How to Cultivate the Magnetic Power of Positive Influence

Dear reader, welcome to another moment of inspiration and motivation. What does it take to be a man of great power and influence? What does it take to impact lives positively? What is the secret of being a person of positive influence? Or how can you acquire the magnetic power of positive influence?  To answer this question, let me narrate a story that helps bring to light the answers in an inspiring manner.

Long time ago, there lived an amiable and famous actor. For years, the famous actor continued to entertain the audience with his lively performance. Any time he ended his performance and was about to exit the stage, he would recite Psalm 23 in the Bible. Each time he recited Psalm 23, the audience would go gaga and applaud him out from the stage.

But on a particular occasion after ending his performance for the day and was about to recite Psalm 23, a young man stepped into the stage and asked the actor to permit him to recite Psalm 23 for that day. The young man recited Psalm 23 slowly and with a soft voice.

By the time he finished reciting it, the crowd became crowd. There was no applause, no cheering and no screaming. Rather, there were heard voices of people weeping. The crowd, moved by the man’s recitation, wept.

The actor was bewildered. He had been reciting Psalm 23 to the audience for many years and each time he did that, the audience applauded and cheered him. The audience was never moved the way it was moved that night. In his bewilderment, he asked what spell he used on the crowd to move them to weep at the “mere” recitation of Psalm 23.

The young man replied: “well sir, you know the Psalm, but I know the shepherd.”

Knowing the Positive Influencer

Here lies the secret of acquiring magnetic power of Positive influence. It is not the knowledge you have acquired that matters. The university you attended or the Bible knowledge you stored in your mind doesn’t matter either. Colourful university degrees and certificates are good, but they don’t necessarily translate to meaningful achievements.

In life, it is who you know and connect with that influences your life. Influence is contagious. You can be influenced positively or negatively depending on the personality you are connecting with. Who you associate and connect with determines your level of influence.

The fact of life is that we all want to be a person of massive influence. We all want to make meaningful impact on people’s lives, but the way we go about it leaves much to be desired. More often, we pursue the worthless and mundane things instead of connecting and associating with positive-minded persons.

The Book of God, the Bible says: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17). I think what this implies is that it takes a positive-minded person to influence another person positively.

It is not enough to be knowledgeable. You may know a lot of things and yet you may still not make meaningful impact in life. Knowledge is not enough. You must not only acquire knowledge, you must also connect with persons of positive influence.

The young man in the story above stepped on the stage only once and influenced the audience in a manner that the famous actor had never done throughout his entire career as an entertainer and performer.

The young man was right when he attributed his power of influence to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The actor only knew the Psalm, but he did not know the Shepherd. And because he only knew the Psalm, his level of influence was limited.  The young man on the other hand did not only know the Psalm, he knew the Lord, His Shepherd!

In retrospect and even in eternity, you will agree with me that Jesus is one of the most positive-minded and influential persons that will ever walk across the face of the earth. He is the centerpiece and foundation of Christendom. In fact, the word: “Christian,” “Christianity” or “Christendom” is derived from “Christ” Jesus.

By his amazing power and influence, he transformed Peter, the impulsive disciple into a “Rock.” He convinced the doubting Thomas many a time. He remolded corrupt tax officials into saints. He transformed a murderer and persecutor of the Christian faith into the most rugged and “chiefest” apostle.

Jesus’ positive influence robbed on His disciples so much that they were seen as a threat to the foundation of Judaism, having filled “Jerusalem with their teachings.” The disciples’ fame and influence spread so much that it made the people to take a long look at them, only to realize that they had been with Jesus.

It was the disciples’ positive influence that made the people to quickly remember that they were connected to Jesus. The behaved positively like Jesus. The literally lived the positive lifestyle that Jesus lived and instructed them to live. Consequently, they themselves become persons of power and positive influence to their generation.

Any person who truly knows the Good Shepherd will not only know the Psalm, he will touch lives positively as well. Are you connected to the Good Shepherd or is it the Psalm that you know? If you are truly connected to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, you will, in one way or the other be a positive influence to your generation.

ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO BE BENEFICIARIES OF HIS GRACE, LOVE AND MERCY CAN ACTUALLY BECOME A DISPENSER OF HIS GRACE TO HUMANITY.

