PRACTICAL TRUTH TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Academic excellence has to do with what we ought to do—that is, the activities we need to carry out regularly to improve in our schoolwork until we become extremely good at it.

Steps to that excellence are based on real facts, are feasible, and must be carried out. They are devoid of any sort of sentimental or emotional ideas that are not realistic. They work for anyone that does them, rather than being ideas that a person may have about how academic excellence

might be achieved.

They include the do-able aspects of academic excellence that we ignore most of the time because we are too busy with the spiritual aspects. We neglect the practical aspects that ought to be taken seriously.

We need realistic expectations concerning what we do so that we do not have extreme expectations— that is, expecting God to do what He never really said He would do. The Bible says, “Even so faith if it hath not works, is dead being alone” (James 2:17 KJV).

Abraham, the father of our faith, showed us a good example. God told him he would become a father of many nations, and God changed his name from Abram to Abraham and also his wife’s name (Genesis17:5–15). Abraham means “father of many nation.” This showed he believed God. But Abraham did not stop there. He did not go around saying, “I am a father of many nation” without a corresponding action.

What did Abraham do? The Bible says that he did not consider his body dead or the womb of Sarah barren. So he went in and lay with his wife, so they could have Isaac. If he had stopped at the level of name change alone, Isaac wouldn’t have come forth.

Dear brothers and sisters, what we call faith sometimes is not faith at all; it is just mere wish or, at best, presumption—a high expectation based on wrong information that is usually followed by a wrong corresponding action.

Some Christian students get that kind of wrong information. They lay their hands on their books (some would go as far as standing on their books and making decrees), but refuse to read them. In the end, they fail. By the time they realize it, they are already in their third year in school with a lot of failed classes. The practical truth when it comes to overcoming your books is that you must study.

Your faith must be based on the Word of God . No Word, no faith! If you have the Word of God and faith, that faith is dead without a corresponding action.

One of the pastors that mentored me told me of his experience while he was a student. He had a friend, a believer, who went to God in prayer to seek His face concerning his academics. The friend came back and told him that God had given him a word that he would be the head and not the tail. As a result, he started reading his books ferociously.

My pastor just said, “I will be the head and not the tail,” but did not study hard. My pastor’s friend did excellently, but my pastor did not do very well. During the next session, however, my pastor went to God for a word, which he received, and he backed it up with a corresponding

action. He emerged as one of the best in that session. If you really believe that God will make you excel in your academics, you definitely need to study your books.

Faith makes you work. Most lazy Christians try to avoid the work aspect. But we must come to the point where we realize that we must do something. We have a part to play in the matter. God expects us to work. You have to give your all; fire on all cylinders. You can take authority over your books, which I’m not against, for I do it myself. But if you don’t read, calamity is coming on you, and you will fail. If you read, you will know! It’s that simple.

Faith is not in any sense an opinion; religion is. The apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13 KJV). Th is alone is a source of motivation to press forward. Don’t be lazy. Motivate yourself. Some say that religion is the

opium of the people, but when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ, that is a motivation, not opium. Let Christianity be an opium to you when it comes to doing what is evil. Let the Bible motivate you in doing what is right.

To lead an effective Christian life, you must be able to bring the Word of God into a place of practicality. Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church, once said that the problem he noticed in Christians is that there are many revelations but little or no manifestation

because of lack of application, which leads to the destruction of so many.

A practical truth of academic excellence is that facts work the same way for anyone who will get involved in them. Good success comes from balancing the spiritual with the physical, which is practical.