Open Mentorship Discussion || The Advantage non Christians may have over Christians

We can serve God and fail. You can be in church all your life and not succeed. I've seen many Christians believe that because they serve God in a spectacular way, they'll finish with flying colors. They had carryovers and they were still doing many things on campus. It's painful that the God you are busy for— let me use the word— trying to get his purpose done can watch you till you crash. And I think the most painful fact is the fact that God is not even obligated to talk in the midst of all this. He's just busy about his things. The fact that I can call God and God will not say the things he expects me to learn from others. And that brings me to one conclusion: God is not going to give you the luxury of concluding you know him enough to the point that you don't need people, that you don't need systems, that you don't need lessons, that you don't need wisdom. If there are aspects in your life that you feel, I know God too well in this aspect. I don't need to be mentored. You fail in those aspects, and it's painful. Why can't he just tell us? Why can't he just say all those things so we can serve him in vain? He's saying it, but not through the means we are thinking. Through people, through schools, through academies. And we despise those things because they don't wear religious colors. That's the problem. He has laid down systems. Maybe that's what we need to check. Maybe it doesn't bother saying what someone around is already saying, and he thinks that in your humility, if truly you want knowledge as you want it. You're the person. So I don't know whether to— whether I'm about to share is something I'm happy about. I think I'm happy, but I think the— I think my conclusion about what I'm about to share with you is that life in itself is quite brutal. And these are the kind of point where it can really hurt to be a Christian who doesn't know much. I don't know how to put it. So recently I was in a class and we're learning some things and it was a class for something else, a secular knowledge. As it were. Then, few minutes into the class, it was like my life flashed right in front of me, and I began to see loopholes, the things that I could have gotten right. And then I started asking myself, but God, I I asked you always before making many of these decisions. I checked it with you. And again, that was my assumption and a typical Christian assumption. We kind of have this sense of believing that the fact that we run everything by God or we call his name means that definitely He's not obligated, or He's obligated to make sure we never fail. Does He want us to fail? No. Is He obligated to make sure we don't fail? And that's a story for another day. And this is what I found out about the nature of God, that Sometimes I feel many unbelievers, or as it were, non-Christians, understand that about God and tend to have better advantage than many Christians. So if you ever wonder the reason why a Christian may be failing and those who doesn't even call is God may not fail in the same area, And I think this is the video that would answer the question. And again, I think I do have scars for the things I'm about to share with you. And maybe it gives you a better advantage not to fail in the areas I failed. And, you know, the first thing that comes to my mind is the story of Moses. This guy was practically busy doing everything. Caught Pharaoh, got them out, let my people go, got into the wilderness, was busy about everything, counseling from one family to another, getting things, you know, this and all that. In other words, he was busy with his ministry, serving the purpose of God. Till Jethro came. And Jethro was not even the one who saw fire or saw God in the burning bush, turned the water to red, parted the Red Sea. Jethro didn't seem to have all those dynamics to him. Just a simple man, a Midian. And Jethro observed all that Moses was doing for God. And yet who said something mind-blowing? You are going to die. You continue like this, you will die. I think that sounds quite offensive for many of us as Christians, that the God you are busy for— let me use the word— trying to get His purpose done can watch you till you crash. You can copy and paste this in school. I've seen many Christians believe that because they serve God in a spectacular way, they'll finish with flying colors. They had carryovers and they were still doing many things on campus. It is painful. I'm saying this from very serious pain. It's painful. And I think the most painful fact is the fact that God is not even obligated to talk in the midst of all this. He's just busy about his things. Because sometimes the illusion we have sometimes is that I've seen the Red Sea part, I've conquered Pharaoh, I've conquered Egypt as a whole civilization, I've seen plague of the firstborn, I've seen God show up in many ways. Who are you to possibly tell me anything? In fact, Ah, life is brutal. There are people right now as we speak who have the hope that tomorrow is going to be very good. They are going to be doing amazing things. Things are going to be— but they don't even know that they will die trying. That's painful for me. What are the things, what are the areas that I think that God is going to show up. But because there's just one thing I'm missing, I may never see those manifestations in a lifetime. Not because God doesn't want, not because God doesn't care, not because not His interest, because I've just missed a simple key. Many of us are angry. Including me, because we saw our parents devote everything, serve in churches, live tight, give first salaries, give first everything, and still didn't do