by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Become a Better You by Joel Osteen inspires you to build a better you regardless of what's going on around you. Use what is around you to plant the seeds that will lead you to greatness. His theme is that your life may not seem to be the best it can be, but you can become better through it. When you become better, then you will see life become better for you.
God wants you to be what he created you to be. What God created you to be you can be confident He will do His part, so do your part.
Seven Keys open the doors to a better you:
1. Keep pressing forward.
2. Be positive toward yourself.
3. Develop better relationships.
4. Form better habits.
5. Embrace the place where you are.
6. Develop your inner life.
7. Stay passionate about life.
You could easily make these your daily affirmations and prayers. And in prayer ask God to help you in these areas and then affirm these to yourself all day long... trusting God is with you and helping you.
Joel has 31 chapters in Become a Better You. A life changing read would be to read one chapter a day for a month, while committing to make one change a day during this time. Do this again for another month and I see this process with Joel's book to be life transforming. He deals with some critical issues which generally plague our society today. Here's just a brief glimpse of what he highlights in the seven keys.
Keep pressing on.
Move from yesterday. Defeat rejections of the past with new directions for today. Your dreams deserve new beginnings. God promises "New Things" for your life constantly. Avoid people who hold you back, and connect with people who want to move forward with you. Your family history, if dysfunctional, doesn't have to be yours. Tap into God's power. Break the curse of the past and learn to function beyond the dysfunctional. Believe in your generational blessings as a Child of God and discover the destiny God has for you. God had great things for you at birth, your destiny, and in your dreams, your heart's desires, know that God put them there...to be fulfilled.
Be positive toward yourself.
Stop accusing yourself and using your own voice in your head, from your mouth, to put you down. Nothing you have done is too much for God's mercy. Like yourself, God does. Get in line with God's likeness of you. What you send out comes back. So send out good. Use words that bless and build up others. Make your mouth a source of positive declaration.
Be a continuous positive self-talk person and proclaim positive ideas to others. What you say to yourself you become. What you say to others, they become.
Develop Better Relationships.
Be a giver. Give to those who can't give back to you. Give compliments to others. This makes someone's day... God will make yours. Be a peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers. Invest in people's emotional bank account... it eventually pays back dividends of greatness. When you meet others needs, God meets yours. Take notice of needs and give to someone you know can't pay you back and do it not desiring for them to pay you back.
Form Better Habits.
Those who get ahead, get there on time... be punctual. It is not so much about breaking habits, but replacing bad habits with good habits. What bad habits are holding you back? What good habits could you put in their place that will move you forward? Choose the habit of happiness. Do not magnify problems, magnify the the Bigness of God over your problems. Overcome criticism by not allowing yourself to take revenge or harbor a bitter revengeful attitude. Don't spend too much time trying to win over you critics. Run your own race. You determine your destiny, your happiness; don't allow your critics to determine it for you.
Train your mind to see good, and to dwell in that Good. Be happy, share happiness, lure others into happiness.
Embrace where you are.
Faith may not deliver you, but it will carry you through problems. When things go wrong, believe in God that it is well with your soul. God is Supernatural, he will help you rise above the natural... Supernaturally.
Stay in peace. A storm may rage around you, but you can choose not to be in the storm. God's sunshine is always above the clouds. Remember the Good. God is always guiding your life. Make lists of the good you have when all seems bad. Then focus on the good you do have. Even when things appear out of control, God continually guides circumstances, while protecting you. So you can be a good influence by how you handle challenging situations.
Develop Your Inner Life.
When you obey, you sow a seed that will grow and rise higher. It doesn't always grow and mature over night. God deals with us individually. To whom much is given, much is required. Think higher, God is preparing you for greater things. When your conscience is clear, we can expect good things. Our self image accepts good things. Deal with root issues. A better you won't stick without cleaning out the roots of our problem. Take responsibility and rise up, do something about it. Pay attention to your conscience. Listen to it and obey its quiet commands... the promptings of the quiet voice in you always coaxing you along.
