You can change your job by changing you!

An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end. (Proverbs 20:21 ESV)

Many people say, “If I just won the lottery…all would be OK.”  This seldom turns out to be the case. God has built in to the universe the need for man to labor and produce from his efforts.

There is honor in work and one can walk with integrity for a good day’s labor.

Jim Rohn says it well. “If you want to be paid more, you must become worth more. “

How?

Clue…it does not come from spending endless mindless hours in front of a TV.

Learn not only to labor but to increase your skills as you do so. Labor + skills= increased worth in the marketplace.

You can chop down a tree with a hammer, if you have enough time.

You can chop it down with an ax in shorter time. With a chain saw in a few minutes.

Your job and pay will improve when you improve.

Start today.

Use Good Sense

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11 ESV)

As I blogged recently, a simple daily wisdom search in Proverbs can go a long ways.

If people would have the maturity and perspective to have “good sense” as described above, we would see less tension in the home here would be no drive by shooting and no people up in arms ready to do violence because they had been “disrespected”.

Thankfully, Jesus came and took the form of a servant and made himself the lowest level of society so He could reach everyone.  He could have been offended easily and every day. But, He knew and still knows the hearts of men. We are selfish and self-centered when left to ourselves.  We need a savior and redeemer.

He knows we do not need instruction but redemption and transformation.  He gave His life to redeem us from the curse and consequences of sin.  His spirit comes to live in us to grow us into the image of Jesus.

Those who read this today…be careful.  Surely something will come up where you have to put this into practice.  Be of good sense.

Use it or Lose It

Proverbs 18:15 “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”
Jim Rohm said many things well in his four decades of being a personal development speaker. One of thing that sticks out is his saying,”Formal education will get you a job…self education will make you a fortune”.
I believe Jim was paraphrasing the above Proverb.
Many of the most successful people in business made their fortune BEYOND what they learned in the classroom.
Steve Jobs with Apple…Bill Gates with Microsoft…Michael Dell…Sam Walton.
One of the saddest decision people make when they complete their formal education, whether it be high school, college or an advanced degree, is to believe they are done with the learning process.
With us living in the digital and information age, many tend to grow less mentally stimulated by endless hours in being entertained.
W. Clement Stone once challenged one of the people he mentored to give up an hour of TV per night to study something in depth. That works out to 365 hours in a year…the equivalent of 9 work weeks! Most of us could enrich our lives and those around us by making this simple commitment.
One of the best ways a family can grow in wisdom and knowledge is to use the book of Proverbs for a daily Wisdom Search. Read the chapter that corresponds to that date, today being the 18^th, and make note of these incredible collection of wisdom nuggets.
What can you learn in this book?
God’s wisdom on relationship…communications…partnership…diligence…hard work…industry…choosing friends and much more.
Note this…education is not a matter of the will, the mind or just a formal system. It is a matter of the heart. When students go to school we should pray that their HEART is set to acquire knowledge. Not to just sit and absorb, buy to acquire it and take possession and put it into practice.
Charles “Tremendous” Jones said it well.
“You will be the same in five years in you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
Simply put…use it or lose it.

Want a successful school year?

By the time you read this, school will either be a week away or will have just opened.


Families will be busy preparing physically for getting supplies, uniforms, bus schedules and maybe even transition to a new school or promoted.


There will be the anxieties, tears and emotions that always come with the first day of school as surely as the sun rises and sets. There will be wailing in the parking lot and hallways both. This is just the parents. Sometimes the kids even get upset!


What simple Christian discipline can help? What investment of 10 minutes a day as a family can help improve grades…focus… purpose? What can help with clear thinking…promised success…access to wisdom and not just knowledge?


Ready? Scripture memory.


What? Pick a verse per week or one every two weeks and begin to learn it by memory on Sunday and share it daily with one another. It will unite hearts, create perspective and begin to discipline the mind to retain and organize information for easier recall.


How to begin? Find a few key verses you like and write them on cards for each family member. Write in on sticky notes and post around the house. Print it big and put it at the kitchen table. Read over it at night at meal time.


Or, if you have an Iphone, download the free ap called Bible Memory Verses by Woody Hays. Or get the printed Fighter Verses system for $13 from Desiring God.


Why go to all this trouble? God’s promised blessings for memorizing His Word.


