On The Level

If you want to grow in any area of your life, you will be required to look at yourself very closely. What are you going to look for? I would suggest you look for the things that stand between you and where you desire to go. If you are looking for excuses then you are missing the point. It is okay to see the excuses but, you have got to find a way to get past them. Identifying them is only the first step. Your next step is to acknowledge that you are the only one that can change it. Here is an example in my own life. I recognize that my mind tends to wonder from subject to subject and seemingly all over the place. This is valuable tool for me because it enables me to attack objectives at many different angles . . . if I remain focused. If I allow it to run rampant, without any sort of boundaries or self imposed guidelines, then I can get distracted very easily. This came up just the other day when I had an idea for a new business venture. I'd thought of all the aspects of it from the first call for the licensing that would be required to the time when I would sell it as a franchise. All of this took about 2 days of thought and planning. And for what? After all that, I came to realize that business, while it will be enormously successful, would be a massive distraction to my real objective in life. At least for now. My objective in life is more important to me than that business. All I had to do was to line it up with that objective and see if they would compliment each other. They same can be done with you. First identify what your objective is, then eliminate with extreme prejudice all that stands as a distraction to your attainment of that objective. Just make sure that your objective stands to better the lives of others. Take a look at the visual aid for a better look at what I'm trying to convey.

Living "Lesson Minded"

In life there are things happening all around us, to us, and by us. How do you look at those things? What do you see when you observe something taking place? Are you seeing whatever is happening as just an event or a circumstance? When you watch a movie, are you just being entertained or are you looking for something important to take away from it, a lesson to be learned? Here is an exercise that will add value to whatever it is that you see happening around you. Start looking for "lessons" in everything you see. For example, when you watch an interaction between two people, you will see all kinds of things that will help you to become a better person. Start with noticing who is the dominating force of that interaction. Why are they the dominating force? Is it positive or negative? What do you notice that will help you to interact with others more effectively and efficiently? Maybe you are seeing things that are turn-offs in their interaction. Make note and try avoiding such things in your next interaction. Take the good lessons with you and let them add to you. Take the bad and get rid of it from your life.

Fear part 1

Fear: (as defined on dictionary.com) 1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

I am going to break this study on fear and how it applies to your life into several parts. The first part we will examine the meaning of "fear". We know for a fact that if you do not understand the definition of a word, then you cannot use it to your advantage. When you grasp the meaning of a word, it loses it's power to control various parts of your life anonymously, as a mysterious force. Once you know, you can control, it is knowledge and it's application that will gain increase in your world. In Hosea 4:6 we learn "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.". So, gain knowledge.

As defined above in the first paragraph, we can see that fear is an emotion. You would be wise to study on your own about how to take control of you emotions. The fear that you carry around with you in your daily life is there because some external event, suggestion, experience, or even a story that somebody shared with you. It is designed to protect you from harm. If most of what we actually fear can be looked at objectively, with solid facts to support it, with emotions set aside, we will often find that fear has no base at all for operating in our lives. It's roots are often deep in our subconscious mind and are a default setting for decisions we make every day.

Look at this example of fear controlling somebody's life, every day. In Arizona, we have more photo enforcement cameras than exist in all the rest of America. They are at all major intersections, on the freeways, on the arterial roads and even in some neighborhoods. I know a person who feared so much being caught running the red light at these intersections. That fear of getting caught running the light caused their mind to seek a solution to this problem. That solution was to speed through the intersection as fast as possible, white-knuckled and gazing at the light to ensure that it didn't turn red. Some weeks later, this person received a citation in the mail for speeding through that intersection, with some wonderful portraits and video showing the offense. Now, this person, avoids intersections with cameras at every opportunity. Routes to a fro have been changed, time to get to and fro has changed. This fear while having some kind of real foundation, through experience, is now a part of this persons life. The decision of which way to go is made before the car is even started and headed for the destination. This fear controls a part of their life everyday.

