“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov 23:7) I want to issue a challenge of sorts to you which I will join you on. For the next 5 business days, let’s set aside an hour a day, on average, to fill our mind with positive input. We can get that input from Scripture, a good book, magazine articles, CD’s, DVD’s, etc. It should be in addition to whatever your normal routine is now. The point is to be deliberate about this.

Make an appointment in your calendar and keep it as if it were important, because it is. This is not about earning “brownie points” with God. It’s about choosing a good habit and seeing what comes of it. I think we will all be surprised! For the purpose of this experiment, the topic needs to be something that will help us succeed in our business pursuits. Choose something inspiring, uplifting and motivating.

Then share the best part of what you got with the rest of us on the blog, if you feel so inclined. As we have seen, God is taking us all through some things and we can corporately encourage and inspire each other. Remember, this exercise is not a form of slacking off - it is a deliberate way of investing in you and making yourself more fruitful and productive. Care to join me?

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“For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) I believe our mind is the receiver that takes in information. Our heart is the processor and after we have processed our intake, whatever is dominating our thinking will dominate our processing - therefore dominating our words and thus shaping our destiny.

Thoughts filter down through the heart and produce feelings of joy, anxiety, anticipation, depression, doubt, faith and many other things. I have come to realize lately that much of our thought life is neither consumed with negative and bad things nor filled with positive and good things. The majority of our thought life seems to be filled with the busy or trivial, but necessary, tasks at hand. When we spend all of our time thinking on the busy stuff that comes at us each day, we tend to neither reach for the stars nor fall to the depths. We just get by.

I was not called to “just get by” nor am I content to accept that. Neither were you. Mediocrity is not for the Christian and the way out has much to do with what we think about. Try this: Carve out an hour of your day and fill your mind with thoughts that lead to greatness - thoughts of excellence, goodness and virtue. This may include reading the Scripture, but doesn’t replace that time. Make an appointment with yourself and give yourself permission to flood your mind with good expectations and dream great dreams. Read that inspiring book. Take a walk in the woods and commune with the Father. As you fill your mind, your heart will be engaged and wonders will proceed from your life!

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“And by your sword shall you live, and shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass when you shall have the dominion, that you shall break his yoke from off your neck.” Gen 27:40

Continuing on with our designer friend, I couldn’t possibly address it fully in one e-mail or even two, but I will conclude today. (By the way, thank you for the overwhelming response and show of support for this brother in need. For anyone facing similar challenges, the blog responses on Monday were excellent and very helpful. There was excellent spiritual advice there. Read through them – it will be a worthwhile investment.)

Too many believers, me included, start a business with high expectations and chief among them is that people will by and large treat you fairly. Some do. Some don’t. So you learn to protect yourself. Many don’t ask for payment in advance or as the work proceeds because they are afraid they will scare the customer away. It’s better to scare them away before you do the work, then to have them disappear without making payment after you have done the work!

Secondly, once you’ve taken a few hits and you are not making ends meet, you lose confidence and feel defeated. If you continue this way, defeat is certain. You must resolve now to not allow those feelings any quarter. How you perceive yourself is how you will be perceived.

What is the truth about you? If the truth is that you are skilled and qualified and your business offer is sound, then walk in that confidence and go get some more business. Have no money for advertising? Go to your current happy clients and ask them for referrals. Even ask them to make the initial call for you. They will. Do it now. Don’t give up. Get angry. Get determined. Get focused. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Double up your efforts. You will see a change in your circumstances. Amen!

Special Note: Now when you post a comment on this email in our blog, you can choose to receive an email telling you when someone else has added their comments. You will only be notified of other postings for the days that you post a response and select that option. This will increase dialog and a growing sense of community between members.

I received a lengthy email from one of my readers today. His pain so moved me, I called him but only got his home voice mail, so I left him the best words of advice I could and decided to elaborate more in this email.

The man in question left a good job and under the leadership of God and with his wife’s buy-in, started a new business in residential design in which he was eminently qualified to serve. Now, 18 months later despite his hard work ethic, quality product and ethics, they are struggling to fight off bankruptcy. Ever been there?

The commitments people made when he started in business went away. He did work on the promise of payment and people defaulted. One fellow simply ripped him off directly and challenged him to file a suit. Nobody warned our friend that business was like that. He seemed to think people would treat him with the fairness and respect which he richly deserved. But not all people do. There are wolves out there. And some of them wear sheep’s clothing. (If you can relate to this fellow, please post a word of encouragement to him. He will see it.)

I suggested he read Luke 16 and the parable of the unjust steward where Jesus commends the unjust steward for his shrewdness, stating that the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Many of the designer’s problems could have been avoided if he had insisted on “pay as you go” and taken other preventive measures to ensure he wasn’t robbed as he was. He was not foolish. He had not yet been seasoned. To be concluded in the next email.

