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Archives For November 2013

Goodness is flowing to you

Brad Stanton —  November 30, 2013 — 5 Comments

Stream

Stream (Photo credit: wwarby)

There is a stream of love and goodness flowing to you from heaven. (I’ll explain what I am talking about later in this post.) Some people know how to tap into this flow, others don’t. Those that know how to tap into the river of love get all sorts of good things in life. The only things that really matter in life come from the stream. Everything good, nothing bad flow to you from this invisible stream. All love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control flow to you from higher realms. (Galatians 5:22 But the Spirit of God produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control.)

The more you meditate on God and pray, the more of these good things come into your life.

So how do I know there is a steam of love and goodness flowing down to you? Well, the Bible promises it. Romans 5:5 God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Some people accept the stream of goodness and let it into their spirit, and then it flows out to other people, generating love and good things for them too. John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Some people believe that God is only a God of wrath, not a God of love. But actually, God is your father in heaven. A loving father does not want anything bad to happen to his children. He only allows good to happen. But then why do bad things happen to us? Well, they seem bad, but actually they are blessings in disguise.

I am a father, and sometimes I have to make my children do things that they feel is suffering. When they were little, they felt I was torturing them if I made them go to bed on time, or eat vegetables that they hated. Sometimes they didn’t want to get out of their warm bed and go to school, but I made them go because I knew that it was best for them.

When I played sports in high school, sometimes a coach would make us run until I was so uncomfortable that it seemed like torture, but looking back on it, I know that it was good for me.

So we have a promise that goodness is flowing into your life. You can accept it by faith or reject it. Some people just don’t believe that anything that good could happen to them, so they reject this idea. But I have found over and over again, that these verses from the Bible are true, if I put them into practice by spending time with God in prayer, meditation and obeying Him.

There is a wonderful world out there for you to grab ahold of; a life of victory. In fact, the Bible promises us that we are winners. We are victors. Romans 8:37 “… we are completely victorious through God who showed his love for us.” Nothing can separate us from God’s love, from this stream of goodness and well being.

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (God).

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Grasshopper mentality causes problems

Brad Stanton —  November 28, 2013 — 4 Comments

The Jewish, Muslim and Christian religion all speak of Moses, who led people out of slavery in Egypt.

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” Charles Kettering, inventor with over 140 patents

Sigma 150mm f/2.8 APO Macro EX DG HSM lens

More than three thousand years ago several million people were released from slavery and they traveled to a land that was promised to them. But because they had “grasshopper mentalities” (we are not tough enough or good enough,, we are like grasshoppers compared to them) they didn’t have the confidence to fight for the land God promisied them and instead wandered aimlessly in the desert, living a very austere life. Abundance and wealth was just beyond their grasp. They could have had it if they had faith enough to fight for it, as was proved forty years later when they fought for and won the land.

Most people believe they are not extraordinary and they will never do anything special with their life. They don’t want to get their hopes up because they have been disappointed so many times in the past. They don’t aim for any goals in life because they are afraid of failure. It has often been said “If you don’t aim for anything, you will probably get it.”

It has been said that if you ask a person in any store why they are there, they will have a good answer, they came to buy something or just came to look around. But if you ask a person why they are here in life and what their goals and dreams are, they will probably not be able to answer the question. In fact some say 8 out of 10 people don’t really have an answer to that question.

A young man was told by his parents and teachers that he wasn’t very smart. He didn’t do well in school and after leaving high school he applied for a job at a large company near his home. The company always gave IQ tests to everyone who applied and they found that he had an extremely high IQ. They put him in a position that required a lot of thinking and planning. He did extremely well, in fact he invented a couple of new things and was awarded patents. What was the difference? He suddenly had hope and faith that he could do well at his job. He was treated with respect and it caused him to respect himself.

However, it is certainly true that many people who don’t have much talent do incredible things in life. Many of the most successful businessmen, world leaders, inventors, athletes, rock stars, etc. do not have high IQ’s. It is not necessary for success in life, by any definition of success. But it seems that hope is necessary and so is faith, or confidence, whatever you want to call it.

A grasshopper mentality is the death of dreams and goals, and usually prevents people from having big dreams and plans for the future. The way to overcome it is to read/listen to positive instead of negative, every day.

“You are more than conquerors (winners) through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

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This brought me so much happiness

Brad Stanton —  November 26, 2013 — 4 Comments

Prayer Space.JPG

Prayer Space (Photo credit: bhsher)

Some summer sounds certainly seem sweet. What was the best sound you ever heard? For me it was more than one sound, it was like an orchestra being played every summer evening during that unforgettable time in my life when I had just recently lost half a dozen of the best friends I had ever had. Crickets chirped, cars occasionally whizzed by, dogs barked in the distance, a train honked a horn. They sounded more beautiful than at any other time because I had spent the whole month praying after work, a new thing for me. I spent time talking to God, not really asking for anything, just talking to Him.

