Resonance

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  • Financial Literacy, the Difference between the Rich and the Poor

    In the post about the God that maketh rich, we talked about the fact that a wealthy man is not one who has a lot of money. It is the one who has the ability to create wealth. This is why people who win the lottery never sustain their wealth. They go back to being broke. Welcome to Financial Literacy 101!

    If you took all the money in the world and shared it equally, eventually those who were rich will become rich again. This is because the rich understand some things that poor people think are automatic. Poor people never understand the monetary system, the stock market, market values and what causes the appreciation and depreciation of products. They think there are no determinants, that it is by nature or that such systems cannot be controlled. In light of that, let’s talk about 3 things that separate the rich from the poor.

    Assets & Liabilities

    When rich people have money, they buy assets. When poor people get money, they buy Liabilities. Why? Rich people know what assets and Liabilities are, but poor people don’t. If a poor guy wins the lottery right now, he will buy things just to look rich. For the rich, the goal is not to look rich. The goal is to be rich. If this is the mindset, the person will look for ways to sustain wealth.

    Financial Literacy

    Let’s be practical. A car is a liability. Owning land is an asset. If you buy a car, you need to fuel it occasionally. You need to wash the car, service it with time and repair its broken parts. This is what makes the car a liability. Liability requires future sacrifices due to ownership of such entities. All these responsibilities would not exist if one didn’t own a car. So it’s not just about having the money to buy the car, but the ability to manage the financial responsibilities of owning one.

    When a poor person gets money, he will buy Liabilities that will require regular future expenditure to maintain them. The rich will buy assets. Assets produce positive economic value. The value of Liabilities seldom appreciates upon ownership. However, rather than spending more to maintain their value, assets can rather appreciate bringing more value to their owner. You can buy a piece of land in a good location today and you can gain 10 times the monetary value of its initial market value. It’s not rocket science.

    Supply & Demand

    Supply and demand is the most fundamental feature of every market. When the demand is higher than the supply, prices become expensive. The product or service becomes scarce and the few who can render that service or have that product have multiple buyers who can be willing to buy at a very high cost. Owning such products comes with prestige. This is why car manufacturers can make a car model that is only owned by 10 people in the whole world.

    When supply is higher than demand, prices become cheap. Anyone can buy the product. Also, the manufacturer sells at a lower price to reduce the supply of the product. This explains why buying in bulk comes with a reduction in prices. It is up to sellers to regulate the demand for their products to stabilise their market value. When supply exceeds demand, manufacturers hoard goods to spark demand among consumers. By creating scarcity, one can increase the market value of any product.

    Financial Literacy

    One thing rich people create and/or invest in is a product that has a high demand. They never create a product and wait to see if there will be demand for it. They understand the nature of goods and their demands. If you’re a seller, don’t bombard the market with your goods. Start with one customer. This is financial Literacy 101. Once you create a high demand for your goods, then you increase your supply. Don’t supply first.

    Savings & Investments

    Poor people save. Rich people invest. Sometimes, people lose the value of their saved money without realising it. The value of a currency is not stagnant, although it’s necessary that it’s stabilised. When you save $100 in January and what $100 could afford in January is less than what it could afford in December by 10%, you have lost $10 in monetary value. If savings reaped any good outcome, people would have been burying their money in the ground to retrieve it 10 years later.

    However, in 10 years’ time, the monetary value of that amount could be about 300% less. Don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying it’s bad or wrong to save. All I’m saying is, the focus of the rich is to invest. The purpose of savings should be an investment. Invest in something you believe would have a higher monetary value in future than it has now. Education is an investment. Financial literacy is an investment. Physical and mental health is an investment. Don’t just save, invest. This is why real estate is the biggest investment in the world.

    Financial Literacy

    Rich people usually buy assets. Poor people usually buy Liabilities. The poor usually save only, rich people save to invest. Poor people think the market is unpredictable. Wealthy people control the market. Financial Literacy, not money, is what separates the rich from the Poor.

  • Why is The World System All About Money?

    Is the world system all about money? Well, from the beginning of time, humans worked for sustenance. The wife stayed in the house and kept the home because it was dangerous outside. The man went out and brought back food for the household. With time, there was a need for transactions. A group of people seem to have an abundance of some goods and a complete lack of others. Both parties agreed on the value of goods being exchanged. This began the concept of the monetary system.

    As civilizations began to take permanent shape and populations became denser, governing bodies created a legal tender to cater for commerce. I’m not here to tell you the history of money. Long story short, humans now work basically for survival. Both man and woman step out the door in search of monetary gain. Yet, families barely take three square meals daily. What has happened to society?

    Mom and Dad wake up early in the morning for work and come back late at night. This doesn’t make sense. We work for the money we don’t have to gain a life we lose in the search for money. You will find kids who grow up with parents in the same house but they barely know each other on a personal level. The kid must learn hard to find a good job in future. Dad must work hard to get promoted and earn more. Some fathers measure their worth by their ability to cater for their family financially, yet they don’t have time to build a personal relationship with their children.

    Kids are not allowed to chase their dreams and goals because apparently, that industry does not guarantee financial stability. We are even choosing courses for people based on income, wow. There are some who are simply religious because they don’t have enough. Once they have enough money to rely on, that’s their release clause from religion. People would rather marry a rich guy they don’t like than a poor guy they like as if we can determine who will still be rich in future. In some countries, old people can’t even afford to die, literally. Funeral bills are so high that they will crush the family expenses. Some pulled the plug for their mother and father to die because it was eating up all their financial gains.

    We say rich people have rich weird diseases but that’s not really the case. When your family cannot afford the healthcare for your illness, it’s bye-bye for you. It’s the rich people who can continue living on medication. Go to hospitals and see desperate mothers negotiating with doctors who cannot possibly do anything about the situation. More people die due to lack of financial aid but no one takes note of such statistics. Imagine doctors and nurses who aren’t paid their worth. Now they look inhuman when they go on strike or refuse to cater for patients who can’t afford the bills.

    As aforementioned, people on the brink of survival act instinctively. We are slowly losing our humanity because of monetary gain? Not necessarily. At the instinctive level, human behaviour and animal behaviour are very similar. When you reduce people to survival, they become instinctive. There won’t be enough room for compassion for others. Many are equally dying due to medical negligence because medical practitioners are not comfortable consistently looking with compassion at dying patients.

    In urban design, we don’t mix the community of the rich with the poor. The poor will build more resentment toward the rich. As a result, rich neighbourhoods keep on looking “fly” while poor neighbourhoods look like slums. See, when you’re always broke there are very few things in life you care about. Sanitation is definitely not one of them. This explains why poor countries always look filthy and vice versa. With comfort comes the luxury of thinking. Imagine telling a man with a nagging wife and three kids in the university not to walk on the lawn. There are more important things in his life to worry about.

    Whenever I walk through town, I see it on every face. It’s the face of survival. It’s not about chasing after money, but about surviving for the day. It makes almost everyone slightly irritated, a consistent complainer and a little insensitive to strangers. That tomato seller has two kids in Nursing Training School. Don’t let the iPhones of the kids fool you. You are annoyed because she is selling in the middle of the street? Don’t you think she knows that it’s dangerous? Don’t even talk about the beautification of the streets because she doesn’t care. All she cares about is making it through the day for another day.

    When you’re poor, it is easy to blame the system on rich folks. Poor people believe so much in progressive tax. They don’t see why we should all be taxed the same. The richer you are, the more taxes you ought to pay. In reality, it is more difficult to stay rich than to stay poor. To stay poor, do nothing. To stay rich, you need to beat the system. The system is tougher on rich people than on poor folks. As such, rich people lose more of their humanity in trying to stay rich.

    It will shock you to know what you will be willing to do to survive. It will shock you, even more, to know what you will be willing to do to become rich and stay rich. To me, this is one of the major reasons why this life is hard. Not just because it’s all about money. It’s because if you don’t run, the system will overtake you and you’ll become miserable. The monetary value of goods and services inflate and deflate but the standard of living is always increasing. It’s almost like the system is forcing everyone to chase after money. If you don’t run, you can’t even survive.

    I throw the question to you? Why is the world system all about money? Is the world system all about money in the first place? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Can something be done about it? Let me know your thoughts.

  • El-Dosted: The God that Maketh Rich

    So last week, we started a profound conversation about what actually makes one wealthy. Initially, I didn’t want to conclude anything, especially on the three sides I chose; God, Hard Work or Wisdom. From the comments I got, I realized how everyone agreed that it’s pretty much complicated.

    After careful contemplation, I came to the conclusion that the 21st-century person is more unlikely to believe in God for wealth. Perhaps, the lifestyle of the Christian pertaining to riches has been such a poor example to the simpleton that people would rather believe in anything else other than God to make them rich.

    In fact, the average Christian believes in God but not in the money aspect. That part is none other than theory to all of us, I guess. Practically, we shout amen to all the declarations and go back to our poor miserable lives the next day. So why don’t we talk about that? Does wealth have anything to do with God at all?

    I’m case you missed it, click on the thumbnail below to catch up on what we are talking about. Then, you can jump back in again.

    What Makes One Wealthy? God, Hard Work or Wisdom?

    The Provision of God

    For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

    Matthew 5:45

    Christians think they are so special. Just like any other religious group, they think their God will only be kind to them and be rude to everyone else. God is not like that. Even though the sins of the wicked will not go unpunished, He is still gracious to everybody. We are all God’s creation. We are God’s handiwork.

    Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to become rich.

    Deuteronomy 8:18

    We are made in His image. When it comes to ability, potential, purpose, and provision, He gives each and everyone that. Whether you believe it or not. Whether you know Him or not. Whether you are a Christian or not. That provision of God is still made available to you. This provision includes the potential to be prosperous and the ability to make wealth. God shows favour, not favouritism.

    The Propensity of God

    The LORD makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.

    1 Samuel 2:7

    Oh yeah….one thing about God; He does what He likes. He can make you poor. Always remember this; prosperity is for a purpose. Forget about the person not being a Christian. God has the Propensity to make someone rich and lay it on the person’s heart to solve a world problem. When God gives you wealth and you think it’s for only you but it was up to only you to become rich, God can take it away.

