BREAKING THE POWER OF INTIMIDATION
By Omorovie M. Ikeke

Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord, your God among you is a
great and awesome God. Deuteronomy 7:21.

The New International Webster's Pocket Dictionary defines the
word "intimidation" as:
Ø To frighten.
Ø To pressure by threatening.

All human persons have suffered intimation in one way or the other in
life. Our duty is to destroy all kinds of intimidation from our
lives. Why many people may have succeeded in breaking the power of
intimidation out of their lives, some people are still leveled by the
power of intimidation. Intimidation kills and destroys your capacity
to enter into your future. Intimidation invests you with fears and
worries. Intimidation slows you down in life. Intimidation makes you
to desire to go back into your past. Intimidation is a demonic power.
It cripples you to the extent that you think the night is day and the
day is night.
You can break the power of intimidation out of your life. A
closer look at some biblical stories reveals how intimidation works
and how to conquer it.

Stories of Intimidation
The people of Israel felt intimidated before the Red Sea and
the pursuing Egyptians and wanted to go back to Egypt.
The 10 spies felt intimidated at the giants in the Promised
Land and discouraged the people from making any attempt to conquer.
The people of Israel felt intimated before Goliath.
The disciples of Jesus initially felt intimidated and hid in
locked rooms.

The Nature of Intimidation
Intimidation, though a demonic power that imprisons, it is
also a mindset and an emotional feeling. Two persons may face the
same situation, why one may be intimidated the other may not. David
was not intimidated before Goliath. Moses was not intimidated by the
Red Sea. The giants in the land did not intimidate Joshua and Caleb.
After Pentecost the Sahedrin did not intimidate the disciples.
The power of intimidation works in two directions. There is
the intimidator that may be a person or place that tries to
consciously or unconsciously intimidate you. Then there is the person
who feels intimidated. Many people are intimidated by the problems of
life. A persecuting and cruel authority intimidates some. Some are
intimidated by their own limitations. Some are intimidated by their
past and failures. Some are intimidated by the future, which looks
mysterious and unknown. Some are intimidated by the fear of death.
Some are intimidated by credit cards debts. Some are intimidated by
friends who seem to be doing better than them.

You Can Have Victory Over Intimidation

You can have victory over intimidation. You are not made to
live under intimidation. You are not a candidate for fear. Take a pen
and list all the sources of your intimidation. When things are
written down they become clarified. What you are able to conquer
mentally in paper, you can conquer in real life.
You have a power that is greater than your intimidation. The
Lord God, an awesome and powerful God lives in you. David conquered
Goliath by the power of God. The Red Sea divided when Moses stretched
his God-given rod over it. Joshua and Caleb said, "We will enter the
land because God delights in us." The apostles received power over
intimidation at Pentecost.
We fail very often in life because we rely on our own power.
It makes no sense to depend on yourself when there is the power of
God that you can depend upon. The bible says: "the arm of flesh will
fail you." `The horses of the Egyptians cannot help you for they are
flesh also."
If there is anything that you need to learn from this
reflection, it is that you need to tap into God's power hidden in you
to win the daily battles of life.

Positive Affirmations
Ø I am tall in my God.
Ø The angels of God guide me in life.
Ø I fear no evil.
Ø I am more than a conqueror.
Ø The treasure of God is in me.
Ø I am a mustard seed.
Ø I will not die untimely death.
Ø I will live in life as a queen and a king.
Ø People can depend on me for I am organized.

TAKE MY WORD TO THE WORLD.

Over the years, I have read numerous books and heard
hundreds of speakers who all claim to have the secrets
of success.

To put it more specifically:
what success is
what success can be
how to find success
how to maintain success
how to enjoy your success
how to feel successful when you aren’t
how to share your success

I would like to focus on what success isn’t - not what
it is and what gets in our ways as we search after it.

Please, keep in mind that everyone defines success
differently. Each of us puts our own personal twist on
what we feel represents success in our lives or
careers. To one person, success is money; to another,
it is good health. To many, it is a pleasant
lifestyle, while to others, just getting through
another day is considered a success.

During my lifetime, I have been at the bottom of the
barrel and I have been to the mountaintop and viewed
the world from a vantage point that very few people
ever do. I have known the sting of failure and the
thrill of achievement. But no matter what my outer
circumstances were, the one concept that helped me
maintain a sense of inner peace, life balance and calm
was my personal definition of success. This definition
became the watchword for my life during whatever was
going on in my world, whether it was positive or
negative.

