by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
The Mentor Leader by Tony Dungy is a look at how mentor leaders model a style that genuinely cares for others becoming the best they can be. A mentor leader learns skills and principles accessible by anyone. Their focus is on developing the strengths of individuals. It's about shaping, integrity, nurturing, empowering and growing... changing lives.
The mandate of the mentor leader is to focus on significance. "What can I do to make people better, all that God created them to be." Influence involves positive relationships that pass through generations which are seen on down the road. The journey is as important as the destination.
Create a well-cast vision shared by all those around you, your team, combining vision with a mission under girded by values. Truly serve others and be a servant leader.
The mark of the mentor leader is character, being trustworthy, while competent, secure, confident with an inner sense of security. Demonstrating courage, they lead by example, get in the trenches, and get involved. Living by faith, they put belief into action.
Their optimism is due to their faith in God's power working along side them and a desire for continual growth. Adding to trustworthy traits and leadership attributes(which center around being a servant leader), the mentor leader excels in relationship qualities and their ability to interact. Their qualities include being accountable, available, and approachable... a loyalty to those which they lead. This loyalty takes trustworthy and integrity to another level. The mentor leaders protect their followers.
The mentor leader changes the world one life at a time. Every person and what every person does is important in God's eyes. Make the most of all the platforms life may have you on. Opportunities may arise when least expected. Everyone is a role model where ever they are.
Mentor leaders are known by their words and actions. When things are tough, they measure up to their words and actions. They are known by their foundation of strength in their faith in God.
The seven E's of a mentor leader are
Engage: with the right attitude and approachability.
Educate: it's a hands-on, one-on-one approach.
Equip: show people how to do what's expected with the right mind-set and necessary tools.
Encourage: encouragement is more powerful than corrections.
Encouragement is better over used than under used.
Empower: true empowerment is thorough preparation followed by appropriate freedom.
Energize: energize by deliberately inspiring those you lead.
Elevate: raise up other leaders making sure others get credit.
As a mentor leader, everyone may not be happy with their decisions. It's important to remember everyone has a platform, and there is always someone's life to affect. Mentor leaders choose to be that someone.
More from Tony Dungy at
http://www.coachdungy.com/
In The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels, he shares five filters to double check a thought to make sure what you are hearing in your mind is really God speaking to you, or what you hear from someone else is really from God for you.
Filter #1: Is the Prompting Truly from God? Ask God if the whisper is really from Him. Double check it in your own mind and Spirit. Does it reflect what you know about God and how He works and acts? Is it consistent with your character? Check your own emotions, prejudices, desires and make sure it is from God and not your own mind.
Filter #2: Is it Scriptural? God will not speak to you about something that does not line up with His Word shared in the Bible. Search the Scriptures to get reassurance. Sometimes God will use a verse or section in the Bible to speak directly to you. Be open to the times when a Scripture, during your Bible reading times, seems to jump off the page to you. He guides us many times with Scriptures timely to something going on in our lives at a certain time.
Filter #3: Is it Wise? Take a closer look at something radically different from the norm, to make sure it is really God. When Satan tempted Jesus, he asked him to do something extreme from God's purpose for Jesus. Does it reflect God's purpose in your life, and make sense as it relates to you and your relationship with others around you? Sometimes God is so practical we over look that it may be His direction for us.
Filter #4: Is it in Tune with God's character? Getting to know God and spending time in prayer, meditation on Him is vital. As we get to know Him and His character more and more we flow in tune with that. If it is totally outside how you are wired, your education, skills, double check that it is really a God whisper. He may have us do things different, but have others around us or bring others to us to complement us when needed. Know God's character and flow in line with who He is.
Filter #5: What do the people you most trust think about it? Trusted friends and acquaintances, pastors and those in ministry are good sources to run things by. Listen to what they may share. When it's from God you will many times get a consensus from more than one person. Be sure they are truly Spiritual people. Some people act Spiritual but reflect what they think, and it may be not what God is trying to get across to you. Going back to quiet times with God, reflecting on Him and who He is, will many times give you clarity on whether it is of God... or if it is just man's opinions.
We should be close to God and meditate on the Scriptures to the degree that we can determine when something is of God or not. Learn to trust Him speaking directly to you. Jesus said God's sheep hear His voice. Learn that and learn to trust that.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Inbound Marketing ... finding prayer power
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan is about getting found by using Google, social media and blogs. Halligan explains why inbound marketing is the most effective way of marketing today including strategies and tactics, how to do it.
Outbound marketing such as mass mailing, email blasts, telemarketing, direct mail, TV, print ads, and trade shows... are becoming less effective. People do not like to be interrupted as these forms of marketing do that.
Inbound marketing creates connections, builds followers, brings people to you. The Internet is the hub where people get to find you. People shop and find information from search, blogs, and social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube and others).
Is your website a megaphone (where you are shouting out your message) or a living room with a library of minds sharing what they know, enjoy or think. Inbound marketing changes your sales message to a collaborate, living, breathing hub for your marketplace. It's not what you say but what others say about you. Make it a place to come, to learn, to interact, to get answers, to relate with like-minded people.
Rethink your website to be a hub for many to many, syndicated across the web. Focus on the rest of the Internet, with many links, fans, followers, and subscribers. So it's an interactive, constantly changing hub for your entire industry which happens to sell a project or service. Be remarkable to your niche that admires you. Create remarkable content. When you are remarkable you attract links from other websites (which is critical for Internet attraction). Remarkable content spreads quickly and easily on other social media. Create content you can produce rapidly and others can effectively spread online. You got to give to get.
A great way to create remarkable content is by starting a blog. A blog establishes you as a thought leader, changes your website to a living breathing hub for your marketplace, providing a place for customers to engage with you while improving search engine ratings. This gives other bloggers a chance to link to you.
Many platforms are available for blogging: Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress. Provide a place for comments. Write about things of interest to your industry or group. Add videos. Make them only two or three minutes long. Invite others to write.
It's best to write on your blog weekly, or at least monthly. Use key words so Google finds you. These are words that your industry or group would use in searching for someone like you. What are the popular phrases in your industry. Use these phrases in titles and subtitles. Follow comments on other blogs to start conversations. Follow comments on your blog and start a conversation. Don't oversell what you do or it drives people away. Stick to great, helpful content others want and find interesting.
Join in the conversation and comment on the blog. Be creative, use catchy phrases others will find appealing. Market your content through email, RSS, social media. Subscribe to blogs from your industry, your profession or special interest groups who like you and relate to you.
Help Google find you. People searching Google are looking for something. You can pay Google so they find you, or with quality content, Google will help them find you. To get people to find you requires search engine optimization.
How does Google work? Google does two things. It crawls the Internet looking for web pages. It processes searches to find the best matching pages. Getting a link on a page being crawled by Google gets you crawled as well. Getting a ranking on Google is a goal. Ranking is based on authority and relevance.
Relevance is based on its match to the term searched... the title page, page content, text of links to the page. Authority is the other thing Google considers. Authority is how important and authoritative the page is in Google's eyes. This authority becomes your page rank. You increase authority when others link you. Authority increases more when the site that linked you has a high authority ranking. To get authority, create as many links as possible. You do this by creating remarkable content others what to share for you from their sites. You become rank worthy when creating remarkable content others want to read.
Pick key words for search optimization. Words that are relevant, the words that the searcher is looking for, typing in the search box. The more times a word is keyed in for search the higher its search value. Use selective words your selective group likes to use and will likely type in for search. Use words in your content, titles and sub-titles that your searcher will think of using to find out what you have to say.
What influences Google is the tag line. When creating your tag line, put most meaningful words first, leave adjectives after them, for example, change "the best and biggest belt business" to "the belt business that is the best and biggest." Make title pages intriguing and accurate. Language too creative may not be found by Google. Use the language your groups use frequently. Word it though that it is something others will want to click on when they find you. Put your company name after your description. They are looking for remarkable content and then want to know who has it. Keep descriptions at one or two sentences, make them unique with key words included first.
Halligan goes into great detail on how to get found by Google.
He continues with getting found in social media including Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Digg, You Tube. Each of these are a discussion of their own, as Halligan gives you a play by play on how to make them work better for you. He includes specific guidelines for you to follow. The last section of Inbound Marketing is how to convert customers which includes tools and resources at the end of the book.
He has many of these tools and resources on his blog. Note his website and the blog; also check out the "marketing resources" he shares online.
http://www.hubspot.com/
Prayer Power by Andrew Murray shows us how to live with Spiritual Power... its origin is Prayer. In prayer, there is power. Without prayer, we lack Spiritual Power. We can conquer everything by prayer.
What are hindrances to prayer? By temptations to curtail or postpone prayer, allowing wandering thoughts to enter the mind, small distractions around us when we want to pray, or just having unbelief and a sense of no hope, a lax spirit.
How do we fight off inattention to payer? God wants a relationship with us. It is as important and regular communication as with a friend. In prayer we communicate with the One who loves us the most and wants to help us the most. It's also tuning to His will for our lives where we enlist His power which makes us the most effective in what we do we.
It's the intimate, spiritual, personal, uninterrupted relationship to the Lord Jesus that manifests itself powerfully in our lives.
Bring to mind these qualities of God, His Spirit, and the One we are connecting with.
1. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere we are and go.
2. He is omnipotent. His power is the supreme power of the universe.
3. God is a holy loving God. Through Jesus, all of His unimaginable love surrounds us constantly. Take time to think over the Word of the Lord. Go into His inner Chamber and enter into the relationship of Jesus in the Father, the Father in Jesus, and Jesus in you. Let Him unveil Himself to you, showing you how to live, and walk and abiding in fellowship with the unseen Lord constantly.
How is the blessing of victory brought through prayer?
1. Maintain an unbroken fellowship with God. We bear His image and we are fit for a life of communion with Him and are prepared to glorify Him.
2. He gives us His Power for the work He has set out for us, He has called us to do. Be diligent in doing His will and fulfilling His mission and purpose Hand Stamped for you. Then we can hold on to "I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me, and I am more than a conqueror through the power of Jesus Christ who defeated death."
3. We share with God as intercessors to affect His great love for the entire world and the mission many are in motion to fulfill. We impact victory for others, and knowing that Jesus Christ lives in us, through us, we share in the victories for many to conquer the grip evil has on the world.
The great lesson in prayer and for every prayer is to see first of all that we commit ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit with an entire dependence on Him, constantly giving Him first place. It is so important that we stay in the right relationship with the Holy Spirit and His outstanding work.
1. Let us firmly believe, as a Divine reality, that the Spirit of God's Son, is the Holy Spirit and the propitious power of this Spirit is in us.
2. With His Great Powerful Spirit with us, and with unquestionable certainty know He dwells in us, we understand what He desires to accomplish through us.