    Why is this important to know? People think this makes God look schizophrenic, doing both good and bad and playing God and the devil sometimes. This is not so. If God didn’t have the power to destroy, cause afflictions, send poverty etc. He will have to rely on the devil to punish wrongdoers, thus making Him the devil’s accomplice. Every Judge has the power to save and destroy. If God can make you rich, He can make you poor. If He can exalt you, He can humble you as well.

    But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?’ ”

    Luke 12:20

    This is a really hard truth that many people don’t want to hear. The same God who can save can destroy. If He can make you whole, He can also make you empty. If He can make you rich, He can also make you poor. This is not a dualistic universe where God can only heal and the devil can only destroy. God can do all things. God can heal and also destroy. That is why Jesus said do not fear the one who can destroy the body. Fear the one who can destroy both the body and soul.

    The Exceeding Riches of God

    And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person’s true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be.”

    Luke 12:15

    The Exceeding Riches of God is not even about having a fat salary. It’s not about money. It’s not even about material wealth. Do you know that, even in the financial world, a wealthy man is not one who has a lot of money? It is the one who has the ability to create wealth. This is why people who win the lottery never sustain their wealth. They go back to being broke. If you took all the money in the world and shared it equally, eventually those who were rich will become rich again.

    This is why you shouldn’t be jealous of the facade of worldly riches. Worldly riches don’t last. It is not sustainable. The Exceeding Riches of God is from generation to generation. Can you become rich outside of God’s principles and outlines? Of course. You can go for blood rituals. You can join a rich occult group. You can engage in Internet fraud. You can create/ modify deadly diseases in the lab. You can even sell your soul. Guess what? That wealth won’t last.

    God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him.

    Ecclesiastes 2:26 NLT

    In the end, it is God who blesses. There are those who made wealth and cannot even enjoy it. Down the line, that wealth ended in the hands of the one God wanted to give it to. The Exceeding Riches of God is a kind of wealth that nourishes you multi-dimensionally. There is a kind of wealth that people get at the expense of their family and relationships. Others, at the expense of their health and vitality. No need to be envious of such wealth. It is God who blesses, and He adds no sorrow to it.

    Good people will have wealth to leave to their grandchildren, but the wealth of sinners will go to the righteous.

    Proverbs 13:22

    You don’t need to live a lifetime to discover this. If you want the kind of wealth that is not tied to something outside of you; the kind of wealth that is multi-dimensional; the kind of wealth that you get to enjoy; the kind of wealth that you get to pass to your children and grandchildren; the kind of wealth that is tied to God’s purpose; then look to no one else other than El-Dosted. His streets are made of pure gold. Gold and silver are His. His rewards exceed all riches, for His Exceeding Riches are incomprehensible.

    Shout-out to El-Dosted!

  • What Makes One Wealthy? God, Hard Work or Wisdom?

    The pastor said we should pray to God to bless us financially. Mom said I should work hard in school so I can make a fortune for myself in future. The “financial” Motivational speaker I follow on IG is saying otherwise. Who’s right and what’s right? What Makes One Wealthy? God, Hard Work or Wisdom?

    What Makes One Wealthy? God, Hard Work or Wisdom?

    From observation, I know for sure it’s not speaking in tongues and attending prophetic conferences that make one rich. Most of the wealthiest people in the world are not even Christians in the first place. Most of the prayerful people I know too are not necessarily rich. In fact, they seem to struggle with their finances. Let’s face the facts. So God is out?

    When it comes to hard work, I know for sure that’s what they always say. “How did you become wealthy, O wealthy one?”. I worked hard. It’s all about hard work. Cut the bullshit. You were born into wealth so let’s stop pretending. The richest people in the company do the least work. In fact, their wealth is based on how hard their employees work.

    What Makes One Wealthy? God, Hard Work or Wisdom?

    Hard work used to work once, I guess. In our world today, it’s about working smart. The first-generation wealthy guys are those who worked smartly on a very simple idea. So it’s wisdom, then? Because wisdom is just an ancient word for working smart.

    So what makes one wealthy? Not God because pastors and Christians are poor? Not hard work because CEOs don’t stress but employees work their asses off? Is it wisdom? I don’t think so. There are foolish rich people, just as much as there are wise poor folks. Wealth is not necessarily a measure of how wise someone is.

    So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.

    Ecclesiastes 9:16 NLT

    Those who think God maketh rich think it has nothing to do with hard work. Those who think it’s hard work think it has nothing to do with God or religion. Yes, some wealthy folks when asked will tell you it’s only God. The real assumption lies in the fact that we think since one has God, one has material wealth. This makes people sceptical.

    If it’s only God, then why are so many Christians poor? Why are the so-called worldly people rich and wealthy? Then there are God folks who will make you feel like wealth doesn’t even matter. Dude, if you wanna be poor, be poor in peace. Stop spreading your poverty mindset.

