Start from Your Heart

Commit your works to Lord,
And your thoughts will be established.
-Proverbs 16:3

A man's heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps.

- Proverbs 16:9

I don't care if it's a business or a ministry, even a small group or just some friends getting together to do some good work within the community, you need to start from your heart.  That's where you get the commitment that you will need to endure any such work.  It will have to come from deep within you.  It will have to start in and come from the heart.

The Bible says so in Proverbs as we see in the verses above.  It comes up in other places in both the Old Testament and New Testament.  Don't get it wrong.  The Bible is certain to cover such a matter as this due to its importance to success of any such venture in faith.  After all, the Lord's name is on the line any time that we step out there with the blood of Jesus Christ covering us.  Other folks are looking.

Other writers have shared the importance of a leader having a heart for his or her work.  Check out how Ken Blanchard and John Maxwell deal with matters of the heart.  Steve Marr used Proverbs to publish a daily devotional for business professionals called Business Proverbs.

No matter how much you may try to rationalize otherwise, if your heart isn't in it, you can bet the rest of you isn't too into it either. Get your heart into it or get out of it. 

God doesn't want you giving Him a half-hearted effort.  What He did that towards us? Would we praise Him with our whole hearts still? Would we still sing songs of Zion to His glory? Think on that.

Get your heart into before you even get started.  Let God have your best by putting your whole heart into it.  He has already give you His best in Jesus Christ.  Go on and get your heart into whatever you will do in His name.

For the Love of Money

Those who love money will never have enough.

How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!

- Ecclesiates 5:10 (NLT)

If you want true happiness, don't put all of your trust in money.  The Bible says so.

Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them. - Psalm 62:10 (NKJV)

He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage. - Proverbs 11:28 (NKJV)

Rather than do things for the love of money, the Bible instructs us: Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17).

Other believers have said so, too.

"A preacher always loses out when he gets his mind on finances." - Smith Wigglesworth

"Economy is half the battle of life; it is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well."

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"God has given us two hands -- one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for giving."  -Billy Graham

"Every spending decision is a spiritual decision." - J.C. Ryle

Let us learn how to maintain a proper perspective on what God provides to us.  We must learn to do what we do for the love of the Lord, not for the love of money.

Happy is the man who finds wisdom. - Proverbs 3:13 (NKJV)

Find more Christian quotes on money. . .

Make Contact to Make Connections

. . . I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

- 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (NIV)

"Let us long to be used in the conversion of sinners." - Charles H. Spurgeon

The people of God are called to make a difference in this world.  That's why the Lord called us salt and light.  We have a calling to make the world a different environment than a realm of sin and debauchery.  He desires us to have a positive impact upon others by serving Him through our daily interactions within this world.  We are to live in contact with the world, both believers and others.  The Lord does not leave us on earth to live in isolation like the Essenes of ancient times, hiding ourselves from others of this world in order to remain pure among ourselves.  We are to live in this world.  We are to be in close contact and proximity with the world around us, making a difference in the world before the very eyes of those who are full of doubt and unbelief.  We, as Christians in this society, must serve as the very salt and light necessary to purify what has become polluted and penetrate the darkness.

God wants us in contact with others.  God wants us actively making connections with the people who live in both doubt and darkness, the ones who live without hope.  Jesus said that we should let our light shine so brightly that others would see our good works and glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16).

In order to connect with them, we have to make contact with them.  We have to shop with them, play sports with them, and hang out with them.  We have to interact with them.  We have to hang out with and be around them.  We have to show them our light as the light of the world.

I know you have heard some interpret Paul's words of light having no fellowship with darkness as to mean that we should not have anything to do with so-called sinners, but that is an extreme interpretation of that biblical text.  How can we impact a dying world without ever interacting with it? The onus is on us.  We are to share the gospel with the hopeless and doubtful.  It is up to us to reach those who do not know the love of Christ with a message of hope and a ministry of reconciliation.

Enduring Faith

"I more fear what is within me than what comes from without."

- Martin Luther

Look at the history of Protestantism and you will find Martin Luther looming and lurking somewhere nearby.  See where he confronted the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church and faced the challenges of going forward in a faith movement as an enemy of the church.

Imagine the ridicule Martin Luther faced.  Think about the humiliation he suffered at the hands of other religious leaders.  He was considered a heretic.  He was made into an outcast.  Nevertheless, he held onto his faith.
Martin Luther was a man just like any other man.  Yet, he was a man of deep conviction.  He devoured the Scriptures and took them to heart.  He allowed the Word to guide him and direct him, even to the point where he abandoned tradition.

Look at what his enduring faith produced.  The entire Protestant realm of Christianity stems from Luther nailing those ninety-five theses to the doors of the church.  He founded what we call Lutheranism today.  He made history by holding firm to his convictions and not keeping with the status quo.  He made a major difference in religious history.

Let such a legacy influence your walk with Christ.  Live your life with such a degree of faith that you live without regrets.  Live a life full of enduring faith.  Let your faith speak and come to life by the way that you live for the Lord.

History will tell of Martin Luther's storied life.  It will reveal his shortcomings.  It will teach us about his attachment to parts of Catholicism that caused divisions among his own followers.  It will show him just as vulnerable as any other man or any other Christian believer.  It will also share how he made his mark on history by making history by having enduring faith.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_2.html#KklbTLLCHD968kVp.99

Living by Saintly Standards

According to 2008 U.S. statistical data from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), 34,169 people claimed "no religion." That includes atheists and humanists.  That is almost 5,000 more people than in 2001.  In 2008, according to the same survey, over 173,000 people identified themselves as "Christian." That's over 13,000 more than in 2001.