3. We give over to the Spirit full possession of our lives for His Work. His dwelling place, our body and soul, is entirely under His control. We say as the Psalmist said, " I seek Him with all of my heart." We learn to forget ourselves and allow Him to make us a training ground for training as intercessors. So God can entrust us in carrying out His plans as day and night we cry out to Him to avenge the Adversary.
As you enter the inner chamber, going deep into God's presence, keep this in mind to make it a quality, life re-energizing experience.
1. Let your first work be to thank God for the unspeakable love that invites you to come to Him and to converse freely with Him. Reflect on God, Our Father in Heaven, and what that means.
2. Prepare yourself by reading the The Word of God, and prayerful Bible study. The Spirit of God comes through in the Scriptures and it opens the Spirit to be in a flow with God and your spirit.
3. When the confidence and Faith that is build up in you is established, enter into prayer. Let your prayers be something definite, arising out of the Word that you have read, or out of the real needs that you long to have satisfied.
4. Then as you finish, cement the bond of the inner chamber that you and God have established and the outer world. The inner chamber experience must remain in us all day long. As the obedience in faith rule, what you prayed in secret will overtake the challenges of the world. The inner chamber binds man to God and all supply from God is provided. You will see His potential manifested in your day and life.
Time is on your side, if you place time with God along your side. There is no communion with the Holy God, no fellowship between Heaven and earth, no power for salvation and needs to be met, if the day is not spent in time with God. The life of grace depends entirely on the time we are wiling to give to God's Spirit in prayer. This is where the Power is.
4spirit@gmail.com
Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan is about getting found by using Google, social media and blogs. Halligan explains why inbound marketing is the most effective way of marketing today including strategies and tactics, how to do it.
Outbound marketing such as mass mailing, email blasts, telemarketing, direct mail, TV, print ads, and trade shows... are becoming less effective. People do not like to be interrupted as these forms of marketing do that.
Inbound marketing creates connections, builds followers, brings people to you. The Internet is the hub where people get to find you. People shop and find information from search, blogs, and social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube and others).
Is your website a megaphone (where you are shouting out your message) or a living room with a library of minds sharing what they know, enjoy or think. Inbound marketing changes your sales message to a collaborate, living, breathing hub for your marketplace. It's not what you say but what others say about you. Make it a place to come, to learn, to interact, to get answers, to relate with like-minded people.
Rethink your website to be a hub for many to many, syndicated across the web. Focus on the rest of the Internet, with many links, fans, followers, and subscribers. So it's an interactive, constantly changing hub for your entire industry which happens to sell a project or service. Be remarkable to your niche that admires you. Create remarkable content. When you are remarkable you attract links from other websites (which is critical for Internet attraction). Remarkable content spreads quickly and easily on other social media. Create content you can produce rapidly and others can effectively spread online. You got to give to get.
A great way to create remarkable content is by starting a blog. A blog establishes you as a thought leader, changes your website to a living breathing hub for your marketplace, providing a place for customers to engage with you while improving search engine ratings. This gives other bloggers a chance to link to you.
Many platforms are available for blogging: Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress. Provide a place for comments. Write about things of interest to your industry or group. Add videos. Make them only two or three minutes long. Invite others to write.
It's best to write on your blog weekly, or at least monthly. Use key words so Google finds you. These are words that your industry or group would use in searching for someone like you. What are the popular phrases in your industry. Use these phrases in titles and subtitles. Follow comments on other blogs to start conversations. Follow comments on your blog and start a conversation. Don't oversell what you do or it drives people away. Stick to great, helpful content others want and find interesting.
Join in the conversation and comment on the blog. Be creative, use catchy phrases others will find appealing. Market your content through email, RSS, social media. Subscribe to blogs from your industry, your profession or special interest groups who like you and relate to you.
Help Google find you. People searching Google are looking for something. You can pay Google so they find you, or with quality content, Google will help them find you. To get people to find you requires search engine optimization.
How does Google work? Google does two things. It crawls the Internet looking for web pages. It processes searches to find the best matching pages. Getting a link on a page being crawled by Google gets you crawled as well. Getting a ranking on Google is a goal. Ranking is based on authority and relevance.
Relevance is based on its match to the term searched... the title page, page content, text of links to the page. Authority is the other thing Google considers. Authority is how important and authoritative the page is in Google's eyes. This authority becomes your page rank. You increase authority when others link you. Authority increases more when the site that linked you has a high authority ranking. To get authority, create as many links as possible. You do this by creating remarkable content others what to share for you from their sites. You become rank worthy when creating remarkable content others want to read.
Pick key words for search optimization. Words that are relevant, the words that the searcher is looking for, typing in the search box. The more times a word is keyed in for search the higher its search value. Use selective words your selective group likes to use and will likely type in for search. Use words in your content, titles and sub-titles that your searcher will think of using to find out what you have to say.
What influences Google is the tag line. When creating your tag line, put most meaningful words first, leave adjectives after them, for example, change "the best and biggest belt business" to "the belt business that is the best and biggest." Make title pages intriguing and accurate. Language too creative may not be found by Google. Use the language your groups use frequently. Word it though that it is something others will want to click on when they find you. Put your company name after your description. They are looking for remarkable content and then want to know who has it. Keep descriptions at one or two sentences, make them unique with key words included first.
Halligan goes into great detail on how to get found by Google.
He continues with getting found in social media including Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Digg, You Tube. Each of these are a discussion of their own, as Halligan gives you a play by play on how to make them work better for you. He includes specific guidelines for you to follow. The last section of Inbound Marketing is how to convert customers which includes tools and resources at the end of the book.
He has many of these tools and resources on his blog. Note his website and the blog; also check out the "marketing resources" he shares online.
http://www.hubspot.com/
Prayer Power by Andrew Murray shows us how to live with Spiritual Power... its origin is Prayer. In prayer, there is power. Without prayer, we lack Spiritual Power. We can conquer everything by prayer.
What are hindrances to prayer? By temptations to curtail or postpone prayer, allowing wandering thoughts to enter the mind, small distractions around us when we want to pray, or just having unbelief and a sense of no hope, a lax spirit.
How do we fight off inattention to payer? God wants a relationship with us. It is as important and regular communication as with a friend. In prayer we communicate with the One who loves us the most and wants to help us the most. It's also tuning to His will for our lives where we enlist His power which makes us the most effective in what we do we.
It's the intimate, spiritual, personal, uninterrupted relationship to the Lord Jesus that manifests itself powerfully in our lives.
Bring to mind these qualities of God, His Spirit, and the One we are connecting with.
1. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere we are and go.
2. He is omnipotent. His power is the supreme power of the universe.
3. God is a holy loving God. Through Jesus, all of His unimaginable love surrounds us constantly. Take time to think over the Word of the Lord. Go into His inner Chamber and enter into the relationship of Jesus in the Father, the Father in Jesus, and Jesus in you. Let Him unveil Himself to you, showing you how to live, and walk and abiding in fellowship with the unseen Lord constantly.
How is the blessing of victory brought through prayer?
1. Maintain an unbroken fellowship with God. We bear His image and we are fit for a life of communion with Him and are prepared to glorify Him.
2. He gives us His Power for the work He has set out for us, He has called us to do. Be diligent in doing His will and fulfilling His mission and purpose Hand Stamped for you. Then we can hold on to "I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me, and I am more than a conqueror through the power of Jesus Christ who defeated death."
3. We share with God as intercessors to affect His great love for the entire world and the mission many are in motion to fulfill. We impact victory for others, and knowing that Jesus Christ lives in us, through us, we share in the victories for many to conquer the grip evil has on the world.
The great lesson in prayer and for every prayer is to see first of all that we commit ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit with an entire dependence on Him, constantly giving Him first place. It is so important that we stay in the right relationship with the Holy Spirit and His outstanding work.
1. Let us firmly believe, as a Divine reality, that the Spirit of God's Son, is the Holy Spirit and the propitious power of this Spirit is in us.
2. With His Great Powerful Spirit with us, and with unquestionable certainty know He dwells in us, we understand what He desires to accomplish through us.
3. We give over to the Spirit full possession of our lives for His Work. His dwelling place, our body and soul, is entirely under His control. We say as the Psalmist said, " I seek Him with all of my heart." We learn to forget ourselves and allow Him to make us a training ground for training as intercessors. So God can entrust us in carrying out His plans as day and night we cry out to Him to avenge the Adversary.
As you enter the inner chamber, going deep into God's presence, keep this in mind to make it a quality, life re-energizing experience.
1. Let your first work be to thank God for the unspeakable love that invites you to come to Him and to converse freely with Him. Reflect on God, Our Father in Heaven, and what that means.
2. Prepare yourself by reading the The Word of God, and prayerful Bible study. The Spirit of God comes through in the Scriptures and it opens the Spirit to be in a flow with God and your spirit.
3. When the confidence and Faith that is build up in you is established, enter into prayer. Let your prayers be something definite, arising out of the Word that you have read, or out of the real needs that you long to have satisfied.
4. Then as you finish, cement the bond of the inner chamber that you and God have established and the outer world. The inner chamber experience must remain in us all day long. As the obedience in faith rule, what you prayed in secret will overtake the challenges of the world. The inner chamber binds man to God and all supply from God is provided. You will see His potential manifested in your day and life.
Time is on your side, if you place time with God along your side. There is no communion with the Holy God, no fellowship between Heaven and earth, no power for salvation and needs to be met, if the day is not spent in time with God. The life of grace depends entirely on the time we are wiling to give to God's Spirit in prayer. This is where the Power is.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Talent is Overrated ... be saturated by Spirit
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin dispels the belief that talent is something we're born with. In reviewing hundreds of studies, Colvin also found out experience and hard work don't create talent. Intelligence is also not a factor. The factor that says most about great performance is deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is hard.
It requires practice in areas needing improvement and skills most important to where we want to excel. Deliberate practice is learning how to train effectively. What's crucial is we understand where extraordinary performance comes from. Inherent talent is a myth, talent is deliberately developed.
So these notions have little to do with performance excellence (talent). It's not experience, specific innate abilities or general abilities and memory.
Talent is developed through deliberate practice. Deliberate practice has the elements of an activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher's help, repeated a lot, with continuous feedback on results, demanding mentally and in most cases it is not much fun. Deliberate practice can be hard, that's why most people won't do it. But those who do are achievers of superior talent.
How does deliberate practice change a person? With deliberate practice our perception of what will happen in the future expands. We see, hear and feel more. It causes us to pick up on more telling signs than others and grasp more of what future events will be. It enhances our abilities to know more even when we are seeing less, and increasing out ability be more refined in our discrimination than average performers. Although actual knowledge may not exceed others, we find that reasoning and problem solving abilities perform at more advanced levels. In one's field of deliberate practice a person's memory in their field is keener, more precise in detail.