    So what makes one wealthy? In my opinion, it’s very bold of us also to assume that making wealth is about having one of the aforementioned ingredients. That’s my opinion. What do you think? Let’s hear you in the comments.

  • Coping with Finances as a Couple

    If there is one thing that is forever relevant in the world system, it is finances. Throughout human history, legal tender has changed. The complexity of the legal tender always reflected the monetary system put in place for financial transactions to be possible. However, the need and relevance has barely changed; only evolving with time.

    Gone is the generation where the woman only stays home to take care of the house while the man goes out to work for sustenance. In our world today, for the family to fluorish financially both parents step out the door for work. This has brought about new challenges on coping with finances.

    In this life, realize that sitting to think about a situation before venturing into it is the best way to tackle that situation. Thus, this write-up is really necessary for singles and young couples. Trust me, if you don’t plan beforehand what you’ll say when – for instance – you go for an interview, what you’ll do when you are broke etc, you can end up embarrassing yourself or making an avoidable wrong decision. Even thieves plan what they’ll do when they are about to get caught. You hope for the best, yes: but do plan for the worst.

    Here are 3 outlined things I have come to understand about this issue;

    1. Each one ought to have their own money

    As a couple, the idea of doing everything together sounds romantic. Actually, it’s not always realistic. You are not two halves making a whole. You are individuals coming together as a couple. So you need to have a life of your own, complemented by the life you share with your partner. In simple English when it comes to finances, have your own money. Don’t put all your money together.

    If you put your money together, if you’re broke you’re broke together. Yet, if you had your own money separate from the one you had together, one can be broke for a season and be supported by the other. In this way, you fulfill the reason for being a couple.

    Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.

    Ecclesiastes 4:9‭-‬10 NLT

    2. Balance

    Complement each other. Divide major expenditure brackets among yourselves. As a man, I will take care of the car. As a woman, you take care of the rent. So once payday is due, everyone knows what they are taking care of. It could even be in percentages. As a man, I will take care of 40% of the school fees while the lady takes care of the 60%. There is no formula to this. It does not need to be rigid or fixed because circumstances change often. It really depends on the level of understanding between the two of you.

    Compromise, don’t compete. Usually, men feel inferior when their partner makes more money than they do. It feels like the woman would get to make more vital decisions in the relationship because of how important finances are. That notwithstanding, your partner is your helper and not your competition. You are not trying to beat them. You both are coming together to face life. So you need everything you can get, including extra cash from a richer spouse.

    3. Understand your financial personality

    Depending on how we were brought up and the coping skills we picked along the way, we tackle finances differently. We can however group everyone under two main umbrellas. “Saving-oriented” and “Spending-oriented”. Proverbs 13:7 says “some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor.”

    It’s human nature to “waste” resources once there’s that feeling that there’s more than enough resources available. This is because human wants are insatiable. Immediately you get enough money, you tend to feel more comfortable and begin to spend on your insatiable wants. That is natural.

    Nonetheless, there are people who develop a saving-oriented attitude towards money. They are slow to spend, critical of the amount they have at the moment and barely buy out of impulse. The Spending-oriented easily releases money, doesn’t count until it’s almost finished and usually don’t know how their money run low so fast.

    A couple who are both Spending-oriented is a disasterclass. They will end up spending three-month salary in advance. When both are saving-oriented, it’s bad in a different way. Ask them rich kids who look rich but aren’t allowed to spend rich. They are so rich yet live so poor. Proverbs 13:7 is so true.

    Thus, identify your financial personality as a couple. Who likes spending? Who has cultivated a unique habit of saving? Who doesn’t count the cost until the money is finished? Who has so much money but still lives within their initial budget? Understanding who is what creates the balance both of you need. After all, coming together as a couple ought to strengthen your strengths and weaken your weaknesses. Where one falls short, the other is a suitable helper.

    I hope you’ve learnt so much from this. Please leave a comment. I would like to hear from you. Speaking of finances, this website is monetized so please do well to like and share to any platform you know would help. I love you ❤

  • 5 Things About People Who Complain All the Time

    Day-in-day-out, whenever I listen to random conversations of people and analyse them, I do realize that more than half is full of complains. People are always complaining. Complaining so much they barely notice that they are always complaining. Nagging. Criticizing. Complaining. Blaming. Gossiping. 24/7. Barely can you go a moment without talking to them and hearing them complain about something or someone.

    Here is a list of things I have noticed about people who complain a lot;

    1. Backbiting

    This I know for a fact; people who gossip with you gossip about you. People who complain about others to you also complain about you to others. Don’t be happy to be hearing them rant about what someone else did or didn’t do. One day, it will be you.

    2. Fault-finding

    Another thing I’ve realised. People who have the habit of complaining have a fault-finding ability. They can detect fault where there was none. They can conjure something to blame. It will amaze you. “I don’t like the weather in this area at all. What is this? It must be the government o. Instead of them building hospitals in these remote areas so that the sick can be attended to, they have left them and now the sick people have coughed so much and ruined this beautiful weather”. Complainers are expert-conjurists.

