Ray Massa was my director at some point in my financial planning career, a nice man with sound principles. He used to say “Common sense is not usually common practice” and I have found this to be true.

We live in a world today with information at the touch of our fingers; making us all appear as knowledgeable on any topic we so desire. However, that doesn’t make us fulfilled at all. Even Children sound convincing when they try to teach you something they see in movies. For instance, my children were giving me a crash course on Star Wars recently; it was so hilarious. I had to stop the conversation; with the mindset of doing a funny video together about teaching Mom about Star Wars. If you would love to see a funny video of my Star Wars 101, pls leave it in the comment section below. 

In this world of information overload, though we seem to have it all together, we still lack the fulfilments that come from living lives of purpose. Information; though great for us, is also so not too good for us, especially those of us that gets easily distracted. We get really busy doing so much but we tend to move away from what we have been called to do.

This was my story, I used to even wonder if I was a lazy person at some point. Compared to other self-driven and self-motivated individuals, I was not a high achiever. The story is different now though. And here are 2 of the major points that helped me. Consider following the same process.

1. Prioritize your time alone with God. Again, information overload leaves us distracted. We may have a good plan but, if we forever keep changing and adding to it, then what good us it. We keep going round and round. However, I have seen that the more laser-focus you are on hearing from God the more impact you will be able to have on earth.
2. Find a coach or a group of people that will guide you in achieving your goals. Except if you are a super self-driven person, or that you are delusional about it, you actually need to stop making yourself think that you are not smart enough. You need some form of accountability. Ask a friend to hold you up against your words, hire a coach or join a group of people trying the achieve a similar goal. I received daily reminders from Andrea Fluestch when I wanted to write my first book. You can do the same.

In order to practice the common sense, start working on improving your prayer time and find help. I pray that God will continue to direct you.

I talked about the Multiple Interest syndrome here. follow the link here:

Ep. 50 – The Multiple Interest Syndrome

Effective quiet time guide: https://www.olusobanjo.com/ep-37-effective-quiet-time-guide/

Don’t forget to tell me if you want to see the funny video.

 

In this episode, I want to encourage you to work hard on finding clarity on your life mission. If you are like many of us on earth, you have wondered or worried about your life’s purpose for a long time. You may even have read different books that promised to show you the way but you still have unanswered questions, right?

80% of Yale Graduates who were interviewed 25years after graduation claimed to be unhappy with their life even though they were doing well professionally and financially. In order words, money does not guarantee fulfillment. 

It will greatly help you to find your life mission. However, let me take this time to thanks to everyone that took the time to respond to my survey. I really appreciate you all. 33 amazing people have already submitted their survey. And it has been so helpful for me.

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Btw. My hubby, Ade Sobanjo has an exercise that he created a while ago that he uses to help people understand their purpose. It’s the interview with the older you. In this exercise, you ask a close friend to interview the 80 yr old you. It’s a funny experience but this is a very useful activity if you are still trying to clarify your purpose. It helps to discover who you have become at 80. You sort of see into the future.

• Who are you?
• What do you love to do?
• Who are the people you serve?
• What are those people looking for?
• What transformation do you love to see in people’s lives?

It’s very important that you start writing down what you see. It won’t be perfect at the beginning but don’t worry, you will keep editing it and it will keep becoming closer to what God sees, trust me, God himself will help you, He wants to.

Survey Summary

Total respondents so far: 33 individuals

• I don’t have any frustration with regards to embracing God’s purpose: 20%
• I don’t know my purpose and I don’t know how to find it: 45%
• I need extra help: 35%

My Final Questions:

1. What do you see?
2. How can you start?
3. When can you start?

Final Charge:

Starts and gradually it will become clearer. You will become bolder too in the process.

I was intrigued to see that though God had seen the light in his mind before calling it into being, It was when he had finished creating it that God saw that the light was good. I believe this is the same with us.

Genesis 1: 1-4 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

“There is a new level of clarity that comes to you as soon as you start stepping on waters in the area of your purpose in life.”

