in life, knowing that nobody owes us anything, rather, we owe ourselves everything. We must understand that our successes or failures in life are entirely our own making. In his book, Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, T.D. Jakes (2007:4, 8) observed and asks,

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?”   

Achieving our goals in life are not serendipity affairs – they are not chance happenings. Actions and reactions remain equal and opposite. What we sow into life is what we receive back from it. What we throw at life is what it throws back at us. We must learn to go for what we want even when others are not prepared to help us birth our dreams. Succinctly stated: We must take our lives in our own hands!

What does that mean? It means becoming entrepreneurial!

WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?

To ascertain whether you are fit for entrepreneurship, you would need to ask and answer these questions:

1.     Do you have a Protest mentality?

That is, are you satisfied with your present economic condition? Do you “protest” over the way things are with you to cause you to want your situation changed? Are you willing to make the necessary sacrifice to turn your life around for good? If you do, then, you have a ‘Protest’ mentality. 

2.     Do you have a Positive Mental Attitude?

Do you see things and issues from a positive angle? Do you see sense in nonsense?  

3.     Do you have a strong sense of personal awareness?

Do you know yourself: strength and weaknesses? Do you know your unique selling points? 

4.     Are you willing to take initiatives?

Are you selling-propelling and Self-motivated? Do you have capacity to initiate an idea and to see it blossom into a product or service?

5.     Do you have a strong sense of commitment?

Can you hold your ground? Are you passionate?  

6.     Do you have a high energy level?

Do you possess the spirit-of-No-Retreat-No-Surrender?  

7.     Do you have integrity?

Are you reliable? Are you monosyllabic – a one-word person? Is your word your bond?

8.     Are you patient?

Do you have a quick-fix-mentality? Are you led by the spirit of ‘Here’ and ‘Now’? Would you be willing to wait for your leads to mature? 

9.     Can you deal with failure?

Do you see failure as final? Can you handle failure as much as you can handle success? Are you emotionally and psychologically strong to face the realities of the business world?

10.    Do you have strategic fit?  

Do you know your way around your chosen field of enterprise? Would you be relying solely on the professionalism of others?  

WHAT IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

Entrepreneurship is all about job and wealth creation. It deals principally with needs’ identification and taking steps to bridge existing gaps by providing solutions to identified needs. At the center of entrepreneurship is the entrepreneur who is the vision-bearer, the idea-generator, who by default is a self-employed person. Relying solely on his/her abilities to generate ideas for products or services, an entrepreneur mobilizes factors of production such as resources, personnel, and materials towards transforming his/her ideas into tangible or intangible products or services.

 

In a society like Nigeria where jobs are not readily available, one must begin to think entrepreneurial. This not only saves you the hassles and stresses of job-hunting, but also gives you the freedom to explore, exploit and maximize your human potentials; become your own boss and book an important place in the annals of movers and shakers.

WHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

In their book, Cash Flow Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom, Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Letcher wrote: “If you want to remain poor, seek employment.” This is not to denigrate paid employment. Employment is good if you can find one, but what happens if you cannot find any? Become entrepreneurial - Create one!

 

Paid employment does not guarantee wealth, nor does it even guarantee job security because one could be thrown out any time into the cold weather of joblessness, sometimes at a time when one may not find it easy locating another paid employment.

Paid employees are people who serve others. Every paid employee is a ‘servant’: it doesn’t matter if you are a public servant or a private servant; civil servant or legal servant. A servant is a servant. Forget about the title that an individual wears - a servant is a servant! As long as someone pays your salary, you are his or her servant. Of course, “he who pays the piper” the saying goes, “dictates the tune.”  Refuse to go to work without any cogent reason, you will be queried and if the ‘master’ is not satisfied, you are shown the door.

All servants live routine lifestyles – from home to work place and work place back home; week after week, month after month and year after year. When they retire, most often, their entitlements are not paid (especially in Nigeria) and they die as a result of lack of care.

What do you want out of life? Being a servant or being your own boss? Being your own boss does require cultivating entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurship is not an option; it is the way out of joblessness, dependency and servitude. Nothing is more exhilarating than being your own boss, calling the shots and being regarded as the final authority. Most materially successful people are entrepreneurs.

IDEAS ARE FOUNDATIONS FOR PURPOSEFUL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship is an art as well as a science. Understanding the dynamics of entrepreneurship will help you to carve your own niche so that you can play in the big league. At the heart and soul of entrepreneurship are ideas. Because ideas rule the world, what will define you and determine your success in any entrepreneurial activity are ideas.

