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Published by Click Switch Media 437 Hilltop Drive, Walpole, MA 02081 Copyright © 2013 by Emmanuel N. Obu Emmanuel N. Obu 437 Hilltop Drive Walpole MA, 02081

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means for commercial gain or profit, without the written permission of the author. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise noted, scriptural quotations are from the Holy Bible, Authorized King James Version. Printed in United States of America

Author’s Website: www.sparkleswitch.com Email: [email protected]

DEDICATION This book is dedicated to those who are struggling through all kinds of challenges. And to those who are considering giving up: Please Just Don’t Give Up.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT All who have encouraged, inspired and helped me in one way or the other, I thank you and appreciate your labor of love and personal commitment to the progress of this work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgment ........................................................................ 3 Introduction ................................................................................. 6 Chapter 1 Strength, Failure and Weakness .................................................. 7 Chapter 2 The Double-Cross Game........................................................... 13

INTRODUCTION In life there are challenges, options and solutions. Our daily decision-making on when we deal with those inevitable challenges should be influenced by knowledge, insight, and personal understanding. Options in a situation are ways open to us, with which we can obtain desired solutions. The option to take a chance, the option to keep fighting our way through, the option to seek out a solution, and the option to give up are all subject to our knowledge, insight and understanding. The choices we make determine the outcomes of each of our lives. But we should not be willing to choose to give up on effort or on ourselves, because of normal life challenges that may have unfavorable outcomes. All we need to know are those truths that will get us going toward our goals, dreams and pursuits, with vigor and motivation. The purpose of this book is to help you get back on track and fired up toward your goals, and to help you achieve them, because they are achievable.

Chapter One STRENGTH, FAILURE AND WEAKNESS The greatest challenge to victory is not having the strength to carry on in a fight. The fear of past failures or fear to start a new thing, and our inherent weaknesses scare us so much that we are left with almost no courage to confront a vital assignment.

Strength During Mike Tyson’s heyday in the boxing ring, most opponents probably thought they stood a chance in the fight before stepping into the ring with him because they also trained to do their best. Mike soon knocked them down, and they were unable to carry on because they did not have sufficient strength to get up and continue the fight. They were hit too hard and their strength failed, so they gave up. Even Mike Tyson’s strength proved smaller when he was knocked down and counted out during an encounter with a man who proved to have more strength. So, winning is about having the adequate strength to carry on in a challenge, while lacking strength causes the desire to give up.

Failure Derek Redmond, a British athletic record holder, prepared for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, with great prospects. But soon after the start of the race, tragedy struck—he fell and tore his hamstring. Failure in his mission to win stared him in the face, as he hobbled through the track. Redmond braced against the failure and completed the race, receiving a standing ovation from the spectators, who admired his courage to continue in so much pain. Derek, failed to win a medal in the Olympics, and to deepen his dilemma, he was told by a surgeon he would never run again or represent his country in sport. Derek had to quit running, but he didn’t quit sports after the incident; he improved on his passion for sports by working hard at other endeavors with great

successes and achievements. He secured a place in Great Britain Men’s Basketball Team and sent a signed photo of the team to the surgeon that had assured him he would never represent his country in sports again. Derek did not allow failure or human opinion about his potential stop him, even when disappointment had knocked him hard. Failure can become a road block to many, or it can be a motivation to do more and do better.

Weakness The weakness of the ants: their size, their lack of brain, and their position in the food chain has never stopped them from being able to provide food in winter, or left them with excuses for going hungry. They can carry 10 to 50 times their body weight. The conies, a species of mountain mouse, are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks (Proverbs 30:24-28). In life we will always have weaknesses, but we need only to know how to transform such weaknesses to strength. Failures and weaknesses have always been major challenges against success and victory over life’s circumstances. But it is gladdening to know that we can overcome challenges and succeed over any circumstance with our small strength, our failures, and our weaknesses.

Your small strength, failures and weaknesses are a requirement for victory Giving up is about letting go of courage, and inevitably, effort. This happens when we start belittling ourselves, measuring against whatever confronts us. The good news is that the requirement for victory is your weaknesses, small strength or failures. God’s strength is made perfect in us when we have come to the end of our human abilities. The greatest book of courage and strength—the Bible—says: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We must be able to recognize and admit our weaknesses and inadequacies before God, so that He can reach out and help us with His own abilities.

The Teenage Boy Who Fell Through The Ice A teenager fell through the ice in a rural northern community. No one in the community could swim except one older man, and he, not very well. When they pleaded with him to save the boy, he agreed, but stood on the shore watching until the boy slipped below the surface. The citizens started to shout angrily at the man, just as he took off his shoes, dived into the water and snatched up the boy. He said when he pulled the young man to the shore, unconscious but alive, that he couldn’t save the boy while the boy was still trying to save himself or he would drown both of them. A lifeguard does not get near to save a drowning man in a stream when the man is still struggling to save himself. The lifeguard goes near when the victim is exhausted physically and has stopped struggling. Then the lifeguard grabs him below the armpits and floats up with him. The rescue by the lifeguard becomes possible when there is no hindrance from the victim that could jeopardize the rescue. When the drowning victim ceases efforts to save himself, the lifeguard can rescue him from the water. God waits in the same way. When we stop trying to save ourselves, He jumps in. God doesn’t need your strength to help you out; He only needs you to stay still and allow Him. Your weaknesses left in God’s hands, allow Him to display his strength and rescue you. Moses told the children of Israel: “...Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today….” (Exodus 14:13).

