Surviving thin years-through a strategy built in fat years!

“Who is like a wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter?. .” Ecclesiastes 8:1

One can be considered extremely skillful to have an ability and wisdom to decipher and simplify the most complicated things, that can range anywhere from solving a mystery, creating a strategy, building a road map, creating an impact, etc. I like the way King Solomon poses this brilliant question here, “who is like a wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter?”.

One man stands out distinctively when it comes to understanding the times and building a strong action plan for the future - the man I am referring to is Joseph. He was a man of understanding and had a divine spirit to understand the dreams and interpret the same to an action plan. You may want to look at an earlier article I had penned down about Joseph building a strategy: Building a robust strategy

Build a strategy in the fat years to sustain thin years.

It is said in Proverbs 27:12 NLT “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers consequences.”. Joseph did not just stop with interpreting the vision to pharaoh but was able to go beyond, he was able to suggest a plan of action (Genesis 41: 34-37) and assign a person who is both ‘discerning and wise’ (Genesis 41:33). Joseph built a strategy during the seven years of great abundance in order to sustain the famine. An important lesson to learn, building a Right Strategy and choosing the Right person to carry out the plan of action is very very important. Jim Collins in his book 'Good to Great' talks about having the right person on the bus, and the right people in the right seats.

Let me make a comment here, at least in this case, the advent of the national level crisis was predicted much in advance and Joseph with a divine anointing had an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming crisis. It may not be so in every case, you may be taken unaware and there may not be a definite period that will be shown to you in advance as to how long the crisis is going to last. Nonetheless, whatever the case maybe, it is crucial to work out a plan, a strategy that will sustain you or your ministry during the difficult period.

Usually we all like to plan for good days a time of abundance and when it arrives, we just want to take a long breath and relax and want to enjoy the days of prosperity. Let me give you an example in my case during my good days I was able to create few insurance policies hoping that will help me during my retirement. Amazingly it served the purpose in my current situation when I am compelled to help the mission and Churches to integrate the Holism (Restoring the early Church model) and to manage all ends meet with limited or no resources. 

What I planned for future sustainability was serving the purpose for the current. God helped me to learn this powerful lesson about purpose and I penned down this way, “Find the purpose of God for your life and be prepared to spend, may be all your resources if needed to accomplish the purpose. Do not use purpose as an advantage to gather resources hoping to ensure your security. It will miserably fail you.”.  Even Jesus demanded the same when He said, “Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Luke 17: 33. Losing your life, your everything for building the kingdom of God draws His attention towards you. May God help you and your Church to align your vision/mission to a strategy that will create an impact

Blessings.