I pray that you will receive faith to step out to become who you were made to be.

Leave me a comment below:

Have you noticed that when you are driving in the dark, though you can only see about 100 to 500 meters ahead of you, you would still be able to arrive at your destination; that’s provided you know where you are headed: your final destination. In this episode, I used a recent experience I had driving in the dark on Highway 401 to emphasize how important it is to know both your long term and short-term goals in order to achieve God’s purpose for you.

Your Long Term and Short Term Goals Formula:

In order to be able to fully embrace God’s purpose for you, here are 2 main steps you need to take.

1. Know your final destination; unfortunately many don’t start knowing where they are ended.  However, if you are one of those that are not sure, here is a formula that worked for me. Write down the names of 2-3 people living or dead that reminds you of who you will love to become. As you write, you eliminate other distractions and also eliminate part of those selected individual’s work that you don’t see in your future.
2. Then align each of your short-term goals with the long-term future you see. Then, start taking consistent actions, each day,  in the right direction and trust God to bring His plans to pass in your life.

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Announcement:

So I am working on increasing the community of people that I personally reach out to. If you know you have a purpose but have been limited by any form of insecurities: by past errors, past failures, wrong self-image, other people’s opinions/judgement…but are now ready to choose purpose over insecurities, then I will love for you to join the community of people I share with weekly.

So again, If you are ready to step out of your insecurities in order to live your purpose and you would love to be a part of a community of people who are doing the same, I want to invite you to join by using the link below. I used to be insecure and I tell you what, it didn’t help my purpose at all. I will love to talk with you. I will love to pray with you and I will love to see how I can help you embrace God’s purpose for you.

And what I am planning it that Within the next 2 months, I would have selected a smaller group of people, about 5-10 believers that I will be working with a small group. And this will only be available to people in my community. So, join today by entering your email address at olusobanjo.com. Let’s trust God together to bring your vision to life.

Leave me a comment. Leave a tip in the comment section below, other listeners will love to hear your own tips, ideas that can help them achieve their goals or tell me something that I said on the episode that resonated the most with you. Leave your comment below:

There is an identity crisis epidemy in our world today. It’s affecting the economy of nations, politics, relationships and its also in the church. Using Proverbs 31, I encouraged everyone to find Virtue is in everyone around.  It takes Kings to find out the virtue in others. Today’s episode is the exact mothers day sermon that I shared at our Cote-St-Luc branch of Overcomers Assembly on Mothers’ Day, 2018. I titled the sermon The King Mother’s Advice.

Sometimes as mothers and mentors, you may get distracted to think that the impact you are making in the lives of others is irrelevant. Very wrong. This woman adviced her son the king and the same words made it into the bible. It’s very important that we each understand who we are as believers. Know your identity or work hard to not forget who you are.

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Announcement:

So I am working on increasing the community of people that I personally reach out to. If you know you have a purpose but have been limited by any form of insecurities: by past errors, past failures, wrong self-image, other people’s opinions/judgement…but are now ready to choose purpose over insecurities, then I will love for you to join the community of people I share with weekly.

So again, If you are ready to step out of your insecurities in order to live your purpose and you would love to be a part of a community of people who are doing the same, I want to invite you to join by using the link below. I used to be insecure and I tell you what, it didn’t help my purpose at all. I will love to talk with you. I will love to pray with you and I will love to see how I can help you embrace God’s purpose for you.

And what I am planning it that Within the next 2 months, I would have selected a smaller group of people, about 5-10 believers that I will be working with a small group. And this will only be available to people in my community. So, join today by entering your email address at olusobanjo.com. Let’s trust God together to bring your vision to life.

