How To Go From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be, by Pastor Peter Yakubu
A static life is one that is but dead. Life is designed to be lived i.e. to be alive and that simply implies dynamism. Everything that has life in it moves; even plants are motile – via pollination.
The world became populated as people began to move from place to place. This shows that it is in God’s original plan that people not only move from place to place but to be able to desire where to go and also get there.
In this edition, we are not only going to look at ability to go places but how to take off from a certain point in life and get to or achieve the desired set goal.
WHERE YOU ARE
It is very imperative for us to primarily analyse where you are before proceeding with other issues. Some people just live without a sense of commitment to underscore the essence of their existence. They simply live everyday as it comes never expecting anything in particular nor willing to throw in a thrust to do anything new. Where you are is your present position in life: (who you are) your current status, location, achievement, net worth and value. Your present estimation of your person and evaluation of your placement sum up to where you are.
When you first got to “where you are”, you may have celebrated the new achievement or feat. It may have been a great stride taken then, but over time the steam condenses and the euphoria wanes away and you now come to terms with that level. It’s no longer an excitement to you. You have settled down. That position has become a part of you. You may at this time forget where you are coming from because, the present seems to linger too long it’s as if you have been that way forever. There is either of three possibilities any one could encounter at this level of his life:
Deteriorate
Ware and tear are a very constant that will happen to any material that have undergone a long period of use with little or no maintenance. In the same way any person who has been at a spot or location for a period of time without new adventures begins to retrogress. Life was originally designed to be positively dynamic. Man was created to explore his world. Man ought to constantly break new frontiers; move from stage to stage; keep evolving and developing from one level to another. When man fails in this capacity to be exactly this which he ought to be, he automatically begins to retrogress. Reason is because the world system itself is dynamic. If you don’t move along it leaves you behind which infer that you are moving backward.
Stagnant or Stationary
The man that is stagnant is still better than the retrogressive because he is making some progressive movement (even though not good enough); except that his speed is not commensurate with the dynamism of the world system so, he hangs in there and the world carries him along. The stagnant man is actually moving forward, his speed is only not good enough to outwit the cosmopolitan.
Progressive
The third possibility which really is the lot of man is the progressive. Being progressive far outweigh stagnancy because the progressive being determined puts in more effort and thrust and goes ahead of the cosmos. This possibility doesn’t just happen without the conscious effort, willingness and push by the person. You must have a goal in mind and be willing to achieve it. It is this option that is the purpose of the creator for man and this will be our focus in this edition.
WHERE YOU WANT TO BE
Every normal human being will want to leave wherever he has been for the next higher, better and more promising point. Tastes and values differ from one person to another. What one person desires may not be appealing to the other. However, everyone desires something good. What Mr. X wants might be what Mr. Y wants to leave behind. Mr. X might be desiring to get to the point Mr. Y is working away from.
Our desires might not be the same but we certainly desire to make advances. The onus is now on you to know where you want to be that is on the progressive line. No one goes to the train station or the bus park and buys a ticket to anywhere; he will not only be considered unserious, he can’t get on that train or bus. To be able to leave a point for another, it is important you know where you want to be next. You cannot be ambitious for anywhere; it must be for something or somewhere. Where do you want to be? This question should be the first tool you should be armed with. Having established this, then you will be ready for the next level which is
How to connect the above Two
Now, let’s look at how to connect from where you are to where you want to be. As we have just established, it is important for you if you are leaving a certain point to be properly armed with the knowledge of where you want to be. This knowledge solves a great proportion of this puzzle.
I would like to make bold here to say that what you see is what you get. If seeing then brings possession, it becomes imperative that you must keep in sight that place you want to be if you must get there.
God ones told Abraham in scriptures that as far as he could see he would get. This therefore implies that your mind is the major tool employed in the journey of life. You must be able to settle in your mind where you want to be and keep your mind stayed on that picture- then sooner or later you’d have landed.
