V.L. Thompson's Blog, page 18
June 14, 2014
How Do You Respond to Impossible Challenges?
Article by Joe on ChristianPF.com Painting by Eric Feather
Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. – John 6:3-13 NIV
This story has four main characters: Phillip, Andrew, the boy, and Jesus. By learning about each of them we can learn about ourselves.
Phillip: The Math Nerd
Phillip ran the numbers; his thoughts were probably something like this: “Let’s see . . . looks like about 5,000 men, so, counting women and children, we would need to feed around 15,000. Of course we don’t have that much food here, so we will need to get carry out. As a minimum, we need one piece of bread and one sardine per person. If there are 20 pieces of bread in a loaf, we would need 750 loaves. At $2 each that comes to $1,500. I think there may be 6 sardines in a can, so we would need 2,500 cans. I would guess about $2 a can, or another $5,000 for a total of $6,500.”
Knowing this cost was prohibitive, he reported back to Jesus, “It would take at least $6,500 to feed everyone just a little.”
Do you run all the numbers before trying anything new? I do. But what do you do when the numbers don’t justify the project? Do you give up or do you seek other ways to make the project work?
Example: My wife knew we didn’t have money in our budget for new deck furniture, so we quit eating out until we did.
Andrew: The Common Sense Disciple
Andrew wasn’t interested in the math; his thought process probably went something like this: “By checking around to see what food is already available, I can make a logical evaluation of what the situation looks like.” His survey was less than encouraging: five loaves and two fish. To his credit, he brought them to Jesus, but his assessment was discouraging: “What are they for so many?”
Do you make conclusions based solely on the evidence at hand? Does your good commonsense ever prevent you from trying something new? Do you ever think outside the box? Do you limit what you try to do when you’ve tried it before and failed?
Example: Many were convinced that running a four-minute mile was impossible until Roger Bannister ran a 3:59.4 mile on May 6, 1954.
Example: The Wright Brothers, though taunted by “experts” who claimed that a flying machine was scientifically impossible, proved them wrong by inventing one that could fly.
The Boy: Giver of What He Had
The boy might have thought, “I don’t understand this talk about my loaves and fishes, but this man is with Jesus, so I am going to find out.”
Even if you don’t understand how the project will work out, do you volunteer to give your best effort anyway? Are you willing to lay your own ego on the line to try someone else’s idea (especially a boss’s idea) even if you don’t see how it could work?
Read full article on ChristianPF.com
$500 a Month You Might Be Overlooking
Article by Joe on ChristianPF.com
Are you accomplishing your financial goals as quickly as you would like? Which ones are you working on? What are your financial goals?
- To get out of debt?
- To build your emergency fund?
- To invest for retirement?
- To save for your child’s education?
- To pay your home off early?
Would an extra $500 a month help? Of course. And it is possible that you already have that $500; you simply need to corral it and use it.
“OK Joe, I’ll bite. Where is this $500?”
Source One: Your Income Tax Refund
Hear this loud and clear: you don’t “win” when you get a tax refund. The reason you are receiving a refund is because you have sent too much money to the IRS throughout the year. You have, in effect, given your government an interest-free loan.
According to USA today, the average refund was a record $3,036, up about 10% from the previous year. I know. Some of you think of this as a forced way of saving, but let me ask you a question: “If you agreed to have your $250 car payment automatically deducted from your bank account every month, would it be all right for the lender to go ahead and take $500 as long as he sent you that extra $3,000 at the end of the year (after you filled out the proper forms)?” Of course not. But you are doing the exact same thing when you give Uncle Sam permission to take more than he has coming.
Although this interest-free loan is bad business, the deeper issue is not being able to utilize that money each and every month to accomplish your goals (see opening paragraph). After all, what will you be more diligent with: monthly cash flow that has a name or a once a year windfall that feels like a bonus?
What Should You Do?
Change your W-4 form. It is simple and yet not so simple. The W-4 form has instructions and a worksheet that can walk you through the exemptions, but adjusting it to get the right amount of take home pay can be tricky. Fortunately, the IRS has a useful tool that can help you estimate what you should claim on your W-4: IRS Withholding Calculator.
