The produce of your life is determined in large part by the condition of the soil of your heart. Out of your heart flow the issues of life and out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks. James tells us that the mouth or more specifically the tongue can be compared to a rudder, able to steer even a big ship in any direction. Words do affect destiny!

What we speak does more to condition the soil of our heart than anything I know. Speak with foul language and your heart grows dry and hard. Speak words of life, encouragement and thankfulness and your heart becomes soft, supple and ready to germinate the good words God has placed in your heart.

When I feel stuck emotionally and not at all in the mood to praise God, I will often go for a walk and make myself say out loud at least ten things I am thankful for. If I don’t feel better, I will keep doing it until true thankfulness begins to well up in me. I carry on until the mist from those words of thanks begins to water the soil of my heart, softening and preparing it to bring to fullness every word God has sown in my heart.

Listen, I know many of you are struggling this Thanksgiving. It’s been a hard year. Some of you are fighting for your marriage. Some of you have lost your business. Others are just hanging on by a thread. I want to encourage you tomorrow on Thanksgiving, to be deliberate about expressing thanks to someone, anyone who has made a deposit in your life. Look for folks you can bless with kind words of appreciation and bless them. It costs you nothing and but will reward you abundantly. On that note, let me say thank you for the many words of encouragement you have sent me over the last year. Your stories and insights have lifted me and I am truly grateful for all of you. Your love motivates me.

This Thanksgiving, make it a truly thankful day. Tell someone not only that you appreciate them, but WHY you do. In fact, consider reaching out to several people and just let them know why you are thankful they are in your life. And when you’ve done it to the least of these, know also that you will have done it to Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

“Whosoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the LORD.” (Proverbs
18:22)

On Monday afternoon I was walking with my wife Brenda past a nearby lake here in South Florida. We were taking a break from our respective work. She is an artist and paints everyday and I was writing. It was particularly sunny, comfortably warm with a gentle breeze. It just seemed perfect. We found ourselves expressing thanks and gratitude to the Father for such a glorious moment. That led to a conversation about Thanksgiving.

As we walked, I told her about my Thanksgiving email I am planning on sending you and told her that on Friday I was planning on doing something we’ve never done before… Offer a big sale on current books and audio products for Christmas. I was lamenting that the email would probably have limited effect because most folks would be off on Friday and probably shopping, as it is the biggest shopping day of the year.

That’s when she said, “Why don’t you offer the sale items before people go shopping so they can get some really meaningful gifts for friends, family and coworkers? If you wait ‘til Friday, a lot of folks will have already settled for a neck tie or a knick knack and have no budget left to take you up on the bargains you are planning on offering.”

Well friends, I believe she is right. But what you don’t know is how big the sale will be. We are moving at the end of the year and Cheryl wants as much inventory gone as possible so we don’t have to pack it up and move it.  For example, she has marked down our best selling, Selling Among Wolves book by up to 60% depending on quantity. She reduced the incredibly popular Christian Wealth Building series that includes the Rich Church/Poor Church book from $127 to $49.97. There are lots of deals like that.

I do not expect this to be our annual Christmas sale. I expect it to be our “One Time Only, We Are Moving & Cheryl Doesn’t Want to Pack, Thanksgiving and Christmas Super Sale.” Before you head out to the mall on Friday, you might as well check out the super sale we are having. You just might find a gift that will change a life.

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” (Matthew 13:31 - 32)

Yesterday we talked about how dogs never catch seagulls on the beach and how that is similar to the futility of us chasing after riches. The question I left you with was, how do we attract the birds (riches) if we are not supposed to chase after them? (It’s not just that we are not supposed to chase after them, it’s also an exercise in futility!)

Before I give you the answer I will tell you that in 1960, a study among graduating college students was begun. They were asked whether they would pursue money, get themselves established and then pursue their dream or pursue their dream and not worry about the money. 83% of the students chose what seemed like the more responsible choice to take care of finances first. Twenty years later there were a total of 101 millionaires out of the two groups. All but one came from the 17% in the group that pursued their dream instead of chasing finances. Selah.

So here’s the deal… What dream has God put in your heart? What business idea has He given you? Think of it as a tree you are responsible for. Cultivate it well. Prune it. Water it. Care for it. The birds (riches) will come and lodge in it. A well run business with a strong value proposition will attract birds so you never have to chase them. Focus more on developing the tree than on trying to catch the birds with a stick you broke off a tree.

And here’s another thought… the tree that Jesus said would grow up and be the greatest among the herbs and attract the birds, was a mustard tree. Why is that significant? Because He compares the mustard seed to faith. (This is not about the size of our faith!) So, are you growing a business (tree) rooted in faith or did you simply choose it because you heard you could make a pile of money in it? “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom 14:23).  Selah again.

Friends, success in business has so much to do with what we focus on, what we are chasing, whether or not we are building in faith or building on covetousness. If you would like to see what 29 top Christian leaders have to say about this topic, get one of the last copies of How to Manage a Million Dollars or Less for just $7 now.

“Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4-5)

Have you ever seen a dog on the beach spotting some seagulls on the sand and chasing after them? Of course, by the time he gets there, they have flown out of reach. Undeterred, he goes after another, then another, then another, never catching them, but always believing he will catch the next one. We smile as we watch him in complete futility endlessly chase the birds. We know it’s futile, but the dog doesn’t. Every once in a long while, a dog may actually catch one of those birds, though I’ve never seen it happen and the odds are very much against him.

We think it is silly for the dog to chase the bird, yet so many of us are like that dog on the beach. We are not chasing birds, but we are chasing riches and Solomon (who knew more than a little about money) compared the pursuit of riches to chasing a bird. Think of Solomon as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the president of the United States all rolled into one, only wiser and wealthier. He tells us not to labor to be rich. It’s the wrong motivation. Wrong approach. Doomed to failure. But like the dog, we are sure it will work this time or next time, or the one after. We are wrong, but cannot be convinced of that because we heard about some guy who did run after riches and caught them.

If riches are like birds and chasing them only scares them away from us, how do we attract the birds to land on us, so that we don’t have to chase them after all? I believe God gave me an answer for that which I will elaborate on tomorrow. In the meantime, if you have less than a million dollars and want to make the most of it, I urge you to get one of the few remaining copies we have left of How to Manage a Million Dollars or Less. Dave Ramsey, myself, Dennis Peacocke, Peter Lowe, John Mason, Paul J, Meyer and 23 other contributors submitted their best advice inside this book. You can save over 50% as they are now on sale for Christmas for just $7. There are several other items there for up to 90% off.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

While we may not like it when we are abased, Paul teaches us to find contentment. In other words, don’t let your sense of well being be determined by your current financial condition. Current financial conditions, whether good or bad, are subject to change. They are temporal in nature. Contentment on the other hand can be a perpetual choice.

Some time ago, I was asked to join with Dave Ramsey, Charles Stanley, Os Hillman, Steve Marr, Dennis Peacocke, Peter Lowe, John Mason, Paul J. Meyer and about twenty other financial guys and put together a book called How to Manage a Million Dollars or Less. My contribution was called, The Seven Laws of Increase. So much of what was shared in that book is so relevant today because many people are finding themselves in the “Or Less” category.

I want to encourage you today to fight for your peace of mind, hold on to your contentment and if you are interested in getting that book for only $7, click here while supplies last. Have a blessed weekend.

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  (Colossians 4:6)

My Mont Blanc pen fell on the tile floor and broke at the hotel we were staying at in Jamaica. I knew of a duty free store about a mile away where they sold jewelry, etc and thought I might get a cheap replacement there. I was wrong.

Besides having only expensive stuff there and zero customers due to a hurricane a few days earlier, the two young men running the store were of Indian descent. They had a picture of one of those gods with multiple arms, a human face but an elephant trunk, etc. They also had a picture of some kind of guru looking guy. I didn’t want to do business with them in this idol worshiping environment. (How holy of me, say I sarcastically!)

But God had other plans. I asked them who the guru was and was informed it was God. I mentioned that he looked rather young for someone who had been alive for such a long time and then asked them if they would want to know if they were wrong about that. They did, so I proceeded to ask them a number of questions I read about in the Evidence Bible which is an incredible tool for evangelism. Their answers led to a point of decision and both of those men surrendered to Christ right there in the store.

The thing that helped my wife and I open these men up was the simple questions we read about in the Evidence Bible. As it turns out, we have a few of those left in our inventory at a greatly reduced price, just in time for Christmas. It refutes very succinctly and lovingly every major religion and cult in their notes section and guides you in effective soul winning. Click here to get one for someone you love…   (Very limited supply on hand)

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

A lot of folks I know have taken some serious hits in their business, in their marriage, in their lives. For some it has been devastating. If you are among that number, you may well feel that you have been sidelined, counted out, not in the game anymore. I know that feeling. It is an oppressive feeling that can be hard to shake.

The enemy of your soul has counted you out, but God has not. Your enemy wants you to believe you will never get back in the game. You don’t measure up. You have failed! I know that song too! Well, failure is the price we pay on the way to success. If businesses fail nine out of ten times, start ten businesses. One of them will succeed!

I’ve included a familiar video I saw years ago and you may have seen it to, but watching it yesterday still brought tears to my eyes and hope to my soul. I am including it here for you and to let you know, the game is not over. God wants to put you back in the game. He has made you well able to overcome, regardless of your limitations. He is bigger than those!

