IN this inspirational book Empowered Living, Senior Pastor Taiwo Odukoya notes that without empowerment mankind would be unable to make any advancement in information management, digital technology, invented vaccines and many other areas of life.
Humans seek power because it enables them to determine their outcomes in life. With power, the author argues that people presume they can reorder the environment to suit their purposes and influence people. To be powerful means to be capable of conceiving a goal and achieving it. On the other hand, being powerless is to be subjected to forces beyond your control, and to be unable to live your full potential.
As a result of acquiring influence in politics, business and social terrain, many have subscribed to occult and metaphysical associations. Sects like the Free Masons, Rosicrucian, and Illuminati have been in existence as far back as the 14th century. In Africa, there is Ogboni Fraternity. The book admits that seeking power is not wrong, but the way people often go about it could be alarming.
However, humans’ assignments on earth cannot be complete without being empowered. But the truth is that most people are not empowered to meet up to expectations and it leads to frustration. Governments at different levels, as well as private individuals, have initiated programmes in the quest to empower the public, but the demand for empowerment is simply too much. The author stresses that humans need total empowerment, which can only be derived from the Divine. Citing Jesus as an example, Odukoya says with a band of fishermen, a tax collector, and a few other significant folks, Jesus sparked off a moment that turned around the world. And Jesus told his disciples that they needed to be empowered to spread the gospel.
To generate the sort of idea that produces creativity, Empowered Living explores reason for divine intervention. The spirit of God is the source of supreme creativity. An example in history was George Washington Carver, a slave boy who turned around the fortunes of America. Others were Nicholas Copernicus, Michael Faradey, Wilbur and Orville Wright (two brothers), Gregor Mendel, Ludwig van Beethoven among others.
The author identifies poverty as the sheer ignorance of divine empowerment - the anointing, saying poverty cannot shackle a person who is divinely empowered. Thus, the need to be courageous and bold is a prerequisite for accomplishment. Divine empowerment will produce in you the same courage in the disciples of Jesus as well as the boldness in Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. and Rosa Parks.
In the book, Odukoya also emphasises that the world needs to learn about the empowerment of Jesus. He insists that despite a world of inequality, most people have restrained their dreams and forced their visions to fit into what their backgrounds made available to them.
Overwhelming evidence shows that devout Christians laid the foundation of modern science. Also, God’s empowerment enables wealth creation. Everywhere Jesus went to, the bible had it that people were healed, and many were set free of their physical challenges.
No matter how difficult your situation seems to be, if you have the anointing of God, there is a solution, teh author enthuses. This is exemplified in the life of the author too. To Odukoya, having faith in God, communicating with God through prayers, fellowship with others and obedience are key to accomplishing one’s assignment on earth.
Pastor Odukoya should be commended for writing this book. Empowered Living is only one out of his many books. A solid believer in the potential of Nigeria, Pastor Odukoya worked for over 12 years with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) before he voluntarily retired in 1999 to jojn full time ministry.
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