War Room (Movie) Review: Power of Prayer

I decided to write my review about this movie because it saved my life, it got me back to track as a christian. 
Elizabeth Jordan (Priscilla Shirer), an appealing wife, mother and land specialists, has become exhausted of always quarreling with her absentminded spouse, Tony (T.C. Stallings), a hard-charging, regularly voyaging pharmaceutical organization rep who might have undermining his brain. However, before she can consider a visit to a separation legal counselor, she has the favorable luck — or, maybe all the more precisely, the phenomenal fortune — to run into Miss Clara (Karen Abercrombie), a feisty old woman whose Bible-pounding enthusiasm is pronounced to the point that even Tyler Perry's never-endingly outgoing Madea may observe her to be, well, excessive. (All the real characters in "War Room" are dark, which might be another motivation behind why some thought little of the motion picture's capacity to attract herds to megaplexes.)

Miss Clara is unashamedly and tirelessly inquisitive, if not out and out nosey, and rapidly divines that all is not right in Elizabeth's life. So she prompts the more youthful lady to beg, implore and after that beg some all the more, ideally in the segregation of a storage room changed over into a profound "war room" where she can glue Bible verses, lists of things to get and other uplifting material on the divider for simple reference. As Miss Clara sees it — and Elizabeth soon comes to concur — Elizabeth ought not invest her energy harping on Tony's numerous failings as a spouse, or his carelessness as a father to their little girl, Danielle (Alena Pitts). Maybe, she ought to be battling close by, not against, her errant spouse, producing a partnership to fight the one in charge of their misery: Satan.

On the planet as indicated by the Kendrick siblings, supernatural occurrences begin to happen right when somebody begins begging. Undoubtedly, at times all it takes is a couple of pleas to the Lord for a losing secondary school football group to start a triumph lap. (Look at 2006's "Confronting the Giants.") In "War Room," signs of celestial mediation are fairly more trite, yet just as supportive: When Tony eats out with a cutie amid a business trek, and thinks of her as offer of herself as pastry, he all of a sudden is hit with a furious stomach that requires a hurried race to the men's room. Cineastes, observe: This might qualify as the most interesting avoidance of a nearby experience since Doris Day advantageously gotten an anxious rash to disturb Cary Grant's passionate arrangements in "That Touch of Mink."

In any case, Tony doesn't begin to see the light and impart request to God time to his wife until he's let go from his employment — for skimming tests and afterward offering the stock — and finds, much shockingly and disgrace, that Elizabeth will keep on remaining by him. (Spoiler ahead.) One thing prompts another, for what appears like an any longer time than it ought to, and everything prompts a climactic twofold dutch jumprope competition where a group drove by Tony and Danielle claims a trophy. No, truly: That's what happens.

It's anything but difficult to snicker at the arrant creations and graceless dialog in the script penned by Alex and Stephen Kendrick. Be that as it may, it's significantly less demanding to respect the influential genuineness and enthusiastic power of the lead exhibitions by Shirer and Stallings, who don't rise above their material to such an extent as instill it with conviction. As an executive, Alex Kendrick still has much to find out about pacing — "War Room" could be almost a half-hour shorter after wise trimming of dreary or pointless scenes — yet there can be no disclaiming his capacity to convey adequate force and validity to key scenes including articulations of confidence and supplications to God.

The creation values show that the Kendrick siblings keep on raising bigger spending plans from task to venture, and, more vital, they know how to spend their cash carefully. The soundtrack showcases able commitments by different Christian recording specialists — most strikingly, Stephen Curtis Chapman's "Warrior," the sort of shutting credits subject ensured to give gatherings of people a fantastic surge as they leave the theater or turn off their TV.

