“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments within you. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them upon your fingers, write them upon the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 7:1-3) “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” (Psalm 45:1)

Our heart records the feelings we had the first time we heard Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes. It records the lyric, the setting, the moment. It records love and loss and so much of life. It’s like the record button is always “on” and later, perhaps late at night in bed, we replay whatever was recorded.

With our heart being like a tablet, we should be deliberate about what we record. We can’t help much of what is recorded, but we can choose to record good things that will help us in life. Certainly, Scripture is one thing we can record, but also we can record many positive things about life and our future. The question is “how”?

I believe David tells us when he says our tongue is the pen of a ready writer. We actually use our words to create an impression upon our heart. What we speak, gets recorded in our heart. What we speak repeatedly gets remembered in our mind as well. What a privilege to be able to choose what is
written on our heart. Sure, we can’t choose it all, but we can certainly choose to record good things.

What does your heart desperately need to hear today? That’s what you should declare. Are you afraid? Say aloud, that God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Say aloud what Jesus promised, that He would never, never, no never leave you nor forsake you. Give your heart what it needs… words of hope, words of life, words of faith. It just might save your life!

Yesterday I mentioned one of the most riveting voices in the marketplace today, Dr. Lance Wallnau. I will be sharing the platform with him in Austin Sept 4 – 6 but for those who can’t attend, I have arranged a special one-hour teleseminar this Thursday at 1:00 pm with Lance to talk about Doing
Business Supernaturally. You won’t want to miss it. Click here for details.

I knew this would happen… Once people found out that we were having Lance Wallnau on a teleseminar they would want to sign up. People who aren’t even our subscribers are accessing us from Google and want to know more details. So here they are…

Lance will spend an hour with us talking about “Doing Business Supernaturally.” It may well be one of the most important hours you set aside this week. How to identify your sandbox and be the dominant player as well as the power of force multiplication will be some of the issues we will be discussing. Lance and I will be speaking at the Kingdom Economic Summit September 4 - 6 in Austin but for those who can’t make it, this is a great opportunity to hear Lance share the great revelation and understanding he has with our group.

So here’s the deal: The call will start at 1PM US Eastern time on Thursday, August 21st.  You’ll have the choice of participating by telephone OR via web-based streaming simulcast.  However, we have a limited number of spots, so I urge you to reserve yours now!

Click here to register for this important event.

By the way, if you have a scheduling conflict, please register for the event anyway.  Once a replay becomes available, we’ll notify you immediately - day or night.

Until then, have a great week!

Blessings,

Michael

P.S.  Don’t delay, register right away!

“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments within you.  Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them upon your fingers, write them upon the tablet of your heart.”  (Proverbs 7:1-3) “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” (Psalm 45:1)

It has been said that the palest of ink is better than the best memory. While this has truth in it, the Scripture in multiple places says we can actually write things on the tablet of our heart. This is a revolutionary thought. After all, Jesus said that it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

So what are we writing on our heart and how do we do it? First the “what”… Our heart is a tablet, a recording device of sorts that stores up whatever it experiences. In one way, it is like a tape recorder that makes no judgment of what to record. It simply records. And from those recordings, comes our words. And from our words, flows our destiny.

David encourages us to hide the word in our heart that we might not sin against God. (Psalm 119:11) I believe this and other passages, plus sanctified common sense, direct us to be deliberate about what our heart records. That we are to make a conscious effort to deposit good things in our heart. It already records plenty of things we wish were not there. We need to be deliberate about depositing (recording) good things that we may access them in our time of need.

About a year ago I watched Dr. Lance Wallnau give one of the most riveting presentations I’ve ever seen on what he calls the seven mountains of influence. What was written on my heart has forever impacted my destiny. The man has a deposit of the kingdom of God I believe every marketplace believer needs. Recently I asked him to do a teleseminar with our audience to pass on his remarkable insights and he agreed. Mark your calendar for this Thursday at 1:00 pm and watch your inbox for how to register and where to call.

Yesterday we aired a terrific free teleseminar featuring Rich Marshall of ROi Leadership International.

Many of you wrote to tell us you couldn’t make the appointment but wanted the chance to listen to Rich talk about what he calls “Strategic Planning With the Holy Ghost.” Well, as it turned out, we had unprecedented technical problems on the broadcast affecting the sound quality.

Here’s the Good News!

Thankfully, there was a recording system that managed to get good audio. Our technicians were even able to clean it up further, so hopefully when you listen to the replay you won’t even be able to tell that there was ever a problem.

Click here to listen now.

If you were one of the many who could hear clearly, then you already know that what Rich had to share was phenomenal. The feedback we’ve received already has been excellent! Rich went above and beyond and shared some of the results that they are achieving implementing Spirit-oriented, Biblically-based training in businesses (and even government entities!) that may not even realize they are being discipled!

So… if you haven’t heard it yet, or want to listen to a clear recording at your convenience, click here now.

Also, so many people have inquired about the Comprehensive Executive Profile that includes a one-on-one consultation with Rick, that I wanted to make sure you knew where you can find it. Here’s where to learn more or to sign up for this special opportunity.

