Leaving a Legacy for the Succeeding Generation

By Johnson F. Odesola

Most men exchange their lifetime for much too little. Don't be afraid to move on to dare impossibility. Between you and anything of worth in life, there are giants. However, you must fight anything that will limit your life and coast!

Greatness is created, not stumbled upon. Have confidence in yourself. You can achieve a lot. You are better than you think.

Violate the norm. Create a throne for yourself and map out the strategies to enter into the throne. Determine what you want to achieve and dedicate yourself to its attainment. Plan your progress with unswerving singleness of purpose.

Do you know that the best jobs have not been found? The best church and ministries have not been crowned; the best marriages have not been sealed yet; yours can be; the best books have not been written; the best songs have not been sung; the best sermons have not been preached; the best testimonies have not been given; believe that your rising will defy human explanation.

You may be whatever you resolve to be. Focus to be something in the world and you will become something. "I cannot" never accomplish anything. "I will try" has wrought many wonders. Re-write your vocabulary and grammar! Never be found with the word 'impossible'. Refuse to be a fool! Nothing is impossible. Keep your hope alive. Let's go on together to the expedition of GREATNESS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728339900

Johnson F. Odesola

Johnson F. Odesola is a seasoned multi-disciplinary professional. His qualifications and experience range from Theology, Law, Education, Engineering, and Administration. An accomplished author of more than 100 books and many research publications on Education, Theology, Law, Sociology, HIV/AIDS, Cultural issues, Missiology, History and Health related Issues. He began with a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic, Ibadan before turning to Theology where he holds a BA (honours) degree from Greenwich School of Theology, London; MTH in Missiology/Anthropology from Queen’s University and another Ph.D in Christian Education from Ashlan University and another Ph.D in Intercultural Studies from Trinity International University. He also holds a LLB (Hons), LLM (Labour Law) and is currently researching for PhD in Law (Human Rights) from the University of Africa in Zambia. He is a professor of Divinity with Trinity International Institute of Advance Studies and widely sought after resource person in Youth, Leadership and Church conferences across the glob. He is Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God and is married to Rachel Adebisi, a Pastor and Child Educationist and they are blessed with three Children, Titi, Uche and Enoch and Grand Children.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

YOUR EXALTATION IS DETERMINED BY YOUR MOTIVATION

You are the principal architect of your destiny. You are a direct product of whatever you become in life.

Your motivation is not the function of chance; it is an effort of your personal input; your input in life determines your output.

The major determinant of your destiny is you. Although you can be encouraged or stirred up by others, you have the unreserved power to dictate your future. Many may look down on you, don’t look down on yourself.

If you cannot find anyone to tell you that you can make it to your destiny, tell yourself you will make it to the top. If you refuse to be defeated inside, no outside force will defeat you.

No force is capable of stopping you if you refuse to stop yourself. Every obstacles and opposition are raw materials to develop your achievements muscle.

Paul, an apostle of the Lord motivated himself; he left the footprints on the sand of time. Read what he said in Phil 3:13 -14:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He was consciously motivated to success. History will not forget him in a hurry. Be awake to your success. Launch yourself into the world of achievement by motivating yourself.

The match is still on. If you refuse to blow the final whistle on yourself no one will, determine to win the match. The panel of judges are on your side.

Life is a race, it is not the starting point that determines the winner but the finishing point, you must make it to the finishing point. Refuse to stop yourself, you must make it to success, it’s your time and your turn for success.

Many who are successful today didn’t have it easy at the beginning, things were tight and tough but they refuse to yield to Your exaltation is determined by your motivation circumstances and situations and later success smiled at them. It takes you holding on doggedly before you can win a price. Motivate yourself never to accept defeat.

"A future that cannot be pictured cannot be earned".

Here is a story of a man who pictured his future and motivated himself to it.

• He lost his job in 1832.

• He was elected into the legislature in 1834.

• He suffered the death of his sweetheart in 1834.

• He was defeated for speaker of the state legislature in 1848.

• He was rejected for the position of land office in 1845.

• He was defeated for the senate in 1854.

• He was defeated for the nomination for Vice–President of the United States in 1856.

• He was again defeated for the Senate in 1858.

• He was elected President of the United States in 1860.

The name of this man is Abraham Lincoln, can you imagine the harassment of failure on him before success blew out his failure.

Men of recognition are not recorder of history but rather greater of history.

It is not how many times you have failed that matters; it is the ability to turn your failure to success that counts. Why should you give up because you have failed a couple of times? Do not give up that venture that seems not to be yielding a desired result, motivate yourself in the Lord. Apply a different strategy and win.

