Thinking there will be a time when everything will be as desired would be a mirage. Hard times, I want to think is part of existence. You were born to meet hard periods from one phase of life to another, for as you solve one, you’ll encounter another.

No one individual has been able to solve all the problems he/she has met or encountered in life. You win some and lose some but life must continue.

Every phase of life has its own peculiar problem or challenge. When an individual is going through a state of struggle to make changes or good things happen, he/she talks of hard times.

When people talk about hard times, what they are saying is, mostly, financial shortfall. And this is when your income is insufficient to settle your bills and meet your needs.

Money is a powerful tool in the hands of those who have it. Haven’t you seen a fool that wise men bow to simply because he has financial control.

Families in Nigeria woke up on January 1^st 2012 and met themselves in the examination room writing a test they did not prepare for.

Removal of oil subsidy is an equation too difficult to balance, except it is approached by divine insight and revelation.

Humanly, thought of inflation, which will affect the purchasing power of many, filled my mind.

My business

The question to ask is: Is my product essential or a luxury? A luxury of course! Supposing the strength of our products get reduced in the market place, it means some workers will lose their jobs? What will happen to such people’s means of livelihood?

The time to serve the Lord is now. Renew your hearty relationship with God this year. See to it that you obey His instructions as you find them in His word or as He whispers to your heart. God says He will Teach and Counsel you in the way you should go in the year 2012, so that Satan would not prey against your family. Follow His leading like a child.

In life, it is not about what happens to you, it is what and how you handle your test and trials of life. A quick reminder here, that without test in the school of life, your promotion is stunted. The more test you pass, the faster and more beautiful your success.

Greed and not giving God priority in the family causes prolonged storm to ravage families. Life is delicate; it takes wisdom to tread different terrains. This is not to cause you to fear but for you to acquire knowledge and skills for good success.

Unemployment, backwardness, stagnation, confusion about life are  world-wide problems. Recently, we travelled to one of the rich African countries, and I was surprised to see people sleeping in the open air along the streets. Why? No job to pay house rents and able bodied men were out under the dew of the night covering themselves with blankets. There is more to poverty and unemployment than what can be envisaged.

Many countries in the world invest in tourism because they want people to visit their countries so as to spend money and leave within two weeks at most. Why? The government of such countries is managing their resources for more profit without over stretching their amenities. It is all a strategy to put poverty at bay.

“The Wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the Ox, And dust shall be the

serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord  – Isaiah 65:25.

Does this word of God look familiar? Is the Holy Spirit giving you an interpretation?

My understanding of the word is that  all creatures, have their right for existence. We are created for a purpose with unique peculiarities.  Wolves, Lion etc are flesh-eating animals; scorpion, serpent and the like go with poisonous sting. Usurpers causing pain, discomfort, death  and losses as reasons for their existence. They are weapons of destruction in the hands of evil workers but God did not promise to wipe them out of existence.

From the look of things, many able-bodied men and women are alive, existing but not living their true life. They are a shadow of themselves. They have minds which have been made reprobate; they move around as men and women but the real person is in the second heaven, where demons live. They are under the influence of demons which their true selves have been traded for in the dark places of the earth; the habitation of cruelty. (Ephesians 6:12, Psalms 74:20. Many are living in bondage without knowing. Such was the story of a woman who suddenly woke up after many years in marriage with four grown up children to a man; she couldn’t explain how she got herself into this man’s world. All she could remember was that the man told her that he wanted to marry her.

Since reading my article titled: “Praise For Nigerian Men” in Success Digest (Vol. 1 No 40) of November 9, 2011, some of my readers have been commending my opinion. While more of the women, to my amazement are those condemning my write-up. A woman said, “I am thanking God for my husband. I know God will help him to improve.

He has been trying at his level, so I know when God blesses him, he will do more.” Somebody even told me; “it is because your husband is a God fearing person, that is why you are rating Nigerian men as better.” If you see what women are going through; if you are made to experience a quarter of what many wives are living with, I am sure you will curse them.

Naturally submission is a difficult obligation. It is easier for wives to fall in love than to submit. Submission is a delicate proposition. Self worth, which could be eroded in the process of submission, is a confidence booster for life. Nobody wants to lose their voice; neither would they want to be trampled under. This and more reasons explain why submission is a tall order of demand for wives.

The word of God for wives has commanded them to submit to their own husbands Ephesian 5:22, 1 Peter 3:1: “Wives likewise, be submissive to your husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.”