10 Key Benefits Why MLM or Network Marketing Programs Are Great Businesses
There are important lesson to be learned from traditional business that can be applied to Network Marketing.
I'd like to discuss 10 key benefits why MLM programs are great businesses. Use these benefits to promote your MLM Program and to recruit anyone in your organization.
1. Small amount of risk:
There is a certain amount of inherited risk involved when you become an entrepreneur.
We are confronted with losing money, wasting time, not being in profit right away, etc. In a traditional brick and mortal business, the startup cost associated with opening that business is what holds many people back from becoming the creators of their own destiny.
People do not like risk and try to avoid it by all means. We'd like a "guaranteed bet" and stay within "our safe zone". In business, you don't eliminate risks you learn to minimize them.
The advantage of starting an MLM Program is that there is a small risk to get started. With a couple of hundred dollars, it is possible to get started with a company of your choice, marketing products that you consume already. The amount of financial commitment is insignificant compared to that of traditional business.
2. A huge demand for good quality products:
There are a myriad of network marketing companies that promote very good products. If I were considering a company to get involved with, I would always ask myself:
* Would I still consume these products/services if there were no opportunity to market them?
* Do these products bring any benefits to a consumer besides the opportunity to make money?
* Would I bring "value" to my customers if they consume these products?
Every business needs repeat customers. Distributors only get paid when they have consumers for their products and when these customers continue that consumption, then that creates the money flow.
3. Residual income:
I am sure that you pay your gas, your electricity, and your phone bill every single month. These are the types of services that for the most part provide an ongoing stream of residual income for these companies.
The greatest advantage of an MLM Program is that it gives you an opportunity to enjoy residual income just like those companies do.
When the initial effort of getting a new customer is completed, you can enjoy the residual part of that business relationship.
We are so used to trading our time for wedges that we often times don't see the potential residual income of an MLM Affiliate Program. By direct selling your products, you can also claim your share of the residual income pie.
4. The income potential:
There is no cap on how much money you can generate. In my corporate jobs, my big limitation was that regardless how hard I worked for these companies; my income was tied to a "market standard" for someone with my skills.
In an MLM Program, that's not the case. It is up to you to decide how much you want to earn. An MLM company doesn't hold you back in the same way the corporate environment does.
As long as you have the skills set of a trained network marketer, you make whatever income based on your stamina, dedication, and your willingness to help others.
The skills set is key. Once you trained yourself to become a marketer, you can market anything you choose and generate that income you seek.
5. No employees to hire:
By far, this is a clear advantage over traditional businesses. An mlm affiliate program is a business of people independently working together.
Without any employees, it's possible to build a business right from home. This industry gives you that added benefit, be in business without employees concerns, by having a network of independent business owners working together towards a common goal.
6. No inventory:
Traditionally Network Marketing companies would have distributors stack up on inventory. This concept alone has given the industry a bad wrap for years.
However, modern companies do capitalize on the technology and tools we have in place. We have:
• Internet Telephony
• The Internet
• Drop Shipping Ability
• Consumer Leads
• Conference Lines
• Web Conference
• High Speed Internet Access
Not having to inventory products will make your business more agile to any market condition.
7. Low operating Costs:
The network marketing model makes possible to run a business at low costs compared to any other business model.
This is where your upline's support should come in. A good upline mentor should allow you to piggyback on his expertise, on his knowledge, on his leads, and help you generate the funds to pay off your initial investment and get in profit early in the life of your business.
8. Leverage:
Your MLM Program is a:
• people business
• business of appointments
• business of helping consumers find what they have the need for
• business of helping others create businesses.
You reap the rewards by leveraging the efforts of those you help. This develops a collective mindset that promotes "win-win" relationships.
9. Portability:
With the advent of technology, we can do today what distributors 15 years ago could not do and that's to make our business portable.
We now have a phone technology that allows you to take your telephone and move it anywhere you like transparently to your customers.
As long as you have access to the Internet via DSL or Cable, you can take your computer, your phone, and continue doing business while you are on the road, on vacation, or visiting relatives whether that be in another city or another country!
10. The attainable freedom:
Imagine having a productive business in network marketing providing you with a lifestyle that only the rich and famous enjoy. When all the pieces are in place, the life of a marketer can be very fulfilling indeed.
That's the dream every new distributor chases and it is only attainable when there is a clear understanding of how to get there and when your marketing skills are sharp.
It is not just the money, but the fulfillment of a lifestyle that makes an MLM Affiliate Program the best business to get in and your skills is what make it happen, period!