I want to personally apologize for any inconvenience you experienced yesterday and if you weren’t able to attend yesterday, invite you today to enjoy this very special teleseminar with Rich Marshall.

I look forward to hearing your feedback about the call.

Blessings,

Michael

I have asked Rich Marshall to host a couple of blogs. He is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer and author with over 40 years experience in bringing out peak performance in others. His clients are a virtual who’s who of corporate America. He has developed a new breed of corporate leadership training you will want to know more about. It’s called the E.P.I.C. Training System, a classic leadership development program and a remarkable proprietary system built on 7 foundational areas of human performance improvement. Now, here’s Rich…

Strategic Planning with the Holy Ghost - Part 2

Over the last several years I have had the privilege of working with dozens of enterprises in the planning process. Coming from a background of pastoring (I did this for 35 years) I was very accustomed to seeking help from the Lord, especially in asking the indwelling Holy Spirit to help. However I found that most executives, even Christian executives, do not take advantage of this competitive edge. For some reason, when it comes to planning most of it falls into one of two categories:

1.      A full reliance on the Holy Spirit; with lots of faith and prayer and trust involved. In most of these cases; there is little practical, commonsense and time tested and proven strategic planning ingenuity used. It is as if it would not be full of faith if good planning methods were employed.

2.      A full reliance on proven strategic planning methods; with much attention given to the planning process, using all of the most up-to-date methods available. In most of these cases; there is little or no input from the Holy Spirit. It is as if it would be “poor business” to include Him here.

Therefore I am encouraging Christian business leaders to integrate all of their business life under the heading: My business is my ministry. When we do that, we will be much more likely to include the Lord in all that we do; especially the planning process.

Here are some thought provoking ideas to assist you in the integration process.

• All that you do is a spiritual activity. Both business and church are ministry and both should be treated as a way of fulfilling your God given purpose in life.

• It is so easy to fall into presumption and call it walking by the spirit. In other words, we assume that since we are Christian and prayed in the morning, that everything that happens during the day has been orchestrated by God. I have found that Charismatics are probably most guilty. By the way: leaders are not exempt.
• Prov. 16:3 “Commit your work to the LORD, and then your plans will succeed.”
• Did this plan or strategy arise out of dependence on and hearing the voice of God during the process?
• Marketplace ministers need to watch out here. We are sometimes so intent on losing Christian-ese that we forget to use planning opportunities to engage the Holy Spirit.
• Consciously, from a place of dependence, invite God into your planning process. Don’t leave Him out.

NOTE: Join Rich and me Tuesday at 1:00 for an in depth discussion on how to integrate your leadership style with your core values, vision, mission and life purpose. Click here to register for the free call!

Hello friend,

I know that after yesterday’s blog entry, many of you are chomping at the bit to join us for next Tuesday’s teleseminar with Rich Marshall, CEO of ROi Leadership International.

Rich has been taking Kingdom principles into major corporations and and government entities worldwide providing training that helps maximize performance.  He has some powerful things to share with us that will impact your bottom line, and I’m looking forward to introducing you to him.

Here’s the scoop: the call will start at 1PM US Eastern time on Tuesday, August 12th.  You’ll have the choice of participating by telephone OR via web-based streaming simulcast.  However, we have a limited number of spots, so I urge you to reserve yours now!

Click here to register for this important event.

By the way, if you have a scheduling conflict, please register for the event anyway.  Once a replay becomes available, we’ll notify you immediately — day or night.

Until then, have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Michael

P.S.  Don’t delay, register right away!

I have asked Rich Marshall to host the next couple of blogs. He is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer and author with over 40 years experience in bringing out peak performance in others. His clients are a virtual who’s who of corporate America. He has developed a new breed of corporate leadership training you will want to know more about. It’s called the E.P.I.C. Training System, a classic leadership development program and a remarkable proprietary system built on 7 foundational areas of human performance improvement. Now, here’s Rich…

Strategic Planning with the Holy Ghost - Part 1

I know it should not be this way, and yet I know that it is. For some reason many Christian business leaders have not come to full realization that God knows everything about business. Where do we get the idea that God can help with relationships, raising kids, understanding the “deep things” of life, but that He does not know about business? Where did we miss out on the fact that all “business principles” were “Biblical principles” before they were “business principles”?

OK, so I am not sure where the misguided idea came from, but I do have a few thoughts on the matter. You see, I come into the business world and its way of thinking from decades in the church world and its way of thinking. I was a Pastor, and I love pastors and support them and believe in them and all of that good stuff, so don’t think I am being overly negative on pastors. But here is what has happened. The pastor gives his testimony and it goes something like this: “I was working in that evil, bad, nasty, sinful world. And then God called me, and now I am in fulltime ministry.”

All good, all true, all intended to be motivating. The problem is not as much with what is said, as it is with what the businessperson hears. When they hear something like this, they conclude that one must leave the evil business world to go into full time ministry. They also hear that one who is truly “called” becomes a pastor. It leads to a mindset that thinks work is “secular” and church is “spiritual.”

