Category Archives: Student’s Corner

The Mind

According to Genesis, after God created man, he blessed him and commanded him to subdue and dominate the Earth and all that is within it.

I find it perplexing that man, who appears to be a frail and fragile creature, should be given dominion over animals with fierce strength like the Lion, Tiger, and so on, as well as planetary bodies with paranormal intensity like the sun and stars.

What did God give man that makes Him superior to God’s other creations?

  • A creative mind


Your mind is a key to an infinite number of possibilities, depending on how well you have challenged and exercised it. The mind is more than a machine; it is greater than any computer program. Thousands of bots and robots have been developed in an attempt to mimic humans, but none have been able to match the intelligence of the human mind.


YOUR MIND IS YOUR GREATEST RESOURCE

Everything God created man with was for his benefit, including the mind. When God created man and gave him the dominion charge, He did not give him a gun or a missile, the only thing He left man with was the Mind.

The Mind is the greatest resource that God has given to man. It is probably one of the greatest blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

Take a look at this;


“And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and knowledge, and all manner of workmanship; And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and silver, and brass, And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.” – Exodus 35: 30-34.


Bezaleel was given special abilities to do very special work in God’s sanctuary, and God provided him with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding for these tasks. Whatever Bezaleel and Aholiab did was simply a result of the divine wisdom God had bestowed upon them.


God has blessed many of us with gifted minds, such as Bezaleel. The same Spirit that quickened Bezaleel’s mind is the Spirit we received the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Moreover, the Bible equally says we have the mind of Christ.


THE MIND IS A SOIL

The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. Psalms 37:31.
 

The mind is like a soil, whatever you sow and nurture in it eventually becomes your reality. Thus, we must be careful the things we sow in our minds because they have the ability to grow to influence our lives.



Sow God’s word into your mind. Your mind was created by God so that you can be able to meditate and ponder on the word of God. When this duty is done diligently, God’s word becomes a strong influence and deciding factor in our minds.

It speaks when we’ve done wrong. It cautions us when we ere. It guides us when we’re trapped in a crossroad.

When God’s word is planted in our minds, living righteously becomes an easy thing.
 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: Hebrews 8:10.

THE MIND IS A WEAPON

The mind is a weapon given to man to overcome every circumstance of life. It is like a quiver full of weapons. But what will fill your quiver and make it strong is the content you have in it. The absence of quality content in the minds of young folks is what makes them despair in the face of opposition.

Thus, it is imperative that one feeds his mind with information relevant to the age and system we are in presently.

Student’s Corner: Qualities of an Excellent Student – Determination




Albert Einstein, one of the greatest of genius who ever walked the surface of the earth had learning difficulties when he was young. He suffered from what is known as Asperger’s syndrome which made him socially unfit.


Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the world’s greatest artist in his childhood suffered from dyslexia, a condition that made him write backwards from right to left in a mirror image. This condition also made him use incorrect spellings.



Agatha Christie, one of the greatest mystery authors was unable to write legibly. Christie suffered from dysgraphia – a learning disorder that affects penmanship, spelling and arithmetic. Due to her poor handwriting, she had to dictate her mysteries and romance novels to someone who would write them down.

Agatha Christie


There’s one more nab, Thomas Edison – the man who invented the light bulb.
Thomas’s teacher said he was too stupid to know anything. Thomas got fired from his first two jobs because he was “unproductive ”. He ventured into inventing and from there, he created one of the world’s greatest inventions till date. He made 10, 000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb before he finally succeeded.



He made a statement which blew me off. He said “I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won’t work” – powerful words there!


Now why did I bring up these great guys?


I want you, dear student, to see that there was something common to all of them;



DETERMINATION!


They were all determined to make a difference and excel in their different fields.



They all had tangible and adequate reasons to quit and give up, but they chose not to.



None of them was born a genius! They all had disabilities but they determined to excel despite the odds that were stacked against them.

WHAT IS DETERMINATION? 👨‍🏫


1. Determination is willingness to stand firm no matter the circumstances.


2. It is a situation where strong desire to achieve something can not be shaken by anyone or anything no matter how hard they try.