Stay passionate about life.
Begin now planning for your blessings. Don't quit dreaming; keep the vision in front of you. Believe right now that all things are working out in your favor. Use your faith. Exercise your faith. Make provision for new success of abundance to come into your life. Keep singing your song. Keep smiling from your heart. There's a power in giving a pleasant smile to everyone you see. Give to people the best gift of all, a gift of a cheerful heart.
Have a song (create your own Psalms) in your heart. Get up every morning and expect God to turn your problems around for good. He'll give you Supernatural strength to fly with wings like eagles. Start, prepare to live a blessed life. Always keep the vision in front of you, and don't believe the "never" lies. Speak to yourself and others with the confidence of God's belief in you that it's going to happen, act like its going to happen.
Stay passionate about life, don't dwell on what's wrong, but press on to what's better. Every day's a gift from God. There's no limit to what God can and will someday do in your life. Remember, you eventually attract what you think about all the time. Make your thoughts prayers of faith, of expectancy. Pray the belief and confidence you have in God's power on behalf of your life continually. God's miracle potential and power will respond to your persistent faith in Him. Allow miracles to be the common part of you all the time, then the miracles will be common to our lives everyday.
Become a Better You... as you do, life will become increasing better for you.
Joel Osteen sees his role to give us hope. You can find more hope at:
http://www.joelosteen.com/
In With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray encourages the value of persistent prayer. "When the answer to our prayer does not come at once we should combine quiet patience and being joyful as confidence in our persevering prayer. To enable us to do this, we must try to understand the character and conduct of our God and Father towards those who cry day and night to Him: He is long-suffering over them. He will avenge them speedily."The Master uses the word speedily. The blessing is all prepared. The Father is not only willing, but most anxious to give what we ask. His everlasting love burns with His longing desire to reveal itself fully to His beloved and to satisfy their need. God will not delay one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. He will do everything in His power to hasten the answer."
Be expectant...
God's idea is to answer your prayers speedily.
But stay steadfast, enduring, constant in asking...
and expecting.
Andrew Murray.... persevering prayer... the complete chapter:
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/5bm.10353/5bm.10353.16.htm
And we live in the confidence that His Spirit has the Power to do it, what He Promises to give, "without limit" ..."The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit."
(John 3:31-34, NLT)
What we say, people become and even more so when coming from a boss, a leader... someone of a position of power or respect. Then when we touch a heart, Spiritual Power is transferred through us.
If we do a Jesus Thing and take an active positive approach in our business and with all we work with, we can drastically decrease the need for reprimands.
People will live out the blessings we give, become what we tell them. Sometimes called a "pat on the back" or a "that-a-boy," when done strategically and meaningfully will turn the people and culture mindset around.
Speaking blessing (positive I-believe-in-you tone/comment) with value to that person recognized, and efforts appreciated, is what Jesus recommended.This spiritual power went through His followers to do this.
He spoke, touched them… they excelled. In His Love, Jesus transferred the Power of God's Spirit in to them. Do the same…in faith, in love …you bless your people. Begin creating a new atmosphere in your business culture, with your customers, suppliers. The Power of Spirit goes into that person when you do it in love, so they continually know that you appreciate them for who they are. This actualizes their gifts, and enhances ability to perform at higher levels.
As God created, you create. It's in your hands. Give a blessing to all you meet and begin changing the world today one person at a time. What you sow, you will reap and the blessings will boomerang back to you. What you want, give to others.
(Luke 6:38)
Jesus "Proclaimed" people to do great things.
"I tell you the truth… you will do Greater things than these."
(John 14:12)
"I will give you whatever you ask, using my name."
(John 16:17)
Proclaim freedom to the captive minds and hearts around you…
and you will set them free.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors,
and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."
(Luke 4:18-19)
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