This presentation is to encourage you to task your thinking and to cause you to crawl out of your shell. Ideas hold the key to your entrepreneurial success. This is why we must posit entrepreneurship within the context of idea generation.

What will help you to book a place in the committee of job creators is the quality of ideas you can generate. Look around you: your body and your environment, you would readily see that next to God’s idea of your personality, you are a product of entrepreneurs – other people’s ideas. From your haircut/hairstyle to the shoes or sandals you wear, entrepreneurs have really defined you. In other words, you are a by-product of two great ideas: God and entrepreneurs!

Every entrepreneurial activity is a product of ideas. Whether you are into buying and selling, involved in the manufacturing sector or in the creative industry, it is the quality and relevance of your ideas that will define your operations and determine whether you will be patronized or not.

Every great nation is propelled by the quantum of ideas her citizens are able to come up with. America is a great and inventive nation because her citizens are busy churning out ideas that are relevant and productive.

Any nation endowed with abundant natural resources, but are bereft of men of ideas will remain poor while a nation that is deprived of any natural resource, but are blessed with men of ideas will be a redefinition of success because they will use their ideas to exploit the natural resources found in the naturally endowed nation to develop their own nation, turning citizens of the naturally-endowed nation into servants (hewers of wood and fetchers of water).

Idea generation is not Rocket Science. What is required is application of commonsense.

WHAT KIND OF IDEAS DOES ENTREPRENEURSHIP REQUIRE?

Entrepreneurship requires:

1.     New thinking.

2.     Ideas that are relevant to society’s needs.

3.     Ideas that are constructive and affective.

4.     Ideas that are proactive.

 

To generate entrepreneurial ideas a would-be entrepreneur must learn to come up with ideas for a product or service that would make a difference. To generate the needed ideas, a would-be entrepreneur must learn to “think out of the box.” Thinking out of the box requires doing what people would rarely do. Most times entrepreneurial ideas come from unlikely places, from unlikely people and from unlikely situations or circumstances. A good entrepreneur immediately recognizes these ideas and seizes them.

YOU WERE BORN A THINKER, USE YOUR HEAD!

Every one of us was created, wired and born a thinker. In fact, the term, “Homosapiens” which refers to human beings implies, “Thinking beings.” While other creatures make use of their instincts, human beings were created to use their brains. We were all created to think and to think we must! When a person ceases to think, he ceases to live. Such a person merely exists, going through the motions of being “alive” as it were. 

You can only carve a niche for yourself and book a place in history by the kind of quality ideas you are able to come up with, which will add value to the lives of others. 

Ideas rule the world! People of ideas are the movers and shakers. They rule the world. The real rulers are not politicians and their cohorts. In his book, God’s Big Idea, Dr. Myles Munroe states that “the world is ruled by dead men and women.” How do dead men rule our world? Because our world as it presently operates is run on dead men’s ideas! Ideas never die even after their originators die; they live, live and live. They can metamorphose, change into different forms, but they never die. 

Ideas-people dictate events and control other people as much as they wish. Rule your world. Put on your thinking cap. Ask, “Why?” Look around you to tap from the abundance of possibilities that nature has provided. 

Everything you ever need to achieve greatness in life is lurking somewhere inside you. God is not unjust. He never created you lower than anyone on earth. No. He did not. Everyone God created was created equal with some level of equal opportunities. The difference between you and another may not be much, but can be attributed to whether you are really using your head or not. 

We all have the same opportunities whether you live in Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, North America, et cetera. We enjoy the same breath from God with few exceptions in weather and topography. Some people are mistaken when they think that their destinies lay somewhere in America, Europe or Asia. I tell you: they are deceiving themselves. Are you aware that Africa as a continent is naturally more endowed than Europe, America and Asia combined? The kind of natural disasters that are experienced in those continents are strange to Africa. If Africa is naturally more endowed, why then are these continents doing better than Africa? Simple – they have learnt to turn their minuses into pluses; they have learnt to use their brains. They come to Africa, take our natural endowments as raw materials, go back to their home countries, convert them into finished products and send back remnants to us, still making huge profits out of what they had taken from us for peanuts. Do you not know that till tomorrow Africa is the one feeding the West? Their industries are fed by materials sourced from this continent.  

Most Africans have not learnt to use their heads. The few who did are global citizens. It is only when we learn to turn the key inside-out that our redemption as a people would be realized. Hear this: poverty of the mind would always lead to poverty of pocket and even poverty of ideologies. Think of it, what does Japan of all industrialized nations have? In terms of natural resources, very little. In terms of technology and a booming economy, Japan today is a superpower. In fact, in international relations when Japan sneezes many countries would immediately catch cold. China, Korea, Malaysia and India are inching towards Japan’s status. What is their strength? Technology! What is the epicenter of technology? Ideas!! 

