Since my childhood days I can remember that books have always played an important role in my life.
Even now, as I think of my father, I view him sitting in his favorite armchair, totally absorbed by some book he was reading.
Yes, I can definitely say that books influenced my life in a significant way.
Cradles of Eminence studied common factors in the childhoods of 400 eminent men and women and concluded:
“A rule of thumb for predicting success is to know the number of books in the home”
They were all brought up in a print rich environment.
Without a doubt, reading is a life-changing habit.
But not all books are good. There is (more…)
The other day I went to visit my dad, who lives in an apartment house. In my hurry I entered the elevator and forgot to press the button!
It took a while until I noticed that I wasn’t going anywhere. The embarrassing thing is that for that short while I thought I was!
It made me think about our attitude towards life in general.
I once heard that the definition for insanity is that of habitually living one’s life the same way, and at the same time expecting that somehow, somewhen, things will change.
We read about God’s wonderful promises for our lives, and we truly expect them to happen “someday in the future.”
On the other hand, our expectations for today are not much more than what we experienced the day before.
So we go through our daily routine dreaming about how things will change some day.
But let’s rather ask ourselves: Are we expecting something great to happen in our lives…today?
“The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18)
Although I’m not American, I have a lot of American friends who have been a huge blessing to me.
One of them is Rhea Perry, and yesterday I received an inspiring email from her referring to Memorial Day.
It made me ponder about the concept of true freedom.
“Memorial Day is a day to honor our heroes and the great sacrifices
they have made and continue to make in defending freedom for those
who call America home.
Albert Einstein said, “Everything that is really great and
inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”
My team and I are here to (more…)
There is one important subject no school curriculum teaches your teen: Financial literacy.
Yep! He’s getting a great education. If he studies hard and gets good grades, he’ll probably go to college and get a good job afterwards.
And if he keeps on working hard he’ll make a good living, right?
But he could substantially improve it if he had financial skills.
The truth is, we haven’t been trained to be (more…)
The main goal for every successful education is that of teaching an individual how to master the learning tools so as to learn by himself.
Once a child has discovered how to unleash the power of a self-directed learning process, he will be able to teach himself virtually anything he proposes to learn for the rest of his life.
Nevertheless, not every educational method nowadays has this result. Many teenagers, and even young adults, have not found a way of how to thoroughly enjoy learning and how to pursue their education with zeal.
On the contrary, many of them are bored with their education and have (more…)
I’m currently reading a wonderful book which has given me new insights about the grace of God. It’s called “Destined to Reign” by Joseph Prince.
J.Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church – a dynamic and fast growing church in Singapore, with a congregation of more than 15,000 members.
In 1997, Joseph Prince received a strong mandate from God:
“If you don’t preach grace radically, people’s lives will never be radically blessed and radically transformed.”
This book is about being radically transformed by God’s grace and His grace alone.
If you want to discover the secret of God’s way to reign effortlessly in life, of wholeness and victorious living, then you have to read this book.
Your faith walk will never be the same again!
You can get it for $13.95 at Amazon.com at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Joseph+Prince&x=17&y=17
Maybe you have been struggling in vain to change your life for the better.
If you are desperately yearning for a fulfilled, happy and peaceful life, I have a message of hope for you today.
You were not designed to accomplish it by your own efforts.
There is a power house of God’s unlimited grace at your disposal. And it’s for free. Jesus already paid the price to make it available to you.
If there ever was a no-cost, no-strings-attached bargain you should take advantage of, this is it!
God’s grace is a gift, an unmerited favor.
And once you learn to tap into His grace, you’ll start living in the supernatural.
The key word here is “super.” Yes! Believe it or not, God created us to live our lives as supermen and superwomen…for Him.
This is not a far-fetched ideal which works for some lucky few but is unrealistic for us. This is a way of life God offers to all human beings in every generation.
Whoever has given his life to Jesus and has confessed Him as the Lord of his life, is a Son of God.