There is a force in man that is resident in his mind that propels the entire body of the human being to wherever the mind agrees he should be. For example; a man takes off from point A and has prepared and settled in his mind that his destination is point B. when the man takes off from point A – let’s assume he is driving – he may have wandered away in his mind from the thoughts of his journey, but because his mind already is fixed on destination, he has no problem navigating and negotiating bends and turns leading directly to his destination even when he is not thinking about it- the mind knows where to go. Take for another example: you are being driven in a car or bus and while your thoughts are on many other things outside of your destination; the vehicle veers off the route to your destination. You will immediately come to yourself and be awakened to the fact that something went wrong. Immediately, your mind is quickened.
Why is this so? You may have already wandered off your goal, but the mind being equipped with the information of the next point controls your entire being in the proper direction.
To be where you want to be, you must know where and feed the information of the destination into the minds data base. Once this is done, the mind knows how to process the rest of the journey.
Consequently, to connect from point where you are to point where you want to be, you must have proper knowledge of what you want and feed that into your mind, then move out in faith. The mind doesn’t fail. It will always process what you feed into it. Therefore, it is important to know where to go.
TO KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO
God supernaturally has set a mechanism in place in the human mind to guide him to where he ought to be at every giving stage in his life.
You cannot suggest to a young girl of age seven, nine or ten, who is still tumbling to unravel the knots of her basic education, what it is for her to get married. She will simply laugh at you with disdain as though it is a taboo for her to be married. This is because God has set a rhythm in the mind of man to expect one stage at a time. The mind yearns and longs for the stage that is next in line according to the rhythm.
An adolescent child would rather pick a toy car than the keys of a real car. Life is in stages and the mind is programmed to follow the sequence. People who jump the order of this sequence and force themselves to be in advanced stages well ahead of where they ought to be actually have fast forwarded their lives. Little should you wonder why their lives are cut short mysteriously. You can’t jump the gun. It’s a sequence.
The mind triggers off an alarm mechanism that sends signals to you hinting you on what stage you should expect next. This is expressed by the propelling urge you begin to have for the next stage. When a young lady begins to reach the final stage of her school – may be university degree or she begins to approach age twenty five and above, automatically, marriage becomes her subject matter – not car. The mind knows how to set the priorities in order because it is in sequence. Therefore, as you look inward and listen to your mind, you would know where you should be next.
The man at a certain stage of his life may desire many things – a house, a car, a wife, that bigger job. However, one is dominant in his mind. That is the next stage. Set your heart at and give it every push. You will get there. You will receive it.
How do you know if you are there?
The pure feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that lingers for a while.
Some people misplace priority and distort that order of the minds rhythm. They shoot high their desire and expectation beyond the next stage. They do everything to get it or get there. As soon as they have it, they lose the value. It loses its flavour to them.
But consider this. A man begins to yearn for the next position in his office – say Deputy Manager. He works hard for it, Prays hard for it; then eventually he gets it. The yearning is as a result of signals from the mind that this is next. He becomes preoccupied with that desire. Finally, he gets it. He relaxes for a while. The dissatisfaction sets in again. He wants to be full Manager. He becomes enflamed with this desire. Deputy managerial seat is no longer exciting. The future is beckoning on him. The mind says, “That is the next level, go for it”. When he gets there, there is joy and excitement for some time before the sequence takes its toll again.
A lady desires marriage at all costs. She gets it. Celebrate it for some time and then the steam condense and she longs for something more that didn’t matter so much before marriage becomes a reality: may be babies or something else. That inner feeling of I need this, it is my time, time is running out, I want to get there, is a sign of where you ought to be next. The prolong excitement when you get there confirms you are there.
Finally, how do you go from where you are to where you want to be?
The best way to draw straight line on the sand with your foot from point A to B is to stand at point A, fix your gaze on point B, and without distraction – draw your line. The picture of point B that you maintained permanently on your mind as you gaze on it takes you there undeterred. Nothing stops you because obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off your target.
Part of a message preached by Pastor Peter Yakubu, of Prevailers Arena, Ikeja Lagos, at RCCG Everlasting Father’s Assembly, Leeds on Friday 05/09/14.
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