My Mothers Day Sermon Scripture:

The Words of King Lemuel’s Mother

Proverbs 31:1-30

 The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him:

The Virtuous Wife

 

Sometimes the reason we don’t share our vision is that we are afraid; what if it never happens? Valid, but what if it happens? On this episode, I share the testimony of how VGC was this past weekend. VGC stands for Vessels of Grace Conference. It’s a ladies conference I started 12 years ago. Ladies gathered from all over the world to be a part of the conference. And I can only wait to see the results in the ladies lives and to know which countries people will come from next year. Lots of pictures of the event on my facebook page.

If you want to be a part of it, the date is always fixed for the first weekend in May. You can start planning your vacation early. I will love to have you join us in 2018. Remember, God has a plan for you…

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Remember Permission Granted? Yes, that design has become my brand. I made a few t-shirts, I wore one on the Friday night of the conference and gave out the rest to a few ladies. It helped to preach my message clearer. I am thinking of making more of the T-shirt available for sale here on my website. Would you buy one of the Permission Granted T-shirts? , what colors? (I have Black text on light purple now, but I am thinking of making  black T-shirts with white text next) and how much would you pay? And if you want the male version pls indicate. Thanks for your feedback always.

So, a question for you: in the area of fulfilling your purpose or sharing your vision, I will love to know what help you need? I would love to know how I can help, or how I can connect you with someone to help you.

Leave me a comment below:

I was driving down the road with my darling husband this past week when I got a revelation and I was extremely excited about it. I felt like I had cracked a code that would bring calming peace and joy to the minds of many women all over the world.

So this is the idea; for me and many people I know, there is one special ritual or routine we do just before we head out of the house. Can you guess what that routine act is?

It’s checking yourself out in the mirror. I am sure most of you do the same.

So Here Is My Revelation:

When you look in the mirror, what you are looking for is to fix any issues with your looks, right? You want to check your makeup, their hairdo, and your outfit, right? Well, I realized that for most women, when you look in the mirror, that’s exactly what you do. And it helps you to correct any blemishes you notice. right? But for men, for many men,  though they plan to correct any issue in their looks, they hardly ever do that, because as soon as they look in the mirror they get distracted rather by the man they see in the mirror, that’s why they may not notice the blemish that the wife can notice; clearly what they see is the man they want to become.

As a pastor, I continually get complaints from many wives about how their hubby’s don’t care about their looks. These women would prefer that their hubby actually pays more attention to how they look.

For some women, when they look in the mirror what they see if their past failures, the pain of what the are going through right now, they see wrinkles starting to show, they notice the pimple of their faces, they notice their worn out face. For some others all they are extremely concerned about how perfect their make up turns out. And they are ready to work extra hard to make their face flawless before they step out of the house.

Another set of people at the mirror see the person they are hoping to become. Though what they went to the mirror was to see adjust their face and outfit, they unconsciously snap out of that, not noticing their face and outfit.  They stare into the mirror only to see the person they are hoping to become. They want to give themselves a pat on the back.

So if you have ever been mad at your hubby about their looks, and you know that they actually looked in the mirror, pls don’t be mad any further, at least now you know why.

As much as I believe that its important to look good, I also want to say that its important that you talk to the future you each time you look in the mirror. Its important to see the person you were designed to be. Many women would do this after they have given themselves thumbs up about their looks,

What do you see?

I always love to ask people the questions around what they see in the future and I find that 8-9 out of 10 times, the answers don’t come.

Believe in what God has given you and give thanks for all you have and start living today like you are going to the top in your level of impact.

As a christian, when you remember that you died in christ and rose up with Jesus into a brand new life, you also ought to realize that your new life in Christ. In order words when you look in the mirror, you should see Jesus. Thats where you are going. There is no many people waiting for you to impact their lives.

As you begin to focus on seeing yourself through the eyes of Jesus, you will also begin to see a clearer path for you. Your hopes will start to increase and you will be able to write down what you see.

I have an assignment for you.

Write down what you see in the future. Who do you see in the mirror? Write it down. For one moment lets forget about your pains, your regrets, your past. Only lets plan the future. Lets assume that all your fears have been imprisoned, and that there are no risks to plan against. Write your dreams down. Forget about the way you see yourself. Remember its not you in the mirror, it’s Jesus. So start seeing how much if impact you will be making in the next 1, 5, 10 yrs from now.