In general, the more exemptions you have on your W-4, the less taxes the IRS expects you to pay and therefore the less your employer will be sending them each month. If you are getting a $3,000 refund, for example, the proper changes on your W-4 could net you around $250 more each month.
Read entire article on ChristianPF.com
10 Credit Card Traps Designed to Trip You Up!
Article by Jason from ChristianPF.com
An article on Yahoo Finance referenced to watch out for. It was a good article outlining a few of the traps out there with credit cards.
Personally, I find credit cards to be extremely helpful as a business owner, and in our personal finances, but that comes only after a toilet-cleaning campaign wiped out $10,000 of credit card debt and after much-needed self control was applied to my use of credit.
Credit cards can be a slippery slope, and I can assure you that if you want to become a millionaire, you’ll have to get the plastic under control quickly!
These first seven traps are the ones referenced in the Yahoo article by Tal Boldo, and the last three are my additional traps to avoid.
1. Application and Balance Transfers
Tal says, “There are two credit card traps to avoid here. Be sure to include your balance transfer request with your application, and be sure to transfer funds from a credit card in your name, rather than a spouse, as the loan officer reviewing your application will see that your debt-to-income ratio will remain unchanged, which will increase your chance of being approved.”
2. Fixed Promotional Rates
Tal makes a great point to understand the promo rate. Sometimes the card company can pull one over on you without you even knowing it. She says, “To avoid this credit card trap ask the customer service representative helping you with the balance transfer whether the fixed rate applies “for the life of the loan.” Otherwise, find out when the rate will expire and what the new rate will be.”
3. Variable APR Rates
Variable rates are the bane of any credit-card-debt-carrying consumer! A simple nudge upward in the rate can send your payments skyrocketing.
Tal says, “This credit card trap can be avoided by applying for a credit card with a fixed APR, or balance transferring to a fixed APR promotional rate.”
4. Transaction Fees
Fees, fees, fees. It seems like every company has enacted a fee for something. Tal says, “Most credit card companies that offer attractive balance transfer offers also often charge a transaction fee of between 3% to 5% of the total amount transferred. This fee is added to your total debt at the moment of transfer.”
The sneaky part used to be that the card company wouldn’t apply any future payments to your high rate existing debt, but rather to the new low interest rate balance transfer. What that meant was essentially that you were racking up interest charges at a rapid pace.
5. Membership Fee and Cash Back Bonuses
Tal says, “Avoid credit cards that require membership fees unless other services like life insurance, travel insurance or higher cash back bonuses make the membership fee worthwhile.”
I refuse to pay a membership fee for any card. I don’t care how great the rewards are, it just doesn’t seem worthwhile to me.
Read full article on ChristianPF.com
Why Our Attitude Matters
Article by Dr. Michael Youssef from LightSource.com
Have you ever suffered from a bad attitude — not just a short-term bad mood, but an all-encompassing negative view on life? When we neglect our relationship with Christ, our thoughts become influenced by our sinful human nature instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit. When we forget to draw on God’s power to lead our hearts, we quickly succumb to bad attitudes. We become impatient and selfish. We whine when things do not go our way. We become dissatisfied with where God has placed us. We grumble against God’s will for our lives. We complain about other believers and our spiritual leaders.
How quickly we forget the joy of our salvation. When we accepted Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit gave us overwhelming joy. Do you remember that feeling the day you became a Christian? Were you so overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s love and mercy that you wanted to shout to the world what God had done for you? That bliss was never meant to be a one-time gift. God wants us to experience His joy every day for the rest of our lives. While our joy will never completely disappear, we must work to keep it strong.
At the core of our joy is our relationship with Christ and our obedience to Him. When our joy begins slipping and we begin to grumble against God, it is a sure sign that we are trying to do things our own way. We are no longer drawing on God’s power, but are trying to rely on our own strength. As we drift further from Christ, joy decreases and misery increases.
A bad attitude is a significant enough problem when it affects our personal walk with Christ and steals our joy. But a far greater consequence of our grumbling is the effect it has on the nonbeliever. When we allow our bad attitudes to eclipse our joy, we not only hurt ourselves but our testimony for Christ. Who would be attracted to the Christian faith when Christians are miserable, complaining, and bitter? Why would someone want to come to a church when its members bicker, gossip, and backbite against each other?
