Preparing For Greatness

We can truly see that destiny can be delayed but cannot be denied.

By David Oletu (DCM)

“No matter how many prophecies were made about how great you would be, you will barely see the shadows of greatness coming your way if you lack preparation.”

What lions and bears have you first conquered to prove how ready you are to conquer the Goliath that is ahead of you on your way to greatness?

We don’t want to first serve, yet we want to experience greatness smoothly. Life doesn’t work that way.

Preparing For Greatness

I could recall back in the days when a lot of diviners and prophets had always told me about how great I would be in life.

One could walk up to me, without knowing me from Adam, and describe how bright my light would shine and how glorious it would be. 

Having heard those good words, I would smile with my head swelling. 

But then, I always had a little doubt, asking myself,

“How will I possibly get there when I don’t seem to possess the resources and perhaps qualifications that will push me to greatness instantly?”

That was how myopic my mindset was. I wasn’t seeing what they were seeing.

Their foresight appeared so big, so I lacked the zeal to work towards it.

And that is also how a lot of us are.

Either we don’t want to know the value of our process due to how eager we are to get there fast,

or we are ignorant of the things we need to do to prepare adequately for the good times ahead. 

A lot of people have lost their great destinies due to pride, anger, slothfulness, etc.,

while some started preparing for greatness at the time (their old age) when they were supposed to be reaping the fruit of their labour.

We can truly see that destiny can be delayed but cannot be denied.

But, sometimes, we use our hands to delay our destinies unnecessarily due to our wrong approach to life. 

It is pertinent for every living human to know that before one can attain greatness, one must be prepared for it.

And, for us to adequately prepare for greatness, we must be ready to learn, to serve, to meditate on God’s word, and to pray. 

Luke 14:28 KJV

[28] For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.14.28.KJV

Preparing For Greatness

Learning:

Can a newly recruited soldier be sent to go and fight on a deadly battlefield without first passing through the training and drilling process?

If such a thing ever happens, I can place a bet that the soldier will not see the light of day within 5 seconds in a fight with his opponent(s).

Learning is an integral part of our growth that should not be avoided.

Mistakes are inevitable, but certain mistakes can be avoided if we choose to learn from those who have gone ahead of us. 

Many of us don’t ask questions when we don’t know something.

And Many of us fail in areas we could have scaled because we rely on our assumptions. 

For instance, Shantel was a bright teenager.

She excelled so well in her academics.

If one sees her academic performance, one will be certain that her future will be bright and secure.

She was also an extremely beautiful girl. If angels appear on Earth from heaven, then she should be one of those angels. 

Shantel’s life was so beautiful inside and out; however, she was a phone addict.

She was so obsessed with her phone that no one could correct her on the dangers of having it on at delicate times.

People around her often wonder how she was able to excel in her academics despite how addicted she was to her phone.

Her IQ must be so high!

She is such a gifted child!

One day, her mother sent her on an errand to refill their cooking gas. 

Having refilled the gas, Shantel’s mother asked her to warm the food in the kitchen and warned her to leave her phone behind. 

“Why should I leave my phone behind?

There is no big deal chatting in the kitchen while cooking.” Shantel would always counter her mother’s warnings. 

Shantel was known to be very brilliant, so she may be sure of what she was saying.

Shantel’s mother only relied on her past experiences and not her theoretical knowledge.

Her mother had seen cases of gas explosions caused by electronic devices,

but she didn’t know exactly how to explain the cause of them.

Besides, she wasn’t educated.

Her daughter was educated and even brilliant. So, who knows? Shantel may be right.

However, as Shantel held her phone in her hands to light up the gas, the gas exploded and burnt Shantel nearly to death.

Thank God she survived the incident, but her body, from her face down to her legs, was badly shaped like that of a monster.

She never knew there was a gas leakage from the cylinder, and her phone had heated up to the point where there was a short circuit.

