Faith without Works

My wife and I were talking early Sunday morning about school. She had clinical this weekend as she makes her way through the nursing program. While we were talking she mentioned how she needed to rely more on her faith to make it through.

Her words paraphrased,"I know I have my part in this, but I need to know that God will be there to get me through it."

This brings us a great topic for the week, "Faith without Works is Dead." What does this mean and how do we apply to our lives?

We will discuss this week starting with the scripture James 2:14,20 and 26 (NKJV). Read through the second chapter of James and think about how you can relate this to your everyday walk with God as well as you everyday life.

God Bless!

Friday Morning

Got up to blog this morning and as per the theme of this winter I had to remove snow from my driveway instead. In essence I am reaping what I've sown. We moved to an area that receives significant snowfall and we have to deal with it. It is better than mowing and weed-eating Bermuda grass three times a week though!

Have a blessed Weekend and continue your tenacious walk with God.

66 Love Letters

A brief post this morning in between shoveling and trying to get to work.

Click on the link below and subscribe to this daily emailing of 6 love letters from God. Truly amazing way to start the day.


66 Love letters

Have a Blessed day and may you have a Tenacious walk with God!

Sowing and Reaping

Galatians 6:7-10 happens to be one of my favorite passages from the bible. The reason is because you can apply the teaching to any situation in your life. When you really think about it, you are constantly sowing and reaping each moment of each day.

What happens to you in the future has a direct correlation of what you did in the past. This applies in all things. Your future is shaped by the things and decisions you already made. You will sow what you reap.

I am a believer in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. I am not a bible scholar so please be easy on me here. This is how I interpret this passage.

God will make sure that all things sown in the flesh will reap bad seeds. All things sown in the spirit will reap great harvest. I think I already said this numerous times. But its a fact.

Here is the part that often gets left out. It will take time to see the fruits of your work. Do not stop sowing good seeds because there is not a quick harvest. All things happen on God's time, not when we want them too. Hang in there and continue to do the right things in life, you will receive the blessing.

There will also be times when you sow good seeds and bad things happen. Once again, hang in there and continue to do good. As the passage says, God will not be mocked, you will reap what you sow. But only on God's time.

God Bless.

Sowing and Reaping

Have you ever heard. "what goes around comes around" or "you get what you deserve". These cliches are merely stating a biblical truth, you will reap what you sow. There are several bible verses covering this in detail.

Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
Mark 4:1-9, 13-21
Galatians 6:7-10

The basic premise of reaping what you sow is quite simple. The seeds you plant (sow) will come to harvest (reap). The type of harvest you cultivate will depend on the type of seeds you planted. If you plant bad seeds, for example, you talk bad about, cheat or deceive and/ or, take advantage of others. Eventually you will have to pay the prices for these actions.

However, if you spent your time treating others with respect, playing by the rules, living with integrity; sowing good seeds. You will reap the reward for these actions. This is a Biblical and universal truth and there are no exceptions to this rule.

Over the next few days we'll discuss the verses shown above and how to apply these truths in you daily life. God Bless!

Leaders are Readers

Reading is the foundation to learning.

Pick any book and start reading today. Get in the habit of reading at least 15 minutes each day.

I love to read first thing in the morning and right before bed. These times work best for me, but your time may be different. The only way you'll know is to start.

What will you gain from reading positive material every day?

A positive mental attitude.

Discipline.

Knowledge.

Understanding others.

A huge advantage over those who don't read.

Next Week we will discuss sowing and reaping and my favorite bible verse, Galatians 6:7-10.

Have a blessed weekend and may God grant your every prayer.

Living Life in the Zone by Kyle Rote Jr and Dr Joe Pettigrew

I will admit when requesting this book I was a little apprehensive. In the past I have not been a big fan of these types of books. Usually midway through I lose interest in them and don't finish the complete program. However, this one caught my attention because it had a sports theme to it.

As I started reading through the introduction I started to get excited about the idea. After the first few chapters I could not put it down and ended up finishing the book in about 4 days.

Now I am going through each day when I wake up and look forward to reading and doing the exercises at the ends of the chapters.

I am really impressed with the diversity of the stories for each day and how the authors blend the scripture in with todays challenges.

This is a must read for all men. I will be recommending this book to everyone that I know. It is that good!



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Leaders are Readers

Reading teaches you new ways of thinking about the same subjects.

I started back to college at age 44 as an insurance policy in case of job loss. There was an additional benefit I received and one I never dreamed of.

At home I would sent hours studying algebra, philosophy, marketing, history and the rest of the general subjects needed to obtain my degree. The one thing I didn't think about was work. This kept me fresh and it also helped me view my job duties from a completely new perspective.

Instead of thinking about trucking 24/7 I thought about other things and left work at work. Each morning when I arrived at the office I had an entirely different perspective of the same old job.

Reading was one of the keys. It forced my mind to open up and absorb new subjects and think differently about familiar subjects. It helped me rise above the competition and move on to a much better job and lifestyle.

Reading is vital to success! Gob Bless

Leaders are Readers, cont'd

The next reason reading is so valuable to leaders is because, reading opens your mind to other's viewpoints. Reading positive material allows you to delve into some of the greatest minds ever to grace our earth.

Here is a list of great Books to start with. This list is the starting point and by no means exclusive. The list is in no particular order after the first and each should be read multiple times.

The Bible. My preference is the John Maxwell Leadership Bible
The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
All books by John Maxwell
All Books by Og Mandino
Golfs Sacred Journey by David Cook

As you read these classics, you will be amazed on how your thoughts will be transformed. And thoughts become feelings. Feelings become actions. Actions become habits. And habits become your success or your failure.