Who would you rather be: the person who spreads misery or the person who spreads joy? As Christians we have a serious responsibility to witness for Christ. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Our negative testimony could have eternal consequences for someone who is searching for the Truth. We may think we are containing our grumbling and murmuring to ourselves, but the attitude of our hearts will show in how we treat others, the things we say, and in our actions. When we forget our joy, our testimony is no longer about the glory of Christ but about our own misery.
Read full article on LightSource.com
Answering the Call
We all have a calling on our lives. But what if your call involved experiencing the death of someone close to you? What if it meant that the people you call your friends will turn their backs on you? What if answering the call meant that you had to give up something that you love? Each of us was born with a call on our lives, a destiny that awaits us and that will never change, but what that call will truly require of us, we may never know until we are forced to experience it when the time is right.
Our call is one of submission to God. Within the word submission, you will find “mission”, calling, duty, obligation. When we are on our own personal mission, we set the stakes, lay out our plan and choose whether or not to follow through based on our own ideas of the consequences. But when we are sub-missive, our mission is not our own. We are sent on our path by God himself who has set the parameters of our mission and who has already laid out our plan. The “consequence” is the manifestation of true “goodness” for our lives and glory unto God. But if you’re like me, it’s not enough to simply know that God has our best interests in mind, or believe that He cares. I must be in agreement that this plan of His is the right thing for me to follow. I have to be ok with giving Him complete control, no matter what He faces me with, or I’m not totally submitted.
It’s easy to come to church. Getting dressed, getting in your car and making it to this building isn’t hard. Singing in the choir, ushering, cooking the food to eat after service are all things that we can probably do with our eyes closed according to the talents that God has blessed us with. After service is over and we return home, it’s easy to look over our schedules for the week and prepare to accomplish the tasks that we set out to complete. What isn’t so easy, is to ask God what He would like to see us do with our week, and actually listen for the answer. It’s harder to hear that He wants you to go in a different direction, but hasn’t quite pointed out the way. It’s easy to plan, but it’s hard to submit. It’s easy to worry, but it’s harder to trust. It’s easier to make a plan b, then it is to wait until the last second to see if God is really going to come through. Answering the call that God has on your life for total submission is easy, but following through, regardless of what comes to face you is not easy at all.
I’m in a time in my life that seems foggy. I wake up in the morning unsure of how to be productive according to God’s plan. I go to sleep guilty for not living up to what I think are His expectations of me. I watch the hours pass, and wonder what more life will bring to me, and how long I have left to find out. I look at the decisions I’ve made, and the things that God has unexpectedly done and am left feeling numb. Knowing that God loves and cares for me helps sooth the outer layer of pain, but inside, the scars are still there. It’s easy to look good on the outside, but harder to face the real worry and doubt that you are afraid to tell other believers you have deep down inside. I’ve questioned God often, wondering how this event or that could possibly play a productive role in the plan that he has for my life. I’ve been disappointed when I’ve prayed and longed for a response that is met with silence. It is in these times that submission seems pointless, forced and fruitless. But in writing these words, I am reminded of Romans 9:14 – 18 “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” I was reminded that in previous prayers I asked God to use me! I told Him that I was open to his direction and guidance; that I would be willing to go, as Isaiah did, and wanted to do anything for the Lord’s service. It is in those prayers that I gave God permission to take my life, take control and spin it in any direction that he pleases. Ephesians 1:11-12 says “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”I didn’t know that direction meant unemployment. I didn’t know that it meant poverty. I didn’t know that it would be lonely and scary. I didn’t know that I would feel like a failure sometimes, that I would not accomplish certain things that I always hoped I would by this time in my life. Most of all, I didn’t know that giving God that permission to do with me what He wants would mean that my life would be out of my control. Proverbs 19:21 says “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
When we answer the call, God might take us in a direction that we did not initially consider, yet fully in line with his purpose. Exodus 9:16 says “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”Isaiah had been given a vision of God calling out for a volunteer to go before His people on behalf of the Trinity and give a prophesy. He didn’t know what God was going to say. He had no idea how the people would receive it, and yet, he very enthusiastically said, “Send me!” Submission to the call of God is really an agreement. Agreement with God about where He will send you, what will be required of you when you get there and with who God will bring into your life during that journey. God’s plan for preparing you for your call might involve pain, loss and suffering. When submitting to God, we give Him permission to do whatever it takes to prepare us to take on the call. Army boot camp isn’t fun. It’s a grueling process that whips you into shape and prepares you to take on the