The Sunday News
Itai Chipunza
ONE of the things that interest me is power distribution in the world. I love observing how power is moved from one person to the next, how people remain powerful almost from birth to death and how some try their entire lives to gain power and control but seem to be doing it in vain.
Generally all people desire power, they desire control of some sort. The extent of the control one may desire may differ, but, they all desire to be in control. Others may only want it as far as their home, they may desire to be in full control of their home. Others may want it at work, some over a particular industry, like Strive Masiyiwa and telecoms. It all depends on the individual.
I read a statistic that blew my mind last week. Fifty years ago, China barely had roads. But today they build 6 000 miles of road networks in a year. China is quickly becoming a world power of note. Silently the Chinese have worked out a formula to become powerful and by the time we woke up, it was almost late. These guys are already in overdrive.
I asked one Chinese man who is also a powerful man in his nation how China moved from insignificance to power in a short space of time and his answer was simple. Knowledge. He gave an example, he said, the West is far ahead of the rest of the world in understanding the way things work, so China has spent years sending their brightest mines to the top universities in the West. That way, they have an understanding of how the world systems function and so understand how to manipulate them. So power comes from knowledge. If you know what others don’t, you become powerful because your mind puts you ahead of the pack.
For knowledge to have an impact, it must be understood. You may know a lot of things, but if you do not understand what you know, then it is useless knowledge because it cannot be used as a tool to gain control and power. Christians know that the issue in Zimbabwe is not which party is in power, it is a spiritual one. But they do not understand the meaning of this. So because we Christians do not understand the knowledge we have, it is hard for us to use it for anything significant.
So Zimbabwe will remain the way it is, because Christians do not understand what they know. If we understood what we know, we would pray more for our nation, if we understood what we know we would pray more for our leaders regardless of how you feel about them. But because we do not understand the spiritual movement in this nation, we pray one thing, and immediately after, we destroy all our prayer efforts by speaking ill of the very thing we are praying for. To create power, the knowledge you possess must be understood by you that possesses if.
Follow this simple train of thought with me. You know that the friends you have determine who you are, hence the saying, show me your friends and I will show you who you are. You know that who you are determines what you will become or who you become. You want to be a world class physicist, yet your friend is a midcore mind. This does not make sense at all. It’s a perfect example of someone with knowledge but has no idea how to use it because they do not understand what it means.
I have always said, everyone you see on the street including yourself is that way because of the way they think. The way you think is subject to what you know and your understanding of the knowledge you possess. The poor are poor because they have thought patterns that allow poverty to grow. They understand how to perpetuate poverty. The rich are that way because they have thought patterns that allow wealth to grow. These thought patterns allow wealth to know by the way they are put into action by the owner of the thoughts. This is regardless of how one grew up or exposure.
That is why a man born in the rural areas can be wealthy by the time he turns 30, and a child born in a rich family can be reduced to living in the street in the same time frame. Privilege can only do so much for you, you will need to apply yourself. It is all about how you use what you know. No one knows everything, so it is about utilising the little you know to the maximum in order to get the best results and doing it again and again until you reach your target.
The word says, as a man thinks, so shall he be.
Last year I explained on the thought processes that determine a king from a simple man. The first thought is that you are a king because your father in Heaven is a King. Yes, this is very true, it is subject to what you choose to believe which is second thought. If you choose to believe that you were born to eat and die, then rest assured you biggest achievement will be chewing, digesting and the rest of the process, despite you believing that you are the son of a King. What you then do about it depends on your thoughts. If your mind takes advantage of what is in the Bible to better your life, then you will do well.
But if you think they are just stories read for us to feel good about a man that rose from the dead, then that is all you will be. Know you are a king, sift what you hear and allow only positive thoughts and force your mind to utilise what you know to better your life. You will make it without fail. Be blessed.