Success to me isn’t:
Having more money that you ever can spend
Career accolades or fame
A position of influence or power
A promotion to a position in a career or organization
that you hate
The freedom to do nothing
More education that you ever will use
A new car every year
A bigger house because you can afford it
More club memberships than you have time for

None of us has the right to judge others by our
standards or definition of success. During the pas
years, I have been in front of over 10,000 people in
more than 15 States as a professional
computer/technological Instructor, and I can tell you
that in each of those audiences, there were people who
were more and less successful than I am. Ah, but
according to what or whose standards? You see, as soon
as I make the previous statement, I am assuming that
your definition of success is that same as mine.
Success to me means living the way you wants to live
your life without infringing on the right of others
and the ability to support that lifestyle based on
your own talent, time, energy and ability. It doesn’t
mean that if you inherit a million dollars and live
the life of leisure, then you are successful. That
just makes you lucky (maybe, or maybe not).

What is success to you these days? Has your definition
changed at all during the past few months? Years?
After you hit 25? 35? 45? Or even 100?

Getting in touch with what success isn’t for you can
be an excellent way to help you define what success is
to you.

Have a nice day and may all your dreams ever come
through.

Daniel O. Adarighofua

I want to make sure you can take a compliment.
Whenever you are paid a compliment, do u usually
downplay it by saying something along the lines of,
“It really was nothing - just doing my job,” even
though you are delighted with the praise?

You may have taught to deflect compliments to avoid
appearing conceited, but when you do this with people
you work with, it can make them fell uncomfortable.
What was intended as a pleasant experience can end on
an awkward, if not sour, note.

The next time someone compliments you, look at the
person straight in the eye, smile and sincerely
express how you feel. Try something like, “Thank you.
Hearing that from you means a lot.” And forget about
appearing conceited. If you truly are conceited, you
won’t be getting very many compliments in the first
place.

Daniel O. Adarighofua

BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED
BY OMOROVIE M. IKEKE
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:28

We are not trying to get blessed by God. We are already blessed and
highly favored. God made you and loaded you with blessings. You are
made for a blessing, not for a curse. The opposite of a blessing is
a curse. You can live your life in blessing. You can live a blessed
life. The possibilities and potentialities for a blessed life lie in
you. Every thing about you is blessed. You were designed and
programmed with seeds of blessings.
Focus on blessings and blessings will come to you. Open your mouth
and bless yourself daily. Say good things to yourself. Your life is
blessed. Your hands are blessed. Your body is blessed. Your spirit
is blessed. Your soul is blessed. Your heart is blessed. No heart
attack shall come near you. Your lungs and livers are blessed. Your
stomach is blessed. Your blood and blood vessels are blessed. Your
today and tomorrow are blessed. You are what God says you are. You
will reach where God says you will reach.
Any curse that may be operating in your life is broken out of your
life. Untimely death shall not be your portion. You will not
miscarriage in life. You heart desire will come true. You are the
happiest person on earth.
When God says you are blessed, you are blessed. You did not come to
this world by accident. You were made by a master craftsperson, God.
Let me tell you that that word blessed is a powerful word. Holy
scriptures attestify to the fact that you are blessed and there is
no poison in your life. God has blessed you in Christ with every
spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3. God has given you everything that
pertains to life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3. God's power is at work
in you to enable you reach your best. Ephesians 3:20. God has given
you power to beget wealth. Deuteronomy 8:18.
There is power in your life. It is power to create. You have power
to reproduce. There are things inside you waiting to come out. I
believe that everything we need in life is already contained in us.
We are to release it. You are to bring it forth. It should emanate
from you. Lying inside you is creativity and power for generation.
You are not made to be barren or sterile in life. You are fruitful
in life. You are blossoming in adversity. Your leaves are beautiful
and flamboyant. You are like the shoots of the olive. You are a
luxurious garden in this world. It is when you see the beauty in
your life that beauty will come out of you. Even when things get
tough in life, recognize that it is just a temporary season to
hibernate or prepare for the best. Things are not as worst as they
first seem. There is beauty even in ashes. The rainbow is always
behind the cloud. Your best days are coming. You can live your best
life now. You can manifest your excellence right away. You have
delayed yourself too long. What you may be thinking is far away is
already near you.
Your best season in life is now not even tomorrow. Turn those
setbacks to set-ups now. This is the greatest moment of your life.
The future you dreamt of yesterday is today. Why wait any longer.
Rejoice and be happy with today no matter how it turns out to be.
Take every moment of today seriously. I see the best in you. God
bless you always.

