The Labour That Counts: How Not to Labour in Vain

THE LABOUR

THAT COUNTS

How Not to Labour in Vain

Femi Lanre-Oke

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: 0800.197.4150

© 2012 by Femi Lanre-Oke. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

King James Version (KJV)

In the public domain.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/07/2016

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8608-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8609-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I

1. Understanding Your Divinely Assigned Roles

2. Understanding Your Potential

3. Understanding the God of Purpose

PART II

4. Discovering your Roles in Life

5. The Different Kinds of Roles

6. Roles in Ministry

7. Roles in Governance

8. Roles in Family

PART III

9. God's Provisions for your Divinely Assigned Roles

10. Keys to Functioning in your Divinely Assigned Roles

11. The Cost of Fulfilling Divinely Assigned Roles

PART IV

12. Understanding Likely Hindrances to Fulfilling Divinely Assigned Roles

13. Categories of People in Relation to Divinely Assigned Roles

PART V

15. Those who Fulfilled Negative Roles in Destiny

16. The Role of the Enemy in Fulfilling Divinely Assigned Roles

17. The Benefits of Walking in Divinely Assigned Roles

18. The Consequences of not Walking in Divinely Assigned Roles

19. The Consequences of Walking in Negative Assigned Roles

PART VI

20. Science Albert Einstein (1879--1955)

21. Ministry Joseph Ayodele Babalola (1904--1959)

22. Politics Nelson Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela (1918--2013)

23. Family Susanna Wesley -- Mother of Methodism

24. Sports Taribo West (1974--)

25. You Are Next

Conclusion

Hymn

About the Author

About the Book

To the neglected and rejected children of Africa: my heart bleeds for you; may you discover purpose.

To all in search of fulfilment and joy: may this book be of great help.

To all fathers, leaders, and mentors in faith: may your labour count.

To all partners of Jesus Praise Evangelical Ministries International (JPEMI): may your lives speak.

To the source of all life: in you alone we put our trust.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

No one can fulfil destiny in isolation. We all need each other to fulfil all of God's purpose for our lives. I cannot but appreciate all the leaders, fathers, and mentors who directly and indirectly tutored me.

Bishop Francis Wale Oke, I cannot thank you enough; your contribution to my life is immense.

Rev. Olusola Areogun, I appreciate you, sir. His grace and oil be multiplied in Jesus's name.

Pastor J. Babalola of Christ Deliverance Ministries, Pastor Abiodun Emmanuel of the Redeemed Glory Assembly, Prophet Ayo Babalola Akinrinade of Jesus Covenant Revolutional Ministries, Pastor Joe Jacobs of Christ Apostolic Church -- you are rare gems, men of worth and substance. This generation is blessed having you at this time.

Mr. Temidayo Akinrinola, my editor, I appreciate you. The Lord will enlarge you.

To all the faithful of Jesus Praise Evangelical Ministries International: may our labour fully count.

To my wife, Olubusola: thanks for standing by me all through my itinerant ministries.

To my parents, the late Elder Joseph and Mrs. Margaret O. Oke, and to Elder and Deacon Wale Farombi: the Lord will continually strengthen you.

To all whose efforts and counsel made this work a reality, who for space I will not be able to mention individually, I say thank you.

INTRODUCTION

Great kudos to all who are labouring day and night to make things work well, especially those labouring in the vineyard of God's kingdom. May you never grow weary.

Interestingly, not all labour will count on the last day. Each person will give account of what he or she has done, and each person will be rewarded according to his or her labour.

The most crucial aspect is that we all want to be rewarded based on what we have done and what is expected of us. The more we have done of what we are meant to do, the more our reward before God. Definitely, not all who are labouring in the vineyard are labouring accordingly.

The apostle Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 9:24: 'Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?' So run, that ye may obtain. Not all who run obtain, so we are encouraged to run so as to obtain. This book is aimed at helping and guiding you to run and obtain.

'And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we are incorruptible'

(1 Cor. 9:25).

In this book, you will learn how to discover your purpose in God, recognize your God-given mandates to fulfilling your destiny, and recognize the Enemy's role in fulfilling your roles among other things. I trust God to help you, with the aid of this book, to further run to obtain. I pray that on the last day, when all flesh shall give account of their stewardship, your labour may truly count.