Note: In case you missed it yesterday, Cheryl has put together the best bargains we have ever offered on numerous tapes, CD’s and DVD’s, some with up to 90% off the regular price. A lot of you went shopping yesterday but there are still some great bargains to be had. Check this out to see for yourself…

Yesterday, a door closed for us,
but a WINDOW OF BLESSING HAS OPENED
FOR ALL OF US. Let me explain…

The Closed Door
Our two year office lease expires next month and we have been looking long and hard for just the right new space to move into. Needing clarity on this and a number of other things, we entered into some fasting and prayer. We sensed some strong spiritual warfare and then our landlord closed the door on my final offer to stay where we are despite the current market conditions that made my offer more than reasonable.

The Open Window With that door closed, we once again searched the internet and drove around the city. This time my wife came with me and I followed any leading she had. (Smart move). God had been speaking to her that there was something better and yesterday we found it. A window opened and we found brand new space with a much better layout, much better terms and for less than what I was offering my current landlord. Needless to say we signed a letter of intent to move in January 1st.

After the joy of finally having a breakthrough in that department, the reality of moving set in. That’s when Cheryl suggested making an unprecedented offer available to you. We can cut down on moving costs (and hassle) by offering you a lot of our current inventory of great books, CD’s, DVD’s etc from top Christian business leaders at below wholesale pricing. (We even have some tape series on negotiating and asking questions that she has listed for only $3!!!) All items are in limited supply, so when they’re gone, they’re gone!

Cheryl pointed out that with just a few weeks left before Christmas, this would be the perfect time to give you an incredible opportunity to find gifts for the people you love. In this season, we are given a special chance to talk about Jesus and His life as people are more open to the idea. Why not offer them truth & power - ways to take the principles used in the bible and make their business stronger and more profitable? Jesus’ economy knows no down turn, and He was always helping the poor. Even with little, He created abundance. Let’s help others learn His ways!

Space does not permit me to share with you the countless times I have heard first hand from folks who came to know Christ or came out of a very difficult time because someone like you gave them one of our books or audio teachings. Because they received it as a gift, they read or listened to it and God did the rest. If you have ever wanted to give that kind of a gift, there will never be a better time. Cheryl has slashed prices to the bone so she won’t have to pack them and move them! My recommendation is…

Go Christmas Shopping Now

“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 Amplified

What flows out of your mouth, in large part determines your boundaries. Talk about how broke you are, how nothing goes your way, etc and you will remain broke and things won’t go your way.

But what flows out of your mouth is only a reflection of what has been deposited in your heart over a period of many years. You can only draw upon what’s inside you. Changing what you say, must first begin with changing what you deposit in your heart. It may take awhile, but consistently choose to input something of value into your life.

You probably already have some quiet time in the Word. That’s good, but how much other input do you take in during the day and through the evening that is weighing you down instead of lifting you up? At the very least, you need to counterbalance the negative. Better yet, let’s be deliberate about loading our heart with good things.

Speaking of that, many of you have taken advantage of the unprecedented offer we made offering both the DVD series and the CD series from the Taking Back the Gates conference for only $39 FOR BOTH. Cheryl asked me to remind you that if you have friends, relatives or ministries you know of that could use the impact that came from this conference, you will be getting two sets, so you can keep one and give the other as a Christmas gift of encouragement. Click here to see the video and offer if you missed it.

“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 Amplified

Yesterday I shared how the flow from your heart determines in large part the boundaries or borders or limits of the territory you will be able to possess. Be that financial, real estate, spiritual, etc. The flow from our heart consists primarily of the words we speak and the actions we take.

If the abundance of our heart produces words leading to action resulting in a life experience defined by boundaries, and if we find those boundaries or limitations very uncomfortable or constrained, it could be a clue to us to examine what we’ve been letting in our heart.

If you want to change your circumstances, you will need to change your actions. You will also need to change your words and that means changing what you feed upon or allow in your heart. Maybe this is just for me, but I realized that I feed too much upon news, both the mainstream, censored, unfair and imbalanced news and the alternative, somewhat angry, on the fringe, out of the norm kind of news you don’t see on the TV networks. Regardless of the source, none of it inspires hope or life or faith for me.

I don’t want the news media or the entertainment world to so fill my heart that my borders are defined by them. A little goes a long way! So I have cut way back and in its place begun deliberately at a much higher volume, filling my heart with exactly what I want to come out of my mouth and see lived out in my actions and reactions in life. More to the point, I want to enlarge my borders and I know they won’t be enlarged as long as I keep putting in the same information that got me where I am now. I am consciously choosing to deposit much more good into my heart and far less of the negative input that I have grown so addicted to. Does anyone relate to this?

And if you do, you might consider watching a full day seminar with 11 leaders who were asked to pass on their most important lessons learned for business as if we were their only heir and this was their last time to speak. It was called Taking Back The Gates and you will get the entire event in both CD and DVD format for a total of $39. I keep mentioning this offer because it is the best value offer we have ever made and so many of you keep ordering it for yourself of for Christmas presents. Click here to watch a short video and if you haven’t ordered this yet, think of it as an investment in your heart and your future boundaries. (While quantities last)