Through deliberate practice, before, during, and after work, great performers possess large, highly developed, intricate mental models of their domains. A rich mental model contributes to great performance. Deliberate practice in your field or specialty will create this rich mental model in you. A rich mental model contributes to great performance in three ways. A framework is formed on which to hang your growing knowledge, it helps you to distinguish relevant information from irrelevant information, and it enables you to project what will happen next. Great performance is built through activities that are specifically designed to improve particular skills. Teachers and coaches are vitally useful in helping you design these activities. People develop best through inspiration, not authority.
Deliberate practice can advance the young to achieve in a field faster and sooner than most, as well as keep the aging person at top performance into old age. Young children can begin acquiring skills with deliberate practice and become an advanced performer early in life and at more greatly advanced levels through life. Aging people can continue to advance their skills into old age when deliberate practice is part of their lives in their chosen field. Deliberate practice makes you never too young or never too old to be a great performer. From the 2 year old to the 80 year old, deliberate practice will enhance life performance.
Deliberate practice is hard. It requires us to do things we can't quite do easily. So a person must work at it at first, stick with the frustrations of slow advances, until the deliberate practice begins taking effect. What drives a person to go through the unpleasant phases of deliberate practice? The difference is the intrinsic perspective.
What are the internal reasons that drive a person to practice for what they want? What drives them to deliberately work at it more than others? The difference is an internal conviction of believing we can and will, if we set all we got to do it. Deliberate practice keeps awakening new ideas, innovations, fresh approaches to achieve a desired personal goal. The more we practice, the better we get. The more we believe and see in our mind what we are certain will happen, we can accomplish.
More from the author:
http://www.geoffcolvin.com/
The Great Commission by Jesus exhorted everyone to go and make disciples. A disciple is a person deliberately developed to be very skilled in doing the assignment given them. They were disciplined in the work they did. It required deliberate practice.
Here's the commission Jesus issued.
“I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ( Matthew 28:18-28, NLT)
To do this, the Apostle Paul said,
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12: 2, NLT)
How to do this is explained by God as directed to Joshua. If you do this you will succeed in all you do. "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8. NLT)
What does it take to renew the mind, to change how we think, and be transformed. We must meditate on the Scriptures morning, noon, and night. This takes deliberate activity. If an hour or two a morning, an hour mid-day, and a few hours at night were spent to renew ourselves for the job at hand, we would then be competent, effective disciples. That is, disciplined to do the work set before us. When we use teachers with a strategic plan for us to follow, it increases our effectiveness as disciples.
Try this. Take 30 days and spend an hour in the morning, an hour at noon and a few hours at night to read the Scriptures of the Bible. It takes about 5 hours a day of deliverable practice for star athletes to perform at top performance levels. No less would be needed for us to achieve top performance results Spiritually.
We, as disciples, are called to be completely transformed in mind, a Spiritual people, completing God's mission in our lives requires the same.
Here's a study process to consider to follow for 30 days. After 30 days, you will see the results it brings to you. The idea is to read as much as you can in 30 days. If you don't get what it is saying, keep going. It will create a track in your subconscious for the next time. Then, when you read the same Scriptures again, they come more alive to you.
Start with the Gospel of John, and then read Romans.
Move on to Matthew and follow with Paul's letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. (You could save Timothy, Titus and for later.)
Continue with the Gospel of Mark and then read the Apostle's letters of James, Peter (1 and 2) and John (1, 2, 3).
Go back to Luke and then read Corinthians 1 and 2.
Acts gives you the history of the New Testament and Hebrews the foundations for the transition from the Old to the New Testament's transformational power. (You could also save Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Jude for later.) If you devote morning, noon and night for 30 straight days to a deliberate plan, you will have laid the ground work to renew the mind and be transformed. Read as much as you can for 30 days, and create a deliberate plan that you will commit to follow. Later on you will want to go back to each Gospel, etc. and read, meditate, ponder what they say. This is a soaking method.
In an Army of Ordinary People, Felicity Dale explains what the Great commission means for us. As you will see, each part requires deliberate practice to fulfill it. According to Dale, the great commission is not a "take it or leave it" option for Christians. Many live in self-made Christian ghettos, never developing relationships with unbelievers. We somehow think friendships with people in the world will somehow contaminate us. People see right through us when we make them "projects" rather than authentic relationships. We need a healthy DNA for reproducing the Kingdom life around us.
It takes Divine truth in knowing God, the Scriptures and Jesus in us; nurturing relationships and responding to needs of those we meet. And be apostles that God is sending as His representatives to make disciples of all places we are part of and go to. The great commission has four directives:
1. We are to go. Go where people are and create connections with them.
2. We are to make disciples of all nations. A nation could be a city, a professional network or association, a club or recreational group.
3. Baptize new believers. To be so saturated with the Spirit of God that it naturally spills off on others. Wherever we go, we sprinkle others with His love and joy. Do the 30 day Bible reading saturation plan... 1 hour morning, noon, and evening for 30 days straight. This is a mental renewal, baptism.
4.We are to teach others. As we are taught to be trained, equipped, competent disciples, we are to share what we know with others and help them grow to be competent disciples too.
We have good news for a wonderful lifestyle. Learn the lifestyle of Spirit and share it freely with others. That's making disciples.
4spirit@gmail.com
Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin dispels the belief that talent is something we're born with. In reviewing hundreds of studies, Colvin also found out experience and hard work don't create talent. Intelligence is also not a factor. The factor that says most about great performance is deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is hard.
It requires practice in areas needing improvement and skills most important to where we want to excel. Deliberate practice is learning how to train effectively. What's crucial is we understand where extraordinary performance comes from. Inherent talent is a myth, talent is deliberately developed.
So these notions have little to do with performance excellence (talent). It's not experience, specific innate abilities or general abilities and memory.
Talent is developed through deliberate practice. Deliberate practice has the elements of an activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher's help, repeated a lot, with continuous feedback on results, demanding mentally and in most cases it is not much fun. Deliberate practice can be hard, that's why most people won't do it. But those who do are achievers of superior talent.
How does deliberate practice change a person? With deliberate practice our perception of what will happen in the future expands. We see, hear and feel more. It causes us to pick up on more telling signs than others and grasp more of what future events will be. It enhances our abilities to know more even when we are seeing less, and increasing out ability be more refined in our discrimination than average performers. Although actual knowledge may not exceed others, we find that reasoning and problem solving abilities perform at more advanced levels. In one's field of deliberate practice a person's memory in their field is keener, more precise in detail.
Through deliberate practice, before, during, and after work, great performers possess large, highly developed, intricate mental models of their domains. A rich mental model contributes to great performance. Deliberate practice in your field or specialty will create this rich mental model in you. A rich mental model contributes to great performance in three ways. A framework is formed on which to hang your growing knowledge, it helps you to distinguish relevant information from irrelevant information, and it enables you to project what will happen next. Great performance is built through activities that are specifically designed to improve particular skills. Teachers and coaches are vitally useful in helping you design these activities. People develop best through inspiration, not authority.
Deliberate practice can advance the young to achieve in a field faster and sooner than most, as well as keep the aging person at top performance into old age. Young children can begin acquiring skills with deliberate practice and become an advanced performer early in life and at more greatly advanced levels through life. Aging people can continue to advance their skills into old age when deliberate practice is part of their lives in their chosen field. Deliberate practice makes you never too young or never too old to be a great performer. From the 2 year old to the 80 year old, deliberate practice will enhance life performance.
Deliberate practice is hard. It requires us to do things we can't quite do easily. So a person must work at it at first, stick with the frustrations of slow advances, until the deliberate practice begins taking effect. What drives a person to go through the unpleasant phases of deliberate practice? The difference is the intrinsic perspective.
What are the internal reasons that drive a person to practice for what they want? What drives them to deliberately work at it more than others? The difference is an internal conviction of believing we can and will, if we set all we got to do it. Deliberate practice keeps awakening new ideas, innovations, fresh approaches to achieve a desired personal goal. The more we practice, the better we get. The more we believe and see in our mind what we are certain will happen, we can accomplish.
More from the author:
http://www.geoffcolvin.com/
The Great Commission by Jesus exhorted everyone to go and make disciples. A disciple is a person deliberately developed to be very skilled in doing the assignment given them. They were disciplined in the work they did. It required deliberate practice.
Here's the commission Jesus issued.
“I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ( Matthew 28:18-28, NLT)
To do this, the Apostle Paul said,
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12: 2, NLT)
How to do this is explained by God as directed to Joshua. If you do this you will succeed in all you do. "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8. NLT)
What does it take to renew the mind, to change how we think, and be transformed. We must meditate on the Scriptures morning, noon, and night. This takes deliberate activity. If an hour or two a morning, an hour mid-day, and a few hours at night were spent to renew ourselves for the job at hand, we would then be competent, effective disciples. That is, disciplined to do the work set before us. When we use teachers with a strategic plan for us to follow, it increases our effectiveness as disciples.
Try this. Take 30 days and spend an hour in the morning, an hour at noon and a few hours at night to read the Scriptures of the Bible. It takes about 5 hours a day of deliverable practice for star athletes to perform at top performance levels. No less would be needed for us to achieve top performance results Spiritually.
We, as disciples, are called to be completely transformed in mind, a Spiritual people, completing God's mission in our lives requires the same.
Here's a study process to consider to follow for 30 days. After 30 days, you will see the results it brings to you. The idea is to read as much as you can in 30 days. If you don't get what it is saying, keep going. It will create a track in your subconscious for the next time. Then, when you read the same Scriptures again, they come more alive to you.
Start with the Gospel of John, and then read Romans.
Move on to Matthew and follow with Paul's letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. (You could save Timothy, Titus and for later.)
Continue with the Gospel of Mark and then read the Apostle's letters of James, Peter (1 and 2) and John (1, 2, 3).
Go back to Luke and then read Corinthians 1 and 2.
Acts gives you the history of the New Testament and Hebrews the foundations for the transition from the Old to the New Testament's transformational power. (You could also save Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Jude for later.) If you devote morning, noon and night for 30 straight days to a deliberate plan, you will have laid the ground work to renew the mind and be transformed. Read as much as you can for 30 days, and create a deliberate plan that you will commit to follow. Later on you will want to go back to each Gospel, etc. and read, meditate, ponder what they say. This is a soaking method.
In an Army of Ordinary People, Felicity Dale explains what the Great commission means for us. As you will see, each part requires deliberate practice to fulfill it. According to Dale, the great commission is not a "take it or leave it" option for Christians. Many live in self-made Christian ghettos, never developing relationships with unbelievers. We somehow think friendships with people in the world will somehow contaminate us. People see right through us when we make them "projects" rather than authentic relationships. We need a healthy DNA for reproducing the Kingdom life around us.