Like the light which cannot be hid, any person who has truly been with Jesus will reflect the light of Jesus that he has become. Dear friend, do you want your life to count? Do you want to be a blessing to humanity? Then listen: it is not what you know that counts but who you know.

Don’t just know the Psalm, know the Shepherd. The actor in the above story knew the Psalm but he did not know the Shepherd that is being talked about in the Psalm. The young man on the other hand knew, not only the Psalm; he knew the Shepherd as well. By virtue of his knowledge and connection with the Shepherd, he was more influential than the actor.

It is not possible to be connected with a man of positive influence without being positively influenced. His positive influence will rub off on you. You must be positively influenced before you can successfully influence others.

The extent of your knowledge and connection with a person of positive influence determines your level of influence. If your level of connectivity is shallow, your degree of influence will be shallow; but if your level of connectivity is deep, your power and scope of influence will be wider.

You cannot be connected to the Author of life and be lifeless. You cannot be connected to the streams of life and die of thirst. You cannot be a light of the world and be overpowered by darkness. Never!

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO THE SHEPHERD THAT MAKES THE PSALM MEANINGFUL. Take the Shepherd out of the Psalm and all you have is want, penury, insecurity, defeat, failure, fear, etc.

Making the Word More Impactful

The actor in the story above systematically recited psalm 23 each he ended his performance  and wanted to exit the stage. This drew applause from the crowd each time he did that. He used Psalm 23 to entertain and add credibility to himself and to his career as an actor. He became a person of influence with Psalm 23.

But the extent of his influence is not that remarkable. He came to this realization after the young man stepped on to the platform and influenced the audience in a way that he never did all the years he had been reciting Psalm 23 to his audience.

In his bewilderment, the actor asked the young man the secret of his powerful influence. The young man replied that the secret is in knowing the Shepherd and not just knowing the Psalm.

There is a lesson here: the Word of God will become more meaningful to us, if we go beyond knowing His Word to knowing Him. The secret of power and influence is in knowing God, not just His Word. Saint Paul said: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3:10).

Secret of Daniel’s Power and Influence

After power comes influence. The extent of your power is rooted in your knowledge of God. The Bible says: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits” (Dan. 11:32). You will make only little impact if all you know is God’s Word. But if you go far to knowing the Almighty God, whom you are studying His Word, then, you will make bigger impact with His Word.

Power is not in the Psalm, but in the Shepherd. The Shepherd in the Psalm is what makes the Psalm impactful. The Psalm is more impactful in the hand of he who knows the Shepherd. The secret of being a man of great influence is in knowing the Shepherd that is talked about in the Psalm. You can’t massively influence the world with God’s Word without being actually connected to God. God uses MOSTLY those that are fully connected to Him.

Do you want to be a person of great power and influence? Then, do not just know the Word of God; know the Almighty God, whose Word you are using, to impact lives positively. What does it take to know God or how does one know God?

To answer these questions, let me start by saying that knowing God goes beyond believing that God exists. You can’t claim to really know someone, if all you know about that someone is his name. Similarly, you can’t claim to really know someone if you have only seen the person or someone told you about the person.

The knowledge of God which produces power and influence is knowing God intimately. Daniel knew God intimately and so did great exploits. He was constantly in touch with God. He prayed constantly to God, a habit that people had come to know and which his enemies tried unsuccessfully to use against him to destroy him. His power and influence was so much that even when he was thrown into the den of lions, they lions did not hurt me. God shut the mouth of the lions in order not to hurt Daniel.

You will be a creature of power and influence when you learn to connect to your Source. Daniel’s relationship with God is so cordial that he became a very influential person even while in Babylon as one of the Israeli captives.

He influenced Babylonian kingdom to the extent that a decree was made that everybody in the kingdom must worship the God of Daniel (Almighty God). At the height of his power and influence, Daniel was elevated from the status of a captive to that of a ruler in Babylon.

Dear reader, it does not matter where you are or the condition you find yourself. You can be a person of great power and influence. Like Daniel, your influence will bring you favour and victory. Your relationship and connection with God will translate you to a person of great power and influence. And you will become a light to your world. As a light,  you are expected to illuminate your world.

Stay connected to your power source so that you can influence the world positively with His Word.

Until I come your way soon, go and be a person of great power and influence by following the instructions contained in this article. Go and live victoriously!