enemy however he may attack. When you answer God’s call, he will put you through spiritual boot camp. Are things in your life falling apart? Is the unexpected continually popping up? Is your road being made more and more rough as you face taxing situations that seem unwarranted? Boot camp. God has decided that it is time to train you to fight in the war that is being waged in the heavens right now. Not a war that determines who wins or who looses, but one that is trying to destroy your faith. Ephesians 10: 3-4 says “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”Not everything that you face comes to comfort you. Not every person you meet will be there to uplift you. We must remember that what we pray for: peace, fruits of the spirit, freedom, etc. are only fully experienced once we completely let go, and let God have His way. We must be flexible with how God answers our prayer and how he chooses to manifest that answer in our lives. Praying a prayer of submission will produce a loss of control in your life. When you ask God to take over your life, you are volunteering to be out of control. Praying to be used for God’s purposes opens us up to be singled out, called upon, moved, changed, shaken, worked, and caught off guard. But there is one very important thing in God’s calling that we can be sure of… hope. Jeremiah 28:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Isaiah’s mission was to inform God’s chosen people that they will no longer receive His spirit or protection. In fact, his punishment didn’t introduce anything new that the people would have to face, He simply made their hardened hearts and rebellious ways a permanent state of mind. Remaining in the sin they created was their punishment. That is a pretty heavy thing to have to tell someone. We’re so used to saying an encouraging word to someone about their situation. Rarely do we ever give someone a hug and whisper to them, “God is about to turn his back on you”. But this was Isaiah’s call. He had been enlightened to tell the Israelites that they would no longer be. God’s sovereignty is something that we must consider in every situation we face after we’ve answered our call. Your own struggles in life may just be the way that God reaches someone else facing a similar situation. God might make life suck for you on purpose! Look at Job. In one day he went from being the wealthiest man on his side of the desert, to loosing everything. In Job 10: 1-7, Job says “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a man, that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin– though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?”It wasn’t the devil who chose Job to go through the fire, it was God. And it wasn’t because Job was who he was, it was because God was who He was. God responds to Job in Chapter 40: 2-14 “”Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Then Job answered the LORD: “I am unworthy–how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer– twice, but I will say no more.” Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself ? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.” God says in Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Our calling has very little to do with us. If we are submitted, we are now children of the most High God. Saved from our sins and inheritors of eternal life. But there are others who, without our witness to them about Christ, will die in their sin. There are people that live around us every day, that attend our churches and work in cubicles next to us that are going to die and go to hell because they never knew God in the pardoning of their sins. That is the call of the Missionary. That is the call for us all. That our lives may be used by God in whatever way he sees fit, so that those people can see who God is through us.
The call on your life, whatever direction it may lead you, is your call and your call only. Whether you let it ring, or answer it, it’s still your call. There is no one else created on this earth that is being prepared for your call other than you. When you leave this service this evening, know that the purpose God has for your life will go undone unless you choose to follow it. You are in line with it, even today and He is using this message to reach you. Know that this call is not one that you can prepare for on your own. Your talents, abilities, skills, personality, charisma, charm, good looks, etc. have nothing to do with you being able to endure what God has set out for you. Only He can strengthen you. Only He can equip you. Only He knows where you’re going, what you will encounter when you get there, and how to come out on the other side victorious.
Your call, once you choose to answer it, will at times seem familiar, and other times foreign. At times you will deny it, run from it, curse it and at others will rejoice in it. It will be a blessing today, and feel like a burden tomorrow, but God getting the glory is the point. It is for Him that you answer, not for yourself. When Isaiah asked God to send him, not even knowing what the message he was to deliver would be, he was doing so because of his love for God. Accepting the call told God that he didn’t care what happened to him personally, just that God’s word be carried forth for the glory of the Lord. No matter how you feel about your call, and again, you do have one, God gave it to you so that you can glorify Him. Because it’s not about us, we sometimes tend to feel used. Disappointed when the outcome isn’t financially, physically or materially beneficial to us. But it is our soul salvation that God is focused on. It is the salvation of our neighbors, family members, church friends, co-workers, spouses, children and government leaders that God is concerned with. Answering His call means living a life that is controlled by one whose love for the world caused Him to give up the only Son He had so that we could be saved by grace. If he’s willing to do that to his blameless, sinless son, what do you think that He’s willing to do with your life?