You will have good success (Joshua 1:8)
You will have prosperity (Psalm 1:2)
You will excel in wisdom and understanding (Psalm 119:97, 100)
You will have victory over sin (Psalm 119:9-11)
You will have victory over enemies (Psalm 119:23)
You will have victory over temptation (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10)


I challenge you to try this for a month and prove God’s Word faithful.

You gotta be Kidding!

An old hymn tells us to “count our blessings, name them one by one.” Want to really grow? Count your buffetings, name them one by one.


Chew on this…God will treat us as gently as we allow or firmly as we demand. We can cooperate when He brings brokenness and healing or we can struggle with Him and delay the process.


Recently, one of my family members had to go back into the hospital two days after their initial surgery. Doctors had to reopen and cleanse an incision. It was not healing properly and was a nest of infection. Now, the incision is being treated with washing with water and medication and redressing every other day by a home health nurse. There is also a device that has to be worn 24/7 to draw the infection out. Oh fun!
The treatment times are uncomfortable if not painful. There is almost a desire to feel bad toward the nurse. But, the end result must be kept in mind. A restoration to health and strength.


There are times God uses people and circumstances to open old wounds so we might see our spiritual infection, confess it and receive His cleansing. He has the desire to press into our lives not only humility which draws His grace, but to develop an attitude of gratitude. The Bible says not just to thank Him IN the difficulties, but thank Him FOR the difficulties. Eph 5:20 says, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”


Take a moment today and go to the Father and pour your heart out and thank Him for the difficulties.


Psalms 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”


Poor jobs, tough economics, rebellious children. Thank Him that all these and more remind us deeply of our need for Him and Him only. He will delight when we love to long for Him more than the blessing He bestows His presence is His best blessing.

Gold from Gitomer

Jeffrey Gitomer  (Gitomer.com) is one of the brightest minds in the world of sales. He has 500,000 subscribers to his weekly email. He is published in hundreds of weekly business journals. He is always thinking and challenging his readers to do the same. I have read all of his books at least 3 times apiece. Each time I see something different and practical to apply.


I am re-reading the Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. It is fantastic.


The concept on page 84 is a life changer. “An attitude-action lesson you can begin to use the minute you read it” is the page title.


The basic concept is to substitute the words “I’m sorry” with the words “Thank you!”


Why?


Because when you do you change from a state of being (sorry) to an action to improve yourself and walk in humility. Most people find humility in others attractive and disarming. We see so little of it these days.


Next time you are corrected or criticized try something like this, “Thank you for pointing that out to me. I appreciate you wanting to help me grow into who God designed and desires me to be.”


It is saying to your audience that you acknowledge what they say, count it as valuable and will make an immediate change in mind and actions.


You admit you missed the mark.


That is the definition of repentance.


This is what Jesus put as a priority. Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


God gives grace to the humble. He will see you through the humble time. It stings our ungodly false pride, but you can get used to it. You will grow more like His Son when you do so.

Bored? Here’s why?

Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”


Sounds like Solomon was a little frustrated when he wrote this.


The word vanity is “breath or puff of air”. Solomon is saying that all he can see as a purpose of life is like a puff when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake. Life lasts that long and has about that much affect and meaning.


How did he get to this point? Solomon was so wealthy as to be beyond calculation He had everything most people want…houses…gold…land…income stream from everyone in the land…hundreds of women at his disposal. Yet with it all, he was unhappy and unfulfilled.


Why? He could not find purpose in life. He was bored.


What is boredom? It is suppressed anger. It is being dissatisfied with what you have and you cannot enjoy or appreciate it. It is not seeing purpose or the big picture in your life.
What is the big picture? How does one discover life purpose and overcome boredom, depression and fatigue?


Get back to the Creator. Understanding why God made man our purpose will bring us satisfaction and direction.


God made man to be in a relationship with Himself. This relationship is to express God’s love, mercy and care through us to others. We are blessed with the potential of our lives being so commingled with the life of God as to be inseparable. God has made us to be his dwelling place.


When Jesus came to live in the flesh was it uncomfortable for Him? No. God has designed out hearts, minds, soul and body to contain and express His life. Jesus was the ultimate example of what God intended man to be an do in the body he gave us.


Jesus experienced hunger…pain…isolation…rejection…mistrust and betrayal yet in it all he fulfilled His purpose. He glorified God and his name. We have that same opportunity and potential.


Take a few moments of quiet time and get with God. Quiet your mind and heart before Him and ask Him to press upon your heart the reasons He made you and what He wants you to become. He will.