On Mondays I will post an inspirational story or video. The hope is that by starting your week with this kind of motivation, you will be able to think big and have a great week. You can start your week on the right foot and achieve your goals in you home business.
Likely, you are better than you think you are. Here is a great video that reminds us of just that:
Danny Gamache
I’m looking for partners.
My catalogue/online shopping business is booming! Accepting up to
EIGHT individuals to help develop, train and support new members.
This is a PART TIME BUSINESS. Will train right people.
You will start your own business with our Risk-Free
home-based business system that creates passive income.
Not MLM. No selling. No inventory.
Visit: http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com
Today we continue or series (see part 1 here) examining what the Bible says about how Christians should think. In particular applying it to how Christians in a home business should think. Last week, in part one of our series we took a look at how the Christian mind should be joyful. We saw how Paul, even while facing persecution for his faith and being in jail, writes a letter to the Philippians. A letter filled with joy. And within that letter he emphasizes that believers need to be rejoicing always. Today we see that the Christian mind should be gentle.
After his admonition to be rejoicing always in the Lord, Paul continues his teaching on Christian thought saying,
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:5)”
Paul moves straight into the teachings on gentleness. Unfortunately, the Greek word (‘epieikes’) that is translated as gentleness here really has a much larger meaning – one that is difficult to encompass with any one English word. The word more literally refers to an attitude of kindness when the expected response would be retaliation. This fits in nicely with the theme of the letter overall – joy even during persecution. Paul is fact telling us that even when people are against us we need to have a mind and attitude that is gentle and kind towards them.
In our business I believe this really applies when we face rejection. It is very hard to have someone (especially those we care about) reject something that we are passionate about, and yet this happens frequently in a home business. In fact if you are not facing rejection on a daily basis in your home business you are likely not doing enough to build your business. Rejection is a part of our industry. You get rejected when we initially present your product, business or idea and you also face rejection as people who decide to partner up with us don’t follow through on their word, drop out, or don’t want to participate as they should.
It is during these times of rejection that our minds must be extra focused on kindness and gentleness. The natural first tendency is to fight back, argue and defend our business and possibly retaliate against that person in a different area of life. Let’s say for example that one of your closest friends takes a look at your business for the first time and says that they are not interested. Your hopes had likely been up, expecting that your best friend certainly wouldn’t turn you down and yet they do. How will you respond? How will you focus your thoughts? A natural instinct might be to reject something of theirs. Possibly don’t attend the party they are planning, don’t call them for a time, or even assume that they are not really your friend. In fact I have seen some home businesses that have stated that if a friend doesn’t join your business they are not really your friend at all. This of course is rubbish.
Instead your focus towards that friend or the person who rejected you must be an attitude of kindness and gentleness. Understand that they are not rejecting you personally, rather they are rejecting a new idea probably one they don’t fully understand. The fact that they said no to your business shouldn’t impact your friendship. Don’t retaliate against them, continue to love them and care for them. This attitude of gentleness and kindness should pervade every part of your home business. Any time you feel slighted or rejected the choice is yours. You can either choose to focus your mind on regret and revenge or on gentleness and kindness. Be sure to choose the later.
In the long run, responding to rejection with gentleness and kindness will help your business. Many of the people who reject you now, may change their minds in the future. They may become some of your best customers or business builder down the road. After all, studies have shown that people need to be exposed to something an average of seven times before they will make a purchase or commitment. Maintaining an attitude of gentleness and kindness will increase the likelihood of this happening. Nothing can end the likelihood of getting future business more quickly than an improper response to rejection.
Now it might seem to you that the focus here has been on how you should act towards people rather than how you should think, but let me emphasize that actions will ALWAYS be impacted by the patterns of thought. If your mind is focused on anger and revenge but you are attempting to act kind and gentle on the outside other people will know something is up. You may fool them for a short while but that is it. Even if you fool them it will eat you up inside, and in the end our actions on the outside always match how we think on the inside.
The second half of the sentence is the key to our motivation. We are to be gentle at all times and it should be “evident to all.” This means that the real motivation is NOT for the benefit it can have to our business over time, but rather is for evangelical reasons. The real reason to be gentle is that so other people will see how a Christian responds to tough times. If people see us in a situation that would naturally be a situation where retaliation would be expected, but instead we respond with gentleness and kindness it will have a great impact on people around us. This really will be come evidence of the change in our lives that Jesus is making.
Paul ends the verse by stating that “the Lord is near”. People need to see evidence in our lives now because their will become a time when everyone will meet the Lord. And Paul describes that time is being near. Not that Paul was expecting Jesus to return the next day, but rather he understood that each of us have a time to meet the Lord, none of us know when it will be, and we will all do best for ourselves and those around us if we treat that day as being just around the corner.
So we now have step two on a Biblical explanation on how Christians should think. We can see that we should be joyful always, and that are attitude should be one of gentleness and kindness, even during periods of persecution and rejection. Remember Paul was in jail – the pinnacle of persecution and rejection and yet his focus was on joy and gentleness. Let this be your focus as you go ahead and continue to build your business day by day.