It takes Divine truth in knowing God, the Scriptures and Jesus in us; nurturing relationships and responding to needs of those we meet. And be apostles that God is sending as His representatives to make disciples of all places we are part of and go to. The great commission has four directives:
1. We are to go. Go where people are and create connections with them.
2. We are to make disciples of all nations. A nation could be a city, a professional network or association, a club or recreational group.
3. Baptize new believers. To be so saturated with the Spirit of God that it naturally spills off on others. Wherever we go, we sprinkle others with His love and joy. Do the 30 day Bible reading saturation plan... 1 hour morning, noon, and evening for 30 days straight. This is a mental renewal, baptism.
4.We are to teach others. As we are taught to be trained, equipped, competent disciples, we are to share what we know with others and help them grow to be competent disciples too.
We have good news for a wonderful lifestyle. Learn the lifestyle of Spirit and share it freely with others. That's making disciples.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Click ... Connecting with the Father
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Click by Ori and Rom Brafman unveils the magic of instant connections. Some people click with others immediately. In studies, it shows when this happens many of these relationships in life and business remain enduring. They stay solid for a long time. Interviews with couples who say they clicked at the first meeting, and got married soon, had the same romantic feelings for each other years later... just like the first time. They even rated as well and in some cases higher than those with long dating or friendship times, who said they eventually fell in love later.
Why is it that we form close meaningful connections? Why does it feel so intense and pleasurable? Defining characteristics emerge. We can know what they are and click faster with more people.
The five factors that accelerate clinking are vulnerability, proximity, resonance, similarity and a safe place.
Vulnerability. When we willingly expose inner fears and weaknesses (being candid and real), vulnerability and self-disclosure are strengths. They accelerate our ability to connect with those around us. People trust you more and will tend to be more open and vulnerable with you. This fosters a clicking atmosphere. We make ourselves vulnerable to others when we share feeling-based perspectives, revealing our inner most emotions.
Proximity. Informal, unplanned interactions bring people closer. Like when you run into someone you know or work with at the grocery store, coffee shop, etc. When we inadvertently show up at the same place at the same time, a social glue comes in to play that begins a social bonding. This enables us to form a deeper connection. For example, you may run into a work college whose son plays for the same baseball team as yours. Your casual interactions there accelerating clicking. Without spontaneous interactions, it is hard to form relationships with others. Even seeing another person at the same place frequently (like the convenience store, book store) we are more likely to gravitate to that person.
People who live or work close to each other are likely to form relationships. Familiarity actually breeds regard.
Resonance. When we feel a strong connection to everything around us, when we have an overwhelming sense of connection to our environment, that deepens the quality of our interactions. It's a flow. Flow comes when we have achieved mastery and we're challenged. Having a sense of presence... that's being totally in the now when with someone... increases the qualities of resonating with that person. While completely engaged, we're unaware of things and others around us. This is being in the present.
In the present we are intentional. A sense of purpose emerges in our engaging interaction. A conscious awareness exists as we are mutual, open to meet the other person where they are. Some may call this chemistry, although it's that our place in life and experiences are a similar place as the other person.
As we are authentic with genuine emotional reactions, with exclusive attentiveness, which we demonstrate with active involvement, we are present. We arrive with intention, we listen, with mutual interest, and are attentive to the environment of those around us. Presence lasts beyond the the moment of interaction. It seems like the conversation and sense of connection continues even after we leave the person's physical presence.
As we consciously make ourselves more present with others, we achieve a sense of flow, inducing a sense of resonance. We resonate with the person we click with.
Similarity. The more we have in common, the more we feel in the same group. It can be a physical similarity, an intellectual similarity or a personality similarity. We seem to love the same things. The longer the length of time we have known the same people, the more similarity enters into the clicking factor. Common ground in similarity is a powerful attractor. It accelerates the intensity of the click.
Safe place. When a safe place, a neutral place exists, we let our guard down more and click. Wherever two people are and they both feel comfortable and safe there, without the need for pretense, we click more easily. We embrace each other and the same members of the tribe. Feeling safe together, and embracing a similar adversity together, makes a person more open and willing to be vulnerable.
We bond in shared adversity(i.e., military people who were in combat together). When in safe environments (without formal presentations, charts, artificially-designed structures) we will share stories of our lives. We are authentic. A deeper sense of community grows. Bonding is deeper and stronger. When in safe environments, where we feel safe and can be just ourselves with openness and acceptance, we accelerate clicking.
Clicking is when you have a magical moment and you quickly connect, with a greater sense of intimacy than normal. It is like you become close friends in a moment. To summarize, the key aspects of clicking are...
1. It has a magical quality.
2. There's power in vulnerability.
3. The closer, physical proximity, we are to someone, we hit it off faster.
4. Resonance begets resonance... when fully present.
5. Similarity counts; quantity trumps quality. Finding more that's similar contributes to clicking.
6. Be part of a shared community.
7. High self-monitors click faster, i.e., being aware of the other person's mindset, attitude, emotions.
8. When we click with others, we perform at our best.
Visit:
http://brafmanbrothers.com/
When Jesus talked about prayer, He emphatically stated that we are to be prayer. In the Gospel of Matthew (21:12,13), as He became quite indigent over how the Temple was being used that He said "my house is to be a house of prayer and you have made it into a marketplace." He was referring to what was to become His Temple, that is us. He also said in John (2:19) that if you destroy this temple I will raise it up.
We sometimes think we must go somewhere to pray. Jesus was trying to redirect our thinking while letting us in on this new phenomenon that was about to come over mankind. We (our bodies) will be the new house for the Spirit of God. Where we go the Spirit goes. And also, we (as united believers), when we come together, are a house of prayer.
The Spirit lives in us and we have access to the most Holy place of God that has created all the universe and every item of physics, biology, life, vegetation, and atmospheric system of the world we live in.
The Spirit intercedes continually on our behalf. We then are prayer... it is not so much what we do but what we are. So, we should be careful not to corrupt the vessel God has established for prayer. That is, being too pre-occupied with things of the world, in the marketplace... making money, having things, indulging in what our society indulges in and craves.
This is the first part of prayer... to recognize we are prayer. The more we allow the Spirit of God to live in all parts of our lives, the more the Power of Spirit will operate in all its potential through us.
Where does prayer begin? Jesus said to pray like this. (Matthew 6: 9...) Our Father, who is in heaven, how Holy, unique you are, and we honor that. What you want done in Heaven, we stand ready to be part of that and do our part on earth.
As we look at what Jesus said on how to pray, consider the use of the word Father. In the Gospel of John, God was referred to as Father over a hundred times. Jesus repeatedly referred to God as Father. This was an unprecedented choice of words. The Jewish leaders of the day, never used the word Father.
Over and over again, Jesus referred to God as His Father, and He said we should also. He pointed out that the Father lived in Him, and He lived in the Father. He did nothing outside the Father's direction. He depended on the Father's power to do everything He was asked to do. What is remarkable about this is that Jesus said we are in Him and He is in us. In the same way Jesus is in the Father, we now are in the Father. All we see Jesus doing, we can and are to do. We have the same relationship with the Father as Jesus had, and has.
Take a moment and read John 5. Consider how Jesus refers to the Father, the nature of the relationship He has... we have.
Jesus did only what the Father did. What the Father does, Jesus does. The Father Shows Him what He is doing and what Jesus is to do. The Father comes up with even greater things that will be done through Jesus. Every miracle keeps increasing in magnitude. Everyone who Honors the Son, Jesus, honors the Father. He will speak to us, and those who listen to the Voice of the Father and Son will live. The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted the same life giving power to the Son.
And as Jesus said, we will be in Jesus, Jesus in us, which means we also share in the Power of the Father. Now God is like a Father of the most ideal level we can imagine.
Our Father in Heaven connects with us on earth to bring Heaven to earth through us.
It's up to us to join Him.
4spirit@gmail.com
Click by Ori and Rom Brafman unveils the magic of instant connections. Some people click with others immediately. In studies, it shows when this happens many of these relationships in life and business remain enduring. They stay solid for a long time. Interviews with couples who say they clicked at the first meeting, and got married soon, had the same romantic feelings for each other years later... just like the first time. They even rated as well and in some cases higher than those with long dating or friendship times, who said they eventually fell in love later.
Why is it that we form close meaningful connections? Why does it feel so intense and pleasurable? Defining characteristics emerge. We can know what they are and click faster with more people.
The five factors that accelerate clinking are vulnerability, proximity, resonance, similarity and a safe place.
Vulnerability. When we willingly expose inner fears and weaknesses (being candid and real), vulnerability and self-disclosure are strengths. They accelerate our ability to connect with those around us. People trust you more and will tend to be more open and vulnerable with you. This fosters a clicking atmosphere. We make ourselves vulnerable to others when we share feeling-based perspectives, revealing our inner most emotions.
Proximity. Informal, unplanned interactions bring people closer. Like when you run into someone you know or work with at the grocery store, coffee shop, etc. When we inadvertently show up at the same place at the same time, a social glue comes in to play that begins a social bonding. This enables us to form a deeper connection. For example, you may run into a work college whose son plays for the same baseball team as yours. Your casual interactions there accelerating clicking. Without spontaneous interactions, it is hard to form relationships with others. Even seeing another person at the same place frequently (like the convenience store, book store) we are more likely to gravitate to that person.
People who live or work close to each other are likely to form relationships. Familiarity actually breeds regard.
Resonance. When we feel a strong connection to everything around us, when we have an overwhelming sense of connection to our environment, that deepens the quality of our interactions. It's a flow. Flow comes when we have achieved mastery and we're challenged. Having a sense of presence... that's being totally in the now when with someone... increases the qualities of resonating with that person. While completely engaged, we're unaware of things and others around us. This is being in the present.
In the present we are intentional. A sense of purpose emerges in our engaging interaction. A conscious awareness exists as we are mutual, open to meet the other person where they are. Some may call this chemistry, although it's that our place in life and experiences are a similar place as the other person.
As we are authentic with genuine emotional reactions, with exclusive attentiveness, which we demonstrate with active involvement, we are present. We arrive with intention, we listen, with mutual interest, and are attentive to the environment of those around us. Presence lasts beyond the the moment of interaction. It seems like the conversation and sense of connection continues even after we leave the person's physical presence.
As we consciously make ourselves more present with others, we achieve a sense of flow, inducing a sense of resonance. We resonate with the person we click with.
Similarity. The more we have in common, the more we feel in the same group. It can be a physical similarity, an intellectual similarity or a personality similarity. We seem to love the same things. The longer the length of time we have known the same people, the more similarity enters into the clicking factor. Common ground in similarity is a powerful attractor. It accelerates the intensity of the click.
Safe place. When a safe place, a neutral place exists, we let our guard down more and click. Wherever two people are and they both feel comfortable and safe there, without the need for pretense, we click more easily. We embrace each other and the same members of the tribe. Feeling safe together, and embracing a similar adversity together, makes a person more open and willing to be vulnerable.
