The Lincolns , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Out Now: The Magician (The Lincolns 11)

Dayo Benson

Hi lovelies,

I hope you’re well at this time. Here in the UK, we’re still in lockdown. I think this is week 5. The days have all started to blend together. It’s amazing that I know it’s Thursday today, but that’s only because I have a new release 🙂

The Magician

Xy Lincoln has no idea his life is about to change as he takes the stage to premiere a brand new line of tricks.

Everything is going perfectly until the climax of the show when he tries to levitate the whole audience and his power vanishes.

Then he senses her.

In the audience, a woman is praying. And Xy is powerless to continue his show if she doesn’t stop.

That woman is Sian Michaels. Beautiful, famous and pretty much perfect. But most of Xy’s brothers have followed Christian women out of the occult and he’s determined it won’t happen to him. He will pull out all the stops to make Sian lose her faith rather than let her make him lose his craft.

Then the Lincoln family is thrown into chaos when a powerful Practitioner kidnaps Xy’s favorite nephew, Paul (Saul’s son). Xy’s power is no match for this invisible enemy. But Sian has all these ideas about God’s power being supreme. Dangerous ideas that Xy doesn’t even want to consider.

Follow Xy Lincoln as he tries to save his nephew, grapples with what it means to truly be powerful, and discovers a shocking secret about his ‘deceased’ brother, Junior.

Get your copy today:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords

I hope you enjoy it.

God bless & stay safe xx

Christian Living , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12 Rules to Live By

Dayo Benson

Image result for rules

There are a million rules or guidelines that govern our lives each day. The government gives us some. Employers give us more. Churches have their rules, too. But have you ever stopped to think about what your own personal code of conduct is? How you will choose to act in certain situations. What kind of person do you want to be in this life?

Let me share some of the things I strive to live by.

1. Make the most of the present moment

I’m a dreamer. I have a very vivid imagination. I’m exactly who they’re talking about when they say introverts have such a rich inner life that they often prefer their own thoughts over external interaction.

This ties in with the fact that I’m often so future-focused. I love planning, goal-setting, ruminating on my three-year plan, five-year plan, ten-year plan (yes, I have those) and basically just plotting world domination.

But it’s good to be still and know that God is looking down, watching me, orchestrating my life. It’s good, critical even, to look at the beauty around me, get present with my children who are growing so fast it makes me dizzy, and appreciate everything I’m blessed with in this present moment.

2. Focus on imagining a bright future rather than replaying memories of the past

The past is not a good place to live. So many of us can’t move forward because we’re bound by memories of the past. Learn from the past and move on from it. Nobody can move forward looking in the rearview mirror. On the flip side, if you think about the past because it’s better than the present ask God for a new vision for your future.

Image result for woman praying3. Be grateful for even the ‘little’ things

What I consider little things: food, water, electricity, etc. are NOT little things. So many people in this world don’t have these things.

4. Know your purpose and get after it

Purpose gives life meaning. Impacting other people’s lives has to be one of the greatest blessings there is. And when your desire is to leave this place better, even if in some small way, than how you met it, you won’t have time for drama and negativity. Which leads me nicely to the next point.

5. Tune out negativity
There is enough negativity in the world. I want to be someone who stands out when God looks down. Someone He notices because I’m being Godly, shining His light and making the world a better place with my attitude.

6. Discuss ideas not people

When you discuss people it’s very rarely positive. Ideas usually center around something that doesn’t yet exist in the world, at least not in the way that you are envisioning it. Ideas/creativity are part of what make us resemble God’s image.

7. Send the naysayers love and keep moving

Jesus said love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Enough said. Hate them and you become like them.

Image result for journey8. Understand that life is a journey

Everything isn’t going to happen all at once. It’s about taking another step each day and letting God work everything out according to His plan. Humans haven’t yet figured out how to teleport. We still have to travel through time and space. It’s the same with God’s plan. There’s no teleporting to the end of the road. You must walk each step.

9. Refuse to make decisions based on emotion

Take time out. Read a book. Talk it over with a trusted person. Go for a walk. And only when you have gained control of your emotions should you decide. This is huge.