Written by: Danny Gamache
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On Mondays I will post an inspirational story or video. The hope is that by starting your week with this kind of motivation, you will be able to think big and have a great week. You can start your week on the right foot and achieve your goals in you home business.
Today, an excellent TED Talk with Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation.
Check it out:
Danny Gamache
I’m looking for partners. My catalogue/online shopping business is booming! Accepting up to
EIGHT individuals to help develop, train and support new members.
This is a PART TIME BUSINESS. Will train right people.
You will start your own business with our Risk-Free
home-based business system that creates passive income.
Not MLM. No selling. No inventory.
Visit: http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com
Paul is in prison in Rome. He is in jail for his faith. And yet during this time the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a group of believers in Philippi – a church that he had started a number of years before. Paul’s letter is not one of pain and sorry. It is not one of complaints or questioning. Rather it is a letter of joy; a letter encouraging and imploring the believers of Philippi to always be joyful, no matter what the circumstance. Near the end of this letter Paul provides some very concise instructions. These are not any instructions, but rather instructions on how a Christian should think. In this article we will start a series examining how a Christian should think. In particular, how a Christian in a home business should think. The passage is Philippians 4:4-9. We’ll learn how the Christian’s thoughts should be joyful, gentle, thankful and focused.
Being able to think as God would direct us to think is vital. Psychologist William James said,
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind.”
And what better way to think than the way we are directed to by God. Altering the way we think can truly have a great influence on how we live our lives.
In this first article of the series, we will take a look at the first of these points from this passage, that the Christian mind should be joyful. Paul makes it very clear:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (v.4)”
Paul wants to get his point across so clearly that he repeats himself. He tells us to “rejoice” not just once, but twice. Paul repeats this key word to stress the importance of his message. First and foremost, the mind of a Christian should be joyful.
Paul is telling us to have a mind filled with joy. Remember, that Paul is in jail. In prison for his beliefs, and yet he is obviously filled with joy. However, Paul clearly states that this message of joy is not just for people who are facing persecution, rather we are to be rejoicing ‘always’! Whether things are great, terrible, or we are just having a regular day, we are to be rejoicing!
Even more important than this, the key to this verse might not be in the fact that we are called to be joyful at all times, but rather the reason for our joy. We are to “Rejoice in the Lord”. We are not rejoicing because of our own ability, because of how good life is, or on our current successes. Rather we are to be rejoicing in “the Lord!” We are to rejoice in who Jesus is and what He has done for us. That is rejoicing in the Lord!
So how does this transfer into our home business? I believe that having a mind filled with joy and being someone who is excited about life is important in any home business. The state of our mind has a direct influence on the state of our emotions and our attitudes. In our business it is vital to stay positive and enthusiastic. The people who build quick and long lasting home business are those with the ability to be enthusiastic and positive at all times.
If we want to live our lives by being joyful and enthusiastic every day we need to have the joy of Christ. In fact it is impossible to have true joy without Christ. In his book, “Celebration of Discipline”, Richard J. Foster says that
“Without obedience [to Christ], joy is hollow and artificial.” True joy only comes from a proper relationship with God. The only true joy is “in the Lord!”
The problem is that being in a home business and dealing with people, means that there are many ups and downs. There are going to be many times when we are seeing great success and our business is growing. There are also going to be times when our business is struggling, where people are dropping out of our business, and others are just not following through on their commitments. When dealing with people disappointments are inevitable.
When times are going great and we are seeing success and growth, the struggle will not be in having a mind filled with joy rather it will be in centering that joy in the right place. When things are going great we must make a special emphasis that our joy is “in the Lord!” Remember that your success is because the Lord has provided. Use your periods of success to give glory to Him. Also by being joyful in the Lord, it will cause us to remember that there are a lot of things in life more important than the growth and success of our business.
When we are struggling in our business and things are not going the way we want them too, then the struggle is being joyful at all. In “The Power of Positive Thinking”, Norman Vincent Peale says,
“The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplications of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged. In such a condition the true status of your power is often obscured, and a person yields to a discouragement that is not justified by facts.”
In other words, things are not as bad as we make them out to be. We need to change our focus and focus on Jesus and all the reasons why we have to be joyful. In other words, view things apart from our business, or apart from whatever is discouraging us. Remember, Paul was in jail when he wrote these words, if anyone had reason to be discouraged and depressed it was Paul. No matter how the struggles in our lives, likely we are not near in the situation that Paul was.
And we have every reason to rejoice! Christ has died for our sins! God sent his only Son who died for you and me! We have a God who loves us and cares for us. A God who has provided for us a way to eternal life! When we really look at these things it makes our business seem pretty small. So if we are seeing great success in our business, then we need to remember that our joy must be in the Lord. If we are struggling, we need to remember that the business is not our life. It is not who we are. We are first and foremost, children of God. No matter what the time or circumstance we are called to have a mind that is filled with Joy. Joy in the Lord!
Written by: Danny Gamache
I’m looking for partners. My catalogue/online shopping business is booming! Accepting up to
EIGHT individuals to help develop, train and support new members.
This is a PART TIME BUSINESS. Will train right people.
You will start your own business with our Risk-Free
home-based business system that creates passive income.
Not MLM. No selling. No inventory.
Visit: http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com
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