Seen or Unseen

Is the real you your body? your soul? your spirit? When this body dies do you die? Or, do you go on living somewhere?

Are you visible or invisible? The real you is invisible. It is unseen. It is eternal. Does the invisible live primarily in the visible world, or the invisible world? Why would you assume that if you are invisible and eternal that your life is primarily lived in the seen world?

Your brain does not connect you with the unseen world; it connects you with the seen world. Your body is a vessel that transports the interface by which you (the invisible) connect with this world (the visible). Your brain is a lens through which the invisible you is able to see, feel, hear, smell and touch this world.

Your words ~ Are they visible or invisible? Invisible. Certainly the sound, the movement of air is visible, but your words are also powerful. They are unseen. They are creative. They begin in the invisible world and are completed in the visible world. They cross the bridge between thought and manifestation.

Is the Law of Attraction simply the invisible part of you operating in the invisible world to affect the visible world?

What do you think?

Seek the Root, Not the Fruit

If you want to have a bountiful harvest of apples, improve the health of your apple tree. Create the condition for a bountiful crop, and you'll get a bountiful crop. It's not about what you do to the branches, it's what you do to the root. It's not about polishing the apples, it's about feeding the foundation. One is superficial, the other is vital.

According to the book of Proverbs, wisdom is the principle thing. Wisdom and understanding are the root of a good life. Financial success is simply the fruit of wisdom and understanding. If you spend all your time pursuing the fruit, and ignore the root, then your crop will never increase.

Wisdom is seeing the REALITY of life. It is not found in what you think is going on, or what you hope is going on, it is reality from God's point of view; it is what is actually happening in your life. When you see things as they really are, you can take responsibility for them, and fix them. This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And, why it is so necessary to a bumper crop of fruit.



Are you working on the root or the fruit in your life? Let me know!

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

It's so simple that a child can do it.

If you'd like to know the root cause behind something, ask yourself why five times.

The car broke down.
Why?
The alternator died.
Why?
The belt broke.
Why?
It wore out.
Why?
I didn't replace it in time.
Why?
I didn't keep a log book.

Ta da! You now have an action step to prevent this from happening again! Note that your action step came after you took responsibility: "I didn't replace it in time" and "I didn't keep a log book."

Behind every problem is a root cause, and behind every root cause is something that you can do once you take responsibility.

So, ask yourself, 'Why?'

Financial Gnosticism

The small epistle of 1st John was written to combat the heretical beliefs of Gnosticism that were creeping into the church. The primary belief of the Gnostics was that anything spirit was good, and anything physical was bad. For this reason, they chose to spiritualize the incarnation of Christ. God could not have come in the flesh since all flesh was bad, they reasoned.

Of course, this was all wrong. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, and by coming as he did, he showed that our physical bodies are acceptable to God. Didn't God himself say of his creation that it was 'good'? (see Genesis 1)

Now, let's take a look at financial success, prosperity and riches. There is a commonly held belief among Christians that we could call Financial Gnosticism. These financial Gnostics believe that poverty is always good, and wealth is always bad. Well, actually, they believe that wealth is okay. After all, Solomon, David, and Abraham were all extremely wealthy, not to mention Job, Joseph, etc. It's the pursuit of wealth that is wrong.

But is that biblical?

God tells us that we shouldn't labor to be rich. And if that is our only goal, then we're just being greedy. But what about laboring so that we can be financially free? so that we can leave an inheritance to our children's children? so that we can owe no man anything but to love one another? so that our joy can be full? so we don't have to worry about creditors any more?

No, financial success is not against God; if done correctly, it actually reveals the Father's heart in us. Our Father is very wealthy, isn't he?

And who can fault me for wanting to be like my Dad?

The Law of Attraction: Is the Universe Trying to Replace God?

I have a red flag inside me that starts waving whenever someone says that the universe brought them something. I want to tell them that it was actually their loving and generous heavenly Father, not the universe. I don't want some impersonal universe trying to replace a personal God. It bothers me.

