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revolution is always caused when there is a David coming up against a Goliath. In between the two, the destinies of families and indeed nations hang in the balance. Fear is in the air so thick and tangible that you can almost hear people trembling. That fear is always personal—self-deficiency.

Fear of Never Making It

The fear of never making it in life is actually totally different from the fear of failing. They are two polar opposites. That fear always sneaks upon us at the earliest age ever. For me, it was when I faced the first major assignment of my life—sitting for my primary school leaving examinations. I must admit that the aspect of self-deficiency knocked on my heart slightly but I was able to overcome it when the results rolled in.

It’s Bigger than the Enemy You Can See

This enemy of progress is much more potent than Goliath. You see, before you can face your Goliath and bring him down, you must have faced your self-deficiency and reigned over it. Goliath is an outside force, self-deficiency is an inside force.

It is amazing that we always carry our self-deficiency with us wherever we go, but we do not always have our Goliath in our presence all the time. In fact, at times, Goliath delegates his power to our self-deficiency and let it take reign over us. We end up being ruled by Bluetooth or remote control.

Who is Immune?

The truth of the matter is that you and I will never win any battle with any kind of Goliath if we have self-deficiency in operation in our lives. There is no man or woman that is immune to self-deficiency. It makes no difference whether you are high born or low born. Your status in society will never insulate you from feeling self-deficient.

What About Pride?

Now, we have to make a very quick distinction here between self-sufficiency and pride. I am not championing the fact that we ought to be filled with pride and get ourselves puffed up. Far from it. Self-sufficiency is the knowledge that you are full, whole, enough, powerful, intended, with purpose and complete of yourself to be able to connect and complement with other people to do what you were called to do.

Pride, on the other hand, comes from the root of esteeming yourself higher than others. Pride is mostly based on comparison. That is a flimsy yardstick. Pride is also a function of wanting to compete, always racing to the top for a race that no one has flagged off officially.

What It Is

Self-deficiency, therefore, is the internal knowledge that you are not enough, you do not measure up, you do not have what it takes to connect and complement with other people in life so as to accomplish what matters.

Normally self-deficiency is drawn from several mental yardsticks that we impose on ourselves. The root cause of self-deficiency is pride and the false notion of “arrivalism”. In other words, we have in our minds a painted picture of how we ought to appear in our full glory so that we can get the esteem of others.

Flimsy Causes

For the most part, that picture is always flimsy. Our false picture of our full glory is mostly pegged on temporary and for a lack of a better word, worldly things.

• When our idea of our full glory is based on whether we are fashionable in our dressing,
• When the concept of our full glory is based on how elegant our natural features are,
• When our idea of our full glory is based on what kind of vehicle we are driving,
• When our full glory is derived from where we reside and what kind of house we have built,
• When the fullness of our glory is gauged on the esteem we receive from strangers on social media,

…then our self-deficiency is being cooked all day long. It makes no difference what kind of facades we put on. In our hearts of hearts, we will always be aware of our self-deficiency. For as long as we are self-deficient, we are occupied with fighting to be relevant in life and therefore we lose out on being the success that we were meant to be.

The Inner Game

Someone said that if the enemy within is conquered, the enemy outside can do you no harm. Another person who wrote The Inner Game of Tennis said something to the effect that “your greatest opponent is not the one across the net, but the one within yourself”. Clearly, if the inner game is poisoned, the outer came is lost either immediately or eventually.

The manifestation of self-deficiency can be seen in different aspects of life, but for the most part, it will be a result of feeling that we do not measure up with the popular culture of the day.

• Perhaps we do not have a degree (Been there…oh, still there!)
• Perhaps we do not have money (Lord have mercy)
• Perhaps we do not have a car
• Perhaps we do not own fine and fashionable clothes
• Perhaps we do not belong to a fancy club, or any club for that matter
• Perhaps we do not feel loved
• Perhaps we do not feel we are enough

There are many scenarios that millions of people in life are battling with on a daily basis. At the end of the day, the scores are always against them—they are deemed by life’s biggest referee (themselves) that they are insufficient in life. It can be seen through the following manifestations:

1. Self-Doubt:

In a class, for example, a student or pupil will not raise her hand to answer a question even if she knew the answer. In life too, one will not attempt to do anything because of the opinions of others.

2. Low Self-Esteem:

When one compares herself to other people and find out that she is wanting. This happened to me while growing up. My age-mates wore fancy and trendy clothes while I struggled. I retreated to my own cage of sadness.

3. Self-Abasing:

This is especially when you have done something wrong and you judge yourself harshly. Right here, some people’s callings and purpose are always aborted because they feel they do not measure up in life.

4. Shrinking:

This is physically retreating from doing life because you feel that you do not measure up.

5. Dis-Couragement:

This is evident when your inner power is dealt a major blow and therefore, your confidence to do things is gone.

Self-deficiency is a great enemy that we have to conquer on a daily basis. Virtually every human being you see, probably every face you will see today on the streets or even in your home, is battling the great enemy of self-deficiency. The thing is that with self-deficiency in operation, we cannot grow to the fullness of our glory as God originally intended. We have to deal with this.