better. Sometimes we clone it, or we cover it in the assumption, or with the conclusion that God's purpose in our life is not to make our life better. That's a school of thought. Some believe that the purpose of prayers of God in our life is not to make us any better in anything. It's just for us to make heaven. That's another school of thought. But this is what I found out. I think school of thoughts are formed oftentimes not out of knowledge that is genuine, but I think oftentimes because it is the easiest conclusion to make because the human mind doesn't like not reaching a conclusion. Hanging in the balance can stress the mind in a way. So what the mind does is that it narrows down on the closest conclusion possible so it can rest. And I think we've been able to form many conclusions from that. That it's not the concern, it's not the business of God that a Christian or that someone who calls his name does well in life or not. It's not his business if they fail, it's not his business if they have finance to do the basic things in life. I will rather think that that would be cruel. And here is my hypothesis. Maybe He wants us to do well, but not in the way that we think. God wants us to succeed, but He has already established systems that will help us to get there. And many of those systems may not wear the regalia of His name. Because God is not just revealed in one way. Even nature talks about His beauty, His essence. Look at the beautiful flowers in the garden, the trees, the arrangement, the stars, the sky, the beautiful mountains, the sea. There's a super intelligence behind the formation of these things, and maybe we can even learn how to function better by just observing what it does. Now, as A mentor, one who mentors people both from afar and at close range. I always tell my mentees that the best way to learn from a mentor is through observation, because there are many things I may not have lingua for, but I express through the things that I do, and observation is the avenue for you to learn without permission. It means once you come to a place of observation, because you're seeing, there's nothing I can possibly hide from you. I think maybe we read the Bible wrongly, or we read with religious filters in the sense that when we look at the way God does things, maybe that's Him saying, "Observe me." And of course, we see that expressly spelt out. When He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour." Message translation says that, "Walk with Me and walk with Me. Watch how I do it and learn the unforced rhythm of grace." Maybe some of the biggest wisdom that we can find in God is not just in the things that He said in the Bible, but the things that He did. Maybe I can learn management and learn order and learn structure and learn conflict management from Genesis 1. Just maybe, maybe I can learn restoration, I can learn branding, I can learn culture. What, what on earth did God make that has contract— contracts— um, sorry, what on earth did God made that are contrasting colors? What doesn't align in his vision? What does it align in his plan? The perfect cycle. There is what the plant does to contribute to humans. There is what we do to contribute to the plant. There is what the animal does in each cycle to contribute to each other's existence. When we study everything God himself made, there's no waste. There's no waste. Maybe I can apply that when I say I'm a man that have multiple visions on my table. Maybe sometimes the reason why I feel overwhelmed that I'm doing so much is because all the things I have on my table don't interrelate. Maybe that's a sign of not being godly enough in the sense that I'm not observing the God who has made the biggest thing ever. And sometimes, because many Christians read the Bible from religious filters, there are certain aspects of God that those who may be quick to understand it and also be quick to teach it are those who have not been conditioned by those filters. Hence the reason why you should not assume that because someone doesn't speak in tongues, does not call the God in your Bible, means that, or does not sound you know, and wear the regalias means that there is something he probably knows that you don't know. And the assumption that everything that you should know, you know. Maybe that's the reason why you're not even getting many things in the Bible, because you can't read it apart from the conditioning that you've been conditioned. Maybe there are more that are filters that have only formed a perspective. Through it, we see everything in the vast world, the beautiful, limitless possibilities that we can see in God's Word and His wisdom. And now we probably, we are not seeing it because we've been conditioned to just one lens. And every other thing God intends to say can't be communicated anymore because we've chosen to see Him just through one lens. Femi Lazarus. Again, what I'm sharing with you is a very painful reality. The fact that I can call God and God will not say the things He expects me to learn from others. And that brings me to one conclusion: nobody will know God enough to the point that you don't need people. God is not going to give you the luxury of concluding you know Him enough to the point that you don't need people. He's not going to give you the luxury to conclude that you know Him enough to the point that you don't need systems, that you don't need lessons, that you don't need wisdom. You will never have that luxury. If there are aspects in your life that you feel, I know God too well in this aspect, I don't need to be mentored, I don't need to— Ha! You might— you fail. You fail in those aspects, and it's painful. Sorry, I'm tearing. It's painful because the