Tag Archives: faith

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Four Enemies Of The Heart

Just like your physical heart has four chambers Andy Stanley wants you to see that your immaterial heart has four enemies. Your immaterial heart is the core of your identity. It directs your behavior, your thoughts, your emotions, your consciousness and your will. Your heart is the essence of you that can work for evil or for good.

Relationship problems. Financial problems. Health problems: they all come from your heart. And if your heart is unhealthy, it threatens everything else – your family, friends, finances, career – everything. How do you keep your heart on track?

 

When the wisest man in the history of the world, King Solomon, summing up all he had learned for his son to know; he said…

 

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23

 

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Life After Death, What’s Heaven Like?

Movies, novels, and folklore have all influenced what you think about heaven. If you believe in heaven or not, you have some ideas about what it will be like. Every major religion has a view of heaven, but what about Christians? What do they think heaven will be like?

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John Eldridge describes in The Journey of Desire, an image I can relate to.

“Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an un-ending church service… We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing –along in the sky,….. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? That’s it? That’s the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”

 

Is that true? What will Heaven be like? Where do we go when we die? We all want to know what the destination after this life will be like.

I believe God has placed within all humans an understanding of the eternal. We all have a sense that we will live forever somewhere. But what specifically happens after death? Where do we go?

 

Jesus provides illumination in his words of comfort to his disciples before his death.

 

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

John 14:2

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Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith

We talk a lot about growth in our culture. Personal growth, economic growth, population growth and more! In the church these days we use language that is sometime confusing – after all, what does it mean to have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. I just returned from a Build-Up Conference and it seems to me, we need to shed some light on this phrase.

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God provides illumination in the words of Jesus in the story of the Roman centurion who demonstrated such great faith it was preserved as a model in the Bible.

 

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”

Matthew 8:10

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Creating A Vision For Your Life

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t imagine? Seriously, complicated or simple our lives can be influenced by what we imagine. Strategically we call this vision. Our vision, passion and purpose are of utmost importance. Most people’s biggest deathbed regrets could have been avoided if they’d thought about vision, passion and purpose.

But what if you are doing your best? Isn’t that good enough? NO! This isn’t about effort or intentions, it’s about your vision, purpose and passions coming together to guide your efforts.    

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Everyone ends up somewhere. Few people end up somewhere on purpose. Many people spend their days and even lead organizations with only a sense of plodding along and not working with vision, passion and purpose.   Are you ready for a change?

God through King Solomon, the wisest and richest man who ever lived provides us with truth.                              

Where there is no vision the people perish

Proverbs 29:18 KJV

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How to Experience Spiritual Growth

What is it in your life that has your attention? What is something that you crave and enjoy? Money? Fast cars? Sports? You can turn an inward focus, outward when you understand how God can use these for your spiritual growth. Do you crave achievement? What if you could learn to use these desires to serve others?

 

Desires are universal but we are individuals. Desires and God are linked in a unique way for each of us. What if we could learn to see them as having a God-designed foundation in our life?

 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

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Marriage Help Love and Respect

If you’re new to Resource Freak, this post may seem like an odd one – why talk about marriage when our focus is Leadership, Business and Personal Development. Where does marriage fit? Since 4 in 10 marriages end in divorce, this is big problem that has far reaching impact on our communities and businesses. If you’re not married – were married – thinking about being married – keep reading. This insight will give you understanding based on over three decades of counseling and scientific biblical research. Changed thinking – changes lives and this resource changes people. Remember, leaders help others by sharing resources like this one!

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Anxiety and conflict in relationships grows from unmet expectations. When we think of marriage we all have expectations. The problem is we unload them on our spouse. This robs our marriages of love and respect.  So what do you do with your unmet expectations? You can’t ignore them. God gave you these ideal desires for your marriage. Do you or someone you know argue a lot in their relationship? 

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Three Easy Steps to Better Health

Can you name something you need in yoga, on a financial statement and for your tires? If you guessed balance – you’re right! Balanced health is possible! In the past I have made choices that were out of balance, especially in the area of sleep. I followed unhealthy role models who took pride in how little sleep was needed and I thought I’d catch up on my sleep – in the grave!

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Ever feel like you’re just reacting in terms of your health? It shouldn’t be this way. We’ve all tried to do better but where do you turn to for information and motivation?

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How To Make Better Decisions By Asking The Best Question Ever

Regrets, we all have them.  Can you think of someone you wish you hadn’t met? An emotion you wish you’d have controlled? A job you would rather not have taken? A piece of cake, you should have left on the buffet table? Really, regrets are all around us. Some with bigger consequences than others.

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Just so you don’t feel alone in any of your regrets, here are some statistics.

Personal fitness: 36% are obese, 33% overweight

Personal finance: 76% are living paycheck to paycheck

Personal relationships: 50% of all marriages end in divorce

The trouble is we only know how big some decisions are in the rearview mirror. In the moment we lack experience, focus, or discernment to really understand the consequences of our decisions. This lack of understanding leads to regrets.

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Starting the Personal Development Industry

Reading books and listening to inspiring messages is how I bridged the gaps in my life. Now I’m on a quest for ways to help others become the hero of their own story. My desire is to equip others with tools, skills and resources to help them achieve success.  Which resources that helped me on my journey are worth recommending?

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Socrates said “I cannot teach anyone anything; I can only make them think”. Conversely, as a coach, I’m also reminded that if the student hasn’t learned the teacher hasn’t taught.

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Retirement: Wild, Happy and Free!

Retirement is a relatively new concept. Our great grandparents didn’t outlive their usefulness in order to indulge themselves in the thought of retiring. I used to think that if I had enough financial resources I could retire. But I have decided to RE-wire!  I’ve changed my focus from building homes to building people.

Society baits us into thinking it’s all about the nest egg. We don’t want to think about work when we retire. Certainly scripture is clear about the need and reward of work. I do not believe in retirement, as I do not think it’s Biblical.

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The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:15

How can you “Re-wire” and change your work focus?  Do it in balance and with different rewards.