Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 1: 18-19, Luke 1:34-35, Luke 1: 64, 2 Sam 6: 14-23, 1 King 3:4-5

Men and brethren, we are what we repeatedly do, what we repeatedly think and what we repeatedly say. The secret to attaining greatness is simply to do every small thing in a great way. We must make gratitude and integral part of our daily life to become excellent in all we do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit and Gratitude unlocks the limitations of Greatness. i decree, whatever makes people spite you shall be turned to a testimony this week in Jesus’ name!

Our goal is all round excellence and this is what we must strive for each and every day with the understanding that only when excellence becomes tradition do the doors to greatness open to you. Therefore, if you will and do not maximize your dream, your talent and all that you have received freely from God, you are ungrateful. “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth” Matthew 25:25

Let me quickly explain three things I learnt from Mary Jaksch on the things you must not allow to hold you back in saying thank you Jesus for the life you have given me, for my marriage, for my job, for fresh air and for all that He has given you.

Number One: Your belief in limits: I’m sure you can remember your parents or your teachers say something that implied that you’re somehow mediocre. Maybe they said that you weren’t intelligent enough, or talented enough, or -well – simply not good enough.

Number Two: You have gone shopping and buying into social myths: When people say that we are too young, or too old, or too stupid, or that we are the wrong gender, to achieve our dreams – we tend to believe them. Greatness means transcending social norms. It means letting go of what other people think we can or can’t achieve. Remember that it’s not your business what others think about you.

Number Three: We harbor with pride secret self doubts: What do you really feel about yourself? Are you confident – or do you have self-doubts? Lack of confidence saps the energy we need to make our life into something of value – not just for ourselves, but for those whose lives we touch. Our self-doubts are the negative voices that we heard from others when we were little. We not only internalize these negative messages, we’ve tend to amplify them. A good starting point for letting go of self-doubts is to actually notice the negative messages in your mind. Awareness is the first step of change.

How do you then bring out the greatness within you? How do you give back to your generation? How do you become a man ready to break record in whatever you do?

Number One: To be Grateful, you must Trust your dream: Greatness comes in many sizes. Greatness means that you become fully yourself and transcend your doubts and perceived limitations. Greatness doesn’t mean that you need to do huge things. It means that whatever you do, you pour into it your complete being. As you appreciate God, your shame shall be turned to glory!

Number Two: Gear up with passion: Passion is what gives us the strength to follow our dreams. It’s the powerhouse that can uncover our hidden greatness. Because passion drives us forward and allows us to overcome setbacks and obstacles.

Number Three: Don’t thrash: Imagine a boating accident where everyone falls overboard. Who do you think has the best chance of survival – the one who’s in panic and thrashes around, or the one who thinks clearly about the best strategy -whether it’s safer to cling to the wreck, to swim to shore, or to stay afloat until rescue arrives? My money would be on the resourceful one who conserve energy and make a plan. The same principle is important when overcoming hardship. Don’t thrash – create a survival plan instead.

Number Four: Get up after falling: Failure and making mistakes are inevitable – if you’re human. Just look at how often toddlers fall over when they learn to walk. I think the reason many of us give up after initial problems is because failure seems to reinforce hidden self-doubts. Actually, making mistakes means that you are learning. One way to increase success is to increase your failure rate. Because each so-called failure overcome is a step forward towards actualizing your dream.

Number Five: Count your blessings: Sometimes we tend to focus on difficulties, and not on what is going well. That can get us down, instead of lifting us up. I recently got an email from a reader who described her life as two steps back and one step forward because of her lack of confidence. Sounds familiar? But the amazing thing is that she is in the process of completing a PhD. What that means is that she has already gone through a huge, successful journey of getting to where she is. However, her self-doubts are preventing her from actually seeing how well she’s doing – even though she’s got challenges to overcome.

Number Six: Don’t listen to the knockers: Many people are quite negative because they feel bad about themselves. They want to pull down achievers to their own level. Remember that their criticism of you is just an expression of their own self-doubts and fears.

Number Seven: Put your heart, soul, and sweat into your dreams: Great people work incredibly hard – success doesn’t come by accident. I recently got an email, saying, “I want to be successful without having to do much.” Sorry, friend – but that’s not how it works!

Right where you are, Are you of the generation of men who never appreciate people for blessing you, for doing stuffs for you? Are you of the generation who believes it is your right for your parents to do things for you without you saying thank you? Do you enjoy seeing others give to you; do your job for you, and you take the glory but never appreciates them? Are you a love taker and never a love giver? John 3:16. Are of the generation of bosses who never say thank you to his workers, never gives them gifts, tries to even take from your subordinates to add up to your greed.

Men and brethren, ingratitude is the greatest limiter to Greatness and remaining Great! We should be grateful we are alive, grateful we had girls as children, grateful to God that we are even married even without a child. We should be grateful we have both hands even though there is no bread in the hand. We should be grateful in our current situation; the situation may have lasted but it is never going to be everlasting. We should be grateful we had parents who took care of us even when they did not send us to school.

David was already great; to kill Goliath took him to the kingdom of Great men without sweat. But he knew that gratitude needs to be watered daily, gratitude is the aroma that goes and trigger the substance of greatness to keep performing. 2 Samuel 6:14. A child who know how to say thank you to every gift including after eating his meal shall be a great child

Gratitude is powerful, in Israel, in the same bible chapter and by the same Angel Gabriel; two people had an Angelic visitation that they were going to have a child, Mary who was favoured and with a grateful spirit asked ‘how shall this be?’ When the first, Zacharias asked the same question ‘how shall this be’ without gratitude, he got limitation to his greatness and became dumb. Luke 1:18-19, Luke 1:34-35. But he learnt gratitude during his 9 months in the wilderness of limitation Luke 1:64.

Lack of gratitude took the crown from Saul to David and even the heir, Jonathan admitted to the efficacy of change without grumbling or jealousy 1 Sam 20:4. ‘Gratitude is not a quiet game. It begs to be expressed, both to God and to others. ‘Silent gratitude,’ ‘isn’t much use to anyone.

It is recorded in the bible that every time there was food Jesus will give thanks. Do you appreciate God for even providing the food that you eat? Because Gratitude will turn a meal into a feast! The reason most of us don’t like to sow seeds is not because we don’t have but because we don’t see that by not giving limits our greatness 1 King 3:4-5

When you give to the poor, God blesses you but when you give to the man who already has both God and himself will bless you; because the law of giving must be fulfilled. Parable of Talents Matthew 25:14-30

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life; it can turn what you have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, it turns chaos into order, it turns confusion into clarity, it turns a house into a home, and it can turn a stranger into a friend. Beware! What you take for granted can make you grounded. 2 Samuel 6: 23. Find a seed and sow today to just say thank You Jesus, I am still standing, even though all my needs are not met but I am confident, they will come. The Spirit of God is saying, gratitude is the elixir of life. Therefore, if you want to experience the reality that God is love, and love is God, and the nature of your own pure presence is God, is love, then on that level of being human, on that level of your humanity, allow gratitude to be your great practice. May god honour you and grant you a miracle that will dazzle your mockers this week. 

Before I share testimonies and the concluding prayer. Please ignore fake profiles of Uma Ukpai Breakthrough Prayer or Rev uma ukpai jnr.. We dont have Ophanages.