Answering your call will strengthen and humble you. It will cause you to shed tears, and cause God to shed whatever is not like Him from your heart. But whatever it causes you to experience, whatever may devastate you or turn your world upside down, know that in the midst, God doing his miraculous work in you. He’s got everything under His control, all he needs is your response of submission “Here I am God, Send me.”
How Can We Learn to Trust God Completely?
Article by Lorraine Day, M.D.from GoodNewsAboutGod.com. Image by Beth Conklin
Faith is more than positive thinking. Positive thinking will NOT produce faith. Faith is trust in God, and the only way to develop faith is to learn to know God. Since He is trustworthy, as we learn to know Him, we spontaneously learn to trust Him. Faith is trusting God when things don’t turn out the way we expect.
Hebrews 11:6 is the classic text:
“Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is (that God exists), and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
God IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Not those who seek merely His blessings, but those who seek Him, are the ones who find their reward. For He is the reward.
Yet, Luke 18:8 says,
“When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
You can’t work on your righteousness – nor can you work on your faith. Both are gifts. Both are fruit. Both come as a result of knowing Jesus. And knowing Jesus comes as a result of spending time in communion and fellowship and relationship with Him. If you will come to Him, He will give you the genuine faith that you need.
The first byproduct of seeking Jesus is genuine faith. Righteousness, or right-doing, is the second. No man can create faith. The Spirit of God operating upon and enlightening the human, creates faith. Only two things are necessary in order to trust someone. First you must find someone who is trustworthy. Second, you must get to know him.
But when it comes to the Christian life, only one thing is required; that you come to Jesus, and that you keep coming to Him day by day. If you will keep coming to Him, God has made Himself responsible for taking care of everything else that needs to happen in your life. “If the eye is kept fixed on Christ, the work of the Spirit does not cease until the soul is conformed to God’s image.” E.G.White, The Desire of Ages, pg 302.
The only deliberate effort in the Christian life is to seek God. Spontaneous effort toward other things will result. God is bringing us to a decision: Do we trust God or do we trust in “man”? Isn’t it reasonable to trust good Christian experts, like doctors and counselors? Doesn’t God work through them? When Jesus was on earth and someone came to Him for healing, He never once said, “Go see Luke, I heal through doctors.” (Luke was a physician) Instead, Jesus healed the person directly, either through His Word, which we have today in the form of the Bible, or He healed them through natural methods, such as clay or water.
God has promised to “heal ALL our diseases.” Psalm 103:3 He tells us that He, alone, is our Physician. “I am the Lord who heals you.” Exodus 15:26 Then He tells us exactly how He will do it in Deuteronomy 7:11-15: “If you obey My laws (including His Ten Natural Health Laws), My commandments and My decrees. . . I will keep you free from EVERY disease.” We must claim God’s promise of healing, THEN we must follow His procedure that consists of keeping His Ten Commandments and following His Ten Natural Health Laws (Please see “You Can’t Improve on God” at ww.drday.com).
All action is dependent on belief. In other words, if you believe something, you will act on it. If you don’t believe it, you will not act on it. If you truly believe that God heals through His Ten Step Natural Health Plan, you will follow it. If you DON’T believe in it, you won’t. Instead, you will go to the doctor and use drugs and/or surgery to treat disease.
Many Christians believe that God gave us doctors, so therefore we should use them. Just because doctors are present on earth, we cannot automatically assume that God wants us to use them. The mere presence of various other groups of people on earth, such as thieves, prostitutes, murderers, does not, in any way, suggest that God wants us to employ their services.
(Note: I’m not suggesting that doctors are thieves, prostitutes or murderers. Please don’t miss the point of this illustration.)
Many Christians will say they believe in God’s Natural Plan of Healing, but then they trot off to the doctor to receive conventional drug treatment. It is impossible to have it both ways. Your actions will reveal your beliefs. What you DO speaks much louder than what you say!
