Some people are eternal students. They love learning and they are constantly on the pursuit of something new to find out.

Although inquisitiveness is always beneficial, these people are perpetually acquiring new knowledge, because they believe that someday somehow they will have success when they really come to know everything.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Getting the knowledge about something is only half the recipe to success. We have to take action and apply that new knowledge to our lives. That’s the key.

Here are 5 reasons why people don’t take action and how to overcome them:

1. Fear of failure

Our society dictates that failures are bad, so there is a whole generation of people who don’t dare taking action, just in case they fail. Successful people, on the other hand, know that failures are stepping stones to success.

2. Comfort

People don’t want to leave their comfort zone. Comfort is great, but also boring on the long run. We should challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zone every day.

3. Low Self-Esteem

Many people follow others because they don’t find value in themselves. They can accept that others might be successful in life, but not them. That’s why they don’t even try to take action. They don’t believe they will accomplish very much.

Each one of us is endued with a unique combination of talents and gifts. God created every human being as special and He certainly does not create failures. We create them in our minds.

4. Lack of Determination

Then there is always the impulsive person who doesn’t hesitate to take action, but then gives up when the going gets tough. Don’t be a quitter. When things get tough we should be like bulldogs: just sink your teeth in deeper and don’t ever let go!

5. Procrastination

Then there is always the classical procrastinator. Of course he will take action, but tomorrow, not now. Leaving things for tomorrow is a bad habit that can easily be overcome. Like a famous sports commercial says: Just Do It!

Change #1: I decided to spend quality time with God every day. If it meant sleeping less and getting up earlier, I was willing to do that sacrifice. I knew that having fellowship with the kindest Being in the Universe would affect my life powerfully.

Change #2: I studied His Word and took advantage of every opportunity I had to listen to anointed teachings from Him. I’d download free Bible teachings and listen to them while I cooked, drove in my car, exercised, worked in the garden, etc.

Change #3: I took the quality decision that these new learned truths would govern my life from now on. As I listened to God’s Word, my way of thinking started to change. I started to view myself the way God sees me, as a precious creation of His that had the God given ability to succeed in life. I discovered that He had an exciting, glorious and good plan for my life.

Change #4: I learned the language of silence. Even though my mind was being renewed by receiving high quality spiritual food, my mouth often still spoke things that were contrary to God’s Word. The Bible says that life and death lie in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). I determined to only speak God’s Word over my life and my circumstances, no matter what they looked like or how I felt.

Change #5: I chose to walk in love. Coming from a dysfunctional family, I had serious wounds of my past and harbored resentment against the people who had hurt me. I decided to forgive and not to take any more offenses, because I knew they would shut me off from God and His blessings. Besides, after spending so much time with Him, He taught me to love the way He loves: unconditionally.

Please note that these changes did not occur overnight. It was only through the grace,–the supernatural empowerment of God–that I could stick through this process without giving up. He was always there, patient and merciful.

He restored my life to a place where people are impressed by my boldness and confidence. What a miracle!

If He did it for me, He can do it for you too!

Our tongue is one of the most evil devices ever created.

With it we can cause tremendous damage, not only to others, but to ourselves too.

You might ask, “Is what I say really such a great deal?

Yes, it makes a world of difference.

The Bible even states that life and death are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)

You see, we have to understand how this works. Day in and day out we are bombarded with bad news from the world around us. Even though we are not aware of it, this produces negative thinking in our minds.

These thoughts come to our mind automatically, we cannot help thinking them.

But we can choose to receive them or not. At this point we can still analyze the information and decide if we accept it or not.

Now, you cannot drive bad thoughts out of your brain by forcing yourself to think good thoughts. It won’t work.

And this is where the tongue comes in.

The only way you can either drive out bad thoughts or accept them is by using your tongue.

A person who is facing a challenging situation could start vocalizing his fears. In this case, he or she will be talking death. The battle is already lost even before it started, because the tongue has programmed this person for failure. He or she has chosen to accept those thoughts and gave birth to them the moment he or she confessed them with their tongue.

The good news is that, just as the tongue is powerful to kill and destroy, it is also powerful to edify and succeed. As a matter of fact, that is what it was designed for in the first place!

