The highest form of learning, and the least expensive, is to learn from others. The lowest form is personal experience. It will always cost you time and opportunity.

One industrialist said, “It’s a shame that people learn from their own mistakes rather than from others. By the time they learn the lessons to be productive, it is time to retire.”

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do?

You would draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME!  Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of time you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances and allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow.

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15

The good news is that each morning you are also given a basket of seeds called seconds, another basket called words, and another basket called thoughts. You can pull out of these baskets all the seeds you want for the harvest you want. The future is yours to sow for!

Here on earth we think we know what we’re seeing, but when we get to heaven we will see things as they really are. If we’re wise we will focus on understanding the eternal picture, so we can live in the present with a proper perspective.

1 Corinthians 13:12
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Life began in the womb. For nine months that was your world. Some people probably spent all their time there trying to keep it clean and orderly. Others just thought life was an entitlement of free food and a warm bed, a place where they could kick and punch all day long with no rules.

Suddenly, life dramatically changed and you popped out into a whole new atmosphere. You were no longer top dog and king of the hill. Now you were low on the totem pole and had to scream to get some attention. You looked back and realized you had life all wrong. You had to adjust your thinking of what life really was like.

In the same manner soon you are going to pop out of this earth suit you are wearing into another totally different environment where real life begins. That day is coming. Prepare for it. The only manual for real success in the next life is God’s Word!

When I walk out the airplane door and onto the airport runway to face a crowd of people who have been waiting, planning, and expecting good things from my visit, I am the embodiment of hope for that nation.

I am not concerned about how many witch doctors have planned to put curses on me. I am not concerned about how many news articles the religious hierarchy may have paid for to give negative press to our coming.

Rather, I posture my thoughts to be a blessing. I consider the great prophecies that have gone before us concerning the day that we live in. I consider the great promises that Jesus has spoken concerning those who go in His Name. I consider the great need of hurting humanity and the goods news that God has paid the price to meet that need.

These are the things that inspire me as I consider traveling thousands of miles to stand in front of the lost, sick, poverty stricken and fearful society of a nation. The living church is the cure for the world and the world is the cause for the church!

Do the same as you walk out your door this morning!

We are not released into freedom until we discover the truth about who we are in Christ. You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).

The correct answer to this question will change the way you react to other people. It will change negative responses into quiet confidence in the midst of bad news. It will put value in your words that others will recognize even when they don’t understand how you got your wisdom. It will put a backbone in you to stand up to adversity, evil, and all types of temptation when others would compromise.

WHO AM I? Resolving this question will bring all things to your life without costing you your health, integrity or salvation!

When I was a young boy, an old Ford factory shift worker came to my grade school looking for boys who wanted to learn to play tennis. The idea jumped in me so I pursued it—despite having a bad case of pigeon-toed feet and starting the game with the racket in the wrong hand!

The coach made an instant determination that I wouldn’t make it. He devised a tournament to eliminate some of the boys he thought were hopeless and wouldn’t make the grade. I was scheduled to play the best player. I was facing immediate termination and it was assumed I would quietly disappear into the night.

However, the day before the tournament began, the star player was hit in the head by a baseball and knocked unconscious. He couldn’t play, and I ended up winning the tournament, which turned the thinking of everyone upside down! Where they had seen no promise of success, they were now forced to acknowledge more than a promise!

Well, that first tournament victory was followed by over 100 more! Those days prepared me for the challenges of today. Follow your dream! Don’t let your pigeon-toed feet or lack of knowledge hinder your opportunity for victory!

Your were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom (Galatians 5:7-8 NLT).

King David was not even considered by his own father or family to be thought of as a prospect for anything other than a shepherd. Yet the prophet Samuel singled him out as the one with the destiny to be King of Israel.

What did he do when he received this great announcement and anointing? He went back to shepherding. The difference was, the idea was now birthed in his heart and he began to dream of himself as a king!

But it was neither the prophet nor the dream that made David a king. It was the victory gained through the challenge of Goliath that put him on the path to kingship. Confronting this giant was a decision he had to make alone, but something within him rose up and moved him to face Israel’s enemy. Where others saw a young boy tending sheep in the present, the Lord saw a mighty man leading Israel to greatness in the future.

Search your heart, seize the moment and be bold because of the Greater One living within you!

Jude 1:22-23 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference. And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

I am always happy about the benefits of walking with God on this earth, but I’m also very aware that the very best on earth is so temporary that it’s hardly worth mentioning compared to what our real life will be when we drop off this body.

But then—I think of all those who have nothing to look forward to but fire. I can’t think of anything worse, and that also is a motivation to be my best here.

Many want to be in the books of the rich and famous and that’s wonderful. Bravo! But there is only one book that will hold the test of time, and that is the Book of Life. Confirm to yourself that you are in that book, and you will find motivation to enjoy each day.

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

on the day of salvation, I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.”

When was that day of salvation? Not today, not tomorrow, but two thousand years ago He was nailed to that cross for you. What does that say for us? That that was the acceptable day of salvation. And that day of salvation has never ended, because it was a one-time sacrifice for all people, for all history, and for anyone who would call upon His name!

You might be thinking that your faith is a personal matter. It’s true that it is extremely personal. There is nothing that controls your personal life more than what you believe. At least, that’s what Jesus believes.

He is the authority on life. When He talked with people, what did He predominately tell them to do? He spoke to a woman with a blood disease, saying, “Your faith has made you whole.” He spoke to two blind men, telling them, “According to your faith be it unto you.” He told a high ranking Roman soldier, “As you have believed so be it unto you.”

Notice what Jesus is saying: life is not according to your past experience, your wish, or even what He wants. It is according to what you believe!