We bond in shared adversity(i.e., military people who were in combat together). When in safe environments (without formal presentations, charts, artificially-designed structures) we will share stories of our lives. We are authentic. A deeper sense of community grows. Bonding is deeper and stronger. When in safe environments, where we feel safe and can be just ourselves with openness and acceptance, we accelerate clicking.
Clicking is when you have a magical moment and you quickly connect, with a greater sense of intimacy than normal. It is like you become close friends in a moment. To summarize, the key aspects of clicking are...
1. It has a magical quality.
2. There's power in vulnerability.
3. The closer, physical proximity, we are to someone, we hit it off faster.
4. Resonance begets resonance... when fully present.
5. Similarity counts; quantity trumps quality. Finding more that's similar contributes to clicking.
6. Be part of a shared community.
7. High self-monitors click faster, i.e., being aware of the other person's mindset, attitude, emotions.
8. When we click with others, we perform at our best.
Visit:
http://brafmanbrothers.com/
When Jesus talked about prayer, He emphatically stated that we are to be prayer. In the Gospel of Matthew (21:12,13), as He became quite indigent over how the Temple was being used that He said "my house is to be a house of prayer and you have made it into a marketplace." He was referring to what was to become His Temple, that is us. He also said in John (2:19) that if you destroy this temple I will raise it up.
We sometimes think we must go somewhere to pray. Jesus was trying to redirect our thinking while letting us in on this new phenomenon that was about to come over mankind. We (our bodies) will be the new house for the Spirit of God. Where we go the Spirit goes. And also, we (as united believers), when we come together, are a house of prayer.
The Spirit lives in us and we have access to the most Holy place of God that has created all the universe and every item of physics, biology, life, vegetation, and atmospheric system of the world we live in.
The Spirit intercedes continually on our behalf. We then are prayer... it is not so much what we do but what we are. So, we should be careful not to corrupt the vessel God has established for prayer. That is, being too pre-occupied with things of the world, in the marketplace... making money, having things, indulging in what our society indulges in and craves.
This is the first part of prayer... to recognize we are prayer. The more we allow the Spirit of God to live in all parts of our lives, the more the Power of Spirit will operate in all its potential through us.
Where does prayer begin? Jesus said to pray like this. (Matthew 6: 9...) Our Father, who is in heaven, how Holy, unique you are, and we honor that. What you want done in Heaven, we stand ready to be part of that and do our part on earth.
As we look at what Jesus said on how to pray, consider the use of the word Father. In the Gospel of John, God was referred to as Father over a hundred times. Jesus repeatedly referred to God as Father. This was an unprecedented choice of words. The Jewish leaders of the day, never used the word Father.
Over and over again, Jesus referred to God as His Father, and He said we should also. He pointed out that the Father lived in Him, and He lived in the Father. He did nothing outside the Father's direction. He depended on the Father's power to do everything He was asked to do. What is remarkable about this is that Jesus said we are in Him and He is in us. In the same way Jesus is in the Father, we now are in the Father. All we see Jesus doing, we can and are to do. We have the same relationship with the Father as Jesus had, and has.
Take a moment and read John 5. Consider how Jesus refers to the Father, the nature of the relationship He has... we have.
Jesus did only what the Father did. What the Father does, Jesus does. The Father Shows Him what He is doing and what Jesus is to do. The Father comes up with even greater things that will be done through Jesus. Every miracle keeps increasing in magnitude. Everyone who Honors the Son, Jesus, honors the Father. He will speak to us, and those who listen to the Voice of the Father and Son will live. The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted the same life giving power to the Son.
And as Jesus said, we will be in Jesus, Jesus in us, which means we also share in the Power of the Father. Now God is like a Father of the most ideal level we can imagine.
Our Father in Heaven connects with us on earth to bring Heaven to earth through us.
It's up to us to join Him.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
No Excuses!... Spirit Powered Action Process
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline by Brian Tracy is about how we put off to do something some day, when we can start today. The key to a great life is self discipline while resisting the lure of excuses. Tracy has a comprehensive achievement guide for personal, business, sales and financial success as well as the disciplines to follow for living the good life. For now, let's take a look at some key areas for personal and business success.
Create habits of self-discipline. They can be learned and become your strengths. Describe your ideal life in your business and work, family life, health, financial. Cultivate the discipline to do what you know to do to make each part of your life as you would want it. Pay the price, learn from the experts, become all you can be. Develop character, study values you admire, practice values you respect and emulate people you most admire.
Take control of your life and use this seven-step method for achieving your goals.
Step 1. Decide exactly what you want.
Step 2. Write it down.
Step 3. Set a deadline for your goal.
Step 4. List everything you can think of that you can possibly do to achieve your goal.
Step 5. Organize your list by sequence and priority.
Step 6. Take action on your plan.
Step 7. Do something everyday that moves you in the direction of your goal. Make a list of ten goals important to you and begin. Do something, anything. Action will get you in motion.
Three simple steps to become the best.
1. Read sixty minutes in your field each day.
2. Listen to educational audio programs in your car.
3. Attend courses and seminars in your field regularly.
Never stop learning.
Seven Steps to be at the top.
Step 1. Arise two hours before your first appointment.
Step 2. Rewrite your goals every day.
Step 3. Plan every day in advance.
Step 4. Discipline yourself to focus single-mindedly on one thing at a time.
Step 5. Listen to education programs constantly and have important things to read when you have to wait.
Step 6. After every call, ask what you did right, what can you do differently.
Step 7. Treat everyone like they are worth a million dollars.
When you are worrying about something use the "worry buster." First define the worry situation clearly. Then identify the worst thing that could happen. Resolve to handle the worst case scenario. Resolve to focus on what can be done now. Look for the good in everything, and find the valuable lessons learned in difficulties.
In business set high standards, think about solutions and be proactive rather than reactive. You must be better than your competition. Challenge your assumptions. It is estimated that 95% of entrepreneurs make less than $50,000 a year. Why? Most are intelligent and skilled enough to do more, they fall short on personal self discipline and don't thoroughly evaluate all aspects of a business. Identify your ideal customer... who best fits, needs, wants, will choose your product or service over others. Figure out your competitive advantage and your unique selling position... what stands out about you that no one else has or can do. Your goal is to create and keep a customer, with customer satisfaction repeating business. The true successful customer is one who recommends you and gives you referrals.
Keep yourself focused. And keep working on the most important things. Ask:
1. What is my most important role to keep the business profitable?
2. What are the key results areas?
3. What are the highest value activities for me?
4. What must I do and do well that makes the biggest difference?
5. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
Nine steps to solving problems effectively.
1. Take time to define the problem?
2. What is the real problem?
3. What else is the problem?
4. How did the problem occur?
5. What are my possible solutions?
6. What is the best solution?
7. Make a decision.
8. Assign responsibility.
9. Set a measure for the decision.
Happiness is a by-product of doing something you really enjoy and achieving results you really want. Eat healthy, stay fit, build your marriage relationship and improve your personal communication skills. Practice the discipline of love for wife, children and friends. Live with peace of mind and the big contributor to that is to accept responsibility and forgive when you need to.
No Excuses is a very comprehensive but tightly written work on making happen what you want most in life or business. Visit Brian Tracy's website... he has several free newsletters on many personal development areas.
http://www.briantracy.com/
"Do these things and you will never Fail." (2 Peter 1:10).
"Do these things and you will succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8)
"Run with endurance the race set before you." (Hebrews 12:1)
These guidelines are a keystone for mission accomplishment, vision fulfillment. Peter said to add to your faith, your vision, goodness, then knowledge, then self-control and persevere. This is a self discipline of pressing throw. If you do these things you will not fail.
In Joshua he was about to face many battles to take the promised land. God said that if he meditate on the principles of God, day and night, continually, and follow all the commands or principles God laid out, Joshua and his army would be successful in all their battles they encountered.
And then the Hebrew writer said we should endure, and we will win. Perseverance and self discipline to keep going regardless of what we face or how we feel is essential to attain any vision inspired by God's Spirit that looms in our minds. Seek God, get His vision and strategies. Battles are part of life. But endure, fight through them. First, it is imperative to seek God's guidance. If we don't, we will not succeed, only when we seek God's strategies first is victory assured. You will not fail when you follow God's Powerful Spiritually Driven principles.
Consider the following as an Spirit-Powered Action Process. You can overcome any battle. Anybody set on a mission, in business or life, will benefit from this process. I call it the Spirit directed vision achieving process. It is Spirit led, with Spirit inspiration and power along the way.
The Spirited-Powered Goal setting process...
Follow the Joshua (1) process...
Know where 2 or 3 agree Jesus is there.(Matt. 18)
It's about....
Seeking God First in all things,
Set directions as God gives you.
Recording what His Spirit brings to mind.
(write the vision daily, the prophetic word by the prophets was written down)
Craft the strategy, organize your thoughts as Spirit directs.
Re-enforce it with faith, and reminders of past victories.
Use Scripture Power Scriptures to overcome insurmountable obstacles
(Again, write all this down)
Speak Scripture promises affirmatively.
Share what is inspired with another.
Speak it back to each other.
Say it out-loud to each other and continue to proclaim it.
Proceed into battle with a shout, proclaiming His promises in confidence of voice.
Carry out the strategy with boldness.
Support each other,
fight as a unit and combine faith Spirit.
One in Spirit is your Power. Be one in effort, in Spirit.
Speak faith into each other.
Report what is happening and keep each other going.
Get new insights, proclaim it and go back into battle.
Keep each other going.
Keep a record of victories, and return to seek God for the next battle.
Carry your Fight Book with you everywhere, and constantly record what the Spirit
says to you as He speaks to you throughout the day.
To summarize the process:
Pray it,
See it in Spirit in mind,
Confess it, that is say it out-loud,
Scripture it,
Write it, craft strategies,
Share it,
Unite in it,
Boldly advance,
Proclaim it,
Support each other,
Review victories,
Constantly seek God.
Be Bold, be Strong, for the Lord your God is with you.
Expect Miracles, live expectantly !!!
With God's plan in hand, you walk with power in your step because you walk in His steps.
Make your own Spirit-powered mission accomplishing system,
(build your own notebook, with your design, methods similar to your personality), and keep refining as you learn each day.
This will increase its power.
Each person's Fight Book should be personalized.
Each person should have his/her own style, but the ingredients be similar.
This is your Flight Plan, your Fight Plan, your Power Plan.
Be Bold, Be Strong, for the Lord, the God over all conditions of earth,
is With You!!
4spirit@gmail.com
No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline by Brian Tracy is about how we put off to do something some day, when we can start today. The key to a great life is self discipline while resisting the lure of excuses. Tracy has a comprehensive achievement guide for personal, business, sales and financial success as well as the disciplines to follow for living the good life. For now, let's take a look at some key areas for personal and business success.
