Thinking that your thinking is not thinking in the right way you think it should be thinking is the highest form of intelligence.
Scientists call this Metacognition.
This is critical for ministers.
Because how you handle Scripture will determine whether you build conviction or confusion, fire or fog, doctrine or drama.
Let me say this clearly.
You are not a co-author of revelation.
You are a steward of it.
If you miss that, you will slowly begin to preach your lived reality into the text instead of allowing the text to interpret your lived reality.
HOW A MINISTER MUST HANDLE SCRIPTURE
Begin with Ontological Clarity
Before you open the Bible, settle what it is.
Scripture is not a conversation starter.
It is divine disclosure.
It is not a communal construction of spiritual ideas.
It is God speaking.
“All Scripture is God breathed” is not devotional language. It is ontological positioning. The text precedes you. It carries meaning before you encounter it. It does not wait for your creativity to complete it.
If you approach Scripture as material for co-construction, you will end up building sermons that are emotionally resonant but doctrinally unstable.
You are not called to construct meaning.
You are called to transmit it faithfully.
Refuse Interpretive Democracy
Modern culture teaches that meaning emerges in dialogue between text and reader.
Scripture does not function like that.
In Luke 24, the Emmaus disciples had experience. They had trauma. They had disappointment. Yet Christ did not validate their interpretive framework. He corrected it by expounding the Scriptures.
Their lived reality was not the authority.
The written Word was.
As a minister, never allow congregational experience, cultural pressure, or social narratives to become interpretive governors over Scripture.
The Word interprets experience.
Experience does not reinterpret the Word.
Practise Holy Reflexivity, Not Autonomous Reflexivity
Scripture is not anti reflexive. It is anti autonomous reflexivity.
Hebrews says the Word discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. James calls it a mirror. That means the text reads you.
The reflexive movement is this:
Not “What does this text mean to me?”
But “What does this text expose in me?”
When you prepare to preach, allow the Word to confront you first. Let it dismantle your assumptions. Let it burn in you before it burns through you.
A minister who is not read by the Word will soon begin to edit it.
Submit to Christological Centrality
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. That is not interpretive creativity. That is revelatory anchor.
Handle Scripture with Christ at the centre.
If your sermon makes heroes out of human figures but does not reveal Christ, you have drifted into narrative performance rather than revelation.
You are not called to produce inspirational reflections.
You are called to unveil Christ.
Distinguish Illumination from Innovation
Meaning is not produced in the moment of preaching. It is unveiled by the Spirit.
Psalm 119 says, “Open my eyes.”
That is epistemology.
The Spirit does not collaborate with your assumptions to create new doctrine. He illumines what is written.
Innovation in delivery is welcome.
Innovation in doctrine is dangerous.
A minister must learn to labour in illumination, not invention.
Protect Doctrinal Boundaries
Paul did not negotiate the gospel in Galatians. He did not say, “Let us integrate your experience with the message.” He said if anyone preaches another gospel, let him be accursed.
That is strong language.
Why?
Because revelation is not elastic.
As a minister, you must love people deeply while refusing to bend doctrine to accommodate cultural expectations.
Compassion does not override truth.
Truth governs compassion.
Let Scripture Reconstruct Reality
Many ministers unconsciously preach from their wounds, ambitions, frustrations, or cultural anxieties.
Do not preach your biography into the Bible.
Let the Bible reconstruct your biography.
Romans 12 speaks of the renewing of the mind. That is transformation by revealed truth, not negotiation with it.
The quality of your life depends on you. Not your father. Not your mother. Not your distant uncles and aunties. Not your guardian. Not your brother or your sister. But you.
Always remember that anything you fear and dwell upon will manifest in your life. Poverty, ill health, criticism, or love, there is nothing more important than learning the art of keeping your mind focused upon the things, conditions and circumstances of life that you really want.
Always think positive.
Difficult seasons presents you with two options. Give up or toughen up. If you choose to give up, you will miss out on what is ahead. If you choose to toughen up, you will be among the few to feast when the storm calms down.
I will always recommend you choose the latter because everything difficult has an expiry date in its difficulty and when it does it expires, you’d realize that it was all worth the staying strong.
A Simple Hack:
If you ever go through a season where you don’t feel God at all, let me tell you something important:
His presence is not measured by your feelings.
You don’t have to feel goosebumps.
You don’t have to feel peace instantly.
You don’t have to feel spiritually “on fire.”
You don’t have to pretend you sense Him when you don’t.
Feelings are real but they are not final.
There will be days when your prayers feel like they’re hitting the ceiling. Days when your worship feels dry.
That does not mean He left.
Sometimes we think closeness to God must feel emotional like warmth, tears, or overwhelming reassurance. But faith is deeper than emotion. Feelings fluctuate. His Presence does not.
Just because you don’t feel Him moving doesn’t mean He isn’t holding you steady.
Stay.
Keep showing up. Keep praying. Keep breathing. Keep trusting even if you can’t feel him.
You are not abandoned because you feel numb.
You are not forgotten because you can’t feel Him.
You are not alone because your emotions say so.
God is not seasonal.
He does not withdraw when you are weak.
He does not disappear when you are tired.
Even in silence, He is near.
Even in confusion, He is steady.
Even in numbness, He is present.
So when you don’t feel it, don’t panic.
Stand.
Trust.
Lean anyway.