Source: http://chinese-school.netfirms.com
Engr. Lito Radam, PME
Prof. Mech'l Engr. &
Business Consultant
+639232315203
Friday, September 18, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
DON'T QUIT
Inspirational video based on the famous Don't Quit Poem. So whatever will happen you should NEVER and EVER QUIT what you have started.
Inspirational video based on the famous Don't Quit Poem. So whatever will happen you should NEVER and EVER QUIT what you have started.
For those who are interested in franchise business, health and wellness product distribution; Please contact me or visit our office of Royale Business Club International in Ramos St. Cebu City.
Engr. Lito Radam,PME
0923-2315203
Email: radamlito@gmail.com
"HELPING PEOPLE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE"
Inspirational video based on the famous Don't Quit Poem. So whatever will happen you should NEVER and EVER QUIT what you have started.
For those who are interested in franchise business, health and wellness product distribution; Please contact me or visit our office of Royale Business Club International in Ramos St. Cebu City.
Engr. Lito Radam,PME
0923-2315203
Email: radamlito@gmail.com
"HELPING PEOPLE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE"
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Brief History of MLM or Network Marketing Business
The Brief History of MLM or Network Marketing Business
Nobody knows exactly when MLM began, because it really evolved over a number of years, prior to World War II. Most observers agree that Nutrilite – now an Amway subsidiary – was the first true MLM company. In addition to being the founders of network marketing, they were the founders of the vitamin and food supplements industry, way back in the 1920s. So the historical connection between MLM and nutritional products dates back over most of the twentieth century – a fact unknown to most people (especially those who think that, somehow, MLM companies are johnny-come-latelies to nutrition. Most of the major product breakthroughs in that industry have been pioneered by MLM companies, in fact.)
1934-1979 – FIRST GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING
1934 - Carl Rehnborg started the California Vitamin Corporation selling what today are known as vitamin supplements. In 1939 the company changed its name to Nutrilite Products Company, Inc.
1945 - Nutrilite contracted with Mytinger & Casselberry to become the exclusive American distributor of Nutrilite products. Mytinger & Casselberry created the first documented MLM compensation plan. It worked like this: A Nutrilite distributor bought his supplies at a 35% discount. (Ex: A distributor bought a box of vitamins for $13 and then sold them for $20 = $7.00 profit.)To encourage the distributor to sell more, Nutrilite paid an extra monthly bonus of 25% on the total sales. 20 customers x $13.00 (wholesale value) = $260 x 25% =$65.00 profit.
Once the distributor proved that he could get 25 customers he was allowed to become a DIRECT distributor - which meant that he could find others who wanted to sell the Nutrilite products and then they would buy their products from him. In essence, once he proved that he could get customers he was “promoted” and allowed to find other distributors and to train them to get customers. As an incentive to train his distributors well, once he and his distributors amassed 150 customers, he received an additional 2% of the total sales volume.
This is not a pyramid - it’s a quota-based system of management. Those who sold the most boxes of vitamins got a higher reward than those who sold little. The MLM compensation plan was simply an extension of the Fuller Brush Company rewarding production. With MLM (Network Marketing) , the company could motivate a sales person to not only sell more products, but to train others to sell more products as well.
1945 - Earl Tupper created a line of flexible, lightweight plastic containers with tight-sealing lids. He started selling his products through conventional retail outlets, but realized the products needed demonstration. Earl Tupper then teamed up with Brownie Wise (formerly with Stanley Home Products) and launched Tupperware Party Plan, now a world-wide billion-dollar company operating in 40 countries.
1949 - Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel (high school buddies and business partners) returned from military service and became distributors for Nutrilite vitamin supplements in 1950. After a brief dilemma with Nutrilite in 1959, the two abandoned ship and formed the Amway Corporation. In 1972 Amway Corporation acquired Nutrilite.
1956 - Dr. Forrest Shaklee developed a method of extracting minerals from vegetables and used MLM (Network Marketing) to distribute his products.
1963 - Mary Kay Ash creates Mary Kay Cosmetics. By 1996, company sales were in excess of 2 billion dollars.
1972 - Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel of Amway Corporation acquired Nutrilite.
1975 - The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) filed suit against Amway corporation for operating a pyramid scheme.
1979-1990 – 2nd GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING.
1979 - An administrative law judge of Federal Trade commission in the U.S, ruled that Amway’s multi-level-marketing program was a legitimate business opportunity, with this decision it is now generally accepted in the U.S that MLM Companies are now legitimate business entities. Thousand of Network marketing company followed i.e.
Forever Living Products own by Mr. Rex Maughan from Arizona.