Special Note: Now when you post a comment on this email in our blog, you can choose to receive an email telling you when someone else has added their comments. You will only be notified of other postings for the days that you post a response and select that option. This will increase dialog and a growing sense of community between members.

I want to continue with this thought of developing an abundance mentality. Too many of us have avoided abundance because we thought it was somehow wrong. It was okay to inherit it or to have someone give it to us, but to work for it was somehow wrong. However, if you are working for abundance because of the good you can do with it and if you are now doing good with what supply you have, you are on the right track.

I thought the abundance mentality meant acquiring abundance for yourself, but that’s not the abundance mentality. That’s selfish and even foolish and many a person while “coveting after, has erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim 6:10) And being covetous is idolatry (Col 3:5)

To me, having an abundance mentality is first and foremost about giving, not receiving. You may not have much to give, but you can start now with what you have. And you don’t have to give it all to some ministry. While that is appropriate to support various godly works, it spills over to much more.

Practice abundance when you tip at the restaurant, when you dine out with friends or when you meet strangers. Give of yourself and of your substance. Do it with the belief that there is always more where that came from and you will find over time that it is true. Eradicate the scarcity mentality that came with the fall in the Garden of Eden and embrace the abundance mind-set which Jesus clearly had and offered to us by faith.

There was a time decades ago when I owed the bank a $1,500 payment and had no money and no credit. One evening, while at a home bible study, a young man asked for prayer for his sore knee. We prayed, but nothing seemed to happen.

Inwardly, I was skeptical and judgmental and thought that if he really believed what was just prayed, he would jump up and walk, but he didn’t. At that moment, the Holy Spirit challenged me that if I believed we should act on our prayers as if they were answered, why wouldn’t I march into the bank as if I actually had the funds and make the payment? It seemed ludicrous. I was broke and had no income.

But God was speaking to me; so the next morning, I got up and headed out the door to the bank to hand over $1,500 cash, though I had absolutely no money in my wallet. As I was driving to the bank I was imagining the scene. I would ask for the loan officer who had called me. I would tell him I was there to make the payment. I would open my wallet and begin to count out the money to him. To be honest, I was scared, but I was still going to the bank, prepared to make a fool of myself. I didn’t know what else to do.

On the way, I decided to stop by a friends place to pick something up that I would need for the day. When I walked in, he said they had just finished praying for me and the Holy Spirit told them to write me a check for $2,000 to compensate for some of my input. They had no idea about the bank situation.

Needless to say, I accepted the funds and continued on my way to the bank where I cashed the check and made my payment. Call it a coincidence if you must, but you will never convince me of that. I had just that day tapped into the riches of glory, stepped out in faith and experienced a miracle of provision. I am only now beginning to understand what happened!

What would you rather have: A large suitcase packed full of hundred dollar bills or the printing press and legal right to print as much as you needed? He who prints the money has the power. Now, let’s get real. (Of course, the private consortium of banking interests is not about to let go of their death grip on the right to print fiat currency.)

So let me try it another way; would you rather have a loaf of bread and a few fish or the power to multiply some loaves and fish like Jesus did? Well, maybe He was just teasing when He said that greater things than that could be done by those who believe (John 14:12), but I am taking Him seriously. I believe that the true riches that are in glory (Phil 4:19) are not the tangible riches that we can see and touch, but rather the true riches in glory consist of the ability, the authority and the power to manifest in our life whatever we need for the occasion, be that health, wisdom or wealth. And that happens by faith.

In other words, Jesus Christ possessed the true riches and didn’t have to carry around a wagon train full of food to feed the masses. Neither did He have to get the angels to bring a bunch of sandwiches down from Heaven. He simply tapped into those riches to produce the supply when it was needed. I believe we can too, but it’s by faith and that’s where we need some help. To be continued…

I want to direct our conversation to an application of Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” In our last message, we saw that Paul told us to think on things that are true. We also discussed temporal truths (things that are subject to change) and eternal truths that never change and how eternal truths supersede temporal truths. In other words, they can override and actually change a temporary truth into a thing of the past. I once was blind, but now I see. I once was broke, but now I have abundance. I once was sick, but now I am healed.

So, why not develop in our minds an abundance mentality? You can’t have an abundance mentality without being very generous. You can’t have an abundance mentality if you are only trying to heap up to yourselves possessions. But if you have an abundance mentality, you will have abundance in your heart. That will spill over to your words and actions and “he that sows abundantly shall reap abundantly” (2 Cor 9:6). “He that has a bountiful eye will be blessed.” (Prov 22:9)

So how do we develop an abundance mentality? First of all, you need to realize there is no shortage. There is an infinite supply according to His riches in glory. It’s not that there is all this wealth somewhere in Heaven where the streets are paved with gold, though there is. But that’s not the riches. The golden streets are the product of the true riches in glory. Think about that. To be continued next time.

P.S. Did you notice the cool new look of our Friday message? Remember, each week will end with a Wealth Secret Report that will come through our Secrets of the Rainforest website.