After Second World War, the Japanese decided to take the bull by its horns, sort of taking their destinies in their own hands. They began to look inwards. They began to understudy others and their technologies. They realized that brain power is more powerful than any other kind of power. With brain power you can turn a prince into a slave and vice-versa. With brain power, Japan has shot herself into an enviable position. She is as we speak globally ranked in virtually all indices of global superpower. The power of ideas is much more than many have realized. 

It, therefore, stands that the very day we all wake up to turn our eyes inwards, to encourage ideation, our redemptions would speed up. To become entrepreneurial, you must:

1.     Realize that ideas are necessity-based

Ideas come when the human brain is activated by needs. The saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention” remains true at all times. Ideas are the lifeblood of creativity and innovation. These are critical to product generation and service rendition. To ascertain the possibility of an idea, you have to conduct a SWOT analysis of that idea. This will entail the use of brainstorming, cross-pollination of ideas, screening of your ideas using the instrumentalities of micro and macro-screening exercises.

 

2.     The art of fostering ideas will be greatly facilitated when you do the following:

§  Do not always think the way others do.

§  Always question conventions. Ask, “Why?” When things do not work the way you had expected them to, ask “Why?”

§  Think comparatively. Comparative thinking compares one object with another. Anyone who thinks comparatively sees issues and objects in the light of other issues or objects. He crossbreeds to see what can come out of the universes of the two issues or objects being compared.

§  Think out of the box. Think upside-down down-side up; right-left and left-right. See things beyond their surface realities. 

 

3.     Emulate God Who is Ideator Personification

Ideas exist in the realm of imagination. The ability to draw them out into the realm of reality is what gives ideas their form. God is the personification of ideas at work. At creation He brought to bear the things which were not. He spoke into existence the very things which have their forms today. It is from these that humans have been using as raw materials for further creative activities. God ideated things and called them into being as if they were already in existence. Since we are created in the Image of God, we can be creative. You are already wired with everything needed to unleash your creativity. Ideation begins with dreams and crystallizes in imagination. It is imagination that fuels and fires ideation.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GENERATE IDEAS?

1.     Have an open mind

The greatest disease plaguing mankind today is “Lock-in-thinking.” This is a thinking pattern that says, “Nothing can be done about it.” Open your mind. Believe in possibilities. 

2.     Scan your environment

When Apostle Paul arrived the City of Athens, the first thing he did was to scan his environment. By so doing, he discovered a solution to the people’s needs (Acts 17:22-23). Look around you, identify a need, an existing gap in a product or service; determine how the need or gap can be filled. Bingo! You are in, employing people and creating wealth!!

One great business idea can stem from scanning your environment or other environments to see if there is a need you can adequately satisfy and bridge. If you are able to spot one, you can be sure that an idea has been born. 

3.     Question convention

In questioning conventions, you simply ask: “Why did we always do things in this particular way?” 

4.     Engage in Reverse-thinking

Instead of adopting the logical, normal manner of looking at a challenge, you reverse it and think about opposite ideas. In other words, do things differently.

AREAS WE CAN DIRECT OUR ENTREPRENEURIAL FOCUS

Nigeria is an interesting country where there are vast opportunities in agriculture, service and creative industries. We are a people who are more interested in “already-made.” Everywhere you look in Nigeria, you see opportunities. What we need are eyes to spot opportunities and exploit them. 

We must learn to begin to see sense in nonsense, look where others have failed to look and begin to do what others think are either too demeaning or impossible.         

CONCLUSION

In a Keynote address titled, “Powering the South-East Economic Renaissance: The Geometric Power Experience” which he delivered at The SUN Newspaper’s South-East Economic Summit published in The Daily Sun Wednesday, December 17, 2008, Professor Barth Nnaji enthused: 

“Let us be the minds to dream up the tools and technologies that power Nigeria and sub-Saharan development. Let us be the hands that mold the economic landscape of Nigeria for our own prosperity and that of the whole Nigerian nation.” 

The question is, “How can we dream up these tools and technologies without idea seeds?” The key to purposeful entrepreneurship is idea generation. I encourage you to be a person who devotes himself or herself to critical thinking so that we will be able to come up with ideas that will provide solutions to needs. By doing this, we will not only create opportunities for massive income generation, but also job creation.