The 26 Power Paradigms in the School of Destiny

By Jonathan I. Obise

Most people seek ways to live out their God-given destinies, but how does one go about finding the pathway on which success can be built?

The 26 Power Paradigms In The School Of Destiny presents a guide to changing your life and fulfilling its purpose. It contains power paradigms that are time-tested and can help you transcend into new horizons and toward frontiers of limitless possibilities. A companion for your life journey, it offers plain but powerful models that inform your mind and transform your soul, bringing you to the realm of undeniable proof of success, purpose, and significance. The guide includes action-driven questions for each paradigm to empower you to reach your potential. Through knowing and using these personal power paradigms, you can determine how far you accelerate up the ladder of success and significance.

Uplifting and encouraging, this faith-based transformative handbook shares twenty-six principles intended to help you achieve the success you are destined to have.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664239432

Jonathan I. Obise

Jonathan I. Obise is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and minister of the gospel. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Covenant University, Nigeria, and an MBA from the University of South Wales, United Kingdom. Having overcome tremendous personal challenges, including the passing of both parents during his undergraduate studies, he has gone on to build an enviable life.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Jonathan I. Obise.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Unless marked otherwise, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version®, Copyright © 1995 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked GW are taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of God’s Word Mission Society.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3941-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3942-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3943-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021913283

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/23/2021

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1: The Power Paradigm of Attitude

2: The Power Paradigm of Books

3: The Power Paradigm of Character

4: The Power Paradigm of Decisions

5: The Power Paradigm of Excellence

6: The Power Paradigm of Faith

7: The Power Paradigm of Gratitude

8: The Power Paradigm of Honor

9: The Power Paradigm of Information

10: The Power Paradigm of Joy

11: The Power Paradigm of Kneeling

12: The Power Paradigm of Love

13: The Power Paradigm of Mentorship

14: The Power Paradigm of Networking

15: The Power Paradigm of Opportunity

16: The Power Paradigm of Priorities

17: The Power Paradigm of Quietness

18: The Power Paradigm of Reason

19: The Power Paradigm of Service

20: The Power Paradigm of Time

21: The Power Paradigm of Uniqueness

22: The Power Paradigm of Vision

23: The Power Paradigm of Words

24: The Power Paradigm of (E)Xplicitness

25: The Power Paradigm of Yielding

26: The Power Paradigm of Zeal

May the power paradigms in these pages lead you to success all your life.

Dedication

To you—because God has an enviable plan for your life.

To the millions of people around the world who have the desire and passion to fulfill their destinies—May this book be your companion as you journey toward your goal.

To this generation—May the power paradigms in this book spur you to your prepared place of purpose, success, and significance.

To the King eternal, immortal, invincible, the only wise God and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—May Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Acknowledgments

Many dear people have contributed to this book in diverse ways.

My unreserved gratitude goes to my family and especially my late parents, Mr. Samson Obise and Mrs. Monica Obise, who taught and raised me up in the ways of the Lord. You fought the good fight of faith and have obtained the crown of glory. If it were not for your investment in my life, I would have gone astray betimes. You showed me the way to go, and now that I am grown, I have not departed from it. I remain forever grateful to know and experience the God you loved living and died loving. I am eternally souled-out to God and His will for my life. I have decided to love Him all I can, and nothing can turn me from this path of life eternal. This is truly your book!

Thanks to my dear sisters, Deborah (Debbie) and Grace (my baby) for your love, support, and encouragement throughout this project. For those times you helped with the typing of the manuscript, I am so grateful, and I love you both!

To Dr. Effiong Peace Patrick, who dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s—Thank you. For the amazing review, insight, and color that you brought to this body of work, I’m eternally grateful.

To my mentors, pastors, friends, and well-wishers who helped in diverse ways—I am indebted to you for being there. Your support, thoughts, ideas, and perspectives gave me exposure to life and the knowledge I have shared in this book.

Thank you!

Prologue

A paradigm is a model—a standard, prototype, archetype, or an example of something. When I talk of a success paradigm, I mean the model that prepares the pathway on which success can be built. Power on the other hand has to do with force, strength, capacity, authority, and lots more. So the words power and paradigm suggest having a model that is empowered to accomplish an end.

Acquiring knowledge is not enough. You must be empowered to do what you claim to know. Therefore, having and utilizing personal power paradigms largely determines how far an individual accelerates the ladder of success and significance. It is not enough to have paradigms; those paradigms must be inculcated in your day-to-day activities for success and significance to have full residence in your life. And that gives credence to the power paradigms in this book because they are empowered to transform your life to fulfill its purpose.

Allow me to introduce you to a man I’ve known since my late teens. His lifestyle was a picture of where I wanted to be; he gave me a wake-up call years ago. The good thing is that that picture didn’t need to be far-fetched. His life inspires and motivates me to this day.

When I was getting to know him, he had attained such enviable heights of prestige and success and had amassed much wealth. He was living the life and experiencing the joy and glory that comes with it. He had access to whatever luxury he desired. People were at his beck and call.

Of course, with wealth comes power and influence. Whatever he did was news for the tabloids, and he commanded authority so much that his opinions regarding any issue be it political, economic, or spiritual meant a lot to the public. Indeed, his name called for respect among various hierarchies in society. He harnessed the influence to be a good ambassador for Christ. He was beloved of the people in the same way the Bible says of Jesus—He grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man. By whatever standards, he had tremendous significance and success.

