7 KEYS to Conquer Tough-times

7 KEYS to Conquer Tough-times

Pastor Joe Shitlhangu

Edited By Pastor H.D. Makhubele

7 KEYS to Conquer Tough-times

Pastor Joe Shitlhangu

Edited By Pastor H.D. Makhubele

Copyright © 2017 Pastor Joe Shitlhangu

First edition 2017

Published by Pastor Joe Shitlhangu Publishing at Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Author using Reach Publishers’ services,

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Printed and bound by Novus Print Solutions

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword by Phumudzo Nethwadzi

Foreword by Nyiko Makhubele

Foreword by J.R. Sadiki

Acknowledgements

Preface (Pastor Joe’s journey of life)

Chapter 1 A key to success in both spiritual and social life

Chapter 2 Don’t expect

Chapter 3 Endurance as a key characteristic feature of your faith

Chapter 4 Positive self-esteem

Chapter 5 Tough-times never last, but tough people will always do

Chapter 6 Break camp and advance

Chapter 7 Love the master key to conquer tough-times

References

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife Mrs. Pambulani Phyllis Shitlhangu and the kids Dingaazonke Enelani Joellis and Ndlandlamuko Nathan Shitlhangu. To my parents Chavani Shitlhangu, Dingaazonke Enelani Mariam Simango and N’wasokwani Chauke. My siblings as well as all Mbendzane clan and family Xitlhangu xikulu Mbendzane i yindlu ya vukosi. It is dedicated to all people who had an impact in my life both positive and negative. It is also dedicated to all very important persons the readers of this book, please enjoy reading this book and the aim is to share with you the experiences of life as well as educating you to break and advance to the bright destinations.

Foreword

By Phumudzo Nethwadzi

Seven keys to conquer tough times is a wonderful masterpiece, full of inspirational and encouraging messages. From the outset, Pastor Joe reflected on his background which was full of myriad challenges. I used to think that my background was the harshest a human being had ever experienced but having read this wonderful piece , I realised that almost everyone have got the good and the bad side of story to tell about our individual experiences . At times we tend to only read the successes of people from a face value without having a grain of understanding as to what it cost them to be where they are. This book will not rob you of nitty-gritties relating to the upraising of Pastor Joe and how God intervened in his life on numerous occasions in hopeless situations.

While you are still highly inspired of the history of this friend of mine, it is advisable that you should not only end perusing the book on the introduction. There are seven keys which are pen down for your consumption. Chapter 1 of this book offers some wisdom on the importance of balancing spiritual life with social life. The balancing act is something which must be learnt by everyone. Otherwise undermining any of these aspects in one’s life have undesirable consequences. Most people are caught up in the waves of advancing only one aspect of their lives at the expense of the other aspects. It however takes knowledge and humility to realise that spirituality and social aspects are integral part of our lives and should be given adequate attention. In this chapter, one is encouraged to be participative in all these aspects of life.

Chapter 2 of this book examines the principle of hard work which cannot be overlooked if one has to achieve something in life. Without any doubt the principle of work requires serious emphasis as it would seem that we are living in an era where hard working is despised as most people are looking for free things. Despite the pains that come along with working, there is no any other substitute for hard working. If a man desires to be something in life, I guess he or she must be ready to research the amount of work associated with the activity at hand. The Holy book is full of stories of the works associated with God the Father, Son & Holy Ghost, we too must follow the same suite. It is on this reason that Pastor Joe reminds us that works go hand in hand with a principle of sowing and reaping.

As success is tied up with works, most people tend to start something but lack the stamina of completing the projects they have started. When one looks around, there are many individuals who have started something which was never brought to completion. As a result they never benefited from the blessings attached with works. The antidote that drive an activity to its completion is nothing less than the principle of endurance. It has to be learnt. Well I am glad that chapter 3 offers great insight on the importance of endurance. The unfortunate thing is that endurance can also diminish in particular when one does not have positive self-esteem.

With the above in mind, Pastor Joe also considered it necessary to explore the key of positive self-esteem. The wisest man ever lived brought it home that as a man think in his heart so he is (Proverb 23; 7). That denotes that our thinking and perceptions of ourselves are fundamentals ingredients of success. I have come to realise that at times people who make difference in life are not those with great gifts and talents rather individuals who just believe upon themselves. Great vision/dreams/gifts in the hands of individuals with low self-esteem is bound to be neutralised or amount to nothing whilst in contrary, ordinary people with high self-esteem can make a lot impact. Any person who is interested on enhancing his or her self-esteem should be willing to spend some time reading chapter 4 of this book. Pastor Joe has done justice on this aspect.

