Some of us may not know this but Denzel Washington is a believer and many of us Christians may discount him just because he is in Hollywood. For those who know, he has obviously been successful in Hollywood; a place where most of us Christians would run away from because it is obviously filled with many things from the kingdom of darkness. This is probably one of the most serious messages I will share with you all this year. Watch this video by Denzel and pay attention to the lessons he is sharing.

We are to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), not hide from the world and remain in our convenient churches. How do we subdue without hard work and consistent action? To subdue means there will be resistance and it will require continuous counter resistance on our part. We are to learn how to get out of our comfort zones and allow God to stretch us by doing new things that we may not have thought to do for ourselves, doing things that we may not have seen as good for us yet these things are in God’s divine plans for us. We may have to learn to make non Christian friends and network in the business community, allowing God to use these people as divine connections that must cross our paths on the way to our dreams.

Until we as Christians work just as hard as the world, if not harder and become fearless in the face of the world, yes even in the darkest places, we will not have dominion (Genesis 1:26). We are to have dominion over all the earth and everything in it, not just dominate our churches, ministries, families and things to do with other believers. This includes dominion over Hollywood, over corporate America, dominion over the business and academic world and so forth.

Last month I taught about prayer at our ministry’s T2 Mentorship Academy, and yes miraculous things do happen sometimes when we pray, generational curses get broken and demons flee when we pray, healings take place when we pray and God does change things when we pray. But let me say this; God never intended for miracles to be the way by which we live daily, we are to work hard and subdue the earth and have dominion. We can pray for a provisional miracle and God may intervene but trust me, manna will not fall from heaven every day of our lives. We must get up, work hard, be committed, be consistent, be disciplined, be friendly towards others regardless of how we estimate them, be resilient, be bold in the face of challenges and do whatever is biblically and legally necessary to achieve our goals.

Many of us Christians attend various services, conferences, prayer sessions and so forth. Many of us expect God to deliver the requests we pray about yet we do not want to inconvenience ourselves to make things happen. Many of us have not yet shown commitment and consistency in doing the simple things required of us but we are wondering why we have not yet had our breakthrough. Many of us sometimes get jealous of someone who may be successful in our eyes yet we are not willing to make the kind of sacrifices that person made to get what they have. We need to stop some of the prayers we are praying and just get up from slumber and take action. Sometimes we gather in a prayer meeting asking God to provide for a sister or brother yet we will not inconvenience ourselves to help that person practically or even contribute financially. Worse still some of us will pray and fast for weeks rather than put in 20 job applications per day, going to work at Macdonalds to pay the bills in the interim, or start a small business selling basic items from around the house. Are you too proud to do whatever work is necessary for your advancement while you expect others to help you with money they worked hard to earn? While we may be waiting for God to answer our prayers, God is waiting for us to take action. John 5:5-8 shows that you can be in an unfavorable condition for 38 years and even though the water is stirred up for your breakthrough, you are not finding a way to get up and jump in. This man did not get well until he got up and walked.

I challenge you today to get up from your prayer closet and get to work! We must get comfortable with hard work no matter how much we pray and fast. Majority of successful people got to the heights of the world through hard work, sheer drive, resilience, networking and consistency while we believers were in our prayer closets waiting for God to activate manna from heaven a second time. The formula for wealth is simple; after you pray, God gives you the grace, wisdom and energy to get up, get up again and get up some more to work hard, harder, hardest before you see results. God gives the ability to make wealth (Deut 8:18), so we humans must use ABILITY GIVEN and MAKE the wealth for ourselves. This is a key that many of the wicked have understood and that’s one reason why the wicked are ruling the world, subduing and having dominion.

You may be reading this and praying for God to change your condition. What action have you taken? Are you committed where God has planted you? Have you been consistent? Have you made unthinkable sacrifices to get what you want? Have you done things differently? Have you been open to partnering and collaborating with those who don’t seem to be your kind? Have you tried over and over with resilience despite your previous failures and despite being mocked and laughed at?

Or: are you throwing a pity party waiting for easy help to fall from heaven? Are you blaming others? Are you waiting for hand outs? Are you giving excuses? Are you inconsistent? Are you undisciplined? Are you looking for a prophet or pastor to pray for you while you do nothing and make no sacrifices?

This word was burning in my spirit and yes I know it’s a tough word but it is a needed word. Like Denzel Washington says, comfort and convenience will not get us anywhere. Nice words will not get us anywhere. Oftentimes, our loved ones may not get us much further in life but our haters and enemies will push and challenge us into our destiny. Hard words will wake us from passivity into action. Our conferences, prayer sessions and discipleship classes will not help us if we just listen and remain inconsistent in our works. We are the change we have been praying for! Many of us Christians have been lazy for too long waiting for prayer to do miracles but I pray this message helps us get up and be the miracle by demonstrating our faith through our actions.

James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Call to action:

• What will I commit to doing?
• In what ways do I need to exhibit greater discipline?
• What am I doing now that lacks consistency? In what ways can I become consistent?
• In what areas of my life am I being lazy and reliant on others to do all the work for me?
• How can I get out of my comfort zone and do new things?
• What destiny partnerships do I need to build?