If you are a musician, your instrument is an extension of who you are.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him (John 4:23).
If you are a musician, your instrument is an extension of who you are. When you play, you should do so from your heart and recognize that you are a vital piece of someone’s encounter with God and a key to breakthrough in the room.
Our lives in church must be the fruit of our relationship with Jesus and with one another. With a lot of joy and enthusiasm, yes, but also discipline, because without it, we will get nowhere.
There is power that comes from the Holy Spirit when we worship together and learn to love and help each other. It really shifts atmospheres and unlocks prison doors when we have honest relationships before the Father.

You Can Experience Good Success

Success means different things to different people. Success is not meant for just a select few. It cuts across race, age and gender. Everyone is entitled to it; provided the person is willing and poised to accurately apply the necessary principles. Success is all about maximizing potential. And maximizing our potential will require stepping out of your comfort zone. It will involve consciously stretching yourself beyond your limits. It will entail challenging yourself to start taking some bold and difficult but valuable steps. Your decision to discover and maximize your God-given potential will decide your destiny.

How do we evaluate success? Is it determined by affluence? Is it by fame? Success is not a function of fortune or fame. It is much more than a household name. The value of true success is based on a life well spent on planet earth. Success is a step by step progress towards achieving a God-given goal. It means being in the centre of God’s will for your life. Success involves doing exactly what you were wired to do here on earth.

You cannot afford to depend on your human ability to achieve outstanding success. You need divine strength. Only God has what it takes that will equip you to achieve complete success in every area of your life. So crave the grace of God. The grace of God is the favour of God. Daily, you need to grow in the grace. You need divine favour to be able to produce the God kind of success. The favour of God provokes favour with men. Seek to walk in favour with God and you will not struggle where others have struggled. When you walk in divine favour uncommon doors will open to you.

(From the book Qualities of Outstanding Women by Linda Nweke)

Don’t Settle for Less Than What God Could Enable You to Accomplish

For several years into her twenties, Gladys Aylward served as a housemaid in North London. It seemed this was all there was for her in life. Then, while doing some reading, she started learning about China. Missionaries were needed to work there. And she felt concerned. Miss Aylward’s initial reaction was to look for someone she could convince to go to China. She did not picture herself taking up the task – Perhaps because she felt she was unqualified for it. Then a desire came into her heart to travel to China herself and make a difference in that country. With minimal education, little prospect of speaking Chinese – and no organization willing to sponsor her – Gladys worked hard to scramble enough money and start her journey to China in October 1930. The events that unfolded on her way to China and her accomplishments while in there were so remarkable that 20th Century Fox could not resist the urge to make a movie out of it. The film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was released in 1958. And it featured the late Swedish-born actress Ingrid Bergman.

Not everyone will wake up with a dream to go to China like Gladys Aylward did. However, we all need to wake up the dreams in our hearts! A good question to ask is “Why would you want to settle for anything less than your God-given potential could enable you to accomplish?” Sometimes people who are doing well tend to settle for good when better is attainable. And many good-minded people fail to make their good intentions count – because their potential is locked in. In the book Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, Josiah Hotchkiss quoted the philosopher Henry David Thoreau who said, “Be not simply good; be good for something!” I think this word of challenge is still relevant for today.

We all need to be courageous. We need brave hearts, like Miss Aylward had. I hope her story inspires you to break free from limitations and break into your new opportunity for progress. Your heart needs to be brave enough to recognize an opportunity for progress – even when odds are stacked up against you.

(From the book Attain, Retain & Train by Uche Nweke)