“Don’t sit down, and fold your hands, waiting for opportunity to come to you; be the opportunity someone else is dreaming about.” Proverbs 6:9-11 says, “How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.”
There is an old saying that goes; “opportunity comes but once” meaning that when you miss an opportunity there is no hope or chance of getting another. But the truth of the matter is that opportunities does not come once. They are everywhere, It doesn’t have to come to you by introducing itself to you. Opportunity is recognized when there is a prior preparedness, readiness and maturity to take or grab it immediately. A lot us are living in penury and purposelessness because we have been sitting anticipating opportunity or lamenting the fact that one opportunity has been lost and we are waiting for another, meanwhile, time is going by.
If you are a youth reading this; I want you to know that you have so much treasures and potentials within you, which when discovered, and developed will place you at a level in which whoever encounters you, has encountered opportunity. The celebrities you anticipate to meet and day-dream about were once like you. The difference between them and you now is that you have failed to recognize what you can offer and they are making a maximum use of it. It is important you know yourself and get understanding about life “for understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.”
Don’t wait for opportunity, but rather be the opportunity. Let me give us an example. How would you feel when you come one on one with Aliko Dangote or Bill Gate? You will be very happy I guess? Why? Because you feel all your problems have been solved. It is a rare opportunity that may happen once in a life time. But when other people meet you, do they feel the same way? Will they feel blessed and impacted or they will feel drained after talking to you. I want you to know that opportunity is not all about giving money, time is also valuable and we must always be conscious of that too.
Simon Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate didn’t have silver and gold but what they had was able to set the man up for life. If you heed to these words wisely you will find good, and you will be happy eventually if you trust in the Lord.
You may not have silver and gold or money to throw out but wisdom, time and counsel can also be given out to better the life of an individual. If you don’t have money you should at least have Christ to give. That is the greatest opportunity any man could ever have because He is the greatest gift that has ever been given to human race by God. When a man encounters you and you give him Christ, be rest assured that you have settled every other aspect of His life including eternity. But money will finish. This is another area we must consider.
You can give out words of encouragement too. When you do this always people will practically scramble to get your time and attention. Words are powerful and it has the capacity to liberate a man’s spirit and channel his thought line towards productivity. Jesus never gave money out to people. But whoever encounters Him will never remain the same. It was the same thing that happened to the Samaritan woman. Just a word can change a man’s story.
The question and challenge I am throwing out to us today is that how much effort are we putting into ourselves in order to become the opportunity that other people are praying for? How much development will your community, nation and society achieve if every youth is day dreaming and Waiting for opportunity to come by? We will continue to be stagnant if there is no deliberate effort to turn ourselves into an opportunity other people would dream to meet. This can only be achieved when you discover your purpose, and make deliberate effort to walk into your leadership destiny. Because, even if it is starring at your face you won’t make the maximum use of it because you have not discovered what to live and die for or your very essence of existence.
My primary focus in this write up today, is to show you how you can be a hub centre for distributing wealth and opportunity. And I pray the Lord will open your eyes to see more beautiful things written in this piece and build a capacity in you to discover treasures in you that will make you appear before Kings. Our model for consideration today would be Solomon, and I am going to be pointing out something important that we must never forget. Let us see how he attracted such wealth, fame and power. And I want us to begin our meditation from the book of 1 Kings 10:1-6. I want us to see What happened when queen Sheba visited king Solomon.
“And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.”
1 Kings 10:1-6
I am sure you would also agree with me that Solomon was an opportunity everyone dreamt to encounter in his days including kings, queens, princes and princesses from all over the earth. From this Scripture, we saw queen Sheba encounter with him, what transpired, and how amazed she was.
One indisputable factor that we have noticed in Solomon is that he had Wisdom. For every leader who is set to take on his leadership responsibility must realize that wisdom is the principal thing. And in all their getting they must seek to get wisdom. And how do we know you are a wise leader? It is by your actions and the fruits you bear. See what queen Sheba said to him in verse 6 “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom”. You don’t go about talking and boasting to be wise. Show it, let it produce positive results. It is by the words you speak.
Do you speak about light matters that profits non? Or you speak deep mysteries of God that is capable of changing the life of who ever listens to you? If you discover that you do not have wisdom then you should seek the face of God, ask Him to give you one. The book of James 1:5 says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
Now this is the lesson I want we all to learn and it is drawn from verse 1 Kings 10:3, it says: “And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not.” Let us see what the amplified version of that scripture says: “Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he failed to explain to her.”
And I want us to note that word and “Solomon told her; all her questions.” In other words, he answered all her questions. Any leader, any youth any nation that wants to be prosperous must have answers to questions. Wealth and solutions go hand in hand. If you have nothing to offer, if you have no solutions to problems, if you cannot provide an explanation to the sufferings and confusion of the world today, your status won’t move an inch.
Solomon became wealthy and powerful simply because he had answers, Joseph became a Prime Minister simply because he had answers, Daniel rose to prominence because he was known to be an answer to hard puzzles. What is your own answer? Christ became the everlasting prince of peace because He alone has the answers to the turmoil going on in the world today. What will you be known for? What kind of problems will people call you to come and solve?
Until we realize how important this matter is, we cannot be relevant to ourselves as individuals, to nations, and to the world as a whole. Queen Sheba realized Solomon’s wisdom was not ordinary, it must have come from God and so she praised the God of Solomon. If we become useless to ourselves and to our society, it is a thing of shame and reproach. And if you must become useful to your generation then you must become useful to God, period! That is the secret there, become useful to God and men will find it difficult to ignore you. What we do must show forth Gods praise, people must praise God for what He has been able to accomplish through us.
Only God is the source of extraordinary performance, you cannot provide answers to questions or proffer solutions to problems if God has not given you the capacity. And the only way you can be enabled and be equipped to launch into an extraordinary life is by the help of the Holy Spirit. You must first begin by accepting Christ, discover your purpose and be baptized in the Holy Ghost.
May God bless you richly even as you do so in Jesus name.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
