“Pastor, I find it very difficult to read books and it’s really affecting me. What can I do to change that?”
I’m guessing this has to do with Christian literature alone, definitely not science. Otherwise, how did you succeed through school?
Except you have a reading impermeant, I don’t believe it should be difficult for any human being to read books. However, the challenge with reading Christian books is that you’d easily lose interest if what you’re reading is;
1. Not relative to your life
2. Not practical
3. Not applicable
4. Not true
If these 4 things are not captured in the book you’re reading or even the sermon you’re listening to, you may not give it your full attention. Think about it, the reason why you took reading seriously in school was because there was an exam to write, so everything you were reading met those 4 criteria.
I believe that the whole idea of a formal school system is to prepare us for the school of life. Just as the formal school system has teachers, exams and discipline, the school of life also has teachers, exams and discipline. For every exam of life you fail, you’d be disciplined for it, which in most cases would mean stagnation.
While you’d most definitely be assigned teachers in a formal school system, you’d need to find your own teachers in the school of life. About exams, unlike the school of life where you’re giving exam timetables to help you prepare for exams, the exam of life does not have a time table. If you’re not adequately prepared when it comes, you’d have to remain in that position till you eventually succeed.
If this is the case, it means who you choose to teach you plays a major role in your pursuit for success. In my view, if you find it difficult to read a book or listen to a sermon of a teacher you chose for yourself, then it simply means that person isn’t your teacher in the first place.
The journey to finding your teachers begins with self-discovery. If you don’t know who you are, you might continue to struggle with acquisition of spiritual knowledge. You don’t need to play a pity party when choosing your teachers, just because they preach well doesn’t mean they are good for you. Others may benefit from them, but you might not, and that’s because they’re not wired to service who you are.
A time would come in your life when you’d no longer be comfortable with general sermons, you’ve discovered yourself so much that you need specific knowledge, not trial and error.
When God called me into the teaching ministry, I immediately developed an insatiable hunger for the revelatory knowledge of God’s word. I could go to anywhere I knew I’d receive sound knowledge, and you’d never find me in places that will waste my time. You may call this pride, but I’ve had to walk out of a gospel conference just because what the preacher was preaching wasn’t what I was looking for. I’d be better off having a quiet time with God, studying and praying about what I needed.
You’re probably about to give me that religious sermon, “You should have stayed there. God can speak through any means. Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Well, I tried to stay in that conference, but my spirit didn’t let me rest until I stood up and left. It wasn’t long before I realized that I had passed the level or pretense. If something wasn’t good for me, then it wasn’t good for me, I don’t have to be religious about it, neither do I owe anybody an apology.
In my quest for accurate knowledge, I bought books from different authors – which I eventually abandoned. After several tries, it seemed like it was difficult for me to read books or listen to sermons. As God would have it, I attended a youth convention in 2014 where Bishop Oyedepo endorsed a book titled “Activating the genius in you” authored by Samson Adebayo. Ofcourse I bought the book because it was endorsed by my spiritual father, but to my amazement, that book started a new phase in my life. I who thought I didn’t like reading suddenly became a book lover. But this time, my reading was coordinated.
It was as though that book directed me to the kind of people that should mentor or teach me. After that book, I read loads of Dr Myles Munroe’s books, especially the ones on Potential Discovery. And then I found Dr Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, and so on.
Ofcourse, there are loads of authors and speakers whose teachings still don’t resonate with me, and understanding that has helped me chart a cause for my life. Even if they are holding a mighty miracle crusade, you’re very unlikely to see me there.
When it comes to preachers, I can count the number of preachers I listen to on my 5 fingers. I wouldn’t mention names so that some of you wouldn’t feel bad about it😂. Again, this isn’t pride, it’s just that each one of us was designed to succeed within a specific spiritual family tree or with specific teachers.
If you read my book and you ever get bored, don’t feel bad about it, it’s simply a pointer that I’m not among your teachers or it’s not time for me to teach you yet (I’m sure you understand what that means). The first time I read Dr Jerry Savelle’s book, it felt like my uncle wrote a book to me. Likewise, the first time I listened to Apostle Joshua Selman, it was as though my brother was talking to me. His message was very true and relative to my life.
I’ve read loads of Dr Isaiah Wealth’s books, and it always seem as though I’m in a class where failure isn’t an option. If you see me rushing to have my quiet time, it’s because I can’t wait to continue from where I stopped in his book. Yet, I’m the same person who thought I didn’t like to read.
So, the next time someone tells you that he doesn’t like reading or he finds it difficult to read, this is how to help him. Start by taking him on a journey of self-discovery, then introduce him to teachers or mentors who have track records of developing personalities like that.
I still remember how I read over 50 books in one year. I honestly didn’t know I had read up to that amount until someone asked me how many books I had read that year. Yet, this was me who thought I didn’t like to read.
When people contact me for counseling, as soon as I’m done, I recommend a few of my books to them. And even though they had told me how they have a problem with reading, the same people will come back to me to share how they read my books in one sitting. In other words, they couldn’t drop the book until they finished. So what really was their problem? Not being able to read or not being able to find teachers who can relate with their personality?
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
#EmekaAnslem
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