Because faith isn’t built on what you feel it’s built on who He is.
And He is still by your side.
If you're from a middle-class family or a low-income household and you genuinely want to change your story and the story of other people that are going to come after you in your family, then there's a very key realization you need to make that would save you many potentially wasted years.
It’s the fact that you are playing a totally different game from your counterparts that come from well-to-do families.
As a result, there are certain things you need to do that are not conventional.
When everyone else is focused on academics alone in Uni, you’re going to be studying, working, and learning valuable skills at the same time.
Done from Uni? Although you have enough money to rent a space by yourself, you may need to stay with 2 extra people just to save up money to give yourself emergency funds and have a window of opportunity to experiment new ideas.
The rules that apply to you are different. You’re starting from nothing.
Look at the hand that life has dealt you and make the absolute best out of it.
My Biggest Prayer Hack:
If you ever feel so overwhelmed that you don’t even know how to pray anymore, let me tell you something important:
You don’t need the right words.
You don’t need a structured prayer.
You don’t need to sound strong.
You don’t need to pretend you’re okay.
If all you can do is sit there and cry, then cry.
Go somewhere quiet. Sit down. And instead of forcing sentences out of a tired heart, just let yourself feel it. The frustration. The disappointment. The fear. The exhaustion. Don’t edit it. Don’t clean it up for God.
He already knows.
Sometimes we think prayer has to be articulate like we have to explain everything clearly. But when your chest feels tight and your mind is spinning, that’s not realistic. And it’s not necessary.
Just show up.
Let the tears fall if they need to. Let your breathing be uneven. Let the silence sit there. You’re not failing at prayer because you’re not speaking. You’re being honest.
And honesty is powerful.
There’s something deeply relieving about realizing you don’t have to impress God with faith-filled speeches when you’re barely holding it together. You can come undone in His presence.
Tears are prayers too.
They say:
“I’m tired.”
“This hurts.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I need You.”
So if you’re overwhelmed and empty of words, don’t walk away from God because you don’t know what to say. Walk toward Him anyway.
Sit.
Breathe.
Cry if you need to.
That is still prayer.
I hope this Helps You..
If it was a classroom setting, Claude would be that student who just moved from averaging a total mark of 50 on each subject to 90. ChatGPT would be the opposite.
Grok would be the type that answers questions in class but struggles in the exam hall.
Notebook LLM would be that silent excellent student, doesn’t talk much, but bags the As.
Bro to Bro: On some days, you might wake up tired, unmotivated and worn down. Rest if you may but always show back up and get to work.
Today is that day for me 😵
I have a friend who has never had sex in his entire life.
He has never dated, and he has kept himself pure for years.
One day he was telling me about his plans to get married, and I looked at him and said something very honest:
"One thing I wish I could undo is the sex I had before marriage."
That statement came from experience.
I was introduced to sex and pornography at a very young age. But at some point I realized something — you cannot blame your past forever. Responsibility eventually becomes personal.
And the truth many people avoid saying is this:
Premarital sex has consequences.
We are naive to think that the moment we receive Christ everything automatically disappears.
Yes, God forgives.
But healing is often a process.
There are memories that stay longer than you expected.
There are attachments that take years to break.
There are patterns that follow you even when you want to change.
Many people carry silent memories.
The emergency pills taken in fear.
The tears of people they hurt.
Relationships built on lust.
Sex that happened without wisdom.
Moments they wish they could erase.
And this applies to both men and women.
Some people assume everything is fine after abortions or broken relationships, but the emotional and spiritual effects of sexual history can remain longer than expected.
The Bible says sexual sin is different because it is a sin against your own body.
Many people don't understand that until years later.
Sex is not just physical.
It connects memory.
It connects emotion.
It connects the mind.
Years later you can suddenly remember someone you slept with.
Sometimes you find yourself comparing your spouse with someone from your past.
Sometimes you battle thoughts you never invited.
Some people cannot stay without sex and end up trapped in pornography and masturbation because their bodies were trained into patterns they never intended.
Healing for me was intentional.
I had to face my past honestly.
I had to pray.
I had to break emotional ties.
I had to renew my mind daily.
It took time.
It took discipline.
It took therapy.
It took prayer.
And slowly, healing came.
Today when I tell young people to avoid sex before marriage, it is not theory.
It is experience.
Purity is not foolishness.
Waiting is not weakness.
Self-control is not backwardness.
The world presents sex as casual, but the effects are rarely casual.
Some experiences stay in your memory longer than expected.
Some attachments take years to break.
Some patterns follow you into marriage.
If you are still pure, protect it.
Don't let anyone make you feel outdated for waiting.
And if you are already involved in sexual sin, understand this:
You can still change direction.
End the pattern.
Renew your mind.
Seek healing.
Seek God.
Freedom is possible.
But freedom requires honesty.
If I could speak to my younger self, I would say this:
That life was not worth it.
The pleasure was temporary.
But the consequences lasted longer than expected.
Today when I see people walking in purity, I respect them deeply.
Because some of us know what it took to come out of the opposite path.
If you are young and reading this:
Avoid sex until marriage.
Not because someone forced you to.
But because some roads are easier never walked than healed from later.
Don't give up on those old dreams of your
Remember when you used to say you'll do this, do that
You can still do those things
Don't give in to the voices in your head saying it's not possible, it's too late, you're now too old
You can do it