    3. Blaming

    People who complain all the time blame everyone and everything else except them. It’s the weather. The education system. The education minister. The government. The trotro drivers. The contractors. The road. The children of today. The TV adverts. The so-called Christians. The religious people. However, when they fall short in their actions or inactions, they give excuses by blaming other things or other people. It’s the weather. The education system. The education minister. The government. Such people are never to blame, even for their own decisions. Immediately they blame themselves, they will quickly switch up and blame someone or something else.

    4. Over-simplifying

    People who complain oversimplify solutions. Since no one is doing it right and everyone is to blame except them, it only makes sense that they alone have the right and simple solution. “Oh it’s just a matter of destroying all guns in the world. So simple.” “What they have to do is sack all the government officials. Everybody. They should sack everyone and re-elect new ones”. “We should ban all makeup kits. Children of today are looking like descendants of Jezebel. The ports should ban all makeup kits. That’s all!”.

    5. Nagging

    People who complain a lot think it is right to complain a lot. Some ladies have an archaic mindset that as a lady, they need to nag. If they don’t complain about what you do, it means they don’t care about you anymore. Solomon said it twice that it is better to be alone – sleep on the rooftop, live in the desert – than to live with a nagging wife. If there’s an issue, there’s a way to address it -diplomatically. There’s a way to discuss the problem with the person without making the person the problem. Nobody likes to feel like the problem.

    It’s not wrong to complain. It’s not necessarily right to complain either. It’s definitely annoying to complain all the time. Barely is any problem solved by complaining. In most cases, it only triggers negative feelings between the complainer and the person being blamed.

    Yes, complains have its place and there’s a way to go about it. However, if you’re gaining the attitude of a complainer; always backbiting, fault-finding, blaming, over-simplifying solutions and nagging, then you’re not helping anybody. So before you complain, ask yourself, “what am I trying to achieve?”.

  • How to Live Above the People-pleasing Mentality & Environment

    Don’t live your life to please anyone. Not your boss or your friends. Definitely not your friends. Not any member of your family. People-pleasing is a slavery mentality. If you want someone to please, please God. God is the one person you can pursue to please and never regret.

    Why shouldn’t you live your life to please anyone?

    It’s a trap. Once you live up to their expectations, they will always pile their issues on you to solve. Guess what? You’d have to live up to their expectations all the time. You’ll lose yourself trying to keep up with their expectations and praise of you. This is the fact; the day you disappoint them, their reaction will be greater than every praise they’ve ever showered on you.

    People-pleasing Mentality

    If you are people-pleasing, you will suffer when they are gone. Our mind needs a metric to measure how well we are doing in an area. If your efforts are based on the praises and rewards of your pleaser, you will lack a reward system of your own. Immediately that boss is replaced, that relative dies or that friend leaves, your world shatters. You won’t know your left from your right. This usually happens to students who are teachers’ pets. Once they complete school and go into industry, they struggle to cope because they don’t know who to please and how to please who.

    If you live for their acceptance, you will die from their rejection. You can easily break down if someone doesn’t appreciate the effort you put in to please them. Make sure you are doing the right thing for your own self-development and good motive. Sometimes, the people you are trying to please may not even notice any effort, and that can still leave you devastated.

    If you live to please people, you never discover your authenticity. You live in the shadow of your pleaser. It’s about what they want and how they want it. You never take the time to do it your way and use your own discretion. If you want to please your boss so bad, this is what happens. You’re too careful, thereby limiting the use of your own intuition to make independent decisions that can still work out.

    People-pleasing Environments

    Sometimes, it’s not our fault. We may not even notice that we are doing certain things as a way to please someone above us. This is because of the kind of environment that has already been created. Some leaders don’t accept opinions. It is only about executing things their way and style. Thus, people end up doing what the boss wants; not because they want to make him happy, but because they don’t want to get on his/her bad side.

    No wonder that’s how people interpret God and His Ways. “Obey Me otherwise I will throw you into hell forever.” As a result, so many remain a scared slave to God rather than a close friend. No wonder. Leaders who want you to please them are making sure you’re never above them. Once you do it your way, they’ll make you feel small and “put you in your place”: below them.

    What if you find yourself in the company of someone who wishes that you keep pleasing them because they alone always know what is right? Let me give you a piece of terrible advice: disappoint them. Don’t do what is right in an attempt to meet their expectations. Do what is right because you want to. Brace yourself for a ton of criticism. Their perfectionism is not your mandate. Free yourself from having to carry the burden of always pleasing them for their praises and worship on you.

    You cannot be everything to everyone. Stop setting yourself on fire to keep everyone else warm

    Daniel Good

    Treat them well

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying intentionally live to displease them. Such people are already perfectionists so no matter how hard you try to please them, you will still keep falling short from time to time. So don’t try to please them. On the other hand, don’t live to intentionally displease them. Just do your very best for your own self, not for them.

    One day when you’re in their capacity, please endeavour to treat those below you with the compassion you needed so much. Treat your employees well, treat your children well, treat the younger generations well. Treat those down the pipeline well, and never look down on those who look up to you. I love you ❤

  • New Year, Old Me: Do You Still Need to Make Resolutions?