Gideon’s fears about his background The children of Israel did evil before God and God delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years to be oppressed. And whenever the children of Israel sowed in the land, the Midianites with their allies came and destroyed the crops and left no substance for Israel--neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. And the children of Israel were living in hiding, in fear, and greatly impoverished. When they cried unto God, He heard and sent an angel with a message to Gideon to go fight the Midianites and deliver Israel. Gideon complained to the angel that appeared to him, about his obscure position in the family and poor background, to show his helplessness to save his people from oppression. He saw himself as small and incapable to achieve the victory expected and much yearned for! And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. (Judges 6:14-16) Gideon, after series of inquiry to make sure God was with him, gathered many men to confront the enemy. God told Gideon he needed very few men so that Israel would know it is not by the multitude of their soldiers that the war is going to be won, but by Him, the Almighty God. Gideon eventually went with only three hundred men, approved by God, to overrun thousands of enemy troops. Gideon indeed smote the enemies and, unbelievably, rescued his nation. His background didn’t count anymore when God got involved with his life. In another instance, Saul and the Israelites were engaging in war with the Philistines at the Valley of Elah. Twice a day for 40 days, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, came out between the lines and challenged the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome of the war in single combat. Goliath defied the armies of Israel and caused them to flee for fear of him; there was no one able to confront Goliath. The people of Israel were in dire need and had expectation for deliverance.

They depended on their king, Saul. They forsook God, denying His kingship over them. They opted instead to be ruled by a human king and were now threatened. Their only hope and expectation for victory rested on a man of great strength. But God was not interested in using Saul to defeat Goliath. He was looking for one, regardless of strength, size or background, who would trust Him to defeat the Philistine giant. God used David, the man after God’s heart and full of faith, the youngest at the battle field. David had just stumbled into the scene, unprepared, with no war experience, and very unskilled. He only came looking for his brothers to deliver their lunch. He confronted the much-feared giant, Goliath, with no armor and only a sling and stones for a weapon. David made himself available for battle and killed Goliath because he trusted God to defeat the giant. (1 Samuel 17:1-58). Your smallness, weaknesses and inadequacies are all needed to succeed, if you only hand them over to God to use and make your battle. It is too early to give up. Determine to look away from your human failings; learn to use all of the strength available—God’s strength. When you put your failures, weaknesses and inadequacies in God’s hands, it means you’ve put on God’s strength for your challenges. God’s availability is superior to your human ability, and when you make yourself available to Him, God will give you His ability.

With God Anyone Can Win Another unbelievable demonstration of God’s willingness and preparedness to use anyone who trusts Him, despite background and shortcomings, is that of the harlot, Rahab. Rahab, a prostitute, allowed herself to be used by God as a channel for capturing the enemy’s territory, the land promised to Abraham in the very first covenant between God and Man. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, sent two spies into Jericho to seek out the land intended for capture. Rahab, although she was a citizen of that very city, hid them in the roof when the king’s soldiers came to arrest them. She heard of God’s protection and strength poured out on the Israelites when He brought them out of Israel. She didn’t hesitate to make herself available for His use, and so she was saved from the destruction of her city, together with her household (Joshua 2:1-21).

It is unbelievable that a harlot was used by God for a great work, that she was given a spot in the Bible, and that the Savior even came from her lineage (Matthew 1:5). No matter the weaknesses or inadequacies we may have, we can still win when we rely on God. This is God’s strategy: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)

Chapter Two THE DOUBLE-CROSS GAME There is a game the devil specializes in, which has outwitted countless people over the years. This is called the “double-cross.” To be double-crossed means that someone is attempting to take advantage of you to oppose you or stop you. Many have been victims and many will continue to be victims to Satan’s game until there is a discovery that leads to recovery. Man has always been a pawn in the hands of either God or the devil. Man has a great advantage, in that he has the ability to make choices as the game plays out. You can only win in this game of double-cross, if you position well and align properly. As the game proceeds, you need to understand the subtle moves of the devil, if you expect to win. The double-cross game is a life game that eventually determines destiny. You could easily decide to give up if you don’t understand the game, because of the pressure, confusion and circumstances you’re surrounded with. The double-cross game is on and all you need is to understand it!

For more on The Unstoppable You: The strength you need now to keep moving! Visit: http://www.amazon.com/Emmanuel-Obu/e/B00DD0FVHQ

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