Now, Shantel has paid heavily for not listening to her mother, who had seen more than her in life.

She thought her intelligence in class was enough to prove how knowledgeable she truly was about handling real-life situations. 

And Now, Shantel struggles to get certain things achieved with her burnt monstrous body,

unlike how she once achieved things easily with her angelic nature. 

Preparing For Greatness

Many of us are like Shantel.

We are truly gifted,

but we thought we were gifted enough to know it all and go through life’s journey alone without the counsel or supervision of someone higher than us. 

Failing to learn is a silent destiny killer we should avoid.

We should be like the gifted Samuel, who heard a voice calling his name.

But rather than ignore the voice, he went to consult Eli, who told him what the voice was and how he should respond to it. 

We should be curious to learn about things we don’t know and how to handle them correctly.

When we learn, we will be one step closer to achieving greatness and more!

Preparing For Greatness

Serving:

Great people are people who serve others. You can’t achieve greatness if you don’t serve. 

Matthew 20:26-28

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

You may feel the above scripture verse is debasing because of the use of words like “slave” and “servant.”

If you feel that way, then you are proud. 

If you don’t first serve, you will lack good expertise on the things that are supposed to push you to greatness. 

For instance, Joe graduated with a very strong 2.1 academic grade in school,

but throughout Joe’s life in school, he did not have any experience putting his ability or potential to practice in real-life situations.

He misses opportunities to serve in his school fellowship and some timely student training and internship programs that would have helped his personal and career growth. 

Although he lacked experience, his grade was able to secure him a banking job. 

However, having spent only 6 months on the job, he became fed up.

Preparing For Greatness

He realised how much he lacked good interpersonal relationships, communication,

resilience, leadership, and other vital soft and technical skills that could have enabled him to sustain his job. 

Those were skills he could have gotten if he had volunteered himself to serve while learning.

Now, he probably has to redeem his lost chances by struggling on the field till he attains that level where he can begin to do them with ease and produce good results.

Many of us are like Joe.

We don’t want to first serve, yet we want to experience greatness smoothly. 

Life doesn’t work that way.

It is our good works and records with people that will speak for us and make us stand out in our various endeavours.

David didn’t merely come out to say he wanted to fight the Goliath. He had something to boast about. 

1 Samuel 17:34–36

34. But David said to Saul,

“Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,

35. I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it.

36. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God.”

What lions and bears have you first conquered to prove how ready you are to conquer the Goliath that is ahead of you on your way to greatness?

Preparing For Greatness

Meditate on God’s word and pray:

If we read 1 Samuel 17 further to 37, we will realise that David did not only rely on his experience of killing the bear and the lion to defeat Goliath.

Even if he had the experience of handling the ‘tough guys’, he relied on God to defeat Goliath. 

1 Samuel 17:37

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

We should never think we can attain or sustain greatness without the help of God.

The worst form of perception one can ever have is the idea that the devil does not exist.

The devil exists, and it won’t target people with dim lights, but people with shining lights and glory.

The devil has come to kill, steal, and destroy, and it operates in every man’s heart and desires. 

Anger, impatience, pride, greed, covetousness, uncontrolled sexual urges, etc.

are things the devil can use in our hearts to bring us down from our point of greatness. 

Jealousy, envy, malice, etc., are things the devil could use in other people around us to bring us down from our point of greatness. 

As short as the prayer “God help me” is,

it is an indication that God is our only sustainer, for “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities and power in the high place of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

Therefore, Ephesians 6:13–18:

13. Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand
14. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
15. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
16. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
17. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Do not give room for the devil in your life; if you do, you will ‘die down.’

Guard your hearts with God’s word and pray for those around you that God may also dwell richly in their hearts.

I will end on this note:

Greatness doesn’t come in a blink of an eye or a snap of a finger. It comes and stays at a price, which is preparation!

Also Read: The Road to Greatness – Diademng (thediademng.org)

Preparing For Greatness