Discerning and Yielding to CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM | John Giftah

0:01 Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy

0:06 place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and

0:12 take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. We're

0:17 a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, and Christian

0:24 discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created

0:29 for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world

0:34 record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John

0:39 Gifta International. Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. Yes,

0:54 we live in a world where it's all about you know what. It's my

0:58 life. I get to choose and make decisions. It's just me. I

1:03 am the center of focus. You know, everything is revolved around I,

1:07 myself, me and I. So it's always in that regard. And sometimes,

1:14 you know, even if you hear some good advice, even if you

1:18 get some good constructive criticism, that will help you make better decisions, that

1:23 will help you grow or develop and mature, or that will help you in

1:29 towards your life, your personal life, your finance, your ministry. You're

1:34 calling your business, your career, your relationships, anything under the sun.

1:37 Sometimes you can think that you know what, who are you to tell me?

1:41 You know, I do need to listen to you. Who are you?

1:44 Or do you think that you know better about my life than I do?

1:48 No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to listen to you. So

1:51 that's the way the world is today. You know, they find it hard

1:55 to listen to good advice. They find it hard to accept any element of

1:59 advice. But this is just something that I was just listening to our reading,

2:05 perhaps from Proverbs chapter fifteen, and I just wanted to share that with

2:08 you guys. And it's from the Nalty version, and it says in verse

2:13 thirty one, if you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home

2:17 among the wise verse thirty two. If you reject discipline, you only arm

2:23 yourself. But if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding. See

2:29 the scripture is saying this very clearly. If you listen to constructive criticism,

2:34 listen to this. You don't have to listen to every criticism. Right.

2:37 A lot of people criticize me, to mock me, you know, even

2:39 in terms of the ministry that are those who are just trying to criticize every

2:44 move I make. They're trying to pinpoint or make fun of, or mark

2:49 or criticize or you know, try to de mean whatever I do. There

2:53 are some people whose only aim is to find something that they don't agree with,

2:59 or they find some mistake, or they find something that they want to

3:02 start arguing about. But there are those who have a genuine heart towards me

3:09 and they want to give me constructive criticism. Right. You have to understand,

3:15 you need to discern between what is a constructive criticism and what is a

3:21 negative criticism. Right. You have to get to that place where you ask

3:25 God for discernment, You ask God for wisdom, you ask God leading,

3:30 because the Holy Spirit will lead you through because you will whenever it's a constructive

3:35 criticism, you will have the peace from the Holy Spirit, knowing that this

3:38 is from God. Okay, you will know that this is the Lord speaking.

3:42 It will be something that a Lord will confirm to you over and over

3:45 and say, hey, you know what. You have to pay attention to

3:46 this, right, and you will have that inspiration or the ability to accept

3:52 it when you when you have the right heart to receive that correction, you

3:57 will be able to do it. But if it is a negative to criticism

4:00 that puts you down instead of building you up, you don't have to worry

4:03 about it. Right, So you need to be clear on this whether it's

4:06 a constructive criticism or is it something that's going to destroy you? Okay,

4:13 is it something that's going to build you up, that's going to help you,

4:15 And is it coming from a place where they really care about you and

4:18 they want the best for you, or is it something they just are sharing

4:23 from a place where maybe they're speaking from their experience, or maybe they're speaking

4:28 without understanding your calling, or maybe they're speaking from a place of fear or

4:32 you know, a lack of ability to have the vision or any of that

4:36 sort, or maybe just because they don't care about you, or maybe just

4:40 because they don't like you. Forget and throw negative criticism out, but hold

4:49 on to those constructive criticism. Take that because I've seen in my life,

4:55 like you know, sometimes sometimes you know, there are people who even good

5:00 people, maybe when they share sometimes they maybe constructive criticisms. Even if they

5:05 give five points, there could be one or two that you do understand that.

5:10 Okay, you know what they're not people to understand my calling. Just

5:12 leave it. But there are other three that you can work on to improve,

5:15 to develop, to grow so that it will help you faster towards what

5:20 God has called you for? Are you getting what I'm saying right? Um?

5:25 To be honest, even even this podcast, okay, I'll you honestly,

5:28 I was releasing normal podcasts on on WhatsApp for a long period of time

5:33 since twenty thirteen. Okay, nineteenth of September twenty thirteen is when I started

5:40 sending audio voice notes. I didn't know what it was called. I didn't

5:43 know what it was called podcasts. I was sending it regularly, and somebody

5:47 actually criticized me for it in a way, like why are you doing this?

5:51 It's of no use at least you should do it online. And you

5:56 know, initially when the person told me this, I was like, what

5:59 does this person? And even mean, okay, I had no clue.

6:01 But when I accepted that to see work on what is it better? And

6:08 then I started learning towards online podcasts and all of those things, that's where

6:13 where we are today. But now when I look back, I'm like,

6:15 oh my gosh, why didn't I know about this before, because whatever I

6:19 did on WhatsApp way back and from twenty thirteen all the way to twenty twenty

6:24 when I actually started these podcasts, whatever I did, all those data is

6:28 just in the past. There's no tracing back. There's no how do I

6:33 say this. There's they were all good to help me grow and mature and

6:38 all of that. But you know, I can't even go back and revisit

6:42 or share, or listen or any of that. It's all gone. But

6:46 because of that one constructive criticism, or we are today and because of the

6:50 podcast, you know, growing and all of these things. The Lord had

6:54 opened many doors and so many things that came into my life because of that

6:58 one constructive criticism. You know, sometimes it's best that we get to the

7:02 place where we are welcoming criticism, we are welcoming corrections. It was hard

7:10 when I had to make the transition from you know what I was familiar with,

7:14 what WhatsApp to the online pot platform. To be honest, many people

7:19 stop listening. The people who used to listen on WhatsApp stopped listening now to

7:24 these podcasts, saying, you know, it's so hard, I can't click

7:26 on a link and you know, stuff like that. But I had to,

7:30 you know, make that correction because that's what helped me faster and step

7:34 into the next level. Are you kidding what I'm saying? Right where we

7:39 started getting people listening to this from all over the world, from so many

7:43 countries, and so many of you listen. I'm so grateful that all that

7:46 happened because of one constructive criticism, one correction, don't do this, stop

7:54 that, and do this or or or or even um even in terms of

8:00 the quality of content. In many occasions, that's what happened, right,

8:05 But they're also some constructive criticisms, but they didn't bad witness with my spirit,

8:11 I didn't take it. You see. That's where you need to come,

8:13 where you have the humility to accept, but at the same time you

8:18 discern what's for you and what's not for you, right, because that is

8:22 something that's lacking in the body of Christ. I've seen a lot of young

8:28 people. Um, when I look at them, they get you know,

8:31 they're right when they start. I think when I look back, I mean,

8:35 maybe even I have us like that. I don't know. I wanted

8:37 opportunities, and these people are like that. They're they're waiting for opportunities,

8:41 and if somebody tells them, you know, suggestions on making their life better,

8:46 how to present better, or how to approach better, you know they

8:50 just can't accept. They're like you, Oh, are you to tell me

8:52 I'm the annointing of God? I have the annoyinting of God. I'm the

8:54 annointed of God? Who are you to tell me that? Kind of a

8:58 lot of where they cannot accept connection? But I pray that you, guys,

9:03 are not that. I pray that God will fill you that humility to

9:07 receive correction, receive some questions of warnings order receive that constructive criticism so that

9:18 your life will never be the same for the middle. Amen, God bless

9:22 you. You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We

9:33 hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you.

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10:26 God bless you