POTENTIALITY ACTION KEY:
THE TOMORROW YOU WAITED FOR YESTERDAY IS TODAY.

OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS FOR THE KINGDOM
By Omorovie M. Ikeke

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. Matthew
4:19-20

I have a deep interest in occupational psychology and career
counseling. I am interested in applying the principles I have
learned from my independent study of occupational psychology to your
own situation. One great principle in finding happiness and peace in
the business life is to do what you love and love what you do. Go
for what your heart positively burns for. Your positive passion
should predicate what you devote your life to.
I am firmly convinced that very often God calls us to various
ministries and that these ministries are based on our natural zones
of excellence. God will generally not take you and throw you into
deep waters, when you have not been to the shores before. God will
walk you through the shores before bringing you to the middle of the
river. If God does bring you to the middle of the river without
passing through the shores, there may be exceptional reasons for it.
And God I believe would have prepared you for it.
I believe one reason why many Christians find it difficult to locate
their spiritual gifts is because they are looking too far. I believe
many spiritual gifts God gives lies in our natural zones of
excellence.
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach. Romans 10:8.
I do not equate natural talents/skills with spiritual gifts. Yet, I
do believe that they are inter-related and need not be separated for
they mutually co-operate in spiritual development. I am writing this
present reflection as a sequel to "The Power of Positive Interest."
When Jesus called his disciples, who became his apostles, though,
they left their nets to follow him; Jesus uses the imagery and
description of the occupation they were doing to capture their new
ministry. He tells them they will be "fishers of men." I have
wondered, why did Jesus not use any other term to describe their new
ministry, such as "farmers of men," "carpenters of men," or
even "prophets of men."
Though, they were leaving their nets, they were not leaving their
knowledge, know-how, skills, techniques, and wealth of experience as
fishers. They will still need it through their new ministry. When
they needed to pay the temple tax, Jesus sent Peter to go and catch
the first fish as sea. They still used their knowledge of navigation
and the sea to travel across the sea throughout their ministry.
A look at the life of a fisherman can reveal many qualities that
fishermen need to have to succeed in their job. Fishermen need
perseverance, for at times they may fish all night and catch
nothing. Fishermen need to be industrious and hardworking, for the
fishing industry is laborious and involves a great deal of manual
work. They need courage to face obstacles at sea. The sea was filled
with many dangers. There were winds and storms. The weather cannot
always be predicted. There were also dangerous monsters at sea.
There was also the power of Leviathan, evil that lives in the sea.
The courage, the patience, the foresight, the ability to face
obstacles and overcome that has been fostered in them through their
fishing job was needed in their new job. In Jesus, calling
them "fishers of men," he was inferring that there was a kind of
continuity from the past. Principles and insights from their old job
were needed in the new job of the kingdom. God is a God of
continuity. God does overwrite our evil past and failings, but good
memories from our past are the pillars for a better future. Such
good memories can include, the day of our baptism, the day of
confirmation, the day of birth, the day we graduated from college,
the day we received our first job, etc.
Though, Paul was called to preach the gospel, he testifies that he
still found time to carry out his job as a tentmaker to meet his
needs. The point I am making in this reflection is that whatever you
are doing as an occupation or job is useful for the kingdom. Even if
you are called out of it, into a kind of full time ministry, the
principles of your former job is useful to the kingdom. Each of us
to a certain degree is a minister for the kingdom of God. Never
think you have no gifts to use for the kingdom. Never wait until you
hear a voice calling you in the night, "Samuel, Samuel..." before
you know you can do something for the kingdom. Your chariot is very
near you. Do not wait to be appointed by humans before you offer
your service. Make yourself available for service in any local
community you find yourself.
The world is a better place because of you. Use your occupational
skills and abilities to help your religious community, prayer
meeting, and neighborhood grow.

Prayer Point:
That I may offer myself for service in my neighborhood and religious
community.