I told a young man recently in my office; “your excuses are more than your results.” I know that may sound hard. But some people have to be told the truth, just the way it is; even if it hurts. I said that to challenge him to quit giving reasons why things would not happen but to start seeing how they would happen.
Stop giving excuses!

Friend, excuses are what people with no vision and drive use to build great monument of emptiness. The truth is, if you think you can, you can. And if you think you cannot, you are also right. If what you are looking for are excuses; reasons for failure, underperformance etc., you would find plenty of them.

Optimists see solution in every problem while pessimists see problem in every solution. Don’t be a pessimist. Rather than looking for a thousand and one reasons why things would not work, find out the one reason why they would work. Stop seeing problems, start seeing opportunities and possibilities; what you see is what you get.

“…Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool…” (John 5:7). This scripture describes a lot of people today; I have no man…. While it is true that you need people to become all that God has ordained you to be, God will never leave you stranded. There are people He has positioned around you for your lifting if only you can make the right connection (Mark 2:1-5).

God told a pastor one day concerning a brother; “…even if I am his partner in this business, he would still fail”. How can God be your partner and you still fail? It is not what you lack that make you fail but who you are. If you can simply change your thinking and practise, things would drastically change in your life (Proverbs 23:7).

You have blamed the pandemic enough. Even if there was no pandemic, some people’s reality may not have been significantly different. The pandemic may not be all there is to your failure. Until you learn to look away from the pandemic, you would not see possibilities. Crises have been designed by God to be stepping stones unto higher grounds for His children (Job 22:29).

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph all experienced famine in their days, but they could not be stopped. They were not giving excuses. Despite the strife, Isaac kept digging (Genesis 26:12-22). Despite the Ill treatments, Joseph kept making progress at every phase of his life (Genesis 37:4-5). Despite the bad working environment in Laban’s company, Jacob still turned his financial and economic fortune around (Genesis 41:36-42). They were not making excuses but rather making progress. What about you?

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria