Otabil brings structure home

I experienced a surge of inspiration this morning when I tuned in to E-TV and beheld godfather; Pastor Mensa Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church delivering with incredible insight and Biblical dexterity; the very idea that have come to form the backbone of my own thinking. Look around this blog and the one thing you cannot miss is my thoughts on structure and content. Over the years I have been put in so many different situations that have afforded me the opportunity to witness from a front row seat the effect of the imbalance that without question causes failure.

He built his case on Elijah and the poor widow (1 Kings 17:7-24) who had very little oil and but soon needed extra vessels to keep the oil that resulted from Elijah’s miracle. There was a clear analysis of what the vessels represent and what the oil they contain represent. He explained that every person carries something that is their own oil but must work towards the vessels in which it will be carried and delivered. Now that is quite significant. Elijah instructed the widow to borrow vessels from everywhere including her neighbors. This he said represented how people carried and delivered their own oils i.e.; how they do things.

He pointed out that when the vessels are weak, they will not carry the oil very well. He insisted that one needs to borrow know-how from almost everywhere but we need to take precaution regarding who we are borrowing from.  He explained that some of the seemingly successes we see around are not necessarily due to good vessels. Hence borrowing from such people might lead us down the wrong road as their vessels may be weak.

In his experience most people go to borrow the oil and not vessels. When they go to a rich man they will attempt to borrow his money (the results) and not his vessel (how he has reached that result). In our context oil is what you have by way of capability -- what you are going to engage with and vessels represent how you function as a person. When the vessel is weak, the oil leaks out and the result is not the desirable. We see again that high performance is the result of a good structure and good content. Where there is an imbalance, the result is not the best it can be. However, the influence of structure on content is quite profound and hence structure becomes the more important of the two. A number of experts on the subject agree on this. I realize this needs further explanation so I shall do another post on the matter. But imagine a highly talented individual who lack the needed discipline (discipline is an element of structure) that will help him carry his capability to the best.

Discipline will not only polish the talent; it will also manage it and deliver it. So that it is clear that the one who has a weak structure is not likely to succeed with his content and everyone has content.  For the vessel leaks and the oil does not get to serve its purpose. What we do at CSD Africa®  and project SPiD-UP® is structure education that is supposed to allow and enable the content that people have by nature and that which they have gained from formal education so that they can be complete. For more on structure, http://spid-up.blogspot.com/search/label/Theory. When a man of Pastor Otabil’s stature validates your thinking, you are inspired to do more. J For more otabil messages; https://www.youtube.com/user/motabil/videos