10. Know that consistency is usually more important than speed

I used to feel like I’ve wasted a day if I haven’t added 10,000 words to my current work in progress. Then I decided I was going to ratchet that up to 13,000 words a day. And…life sucked. I was mentally drained. Exhausted. Tired. Then God led me to this concept of how consistency is better than speed.

Writing just a manageable number of words a day is better than overstretching myself to write an insane (for me–some other authors manage it) number of words and then burning out and having to keep stopping and starting. I can think of so many areas of life in which this one applies, but I’ll leave it there.

Image result for forgive11. Forgive others

Forgiving that person who hurt you isn’t saying that what they did is okay. It’s saying that you no longer give them and what they did the power to hurt you or the right to dominate your thoughts. Let it go.

12. Forgive yourself

Sometimes this is harder than forgiving someone else. Release your self-judgement and self-criticism. Stop remembering what God has forgotten.

***

Which ‘rule’ most resonates with you? What would you add?

New Year Planning , , , , , , , , , ,

3 Reasons to Prepare for the New Year

Dayo Benson

Hey guys,

I’m back with another post about getting ready for the new year. (You can either watch the video or skip below if you prefer to read).

https://youtu.be/9C7sXUpPr1A

I’m one of those super future-focused people so I’ve been thinking about next year since around the end of October (no kidding). And I’m not saying it’s necessarily good to be like that. Being so future-focused isn’t always a good thing because I feel it can cause you to miss out on today because you’re so focused on tomorrow.

But January is just around the corner so it’s definitely time to start thinking about next year if you haven’t already. It’s good to plan and prepare. You shouldn’t wait until next year to decide what to do next year. Well, I guess you could do that, and it’s better late than never. But it’s also better early than late 🙂

Proverbs 24:27 says: Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house (NLT).

We want to build in this coming year. We want to develop. We want to grow and achieve. And the Bible is telling us that those things are good, but before you build, you need to plan and prepare.

So here are my 3 Reasons to prepare for the New Year:

1. Hit the ground running

Thorough preparation enables you to hit the ground running. I’ll give you a personal example of this. I’ve decided I want to share what I learn from my daily Bible reading with you guys next year using videos. I want to move away from blogging because I’m not very good at it, so I’ll be trying video blogs. So, daily Bible reading starts on January 1st. Now if I wait until January 1st to get started I’ll be behind because I would’ve done no preparation. I wouldn’t have bought a good enough camera, I wouldn’t have bought a camera tripod stand, and I wouldn’t have learned basic video editing. But I’ve been thinking about it and getting all the necessary gadgets together since October so I’m better prepared. And when January 1st comes around I can hit the ground running instead of wasting time trying to figure everything out.

So think about it. What do you need to do? Prepare for it now and put things in place so that you can just cut to the chase and get started.

2. Momentum

We all want to turn our lives around in the New Year. We all want next year to be amazing. We all want it to be a year of destiny, deliverance, promotion, progress. We all want to make positive changes next year. But here’s a news flash: We don’t have to wait for next year before we make positive changes. We can start experiencing deliverance and promotion and progress right now. The 1st of January really is no different to any other day. We can reflect now and start making positive changes right now and then when January rolls around we already have momentum.

3. Preparation is Positioning

But guess what? Lack of preparation is also positioning. Every action you take or don’t take is positioning. Lack of preparation is positioning you to stay on that hamster wheel that is going nowhere. To stay on that rocking chair and that treadmill, generating motion but no change of location, no transportation to anything new. Plenty of motion but no movement, no growth. Just the same old rhythm and the same old place spiritually, physically, healthwise, maritally, career-wise. Your preparation will determine your position. You either prepare and thereby position yourself for new and positive things, or you fail to prepare and position yourself for the same old status quo.

The choice is yours.

So those are three reasons to prepare for the new year. I hope you they’ve inspired you to get preparing. I’ll be back soon with another post on how to prepare for the new year. I’ve just told you why; next I’ll tell you how 🙂

God bless xx