New Year's Message-Part 2: Desire

"The proof of Desire is Pursuit" --Dr. Mike Murdock

I think one of the most unfortunate things to happen to a human being is when they can no longer dream.

Desire is powerful. It is the attractor factor for anything we want to have, to do or to become, however big of small it might be! Tweet This Please

• ·         Without a dream, you reinforce the status quo even if you want it changed
• ·         Without a dream, you live in a dark and hopeless illusion
• ·         Without a dream, your very purpose in life is never realized
• ·         Without a dream, your potential in life (which is amazingly enormous) remains untapped
• ·         Without a dream, you are not just sleeping in life, you are actually dying
• ·         Without a dream, you are telling the world that you are no longer needed [Tweet This Please]

As we usher in 2014, I take this opportunity to address everyone setting goals and making New Year resolutions. I know.  I have been one of those who have seriously bashed people that make resolutions over the years.

Yet one thing comes to mind. Both the people that set goals and those that make resolutions operate from one standpoint: Desire! [Tweet This Please]

It is OK to Desire

I know of no human being that does not desire a thing or two. At the wake of the New Year, all of us have been given yet again another psychological start. We can start over with a clean slate. [Tweet Please]

The best way to do this is to exercise the power of desire. To desire is not to sin. The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall fulfill the desires of your heart. Notice that God is OK with us desiring. Notice also that God did not suggest how many desires we can have. He did not limit us to the size and the numbers.

But God wants and is interested in fulfilling those desires. I know over the years that people might have given up desiring altogether…but I challenge you to exercise this power one more time. Believe me, you have nothing to lose.

My Desire Came to Pass in 2001

I will never forget the year 2001. I was freshly out of college staying with a family friend in Nairobi. One day I went to the shopping center to process some paperwork. I got to this institution that looked so awesome, so pretty that I longed to work there. I admired the guys working there and really felt insignificant in their eyes. I desired so greatly to get a job at that place. I must have said a prayer about it and forgot about it.

The important point however is that I acted on my desire. I can’t remember how long it took, but it might not have been more than 3 months that I was exactly where I desired to be. That was my first job and I can tell you that I am where I am because of the foundation that I built in my career.

7 Lessons about Desire

Here are some thoughts that are critical about desire especially in 2014:

1. 1.       It is OK to have desires: Go ahead and dream. How ‘crazy’ your dream is up to you. But let me tell you that if you feel it deep inside your gut, it is a valid desire.
2. 2.       Own the desire: Let the desire you have crystallize in your mind and heart. On a daily basis, we all have things that pass our minds that we would wish to do, have or become. To own a desire means that you capture it in your imaginations and declare it worthy of a pursuit. Mental accent only will not help.
3. 3.       Verbalize the Desire: In my case, I verbalized it to God. What would man do without God actually?
4. 4.       Document the Desire: I challenge you to purchase a notebook or get a place where you can document your desires, however crazy they are. Something happens when pen is put on paper and thoughts are immortalized…it seems so simple you can neglect it.
5. 5.       Desire Daily: Remember the emotions you had when you desired what you wanted? Every single day, make sure you think about this desire and replicate these emotions as often as you can.
6. 6.       Take an Action Step: You desire to be married? Apart from praying, you can also make room for your spouse. Quit hanging around guys that are not interested in marriage. Start seeing yourself as marriage material.
7. 7.       Remain Consistent: I think the reason why New Year Resolutions do not work is because we tend to pick other desires along the way…and drop the ones we were working on. If you wanted to be successful in 2014, I challenge you to get just one thing and stick to it until it is done or achieved.

If you have given up on desiring altogether, all is not lost. You do not need a job to desire a good house. You do not need money to desire success. Desiring does not come with any pre-conditions. You can desire without strings attached. Tweet This Please

Happy New Year!

New Year's Message: 4 Things About Passion

One thing is for sure...Passion is attractive! Nobody wants to recommend a passionless individual...we easily retweet or amplify passionate messages but shun the flat and ordinary.

I hate it (Strong word, I know) when I am not passionate. I do not like it when there is nothing am 'carrying' in the inside of me that I am passionate about. If you were to find me at my lowest point ever, it would be when I am passionless! Tweet this Please!

The Two Dimensions of Passion

Before I can talk about the three things about Passion, let me talk about the two dimensions of passion:

• Active Passion: If you have it, people want to join with you. They want to Identify with you. If someone else has it, you feel it, you are mesmerized by it, you see it in their eyes and you want to join them. Such passion is in action...not in speech only. 
• Snuffed Out Passion: Either gradually by circumstances or neglegence or directly and acutely by being denied of your rights. Nelson Mandela, goes without saying had this kind of passion. With him, as much as he wanted to have active passion while free, he was forced out of the picture. The worst kind of snuffed out passion is the one orchestrated by self! Click to Tweet Please

Four Things about Passion:

1.                  Urgency: Passion creates urgency more than anything. The good thing about this urgency is that it is positive urgency. When you are passionate about something, you always want to talk about time. Jesus Christ would ocassionally say, 'the time has come'...it would show that this urgency is set to drive us to do something within a 'window of opportunity'. 

2.                  Consistency: You will always know a passionate person by what they consistently do and talk about. If in 2013 I was an accountant, and in 2012 I was a blogger, and in 2011 I was a speaker (emphasis on was), then I have not mastered the use of passion. Passion although it denotes strong feelings of emotion is normally upheld by sheer consistency when the feelings are long gone. Consistency is the death knell to 'new Year Resolutions' that expire in February. Click To Tweet Please!

3.                  Purpose: To paraphrase scripture, "Zealousness is good with knowledge". In other words, you had better be passionate about something of value. To be passionate about #Arsenal football club and not be passionate about any other thing in life is useless. I can say that again but I won't. For example, I am passionate about enriching people's lives with motivating knowledge. You see, at the end of the day, it is good that your passion enriches someone else. Otherwise, there is no use of being passionate. Click To Tweet Please!

4.                  Determination: In a tweet the other day, I warned people not to unscrupulously swallow all the messages that the New Year’s ‘prophets’ will churn out as is tradition. The fact is that even with passion, you are going to face some setbacks and challenges. What you do when they come is what is important. To be determined simply means to make sure that what you started is finished, even if the first option did not serve you.

I know that there is a flurry of activities in setting new year resolutions once again. My advice would be simple:

Find out something of purpose that you can be passionate about and be determined to consistently live that urgency to the beneifit of yourself and the world in 2014. Please Click to Tweet My New Year's Message

Happy New Year!!!