And these are not called to walk as “mere” men, because they are children of the Most High!
See the big “S” on your chest!
God put it there when you became His child. Through Jesus Christ you are a superman or a superwoman, established on God’s promises and empowered by the Holy Spirit!
It has called my attention how many pages there are on the Internet about self-help.
There seems to be a huge demand on information which helps us on our tireless human quest of perpetual happiness, peace and fulfillment.
And most of us are laboring in vain to find it.
Don’t get me wrong. I do believe in our incredible human capability. After all, we were created in the image of God.
But without Him it just won’t work.
God’s plan for our lives is exceedingly above and beyond anything we can achieve by our own human efforts.
And He didn’t just create us with a unique combination of talents and gifts and then abandon us to figure it all out by ourselves.
No! He wants to be part of our life. Not just any part. He wants to be the number one part.
And when we surrender to Him and are willing to follow His plan, not ours, we automatically tap into that life of abundance, the fulfilled life we are so desperately looking for.
Jesus died so that we could live a life of abundance, the good life. It is by His grace that we can attain it.
And once we learn to rely on His limitless grace rather than on our limited efforts, we will tap into the blessed life He intended us to have.
It is then, and only then, that we will finally experience the changes in our lives that we have formerly labored for so hard, but in vain.
When talking about self-directed learning and developing your talents, many people ask me how they can discover their God-given gifts.
Although many of us know exactly what we are good at, some have taken decisions in life that have led them away from their genuine aptitudes, and they have a hard time trying to reconnect with their true self again.
But here is the good news: It’s really not that difficult. Most of the time, our gifts and talents are very evident, we just haven’t identified them yet.
Here are 7 questions you need to ask yourself if you want to know what unique talents God has given you:
1.- What activity draws you when you have a block of free time?
2.- In what area do others ask you for help in?
3.- What did you love doing as a child?
4.- What are you good at?
5.- What do you think about when your head hits the pillow at night?
6.- If you’d ever write a book, what would it be about?
7.- What is the activity you most enjoy during your day?
Once you have identified your talents and gifts, ask yourself what you have done to further them.
Could you develop them any further? If yes, how would you do it? What resources are at your disposal now?
Now you can unleash the power of a self-directed learning process and discover how to exploit your unique combination of gifts and talents!
I’d like to invite you to go for it! Visit http://www.Self-DirectedLearningForSuccess.com for tips and tools for successfully developing your talents by creating and growing in your own learning process. Learn how to teach yourself in my FREE e-book: “The Power of Self-Directed Learning”, and my FREE e-course: “Seven Steps to Consistently Change Your Life.”
“Two farmers asked God for rain, but only one of them went out to prepare his field. Which one of them was truly believing God?” – From the movie “Facing the Giants”
I’m talking about the most important aspect of your life: The plan God has for it.
Like it or not, you are here for a higher purpose than just working, eating and sleeping, and making the most of it while it lasts. The Bible states that each and every human being on the face of this earth has been foreordained by God for a given task.
For we are God’s (own) handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew) that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time), that we should walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live)
(Ephesians 2:10, The Amplified Bible)
Each one of us has been lovingly designed and created with a unique combination of gifts and talents to fulfill a special assignment while we are here.
The wonderful thing is that this assignment is way beyond our wildest dreams. It is vastly bigger than us, immensely above our capacities and incredibly exciting to walk in.
And that is exactly why many choose not to walk in it. Although God has put dreams in our hearts, many of us just can’t believe they will ever come true.
Some people’s expectations for life are based on circumstances rather than on God’s promises. They don’t believe in the good life God has prepared for those who choose to believe in Him.
Faith is a choice. Either you choose to believe or you don’t.
Period.
Nevertheless, those who choose to walk in God’s plan will prepare their field for the rain.
They will be diligent to further their God-given gifts and talents to faithfully accomplish what God has predestined them for.
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