    Everything is subject to diminishing returns under the sun. If you keep making New Year Resolutions and your lifestyle reset to default after only a few weeks, it only makes sense that you’ll get tired of making such Resolutions. The motivation with which people made Resolutions have died down in recent times. Now, basically, everyone is in the “I’m just there”, “let’s see what happens” mood.

    We all know there’s very little difference between the last day of the previous year and the first day of the current year. In other words, if you were in debt, were broke or stupid, you probably still are. Nothing has really changed in your situation. The only major difference is that the majority of the world has agreed that it is a new year. The fizzles of new year Resolutions die as the year goes by, and our behaviour resets to “factory settings”.

    Some even say that there’s nothing new about this year. Nothing shows that anything has changed. We all decided that today is the new year. That’s all! Some people even use a different calendar and to them, it may not be a new year. An example is the Chinese, whose New Year will fall on February 1st.

    Tapping Into The New Year Energy ✨

    Is there a need for Resolutions at all?

    Of course, there is. “You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago”, Alan Watts said.

    However, many miss an important step preceding resolutions: evaluations. At the end of every year, every institution holds an end-of-year meeting to calculate their profits. They evaluate their actions and decisions to determine what they did right – so they continue – and what they did wrong – so they re-strategize.

    Let’s all pretend like it’s just a new year like we already are. It is necessary that you self-evaluate. The days go by too fast for daily self-evaluation. After every month, however, self-evaluation will let you know if you are on track with your life goals or not. The year evaluation serves as a bigger picture to see the results of your minute actions and inactions. After the evaluation, re-solutions are made to make the most of the current year. So it’s rather systematic, not built on feelings of motivation and hyper-energy.

    new year resolutions - if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there

    If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. If you don’t define what success in life means to you and how it will look like, you wouldn’t have a yardstick to determine how whether you’re on the right path or not. It’s easy to know how far you’ve come because it’s all in the past. And oh!, how well we know our past. It’s the future we are all uncertain of.

    As you have already heard time and again, the best way to predict the future is to create it. Evaluate your life. Know where you want to go. Re-evaluate your life with time to know if you are on the right track or not. Make Resolutions to keep doing what is right and quit doing what is wrong. This is the purpose of Resolutions.

    Why You Need to Rejuvenate and not Restart in 2024

    Small Steps Everyday

    Understand where Resolutions are in the equation, and it will be simple for you to make them and keep them. “What if I fail like I did last year and the year before that, and the year before the year before that?”. If there was no failure, there wouldn’t be any need for Resolutions. Know this and know peace. So when you fail, don’t restart. Continue!

    Just as we “pretended” that today is a new day of a new year, you can pretend that each day is special to you. You have each day you awake to resolve the pitfalls in your life. Each day is a new year to do good, be good and live good. Remember, it is the individual trees that come together to form the forest. It is the little drops of water that make a mighty ocean.

    small steps every day - resolutions

  • Jesus Celebrates His Birthday with Choo Thomas

    WHEN THE LORD visits me He usually wears a white robe, but on the Christmas Eves of 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 He wore a beautiful robe and crown. The crown was made of gold, and it was embossed with a rainbow of jewels of all colors and descriptions. His gown was deep red, and it was trimmed in gold.


    “Lord, why are You wearing such a beautiful gown and crown?”, I asked.
    “Daughter, it is My birthday”, He responded with a smile.


    Whenever the Lord smiles at me, I return the smile automatically. I could not close my mouth if I wanted to. Though I usually can‘t see His face, I am able to tell when He is happy or sad or angry.


    On twenty-eight separate occasions the Lord wore this beautiful golden robe and crown. At these times it always seemed as if He was especially happy. He wears these spectacular garments at times of celebration, including each time when a phase of my body-work would be completed.
    When my heart would wonder why He was dressed in such royal garments, He would say, ―”I am celebrating, My
    daughter”.

    With dancing hands my heart and body would respond to His desire to celebrate, and my spirit would respond with my special vision-voice and heavenly Spirit songs.

    This is an excerpt from Choo Thomas’ book, Heaven is So Real. To read or download the book, click here. Merry Christmas from Resonance to you. Thank you so much for sticking with us for yet another year; for reading, liking and sharing. We really appreciate you.

    With love,
    Daniel Good ❤️

  • What I Learnt in 2021 that Changes my Life Forever

    This is going to be a long one. I can write a book on this, actually. Let’s get right in!

    IT IS EASY TO CRITICIZE SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT PART OF


    People hate what they don’t know. Once you have no responsibility whatsoever pertaining to some inner workings and only a recipient of its privileges, it is easy to criticize it. In simple English, a child – has never been a parent before and benefits from the parents – who criticizes his/her parents is very likely to be criticizing things he/she does not understand. He/She will only realize that things are much more complicated than it looks when he/she becomes a parent. When you’re outside something, it is easy to criticize it. The solutions seem clear. We state some over-simplified solutions to their unending problems and we think that is it. That’s not it. The real question is whether you’re going to make the same decisions being made if you were in their shoes.

