If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000—but carried over no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening canceled 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 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.
Scripture: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15
Have you thought about the importance of instilling vision in others? Let’s look briefly at three words: Magnetic, Magnanimous & Majestic.
Is your vision MAGNETIC? Is it attracting interest from others? Is it drawing resources to you? Regardless of your socioeconomic status, the world around you has extra resources looking to be employed, and your vision will provide a road map for resources and people to travel along! Ask yourself, “What am I attracting to my vision? Is it what I want? What I am expecting?”
The second word is MAGNANIMOUS – Are you generous of spirit? It will take quite a bit of generosity of spirit, time and talent to get you to your destination. The word ‘magnanimous’ means to be royal in nature, noble in character, capable of gracious behavior. Are you forgiving, charitable? Learn to think like nobility. You will need these characteristics when friends, family and those you have trusted fail you on the pathway to your dream! The result of being magnanimous is that you won’t sweat the small stuff. That’s what happens when you know who you are and when you know where you are headed! You are made for royalty! For destiny!
MAJESTIC—is your dream memorable? What value will it add to society and others? Is it quantifiable? What great results do you anticipate? How many people will you help? How much income will it generate? What great issue in society are you addressing? http://bit.ly/1Eyv40n
Hours before the opening night of a large mass miracle meeting in Africa, the evangelists we were told by the organizers, “Don’t expect to start on time! Here in Africa the opening night is just a test run where we work out our problems.”
Can you imagine? 75,000 people are preparing to gather. People are already standing on the field hours before the meetings are to begin! Yet, the expectation of a group of adult men was – ‘don’t worry if we don’t start on time, we never do!’ In other words, failure is acceptable!
Ask yourself a simple question: Where have I set the standard for my life? Is failure my expectation, or is overcoming the impossible where I set my goal in life?
How would you handle a situation like this if in one hour you were to address this crowd, and you had no lights and no sound? Action was required, so the 30 organizers were fired, and forty 14-year-old male volunteers were recruited from the crowd. Why? They had not yet experienced failure! They would climb where no one else would climb, lifting lights and scaling poles! Are you willing to scale insurmountable odds?
If those 40 boys had not stepped to the line, what would have happened that night? 75,000 people who came looking for hope, searching for a miracle, and expecting good news would have left disappointed! http://bit.ly/1NAmfV0
Quote: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” – Albert Einstein
How do you overcome apathy? First we have to understand it! What is apathy?
They observe but do not act.
They know but they do not care.
They hear but they do not respond.
They think of themselves rather than thinking of others.
Are YOU a part of the collective ‘THEY?’ Helen Keller said, “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings”.
How many destinies can be changed when we emerge from apathy to action? Consider it: wherever you are today, you have power to initiate change! It does not matter your sex, age, or culture!
Just as Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Helen Keller overcame apathetic concern for their causes, you and I can discover renewed hope and expectation! Why wait? Let’s do it now! http://bit.ly/1NvFLQy
The COST of your dream? Face the reality that you may need to raise the funds to acquire your dream, you may need a new education, you may need to find legal assistance to initiate your idea!
You might say, “I don’t have enough money to fulfill my vision!” Believe it or not, that’s not a new thought—most dreams begin with very little! MONEY FOLLOWS VISION! It’s not the money in your pocket that counts, but the value of the idea in your mouth that will open the door to opportunity!
It’s not what you have or what you know, but often it’s the WHO that you will meet that will make a dream a reality! Ask yourself: Who do you know? Who can you get to know? http://bit.ly/1bKt3BS
“A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” – Elbert Hubbard
The author of this phrase, Elbert Hubbard, also wrote a story about Ida Straus, and her death on the Titanic. As a woman she was supposed to be placed on a lifeboat before any of the men, but she refused to board the boat: “Not I!” She said, “I will not leave my husband. All these years we’ve traveled together, and shall we part now? No!” she said, “Our fate is one.” Hubbard then added his own stirring commentary:
“Mr. and Mrs. Straus, I envy you that legacy of love and loyalty left to your children and grandchildren. The calm courage that was yours all your long and useful career was your possession in death. You knew how to do three great things—you knew how to live, how to love and how to die.”
