Welcome to the November 6th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
This week, I joined a marketplace leadership community for the primary purpose of being part of a group of believers that pray as part of developing our insight to be better professionals
It holds a daily prayer meeting from 2 am - 5 am (WAT) daily except Saturday which is 9 am - 12 pm.
I couldn't understand why they would choose that time - if I'm going to work the next day, how would I be effective?
This is why night vigils in the middle of the week are not my cup of tea.
Anyhow, I told myself that I'll try to join the Friday night into Saturday prayers.
As it turned out, I woke up just before 3 am on Friday. I decided to join the prayers.
The only problem was that throughout, all I could hear were people praying in tongues.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in praying in tongues but when we meet as a collective, there is no way I can say amen to something I don't understand.
After praying in tongues for a few minutes, I heard a question in me "what are you doing?"
I couldn't continue to just speak in tongues.
Something clicked for me - "I have the gift of interpretation of tongues."
It's one of the gifts I have had since my early years as a Christian.
I realised that my spiritual walk with God has been based on a partnership with God.
And that's why God even wants me to understand the prayers He is praying through.
That night, I reverted to praying in tongues with understanding.
It was encouraging to hear the prayers that God was praying over me through His Holy Spirit and to pray the prayers with Him.
I will be joining the nightly prayers - but not often.
I need to protect my ability to think and deliver results when the morning comes at work.
By the way, I found out why the organiser choose the time because he sleeps early to wake up early.
My times are different to his so I adapt by being selective on when I join the prayers.
Things I Learnt
1-Making Myself Uncomfortable: In case you don't remember, I currently lead a team of french speakers at work. I don't speak french very well.
This is one of the reasons why I have not held as many town hall meetings as I would have liked.
I decided to put a gun to my head and do something about this.
On Monday, I sent an email to the team that going forward, we will be having weekly Friday meetings. They would be an opportunity to update the team on the business and also take questions from them.
I tried to talk more in French during the meeting.
It was then I realised that I had more French vocabulary than I thought. I also could understand some of the questions asked.
By making myself uncomfortable, I was making myself better.
Better at communicating in French, which is something I aim for.
I am still far from the endgame but the whole experience gave me an additional shot of adrenaline to keep my french learning a-game up.
2-Focused to Say "No" but not Foolish: I was speaking with my coach & mentor this week and decided to ask him an unusual question.
I asked him that because a lot of high-profile trainers in Nigeria were relocating to either UK or USA, I wondered why he had not taken the bait.
Let me tell you a bit about him.
He's being an adviser to 4 African presidents (now down to 3), a couple of governors and several high-profile professionals. One of his big dreams is to own an Island - and he almost did that recently.
So, you see, he is not a man without means.
His response was an encouragement to me.
He said he believed that his place is in Africa. Yes, he has clients in UK & USA and earns a tidy sum from there but for now, his place is in Africa.
But having said that, he will take advantage of any opportunity to have a second passport for either his family.
Not because he thinks low of the Nigerian passport.
Rather it's because of the ease of movement such a passport would offer.
We had similar thinking in that area.
I'd like my kids to be able to follow God's direction for their lives without the stress of having to get a visa every time.
Maybe this is why I gel with him a lot (smiles)
His response was a reminder to fight the bandwagon.
And choose a life that represents the vision he has designed his life for.
Postscript
May you find the courage to fight the bandwagon by not making a choice that does not support the vision for your life. May you live out your life's vision to honour the gift of God in you. Amen
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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