Chapter 5 of this book focuses on issues associated with breaking camps for the sake of advancing. The old adages goes ‘’show me your friends and I will show you your future’’. Camps are quite common in our lives. One rarely finds someone who does not belong to some kind of a group. Stockvels, fellowships group, friends, networking groups, political faction, club and so forth are some of the words which are associated with camps. Some camps assist people to advance whilst others can cause people to be stagnant. Apart from these common camps Pastor Joe picks up some of the challenges we face and view them in the context of camps, namely; curses, poverty, laziness, drugs, pride and so forth. It takes one to realise that this spiritual problems are serious traps which have enslaved many people. Pastor Joe‘s perspectives on this issue also bring some key spiritual solutions which are worthy to be embraced.

It is remarkable that the last key which was identified by Pastor Joe is the key of love. I guess so much has been said of what love is and what love is not. Undoubtedly, God has preferred to use this key to bring Himself closer to human being. It is a fact that everyone can go through some challenges, however according to Pastor Joe Love is the great key to overcome tough times. No matter the challenges at hand, we are expected to exhibit the Love of Christ and it is through this key that no matter what comes along our way, Love tend to conquer all sorts of evils. Thus the prolific author of his time Apostle Paul once declared ‘’Love never fail’’… (1 Corinthians 13: 8).

Friends, Pastor Joe has identified these seven Keys for our good. It takes humility to embrace these superb writings and it will demand wisdom to apply them. My prayer is that all the readers of this book will benefit from this great master piece. If you want to benefit from the book, you can either follow the humility route or the wisdom route. However, he who will benefit the most is the one who will embrace both. The Keys are real and useful, well done Pastor Joe.

Phumudzo Nethwadzi

Friend, poet and author

Nzhelele-Limpopo Province, RSA

Foreword

By Nyiko Makhubele

Pastor Joe Shitlhangu’s book is a must to read for anyone that would like to experience break-through in any area of his or her life. I have been privileged enough to read this book about this wonderful man of God that I have come to know and honour. He is my personal friend and advisor on a wide range of issues, a God fearing man and a loving husband and father. His story is indeed a true inspiration to me and many others who know him and those who will know him by reading this script.

In his book Seven Keys to Conquer Tough Times, Pastor Joe, as he is popularly and affectionately known has shared his personal insights on how to face your goliaths and conquer them. In this book, you will find many invaluable lessons on how to turn your hopeless situation around for the better. It is Ella Fitzgerald that said It’s not where you come from that matters, but where you are going. No one can confirm this statement than Pastor Joe himself. In this book, Pastor Joe takes you through his journey of life from a boy that grew up in a poor background, growing up in a rural disadvantaged community of Kurhuleni Mission Station in Limpopo. From this background it does seem like nothing seemed hopeful for this lad. I mean, if he had allowed this disadvantaged background to discourage him like such conditions often do to many children that grow up in similar conditions, the world would have been denied of the contributions of such an outstanding man.

I think no one is better qualified to tell a story of hope and overcoming adversity like this man who has experienced it all. In a country that has many children that grow up in grinding abject poverty and thinking that there is no hope to see a beautiful ray of the sun one day, there is an absolute need for people that write about how to overcome adversities and succeed against all odds. After all this message of hope is what God Himself proclaims to us. He says in Jeremiah 29: 11 For I know the thoughts that I have for you, says the Lord, to give you hope and a good future. This is in fact one of my most favourite verses in the Bible.

It gives all of us hope to know what God is thinking about us, to know that in fact His thoughts are to bless us and give us a great future. This reminds me of one of my childhood favourite songs that we sang in church, the song goes like this Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. The message that Pastor Joe conveys in this book is that Christ in us is indeed the hope of Glory and that like Paul in the Bible, you too can stand up and proclaim that I don’t care how poor and disadvantaged my background is for I know that I can do all things through Christ that gives me the strength.

This is the message of hope that indeed the same God that Pastor Joe believes in can turn your hopeless situation around. All you need do is believe and trust Him. Remember the story of David and Goliath in the bible? There are many lessons that I personally draw from this story, having read this book, my friend Pastor Joe has also drawn lessons and inspiration from this bible story too. One of the outstanding lessons from this story and many others in the bible is that in every situation in life, there is always a God side and a man side of the equation, in other words, if you are trusting God for a breakthrough, you will need to fulfil your side of the contract, God is always ready and able to fulfil His.

In this story, we see a very bold and determined young man called David that set his eyes on conquering Goliath, the man that had tormented and cursed his people for a very long time. Some of the lessons that we can learn from this young man are that he was a very bold young man, we are told that all men were afraid of this giant called Goliath who ridiculed and cursed everyone all the time. David mastered courage and boldness. To change the course of your life, you too need to master courage and boldness. Pastor Joe mastered courage and boldness to face his own goliath of lack and poverty.

The other lesson from David was persistence, David had prepared a few stones in his weaponry. My view is that this young man had calculated this in his head that should I miss this man with the first stone, I will give it a second, third, fourth, and fifth shot if necessary. In other words, I will not retreat at the first sign of failure. Fellow brothers and sisters, great things in life are achieved by persistency, we have all heard the old adage that perseverance is the mother of success. Pastor Joe surely knows this and you