“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)

“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

I wanted to share a bit of light on a familiar passage to most of us. Solomon is urging us to guard our heart above everything else that we may guard. It is to be the most guarded thing in our life. The reason given has to do with springs or issues of life.

The word translated “springs” is also translated “issues” and refers to the place where a river would empty or issue into the sea for example. Over and over again in the Old Testament we find this word used in the context of determining borders or boundaries. While I grasp that our heart affects every area of life, I now have another perspective on why it is so important to guard our heart above anything we guard. Here it is…

What comes out of our heart determines our boundaries. Remember Jabez asking to have his boundaries expanded? He wanted more territory. Well it seems to me that our boundaries are in part determined by what we let in and out of our heart. What issues out of our heart is first of all our words and secondarily our actions. The combination of the two defines our boundaries. Just wanted to pass that on today. It’s worth thinking about.

In closing, I wanted to let you know we have had an overwhelming response from so many of you on this blog who took advantage of the 75% discount on the Taking Back the Gates DVD’s and CD’s combo pack for just $39. It is the first time we have ever made an offer like that. If you haven’t taken us up on that offer, you might want to take a peek now. We still have a few left. Blessings!

I believe the root cause of stunted fruit or bad fruit in our life goes back to what we store up in our heart. The things we meditate on, ponder, consider, day dream about. Eventually those thoughts will come out in our words (out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks) and we tend to believe what comes out of our mouth (faith comes by hearing… Rom 10:17). Let me show you a practical business application of this last truth…

Most folks who have a product or service to sell, look for the opportunity to present their story to a prospect. Their unspoken but clearly understood hope is, that the prospect will believe their claims and purchase their goods. But there is a way to increase quite significantly the conversion from listening to purchasing. You must help the prospect find faith in your claims. While you may convert them with testimonials, convincing demonstration or just the sheer force of your persuasive personality, you can significantly increase your result by leading the prospect through a questioning process, the answers to which release the words from their own mouth that convince them of the truth of your claims.

People tend to believe less than 100% of what someone else says, especially a stranger who stands to benefit financially if they can get you to agree. But those same people tend to believe 100% of whatever comes out of their own mouth, so lead those folks to the conclusion you came to by taking them on the same journey, asking them the questions they need the answers to and let their own answers convince them.

Important Note: If at all possible, mark your calendars for September 4 – 6 and plan on joining me at the Kingdom Economic Summit in Austin, Texas where I will be speaking with Myles Munroe, Lance Wallnau, Os Hillman, Kent Humphreys, Rick Joyner and many other leaders in the Christian Marketplace movement. Many of the Kingdom’s leading generals are being brought together to release and impart instruction, wisdom and anointing for today’s marketplace leaders to experience a greater measure of wealth transfer for the purpose of building and advancing God’s Kingdom in the earth. Click here for details…

Continuing our series on 7 Strategies for Fighting Pests, we’ve discussed at some length the concept of leaf toughness as being a picture or model of saying “no” to pests that would consume us. Another way of looking at leaf toughness is the idea of setting boundaries. Everyone needs boundaries, not only to keep you out of trouble, but to keep trouble from invading your space.

You must learn to set boundaries for yourself, what you will allow and what you won’t. You must set boundaries for your coworkers, your staff, even your boss. Yes, there are boundaries that must be set for your family and friends too. Boundaries have two sides to them. The first side is the inside consisting of everything you want inside that territory, be that your time territory, your financial territory, your influence territory, etc. The second side, is the outside consisting of everything that wants to get inside your territory and consume your time, your finances and/or your stuff!

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