Yesterday night before i went to bed i read a book by Joyce Meyer" Battlefield Of the Mind" and was greatly blessed. She made me see the importance and power of the Human mind. Coincidentally, my number one, my Angel and the love of my life sent me this beautiful testimony or should i say true life experience and i decided to post it here for you to read.
It is mind blowing and im sure by the time you finish reading it you would just like me decide to invest more on your mind.
It was the most surprising visit of the year. It was a Saturday evening, at about 5.30 p.m. I was putting my luggage together getting ready to go to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport to check in. I was billed to travel to London that evening. Suddenly I had a gentle knock on the door and my daughter rushed in to inform me that I had a visitor.
Guess who was at the door? My millionaire mentor! I was confused. How did he know this place? Is this his ghost or himself? I really never expected him to ever come to my place. He noticed the confusion in my mood. I welcomed him in and offered him a seat. But he simply asked me to lead him to my study. I did. He did not say much; he just looked around the place carefully, examining my collection of books.
“This is not bad”, he muttered as he further examined my bookshelves. There were few books I had packed on the floor to take along with me to London. My friend’s attention caught one of them, Think Big by Ben Carson. Have you read this book? My friend asked and I answered in the negative, informing him I had just bought it. “Read it, and also get his first book, Gifted Hands; they will do amazing things to your mind”, my friend said as he hinted he would be leaving. He refused to take the drink I offered him. I accompanied him to his car; he drove himself off from my sight. I stood there still wondering…
I could not describe the feeling that overwhelmed me inside the plane as I read Think Big. The book is an extra ordinary rendition by Ben Carson of how he transformed himself from a “ghetto kid to the most celebrated paediatric neurosurgeon in the world.” By simply reading two books a week as instructed by his illiterate mother!
I was fired up. I did what I considered impulsive when I was returning to Nigeria. I withdrew a substantial amount of money from my account and went straight to Waterstones (formerly Dillon’s), my favourite bookshop in London. I simply invaded the shop, picking books at sight that I considered to be of interest. I was able to fill two big boxes with assorted books.
In Nigeria, I drove straight to my millionaire friend’s place from the airport. I was there ten minutes after my normal appointment time. He led me to the study and the lesson for the month was about to start in earnest. I gave him a gift of some new titles from the collection I had noticed in his library. He was quite appreciative of the gesture and told me that one day, I would understand the role of the gift in my lessons.
“By the way, what have you made of the topic we treated last month? Have you considered the materials from Murdock and Adeyemi that I sent to you”? my friend asked in quick succession, as he walked up to his notice board to paste this quotation: “Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the way in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.”.
I told him I was greatly moved by his rendition of last week’s topic. I told him that I am familiar with the authors of the books he gave to me. I have followed Adeyemi’s Success Power series religiously. I finished his Strong Desire in less than ten minutes and was inspired by the message, which is this: That a strong desire can command any miracle into existence.
I first encountered Mike Murdock three years back through his cassette entitled Seven Ingredients of a Perfect Day, which a friend gave to me. It is a powerful material and it richly blessed me. From then on I desired to know more about the man. I bought many of his books and I continued to dream of meeting him in real life.
Something surprising to me happened. Murdock was in Nigeria sometime in July 2001 to speak at a seminar organised by Winners Business Fellowship. Guess what? I was selected to join two pastors in the church studio to interview him. I was excited. After the interview, he collected my business card. In exchange, he gave me his phone number and a private e-mail, which he said he had so far given to only 15 individuals worldwide. We have been in good contact ever since then. I did a beautiful newspaper piece on him later and despatched few copies to him in Dallas, Texas United States of America.
Surprise number two: Shortly before the interview, I was privileged to be invited by Bishop David Oyedepo into his guesthouse at Canaan land where he shared some success tips with me. The tips have been ingrained in my spirit ever since. Dream comes true? Yes, of course! I met my dream models in a single day.
My friend was inspired by my testimony.
“That is quite interesting. That means we can proceed to the next lesson, which is this: Treat Your Mind as Your Most Important Asset. When I came to your house last week, were you surprised that I went straight to your study? If I did not like what I saw, I probably would have discontinued the capsules I have been giving you. Your mind is the only thing that I consider indispensable in your quest for wealth. Monuments can fall, properties can be destroyed, cars can be stolen, businesses can go bankrupt, beauty can fade but once your mind is intact and sound, you have everything it takes to make money. “Mental excellence is permanent.”
“I am amazed by what we attach value to in this part of the world. Let me illustrate this with personal experience. About seven years back, some heavily armed men invaded my house, ransacked every where. They carted away everything in sight – television, cars, jewels, money and any other thing they fancied. They went to my study and took all fanciful things there. They even carried my reading lamp! You know what! They left all my books intact. How stupid! To me, my books are my priciest possession. I would have been greatly disturbed if they had stolen my books and left my other possession.
“But today, every single item they stole has been replaced. Informed millionaires spend a large part of their time reading and analysing good books because they know that books are the best sources of insights and creative money ideas. Read, read, and read everything in sight, you will find it useful one day.
I am amazed when I hear some people say they over read. There is nothing like that. You cannot over-read! Do you know that this wonderful machine called brain has 24 billion cells? I have not come across any computer that can perform the task a brain can perform. Your brain is elastic. Just like you go to the gym to exercise your muscle, insightful reading helps to stretch your brain and renew your mind. Try to meditate on what the bible says: I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Reading is the best way I learn. Others learn through observation and other methods. Whatever method is convenient for you, you have to stretch your mind. Reading is a leveller. This is how I read. I consider every book as formulae. If I want to know anything about investment, I simply buy about six good books on the subject. After reading the books, I quickly put into practice the insights I gained from them. I have explained to you about my educational background. My dad could not sponsor my education beyond the secondary school level. All my educational achievement today came by way of personal study and development.
I believe very sincerely that anybody can become whatever he wants to become by insightful learning. As someone said, reading is the solution to racial prejudice. I agree with him absolutely. Even if you come from a poor background, once you have superior insights into a problem, people must listen to you. This is guaranteed.
The mystery about good wealth is that you can only have it in proportion to the level of development that has taken place inside. In wealth acquisition, you can’t travel faster outside than the speed of your race inside. God knows that if you get wealth that is more than your level of spiritual development, you are going to mess everything up. A fool and his money would soon be parted. If you want to acquire lasting riches, work on your inside. Read the books millionaires have written, listen to audio and video cassettes they have put together, attend seminars and workshops on personal financial management.
By doing this, you are investing in your most important asset, that is, your mind. I see people walk into restaurants and blow N3, 000 on a meal. Six hours later, everything is out of their system. Amazingly, these same people are not willing to invest N1, 500 (the cost of a telephone recharge card) on good books that can change their lives forever.
My advice to you as I close this lesson is: Do everything possible to read at least one book a week and cut off from friends who are averse to reading. If you must starve to read, do so. If you must let go momentary pleasure to read, do so. If you must withdraw from your savings to buy good books, please do so. You can’t be an insightful reader and not stand out from the crowd. Besides, life of abundance is just by the corner if you persist in reading.
“Enough for today”. “Next month, we are going to do a memory exercise. This is the key in your quest for wealth. It will last for approximately eight hours. Be prepared. Don’t take heavy food.”
As usual, we both walked together to my car, and I bade him good-bye.
See clearly with the Binoculars: Wake up, the time is now for you to invest in your mind. If your mind is right, your life would be right.