1991 - Present – 3rd GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING
- It is recognized that year 1991 marked the start of the new generation of Network marketing. Mr. Richard Poe in his book “The 3rd WAVE” & “The 4th WAVE” of Network Marketing, noticed the adaptation of Network Marketing Companies into new information, communication and computer technologies. They have adapted and implemented fully a automated operation.
Ref. profitclinic/MLM/whats-mlm/history
Firstclassmlm/the-history-of-mlm/
Nobody knows exactly when MLM began, because it really evolved over a number of years, prior to World War II. Most observers agree that Nutrilite – now an Amway subsidiary – was the first true MLM company. In addition to being the founders of network marketing, they were the founders of the vitamin and food supplements industry, way back in the 1920s. So the historical connection between MLM and nutritional products dates back over most of the twentieth century – a fact unknown to most people (especially those who think that, somehow, MLM companies are johnny-come-latelies to nutrition. Most of the major product breakthroughs in that industry have been pioneered by MLM companies, in fact.)
1934-1979 – FIRST GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING
1934 - Carl Rehnborg started the California Vitamin Corporation selling what today are known as vitamin supplements. In 1939 the company changed its name to Nutrilite Products Company, Inc.
1945 - Nutrilite contracted with Mytinger & Casselberry to become the exclusive American distributor of Nutrilite products. Mytinger & Casselberry created the first documented MLM compensation plan. It worked like this: A Nutrilite distributor bought his supplies at a 35% discount. (Ex: A distributor bought a box of vitamins for $13 and then sold them for $20 = $7.00 profit.)To encourage the distributor to sell more, Nutrilite paid an extra monthly bonus of 25% on the total sales. 20 customers x $13.00 (wholesale value) = $260 x 25% =$65.00 profit.
Once the distributor proved that he could get 25 customers he was allowed to become a DIRECT distributor - which meant that he could find others who wanted to sell the Nutrilite products and then they would buy their products from him. In essence, once he proved that he could get customers he was “promoted” and allowed to find other distributors and to train them to get customers. As an incentive to train his distributors well, once he and his distributors amassed 150 customers, he received an additional 2% of the total sales volume.
This is not a pyramid - it’s a quota-based system of management. Those who sold the most boxes of vitamins got a higher reward than those who sold little. The MLM compensation plan was simply an extension of the Fuller Brush Company rewarding production. With MLM (Network Marketing) , the company could motivate a sales person to not only sell more products, but to train others to sell more products as well.
1945 - Earl Tupper created a line of flexible, lightweight plastic containers with tight-sealing lids. He started selling his products through conventional retail outlets, but realized the products needed demonstration. Earl Tupper then teamed up with Brownie Wise (formerly with Stanley Home Products) and launched Tupperware Party Plan, now a world-wide billion-dollar company operating in 40 countries.
1949 - Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel (high school buddies and business partners) returned from military service and became distributors for Nutrilite vitamin supplements in 1950. After a brief dilemma with Nutrilite in 1959, the two abandoned ship and formed the Amway Corporation. In 1972 Amway Corporation acquired Nutrilite.
1956 - Dr. Forrest Shaklee developed a method of extracting minerals from vegetables and used MLM (Network Marketing) to distribute his products.
1963 - Mary Kay Ash creates Mary Kay Cosmetics. By 1996, company sales were in excess of 2 billion dollars.
1972 - Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel of Amway Corporation acquired Nutrilite.
1975 - The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) filed suit against Amway corporation for operating a pyramid scheme.
1979-1990 – 2nd GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING.
1979 - An administrative law judge of Federal Trade commission in the U.S, ruled that Amway’s multi-level-marketing program was a legitimate business opportunity, with this decision it is now generally accepted in the U.S that MLM Companies are now legitimate business entities. Thousand of Network marketing company followed i.e.
Forever Living Products own by Mr. Rex Maughan from Arizona.
1991 - Present – 3rd GENERATION in NETWORK MARKETING
- It is recognized that year 1991 marked the start of the new generation of Network marketing. Mr. Richard Poe in his book “The 3rd WAVE” & “The 4th WAVE” of Network Marketing, noticed the adaptation of Network Marketing Companies into new information, communication and computer technologies. They have adapted and implemented fully a automated operation.
Ref. profitclinic/MLM/whats-mlm/history
Firstclassmlm/the-history-of-mlm/
Home Business Benefits through Network Marketing
Home Business Benefits
There are a number of reasons that explain the recent trend towards people choosing to operate a home based business, many of which are discussed throughout this website. In particular, the opportunity to be your own boss presents many lifestyle benefits such as more time and flexibility to improve work – life balance, while high income potentials and significant tax advantages can help to improve financial freedom and stability. Additionally, advances in technology, mainly the internet and the mobile phone have improved communication, making the home office more practical, particularly for those who would normally spend hours commuting.
