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Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Brad Stanton —  June 1, 2016 — 1 Comment

2497_582185215124808_544483830_nYoung people, listen to me as you would to your father. Listen, and grow wise, for I speak the truth—don’t turn away.  For I, too, was once a son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child, and the companion of my father. He told me never to forget his words. “If you follow them,” he said, “you will have a long and happy life. Learn to be wise,” he said, “and develop good judgment and common sense! I cannot overemphasize this point.” Cling to wisdom—she will protect you. Love her—she will guard you.
Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And with your wisdom, develop common sense and good judgment. If you exalt wisdom, she will exalt you. Hold her fast, and she will lead you to great honor; she will place a beautiful crown upon your head.* ~King Solomon. Many consider him the wisest man that ever lived.

Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.** ~King Solomon

Be careful to check your feelings, because your feelings indicate what you are thinking. If you are thinking loving thoughts, your feelings will be happy. If you are thinking negative thoughts, your emotions will be sad, angry, ashamed or worried (fearful).

Negative thoughts make you weak minded and can destroy you. Positive, love filled thoughts make you strong minded and successful. Negative thoughts cause toxins to flow into your bloodstream, positive thoughts bring health to your mind and body. Therefore, think about things you like or love. Think about people, places and things you like. Think about music you like, books and movies you like, people and cafes you like. Think about pets, children and neighbors you like. But don’t think about things that make you sad or angry. That will make you weak and may eventually destroy you.

Two people I know were destroyed by negative thoughts. One was a father of two. He always complained and got angry. People didn’t like talking to him because he was so negative. He eventually had a nervous breakdown and became so depressed he couldn’t go to work. The other is a young lady who was injured in a motorcycle accident. Her foot was injured and a sore on it would not heal. The sore made her angry at her husband who was driving the motorcycle. The angrier she got, the worse the sore got, and the worse the sore got, the more angry she got. Finally the doctors had to amputate her leg just below the knee.

Every action starts with thoughts. All success starts with the mind. Transform your life by changing the way you think. It will give you success in career, relationships, losing weight, sports and just about all aspects of life.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 NIV Bible

* Proverbs 4:1-9 Living Bible

** Proverbs 4:23 Living Bible

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Success looks like…

Brad Stanton —  April 9, 2016 — Leave a comment

“Laura, a fifty-three-year-old project manager, had struggled with her weight for many years. She had tried diet after diet without lasting success. Learning how to focus on gratitude, correct her negative thought patterns, and learn from mistakes rather than beat herself up, together with the elements of faith, food, fitness and friends made a huge long-term difference for her. She lost forty-three pounds over six months and became dedicated to a new way of living instead of a fad diet.” From The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren.

Notice the first step in having a better life and losing weight is gratitude. It is amazing how powerful gratitude is. Making a list of things you like or love increases gratitude and makes us stronger. Things we like might be people, places or things. It might be our pets, children, grandchildren, friends, home, books, music, trees, lakes, etc. Whether you want success in relationships, career, weight loss or just about anything else, gratitude and a good attitude make a big difference.

Laura corrected her negative thought patterns. She began to learn from mistakes instead of beat herself up over them. One of the hardest things for many people to do is to love themselves and forgive themselves.

It takes discipline to lose weight. We have to get rid of some things that we really like. The best way to quit any bad habit is to use the replacement principle. Replace the joy of the old, bad habit with the joy and fun of something new. Isaac Newton was right, nature abhors a vacuum. Think of a bad habit as dirty air in a glass. If you want to get rid of the dirty air you can attach a vacuum pump and try to pump the air out, but you will never completely succeed. Air will seep into the glass no matter how hard you try to keep it out. The longer you try to keep it out, the more difficult it will become. An easier way is to pour water into the glass. The air will be pushed out. So when you get rid of something in your life, push it out by replacing it with something else.

You can replace high calorie food with healthy, low calorie food such as fruits and vegetables. Sitting on a couch watching TV can be replaced with walking or volleyball at a local church or YMCA. Most people can find some kind of activity they enjoy that provides exercise.

Warren says that research shows people who get healthy with a buddy lose twice as much weight as those who do it alone.

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I’ll be happy when…

Brad Stanton —  January 6, 2016 — 4 Comments

valentines-day_1100011053-1013intIt is easy to get into the habit of thinking “I’ll be happy when…

I get married
I have kids
I get out of this marriage
my kids leave home
I get a promotion
I get well
my kids behave better

Why not be happy today? Psychologists and success coaches say that the thoughts you are thinking right now and today are creating your future. The feelings you are feeling now and today are creating your thoughts and actions that create your future. Emotion causes motion, in other words, when we feel strongly about something, we take action.

“Nothing positive ever came from thinking negative.” ~Many people

Many good things come from thinking positive. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote many books and traveled around the world giving speeches about the power of positive thinking. He saw many people changed for the better by the power. He himself was a very timid person until a college professor took him aside one day and told him to get rid of his timid nature. The professor told him that he was smart and hardworking, and would go far in life if he would get rid of his pessimism and timidity. At first, Peale was very upset about what the professor had said. But after he let the words sink in, he began to realize the professor was right. Peale began to slowly change, and never forgot how important it is to believe in yourself, to have faith in your abilities.

