Ten Schools a Man Never Graduate From By Dayo Adeyemi
My Alma Mater, Africa College of Theology, is about to graduate another set of students. I remember my own graduation ceremony with joy. But every graduate who walks that stage will wake up the next day that there are schools with no convocation and no certificate that will ever be issued. In these schools and classes, your modules run daily, the assessments keep coming, and the degree is never framed on a wall. God builds real men through the schools of life. A man’s enroll in to the school which degree do not expire.
In this Powershift Devotional, join me to go through ten life schools every man must stay enrolled in if he wants to shift into all God has called him to be.
In the School of Humility, no man will ever get even a basic primary leaving school certificate that says, “I am now a graduate of humility.” Life has modules for testing how proud you are. The day a man thinks he is too big to be humble is the day pride starts marking his script with red ink. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6). The College of Faith runs lifelong lectures. You pass one exam, and another test appears. New valleys, new mountains, new instructions to trust what you cannot see. God often closes your eyes so your spirit can open. There is no PhD in the college of faith, just the basic certificate. Faith is a degree of ever continuous believing. The principal of faith keeps you focused on him.
The University of Prayer has no final semester. The greatest men of God I know still kneel daily to surrender. You cannot outsource your prayers. Your course mates cannot write this exam for you. In this university, your mouth must open and your ears must listen. Some men think they have graduated from prayer because they have grown in status or leadership. But the only certificate prayer gives is fresh fire. “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
In the Academy of Love, there are no short courses. Love is an endless curriculum. You cannot cheat or copy someone’s answers. Love trains us daily through difficult Faculties, undeserved offences, broken promises, and calls for forgiveness when we want revenge. Love tests you when you must bless those who do not clap for you. Love stretches your capacity when you are called to lay down your rights. Love sometimes has pains you can’t graduate from. Every real man is enrolled in the Faculty of Repentance. Many want to skip these lectures, but sin demands we attend all the classes. Repentance is not a single class in a week. It is a course we must keep passing. The supervisor in this faculty is the Holy Spirit, reminding you that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Keep your enrollment active.
The Seminary of Endurance are lectures are in hard days, hard people, and school of hard knocks. The course demand sacrifices always. In the seminary of endurance, you can’t drop courses. If you drop out, you repeat the class. God does not graduate soft men. He graduates men who finish well.
The Department of Forgiveness will give you a re-sit exam again and again. You think you have forgiven enough, then betrayal knocks again. You forgive a brother, a parent, a spouse, a church, a boss and a wife again and again. You learn to release debts no one else sees. Un-forgiveness is the student loan you cannot afford. Log in to your Moodle to see which course is remaining for you to register for. This is one course that examines your heart always.
The Institute of Discipleship requires you remain a student of Christ for life. You learn to submit and resubmit. A man who stops learning stops leading. A disciple who stops following stop being a student. Your discipleship classes never expire with age, tithes or titles. In this Institute, you must keep your student’s id card for life. The Sunday School of Spiritual Warfare is not an elective every man picks as alternative course. This is the core course where the battle is real for real men. You fight for your family. your faith and your friends. The enemy never cancels your exams. You keep reading for new insights on your knees bent. This is one exam you can’t afford to fail for the enemies do not want you to score an A.
Finally, the Centre of God’s Word is a library you must be in to study. No man has a masters’ degree to master Scripture. We study it, but it studies us more. We teach it, but it teaches us deeper. The more you dig, the more you find treasure. Stay enrolled. Attend all the courses. Read always. No matter who you are, brother, never graduate from the presence of God. That is the Catalyst Men’s way. Real men who remains perpetually in the presence of the true Dean of Life, school or no school.
Bible Verse \"I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.\" Psalm 16:8
Reflection The Dean of my life, how do I stay in your presence without blemish.
Prayer Father, keep my heart teachable in every season. Holy Spirit, be my supervisor in the hidden lectures of life. Amen.