Obviously, Christianity grew and expanded during this period.  That sounds good.  However, the adult population surveyed increased by approximately 20,000 during this period.  We gained 13,000 and the "no religion" folks gained 5,000.  That means 2,000 people became Muslims, Jews or some other religion.  Or, the same 2,000 just did not dare claim any religion at all.  Either that or it is some mix between the two of them.

The world has its own standard.  It may not be one that we, as Christians, desire to follow but it exists.  It is alive and well within the world.  That's suitable for those who do not know the Lord.  It works for those who live in the darkness of unbelief.

It doesn't work well for Christians.

For us, things are just a little different.  We answer to a higher calling in Christ Jesus, seeking to mature in Christ as we walk with Christ.  We are to live by a different standard than the world.

So what is this standard of living for Christians and where does it come from?

• The Lord sets the standard.  He lays it out based upon His supreme reign over all things as the Creator, the Maker and Elohim.  He answers to no one.
• The Lord shares the standard in the Scriptures.  Christians have the upper hand because we have been provided the play book.  We can read it.  We can reference it.  It is for our consumption.  The Lord gave it to us.
• The Lord demonstrated the standard.  The Word became flesh.  He dwelt on earth and dealt with some serious troubles like being born to poor parents and living in a society where foreigners ruled over His people.  He showed us the standard and expects us to live up to the standard.

Live it up.  Live a life of influence that inspires others from interacting with you and your business.  Live up to Christ's standards as you work, as you play golf and as you go to and fro.  Handle your business and live up the Lord's standards.

Write Your Way into View

2002 sales of books and products through all channels: just under $4.2 billion, up from $4 billion in 2000.
$2.4 billion sold through Christian retail outlets; $1.1 billion through general retail; and $725 million through direct-to-consumer ministry channels.

First 6 months of 2003: CBA member store sales were down 2%.

Books increased 8%, Bibles increased 2% but music and gifts decreased 9%.

--Christian Booksellers Association reported in Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2003

http://www.PublishersWeekly.com

(Cited from http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm)
 
In addition to studying book-buying habits, the project also explored what types of material people read. The results showed that evangelical adults (86%) and evangelical teens (97%) were the groups most likely to read Christian literature. Other segments with deep penetration by Christian publications included teens and adults who attend a Christian church regularly (65% and 71%, respectively).

(Cited from http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/114-half-of-all-americans-read-christian-books-and-one-third-buy-them)


Look at the statistics.  Christian literature, whether for study or otherwise, sells at enormous rates to a large following.  That makes sense.
 
What would really make sense would be for you to get yourself busy writing something for the Christian literary market.
 
Think on it.  Take some time and think it through.  You can make a real impression with some simple strategies for breaking into the Christian information market.
 
Christian Article Sites
Write on your business, ministry or industry.  Write about what you know and use your professional experience to help guide others with your lessons learned and best practices.  Use sites like Bukisa or Gather to publish online articles.

Blog
Make some noise in the blogosphere by posting pointers or mini articles on a variety of topics.  Look into WordPress and Blogger.  Beyond this blog, I also post to Rev Bruce's Blog on WordPress that contains more inspirational Christian postings.

E-Books 
If you have enough content on a particular subject matter, consider writing an e-book on it.  Self-publish your own e-book and place it on an online storefront and your website as well as your blog.  Make it available for download in multiple marketplaces.  Use Lulu or CreateSpace.  My e-book of inspirational poetry entitled Broken Pieces is available on iTunes through Lulu.  Self-publishing allows you to publish and promote your material, then profit from it as well. 

Merchandise Your Material

Use some of the top online merchandise sites to sell customized products related to your writing.  These span from t-shirts to coffee mugs and iPad cases.  If you are going to build it, you better brand it, too.  Think about WWJD, Purpose Driven, and Jabez's Prayer.  These all swept through the Christian marketplace with loads of merchandise like keychains and Bible covers to follow behind the success of the books.  Look into CafePress, Zazzle and Spreadshirt to launch your own merchandising craze.

I Love My Neighbor!! Button by Lifepath08

Browse Christian Buttons

Articulate Your Vision

This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

Woe to the foolish prophets

who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!

- Ezekiel 13:3 (NIV)

Everyone who is speaking about vision isn't being honest about it.  They claim to be prophets of profit or visionaries of victory.  It sounds good, but it seems worthless.  Some are called gurus.  Believe it if you dare.  They are false prophets.

They are able to lead people in a particular direction, but they do not seem to be able to accomplish true success.  Yes, they are able to have small victories and have moments of progress.  However, they have little beyond the rhetoric that they spew or the sound bites that they play repetitively throughout the airwaves.  According to Ezekiel's prophecy, they are foolish and following their own spirits, having seen nothing at all or from the Lord.

Don't be found in that category.  Lead as God leads you.  Whatever God gives you to do, articulate that vision.  Put it in words so that others can grasp the depth and the concept of the vision.  Put it in visuals where others can see the vision for themselves.  Articulate your vision with all that you have within you.

Most importantly, share the vision that God gave you just the way that God gave it to you.  Don't abridge or edit it for political correctness or popularity, not even prestige.  It's not about you or how you feel.  Your opinion doesn't even matter.  You accept it from God and make others aware of what God gave you.  Confirmation will come from God through others who speak up and say that it sounds a lot like what God had been sharing with them or what they had been reading in their daily devotional reading.  Give it to others like God gave it to you.