5 Types of Knowledge that are Critical For Any Success

“The purpose of knowledge is the ability to make changes”

~ Dr. Mike Murdock

R

ecently, I had the opportunity to host an hour of prayer on Radio. I am sure I have already lost anti-religious people right there, but if you hang in a little bit, this is going to be a valuable read. On this show, people get to call in or text in their wishes, dreams, desires and pains so we can pray together for and with them.

 

What Are People Looking for?

What astonished me was the myriad “requests” that came in. Now, notice that the people are not necessarily praying to me, I am there to encourage them and pray with them. What I saw that day was a bit heart breaking. The “requests” that came in made me think: do we really know who we are, whose we are and what we can get? I saw what I consider trivial requests worth not mentioning or requesting. I am thinking we are dealing with a God who made the heavens and earth, who has hordes of angels on standby and who has equipped us with authority. If that is the case, why is it that our requests are for “cell phones” and things like that?

I am thinking…is God really impressed by our weak requests? Let me give you an example close home. I have a daughter who is so adoringly wise, and an amazingly incredibly gifted son. At times it eats me up when they approach me with what I consider “weak requests” and cry for them. The other day however, Ethan blew me away when he saw a new Toyota Show Room. He said,

“Daddy, look, let’s go in there and buy you a car, you have money right?”

Knowledge Vs. Requests

That was impressive. It was a massive request, but I digress. So that early morning at 5:00 am, it dawned on me that [ictt-tweet-inline]the degree of our massive requests is directly proportional to the amount of knowledge that we have [/ictt-tweet-inline]concerning whom we are asking from and how much they love us.

“Although most people own a Bible and know some of its contents, most Americans have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to challenges and opportunities of life.”

But the principle in life is simple: Knowledge is absolutely critical. [ictt-tweet-inline]One piece of information is able to totally revolutionize the life of a person, a community, a country or even the world.[/ictt-tweet-inline] A story is told of how the engineers Henry Ford hired could not fix something for weeks on end. Finally, they called in a veteran who fiddled around for a minute and fixed the problem. Later on, he sent Henry Ford a bill of something like A million Dollars. When Henry demanded a breakdown of how the cost was arrived at, he got this reply:

“Nine hundred and ninety thousand for knowing where to fiddle, 10 thousand for fiddling”

Knowledge vs. Academics

That’s my paraphrase, but you get the point. Knowledge is absolutely important. Now, I am not talking about academics. There is a massive difference between academics and knowledge. You can obtain knowledge not necessarily through  the vehicle of academics (read school). A good example is one of my mentors, Peter J. Daniels. He was an “illiterate bricklayer” at age 26. Then one piece of information came his way (some kind of Aha! Moment), when he attended a Billy Graham Crusade. In that crusade, Peter J Daniels who was hitherto looking down on himself discovered that in the eyes of God, everybody is equal. He immediately set on a quest of acquiring knowledge in business and economics, history, mathematics, spirituality and so on. He is one of the billionaires to come out of Australia with knowledge, but not academics. In fact, he has a “school” that I am enrolling in soon. Knowledge changed that man, not academics that he still lacks!

What are you looking for?

“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life”

~ Quote.

If we are going to be successful, we need to determine what kind of knowledge we should seek. The following points are not original with me, but with a mentor of mine, the late Dr. Myles Munroe. I have been teaching these points for years now and I get myself saying the following things about them:

• I believe this information is much more potent, more important and critical than any academic paper you would ever have
• I would rather have someone who has a complete understanding of these five things, than one who is full of academic papers. (careful here, I am not against academics, so you should know)
• If there was any thesis to write, this, I believe is the most important thesis and everyone qualifies to write it.

So here we go. Do you have the knowledge of the following?

1. Who are you?

This speaks of your identity. I think the sorriest thing you ever saw in life today is an identity crisis. We have people calling themselves “jobless” for example. That is a crisis. [ictt-tweet-inline]Your identity is not based on what you are doing. You are a human being, not a human doing.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Your being therefore determines your doing. So the first thing we need to sort out is to answer that question of who we are. When asked who he was, John the Baptist said, “I am a voice…”. Voluntarily, more than 7 times Jesus Christ said, “I am…” and gave his identity. He died at 33, with a high degree of his identity and centuries later, we still talk about him.

2. Where do you come from?

This speaks of your origin. [ictt-tweet-inline]I have come to understand that origins (and environments) determine success[/ictt-tweet-inline]. If you believe you came from a monkey for example, it follows that you will not care so much about morality…since it dictates that you came from nothing and you will be nothing when you die. However, if you believe that God created you, then you know that you have a reason for living beyond your death. Therefore, your quality of life is ordered by that knowledge.

3. Why are you here?

This speaks of purpose. I believe this is one question that so very many people do not know the answer. And it shows in our lives. Hordes upon hordes of people expire and leave life in a whimper, not being remembered for anything apart from their “name”. I believe this is why many people who retire tend to die shortly after. Why? Because their “purpose” has already ended when they were told to stop working. [ictt-tweet-inline]Your purpose is beyond your present job title.[/ictt-tweet-inline] It is a function, not a job. It never changes regardless of your lack of education or changes in titles. It remains the same. So what is it? Know this and you are on the right path.

4. What Can you do?

My goodness! What a question! People who have not gone to school look down on themselves because they believe they have “no qualifications”. This question however is not asking for qualifications. It is asking for ability. The only disabled person is that one in the grave. We have multiple talents, gifts, skills, experiences and education that we can draw an answer from for this question. Lawrence can write, but he only started focusing on it 7 years ago because he was chasing for a degree. Lawrence can speak, but he has not gone to public speaking school or taken public speaking classes. Why? Because it is not conventional. We think that the only way to make a living is to go to school and get a job. If we don’t to school, we shelve our ability until life forces us to fend for ourselves. I believe if we have knowledge of this we start excavating our potential and it’s just a matter of time before we harness it.

5. Where are you going?

This speaks of your destiny and legacy. Curiously, where you are going is determined by where you come from and what you are doing to fulfill your purpose. In other words, if you have answered the first four questions well and lived to use that knowledge properly, you need not to worry about this. I see people doing useless actions trying to determine where and how they will be buried. Frankly, I couldn’t care less!! What I need to care for right now is fulfilling and harnessing my potential.

Ladies and gentlemen, I firmly believe that if we will have knowledge to these 5 things and start living as they demand, I will be a success. The less knowledge I have on these things, the more mediocre my “requests” in life will be. You want to make “massive requests” in life? Get knowledge of the right things! [ictt-tweet-inline]If there was a thesis to write, this is the most universal and potent one to focus on.[/ictt-tweet-inline]