In the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, James Scott Bell writes about meeting Dr. Peale. He said it was a day that changed his life. Bell and his wife came to a point in their life when they began to wonder why everything was going wrong. Then Bell began thinking about positive thinking and shared the idea with his wife. They both began to think positive instead of negative and soon their life had turned around.

I realize that some people’s problems are so difficult that a little positive thinking won’t help. But maybe a lot of positive thinking will. Morris Goodman, who was seriously injured in an airplane crash, could not breathe without a machine, or swallow, walk, talk or do anything except blink his eyes. But he had extraordinary faith that he could walk out of that hospital by Christmas. No one believed that he could do it, especially not the doctors. But because of his amazing faith he learned how to talk, eat and swallow, walk and live a rather normal life.

My books click here.

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Healing scriptures

Brad Stanton —  December 29, 2015 — 3 Comments

Dodie Osteen was healed of cancer. She wrote a book about the Bible verses she used to build her faith to overcome cancer.  – Healed of Cancer, by Dodie Osteen.

I wrote a book about the power of prayer. Click here.

Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

Exodus 15:26 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord Who heals you.

Exodus 23:25 Amplified Bible (AMP)
You shall serve the Lord your God; He shall bless your bread and water, and I will take sickness from your midst.

Deuteronomy 7:15 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you knew will He put upon you, but will lay them upon all who hate you.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Amplified Bible (AMP)
I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live and may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


Psalm 103:3 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,

Psalm 105:37 King James Version
He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.

Isaiah 53:4-5 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

Jeremiah 30:17 Amplified Bible (AMP)
For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!

Matthew 8:2-3 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cleanse me by curing me. And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed.

Matthew 8:17 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.

Matthew 21:21 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.

Mark 11:23-24 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

Mark 16:18 Amplified Bible (AMP)
They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.

Luke 10:19 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

John 9:31 Amplified Bible (AMP)
We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and a worshiper of Him and does His will, He listens to him.

John 10:10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

Romans 4:19-21 Amplified Bible (AMP)
He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb. No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Amplified Bible (AMP)
For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

Philippians 4:6-8 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

James 5:14-15 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name. And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

1 Peter 2:24 Amplified Bible (AMP)
He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 5:7-9 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring in fierce hunger, seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset–rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.

1 John 3:21-22 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God,  And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.

1 John 5:14-15 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.

3 John 1:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.

Revelation 12:11 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].
You will not waiver in your faith. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23 NKJV)

You can have confidence in God and His Word. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. (Heb 10:35 NKJV)

You can find strength in God and His Word “…. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’” (Joel 3:10 NKJV)

Jesus Christ has never changed. What He did in the Bible, He will do for you today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb 13:8 NKJV)

God’s highest wish is for you to be well. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 1:2 KJV)

God answers the prayers of those that keep His commandments. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. (1 John 3:21-22 NKJV)

Your sickness will leave and not come back again. If it does come back say out loud “In Jesus name I am healed.” Don’t accept illness. What do you conspire against the LORD? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. (Nahum 1:9 NKJV)

This website is not affiliated with Dodie Osteen’s ministry.

Memorize one or more of the verses above and say it out loud or silently at least once a day. Some say the verse many times a day.  See this web site for more information.

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Optimists live longer and better

Brad Stanton —  December 17, 2015 — 1 Comment

sundown-at-the-bayI often blog about the importance of being optimistic, or to put it another way, to have faith. Some call it a Positive Mental Attitude. But no matter what you call it, everyone seems to agree that your life will be better in many ways if you are optimistic. The following is from a free ebook I recieved from Mayo Clinic (one of the best hospitals in the world). The name of the ebook is “Live Longer, Live Better”

As you make your way through life and the various transitions it brings, you’ll find that an optimistic attitude can make your days more enjoyable and less stressful. But did you know that your attitude also plays a role not only in how well you’ll live but also in how long you may live? Your mind and your body are closely intertwined.

Optimists live longer

Increasing evidence suggests that being an optimist or a pessimist has an effect on your health. One particular Dutch study found that older adults with an optimistic disposition — people who generally expected good things rather than bad things to happen — lived longer than did those who tended to expect doom and gloom.

At the beginning of the study, more than 900 participants filled out surveys that assessed their well-being, including their sense of optimism. The survey asked participants to respond to statements such as “I often feel that life is full of promises” and “I do not make any future plans.” After accounting for factors such as age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, socio-economic status and marital status, those who scored high on the optimism scale had a 29 percent lower risk of early death than did participants who scored low.

In this study, a positive outlook appeared to be particularly protective against death from cardiovascular problems. Highly optimistic participants were 77 percent less likely to die of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event than were highly pessimistic participants. These results held true regardless of whether the participants had a history of cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure.

A study conducted at Mayo Clinic reported similar results. Researchers examined the relationship between explanatory styles — how individuals explained the causes of life’s events — of more than 800 participants and the group’s mortality rate during a 30-year period. The researchers found that individuals who had a more pessimistic explanatory style died younger than did those who were more optimistic.

Participants who were classified as optimists tended to believe that the causes of bad events were temporary, not their own fault and limited to the present circumstances. Pessimists, on the other hand, tended to blame things on themselves, felt that the current situation was going to last forever and felt that the bad event would undermine everything.

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