3. It is a situation wherby you are resolute something no matter how long or how hard it takes.



It is a factor you must develop if you truly want to excel in the academic world and in any other sphere of human existence.





Daniel 1 vs 8;
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king`s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.


Daniel was determined to separate himself from the king’s meat. He and his friends decided to take just pulse and water for THREE GOOD YEARS!

Who does that? 😲🤔



You might not know what pulse is but let me help you. Pulse are edible seed crops from the legume family such as beans.


Now imagine feeding on beans and water for three years!

But that is the sign of true determination.


A determined person must be ready to let go of certain things no matter how attractive they may be.


Let’s run through verse 17 of the same chapter.


Daniel 1 vs 17;
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.


You see that up there?
God himself blessed them above their counterparts.

The twentieth verse says;

And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”


TEN TIMES BETTER!






That’s how far and how high determination can take you.


A determined person can never be put to shame. It may take years, you may get ridiculed, it may look impossible but as long as the determination is there, you will surely excel in your studies.



You are no dullard! All you need is a determined spirit – a spirit that is ready to keep studying until you get the result you desire.





If Albert Einstein, who was born with severe and incurable diseases could become a world renowned scientist, you too can become the genius student you aspire to be.

No one is born an excellent student; excellent students are made.

Tolu-Taiwo Victor

This article was written by Tolu-Taiwo Victor

Students’ Corner: The Time Factor

Becoming an excellent student arguably requires certain resources which range from funds to enough textbooks, guides etc. One might not have access or full control of these things, but a resource that a student has full control over is ‘Time’.

You are in control of your time! No one else has control of it. Your lecturers might only have a portion of it, but you own your time.

The Time Factor is what every student must be able to use for his/her academic growth


Ecclesiastes 3 vs 1;
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (Ecclesiastes 3:1|KJV)


When the Bible said to, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”, it literally meant, “There’s a time for everything ”.



It never shortlisted it to a particular thing.


Students today develop problems when it comes to PRIORITIZING and meeting up with a set time especially time to read and give answers to waiting assignments.



Someone once made a joke, he said “Even if you give students a whole year for an assignment, you will definitely find many of them doing the assignments a night before submission ”.


I laughed when I heard this though it is painfully true.


The only time you find a lot of students reading is actually a day to exams or tests and this is sadly painful.


Then you see them blaming the teacher or lecturers for giving them low grades.



Throughout the semester or term, all you find them doing is anything but studying.


Having fun isn’t wrong but having it at the wrong time is wrong and dangerous to one’s academic growth.


Remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10 vs 42?



He said, “But one thing is needful”.


In that text, Jesus didn’t mean to say cooking wasn’t necessary, all he meant to say was “At that moment, there was something more important than cooking”.


Having fun and being social is an essential part of every human’s life but when you prioritize it above the needful – your studies, you are wasting precious time – time you could invest in learning something new or gaining more knowledge about a particular course.



We all have our Achilles’ heel when it comes to studying. No one is perfect in all subjects; but the time you devote to gaining mastery of your least favourite subjects determine whether it becomes your strength or remains your downfall.

There exists a law of consistency which states that the way to gain mastery of a thing or course is to study and practice it repeatedly. Spend time daily studying your academic work.



Time lost is lost forever – it can never be gotten back. So what do you do with you time as a student?


A wise man once said, “Time, is an asset of equality. Everyone has 24hours, no one has 25 hours so use yours well”.


The key to a successful and fun-filled school session is total commitment and hard work. Read when the time to read comes, the fun can wait.

APPLICATION

1. Write down the list of courses you’re doing this session as well as the recommended texts for those topics

2. Apportion at least thirty minutes to studying each of those courses daily.

3. Be candid with yourself; the day must not pass without you completing the thirty minutes devoted to each subject.

4. Ensure you celebrate yourself for time spent by getting a good nap or challenging a friend to a quiz based on the studied course

5. Use your night time properly.

6. Overtime, increase the number of minutes spent on each course.

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