So now, when this business person goes to work, he or she is already thinking this is my secular life. This is not spiritual, and therefore God must have nothing to do with my work. Therefore, I will live with a different set of rules here, and I will not engage God at work.

This is so far from the truth! God created us to work! God blesses us when we work. He has promised over and over again to bless the work of our hands. Work is a spiritual activity and should be seen as ministry, an event that God wants to be involved in at every level.

I love to teach people how to listen to God at work; to watch them engage with Him on a daily basis at work. It is a joy to watch what happens when we include the Holy Spirit in our planning and activities at work. In fact, one of the more popular offerings that we have in our list of services to business leaders is what we call “Strategic Planning with the Holy Ghost.”

NOTE: Join Rich and I Tuesday at 1:00 for an in depth discussion on how to integrate your leadership style with your core values, vision, mission and life purpose.  Watch your inbox for signup information.

Good afternoon my friends…

There is something pretty special I get to share with you today that I think you will really enjoy. Over the next few weeks I will be interviewing some pretty special guests, leaders in the marketplace movement with a significant word for marketplace warriors like us. You will be invited to the teleseminar that airs each program (four in all) and there will be no charge for each event.

Here’s Why…

I will be speaking at an important marketplace event in Austin, Texas being held September 4 - 6 at which there will be at least 19 major speakers and 21 panel sessions. As a way of introducing you to some of the content of the event and to get you acquainted in a more personal way with some of the speakers, I have asked a few of them to meet you via the teleseminar.

So far I have confirmed Dr. Myles Munroe, Rich Marshall, Dr. Lance Wallnau, and Os Hillman. I have asked each of them to share some of the content they will be teaching on in Austin. For those of you who can’t make the event in Austin, at the end of the call, they will make available the conference offer on their book or teaching series, etc., that best captures what they will be discussing.

The first teleseminar will be next Tuesday at 1:00 pm with Rich Marshall who I have asked to guest host on our blogs for the next couple of times. Be watching for them starting tomorrow.

Thought for the day: Words follow thoughts, and actions follow words. Fill your mind and your heart with things that will produce the result you desire.

Hello Friend,

Judging from the response and the dialog that has resulted, this week’s messages from David have been hitting home with a lot of folks.

What about you? Do you deal with an internal struggle?

I know for myself, even after I came to believe God wants us to succeed in business, for many years it was much easier for me to accept that God would want someone else to do well… but when it came to me, it was harder to believe.  Consequently, as you can imagine, my effectiveness was limited when it came to my own business and my own earnings.

Only you and God know what goes on in your own mind. But if you struggle with any of the inner programming — the thoughts that say, “You don’t deserve it,” “God won’t allow you to have it,” “You’re just being greedy,” then I have good news!

David Johnson and I have been personally acquainted for the last 7 years or so.  In that time, we’ve worked side by side on a number of projects, including the very first “Nourish The Dream” event. If you’ve been a subscriber of mine for a while, you will remember the e-mail invitation you received to that event.  In fact, it was when he invited me to speak at that event,that I began to know more of what God has put in him. And, as we’ve worked even more closely together in this last year and half, I’ve seen much more of that. That’s why I’m thrilled to be able to tell you about this…

David has put together an audio series that addresses head-on those internal struggles and mental barriers that you may have experienced.  If you’ve ever dealt with anything like this, then I urge you to get your hands on this series right away. He’s even agreed to make a special offer available for people who respond to this e-mail, and it includes some great bonus gifts.

You owe it to yourself, to your business, to your family… to check it out now.

I look forward to hearing a good report from you after you’ve had a chance to listen to it!

Blessings,

Michael

P.S. Don’t delay! You could be retraining your thinking today!

Today’s message is a guest entry from David G. Johnson, founder of Nourish The Dream

“…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:12 NKJV)

We’ve been talking about misinterpretations of Scripture that hold us back when we try to achieve something financially or in business.  Today I want to bring up something that can be very subtle, and therefore potentially more harmful.

Do you ever feel unworthy of success?

Regardless of your religious upbringing (or lack thereof, as the case may be), we were all born into a system that tends to convey this kind of message to us. We could probably trace it all the way back to Adam — the sense that we just don’t qualify for something good seems almost universal. Perhaps your parents raised you with a performance-oriented mentality. Certainly religious teachings that tell us, “you’re a worm,” or, “you’re just a sinner,” pour fuel onto this fire — even when they add, “saved by Grace,” to the end.

When we come from the perspective that we’re unworthy, going to God to ask for His help in accomplishing something doesn’t tend to yield much fruit. Why? Because we don’t expect Him to actually help us.  James refers to this as being, “double-minded,” and says that we’ll be easily moved when circumstances shift.

If you’re feeling unworthy, then allow this truth to connect with your heart. We know that if we’ve entered into relationship with God through His Son, then the sin problem has been dealt with. God know longer sees us as “sinners,” but instead calls us “saints.” We couldn’t have earned that status to begin with… so do we now think we can somehow qualify to keep it? Of course not!

When we rest in the fact that He has qualified us, we can actually, “…come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Take some time today to let this truth to become real to you. You’ll be glad you did!