What "photo enforcement cameras" are laying out the route for your life? What do you avoid everyday and why is it that you avoid it? What fear has kept you from your real desires? I will bet with absolute certainty that you know what it is because I know what mine is. Even the act of thinking of that which we fear causes your heart to race and your mind to look for a way around it. That is a power over your life that you have got to gain control of.

Line up with God

When you communicate with God, it is by definition, the communion between two parties; you and God. It is a time when He listens to you and in turn, you listen to Him. It is also a time for Him to direct your way to make you prosperous. When you ask something of God, you had better make sure that it lines up with His will for your life and that it does not contradict what you are set out to accomplish. That is basic knowledge right there. Think of it like this; if I were trying to lose weight or get in better shape, I would be contradicting my purpose in that situation to go out and load up on a gloriously delicious Snickers ice cream bar. Does that line up with what you are trying to accomplish? God is not an enabler. He will correct you when you need correcting and reward you when obedience to Him is shown. He may not tell you directly not to have that Snickers bar but, He probably has an arched eyebrow and a puzzled look on His face. Why? It is because you know better, you know that what you are doing is outside of the parameters that are conducive to weight loss. Just like in that example, you can utilize that communion with Him to get where you need to go, where you are designed to go. When you ask, do yourself and God a favor, be specific. If you say "God, increase my territory!", He will comply but because you weren't specific, your increase was barely recognizable. Why? You gave a vague request, you got a vague return. Ask like this, "Lord, I expect that you will enlarge my territory, to bring in 7 new clients today.". That is specific, when you are specific you give God something tangible to work with. He operates out of the spiritual to create that which we see in the physical. BE SPECIFIC, I dare you.

"Who do you say I am?"

Matthew 16:13-20

Peter's Confession of Christ

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

I have always taken this scripture to mean that Christ is revealing his true self to his desciples. I still believe that is the case but, I have learned something new about this familiar scripture. Remember, His word is alive, it breathes life into any situation or circumstance that you are in. Jesus is calling, challenging, on Peter to declare who he believes that he is. Peter knew exactly who Jesus was, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.". This scripture is for you, right now, where you are at. Who do you say that Jesus is? Is He truly the Son of the living God in your life? Is he the key to the kingdom of heaven in your life? Perhaps he is somebody you meet with on Sunday morning at "Club Church" and forget about after brunch at Elmer's with the family. Jesus can only meet you where you are at, where your faith is at. If your faith only allows him to bless your food then that is all you will get. If your faith in Him is strong enough to move mountains in your life, then that is what you get. What I am trying to say is, Jesus will meet you at whatever level your faith is at. He will not go too far past it, because you wouldn't believe it anyway. This is the manifestation of reaping and sowing at it's pinnacle. You sow faith, he increases the reaping of that fruit in your life. When you rely on your faith in him, you are giving up "self" in order for God to work in your life. He can't work in your life if you are in the way all the time mucking up the process with "self". You are a tool for God to use, not the other way around. Exercise your faith in Him and just like a muscle, that exercise will cause it to grow into a more powerful force in your life.

I pray that you've gained something for your life by reading this, I know I did by writing it. I also pray that only the true word of God would shine from all that I write and the rest would be washed away, that only the truth would remain.

Force your mind to think!

This is a passage from the book Law Of Success by Napoleon Hill. Every time I read from it I gain something of value. Please read, learn, imagine, and enjoy!

Force your mind to think! Proceed by combining old ideas into new plans. Every great invention and every outstanding business or industrial achievement that you can name is, in final analysis, but the application of a combination of plans and ideas that have been used before, in some other manner.

Back of the beating hammer
By which the steel is wrought,
Back of the workshop's clamor
The seeker may find the Thought;
The thought that is ever Master
Of iron and steam and steel,
That rises above disaster
And tramples it under heel.

The drudge may fret and tinker
Or labor with lusty blows,
But back of him stands the Thinker,
The clear-eyed man who knows;
For into each plow or saber,
Each piece and part and whole,
Must go the brains of labor,
Which gives the work a soul.

