People of God, I bring you blessings from the throne of grace. Open your Bible to Gen. 27:1-4, would you? ‘And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him, My son. And he said unto him, Here am I. 

‘And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. And make me savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat. That my soul may bless thee before I die.’ (ASV)

Meditate on that, even if you can’t. Esau and Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, overheard the discussion and got Jacob to claim the blessing, which in any case had been traded -to him- by barter. There’s sense to glean here. God’s people ought to prepare always for every eventuality.

Had Esau saved up meat, he won’t have had to go a-hunting to concoct the sine qua non broth. Someone needs this wisdom right now. Lord, is that me? Blame Jacob for supplanting Esau, but without putting aside some of our substance for the rainy day, a Jacob would beat us to our blessing while we await the sun!

That’s not a prayer, though. And, to ensure it doesn’t tomorrow become one, make hay today. Anytime rain replaces the sun, savings enable us to stay indoors without worrying about survival. Even corporate bodies like government, etc. need to imbibe this Sustainable Development Nugget (SDN).

Next comes some seismic insight. ‘And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

And he said unto his people, Behold, … the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and … .’ (Exodus 1:7-10 ASV)

You can’t ignore this. Verses 8, 9, 10 are deep and didactic. Planning, strategising, restrategising are and should remain lifelong tools. Those at the top must double-perform this ritual: that is, plan again, strategise again and again, restrategise again and again and again.

Yes, because whether you are on first name terms with God or are the best thing since ice cream, you need to work out your salvation. You need to work towards the manifestation of that predestined glory. As long as the earth remaineth, a time cometh when even favour ceases in your life; nothing can be the same forever. It could be a function of a new sheriff in town; or a dip in value of gold/oil, or your new looks!

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Yes, you can be hated for nothing. The new Pharaoh turned against ‘the Joseph society’ (sorry, Barr. Morgan Ekanem) because of bogus fear: Israelites were neither thinking nor guilty of anti-Egypt plots. Are you on top, today? Ensure you plan, strategise, restrategise and pray, always.

The foregoing is a compulsory talisman. Thank me later. Meanwhile, let’s look at another angle. However, this is not for everyone; it is tailor-made for a special people: ‘Whereas thou have been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee, I shall make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations’. Isaiah 60:15, KJV

Meditating on this powerful verse the first time in 2016, I could not get English Premier League (EPL) out of my mind all the while. No, it had nothing to do with my Darling Arsenal’s rise and fall and fall.

Rather, it concerned a bunch of unknown Leicester City boys. They had surfaced from nowhere, figuratively and literally, to arrest universal attention with a football excellency that dispensed monumental joy to their opponents and non fans.

The Super Sunday of that season especially taught me to never despise or count out anyone. Instead of thinking about the game involving then giants, Man. United-Chelsea or that of my Arsenal, global attention was on the fixture of the day before. Leicester had gone to Manchester and silenced noisy City 3-1. That Super Sunday, commentators and analysts feasted more on the history made by ‘David’ Leicester City Football Club twenty four hours earlier, than on what ‘Goliath’ teams were up to at that material time!

No victory can be vengefully-sweeter than that which silences your despisers and haters and simultaneously gives them the joy they denied you. It’s a wonderful feeling. I pray for you now: may that Leicester 2015/2016 fortune be your portion today, this week, this month, this year, next year, forever and ever; in the Name of Jesus. Make that your prayer point and point of contact.

If a little-fancied side complete with a hitherto anonymous technical bench, could so stun the football world, why shan’t that same God also do it for you? From Genesis to Revelation, not once does God use a good thing to do a good thing or a big thing, a big thing. Never: He uses only bad or small things per time.

In the Old Testament, He gave David victory over Goliath and allied big names, repeated the masterstroke in the New Testament when water became vintage wine and of course, in the Present Testament, ‘leicesterifying’ the 2015/2016 EPL season was simply God’s work (apologies, Babatunde Fashola, SAN)!

Alas, this surprise success is only possible if you’re first hated or despised. So, stop praying against your despisers, stop praying for haters to stop, and start praying for your enemies to live. Go in peace, mass is ended. God bless Nigeria!