The Power of Positive Thinking

This classic by Norman Vincent Peale helped explode the self-help genre and gave it credibility within the Christian community. Although the author appeals to a liberal mindset (religion is good for you and God is only about love), the positive thinking guideposts he articulates utilize transferable scriptural principles. This shouldn't become your bible, but it is a helpful read. I especially relate to this quote on How to Break the Worry Habit:

Worry is a destructive process of occupying the mind with thoughts contrary to God's love and care....The cure is to fill the mind with thoughts of God's power, His protection, and His goodness. (p. 129)

Do we need Peale to remind us what Paul has already stated in Philippian 4:8? Probably not. But can such reminders do us good? If read as practical suggestions alongside the scripture, I'm fairly positive they can.

Your Road Map For Success

Defining success is like herding cats - you can go off in a hundred different directions. But when it comes to the application of leadership principles as it relates to this theme, there's no one better than John Maxwell to show the way. In this book, previously published as The Success Journey, Maxwell reminds us that success is a journey, not a destination. Here's his definition:

Success is . . .
knowing your purpose in life,
growing to reach your maximum potential, and
sowing seeds that benefit others. (p. 11)

We're not on a journey to success. This journey is ongoing. We will never exhaust our capacity to grow our potential or run out of opportunities to help other people. This is good news. It takes the pressure off of "performing" and puts the emphasis on maturing. The process is the goal.

Maybe that's a platitude, but the truth is well worth learning. So often we think we'll "arrive" after earning some trophy, diploma, degree, promotion, or position. Yet before the applause dies down, we're dissatisfied and start looking for our next success.

The truth is that the secret to any success is in the daily habits that move us toward our purpose and mature us in Christ, all the while benefiting others. The awards that may or may not come are simply expressions of successful living. And if you see yourself as successful by this definition, the kudos are just icing on the cake.

The Reeds in Mexico

Friends of mine from seminary, Joyce and David Reed, are missionaries in Mexico. Joyce is an incredible writer and posts her journals regularly at our mission page (see link below). Wanted to share a portion of her journal.

Theological School of La Paz

"Alicia Agruel had a dream. She wanted to donate a piece of property to the Baptist Convention of Baja Sur as a site for a Theological School. In the fall of 2002, she donated the property. FBC of Fairbury, IL donated the initial gifts that began the construction project. Mission Group after group followed to add their time and financial resources to the dream. Mexican pastors and laypersons got involved. Crossroads, the English-speaking congregation, offered labor. Everyone participated in the tasks of digging foundations, laying block, smoothing stucco on the walls, painting, wiring for electricity, plumbing the bathrooms, etc. The first classroom was built and completed. The bathrooms were built and completed. And in our last journal article we wrote and told you that the second classroom was completed and the entire property had been walled in by the end of August. Alicia’s dream was unfolding before her eyes."

Thank you, Joyce and David, for helping make those dreams come true.

Friday Tag Party

Decided to tag myself and join the fun after reading this post at Caffeinated Adventures (you can play tag too, see #5 below). Here are the questions:

1. Total number of books you own.
2. What is the last book(s) you bought?
3. What was the last book you read?
4. List 5 books that are particularly meaningful to you (in no particular order).
5. Tag five people.

1. I probably own close to 1000 books. It's been a sickness in our family for a long time.
2. Finally getting around to Harry Turtledove's alternative history featuring reptilian space invaders in WordWar: In the Balance and Tilting the Balance.
3. Finished digesting Four Views On Hell (Stanley Gundrey, editor) with my brother - we read a theological work and discuss it each week over the phone - but I know I've read something since then... Oh, I know, Walker Percy's The Second Coming.
4. Boy, this one's hard, but I'd at least include Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths (Alister McGrath), What's So Amazing About Grace (Philip Yancey), The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis), The Reformed Pastor (Richard Baxter), and the original Foundation Trilogy (Isaac Asimov).
5. Tag. You're it.