But, are the two mutually exclusive?

The Lord Jesus taught us in Mark 11, "That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

That is a command: 'Be thou cast into the sea!' It is not a prayer. There is no petitioning of your heavenly Father, no intercession, no fasting; just a simple command in faith. It seems to leave God out of the equation, but it doesn't.

So, how does the mountain get moved in the sea? Could it be that God has created the universe to operate according to principles and laws? Could it be that we are to ask for certain things, but we are not supposed to ask for other things? Could it be that some things are in our realm of control?

Again, the farmer may pray that the Lord blesses the work of his hands, but many farmers simply plant corn and reap the benefits because they are operating according to the laws of growth and harvest.

Perhaps Napoleon Hill, et al. , was not seeking to replace God the Father, perhaps he was trying to explain natural laws that were put in place by God the Giver?

The Universe Will Give It to You

One of the most New Age-y concepts of success is the Law of Attraction. First promoted by Napoleon Hill, and made famous by the movie The Secret, the Law of Attraction seems to imply that if I think about something long enough, it will come to me.

Well, that's partly true. Consider the following scenarios:

If you install solar panels on your new home, will the universe bring you electricity? If you install a water wheel on the river behind your house, will the universe bring you power? If you sit under an apple tree long enough, will the universe bring you an apple? f you're a pretty girl, and you go to a dance, will somebody eventually ask you to dance?

The universe, God's creation, is as giving as its Creator is. Gravity brings things to us. The four winds bring things to us. If we set a trap and wait, we can catch the food and clothing that creation brings our way.

So, perhaps that Law of Attraction is not as New Age-y as it appears at first glance. The major proponents of this Law, all say that you can't just sit back, you have to work along with creation or it won't happen. Isn't that what a farmer does? He has a vision of a field of corn, and he sets out to make it happen? Eventually, the laws of creation fill up the empty earth with acres of corn.

I just keep thinking that the millionaires and billionaires who teach the Law of Attraction (Robbins, Assaraf, etc.), can't all be wrong. Perhaps their understanding is flawed because of the New Age-y verbiage that is associated with this idea? If somebody taught that departed tree spirits brought apples down from apple trees, would that make gravity any less real?

Or could the vocabulary simply be wrong?

If You Help Enough People Get What They Want

Zig Ziglar is famous for saying, "Anybody can have what they want, if they just help enough other people get what they want."

With this in mind, I started thinking about some large and/or quickly growing internet-friendly companies.

Groupon is a newer company that is based on the fact that Customers want discounts and Vendors want quality leads.

Angie's List is based on Customers wanting to know something about a contractor before they hire them, and on Contractors wanting quality leads.

Facebook is based on Customers wanting to stay connected with friends and family, and on Vendors who wanting to advertise in a good location.

Google is based on Customers wanting to make use of the internet's vast resources, and on Vendors wanting to advertise where a lot of people are.

Squidoo is based on Customers wanting to express themselves through writing, and getting paid for it, and on Vendors looking for a great place to advertise.

(Wikipedia really needs to start accepting ads LOL)

Youtube provides a place for Customers to express themselves through video, and now they've contracted with Kodak who wanted to make it easier for their customers to upload video taken on Kodak cameras.

Self expression, discounts, knowledge, ease of use, etc., these are all things that customers want. I think that with a little thought, it shouldn't be too hard to perhaps create relationships/links that haven't been done before.

Project: Take 100 pieces of paper and write on them the needs that Customers have. Take another 100 pieces of paper and write on them the needs that Vendors have. Now pick one from each stack at random, and ask yourself if you know of a company that is meeting that 'couplet' of needs. When you find a unique, out-of-the-ordinary 'couplet,' ask yourself what would it take to make it work?

That's my thought. What's yours??


p.s. Our company recently worked through "99designs.com" to hire a web page designer. Another excellent example of a website that connects people with a certain skill with those who need their talents.