Of course you will need to share this with someone you know and respect. Let them guide you to declutter the ideas. The vision will get clearer if you don’t stop. God has given you all that you need in christ. There is no point hiding in fear. There is no point using delay tactics in this.

Go ahead look in the mirror. Jesus inside of you wants to impact the world through you. Start working hand in hand with him.

What do you think about my revelation there? Do you agree that many men don’t see their flaws to fix them?

Leave me a comment below:

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. Napoleon Hill

Recently I was approaching the end of the 4-year warranty I purchased when I bought my Mac. In order to at least make a claim on the warranty, I started to check to see if there was something wrong that I could bring the computer in for. Well, sad but good,  the computer seems to be a strong one. No issues. Though I still brought it in and got a new adaptor for free. Free advert for Apple, MacBook Air is really good. No complaints. I hope I get a check in the mail for saying this.

Anyway, while I was getting ready to bring my computer in, I had to update my backups and that’s when I discovered some old recordings of my boys playing when they were much younger. It was good to watch and listen. Even my son could hardly figure out what he was saying in the video because he was just learning to talk. But one thing is that they were both extremely carefree and excited in the video. I recommend that every parent make childhood videos of their children. They will love you for that and you can remind them to dream again if ever they start to become rusty.

Children have this amazing ability to dream. They don’t care whether it’s practical or possible they just dream. They don’t worry about what’s allowed or not.

However, As we grow older, the vision for our lives tends to diminish. We start to allow people and the community to influence what we believe is possible. And so many of us tend to discard dreams that could actually become a big thing.

Featured On CNN

I remember a particular day when I was really small, I was grinding some pepper on the millstone for my mom. And all of a sudden I got a flash, I saw myself on tv and I went to my dad and told him I was going to be featured in CNN someday. if you are reading to this and you work at CNN, you know what to do 😉

Though many times our dreams may not happen exactly as we saw it, you may just have had a glimpse into something similar to what’s in your future.

This past week I carried out a bit of a survey with about 10 of my Christian ladies, my friends, and sisters. The question was simple: what were some of the dreams you had when you were younger? Most importantly what you had as dreams when you were in your teenage years and early to late 20s? All of the ladies I interviewed had great dreams. They still believe the dream somehow but their realities are far from their dreams.

What about you? What are some of the dreams you had growing up or as a teenager? It’s very important that you start to dig up those dreams again. The truth is that when you think about it with adult eyes, it will look impossible.

For example, if you used to dream of feeding thousands every day, and right now you can barely pay your bills, you see it feels impossible. But let me tell you what I have discovered in following God’s purpose. I have discovered that the clearer your vision is the stronger your faith becomes. And you need faith to Pursue God’s purpose which then brings provision. I have met many people that think money is the reason why they are not pursuing purpose but really it’s not true. It’s not resources at all.

The reason you are not pursuing purpose is that you haven’t taken time to allow the dreams and plans that God has for you to settle in your spirit. And that’s where faith to pursue comes.

In order words, if you can’t dream, you can’t see, if you can’t see you can’t take actions and if you don’t take actions, consistent actions you won’t see the results.

You can not be waiting for an unknown date in the future. Is there something you can be starting to do now? Are there some people you need to start hanging out with? Book you need to read, other steps you need to take. Maybe even hire a coach to help you? Is there a program that you need to attend? Talking about which.

I remember when I was working as a financial advisor, I did that for almost 5 years. Little did I know that I had put my purpose on the back burner, I had begun to readjust my purpose to fit my role as a financial advisor. And that’s usually what happens to many, you had a dream, then for one reason or the other, you found yourself somewhere else, like a new career and then you just throw away your dreams and start to make the new career work. You just can’t see how your dream could make sense.