That’s why the Bible says, “Faith without works, is dead.” If you claim to have faith, to believe God’s promises, but you don’t act on them, then you really have no faith. Your faith is “dead.” We are told in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now and let us reason together…” yet in 2 Corinthians 5:7 we’re told to “walk by faith and not by sight.” What happens to our “reason” if we walk by faith (believing without seeing) and not by sight. The knowledge of this world tells us that we should only believe when we see! I’ll believe it when I see it,” is a frequently spoken phrase.
But God’s way is different. God says that we will only SEE, when we first BELIEVE! The “believing” comes first. We must believe that God WILL do what He has already promised to do. Only then will we see the promise fulfilled.
Jesus could not do many healings in His home town of Nazareth “because of their unbelief.” The one prerequisite for anyone who came to Jesus for healing was that he must “believe” – he must have faith.
But in order to trust God, one must get to know Him. You cannot trust a stranger with your life. In order to trust someone, that person must, over time, prove himself to be worthy of your trust – to be trustworthy.
So, how do we get to know God so well that we can trust Him with our life?
Read more at GoodNewsAboutGod.com
Turning Procrastination Into Motivation
Article by Adam Singer from TheFutureBuzz.com
Procrastination is something many people suffer from daily. Fortunately, it’s also something that is purely mind over matter to overcome.
Typical procrastination excuses we tell ourselves
I’ll do this tomorrow, there’s not enough time to do this today.
I work better under pressure, I’ll wait until it’s almost due and then the work will be even better.
This is such a huge project, I don’t even want to think about it yet, I’ll put it off for one more day.
I don’t really need to do this yet; it can wait until sometime in the future.
Unfortunately all of these lead to the inevitable day when you must actually complete the task. And while most people actually do get it done under that time pressure, working that way does not always produce the best results, and allows less time to proof and make it perfect.
The causes of procrastination:
Perhaps procrastination is a part of the human condition, having an extended period of time to accomplish something makes us put it off into the future, even if we can begin it now.Perhaps it is modern society, which often times seems to focus on immediate and instant results, rather than something carefully crafted and refined over a longer period of time.
Part of the modern business world for most of us also involves a constant connectivity.Cell phones, office phones, email, Blackberries, etc. are constantly ringing, buzzing and updating interrupting us with communications.Our friends, parents, co-workers, bosses, managers, etc. all are vying for our attention for sometimes trivial and sometimes important messages.
While these are all part of modern life, and we have learned to function efficiently with them, they can be a hindrance when in the midst of a project which requires complete focus.There is absolutely nothing wrong with staying in touch and being friendly/social with your peers, co-workers and friends, and giving proper attention to your loved ones – in fact I encourage all of those things.But there is a time and a place, and unfortunately being distracted can sometimes make you lose focus and motivation with the task at hand.
6 ways to minimalize procrastination and maximize motivation:
To be the most proficient, successful and happy at whatever it is you do in life, especially if you are producing intellectual products; you need to have a distraction-free environment.This will guarantee your mind is completely focused on the task at hand and you’ll always get the best results.
Start projects immediately if you have idle time.Once you actually start something and get into the flow of it, you’d be surprised how easy it is.Don’t think about starting something, act.You can always tweak the project and make changes as you go along.Getting that first start is vital.
Read full article at TheFutureBuzz.com
5 Simple Ways To Keep Your Mind Sharp
Article by from TheFutureBuzz.com
The importance of keeping your mind sharp cannot be overstated.We’re all part of a fantastic intellectual and information economy, which thrives on ideas, creativity and intelligence.Keeping your mind sharp is sure to give you the edge over the competition, and more importantly lead to your own higher levels of happiness.
When your mind is in top shape, you will:
- Have greater motivation and focus
- Get more done
- Come up with more creative ideas
- Find inspiration more often
- Remember more
- Experience a better life
I’d like to share a few practices I’ve found are extremely beneficial in keeping my mind sharp and can help you as well:
1) Continue reading, absorbing knowledge and experiencing culture
Sorry to use a clichéd quote, but education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.It should be something pleasurable and done for intrinsic reasons above all else.Read blogs on subjects both within your field and in new fields you know nothing about; read books; watch lectures on fascinating new subjects; read about ancient societies; take in a new form of art you’ve never experienced; you get the idea.Challenge your mind to continually broaden your horizon and soak up new information like an infinite sponge (that’s pretty much what it is, you should use it to do just that).