assumption we all have about God is the one that the moment we know him, He won't let me fail. He won't let me do all those things. He doesn't want us to fail. Or maybe sometimes his hands will be tied because you have neglected that one principle that has been put in place to make sure we don't fail. The beautiful lessons we can learn from ourselves There are places that I've been called to because I'm part of their board. And I also observe that there is a philosophy at work here that will hinder any perspective I'm bringing to the table. And yet the organization is run within impression that they shouldn't fail. Oh, I've spoken in places that I know that they will fail. Yeah, I saw it coming because in some places I saw that they were not enabling the generation that can bring new perspectives. They are trying to put old wine in new wineskin, and they are doing so in Jesus' name. And that's the assumption again, that the moment we call Him, everything ought to work. It's not true. That's religious conclusion. I mean, you can only refute what I've said if you have not seen Christians who call Him fail. And again, that brings us to another assumption that maybe they are not Christian enough. Sometimes they are, but there's just something they missed. And look at it, that— oh God, everything can practically go south because of a knowledge I refuse to acquire. That's wild. That's wild. And the fact that he will not tear the heavens to say it, it's wild. How many people are currently walking the face of the earth right now? With the assumption that they will do well, that they will be fulfilled, they'll be happily married, they will have children, they will be able to travel around the world, they will be able to live a life of freedom. But God also knows it's not true, but they are in church. Why can't he just tell us? Why can't he just say all those things so we can't serve him in vain? Maybe he's saying it, but not through the means we are thinking— through people, through schools, through academies. And we despise those things because they don't wear religious colors. That's the problem. I remember one time we had an interview and I looked at my interviewer, and I'm not proud to say this, I looked at the person I was interviewing when the cameras were off and I said to her, you have solution to cancer, tell me. Guess what she said? She said, yes. He said, I have this supplement that has reversed stage 4 cancer every time we met it. But we couldn't put that on camera. We did not. We couldn't because our world is not ready for it. And my team asked me, what's the implication of not putting this out online? I said people will die. I'm not proud to say that, but that's the way our world works. That's the way our world works. Because I understand they're just going to argue and argue and argue, and there's no point. You can even lose everything because you try to help. And because we keep asking, how can one person have solution to all the problems? And they are not saying it. Maybe they are. Maybe sometimes our track record have shown that what we don't understand, we rebrand. Call it conspiracy theory, call it all those things, call them lies, refute the people, insult them, call them names. Maybe that's the reason we have Oprah on social media. Someone has seen ahead. We've not seen it, we may not see it. And the fact that we think we are religious people, think we think God should always tell us everything— and no, the child of the widow died, of the, the Shunammite woman died in the Bible, and Elijah said God did not Femi Lazarus tell me. We can't know everything. Stop putting that burden on yourself because you're religious. I wept that night when my team asked me. People are going to die. How many more things that can solve the problem of people are right there online, but we just won't take. Because again, we always have brands for what we don't understand. Conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theory doesn't mean lies. It is the truth we've not been able to place yet. Oftentimes, maybe just, it's just me, Femi Lazarus, and I can see I have so much pain here because I do everything I'm doing professionally and even in other aspects, because I think I am one of those who believe that we can have a predictable world, a body of knowledge with a predictable result. But I've just seen that it's not that straightforward. We must put in consideration the human factor. We must put in consideration other factors that have the capacity to make intentions remain as intentions, and sometimes they may not ever come to fruition. This is Concerning— for me, I don't know about you— we can serve God and fail. You can be in church all your life, and not succeed. He has laid down systems. Maybe that's what we need to check. Maybe he doesn't bother saying what someone around is already saying, and he thinks that in your humility, if truly you want knowledge as you want it, the other person And at this point, I have to confess that, you know, I really don't believe in many of the experiences people claim they have, that they went to heaven. And because the example we had in the Bible, the rich man said that— he said Lazarus to come tell his brothers Jesus said they have people on earth that should talk to them. Maybe sometimes we're praying long because we have despised men. Maybe God doesn't send from heaven what is already on earth, that they pass from men to men. This is just random There are many things that maybe this will help you as it has helped me. This is what many of us have been getting wrong as Christians that has made us become bad examples and we have failed to become salt of the earth. God's maybe. I'll see you some other time.