War Room takes after the undeniably dismal example well known to any individual who has seen more than a modest bunch of Christian movies. Karen Abercrombie and Priscilla Shirer are anything but difficult to like as a profoundly develop senior from one viewpoint and an ambushed housewife on the other whom the more established lady educates to beg. T. C. Stallings plays a compliment character: Tony, the not-yet philandering but rather not precisely steadfast spouse to Shirer's Elizabeth. The ladies convey lines like "Demon, you just got your butt kicked!" and "Do a reversal to damnation where you have a place, and allow my family to sit unbothered!" with the imperative sincerity to make viewers trust that they accept.

Be that as it may, accept what precisely? That request to God is great?

Since that is by all accounts the film's postulation, and it is so on edge to underline and show that theory that it casts off any piece of portrayal or plot episode that isn't quickly and specifically attached to Clara's or Elizabeth's supplication to God life.

Tangential inquiry: are locations to Satan petitions to God? I thought that it was odd that in a motion picture about the centrality and need of request to God, the characters are indicated fighting with Satan more regularly than taking care of God. This is by all accounts an unobtrusive path in which the film—and perhaps the strain of Evangelicalism it is made for—plays with transforming request to God into a work.

Elizabeth's supplications to God themselves are inferred through montages and post-it notes, and Miss Clara's directions appear to have more to do with controlling the outer environment than the substance or execution of request to God. The film's one particular suggestion—you ought to have a space committed solely to petition to God in your house—is unquestionably not terrible. But at the same time it's one of a few spots in which the film is all the more solely coordinated towards the wealthy viewer who has that space to save than it maybe figures it out.

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What is the difference between Zuckerberg , Steve Jobs and you

I just finished listening to the key note address and I feel it would be helpful for my dear readers; He is loved by many, loathed by some but few will deny the power of his word. It is infectious!
On Saturday, Dr Mensa Otabil Founder of the International Central Gospel Church infected and provoked a mass of young entrepreneurs with yet another signature performance, a destiny changing motivational message that will linger in the minds of many, for many years to come.
He was to give a keynote address at Albert Ocran’s springboard convocation programme, but he did far more than that.

He planted, watered and nurtured a seed of holy anger in the army of entrepreneurs, hoping that anger will eventually germinate into fruits that will reverse the backwardly suffocating systems, laws and policies in Ghana; systems that served only to frustrate and kill as many dreams and businesses as possible.
He used the parable of onions and travolator (a moving pavement for transporting pedestrians, as in a shopping precinct or an airport) to tell the great but annoying story of why Mark Zuckerberg, a 31 year old computer programmer, is richer than him (Otabil), his wife; richer than president Mahama and the MPs and richer than all Ghanaians combined.
Otabil feels angry and insulted by the development because Zuckerberg, he reckoned, is not any more intelligent than the thousands of computer programmers in Ghana but the American has a better environment; a country of opportunities.
“What is the difference between Zuckerberg and you; Steve Jobs and you? Otabil asked rhetorically. “It is not brains, it is the environment,” he answered sullenly.
Where is our travolator and sulfur-free onion?
The preacher man told a story of how he travelled out of the country and with the aid of a travolator he beat a young man to a walking contest. The man decided to speedwalk but used a travolator at some point. Even though the man heeled-and-toed with agility he could not beat Otabil because the travolator pushed him faster to his destination.
He told another story, he read in a book, of a US company seeking to grow onions that will not sting the eyes. For a man who had shed onion-stinging- tears in the past from his kitchen in Accra, he will certainly wonder how an American company will grow new species of onions without its notorious characteristic. But the ‘useless’ book he was reading in the plane suddenly became useful, revealing, that the new species of onions will be planted in a “non-sulfuric ground.”
He learnt a new thing. Onions sting eyes because they are always grown and nurtured in a soil full of sulfur but the US company is coming with a new offer. “The reason why the onions will not sting people’s eyes is because it was going to be grown in sulfur free soil.”
“It is not the nature of onions to sting eyes. It is the environment it is nurtured in that makes it sting eyes.
“It struck me that a person can be so good but if he is planted in a wrong environment, he is going to turn up so bad,” Otabil said.
He wondered how much sulfur was in the Ghanaian environment that made many dreams, business break down in tears.
“What have we put in the environment, in the soil that is killing the dream of young men and young women. How can people go to university and for years and not know what to do? How can people with potential not fulfill their potential?
“If you take a simple area like football, the greatest Ghanaian players now were all onions that were planted in a different soil. They had to go outside Ghana for their talents to become world class. Do you think if Michael Essien had continued playing in the Ghana league we will call his name? No! Is he talented? Yes.
No matter how big the dream is, Otabil says if the environment is without a travolator or a sulfur free soil, you will achieve something but ultimately you will become the village champion amongst global players.
“The challenge for nations like Ghana is not the challenge of talented citizens. It is the challenge of poisonous environment. An environment that has been poisoned by ordinariness, by mediocrity and sometimes by a clear agenda to destroy talents.
“And how can a nation be great when its systems are fighting the talent of its people? he asked.
It is good to dream because dream is free but fight to get a better environment for the dream to thrive, he challenged the young men and women.
“We have to force the politicians to start thinking of us; of our lives; our future and dreams. And the only way to do that is for you to start thinking not in party terms but in policy terms,”
“Because if that doesn’t happen dreamers will die with their dreams not realised,” he added.
What is your dream; fight for a better travolator and a sulfuric free soil, to make your dreams come to pass.