PART I

At the end of this section, you should understand the following:

• your divinely assigned roles

• your potentials

• the God of purpose

• truths about purpose

A life out of order is a life full of chaos. Discovering God's purpose for your life is the first step to recovering self and enjoying life.

---OluwaFemi Lanre-Oke

Experience the joy of self-discovery and open up continents of possibilities in your nature which might otherwise remain undiscovered.

---OluwaFemi Lanre-Oke

1.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIVINELY ASSIGNED ROLES

Everything God created is meant to fulfil a particular role; insects, plants, animals, and humans exist to accomplish their preprogrammed tasks.

We all have our roles to play in life. This inspiring book helps us discover our divine roles and maps out modalities to effectively discharge them.

It is a truism that when we do not know why we exist, we malfunction. The intestine in the human body functions only by being in the body -- in other words, inside the physical body. If the small intestine fails in its role and takes the role of the large intestine, then death is inevitable, even though they are both intestines. If the arm attempts to become as big as the thigh, then it becomes diseased. If, on the other hand, the thigh reduces in size to match the arm, it too becomes diseased.

Everything is the way it is because it was created to be that way. Our God is a God of purpose, and everything He creates, He does with purpose.

The purpose of a thing is the reason it exists. If purpose is not discovered, existence is not necessary. Fulfilling purpose must be the primary goal of every human being.

All God's creatures are created with purpose in the mind of God. All things begin and end with purpose. Your existence is proof that your generation needs something that you contain.

The chaos we have in life today is a result of our failure to discover and fulfil our roles in life. Every other creation of God lives to fulfil its role to keep things in order -- except humans.

Dysfunction in our bodies is often regarded as illness. A disease is a result of certain organs failing to fulfil their roles in the body's system. This failure brings discomfort and pain. The failure of these organs may be facilitated by certain organisms -- microorganisms. But the major discomfort is a result of non-performance of the organs. If such organs were alive to their functions, the body would be hale and hearty.

A greater discomfort is unleashed into our world when we fail to recognize our roles or fail to accept them as our fundamental priorities (Col. 4:17). We definitely would give account of our divinely assigned roles to the Lord, but those outside the divinely assigned ones do not count.

The teeth are in the mouth but play a different role from the tongue. Each needs the other's functions for the body to work as a system. The teeth cannot function independently; neither can the tongue. They are dependent on each other.

The world would be a better place to live if each person understood and mastered his or her assigned role.

Our sun is 93 million miles from the earth. If it were 10 million miles nearer, we would burn up. If it were 10 million farther away, we would freeze. The sun is just the correct distance from us to make human life possible. The earth and sun relate to each other purposely so that humanity can exist on the planet.

Other planets are unsuitable for human life. Mercury turns only one side to the sun. One side of the planet is a burning furnace, and the reverse side is a frozen waste. Venus has a dense vapour for atmosphere, making life impossible. Mars has no water, and the temperatures are too low for vegetation or human life.

The earth has a circumference of 25,000 miles. It rotates on its axis once every twenty-four hours, travelling at a speed of approximately one thousand miles per hour. Because it rotates and is not stationary like Mercury, we have day and night. The part of the earth that faces the sun has day and the rest has night. As the earth revolves, night turns to day and day to night.

If the earth revolved at one hundred miles per hour instead of one thousand, then instead of taking twenty-four hours to make one complete revolution, it would take 240 hours. Hence, the day would be ten times longer, such that the heat we experience for twelve hours would extend to 120 hours, burning things up and making life impossible. Nights would likewise be 120 hours long, and this extended dark and cold would freeze things.

Our sun is a source of energy. Its heat is 12,000 degrees. It gives off radiation. If our sun were twice as hot and gave off twice as much radiation, we would burn up; if it were half as hot, we would freeze. So our sun, among millions of other suns, is just right for life on the earth.

The gases we breathe are of just the right mixture and intensity for the preservation of human life. Our atmosphere contains oxygen, nitrogen, argon, neon, and krypton. Nitrogen is 78 per cent and of oxygen is 21 per cent. Oxygen is the breath of life for all land animals and is unobtainable except from the atmosphere. If oxygen were 10 per cent instead of 21 per cent, we could not live. And if it were 50 per cent instead of 21 per cent, all combustible substances in the world would become flammable. The first stroke of lightning to hit a tree would ignite the forest.

Everything is the way it is because of its place in creation.

And when they told [it] to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, [and] reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, [and] reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth