He Still Visits The Manger

By Tope Popoola

In a world characterized by increasing loneliness, depression and other traumatizing emotional issues, hope is one commodity that we all need. This book can be called a handbook of hope and inspiration that not only shows the reader that there is light at the end of each tunnel, but also signposts how to walk in that hope. The book inspires the reader to dream and to believe in God for possibilities even when the horizon appears bleak.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tope Popoola
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223054030

Tope Popoola

THE AUTHOR ‘Tope Popoola is a man of many parts but only ONE passion – cultivating men and women of influence and affluence for whom Godly excellence is a culture. A widely travelled and highly sought-after conference speaker and Life Coach to several corporate executives and professionals, he is a Certified Management Consultant, Professional Mediator/Negotiator, Certified Agile Scrum Master and professional Trainer who speaks regularly on Leadership, Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship. He has been instrumental to the training of leaders from over 40 nations. He serves on the International Faculty of Haggai International, a world-class Christian Leadership Training institute. He writes a weekly column “Empowered For L.I.F.E (Leadership. Impact. Finances. Excellence)” in the Nigerian Tribune, a Nigerian national newspaper. He is the host of a TV programme, “Enterprise 101 with Tope Popoola”. As a Pastor, he is the Founding Pastor of THE BUSINESS CHURCH (Luke 2:49)

Book preview

He Still Visits The Manger

Finding Hope in Waste Places

'Tope Popoola

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Copyright © 2015. THIS EDITION 2022 'Tope Popoola

This book is protected by copyright and quoting or copying any part of it without due reference to the author is an infringement of extant copyright laws. Bible quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the King James Version of the Holy bible

You can reach the author via email at [e-mail].

Website: www.topepopoola.com.ng

Instagram: #tope.popoola

Twitter: @topheritage

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mavericktopepopoola

Facebook: www.facebook.com/empoweredforlife

Other books by the author:

1. Customer Relationship Management: Rules of Engagement

2. The Leaderpreneur

3. Leadership is For the Dead

4. The Portrait of the S.T.A.R Leader

5. Why Walk When you Can Soar

6. Lead as You Go

7. First Things First – How to Live a Life of Priorities

8. The 60-Second Motivator

9. Living Intentionally

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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2

3

4

5

6

7

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10

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DEDICATION

To Jesus Christ; the One who takes joy in healing the wounded

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every man is a product of the many influences in his life. I acknowledge the positive influence of people that God has, at various times, strategically positioned to make my life’s journey purposeful and worthwhile.

‘Tunde Bakare. Sam Adeyemi. E.W. Kenyon. John Mason. Kenneth Hagin. Kenneth Copeland. T.D. Jakes. Sunday Popoola and many others from whose grace I have been enriched.

Their works and walk in and with God have been of tremendous inspiration.

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IT’S A NEW DAY!

"Then, the sun rose as he was leaving that place..." - Genesis 32:31

"...a new day from heaven will dawn uponus" - Luke 1:78 (NCV)

Every day, something new is happening around us. New jobs, new houses, new cars, a new marriage, a new idea are all issues for celebration around us. The reason you are still a vibrant, integral part of this divide is because God takes the pains to renew His mercies each day! Every day you spend on earth carries with it the potential of new beginnings.  It does not matter how far down you have rolled on the precipice of life; God can still do something FRESH in your life. That you are reading this is a pointer to that fact!

By the time he got ready to cross River Jabbok, Jacob was dogged with a background of everything crooked. The circumstances of his birth were rather queer.  This earned him a name that was to later affect his destiny. Jacob means fraudster, trickster, and conman.  As he grew, Jacob indeed became the con who conned the con.  His parents didn’t help matters either. From his father Isaac, who ‘sold’ the blessing passed on freely to him by Abraham for the price of a good meal, and a mother (Rebecca) who helped him to be on hand to ‘buy’ it even when he was not the legitimate candidate, to an uncle (Laban) whose manipulative prowess was legendary, Jacob was merely acting out as he grew up, a manuscript that fate had written for him. He convinced his brother Esau to sell him the birthright and later, with his mother’s active connivance, he ‘bought’ the accompanying blessings from his father.  He later ran out of town and for 20 years, matched wits with his maternal uncle Laban. At the end of the period, having prospered, he decided to return.  But he knew that he had Esau to contend with. Spiritual Machiavellian that he was, he chose to have some time alone - ostensibly to plan the most effective strategy for meeting Esau.

Then God stepped in. One long, lonely night of struggling and everything about Jacob’s life was turned around. I don’t know how crooked you think your life is now. One encounter with God, in whose glorious presence all doubts are dissolved, is all you need to make a fresh start.

By the time God finished with Jacob, it was impossible to remain as he had been. Not one to be worsted in any encounter, Jacob asked for a blessing and got it in the form of:

A New Identity: With the name Jacob, everything he did hitherto was only true to type. Renamed Israel, meaning "Prince with God" Jacob now understood that he had been the way he was all along because of what others called him. But even then, in God’s mind, he was a prince but didn’t know it.  Friend, you are what God says youare, not what you’ve been conditioned to think you are. With a new name came:

A New Destiny: As a prince with God, he was now ready to fulfill the purpose of God in the Abrahamic covenant that he inherited. To effectively accomplish this, he had to have:

A New walk: Jacob received a touch that broke his thigh and he began to walk with a limp. This signifies a dependence on God as opposed to his natural strength that for so long hand been his forte. It was a thoroughly broken, but totally changed Jacob that greeted the sunrise to usher in:

A New Day: As that encounter wound to a close, the sun rose on Jacob.  By the time he met Esau in the next chapter, the overnight encounter had produced in him:

A New Attitude: Jacob actually begged Esau to accept gifts! The Jacob of old would have thought of how to collect from Esau!

If Jacob made it, you can make it! All you need is a divine encounter with the One who made you and has written a success software into your system.

Perhaps, like Jacob at Peniel, you are going through some of the greatest struggles of your life.  I see you coming out stronger and better equipped to confront the challenges of your tomorrows. I speak prophetically into your life. I see new beginnings. New achievements.  New contacts that will catapult you into God’s original plan for your life.  I see Christ in you becoming the hope of glory. I see new joy. A new home, a new wave of revival in your spiritual life.  Unprecedented favours.  New ideas. I welcome you into a new realm of God’s grace.

Thank God the story never ends in the night.  It continues till the break of day.  I see the sun rising upon you now!

Welcome to a NEW DAY!

NUGGET:New beginnings begin with new discoveries.

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A BOLD IMPRINT

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the

palms of my