Leaders are Readers

As my web address for this blog implies, Leaders are Readers. This week we will discuss the importance of reading positive material everyday.

If you are serious about being a real leader, one that has followers, then you need to understand why reading is important.

In a nutshell reading positive material everyday keeps your mind fresh. It opens up your imagination and increases your thought power.

TV on the other hand decreases your imagination and limits your thought power because video paints the picture for you.

Books force you to put your mind to work because you have to put a picture behind the words.

What does this have to do with leadership? There are many answers and we'll cover most of them this week.

The first answer is discipline. Setting yourself on a reading schedule everyday and following through, regardless of what the day brings. Leaders have the discipline to do the right things everyday. Reading is a great way to start the day.

God Bless

Paying the Price

I'll end the week with a short post.

This week was a challenge. The weather created havoc and the real leaders stood up and made themselves known by their actions. They paid the price by shoveling numerous times Wednesday and again early Thursday AM to be at work. Their actions were an indication of their willingness to pay the price.

There were others that used every excuse possible and will still not be at work today; three days later. They will also be the first to complain about being passed over for promotions, small pay raises and the other issues that low level performers complain about.

Thanks for following, God Bless!

Paying the Price

Here is a brief excerpt from my upcoming book where I discuss paying the price.

It can be easy to take short cuts in life. In fact many people tend to spend more time trying to figure out how to circumvent the system looking for the easy way.

The first step in true personal growth on your way to success is to realize that there will be a cost for success and a cost for failure. What most don’t realize is you will have to pay one of these prices. You can pay the price (invest) in your success once and reap the rewards forever. Or you can continually pay the price for failure.

This price will be paid over and over again for the rest of your life. The choice is yours. It is much easier to go with the success option.

John Maxwell in Leadership Promises discusses the price one must pay in order to achieve success. Here are the factors:

• 1. Change of lifestyle: in all things good, change must occur
• 2. Loneliness: it can be a lonely process
• 3. Faith in GOD: keep in prayer and wait on God’s time
• 4. Criticism: expect those you leave behind to criticize you
• 5. Hard Work and Money: you won’t reach your goal by slacking and you should practice delayed gratification. Your rewards will come.
• 6. Daily Discipline: affirmations, planning your day, everyday pays huge dividends
• 7. Constant Pressure: you will feel more pressure as you become successful, but you’ll be able to handle it better as well

Maxwell, John C. Leadership: Promises for Every Day, a Daily Devotional. Nashville, Tenn: J. Countryman, 2003.

Paying the Price

Yesterday we discussed three factors of paying paying a price in life. Which are:


1. Success and failure have a price
2. You will have to pay one of them
3. You can choose which one to pay


Here is what I mean by this. You will face struggles, obstacles and challenges throughout your life regardless of who you are or what you do. Doesn't it make sense to take these on while traveling toward a worthwhile goal or dream?


Pay the price for success once, instead of paying the price for failure forever! Anything can become a habit if you do it long enough; good and bad things.


You can usually tell who has paid the price for success. They are those whom others call "Lucky."Luck should be defined as, opportunity meeting preparation!

Others only see the results, they fail to see the price which was paid behind the scenes.

Success takes time to achieve, but so does failure. Neither happens overnight. Set your goals, along with an action plan and get started, it is not too late.

God Bless!

Goals, what did you do about them?

We spent the last two weeks discussing goals. How to make them, how to set and how to achieve them. No matter how you try to get around it, goals are the foundation of success in any endeavor.

You can choose to set them or press on without them you. You can create a path or wander aimlessly, your choice. Either way you go you will achieve something. It may not be want you want, but you will achieve it. Why not insure you get closer to something you want?

This week we will talk about the price of success and compare it to the price of failure. Three things to remember:

1. Success and failure have a price

2. You will have to pay one of them

3. You can choose which one to pay

Have a great day. Set your goals and develop your affirmations. God Bless!

Final word on goals for now

After all is said and done and your goals are finally established. Your affirmations are written and spoken. There is one more important step. Your reward system.

What do you want once you reach your goal? Is it a car, a house, land? If you have a solid image of your reward you have a much better chance of reaching it. Put pictures up all over your house to keep this fresh in your mind. This really works. Do not leave this step out.

Set up a progressive system of rewards along the way. This will keep you focused on the big prize at the end. A dinner for the family, or a new computer, anything that keeps you motivated to stay on track works. Being successful is not so much about acquiring tangible things. The tangible things help you put your arms around an otherwise intangible object. This is why the reward system is so important.

Try it, it works.

I am heading out to our managers meeting this weekend. I will miss my awesome wife and family tremendously. Can't wait to see them on Sunday.

Today we talk about daily priorities and activities. These are the things you must do each day to get closer to your goals. They also need to be congruent with your affirmations. Here are mine.

Affirmation:

"I am super successful and attract enormous abundance into my life daily. I have an incredible energy level, a laser sharp focus, build awesome relations and execute all plans to perfection. I win big in all areas because I have total confidence in my abilities. I seek God and live by his word. I save and tithe 10% of my income."

Daily Priorities and Activities:

Prayer, Affirm, Read, Write, Smile, Exercise, Focus on Who I am, Take Advantage of TODAY, Be excited and Enthused about others, and Blog

All of the daily activities relate to my affirmation which in turn relates to my goals. This can take a while to get right, so don't get frustrated. Hang in there and continue working on it.

Tomorrow we will summarize the last two weeks of goal setting with one important final tip. God Bless.