God, our Creator, gave us this powerful tool to set our faith in motion. Faith is believing without seeing. So, if you encounter a challenging situation in life, you talk God´s promises over that thing instead of confessing your fears and negative thoughts.

By doing this, you will have set this most powerful mechanism in motion and the outcome of your endeavors will be of victory, not defeat.

Oh, and remember…
“Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.”(Psalms 34:13)

G.F.I.
Go For It!

Have a great week!

Bettina

PD Find out more about how to tackle negative thinking here.

One of the 10 bonuses you will get is my ebook on GRANTS (Godly Removal of Automatic Negative Thinking)

A few days a go I saw a picture of the biggest diamond that mankind has ever discovered.

I have to admit that, to my uneducated eye, it appeared to be a regular piece of glass.

That is how we often view our own talents and skills. To God they are like precious stones, because He knows their true potential, but they don’t seem very special in our own eyes.

Many times we look at what is in our hands and it doesn’t seem like much to us. Sure, we have this strength, but so do many others and they seem to excel in them much more than we do.

Be careful when these kind of thoughts cross your mind! Motivate yourself. You might be throwing away a piece of glass that in reality is a diamond in the rough.

If you think your talents are no big deal, you might be struggling in one of these areas:

Don’t Despise Small Beginnings

Anybody who ever excelled in anything had to start from scratch. In some point of their lives they determined to take that diamond in the rough and work and train and drill themselves until all its beauty could unfold.

We have to keep in mind that, when we admire the accomplishment of somebody, we are seeing the fruit of a long—and often painful–process of development. This time of preparation is most often lived in silence. A silence in which many a tear was shed and many a drop of sweat was brushed from the brow.

During this time of silence these people were nobodies. They were on their own, pushing and pressing while no one else but God believed in them.  Not many successful people talk about the difficulties they encountered on their way to success, because, in the light of victory, the dark moments of the battle are quickly forgotten. 

Perfectionism

Are you a so called overachiever? Do you pride yourself in setting high standards? Then you might have fallen into the trap of perfectionism.

Perfectionism is the enemy of everything that could have been good. It limits our capabilities, because, whatever we do, it will never be good enough. If perfectionists can’t attain a certain level, they just don’t do it because they have high standards and can’t settle for less. It’s a recipe for failure.

The root of the problem with perfectionists is that it is all about them. God has an amazing plan for them, but it’s not for their glory. It’s for His.

Hold Your Gifts Up to God

Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fish and a loaf of bread. Before doing that He held them up to God and God performed a miracle. Likewise, you can also hold your meager, unpolished talents and skills up to God in faith. He will empower them and multiply them beyond anything you could ever imagine.

Oh, and remember…

“For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29)

G.F.I.

Go For It!

Bettina

PD Learn how to discover and develop your unique talents and skills here. 

It seems that, no matter what we plan or think or do, life is pretty unpredictable.

The world around us is changing and changing fast. The media is bombarding us with news about economic and social instability and often even our own little square foot of world we live in doesn’t seem secure anymore.

Nevertheless, in the midst of all this confusion, there is one thing that has not changed:

God cares for you. He wants to bless you. He wants to increase you. And He wants to use you.

Nobody has been put on this planet to be average. There is so much potential in every human being.

You are here for a reason and it is to glorify Him in all you do, whatever that is.

Even though the circumstances around you are overwhelming, today I want to tell you that there is a way to live in peace in the midst of all the turmoil and mess this world may be in. It is in the middle of His will for your life.

I strongly believe that every human being has been divinely endued with a unique combination of gifts and talents that can be successfully developed by unleashing the power of a self-directed learning process.

But, like in any other project, you’ll need a blueprint, a foundational plan to take your raw individual gifting to a level of fulfillment and success.

Most of us are clueless about how to get where we want to go.

Here is help:

1.- Don’t try to figure out everything on your own, ask God, He knows better.

2.- Rest in the assurance that He is still on His throne, and He is NOT wringing His hands, wondering about what could be done. He has already provided a means for you to live a victorious life. All you have to do is find out about it.

3.- Now you are ready to go! Embrace life with joy and be expectant about what He is going to do today in your life. Let Him surprise you!

Oh, and remember…

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have you inscribed on the palms of My hands.” (Isaiah 49:15,16)

G.F.I.

Go For It! You are precious to God and He is right there, yearning to be a part of your life.