Other times it’s your stage of life that is the cage you will fight against. Because you are married now or have children, you can’t seem to try out your dream. As a responsible adult, you must be careful or you will lose your family budget for food. Yes, it’s true, but what I am talking about today is not even about spending lots of money yet, it’s more about trusting God to awaken the dreams you had.

You may need to create time to be alone with God. You may need to go back in time to where you used to dream. For me, I traveled back to Nigeria, where I used to get my dreams. Went back to my parents home, and that’s when many of my dreams came back. I got back to Canada from my vacation that year and had to quit my job to pursue God’s call for me. You may not need to quit your job like I did but you need to dig up your dreams.

Again the question is this? What is the dream you used to have when you were younger? Did someone burst your bubble?

Are there any possibilities that you may be able to start something now? I think maybe. Remember it’s not necessarily about starting big. It’s about having faith that God has called you, and then taking steps towards his purpose for you.

What did you want when you were younger? Have you started achieving some of them now? Can you start dreaming again?

I want to help. Leave me a comment below:

 

I recorded this episode in the car in the freezing weather and in the middle of the night. Why? My family and I are in transition at the moment more on the podcast… Sometimes we use comfort and stability to determine whether something is what God wants us to do or not.  And most of the times we are wrong.

Over the years I have seen God take me (and my family) through some strenuous experiences. And I have come to learn that whether rain or shine, extreme heat or extreme cold, God is there to always guide us into his plans for our lives.

This past week, God helped me clarify my vision better by giving me a punch phrase that goes like this:

“Permission Granted! embracing God’s purpose like Jesus”.

I created the 2 graphic designs above to represent the phrase. I want your input on which one you think is best in your own opinion. The first one or the second? I will really appreciate your input. Tell me in your comments below.

Permission Granted! I have discovered that many believers are stock, many find it really hard to embrace God’s purpose because they are waiting for human approval in one way or another. Personally, I know very many believers who are sure of God’s purpose in some areas of their lives but can’t move on. They won’t take steps, not necessarily because they don’t know what next to do, but because unconsciously they don’t think they have the permission to step into their calling, at least not just yet.

Can you imagine that there are some people in some places today suffering, there are homes that are being broken, some children going into drugs, there are some actually committing suicide. Why? because you have refused to embrace God’s plans for you. And you are there waiting for someone to give you the permission. Common! In Christ, we have been granted the permission to be like him. The world is crying, earnestly waiting for your manifestation as Christ follower.

Over the years I have seen that there are so many reasons why believers find it hard to embrace God’s Permission to be what they were designed to.

1. Wrong choices in the past
2. Past failures
3. Opinions of important individuals like family members
4. People’s general opinion
5. Discomfort and Circumstances, the list goes on…

As a result of all these issues we tend to think ‘oh for sure it’s not yet time’ I still need a clearer word. It has to be perfect. What if you are wrong?

Announcement:

I want to specially invite you to an annual ladies conference that I do, it’s called Vessels of Grace Conference. Our Theme this year is Complete in Him. Date- May 4&5th, first weekend in May. Our ladies in ministry session starts at 1 pm till 3:30 and if you love this topic today you are in ministry. We will be talking about how to deal with insecurities in ministry. The main conference starts at 5 pm. I have many amazing speakers lined up for this event this year and you really do not want to miss it. Kingston Ontario is only about 3 hours drive from Toronto and Montréal, just about 2 hours from Ottawa. So if you have ever struggled with the idea of feeling inadequate in life as a woman or if you are ready to embrace God’s purpose for you as a woman, I want you to invest in being there. Sisters are coming from all over to be a part of this event, from Europe, America, Canada. This may just be the boost you need to step out in faith in God’s purpose for you. So go over now to Vesselsofgrace.net and register now.

Podcast continued…What if you are wrong about the fact that you need some extra approval. In short, following God requires faith. You need to believe that a connection to Christ is all that you need. He is the only one that can give you the permission you need and he did on the cross.