I was in my mid-twenties, single and living in a little one bedroom apartment not far from a train track. The horn of that train always brought back happy memories for me and was very comforting. But about my friends….

It just so happened that during those years I had made friends with half a dozen of the most fun and interesting people I had ever met. We were very close, sort of like the TV show Friends, or Cheers, the little bar where everybody knows your name.

They were the kind of people who could drop by any time and we would have a wonderful time, with plenty of laughter, bantering and fun stories. But during a three or four month period, some of them got married and disappeared from our little gang, the others moved out of town. Suddenly I had no close friends at all.

I had to find something to do with my time, so I took walks at the nearby park. I began to pray and meditate on the good things in life that I still had, even though it was tough to lose my friends. At first it was hard to think of things to feel grateful for. But the more I thought and felt grateful for a few things, the more things came to mind that I could be grateful for.

I started out praying for 30 minutes because I had nothing to do, due to the fact that my friends were gone. Then as the days went on, the prayer stretched into an hour, then two hours. There were some days that I prayed for three hours at a time in the evening. That brought me close to God, and brought me a lot of joy. I wasn’t praying to seek anything from God, just to be close to Him.

Sometimes after an evening of prayer, the sounds of the night seemed like a beautiful orchestra being played for anyone who was willing to take the time to stop and enjoy the sounds.

Even nowadays when I hear the crickets chirping, the comforting sound of a fan or my neighbor’s air conditioner humming, these sounds bring back the feelings of that Kansas summer that I learned to be thankful no matter what, and that I really could be happy even in the toughest of times. But most of all, I learned the joy of the Holy Spirit, the incredible wonder of being close to God.

This is from my book The Amazing Power of Prayer  https://bradstanton.com/buy-ebook/

In prayer , , ,
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Add a little joy to your life

Brad Stanton —  November 24, 2013 — 2 Comments

English: The Dead Sea just before sunrise. The...

English: The Dead Sea just before sunrise. The picture was taken at dawn from mount Sdom in Israel. The Dead Sea is the lowest place in the world. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People who travel to Israel are amazed by the Dead Sea. The water is so dense that a person can actually sit in the water and read a book without sinking. The only problem is that people won’t want to be near you after you get in the water, because it stinks.

The reason the water is so dense is that the Jordan River flows into it, but nothing flows out. The water evaporates, leaving all the sediment and other chemicals. The sea is dead because the water is trapped, with no way to go out. There is little or no life in the Dead Sea, hence the name.

If you want to add a little joy in your life, give a little joy. People are a lot like a sea. If nothing is going out of them, they have a really hard time getting more into them.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Jesus said that if we give a lot, we get a lot. If we give nothing, we get nothing.

It is often said that if a person is depressed, he should help someone else and in doing so, he will find some joy. I think it is true because I have proved it over and over again in my life. One reason I blog is to give a little of the joy that I have received, but the more I give and the more people I help, the more I get.

Want to help me help children in the Philippines who have been affected by the typhoon? Pray, give or go. To donate, click here  http://www.travel4j.com/donate.html

For the rest of this year, every cent profit I make from my books will go toward helping street kids. http://tlc33.com/

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Airport humor

Brad Stanton —  November 22, 2013 — 3 Comments

English: A chocolate chip cookie. This is from...

A man had a layover on his flight to Los Angeles, so he stopped at a snack shop in the airport and bought a package of 10 small cookies and a newspaper. He sat down at a table and began reading the newspaper. After a few minutes he heard the rustling of cellophane, the kind his cookies were wrapped in so he peered over his paper and was shocked to see an elderly lady taking a cookie out of the cellophane and taking a bite.

He frowned at her but she didn’t notice. He reached out and took a cookie, still frowning at her. She looked up, noticed his frown and kept chewing the cookie.

After a few moments, while reading again, he heard the same noise. He looked and the lady was taking another cookie without asking, without even looking at him! He reached forward and took two cookies with an even fiercer frown. She paused for a moment, looking at him, then went back to eating.

He ate both cookies and went back to reading until he heard the cellophane again. She took two this time and even frowned at him! He grabbed the rest of the cookies and stood up to leave, opening his briefcase as he walked so that he could put the remaining cookies in it. To his chagrin, he saw the unopened bag of cookies he had purchased and absent mindedly inserted in the briefcase.

He quickly wheeled around and gave the lady back her remaining cookies, apologizing profusely.

In Humor , , , ,
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