You cannot afford to live and die a failure because you are not created to be a failure. Don’t give up your pursuit, move on and win. Your ability to motivate yourself determines your winning level. You do not become a failure by failing but you become a failure by giving up. Until a man decides not to try again he is still a prospective winner.

Don’t lose your position to test and trial; do not relinquish your championship to little obstacles. Don’t let go the fame and reward of your celebrity to stumbling block. Refuse to join the group of the disgruntled and discontented.

In your chosen profession you must be a champion; obstacles should not stop you. No athlete wins a prize that stopped in the middle of the race. It is too costly for you to stop now; there is a prize ahead that you must win.

One of my previous books titled Candidate for the Throne Three classes of people were identified thus:

Garbage Class: People without impact, their existence is of no benefits to anyone; neither the World; they constituted part of the problem in our generation.

Grasshopper Class: People existing but not living. They are quick to identify good things, but they never get to possess it.

Giant Class: They are people of impact; they turn obstacles to miracles, trials to triumph, test to testimony, frustration to fruition and failure to fullness.

Which of this class are you? To join the giant class you must be ready to shun every unprogressive news, be ready for battle, prepare to turn stumbling blocks to stepping stone; move on and win go ahead and make impact. You can do it; nothing can stop you except you stop yourself. The Heroes of faith did it; the same strength is available to you.

Hebrew 11: 33 – 34 said that;

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

You are the major determinant of your destiny. Nobody is to be blamed if you fail. Self-motivation is the energy anchor that holds the key of achievement. Success is not cheap; it is obtained through the energy of self-motivation.

For your goals to be achieved you don’t need to retire but re-fire. Success is for few who refuse to retire but re-fire when their desire seems to expire.

When your world tears apart, when your effort to success seems abortive, when things refuse to go the way you have been expecting, all you need is to persevere, success is closer to you than you think or imagine. The road to success is full of stumbling blocks but through self- motivation and persistence you can turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

Glenn Cunmigham was burnt so horribly as a boy that his legs were expected to be amputated. They told him that he would not walk again but he did not give up. He disciplined himself in steel wheel, he did a lot of exercise, he motivated himself; he later became one of the world’s greatest distance runners.

When you lack self-motivation; you lack what it takes to make a good and excellent life. Achievement is for few who, in spite of all odds, they encourage themselves to become what they are destined to be

CHAPTER 2

LIFE CYCLONE

I think that there isn’t anyone who could deny the fact that human beings are complex creatures, with much more to them than what meets the eye. We feel anger, love, sympathy, frustration, hurt and a dozen other emotions throughout our lives.

Life moves at a whirlwind pace, constantly shifting us from one circumstance to another, sometimes forcing us from one emotion to the next within moments. Is it any wonder, then, that most of us have experienced deep sadness or depression? Is it any wonder that we sometimes feel so very out of control of own lives?

Sometimes during the trials of my life, I have often wondered, how do others do it? How does everyone else find the strength to crawl out of bed one more day? It used to seem mind boggling to me and extremely incomprehensible. But then finally, I discovered the answer.

God placed us on this hectic earth that sometimes seems out of control but I couldn’t believe that the loving, kind and merciful God I had been taught to believe in would place us on this out of control earth without giving us gifts: tools, to help us find the eye of life’s storm.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: (Psalms 8:3-6)

I was right. He has given each of us several different weapons to help control our lives. One of the best weapons He’s given us is our talent, our self-expression. Mine happens to be preaching, motivating, writing etc while that of my wife is impacting children. Others find theirs in singing or acting or sports or any number of things.

There are as many different forms of self-expression, talent, as there are people but the point is that we all have one. If we can only look within ourselves and discover our talents, then we can use them to help us feel better whenever the going gets tough. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, for instance, I pull out my pen and within moments, literally, I’m taken away to an imaginary world of writing and everything is within my grasp once more. Not only does using our talents help us feel better about the situation, it helps us feel better about ourselves. Wouldn’t you agree that just having good self-esteem often helps us conquer depression?

But God is full of grace and understanding: He realized that some people may never find their talent or be able to learn to use it instead of more unhealthy ways to live, so He provided another outlet: words. Though sometimes used in anger that can be weapons of pain and degradation, words are, I believe, one of healing’s most remarkable assets. Just talking about our lives and the many different emotions we have helps so much. It gives us a sense of not being alone, and the knowledge that another human being cares enough to listen to us talk about those things and to understand could provide immense relief. Sometimes, it’s even harder to learn to use words for our benefit as part