Ask yourself these three simple questions: Have I discovered the key to a full life? Have I learned to love with a full heart? What will I do when one day I face death? These questions, as simple as they may appear, lie at the core of a meaningful life! http://bit.ly/1FMgClw
As a young woman Mother Theresa, who was suffering from tuberculosis, heard the “call within the call” and knew she was to leave the convent in Calcutta and work with the poor living among them. With only 5 Rupees in her hand, she started a school in the slums to teach the children of the poor. Mother Theresa, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and India’s highest Civilian Award, Bharat Ratnanow, set up nearly 570 homes for the poor in 125 countries.
Like Mother Theresa – ONE IDEA – ONE THOUGHT from God can bring significant change, not only to your life but to the lives of those you know in your community and in your nation!
When we are facing life’s deepest tragedies and our most serious personal problems, often the thing we need the most is to hear the voice of someone else who is asking for help! Have you heard that voice?
Ask yourself this question: Who needs help in my community? YOU can become a modern day missionary of Good News! You can overcome the hardships of life! You can rise above poverty like Mother Theresa who had only 5 Rupees and was sick with tuberculosis, yet made a better life for millions of people!
Scripture: Romans 10:15
http://bit.ly/1E0i6YV
David the Psalmist said, ‘Who is a person that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
God has a name. He is called the great “I AM”. The scripture says He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We find true dignity in trusting in the One who calls us a king and a lord regardless of our station in life.
Do you need a new view on life, a new opportunity to discover God? You can pray right now: “Lord Jesus, I want to know you. Come into my heart and reveal yourself to me. Come into my heart and lift me up today.”
Scripture: Psalm 8:4-6,9 ESV
Nothing makes a dream come alive like writing your idea down and creating a prototype and determining what resources are required to pursue your dream. The following testimony could be you. What happened? A mother and a daughter decided to take the Live Your Dream – Dream Sheets and use them to layout the road map to their dream.
My daughter and I put our heads together on our idea, made some of them, then prayed and asked around for a patent lawyer. We met with one on Feb. 25 and had a list of questions we asked and showed him our idea. When he saw it, he loved it, and loved the idea and that there were so many different distributors we could market to. My goal is–to market our product, bring in more money and give back to God. (I truly believe that you cannot out give God).”
It is often said that some of the most brilliant ideas were conceived over a meal and written on a paper napkin! Your idea may be brilliant but that’s just the beginning! We have provided you with a workbook to help you formulate the dream that’s in your heart!
How? Research what your dream requires. Ask yourself this question: What price is too high to pay? Breakdown the cost of your dream on a personal level by asking these questions:
- What will my dream cost me personally – financially and emotionally?
- What will my dream cost my family? My marriage?
- What will my dream require from my current free time? Ask yourself, are you willing to give up your free time to pursue the dream that’s in your heart, or to learn a new skill, take a class, build a prototype, set a goal? Consider the price before you embark!
Be sure to download your Live Your Dream -7 Dream Sheets today!
Scripture: Proverbs 3:6
http://bit.ly/1FH9Opp
Quote: I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
~Maya Angelou
Have you ever had the question arise in your heart of why something happened to you that you did not want or expect? Does God want our hearts to be broken or our energy diminished? No, He does not! He said that in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, He has overcome this world. It is clear that in this world circumstances and people can throw unexpected curve balls at you, but be of good cheer!
All that you are is NOT based on all that you have. Your value is based on the image God has of you as His righteous, holy, empowered son or daughter. The great apostle Paul went through shipwreck, near drowning, and two weeks of being tossed like a ball on the ocean before he was finally delivered and made it to land. You would think angels would have started a chorus of praise as their main man survived, but instead he gets a snake bite! What does he do? Should he get mad at God for adding insult to injury? No, He just shakes it off. He has places to go and people to meet!
Whatever happens to you, SHAKE IT OFF!
Scripture: John 16:33