PS Comment below with your responses, and especially if you host a tag party at your blog. Plus, I'll add Amazon links so that if you want to buy a book through this site, I'll get credit, wink wink. ;-) lgp

Confidence

Subtitled: How to Succeed at Being Yourself.

This small little paperback by Alan McGinnis is an excellent primer on building self-confidence based on biblical principles. It doesn't read "churchy" and therefore can be a nice crossover read for those who are open to spiritual themes. The Twelve Rules for Building Self-Confidence include:

1. Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.
2. Determine to know the truth about yourself.
3. Distinguish between who you are and what you do. (p. 10)

This third principle is one I struggle with. How can we separate the two? This may be at the heart of a lot of self-improvement. It's a struggle worth winning. This resource is engaging enough to help - deep enough to hold my attention; free from a lot of off-putting lingo.

All You Can Do is All You Can Do

. . . But all you can do is enough!

That is, if you give it all you've got. That's the message from Art Williams, a former high school football coach who rose through difficulty to become one of the wealthiest men in America. His no-holds-barred advice includes: Become a Dreamer Again (And Dream Big), Have a Crusade (Stand for Something), Treat People "Good", and his famous "Do It" Principle.

All the other principles in this book won't do you a bit of good if you never act on them. There's got to be action for you to win. Talk is cheap. Everybody talks a good game. But a winner goes out and does something. (p. 230)

Whether you want to build a championship business or just live life like a winner, this former coach can coach you to greatness. To change your life, change your thinking. Advice from someone who's been there can make the difference.

Life Strategies

Phillip C. McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, actually has a lot of good things to say. Especially in his book, Life Strategies - Doing What Works, Doing What Matters. Dr. Phil's overall message is that we are all responsibile for our actions. In 10 Life Laws (not based on the 10 Commandments) he helps us discover and apply different aspects of that truth. I like his plain talk approach. Example,

Life Law #2: You Create Your Own Experience. Your Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life. Understand your role in creating the results that are your life. Learn how to choose better so you have better. (p. 56)

No psychobabble here. Just solid truths, many of them biblically based. Ready to tackle areas of your life that are holding you back? This is a great resource. Read it with pen and marker in hand.

Success God's Way

Charles Stanley discusses Achieving True Contentment and Purpose in this solid resource, Success God's Way. Avoiding the cliches of positive thinking, the author offers a sure strategy for successful living based on this biblical definition:

Success is the continuing achievement of becoming the person God wants you to be and accomplishing the goals God has helped you set. (p. 3)

The rest of the book helps us understand and apply these two basic concepts - who we are and what we should be about. While the writing is engaging, the scriptural examples are very familiar and a bit worn. But then I would not expect Stanley to venture far from the authority from which all true success principles are derived.

Mind Power Into The 21st Century

This book by John Kehoe provides Techniques to Harness the Astounding Powers of Thought. But it actually does more than that. While some of the techniques are helpful and true, this book propounds a philosophy behind such techniques which I find disturbing. It teaches that the universe is a giant hologram - that is, an entity in which the whole is contained in each of its parts. Here's how the author puts it.

Everything at its purest and deepest essence is energy, and whenever you think, you are working with an immense amount of this energy in the quick, light, mobile form of thought. Thought is forever attempting to find form. . . . (p. 8)

What this means for us is that we can manifest anything we desire through our thoughts. I'm convinced our thoughts have power. That is why we can be called to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. But the biblical philosophy undergirding this truth is quite different than that which Kehoe proposes.

Desire Street Ministries

A friend of mine, John Green, heads up Emmaus, a ministry committed to making Jesus known on the streets of Chicago to men involved in prostitution. In this month's newsletter he highlights and affirms Desire Street Ministries (DSM) in New Orleans.

DSM is committed to revitalizing the Desire neighborhood through spiritual and community development. Over the years, this mission has taken form through a variety of initiatives: growing a church out of a Bible study with local youth; opening a children’s pediatric clinic in cooperation with a nearby hospital; and starting a series of after-school projects.

With all the attention on those who have been displaced, let's not forget the local ministries serving those who will return to rebuild. You can read more at the link.

Discussion Break: What Is Success?

Some good discussion going on regarding success and what it means to live your best life now (see review of Osteen's book below). So let's put it on the table. Should Christians strive to be successful? And to start us off, here's a definition for your consideration, comments, or rebuttal.

Success is the continuous journey toward the achievement of predeterminied, worthwhile goals. (Tom Hopkins)

Looking forward to your thoughts. lgp

Guest Thought from Wayne at Q&A Blog

Note: My thanks to Wayne for allowing me to reprint his post at Questions and Answers. lgp

Always Ask, "Is It Meaningful?"

The other day I picked up the book by Dennis Prager*, Happiness is a Serious Problem, for a little light reading. I ran across a paragraph that got my attention.

To be a good person, it is always necessary to ask before doing something, "Is it right?" To be physically fit, it is necessary to ask before eating something, "Is it healthful?" To be a happy person, it is necessary to ask before acting, "Is it meaningful?" The problem, course, is that the good action, the healthful food, and the meaningful behavior are rarely the most enticing of our choices - which only proves, once again, that the greatest battle for happiness is with our own nature.

To live a life that is happy, we must take a look at everything we do and determine if it is meaningful. This does not mean that we can not have enjoyment and do some things that are frivolous; it means that the main things that we spend our time on must be meaningful to us and probably also to the world.

This is important to me and probably to most men. You see, most men with families have the responsibility to financially provide for their families. That often times means that they take jobs that pay the most money, not which provide any meaning for them. I know this from experience, and to some degree it is killing me.

So, how do you order your life so that you do the things that are of meaning? That is the quest that lies before me.

~~~~~
* Happiness Is a Serious Problem, by Dennis Prager

Your Best Life Now

Five truths here, 7 habits there, 12 steps later and you're cured/ successful/ fulfilled/ fill-in-adjective, right? No, but that doesn't mean that such plans and programs are without merit. In fact, much of what we're after in life (health, success, fulfillment, fill-in-noun) is available to us if we'll simply follow through in applying the truths that we do know.

Why we don't is a mystery. Well, not a complete mystery. We are sinful after all and need to be reminded over and over of God's grace. And that's one reason I enjoy reading books like Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now that bring to mind again the steps, in this case, the 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.

Although accused of preaching a name-it-claim-it gospel, Osteen's book is more in line with Chuck Swindoll than Kenneth Copeland. Within a Christian context we can't go too wrong exploring themes that encourage us to: Enlarge Your Vision, Develop a Healthy Self-Image, Discover the Power of Your Thoughts and Words, Let Go of the Past, Find Strength Through Adversity, Live to Give, and Choose to Be Happy. Osteen writes:

I will challenge you in this book to break out of a "barely-get-by" mentality, to become the best you can be, not merely average or ordinary. To do that, you may have to rid yourself of some negative mindsets that are holding you back, and start enlarging your vision, seeing yourself as doing more, enjoying more, being more. That, my friend, is what it means to live your best life now. (Introduction)

Now this style of literature may not be your cup of tea, but shouldn't we all want to begin living at our best? Isn't that what Jesus is calling us to? A life of abundance? Just wondering.

Awaken the Giant Within

A giant best seller. Almost everyone familiar with self-help is aware of Anthony Robbins and NLP (google it if you aren't). I was skeptical before reading Awaken the Giant Within, but am now impressed. Sprinkled with Christian verbiage, Tony doesn't syncretize beliefs, at least in this book. Very practical, great exercises, too many ideas to summarize with one quote, but I did find his explanation of our Reticular Activating System (RAS) helpful.

This shift in mental posture aligns you more precisely with your goals. Once you decide that something is a priority, you give it tremendous emotional intensity, and by continually focusing on it, any resource that supports its attainment will eventually become clear. (p. 288)

This makes more sense to me than magically "magnetizing" wealth into our lives. Simply put, when we focus on a question or problem our mind goes to work to find solutions. An example is when we car shop. We never noticed lime green VW Bugs before, but now that we're buying, everyone is driving one! That's your RAS at work.