2) Learn a skill or craft you’ve never tried before like playing an instrument, composing music, painting, building a model airplane, or even coding computer programs.
Engage your mind in learning a new skill.You’re never too old to do this, but this is definitely something you should start as young as you can.I started composing my own music at around 17, and in retrospect I wish I had started even younger.You’d be surprised how much learning a new skill will open up many new paths in your mind and help you become even better at whatever you are already an expert at.You’ll also open yourself up to tons of new connections and intellectual social circles by engaging yourself in a new hobby, form of art, or trade.
Read full article at TheFutureBuzz.com
Why you should ignore startup failure stats
Article by Eran Laniado from VentureBeat.com
Thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide share the dream of founding a startup. However, some publications “pour cold water” on the ambitions of future founders.
For example, a recent article publicized the low success rates of startups participating in the excellent Y Combinator program. Aspiring startup founders may be intimidated by such publications and forgo their dreams.
In some cases, that would be a real shame.
Surely, many college grads have excellent reasons to seek careers at Apple or Amazon instead of establishing their own ventures; similarly, many business school graduates are incentivized to join top consulting firms. However, the chances of getting admitted are low: in 2011, only 0.35% of Google applicants were hired.
Here are five reasons that, for some people, giving up on the dream of entrepreneurship too soon may be a mistake. The alternatives to startups may be pretty risky, too, but many people are not aware of that; furthermore, real startup risks could be much lower than the common perception.
1. Risks associated with large corporations
The high risk of startup failure may imply that it is better to start a career with a large, established organization. But is it?
Recently, the corporate world has changed significantly. It now presents previously unknown risks. Various industries (e.g. newspapers) are in severe crisis. The investment banking industry, once the employer of thousands of fresh MBAs, has lost key players and expects massive layoffs.
In many industries, the comfort, stability, and perks of a lifelong career with the same employer are much less common.
Large organizations may have thousands of employees, but they have only a few management-level executives and a few dozen VPs. What are the real chances of starting a career at a large organization and climbing up the corporate ladder to get a VP or C-Suite position that promises great compensation, equity options, and a golden parachute? What are the real odds of not being stuck in the dreaded mid-management tier?
2. Risks associated with college degrees
It has been common belief that – unless you are a Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg — a college education is essential to a successful career.
However, college education has recently created a serious problem for young undergrads: student loan debt. Many view this issue as the next potential time bomb. The media tells horror stories about students whose college debt became a real and frightening burden.
It’s not that quality education is less important than before. However, we must acknowledge the risk of student loans. Therefore, for some youngsters just out of high school, it may make sense instead to establish a startup (as Richard Branson suggests) while taking free online classes.
Read full article on VentureBeat.com
What to Do When a Competitor Moves Next Door
Article by N. Husain from NFIB.com
Having a competitor set up shop next door or up the street is every small business owner’s worst nightmare. What should you do when you can step outside and wave hello to a competitor from across the street?
To keep your doors open, you’ll have to take extra steps to stay ahead of your competition. Here are four ways to take action when a competitor becomes your neighbor:
1. Research them.
Before you put the company in your brain’s “Competition” folder, find out what they do. You might find that they’re not direct competitors. Jennifer Schaus, owner of Jennifer Schaus and Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based marketing and strategic planning consulting firm that helps companies sell to the U.S. government, competes with several nearby businesses on K Street in D.C. But she was able to work with a competitor when she discovered they each offered services the other did not. While he assists small businesses with SBA certification, she offers marketing and social media services. They’re able to send clients to each other and profit from their relationship.
Related Onine Video: How to steal customers (fairly)
2. Set yourself apart.
Find out what you’re able to do better than your competition. Schaus couldn’t charge hundreds of dollars per hour like some of her competitors, but she started hosting a monthly networking event for business-to-government professionals. She hosts it at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a prestigious venue in D.C., which helps project a professional image of her business. Eventually, her competitors started coming to the event as well. “At first I was irritated, but then I realized if more experienced businesses are coming to my events, I’m doing something right,” she says.
Read full article on NFIB.com