Create habits of self-discipline. They can be learned and become your strengths. Describe your ideal life in your business and work, family life, health, financial. Cultivate the discipline to do what you know to do to make each part of your life as you would want it. Pay the price, learn from the experts, become all you can be. Develop character, study values you admire, practice values you respect and emulate people you most admire.
Take control of your life and use this seven-step method for achieving your goals.
Step 1. Decide exactly what you want.
Step 2. Write it down.
Step 3. Set a deadline for your goal.
Step 4. List everything you can think of that you can possibly do to achieve your goal.
Step 5. Organize your list by sequence and priority.
Step 6. Take action on your plan.
Step 7. Do something everyday that moves you in the direction of your goal. Make a list of ten goals important to you and begin. Do something, anything. Action will get you in motion.
Three simple steps to become the best.
1. Read sixty minutes in your field each day.
2. Listen to educational audio programs in your car.
3. Attend courses and seminars in your field regularly.
Never stop learning.
Seven Steps to be at the top.
Step 1. Arise two hours before your first appointment.
Step 2. Rewrite your goals every day.
Step 3. Plan every day in advance.
Step 4. Discipline yourself to focus single-mindedly on one thing at a time.
Step 5. Listen to education programs constantly and have important things to read when you have to wait.
Step 6. After every call, ask what you did right, what can you do differently.
Step 7. Treat everyone like they are worth a million dollars.
When you are worrying about something use the "worry buster." First define the worry situation clearly. Then identify the worst thing that could happen. Resolve to handle the worst case scenario. Resolve to focus on what can be done now. Look for the good in everything, and find the valuable lessons learned in difficulties.
In business set high standards, think about solutions and be proactive rather than reactive. You must be better than your competition. Challenge your assumptions. It is estimated that 95% of entrepreneurs make less than $50,000 a year. Why? Most are intelligent and skilled enough to do more, they fall short on personal self discipline and don't thoroughly evaluate all aspects of a business. Identify your ideal customer... who best fits, needs, wants, will choose your product or service over others. Figure out your competitive advantage and your unique selling position... what stands out about you that no one else has or can do. Your goal is to create and keep a customer, with customer satisfaction repeating business. The true successful customer is one who recommends you and gives you referrals.
Keep yourself focused. And keep working on the most important things. Ask:
1. What is my most important role to keep the business profitable?
2. What are the key results areas?
3. What are the highest value activities for me?
4. What must I do and do well that makes the biggest difference?
5. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
Nine steps to solving problems effectively.
1. Take time to define the problem?
2. What is the real problem?
3. What else is the problem?
4. How did the problem occur?
5. What are my possible solutions?
6. What is the best solution?
7. Make a decision.
8. Assign responsibility.
9. Set a measure for the decision.
Happiness is a by-product of doing something you really enjoy and achieving results you really want. Eat healthy, stay fit, build your marriage relationship and improve your personal communication skills. Practice the discipline of love for wife, children and friends. Live with peace of mind and the big contributor to that is to accept responsibility and forgive when you need to.
No Excuses is a very comprehensive but tightly written work on making happen what you want most in life or business. Visit Brian Tracy's website... he has several free newsletters on many personal development areas.
http://www.briantracy.com/
"Do these things and you will never Fail." (2 Peter 1:10).
"Do these things and you will succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8)
"Run with endurance the race set before you." (Hebrews 12:1)
These guidelines are a keystone for mission accomplishment, vision fulfillment. Peter said to add to your faith, your vision, goodness, then knowledge, then self-control and persevere. This is a self discipline of pressing throw. If you do these things you will not fail.
In Joshua he was about to face many battles to take the promised land. God said that if he meditate on the principles of God, day and night, continually, and follow all the commands or principles God laid out, Joshua and his army would be successful in all their battles they encountered.
And then the Hebrew writer said we should endure, and we will win. Perseverance and self discipline to keep going regardless of what we face or how we feel is essential to attain any vision inspired by God's Spirit that looms in our minds. Seek God, get His vision and strategies. Battles are part of life. But endure, fight through them. First, it is imperative to seek God's guidance. If we don't, we will not succeed, only when we seek God's strategies first is victory assured. You will not fail when you follow God's Powerful Spiritually Driven principles.
Consider the following as an Spirit-Powered Action Process. You can overcome any battle. Anybody set on a mission, in business or life, will benefit from this process. I call it the Spirit directed vision achieving process. It is Spirit led, with Spirit inspiration and power along the way.
The Spirited-Powered Goal setting process...
Follow the Joshua (1) process...
Know where 2 or 3 agree Jesus is there.(Matt. 18)
It's about....
Seeking God First in all things,
Set directions as God gives you.
Recording what His Spirit brings to mind.
(write the vision daily, the prophetic word by the prophets was written down)
Craft the strategy, organize your thoughts as Spirit directs.
Re-enforce it with faith, and reminders of past victories.
Use Scripture Power Scriptures to overcome insurmountable obstacles
(Again, write all this down)
Speak Scripture promises affirmatively.
Share what is inspired with another.
Speak it back to each other.
Say it out-loud to each other and continue to proclaim it.
Proceed into battle with a shout, proclaiming His promises in confidence of voice.
Carry out the strategy with boldness.
Support each other,
fight as a unit and combine faith Spirit.
One in Spirit is your Power. Be one in effort, in Spirit.
Speak faith into each other.
Report what is happening and keep each other going.
Get new insights, proclaim it and go back into battle.
Keep each other going.
Keep a record of victories, and return to seek God for the next battle.
Carry your Fight Book with you everywhere, and constantly record what the Spirit
says to you as He speaks to you throughout the day.
To summarize the process:
Pray it,
See it in Spirit in mind,
Confess it, that is say it out-loud,
Scripture it,
Write it, craft strategies,
Share it,
Unite in it,
Boldly advance,
Proclaim it,
Support each other,
Review victories,
Constantly seek God.
Be Bold, be Strong, for the Lord your God is with you.
Expect Miracles, live expectantly !!!
With God's plan in hand, you walk with power in your step because you walk in His steps.
Make your own Spirit-powered mission accomplishing system,
(build your own notebook, with your design, methods similar to your personality), and keep refining as you learn each day.
This will increase its power.
Each person's Fight Book should be personalized.
Each person should have his/her own style, but the ingredients be similar.
This is your Flight Plan, your Fight Plan, your Power Plan.
Be Bold, Be Strong, for the Lord, the God over all conditions of earth,
is With You!!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Getting Organized in the Google Era... a new covenant
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Getting Organized in the Google Era by Douglas C. Merrill, once the Chief Information Officer Google. He learned a lot while at Google. Many systems were created to increase internal efficiencies which Google then introduced to the public at large... such as Google Mail, Docs, etc. Merrill shows us how to use technology for increasing working efficiency... as well where paper still has a place. Having to struggle with dyslexia, Merrill in overcoming his disabilities created methods for being organized that help the most unorganized person become perfectly organized.
His methods can be applied to personally organization and enhancing learning skills. In Getting Organized in the Google Era, Merrill establishes 21 principles of organization. It's an interesting read. His style has a conversational flow making you feel he is right there talking to you. Here are his 21 principles in a capsule.
(1) Organize life to minimize brain strain. (2) Get stuff out of your brain as quickly as possible to prevent information over load. (3) Multitasking usually makes you less efficient. Encoding is required for information to stay in the long-term memory. (4) Stories store information in useful order. Use stories to remember. Our brains aren't good at multitasking, remembering, or making decisions. So goals and priorities are essential to narrow down decisions that fulfill goals and priorities.
The fifth principle of organization is just because something is done a certain way, doesn't mean it should be. Who made 9 to 5 so sacred. Our society doesn't function as one set of preset blocks of time. How we work and how we live are conflicting structures. (6) Knowledge is not power. The sharing of knowledge is power.
We all have constraints. Douglas had dyslexia. It can be anything emotional, mental, physical that hinders us. Principle #7 is to organize around actual constraints, not assumed. (8) Be completely honest but not judgmental with yourself. Others who see our strengths and weaknesses can help us be objective. Don't over think. (9) Know when to ignore your constraints. Fear is a constraint best ignored. Control what you can, let go of what you can't control.
The tenth principle of organization is know exactly where you're going, and how you'll get there, before you start the engine. Define goals for tasks you're facing. (11) Be flexible about how you achieve. Some mid-course changes may be required in mid stream. Learn to delegate. Make a plan of action. Identify resources and strategies to work around constraints and accomplish your goals.
What is the new organization and how do we achieve it? Our traditional methods for being organized don't accommodate our individual differences. (12) Today, search is what we need to survive. Don't file your information, use search to find it. You don't need to put email in folders. Search will find it. To get the most out of search be descriptive as possible. Use quote marks around phrases to find that exact phrase. Use adjectives, such as say "cheap," "budget," hotels in search to narrow down categories.
Merrill has other Google tips for using search. Google calculates, spell checks, has a phone book. Search can even search documents in your personal computer. (13) Only keep in your head what truly needs to be there. Filter out what you don't need. (14) Break up big chunks into small ones. What can you ignore; what can you use later. (15) Dedicate time each week to review key information. Merrill uses colored markers when reading to highlight or note important or interesting information to read later. Use stories, use repetition on key information, priorities, identify limits to your concentration.
Principle no. 16 says there's no such thing as a perfect system of organization. Remember your goals will guide you. Use the tools that best support your goals. When to use paper? To get stuff out of your head write it down immediately. Sometimes technology is not available. Solve problems on paper. When digesting a lot, read it on paper. Keep financials on paper as well as legal documents. Paper is great for taking quick notes. Keep important documents backed up on the Internet (the cloud). (17) Whenever possible use tools you already know. (18) Add relevant key words to your digital information so you can easily find it later. Gmail has friendly features to store and easily retrieve information. Google apps has numerous tools to simplify organization such as calendars, personal document storage, to-do lists. Google reader will bring you the relevant blogs, news you want to read.
(19) Take notes to help you shift contexts later. (20) Group tasks with similar contexts together. The brain works better when it can shift from one thing to another of the same context.
(21) Integrate work with life instead of balancing the two. Too much overlaps in life, so go with the flow. Merrill goes into detail with many personal examples of apps and Google helps. At the end of the book, he lists the tools he loves and likes. He says not one size fits all. We all will have certain preferences over others.
http://www.douglascmerrill.com/
Merrill talks extensively about that the way we do things in business and education are outdated structures. They don't fit the era we live in and these structures had origins for a culture over 100 years ago.
"Many of the most established structures and beliefs in our world are all wrong (e.g., 9 to 5, summer breaks for school). Too often we try to make our lives work within outdated structures, rather than revise our structures to work within our lives."
There is a new era with new technology to assist us in living life and doing business in a new way.
Jesus' mission was that... to show God's plans for us are relevant to make us live happier and fuller in our lives. Jesus was the key to bring everyone into a complete, full way of living.