For many years I used to wait for approval from people. I used to gauge my actions based on whether people applauded or not. I used to desire strongly to gain people’s recognition. But boy was I wrong.

It was only when I realized that I already got the permission of Christ, that was when I began to step out in faith. I was no longer waiting for a qualification, I already had it. The truth is that we are actually not qualified by our own works and experiences, no. Our best is garbage to God. He said without me you can do nothing. Our righteousness is like filthy rags before him. But when Jesus saved you on the cross, he also set you free to be what you were originally created to be.

So here is the question, do you feel you have God’s permission to be what you were created to be? I want you to answer that? If yes, then what are you waiting for? If no, I went to put it to you that you may be wrong.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalms 139:23-24 NLT

I will love to hear from you. Leave me a comment below.

So my hubby and I were talking this past week, I was telling him about the vision of a network I have for the future. For some reason, I thought he knew this part of me so well. However, it wasn’t as clear to him as it is to me.  And this made me realize that its one thing to know your vision, it’s another thing to be able to communicate your vision clearly for those around you to know it and be able to help you.

Though your vision is very clear in your own mind, it may look vague to people watching you. That’s when I realized that you, my listeners, may also not know clearly what my vision is. That why I decided to do an episode to share some of the things I see with you.

In my short life here on earth, I have met so many amazing people. I used to think I was the greatest of them all but I was wrong. I used to want to do it all but God has delivered me from this and has helped me to see that what he has given me is a platform. And that platform is to help other people.

A few years ago God opened my eyes to see that all the things I used to desire to do are things that I need to empower others to do. For those who know me, you know that I could easily be called an idea machine, as much as I believe I would still have some other work spring up, I have come to a conclusion with God that most of the ideas are for others.

So What’s My Vision?

To have a network or platform, like a TV network, where many can launch their God-given ideas. I love to ask people questions, I have developed a desire for learning from others and I believe that everyone was created for a purpose. Though now I have also realized that we can’t all be a starter. That some of us thrive better in complementing roles. For sure I believe that there is a thing that you will do that will not only pay you in physical rewards for your labour but that will also give your life a meaning. You feel fulfilled doing such things.

So What Do I See?

By God’s Grace, I see that God has called me to encourage believers to plug into His purpose for them. Jesus said we are Salt and light. The world awaits our manifestations. I have written 4 books in that direction.

1. Living from the inside out.
2. Empower by grace
3. Weep no more: God has not forgotten you
4. And Perfect love

In one way or another, these titles are talking about embracing God’s full life in order to be all He made you.

Also for the past 11 years, I have been leading an annual ladies conference in my church called Vessels of Grace conference. This has become a platform where vessels are discovered and used for the King. 3 years ago, God reminded me of the vision which is to empower other ladies to become all they were designed to be. And I am grateful to God for different women that are becoming stronger in their gifting while ministering during the 2 days conference.

I also really enjoyed my last 2 books, weep no more and perfect love because I asked some amazing people I know to co-author the book with me and if you have read the books, you can find them here.

So What’s My Impact Structure?

I believe that people that I work with usually fall into these three categories: engage, impact, outlast.

Engage level is where I am encouraging individuals to step out by faith in God’s purpose

Impact are those that are already living the life of constant Impact.

Outlast are those who have been living this life of consistent impact for at least 10 years straight,  they have engaged fully and are now entering the stage of structuring their system of impact to actually outlast them on Earth.

Going forward, I want to know how I can strengthen you in the area of purpose. How can I help you? What level are you in? Engage, impact, outlast?

I have a huge diagram of what God has called me to do and I will need your help in order to be able to get it done.

• I need your prayers.
• I need your comments.
• I need your stories…

I have had some amazing on the like Jesus podcast, and I want more amazing people. So if you have an amazing story about the purpose that you will love to share, I will love to share your story with my people all over the world. Whether it falls in the engage, impact or outlast level, it doesn’t matter. Pls reach me at olu@olusobanjo.com

Do you have a story to share or a comment?

Please leave me a comment below: