Did you know God has provided ways in His word to empower His children?  Did you know there are specific things you can do to contribute to answered prayer, good health, a peaceful life and more?  It's true!

Once we are saved, we don't just float through our days hoping to catch God in a good mood when He is willing to answer prayer or provide for our needs.  His word gives us many things we can do continually to set His hand in motion.

Covenant Promises

Open your Bible to some of the verses where God states the promises He is willing to bestow on His children.  For instance, Deuteronomy 28 is filled with blessings.  What do you notice about how this chapter begins?

"Now it shall come to pass, If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God…"

Then, at the end of the blessings section of this chapter (verse 13) what do we see again?  "And the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only and not be beneath, IF you heed the commandments of the Lord your God…"

If we do what God instructs us to do then He will give us all He has promised to give.  This if/then type of promise is called a covenant promise.  It operates the same as when an attorney draws up a contract between two people.  One party agrees to do a particular thing and - after it is done - a second party agrees to do something else.  God empowers us to have control of certain circumstances by offering us these covenant promises or blessings.

You Go First

God usually wants us to take the action He has laid out in His word before we are rewarded.  He empowers us to do what we should then rewards us once we have done it. 

Luke chapter six holds other good examples of ways God has empowered us.  In verse 37, Jesus instructs, "Judge not and you shall not be judged.  Condemn not and you shall not be condemned."

Verse 38 continues in the same way by saying, "Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over; men shall give unto your bosom. For with the same measure you use, it shall be measured back to you."

Again, we go first.  If we give, we shall receive.  Whatever measure we use to give to God, that's the same measure He will use to give to us.  We have the control.  We make the first move.

I Peter 3:7 shows yet another good example.  "Husbands, likewise, dwell with [your wives] with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered."

When husbands treat their wives as God says they should, they give more power to their prayers.  The husband's prayers are not hindered because of his actions.  If he treats his wife in an ungodly manner, his prayer will be hindered.  In this example, the husband has the power.

As you read through your Bible this week, make note of the times God empowers us.  You may want to make a list or mark the verses in your Bible as you find them so you can remember when to act and what to do to release God's best in your life. Many times our actions are all that stand in the way of answered prayers.  Is God waiting on you?

Self belief is a wonderful thing.

Not only do we become what we think about, we do what we think about. Whether your thoughts are positive or negative your mind will act on them.

If we are directed by our dominating thoughts, why not implant our minds with things that will benefit us? For instance, if you really want to become a pilot then concentrate on that. Become obsessed with it. Learn all you can about it.

Do you think that Michael Jordan became the greatest basket-baller of all time by not thinking about and concentrating  on the game of basketball? During his brief sojourn into baseball was he successful? Basketball was his love. He couldn't get it out of his mind. So he returned to basketball to lead the Chicago Bulls for another three years before retiring, making yet another comeback then retiring for good in 2003.

What are your dominating thoughts? Are you thinking about the things that will make you the person that you ultimately want to be? Do you have deep and powerful thoughts about these things?

If the first step to becoming the person that you want to be starts in the mind then set that train in motion.

One thing that can really help you is to sit down and write out your life goals. Take as many pages as you need. After you have crafted your life story and the way that you want it to unfold start summarizing it. Try to get it down to a single page.

Once you have done this you should read it as often as possible. At the bare minimum you should read it at least once a day. Preferably you should do this first thing in the morning and make it the last thing you do before going to bed at night, then as many times in between as you desire. It all depends how strong your desire is. 

The more times you read your plan, the more you will implant it into your mind. Remember, your mind cannot discern between reality and fiction. It will simply act on it. 

Think negative and you will receive negative. Alternatively, think positive and that is what you will receive.

So, do you have a plan? What thoughts are dominating your mind?

Did you know that 'Goal Setting' is the secret to fulfilling ANY dream or desire you want in life?

Did you also know that SUPER Successful people use 'Goals' to attain the knowledge and wealth they have today?

Some of you reading this right now might agree and some of you might not.

That decision is yours to make.

The reason people find it too hard to achieve their goals is simple because they've set their Long-Term goals before setting Short-Term ones, or they just didn't plan their goals out carefully.

Goal setting strategies are VERY important, especially for those who want to achieve Long-Term goals.

Well, your in luck because I'm going to share five 'Goal Setting' techniques to help you realize your TRUE goals today.

Your only requirement is to keep an open mind.

So, with that said, lets go to Technique #1.


Technique #1. Start with Short-Term goals.

Sometimes, people start with short-term goals unconsciously.

Why unconsciously?

Some of them may have considered the goals to be long-term at the time they planned them; and after achieving a goal, they realize that they are in fact, looking forward to a longer one.

Some are contented with their short-term goals, but after a while will realize that they also need to attain long-term ones.

Short-term goals seem to be our starting point for our Long Term ones.

They also motivate the person to plan for longer goals, which will usually take some time before achieving them in full.


Technique #2. Make sure you really want the goal.

By this, you have to ask yourself: "Do I really want this goal and will this goal give me a better life?"

Answering this ONE question will give you more passion and motivation to achieve your goal.

Some people often recall their past to find out Why and How they came up with such goal.


Technique #3. Speak up.

What I mean by this is you shouldn't keep your goals to yourself only. By sharing your goals with other people it'll help you get the support you may need in order to fulfill them.

The problem that usually occurs though is some people are just too shy to tell others about their goals for reasons like they are afraid they cannot achieve them in the end, or they lack the courage to speak their minds.

This is not a good habit to get into because when the time comes that you really need their support, you will have a difficult time getting it.

You'll then be left to achieve your goals all by yourself.

Don't make this mistake.


Technique #4. Write down your goals.

This strategy is critical and more advisable for those who have a long list of goals.

After writing them down in as much detail, it is advisable that you review them on a daily to weekly basis because this will encourage and motivate you to achieving them, plus, this will also keep that vision of your goal alive.


Technique #5. Stay on track and never give up.

Reviewing notes will help open your mind to see if you are on the right track. While on track, you may have to face challenges that might change your personality.

A person who is overconfident might suddenly feel depressed after finding out that he is going the wrong way in achieving his goal.

Thus this might lead to abandoning the goal.

Never be discouraged.

Facing obstacles is a test on how passionate one is to realizing his or her goals.


There you have it.

Give those a try and keep a visual picture in your mind everyday of you fulfilling that goal you desire so much. 

A well-balanced life is more powerful than the hard work that you put into a business. A well-balanced life feeds the brain, the spirit, the emotions, and the body.

The experience of Life can be incredibly rich, just don't get so caught up in riches that you neglect your Whole Life.

A workaholic is someone who has no identity beyond their work. Life is about so much more than what you do. It is about the relationships you develop and nurture. It is about social impact in your community. It is about the growth and learning you experience. It is about living passionately. 
 
We are creative by our very nature, it's in our genes. Applied intelligence equals creativity. Intelligence takes on many forms. So this creates a new question: 
 
Where is your definition of a workaholic more likely? One living in passion or one living in isolation and fear? 
 
The True Entrepreneur is one that understands that their values, passion, and whole way of being aligned with what they do is essential for success. In this way, the entrepreneur is just being. The business, the vocation, the passion, the purpose, the values, interests, etc. are all a part of who the individual is.  
 
Externally, I don't think anyone could casually observe a difference between a workaholic and this entrepreneur. However, the individual knows. Deep down inside, the answer is known and typically the individual will turn away from acknowledging that truth and rationalize sticking to their tried and true behavior. The tried and true is comfortable. To admit the truth requires change and change is uncomfortable. 
 
Many people welcome change in their external environment and consider themselves capable and open to change. Unfortunately, for most the relationship to the inner self is one of fear; there's a whole can of worms that gets opened when we start doing the inner work. Knowing this, on a gut level, our subconscious quickly reverts to the tried and true. It's hard work to change. 
 
The good news though, is that many entrepreneurs have the ability to see what is happening around them. This ability is what makes entrepreneurs visionary go-getters. However, this does not exempt entrepreneurs from getting caught-up in their business to the detriment of a well-balanced life.  
 
A well-balanced life is more powerful than the hard work that you put into a business. A well-balanced life feeds the brain, the spirit, the emotions, and the body. In creating the space for relationship, recreation, and rest, the benefits experienced will offer stronger focus, greater creativity (beneficial for problem-solving and decision-making), greater self-esteem, and mental/emotional/physical health. Knowing this, choices are made. 
 
If incorporating a well-balanced life would allow you to achieve the same amount of output in 60 hours versus the 80 hours of perseverance, which would you choose? Don't work so hard that you forget to building relationships and forget about the love of exploring and growing your dreams.
 
The other thing entrepreneurs have difficulty with is learning when to say, "No." and when to say, "That's enough." Always after a new conquest, a new experience, a new peak, and new challenges, an entrepreneur can get all that energy too caught up in the business arena. This will lead to the very thing you fear. Instead, split this energy to have a well-balanced life. Achievement will be far richer in the relationship arena and the personal growth arena. 
 
The experience of Life can be incredibly rich, just don't get so caught up in riches that you neglect your Whole Life.

Be Blessed Family!

Time is our greatest and most precious asset.  Time is the great equalizer of all us human beings.  Why then do we not recognize and treat it with the respect it deserves?


Time is our greatest and most precious asset.  Time is the great equalizer of all us human beings.  Why then do we not recognize and treat it with the respect it deserves?

Whether you are rich, poor, healthy, ill, or just humming along in your life somewhere in between, we all have only 24 hours in each and every day to invest wisely.  We often spend a great deal of time and energy thinking and worrying about, or working to earn and pursuing more money.  However, while we are doing that, sometimes we are missing the greatest gift of all - our time to experience our lives.  A wise person once said , "You can always get more money but you can never buy more time."   Good point!

How often do we consciously think about how we invest our time?  I consciously use the word invest because the way we choose to spend out time is truly an investment in ourselves and our lives.  

Based on observations over the last several decades on this planet, however, you would never guess the true value of this time commodity by the way people act and speak.

First, let's look at the common ways people spend time with their actions.  Do any of these choices look familiar?

- Spending hours in front of the TV.
- Sacrificing a healthy amount of regular sleep in an attempt to steal more time. (You may be awake for more hours, however being in a fog and loaded up on caffeine does not translate into quality or "more time".)
- Working ineffectively and/or spending so much time at a job that you have in effect handed over your life to someone else.  
- Existing in a state of stressed out or burned out.
- Spending hours aimlessly surfing the internet.
- Participating in gossip or the rumor mill.

Now, let's take a look at the language we use when we discuss our precious friend, time.  Do any of these comments look familiar?

- I wish it were Friday already! (usually spoken from a Monday through Thursday point of view)
- I'm just wasting time; or, this is a waste of time.
- I have some time to kill
- I'll get to enjoy my time when I retire.
- I'm just counting the hours until the end of the day, or the days until the weekend, retirement, etc.

So, how often do you wish away your life? How often do you let time simply pass you buy?

While it may sound cliché, the phrase Carpe Diem has a great deal of merit.  It means, seize the day. I can still remember my first real experience with this term when Robin Williams challenged his young students in the movie Dead Poet's Society to do just that - seize the day.  He used it as a call to arms where every student in his class should make each day a day that was truly explored and lived fully.

WHERE DOES MY TIME GO? 
A Challenge for You

Do you know where all your time goes each day? What parts of your life are most important to you?  Are those the parts of your life that receive the greatest amount of your time and attention?  Or, do you find yourself doing the same things today that you did yesterday simply because that is what you did the day before that?

For the next month, take stock of where your time and your life go.  At the end of each day, write down the number of hours spent in each of the main areas of your life.  An example of what those main categories might look like could be:

Areas of My Life
Physical Health & Well-Being
Primary Relationship, Spouse, Significant Other
Friends, Family, Children, Relationships
Career/Work
Finances and Money
Physical Surroundings (home, work, etc.)
Spirituality (connecting with a power greater than yourself)
Fun and Relaxation
Making a Difference in your Community and the World


After the month passes, total up the hours spent in each category and reflect back on how you spent your time.  Did "reality" surprise you? Or, was it what you expected? How does the way you invest your time on a daily basis make you feel?  Is it in alignment with your values and what you really want from your life?

Take some time to take stock in how you invest your most precious asset - time.  Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one. Carpe Diem.

Be Blessed Family!

Those who fail, follow the laws of failure.

Those who succeed, follow the laws of success.

It is impossible to reach success with a scheme of failure thoughts in your mind. It’s impossible to have good health with a scheme of illness thoughts.

Your behavior is directed by your thoughts. Thoughts of failure, disease, loneliness and fear push you into a behavior which leads you directly to fail, become ill, feel lonely and fearful!

You can deny this principle or fight against it, you can believe it's not true or it doesn't apply to you, but you will never be able to escape from it.

These principles govern all creation, also the creation of your life. The experiences of your life start in your head. And it’s exactly there where your power lies : in your thoughts!

The universe will give you health, if you learn to think in terms of health, not illness. You will have success if you think in terms of success, not failure.

Everything you think about repeatedly will manifest one day or another.

So why not think of what you want, instead of what you don’t want?

In either way you will get what you asked for! 
So ask for good things by thinking of good things.

If you have an appointment with the dentist and you are afraid, do this : picture yourself in the dentist chair, visualize a great white light enveloping you, and say : “Only healing hands touch me”. Picture yourself there in the future having a good relaxing time, totally safe in the hands of someone who helps you to heal from a pain at your teeth.

If you have an appointment for a job interview, picture yourself there in the room. What clothes do you wear? How is your hair? What perfume did you choose that morning? Visualize yourself filled with confidence. You talk fluently, you are sure of yourself and your talents are obvious. 

You have a visit from someone important to you? You’re exhausted only by the idea? Change your idea! Picture yourself inviting your the someone, opening the door, being calm and open-minded, spending a wonderful time with them. See yourself talking, they are listening, you listen to them, you stay centered on yourself, you are able to stay yourself in their presence. You feel how you love them and you feel their love for you.

Try this! And see what happens! It’s all in the mind! It’s in our thoughts we create our life. Even if you’re not conscious about this process, you use it anyway all the time. Every moment you have an idea in your head about what is going to happen. Or you think about something from your past, which you project on your future. You always have ideas in your head. Now that you know your thoughts create your life, which thoughts do you choose? Those who you want to see manifested? Take care of your thoughts, and the rest will follow!

Think success, act like someone who is successful and success will come, without any doubt!


Be Blessed Family!

One of the more challenging aspects of learning how to attract prosperity is the ability to "know" you're prosperous - even when you don't yet feel like you are!

When your outer circumstances keep reflecting the illusion of lack, it's easy to get frustrated because you think your attraction attempts aren't working. However, that very frustration is what will keep you locked into the cycle of lack!

In order to break out of the illusion of lack, you have to use the power of your will to diminish the energy you have invested in it previously. How do you invest energy into the creation of lack?

- By constantly thinking about it and focusing on it.

- By constantly affirming that it exists in your life.

- By complaining about it to others.

- By identifying with the lack you see in the world around you.

The more attention and energy you give to the existence of lack, the more lack you attract back to yourself.

The good news is that you can also use this same process to attract abundance and prosperity into your life, except you focus on the opposite end of the spectrum!

- Constantly think about and focus on abundance and prosperity. However, NOT from a place of need, fear or anxiety - but from a place of joy, confidence and optimism that it is already yours.

- Constantly affirm that you are a natural prosperity magnet, and great abundance flows into your life easily and frequently.

- Share the wonderful things that happen to you with others. Rather than complaining about the bad stuff, share the good stuff and encourage the people in your life to do the same.

- Pay attention to the great abundance that surrounds you at all times. This includes the material possessions, people and blessings you have in your life, but also the expressions of abundance you encounter while out in the world. Rather than feeling envious of rich and successful people, imagine that the universe has just held up a mirror to let you know that YOU can also be just as rich and successful.

Most importantly, develop the inner "knowing" that you can CHOOSE prosperity and abundance, just as easily as you chose lack and struggle.

You may not believe that you've chosen lack and struggle (who in their right minds would?) - but it's very possible to choose by default. Unless you consciously choose to be prosperous, it's like sitting in the back seat of your car and expecting it to deliver you to your desired destination. You actually have to get behind the wheel and DRIVE! :-)

Try reciting this affirmation several times a day:

"I KNOW I am a powerful creator in my own right, and I CHOOSE the harmonious flow of prosperity and abundance NOW."

When you first start saying it, you'll probably feel like you're lying. That's because deep down inside, you really don't "know" any such thing. But keep at it. Keep saying the affirmation with strength and power and conviction in your voice, and you really will start to believe it.

And that's when everything in your outer circumstances will begin to shift toward the prosperity and abundance you "know" you deserve.

Be Blessed Family!