    We criticize politicians till we enter into politics and realise it’s no joke. It’s an actual battlefield of countless problems. Someone says they are depressed and you think they should get up and do something. You think the person doesn’t know that? You don’t understand why people divorce because to you, marriage is a simple lifestyle. Dude, are you even married? Nothing is as easy as it looks. So before you criticize, realize where you stand. You might be criticizing something you have zero experience of.


    TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, REALIZE THAT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW


    Ideas are insights, and these insights come from information. If you know nothing about thermodynamics, you’re probably not going to have any ideas about it. Even if you do, those ideas will be so dumb. Have you met someone who gives dumb ideas? It’s because they lack enough information about the subject matter. Board members sit in their comfortable conference rooms and assume they know what is happening on the ground.

    No wonder we criticize our leaders. The reality is, they think they are doing so well. The statistics say so. They don’t know what they don’t know. If you want to think outside the box, look for information in the weirdest places. Inside the carcasses of archaeology are hidden treasures. If our leaders were to step outside their comfortable box and ask the layman whom they think knows nothing, they would find the solution and throw all their dumb ideas in the garbage. This leads me to another important lesson I learnt;


    A JACK OF MANY TRADES IS A MASTER OF NONE, BUT OFTENTIMES BETTER THAN A MASTER OF ONE


    In ancient civilizations, anyone in a particular field was an “expert” in all its facets. The medical doctor was a veterinarian, surgeon, nurse, optician, neurologist, herbalist, scientist and everything pertaining to medicine. The ancient architect was a technical expert, engineer, painter, sculptor, carpenter, plumber and basically a builder of everything. This was the case because so much was still unknown, thus no need for specialization. As the world advanced and research brought light to many fields, you would find an architect today who specializes in only building documentation. However, we all know that history repeats itself.

    The world really revolves, and we are moving back into the era of mastering more than just one thing. It’s basic to be a musician. How about a mathematician who is into music? Now, that’s the birth of something out of the ordinary. Be a jack of all trades. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. All industries in the world today are more interested in what you do on the side. Technology is making the weirdest of combinations; a wrist watch that can send texts, a car that can fly, a washing machine that can dry clean, a fridge that can send pictures etc. The same is expected of us humans. We need smart people for all these smart things. Soldiers with medical degrees. Lawyers with software skills. Architects with coding skills. Software engineers with drawing skills. Doctors with a good sense of humor. The world is looking for people with the weirdest combination of trades because such people bring something different and out-of-the-box. This leads me to the next point;


    THE GREATEST SKILL YOU CAN EVER LEARN IS THE SKILL OF ADAPTABILITY


    Adaptability is a skill every species has developed to ensure its survival. One thing is for sure in this world; life is unpredictable. It is truer today than ever. The world has never had 1 billion people alive until about a 100 years ago. Today, we are 7 billion. It took just 11 years to move from 6 billion to 7 billion, when it actually took us about 250,000 years to get to 1 billion. This is how fast the world is moving. The school system will never really catch up. Whatever you muster today will be archaic in a few years to come. This is not a bad thing if you have this skill. With this skill, you will always stay relevant like Daniel.

    Daniel was 3rd in command in the empire of Babylon & Persia, no matter who the king was. It is more than just going with the flow. It is having the willingness to learn what you don’t know and unlearn what you already know. A good example is how CAD replaced hand drafting. Those who lack this skill fall into a ditch though they may have been at the apex when hand drafting skills peaked. Today, BIM is here. What are you mustering at the moment? Don’t be left behind

    This has been a great oversimplification of what I’ve learnt all my life up to this point. Like, share and let me know your comments about what this year has taught you. I love you ❤

  • If Adam’s Sin Made Us All Sinners, Why Doesn’t Jesus’ Sacrifice Make Us All Saints?

    If Adam’s Sin Made Us All Sinners, Why Doesn’t Jesus’ Sacrifice Make Us All Saints?

    Christian Universalism argues that if Adam’s sin made everyone a sinner, Jesus’ sacrifice has made everyone a saint. Simple logic! It sounds about right. After all, Romans 5:19 says “because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”

    Adam’s sin brought sin into everyone’s heart even from birth. We had no choice but to sin. Sin was natural to us. Jesus’ finished work brought freedom from sin, breaking its yoke. But I still have a choice to enslave myself to sin if I want to.

    “But but…Adam’s sin made us sinners without a choice?” Wrong! Adam’s sin made us sinners with only one choice; to be a slave to sin. The choice to live free from sin was far beyond our reach. Jesus’ finished work gave us another choice; to be a slave to righteousness. Because we had initially made the choice of being slaves to sin, not making the choice of being a slave to righteousness still makes us sinners.

    This means that one becomes a saint by choice, and not by chance. That’s where Christian Universalism flawed. I should have a choice. What if I don’t want to be a slave of righteousness? This is about eternity; probably the biggest decision that needs my consent the most. “But but…if God wants to save all of us so badly, why doesn’t he make it an automatic process?” Where there is love, there’s choice. Where there’s no choice, there’s no love.

    What if someone doesn’t want to spend eternity with God? After all, if I can live my life here on earth without God, why should I be forced to spend eternity with Him? So people are not going into eternal damnation because of Adam’s sin, but because of their own choice.

