Includes...
One of the concepts we discuss every day on the communion videos is becoming magnetic. When God's grace is flowing through us it is magnetic. With magnets like forces repel and opposites attract. I have found that when we pursue our goals through our own efforts, grinding away, and trying to force it to happen it only repels the goals further away from us. The more we try to push toward them the further away they get. But when we take the pressure off and instead seek after God then all of those goals are pulled into our lives. Jesus says to seek first the kingdom of Heaven and his righteousness and all of the things we need will be added to our lives. When we seek first the kingdom it magnetizes and pulls everything into our lives rather than having to chase after the stuff... But this does take trust!
I am not saying there is no work involved. In fact, when grace is flowing, we will probably do more work and be more productive than ever, but we are at rest in ou...
The other day my daughter and I were reading the Power of Positive Thinking for Teens by Norman Vincent Peale and in the book was the example of a boy who was having trouble making friends. The boy was given the suggestion of praying consistently for the people around him, the people he encountered every day. His prayer was simply to think kindly of all the people around him.
As the boy did this it turned his focus from himself to others and it softened his heart toward other people because he had been very judgmental of others. And the boy began to make many more friends, because he became much friendlier.
Praying for those around us is very powerful because it also changes us in the process. Something else I have found to be true is that praying for those around us also seems to open up many opportunities in life. Our monthly message this month is to Be Ready and Watching for Opportunities and one of the ways to do this is praying for others consistently.
Th...
One of the concepts in the Abundant Life Blueprint is that health and time are balancing areas of life. What we do with our time impacts our health and vice versa. In fact, I don't think of these as two different areas of life. To me they are one thing, that is inseparable.
Through the years of training clients in the gym the biggest thing I noticed was that time was the biggest reason why people weren't successful. It takes time to be healthy because nobody can do our exercise, eat our meals, or get our rest for us. Many people are also defeated by time because they put unrealistic time expectations on their results that will never lead to long term health.
Health must be prioritized because there will be many things that try to steal the time needed to be healthy. Something I have also come to realize is that to truly understand that connection between health and time and get it right only happens by God's grace.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude for ...
I once heard a story from business mentor Jay Abraham about the principle of access. During a seminar someone asked him about the best way to raise $10 million in order to build a factory. His response was you don't need to raise the $10 million or build the factory. Find a factory that is already built that is not using it during the night hours and offer to partner with them and split the profits in exchange for using the factory during the night. The businessman took the advice and ended up splitting several million dollars in profits with an existing factory without having to go through all of the trouble of raising $10 million and building a factory. This is the power of the principle of access.
Romans 5:1-5 says
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not on...
The other day I learned that when there are big quick changes in air pressure it can cause the water that comes out of the sink to be cloudy because it has more air in it. We had a day when the temperature went from about 30 degrees up to the mid 50s and this also changed the air pressure, which caused some cloudy water. This reminded me of a communion meditation we did a few months ago on Priming the Pump.
In that communion meditation we said that God has placed a well of living water inside of us, but the pump must be primed to remove all of the air so that the water flows. This happens by the pump using mechanical pressure to pull the air out of the pipeline. In the Old Testament and New Testament the word for Spirit is translated as wind or breath. Praying in the Spirit primes the pump and removes the air out of the pipeline(the prayers God needs prayed) so that the living water flows.
But sometimes we go through times of lower pressure or have quick change...
Here is this week's Yearly Cycle Update.
I think of February as foundations month, because there were two times when the foundation of the temple was laid in the Old Testament and they were both in the second month. While thinking of foundations Exodus 24:10 came to mind, " And they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness."
Heaven is a very clear place, and Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within us. We are supposed to be very clear on the inside. Several years ago, when I started the Abundant Life Blueprint, I was coaching some people one on one through the lessons and learned some very important things. The first was that the order of the lessons mattered. In the beginning I was jumbling up the teachings with one day on health, one day on spiritual, one day on mindset, etc and the results were just ok. But then I changed the order to work from the inside out by doing...
The other day I was listening to some talks on business and the style of business was very high pressure. It really got me thinking about how we create the environment where grace flows, because putting a bunch of pressure on other people is not the way. When grace flows everything is easy, elegant, energizing, fun, and simple. An environment that is not full of grace feels very judgmental, high pressure, with a lot of effort, complex, and it depletes energy.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude for God's grace and we are asking for his help to create the environment where grace flows in our relationship with him, in our purpose, health, family, finances, order, time, and community.
Here are a few things I have learned about how to create this environment...
Order and positioning are very important - I think of staying positioned in the light with humility, forgiveness, love, and gratitude as the first prerequisite.
Take the pressure off of yourself and ot...
Yesterday I was doing the Daily Communion Workout and it was one of those days when I was tired and was just trying to get through the workout. While getting ready to do the set of 8 deadlifts and I was staring at the bar for a few seconds and the feeling of dread came over me like I really don't want to do the deadlifts. And keep in mind I had been using this same exact weight for a few months and been getting all 8 reps fairly easily on most days.
After staring at the bar for a little while I said to myself, "Surely I can do 1 rep. I am just going to do one beautiful rep."
So, I did one beautiful rep and when I set the bar back down, I thought, " I could do one more beautiful rep."
I kept doing just one beautiful rep at a time and in the end, I did all 8 reps easily, on a day when I didn't want to do one.
When we focus on just one rep at a time it causes us to be more present and presence is what I like to call the grace table turner. Presence turns the ta...
Here is the monthly message for February.
February 2022 - Be Ready and Watching for Opportunities
February is the second month and in the Old Testament there were two times when the foundation of the temple was laid. And they were both in the second month. I consider February to be foundations month. A time to make sure we have a solid foundation in place.
In February let's be ready and watching for opportunities. Be ready through consistent daily practice and then be watching for opportunities to do good. There are two parts to this... Consistent preparation and practice paired with high levels of expectation that God is sending opportunities every day. Here are some examples...
Here is today's communion meditation.
When we enjoy times of recreation, we re-create ourselves. When we enjoy times of recreation and play like a kid it re-creates us from the inside out. And I believe times of recreation can be great times of connecting with God. I have found that some of the greatest ideas and revelations come during times of recreation. But to build more recreation into our lives we must be proactive in planning it and making it a priority.
Life needs to have a balance of work and play. And if we can turn our work into times of recreation even better.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude that in God's presence there is fullness of joy. And we are asking for his help to have more fun and to have recreation be part of our lives the way he intended it to be.
Today's Health/Workout Tip
What do you do if something hurts during your workout? Here is the approach that I take... Do what I can do with no pain. Don't do things that hurt. The...
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