Back of the motor's humming,
Back of the bells that ring,
Back of the hammer's drumming,
Back of the cranes that swing,
There is the Eye which scans them,
Watching through stress and strain,
There is the Mind which plans them-
Back of the brawn, the Brain.

Might of the roaring boiler,
Force of the engine's thrust,
Strength of the sweating toiler,
Greatly in these we trust;
But back of them stands the schemer,
The Thinker who drives things through,
Back of the job the Dreamer
Who's making the dream come true.
- Berton Braley

"Nothing is more tragic-or more common-than mental inertia. For every ten people who are physically lazy there are ten thousand others with stagnant minds. And stagnant minds are the breeding places of fear." Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

I cannot speak for anybody but myself on this idea. This one makes me extremely uncomfortable, not only on its face, but by the trailing thoughts that follow it.

I tend to believe that in general, people want much from life. I believe that they think about it often. I believe they try to do the right thing, right now. The problem is this- all they are doing is thinking about it. Usually they are not thinking good things about it either. It will tend to have a negative bent to it. Their usually is only a shortsighted vision for what is ahead. Test yourself by asking one simple question. I challenge you to be completely honest with yourself. You don't need to tell anybody of course, it is a question with an answer that will reveal your true thinking on much that takes place in your life. Your first reaction is your answer, the more you try to make excuses for why that is your answer, the more you try to blame outside influences, the deeper the roots of that particular nerve are.

That question is this: "What is your first reaction when you hear the word money?".

If you cringe in horror then you are in lack. The fear of not enough has taken root in your life to the extent that it affects every single area of it. You will never have enough to even catch up if you keep thinking this way. This shows up in all areas of your life from the car you drive to the people you call your friends to the relationship you have with God. Pull your head out of that deep dark place and look around. When you have an idea for something that you feel could be of benefit to someone, write it down. Then after that, write down the next step to make that idea a reality. Then do that next step. Wash, rinse, repeat. You will change your thought over time, not over night. Keep doing it!

Maybe you feel that you have enough, you are comfortable where you are on the income scale. Things are going pretty well. You have the things you need plus a little more and you are fine with that. Along with that comes very little drive or desire to accomplish anything else. This is where routine becomes a way of life, you show up every day to work and can't remember the drive there, you autonomously fix up dinner for the family and connect to the TV in the living room to watch other people live great and exciting lives. You probably feel stagnant. If that is you, then you may have a tougher time than the person suffering from lack. You need to find a desire to change from your comfortable habitat to an environment where you are uncomfortable with the stagnation in your life in order to grow toward your desire.

What if you think this way? I see money as a tool to get what I truly desire in life. It will help me accomplish something in my life that I could not do without it. I have plenty of ideas, businesses and projects in place that I don't worry about money on a limited scale. I desire to have changed the lives of millions and I realize that millions of people will not be changed or made better by my being broke and harboring a lack mentality. I am thinking of what I want people to say at the end of my life and I behave, act and think accordingly.


Do you cringe or have a fearful response? Is lack the dominating thought about money in your life? Do you immediately feel inadequate or undervalued in what you earn? Is there never enough money each week? Perhaps it's the other way, maybe you feel that you have plenty, more than you need. This would be a comfortable place to be I think. And, maybe you are the 1%'er who thinks a little bit differently. Do you think that money comes easy, there is plenty of it, do you see the opportunity to produce it everywhere you look? Chances are, if you are that person, you have a hard time keeping up with your mind and it's ideas.

In any case, you will need to identify what your reaction is. Then you need to decide if you really want something different. After that, you will be required to act. I said all that to get to this point here. If you have a stagnant mind, you will need to change it. You need to exercise your mind and it will grow. Just like muscle, it can be trained to get by and just hold you up or you could be some kind of ripped phenom that accomplishes all it sets out to do. You decide.