    God has forgiven us all our sins – past, present, future – and has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ whether you agree or not. But guess what? You have a choice; to accept or not to accept. The choice is universal. And no one is choosing for you, not even God. In fact, we will need to make this choice everyday, not just in this age but throughout eternity.

    The choice is not a riddle too. For God will continually show what we must choose. He loves you ❤️

  • Is the Bible the Word of God?

    The average Christian believes that the Bible is the Word of God. If asked why, there will be no reason given other than “it is what it is”. When tough mind-boggling questions are then asked, seeds of doubts will eventually be sown in your mind concerning the infallibility of the Bible. Thus, the need to know what makes the Bible the Word of God.

    When reasons why it is NOT the Word of God is presented to you, you may begin to water the seeds of doubt in your mind. Just as the cornerstone became a stumbling block for many, the Bible has started wars and brought peace. It has been used as a reference to perpetuate evil, preached as a message of hope, quoted as the basis of fierce debates and misquoted in the quest for propaganda.

    The Bible started off as a library of books than as just one book. We know the Bible has 66 books, but some of these books are also collection of books in itself. In 1229, chapters and verses were added for easy quotation. Written by about 40 authors within a 1500-year period, the coherence of the book is humanly impossible. However, the ultimate question remains; is the Bible the Word of God?

    The Word vs the Spirit

    When the Spirit of God leaves a body of believers, what is left is just an organisation. They have a form of godliness, but lack the power thereof. One thing you’d realize is how the Holy Scriptures all of a sudden replaces the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Bible. Whatever you say or do, such people ask, “was it done in Bible times?”. Such people believe that everything is in the Bible and that the Bible has an answer for everything. They are quick to label unbiblical things as secular or outrightly demonic.

    Not everything is in the Bible. The Bible does not also provide an answer to everything. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, not necessarily the Bible. He is the One to lead us into ALL truths. Such mindsets are what make us slowly replace the Holy Spirit with the Holy Scriptures. Yes, the Bible has a say on a lot of issues of life and they tell us the mind of God but if you need someone to teach you, go to the Spirit and He will lead you the Word. The Word of the Spirit is the Spirit of the Word. The Bible can be misinterpreted in a billion ways. Go to its Author. Simple!

    Proceedings vs Preceedings

    There are two words for “Word” in Greek. Logus, which is the Logic of God, the Mind of God, used in John 1:1, Jesus. Another is Rhema, a specific Word for a specific person/people, at a specific time for a specific purpose. It’s not that God’s Rhema has an expiry date, but when God speaks, it is established, fulfilled and returns to Him “unvoided”. To one He says “go”, to another He says “stay”, to all He says “love”. If you’re not abreast with God, you’ll pick His “go” Word in a season you had to “stay”.

    The Logic of God

    What God said tells us how God thinks but what God is saying shows us what God is thinking. This is so important that I can’t stress it enough. Why? Because sometimes what God is saying now may be the exact opposite of what He said then. Imagine if Abraham wasn’t always checking for God’s updates. Isaac would have been dead had Abraham still held on to God’s initial words of sacrificing Isaac to him. Centuries later, the same God gave the Israelites a command not to sacrifice their children on any altar, the exact opposite of what He told Abraham to do.

    Jesus said man shall live by the Words that proceeds of the mouth of God. Not preceed. God speaks, His Word is accomplished and returns to Him. If you’re not current with God, you will be pouring your energy to establish a Word that has already been fulfilled. This lack of understanding is responsible for half of the Christian denominations today. They read something God said 8000 years ago and has been fulfilled and then make a doctrine out of it.

    You read the books of Moses and declare that believers have to sacrifice cows because God says so? Honey, where have you been? Jesus already fulfilled that. “But it’s God who commanded it?” Yes please. That preceeds what He is saying today. Today, He is saying that if you simply believe in Jesus’ sacrifice, your sins will be atoned for once and for all.

    The Word vs the Bible

    All truths are not the same. Some are more essential than others. Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” So it is important what we emphasize. Obedience is more important than sacrifice; loving one another is more important than speaking the language of angels. The Truth is as important as the Order of Truth. To understand this more, read on the Mystery of Revelation.

    The Mystery of Revelation: Whatever Doesn’t Change You Unmakes You

    That’s why it’s wrong to overemphasize the Bible more than the Author. Paul himself said that the letter killeth. We read the Bible to encounter the Word. The Bible is a book but the Word is a person. The Bible is the Word of God but the Word of God is not the Bible. The Word of God is God Himself. The truth is, you can read the Bible and miss the Word. This is very dangerous, but many have walked this road of perversion.

    Now that you’ve carefully read all this, I would like you to re-read it from time to time and use to check some things in your own life. Am I holding on a “preceeding” Word or “proceeding” Word? The Bible is the Word of God alright but have I made the Book more supreme than the Author? Remember, “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life”.

    It is the Spirit of God that makes the Bible the Word of God. He makes it comes alive. Without Him, the Bible is a book. With Him, you encounter the Word.