In the Bible, Jeremiah foretold us that God will introduce a binding agreement with His creation. That God will form a new covenant with His People.
"But this is the new covenant. I will make to my people. I will put my instructions deep within them and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. and they will not need to teach their neighbors... You should know the Lord. For everyone for the least to the Greatest will already know me. I will forgive their wickedness and never again remember their sins." (Jeremiah 31: 33, 34, NLT)
The New Living Translation Study Bible (2008, p.1263) comments on this. "It points toward Jesus whose death would seal this new covenant. The relationship between God and His people envisioned in the Sinai Covenant was surrounded by laws chiseled in stone and a priestly class in charge of all religious institutions and activities. The new differs from the old covenant in one primary way.
It would no longer be external to the worshipers, but would now be written on their hearts. The great defect of the old covenant was that it lacked the power to enable people to do what it commanded (Romans 8:3). The new covenant would be internalized through the Power of the Holy Spirit, whose indwelling would be made possible through the sacrifice of Christ (Ezek. 36: 24-27). Thus, it would become possible for people everywhere (not just a select few) to fulfill God's covenant plan for life as summed up in the two Great Commandments. You must love the Lord your God (Deut. 6:5) and Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev.19:18) combined by Jesus (Matt. 22:35-40) as the two great commandments.
In the new covenant, God's role as Creator goes beyond making all material things. The new covenant would achieve the goal that the old one pointed to, but could not reach the hearts of others: creating new persons and a new community. The goal is deep transformation of sinners, beginning with forgiveness of sins and culminating in a holiness exemplified by good works (Eph. 1:4, 2:8-10). According to the New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ will know him directly by the activity of the Holy Spirit. They will know him personally and experience him powerfully, as only a few did in the Old Testament.
Hebrews 8:8-12 quotes this Old Testament passage to contrast it with the New Testament. Jesus' death brought the new covenant into existence, making Him the mediator of the covenant for whoever believes in Him."
All who believe in Him has access to all of God's Power of Spirit through Jesus who now lives in us, these mortal bodies, to make us powerful through the Spirit that Works Mightily through us. We have this power and love of Spirit as a practical part of our daily activities.
4spirit@gmail.com
Getting Organized in the Google Era by Douglas C. Merrill, once the Chief Information Officer Google. He learned a lot while at Google. Many systems were created to increase internal efficiencies which Google then introduced to the public at large... such as Google Mail, Docs, etc. Merrill shows us how to use technology for increasing working efficiency... as well where paper still has a place. Having to struggle with dyslexia, Merrill in overcoming his disabilities created methods for being organized that help the most unorganized person become perfectly organized.
His methods can be applied to personally organization and enhancing learning skills. In Getting Organized in the Google Era, Merrill establishes 21 principles of organization. It's an interesting read. His style has a conversational flow making you feel he is right there talking to you. Here are his 21 principles in a capsule.
(1) Organize life to minimize brain strain. (2) Get stuff out of your brain as quickly as possible to prevent information over load. (3) Multitasking usually makes you less efficient. Encoding is required for information to stay in the long-term memory. (4) Stories store information in useful order. Use stories to remember. Our brains aren't good at multitasking, remembering, or making decisions. So goals and priorities are essential to narrow down decisions that fulfill goals and priorities.
The fifth principle of organization is just because something is done a certain way, doesn't mean it should be. Who made 9 to 5 so sacred. Our society doesn't function as one set of preset blocks of time. How we work and how we live are conflicting structures. (6) Knowledge is not power. The sharing of knowledge is power.
We all have constraints. Douglas had dyslexia. It can be anything emotional, mental, physical that hinders us. Principle #7 is to organize around actual constraints, not assumed. (8) Be completely honest but not judgmental with yourself. Others who see our strengths and weaknesses can help us be objective. Don't over think. (9) Know when to ignore your constraints. Fear is a constraint best ignored. Control what you can, let go of what you can't control.
The tenth principle of organization is know exactly where you're going, and how you'll get there, before you start the engine. Define goals for tasks you're facing. (11) Be flexible about how you achieve. Some mid-course changes may be required in mid stream. Learn to delegate. Make a plan of action. Identify resources and strategies to work around constraints and accomplish your goals.
What is the new organization and how do we achieve it? Our traditional methods for being organized don't accommodate our individual differences. (12) Today, search is what we need to survive. Don't file your information, use search to find it. You don't need to put email in folders. Search will find it. To get the most out of search be descriptive as possible. Use quote marks around phrases to find that exact phrase. Use adjectives, such as say "cheap," "budget," hotels in search to narrow down categories.
Merrill has other Google tips for using search. Google calculates, spell checks, has a phone book. Search can even search documents in your personal computer. (13) Only keep in your head what truly needs to be there. Filter out what you don't need. (14) Break up big chunks into small ones. What can you ignore; what can you use later. (15) Dedicate time each week to review key information. Merrill uses colored markers when reading to highlight or note important or interesting information to read later. Use stories, use repetition on key information, priorities, identify limits to your concentration.
Principle no. 16 says there's no such thing as a perfect system of organization. Remember your goals will guide you. Use the tools that best support your goals. When to use paper? To get stuff out of your head write it down immediately. Sometimes technology is not available. Solve problems on paper. When digesting a lot, read it on paper. Keep financials on paper as well as legal documents. Paper is great for taking quick notes. Keep important documents backed up on the Internet (the cloud). (17) Whenever possible use tools you already know. (18) Add relevant key words to your digital information so you can easily find it later. Gmail has friendly features to store and easily retrieve information. Google apps has numerous tools to simplify organization such as calendars, personal document storage, to-do lists. Google reader will bring you the relevant blogs, news you want to read.
(19) Take notes to help you shift contexts later. (20) Group tasks with similar contexts together. The brain works better when it can shift from one thing to another of the same context.
(21) Integrate work with life instead of balancing the two. Too much overlaps in life, so go with the flow. Merrill goes into detail with many personal examples of apps and Google helps. At the end of the book, he lists the tools he loves and likes. He says not one size fits all. We all will have certain preferences over others.
http://www.douglascmerrill.
Merrill talks extensively about that the way we do things in business and education are outdated structures. They don't fit the era we live in and these structures had origins for a culture over 100 years ago.
"Many of the most established structures and beliefs in our world are all wrong (e.g., 9 to 5, summer breaks for school). Too often we try to make our lives work within outdated structures, rather than revise our structures to work within our lives."
There is a new era with new technology to assist us in living life and doing business in a new way.
Jesus' mission was that... to show God's plans for us are relevant to make us live happier and fuller in our lives. Jesus was the key to bring everyone into a complete, full way of living.
In the Bible, Jeremiah foretold us that God will introduce a binding agreement with His creation. That God will form a new covenant with His People.
"But this is the new covenant. I will make to my people. I will put my instructions deep within them and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. and they will not need to teach their neighbors... You should know the Lord. For everyone for the least to the Greatest will already know me. I will forgive their wickedness and never again remember their sins." (Jeremiah 31: 33, 34, NLT)
The New Living Translation Study Bible (2008, p.1263) comments on this. "It points toward Jesus whose death would seal this new covenant. The relationship between God and His people envisioned in the Sinai Covenant was surrounded by laws chiseled in stone and a priestly class in charge of all religious institutions and activities. The new differs from the old covenant in one primary way.
It would no longer be external to the worshipers, but would now be written on their hearts. The great defect of the old covenant was that it lacked the power to enable people to do what it commanded (Romans 8:3). The new covenant would be internalized through the Power of the Holy Spirit, whose indwelling would be made possible through the sacrifice of Christ (Ezek. 36: 24-27). Thus, it would become possible for people everywhere (not just a select few) to fulfill God's covenant plan for life as summed up in the two Great Commandments. You must love the Lord your God (Deut. 6:5) and Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev.19:18) combined by Jesus (Matt. 22:35-40) as the two great commandments.
In the new covenant, God's role as Creator goes beyond making all material things. The new covenant would achieve the goal that the old one pointed to, but could not reach the hearts of others: creating new persons and a new community. The goal is deep transformation of sinners, beginning with forgiveness of sins and culminating in a holiness exemplified by good works (Eph. 1:4, 2:8-10). According to the New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ will know him directly by the activity of the Holy Spirit. They will know him personally and experience him powerfully, as only a few did in the Old Testament.
Hebrews 8:8-12 quotes this Old Testament passage to contrast it with the New Testament. Jesus' death brought the new covenant into existence, making Him the mediator of the covenant for whoever believes in Him."
All who believe in Him has access to all of God's Power of Spirit through Jesus who now lives in us, these mortal bodies, to make us powerful through the Spirit that Works Mightily through us. We have this power and love of Spirit as a practical part of our daily activities.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Energy Bus... abide in love
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon is about how to cultivate energy, maintain it in all circumstances, and then share it with all others. In life, you can choose to see the curse or choose to see the gift. On Joy's bus, she encourages the riders that it's their choice, so choose wisely.
George had a flat tire, so he had to take the bus. There he met Joy, the bus driver, who always was smiling at him. George found out his car had a defective brake system, was part of a recall, and that it would take two weeks for the part to come in. He decided to take the bus the next two weeks.
His job was on the line. George had lost zeal for life. What he learned from Joy turned his life around. Joy had "10 rules for the ride of your life" posted on front of the bus. The next ten days, Joy and her joyful bus riders explained the importance of these rules to George.
Rule #1. You're the Driver of Your Bus. Take responsibility and control of your life. Take it where you want it to go. You must decide what you want, then create it. Don't let the world create it for you. What's your vision for your life, your work, your relationships. The laws of physics point out it's all about energy. What and who increases your energy. Sometimes by seeing what we don't want we see what we do want. Use crisis to create opportunity.
Rule # 2. Desire, vision, and focus move your bus the right direction. Stop thinking about what you don't want and focus your energy on your vision and what you want. Live in your energy field of dreams.
Rule #3. Fuel your ride with positive energy. E + P = O. Events in your life plus your perception creates your outcome. Make P a positive energy perception. You control that. This fuels your vision and puts energy behind your focus and creates positive results. It's like remembering the excitement of a great golf shot. You review it in your mind, tell others about it. Recall the exciting events of the day. Think about your vision, replay it in your mind daily and tell others.
Rule #4. Invite people on your bus and share your vision. Remember you're driving the bus, but you are also asking people to get on. It's too much to do it all yourself so you need an organized, energized team to deliver a successful product launch. When you invite people to get on they need to be excited about your vision too. And don't forget to tell your wife and family... it is indispensable that they be kept in the discussion of your vision.
Rule #5. Don't waste your energy on those who don't get on your bus. You may have some negative team members already. You may have to ignore them and not take it personally. Don't worry about those who won't get on your bus. The less energy you spend worrying about them, the better off you'll be.
Rule #6. Post a sign that says No Energy Vampires Allowed on your bus. Some who are negative and won't be positive with the vision may need to be asked to get off your bus. Your positive energy and vision must be greater than anyone's negativity. Your certainty must be greater than anyone's doubt. Lead with your heart. The heart is your power center.
Rule #7. Enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride. Everyone around will be in beat to the frequency of your heart. Your positive energy will radiate to everyone's around you.
Rule #8. Love your passengers. Share love generously and you will become a love magnet to everyone around you. What people really want is to be loved and appreciated. When they feel loved employees will do more, and customers will send you more business.
Five ways to love your passengers. 1. Make time for them. 2. Listen to them. 3. Recognize them. 4. Serve them. 5. Bring out the best in them.
Rule #9. Drive with purpose. When you fuel up with purpose you find excitement in the mundane, the passion in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary. Find your bigger purpose in the here and now and your purpose will find you. Shared purpose keeps your team energized. It is more powerful, meaningful, and inspiring if the team formulates what they want to be. They will be an energized, purpose-driven team.
Rule #10. Have fun and enjoy the ride. Live young, have fun, arrive at your destination as late as possible, with a smile on your face. Put these rules in your bus and the energy bus will give you the ride of your life.
In summary: 1. Create your vision. 2. Fuel your vision with purpose(it's benefit to others). 3. Write a vision/purpose statement. 4. Focus on your vision. 5. Zoom Focus. 6. Get on the bus. 7. Fuel the ride with positive energy. 8. Post a sign "No vampires allowed." 9. Navigate adversity and potholes. 10. Love your passengers 11. Have fun and enjoy the ride. For more go to...
http://www.jongordon.com/theenergybusbook.html
Jesus said when you remain in My Love you obey my commandments. His commands are not burdensome. We are to love God with all our heart and love each other.
In The True Vine by Andrew Murray, he writes about abiding in God's love. (Note John 14 and 15.) Abide in My love Jesus says. We speak of a man’s home as his abode. Our abode, the home of our soul, is to be the love of Christ. We are to live our life there, to be at home there all the day: this is what Christ means our life to be, and really can make it. Our continuous abiding in the Vine is to be an abiding in His love. The love of the Father to the Son is not a sentiment—it is a divine life, an infinite energy, an irresistible power. It carried Christ through life and death and the grave. The Father loved Him and dwelt in Him, and did all for Him.
So the love of Christ to us too is an infinite living power that will work in us all He delights to give us. The feebleness of our Christian life is that we do not take time to believe that this divine love does really delight in us, and will possess and work all in us. We do not take time to look at the Vine bearing the branch so entirely, working all in it so completely. We strive to do for ourselves what Christ alone can, what Christ, oh, so lovingly, longs to do for us.
And this now is the secret of the change we spoke of, and the beginning of a new life, when the soul sees this infinite love willing to do all, and gives itself up to it. “Abide in My love.” To believe that, it is possible so to live moment by moment; to believe that everything that makes it difficult or impossible will be overcome by Christ Himself; to believe that Love really means an infinite longing to give itself wholly to us and never leave us; and in this faith to cast ourselves on Christ to work it in us; this is the secret of the true Christian life.
And how to come to this faith?
Turn away from the visible if you would see and possess the invisible. Take more time with Jesus, gazing on Him as the heavenly Vine, living in the love of the Father, wanting you to live in His love. Turn away from yourself and your efforts and your faith, if you would have the heart filled with Him and the certainty of His love. Abiding means going out from everything else, to occupy one place and stay there. Come away from all else, and set your heart on Jesus, and His love, that love will waken your faith and strengthen it. Occupy yourself with that love, worship it, wait for it. You may be sure it will reach out to you, and by its power take you up into itself as your abode and your home.
Murray continues in Abide in Christ.
"This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you." Let us try in all simplicity and honesty to go out to our home to translate the language of high faith, so that all men can understand it.
Let our temper be under the rule of the love of Jesus: He can not alone curb it--He can make us gentle and patient. Let the vow, that not an unkind word about others shall ever be heard from our lips, be laid trustingly at His feet.
Let the gentleness that refuses to take offense, that is always ready to excuse, to think and hope the best, mark our intercourse with all.
Let the love that seeks not its own, to give its life for others, be our aim as we abide in Jesus. Let our life be one of self-sacrifice, always studying the welfare of others, finding our highest joy in blessing others.
And let us, in studying the divine art of doing good, yield ourselves as obedient learners to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
By His grace, the most commonplace life can be transfigured with the brightness of a heavenly beauty, as the infinite love of the divine nature shines out through our frail humanity. Fellow-Christian, let us praise God! We are called to love as Jesus loves, as God loves.
4spirit@gmail.com
The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon is about how to cultivate energy, maintain it in all circumstances, and then share it with all others. In life, you can choose to see the curse or choose to see the gift. On Joy's bus, she encourages the riders that it's their choice, so choose wisely.
George had a flat tire, so he had to take the bus. There he met Joy, the bus driver, who always was smiling at him. George found out his car had a defective brake system, was part of a recall, and that it would take two weeks for the part to come in. He decided to take the bus the next two weeks.
His job was on the line. George had lost zeal for life. What he learned from Joy turned his life around. Joy had "10 rules for the ride of your life" posted on front of the bus. The next ten days, Joy and her joyful bus riders explained the importance of these rules to George.
Rule #1. You're the Driver of Your Bus. Take responsibility and control of your life. Take it where you want it to go. You must decide what you want, then create it. Don't let the world create it for you. What's your vision for your life, your work, your relationships. The laws of physics point out it's all about energy. What and who increases your energy. Sometimes by seeing what we don't want we see what we do want. Use crisis to create opportunity.
Rule # 2. Desire, vision, and focus move your bus the right direction. Stop thinking about what you don't want and focus your energy on your vision and what you want. Live in your energy field of dreams.
Rule #3. Fuel your ride with positive energy. E + P = O. Events in your life plus your perception creates your outcome. Make P a positive energy perception. You control that. This fuels your vision and puts energy behind your focus and creates positive results. It's like remembering the excitement of a great golf shot. You review it in your mind, tell others about it. Recall the exciting events of the day. Think about your vision, replay it in your mind daily and tell others.
Rule #4. Invite people on your bus and share your vision. Remember you're driving the bus, but you are also asking people to get on. It's too much to do it all yourself so you need an organized, energized team to deliver a successful product launch. When you invite people to get on they need to be excited about your vision too. And don't forget to tell your wife and family... it is indispensable that they be kept in the discussion of your vision.
Rule #5. Don't waste your energy on those who don't get on your bus. You may have some negative team members already. You may have to ignore them and not take it personally. Don't worry about those who won't get on your bus. The less energy you spend worrying about them, the better off you'll be.
Rule #6. Post a sign that says No Energy Vampires Allowed on your bus. Some who are negative and won't be positive with the vision may need to be asked to get off your bus. Your positive energy and vision must be greater than anyone's negativity. Your certainty must be greater than anyone's doubt. Lead with your heart. The heart is your power center.
Rule #7. Enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride. Everyone around will be in beat to the frequency of your heart. Your positive energy will radiate to everyone's around you.
Rule #8. Love your passengers. Share love generously and you will become a love magnet to everyone around you. What people really want is to be loved and appreciated. When they feel loved employees will do more, and customers will send you more business.
Five ways to love your passengers. 1. Make time for them. 2. Listen to them. 3. Recognize them. 4. Serve them. 5. Bring out the best in them.
Rule #9. Drive with purpose. When you fuel up with purpose you find excitement in the mundane, the passion in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary. Find your bigger purpose in the here and now and your purpose will find you. Shared purpose keeps your team energized. It is more powerful, meaningful, and inspiring if the team formulates what they want to be. They will be an energized, purpose-driven team.
Rule #10. Have fun and enjoy the ride. Live young, have fun, arrive at your destination as late as possible, with a smile on your face. Put these rules in your bus and the energy bus will give you the ride of your life.
In summary: 1. Create your vision. 2. Fuel your vision with purpose(it's benefit to others). 3. Write a vision/purpose statement. 4. Focus on your vision. 5. Zoom Focus. 6. Get on the bus. 7. Fuel the ride with positive energy. 8. Post a sign "No vampires allowed." 9. Navigate adversity and potholes. 10. Love your passengers 11. Have fun and enjoy the ride. For more go to...
http://www.jongordon.com/
Jesus said when you remain in My Love you obey my commandments. His commands are not burdensome. We are to love God with all our heart and love each other.
In The True Vine by Andrew Murray, he writes about abiding in God's love. (Note John 14 and 15.) Abide in My love Jesus says. We speak of a man’s home as his abode. Our abode, the home of our soul, is to be the love of Christ. We are to live our life there, to be at home there all the day: this is what Christ means our life to be, and really can make it. Our continuous abiding in the Vine is to be an abiding in His love. The love of the Father to the Son is not a sentiment—it is a divine life, an infinite energy, an irresistible power. It carried Christ through life and death and the grave. The Father loved Him and dwelt in Him, and did all for Him.
So the love of Christ to us too is an infinite living power that will work in us all He delights to give us. The feebleness of our Christian life is that we do not take time to believe that this divine love does really delight in us, and will possess and work all in us. We do not take time to look at the Vine bearing the branch so entirely, working all in it so completely. We strive to do for ourselves what Christ alone can, what Christ, oh, so lovingly, longs to do for us.
And this now is the secret of the change we spoke of, and the beginning of a new life, when the soul sees this infinite love willing to do all, and gives itself up to it. “Abide in My love.” To believe that, it is possible so to live moment by moment; to believe that everything that makes it difficult or impossible will be overcome by Christ Himself; to believe that Love really means an infinite longing to give itself wholly to us and never leave us; and in this faith to cast ourselves on Christ to work it in us; this is the secret of the true Christian life.
And how to come to this faith?
Murray continues in Abide in Christ.
"This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you." Let us try in all simplicity and honesty to go out to our home to translate the language of high faith, so that all men can understand it.
Let our temper be under the rule of the love of Jesus: He can not alone curb it--He can make us gentle and patient. Let the vow, that not an unkind word about others shall ever be heard from our lips, be laid trustingly at His feet.
Let the gentleness that refuses to take offense, that is always ready to excuse, to think and hope the best, mark our intercourse with all.
Let the love that seeks not its own, to give its life for others, be our aim as we abide in Jesus. Let our life be one of self-sacrifice, always studying the welfare of others, finding our highest joy in blessing others.
And let us, in studying the divine art of doing good, yield ourselves as obedient learners to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
By His grace, the most commonplace life can be transfigured with the brightness of a heavenly beauty, as the infinite love of the divine nature shines out through our frail humanity. Fellow-Christian, let us praise God! We are called to love as Jesus loves, as God loves.
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