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Never Satisfied With Our Dreams

This post was originally posted on my friend's blog here
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20

At times we feel as if we could impress God with all we are trying to do for Him and His church. Yet God has yet to be impressed with even the most grandiose human aspirations (Ps. 8:3-4). You will never set a goal so big or attempt a task so significant that God does not have something far greater that He could do in and through your life. Saul of Tarsus worked harder than anyone else to impress God with his efforts, only to discover that his greatest achievements were but rubbish compared to God?s will for his life (Phil. 3:7-8).

Our problem is that we become too easily enamored with our own plans. If we are attempting to do noble or difficult things, we assume that we must be experiencing the maximum potential for our lives and that God must, therefore, be pleased with us. Until we have heard from God, we cannot even imagine all that our lives could become or all that God could accomplish through us.
We need to remind ourselves that the Father sees the ?big picture,? that His power far exceeds our limited imagination. We must set aside our own agenda, however lofty.

We must never become satisfied with our own dreams, for they are finite at best. When we follow God?s direction we will witness things happening in our lives that can only be explained by His powerful presence. How could we be satisfied with anything less?

This post was originally posted on my friend's blog here 

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The difference between billionaires and the rest of us, a lesson from Steve Jobs

In a Quora thread answering the question "Do billionaires know something that normal people don't?" Patrick Methieson noted a Jobs quote that encapsulates the "billionaire mentality":

"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."

It's something that all wealthy people tend to internalize, explained Methieson, a venture investor who has worked with billionaires: "Billionaires realize that the world is pliable. With enough pressure applied to an endeavor, sufficiently resourceful people really can change the world. Contrast that with the rest of us who are more likely to assume the state of the world as static, or given.

" Self-made millionaire Steve Siebold, who interviewed over 1,200 of the world's wealthiest people before writing "How Rich People Think," echoes this belief.

 Rich people have an action mentality and are problem solvers. "While the masses are waiting to pick the right numbers and praying for prosperity, the great ones are solving problems," he writes. This doesn't mean they're smarter than the average person, as Jobs noted. "They are just more strategic," Siebold explains.

 "When the rich need money, they don't wonder if it's possible, they simply begin creating new ideas that solve problems." And "the bigger the problem you solve, the more money you make," he says. At the end of the day, getting rich is an inside job.

 "Let’s set the record straight once and for all: Anyone can become wealthy," Siebold writes. "It has nothing to do with your education or where you come from. It's not what you do that guarantees wealth, it's what you are."

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