Bettina

Here you can find more help in discovering who you were created to be.

But most of us hesitate when it comes to picking up the paintbrush and boldly filling it with color. We’d love

somebody else to at least give us an outline about what “should” be drawn.

We want somebody else to tell us who to be.

It frees us from responsibility and especially from risk.

Oh, that risk!

Most of us spend our life’s energy on eliminating risks or at least trying to control it as much as possible. We

reject anything that cannot be controlled.

The problem is you lose your soul and your dreams when you insist on controlling things. Too many people forsake their dream because they are not willing to take a risk.

Many don’t take risks because they fear they aren’t up to the challenge. These people have never learned to take the desire in their hearts seriously.

But deep down inside we know that we were not created to live our life controlling things. We were created by Almighty God to live an adventure.

Adventures are exciting…and risky.

Today you can recover the dreams of your heart by releasing control!

Because God does not operate according to formulas. He is a person with a limitless creativity. He is a truly free and alive personality.

Whoever chooses to walk with Him must prepare for adventure. He cannot be put into a religious, doctrinal or theological box.

He has already designed you for a specific task to accomplish in this world. But don’t go looking for it there,

search inside. That is where you will find your calling.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what

the world needs is people who have come alive.” Gil Bailie

What makes you come alive? What is written in your heart? Don’t ask yourself how to achieve it. That is God’s problem.

You will walk it out with Him, one day at a time, together with Him. It will be full of amazing surprises and unexpected challenges, but when all has been said and done, it will always be good.

Oh, and remember…

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you

go” (Joshua 1:9)

G.F.I (Go For It) and lose it today!

Bettina

who’s lost it and doesn’t want it back!

PD If you want to learn how to flow with God’s plan for your life, I have written a whole book describing my journey and what I learned in the process. It is filled with revelations He gave me as I searched for His way of living my life instead of mine.

You can find it here.

The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meets. Frederick Buechner

I will reveal to you the most powerful formula for happiness and fulfillment.

The best of all is that it is not beyond anybodies reach. Actually, it will not come from any external source at all, but from yourself.

And I’m not talking about any kind of spiritual journey.

I’m talking about your resources.

Your talents, your time and your money.

Most of our preparation for life teaches us how to use our resources to obtain something from

the world that surrounds us.

We are taught to get a good education so we can get a good job to get some good money.

We are taught to develop our talents and skills so we can benefit from them.

We are taught social skills so we can receive recognition and acceptance from others.

The underlying message is: the bigger your efforts the more YOU get.

So, in our lifelong pursuit of happiness and success, we just try to develop more and more in these areas, hoping

that some day we will experience the fulfillment we so deeply yearn for.

Until hopefully one day we wake up to the truth that our life’s purpose is not about receiving at all. It is

about something much bigger than that.

It is about using your resources so others can benefit from them. It is when you start giving from what you have

that you will receive what you are so desperately searching for.

A successful businessman is he who knows the needs of his clients and meets them well. If you are out there just

trying to get money from people you won’t get very far. Any marketing expert can tell you that.

Likewise, successful relationships are born from giving love to others, not from trying to fill your own needs

for affection.

But what about me, what about me, what about me?

If you are so worried about your own needs and you haven’t come very far with the traditional formulas for

success, why not try to reverse your efforts?

Instead of focusing on what you want to receive from others, why not start focusing on the needs around you?

There is something magical about giving. The more you give, the more you seem to get.

Oh, and remember…

“…the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

” (Acts 20:35)

Try it! It will always work, because it is a spiritual law.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

And then we start reasoning. Our mind starts bombarding us with questions.

Can we possibly do that? What if this goes wrong? What will so and so say?

Suddenly our great idea isn’t that attractive anymore. The glorious path to achievement has filled with unexpected road blocks and our whole plan seems doomed for failure.

What happened? Were you wrong when you believed you could succeed in the first place?

No, it is only your mediocre mind that is blocking your spirit.

All of us are inherently creative and have unique God-given talents and gifts to accomplish great tasks. God has deposited a genius in every human being.

The problem is that our spirit is aware of that, but our mind is not. Every genius will sooner or later encounter a mind that has been educated to doubt and to fear.