What is the success of a man without a successful family life? He had a beautiful wife he called Sunshine and three wonderful children. His wife was the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31; she was highly educated, a certified chartered manager who handled some of the family’s businesses. The love between them was almost palpable. They had utmost respect for each other. Their children were such angels—respectful, smart, and beautiful. You could tell they were properly groomed; they were such a delight to be around. It was no surprise they turned out that way. All you had to do was meet their parents and you’d understand.

I believe the psalmist was referring to him in Psalm 16:6: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yeah, I have a goodly heritage. His life was truly one to emulate, and I understood that having such a life doesn’t happen by chance; it comes by knowing, imbibing, working, and living based on certain power paradigms.

I could go on about all the things I admire regarding him, but how would it profit you if I tell you about someone catching a fish but not tell you how to catch your own? I researched the keys he had used to unlock the doors of such blessings. The following pages offer tremendous insights into the truth I found. He lived by power paradigms that made his life simple yet graceful.

I welcome you to a world where you can be wholesomely successful and significantly impactful by genuinely harnessing The 26 Power Paradigms in the School of Destiny.

BG.tif

One

THE POWER PARADIGM OF ATTITUDE

YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT LIFE DETERMINES YOUR ALTITUDE.

YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT LIFE DECIDES LIFE’S ATTITUDE ABOUT YOU.

—JONATHAN OBISE

T his conversation ensued between a news reporter and two athletes just after a racing competition. The reporter posed a question to the athletes.

REPORTER. How were you able to pull through despite the bad weather conditions?

ALDER. I was prepared to excel even in extremely bad weather conditions. That’s why I came through just fine.

ETHER. I wasn’t prepared for the bad weather, so I gave up on winning.

One had a positive attitude and anticipated success even in the worst conditions while the other didn’t stand a chance of winning because his attitude was already defeated by the bad weather. What differentiates winners from losers is their reactions to threatening circumstances.

Attitudes are hypothetical constructs; they are inferred and are manifested in behavior, verbal reports, conscious experience, and physiological indicators. Attitudes are the total of your perception of life, your mental description of the world around you, and the way you see your environment and future, which determine how well we perform in the symphony of life. Thomas Jefferson said, Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Your experiences affect your attitude. The quality of your attitude is judged based on your observable, obvious, and evaluative responses you make day to day. Your inner and outer experiences inform your core attitudes. Who you are is a function of the attitude you have. Our attitude can be our springboard to the next success or perhaps the downward slide to defeat. If our personal experiences inform our individual disposition to issues in life, which they do, it is only reasonable that we could use those personal experiences as our source of strength to bring about the change we desire. It also suggests that with a positive attitude, the possibilities of success become limitless.

I hope to paint a picture of the attitude that appreciates, conquers, dominates, elevates, overcomes, and wins through the highs and lows of life. With a positive attitude, you can harness great results even in the midst of stressful circumstances. Investing in your attitude could possibly be the greatest investment you could make.

In the following pages, you will uncover treasure chests waiting to be unlocked by your ready heart. Your attitude is one of the foremost paradigms that set you on the path to a fulfilling destiny. It is therefore only wise that you channel your intellect toward developing a great attitude.

THE ATTITUDE OF WINNING

Optimism entails having a positive attitude. The story of the three Hebrew children in the Bible testifies to the fact that strength of attitude culminates in strength of character and weakness of attitude culminates in weakness of character. Daniel 3:17–18 reads,

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Their positive attitude was rooted in their faith in God’s faithfulness and supremacy. When your reason for being optimistic rests on the one who has a track record of not failing, you can be assured that success will be yours. The best part to the story is that they got out of the fiery furnace unscathed. In fact, the king ultimately promoted them in a strange land. It happened all by dint of their attitudes.

THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Sometimes, you just need to sit back and think about the many reasons you have to be grateful. There are myriads of aspirations yet unfulfilled in your life; you can still look on the bright side and know that with a heart full of gratitude, your best is yet to come. You could either whine about all the things not going your way or count your blessings and be grateful for all you are.

Winning starts with an attitude of gratitude. It is the bedrock for value adding and unending accomplishments. You cannot be fruitful in the land you aren’t grateful for. Once you begin to appreciate life, you’ll begin to see the blessings it does promise. Your attitude determines life’s attitude toward you. Don’t muse negatively over the challenges of life because challenges are meant to be surmounted. Be grateful that you have an opportunity to be a self-made champion by having the right attitude and conquering all your obstacles. This change in attitude will change your life! You can really become all you sincerely desire if you do that.

Let’s say you have a friend who loves your company but always complains about everything. Anytime you interact with this fellow, it’s as though you lose something on the inside. This could indicate that you need to dissolve that relationship if you want to maintain a positive and grateful attitude. No relationship is worth keeping if it does not help you fulfill your destiny. A grateful and graceful heart sees life through the lens of possibility, not impossibility. It would be practically impossible to be depressed and unhappy around any person with an overwhelmingly graceful and positive attitude.

If you foster an enabling environment of gratitude in all you do, the challenges life throws at you will fizzle out in the light of your gracious countenance. A grateful attitude simply understands that challenges don’t come to stay but they always come to pass.

THE ATTITUDE THAT CONQUERS

Life is full of challenges, but it’s also full of conquerors who have faced seemingly insurmountable challenges headlong and have overcome them. Your present life is partly a function of the attitude you have chosen to put up with. It all begins with your mind; Proverbs 23:7 reads, For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Whatever you can visualize yourself becoming is what you will become; whatever you can picture, you can achieve. Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? wrote, What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Think about this question because it goes to the heart of what it takes to be more than a conqueror. It’s a question that