If you would ask a classroom of 5 year olds how many of them believe they are artists, probably all of them would raise their hands enthusiastically. A few years later most of them will not.

Once again, the mediocre mind got in the way.

That is why the Bible adamantly encourages us to renew our minds constantly. We should see ourselves as God sees us, as creative beings made in His image. It is only then that our spirit will be free to reach above and beyond the limits our human reasoning is always trying to make us aware of. 

Oh, and remember…

“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God…” (Ephesians 4:23,24)

G.F.I.

Go For It!

Bettina

who wants to help you see yourself the way God sees you!

PD I have dedicated a whole Chapter to the subject of renewing your mind in my new ebook “Know Your Destiny – How to Find Out God’s Plan and Purpose for Your Life.” You can check it out here.

That means your life should be increasing constantly from one day to the next.

If you are struggling in this area, you are probably facing fears you’ll have to deal with.

In every change we want to make in our lives or every new step we want to take, we’ll encounter man’s greatest enemy: fear. Fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable.

Fear has a way of paralyzing our actions. It has us cowering in a corner and forces us to settle for a level of life that is way below what God has intended for us.

If fear is the greatest obstacle to our growth, then why do we fear so much? Why can’t we just ignore the message of fear and focus on what God has put in our heart?

You can. But it will require some action.

Fear operates just as faith does. As a matter of fact, fear is a twisted kind of faith. It is also a form of belief. It believes more in the devil’s ability to harm us than in God’s ability to help us overcome the odds.

And just as faith is made strong by reading and hearing the Word of God, fear develops by allowing negative messages to access our minds.

We are bombarded with bad news daily. If it’s not the media it will be the colleague at work or our next door neighbor.

If we are not careful, we will very soon accumulate enough information that will justify all our fears.                

This does not mean we should ignore bad circumstances, but we should never allow them to determine our outlook on life. There is a higher Truth.

While the whole world is going havoc, there is still an Absolute that stands as a huge rock in the middle of a raging sea: God’s Word and His promise of having empowered the human race to become more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

Anyone who chooses to build his or her life on this rock will overcome insurmountable obstacles. He will be able to boldly confront life’s challenges and walk out in faith to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Oh, and remember…

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

G.F.I.

Go For It!

Bettina

who wants to inspire you to step out of that secure boat so you can walk on water!

PD If you are struggling with doubt and fear in your life, you can find more help here.

too long ago? If you are feeling stuck in life,…boy, do I have a

message for you today!

Maybe you can relate to the following (I can):

It happens to everybody. You get a good idea, or you start on a new

project. Maybe your hopes are high because you have just heard an

encouraging message or sermon. You are excited about how this is

going to change your life.

Then you prepare. You put things into place, you do your best to

get your wonderful new project going…and nothing happens.

No breakthrough, no results, just plain old life going on as it

always has. Or things start getting even worse.

What happened?

Did you get it wrong? Did your hopes get too high? Was it just a

delusion?

No. You have only allowed time to become your enemy.

You see, no project that is worth developing will happen easily. It

will require diligence, a huge effort and a lot of patience.

Any person who has achieved access in any area of life will readily

affirm that success did not happen overnight. Most of them will

testify about all the troubles they had to overcome before they

could savor their first successful achievement.

Winston Churchill said that success was going from one failure to

the next without losing your enthusiasm.

The way to success is to just keep on going. It is easy to lose

focus when circumstances don’t align with your expectations.

It is then when frustration sets in and you are only one step away

from giving up.

That is why faith is so important. Faith in God’s promises and His

Word will open doors to new possibilities in your life.

But it’s easy to have faith for one or two weeks. Actually, this is

no faith at all. If you were only capable of believing in something

for a while and then gave up when things started going wrong, it

wasn’t really a Truth for you. It was only a “maybe it will work,”

a tiny flash of hope that was immediately extinguished by the first

adversity.

Real faith will keep its eyes on God’s promises even under

impossible circumstances. Real faith goes hand in hand with

patience.

It will hold fast to the promise of a positive outcome, no matter

what happens.

Oh, and remember…

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for

He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23)

G.F.I.

Go For It! Don’t let circumstances deter you and just keep your eyes

on Jesus!

Bettina

who believes there are no broken promises from God, only people who

quit believing in them!

PD Find more help on how to achieve success in life here.