In this chapter we will discuss the many home business benefits associated with operating a home based business, and in particular why network marketing is becoming more popular as one of the fastest growing industries of all time. Some of these benefits include:
• Financial Freedom
• High Income Business Opportunities
• Be Your Own Boss
• Success Driven Industry
• Significant Tax Advantages
• Low Financial Risk
• Time Freedom
• Gaining Business Experience
There are also many additional benefits to joining a network marketing company that are often initially overlooked. When I first joined the network marketing industry I had no experience in business management, having never owned a business before. The education and training that I received as part of my initial investment was priceless! In return for a low investment I gained both the knowledge and experience required to run a business. In fact, soon after starting my first network marketing business I started a number of other unrelated business ventures, simply riding on the back of the training and knowledge that I received from joining the network marketing industry.
The personal development that you can gain operating a home based business can be very rewarding. You very quickly discover your weaknesses, but with the right training and mentoring these can be turned into strengths, which again can benefit all areas of your life and not just your business. I remember seeing some of the big guns in personal development like Dr. Dennis Waitley speak for the first time, wow!!
The network of colleagues you develop in network marketing is invaluable. In our current team we have a wide range of skills including medical staff, academic doctors, engineers, tradespeople, retail, administration, teachers, uni students, photographers, professional athletes, personal trainers, business owners, accountants, lawyers, parents and many more. As you can imagine having a close network of people with such skills has many benefits that extends to aspects of your life outside of your business. To look at the broad range of skills and knowledge that makes up our team is amazing. I’m sure you can imagine the types of conversations that we share at our social events. Naturally a network of skilled colleagues means that there is always someone to call on for advice in any given field of expertise.
So many people make decisions about network marketing based purely on the financial aspect of the business, what they fail to realize are the additional benefits that can extend far past that. I encourage you to broaden your mind and take full advantage of the home business benefits that are presented to you.
For more information about the individual benefits discuss in this chapter please return towards the top of this page and follow the links relevant to the information you require.
Alternatively learn how home business benefits are influencing global business trends
Ref. Network Marketing Business School.
There are a number of reasons that explain the recent trend towards people choosing to operate a home based business, many of which are discussed throughout this website. In particular, the opportunity to be your own boss presents many lifestyle benefits such as more time and flexibility to improve work – life balance, while high income potentials and significant tax advantages can help to improve financial freedom and stability. Additionally, advances in technology, mainly the internet and the mobile phone have improved communication, making the home office more practical, particularly for those who would normally spend hours commuting.
In this chapter we will discuss the many home business benefits associated with operating a home based business, and in particular why network marketing is becoming more popular as one of the fastest growing industries of all time. Some of these benefits include:
• Financial Freedom
• High Income Business Opportunities
• Be Your Own Boss
• Success Driven Industry
• Significant Tax Advantages
• Low Financial Risk
• Time Freedom
• Gaining Business Experience
There are also many additional benefits to joining a network marketing company that are often initially overlooked. When I first joined the network marketing industry I had no experience in business management, having never owned a business before. The education and training that I received as part of my initial investment was priceless! In return for a low investment I gained both the knowledge and experience required to run a business. In fact, soon after starting my first network marketing business I started a number of other unrelated business ventures, simply riding on the back of the training and knowledge that I received from joining the network marketing industry.
The personal development that you can gain operating a home based business can be very rewarding. You very quickly discover your weaknesses, but with the right training and mentoring these can be turned into strengths, which again can benefit all areas of your life and not just your business. I remember seeing some of the big guns in personal development like Dr. Dennis Waitley speak for the first time, wow!!
The network of colleagues you develop in network marketing is invaluable. In our current team we have a wide range of skills including medical staff, academic doctors, engineers, tradespeople, retail, administration, teachers, uni students, photographers, professional athletes, personal trainers, business owners, accountants, lawyers, parents and many more. As you can imagine having a close network of people with such skills has many benefits that extends to aspects of your life outside of your business. To look at the broad range of skills and knowledge that makes up our team is amazing. I’m sure you can imagine the types of conversations that we share at our social events. Naturally a network of skilled colleagues means that there is always someone to call on for advice in any given field of expertise.
So many people make decisions about network marketing based purely on the financial aspect of the business, what they fail to realize are the additional benefits that can extend far past that. I encourage you to broaden your mind and take full advantage of the home business benefits that are presented to you.
For more information about the individual benefits discuss in this chapter please return towards the top of this page and follow the links relevant to the information you require.
Alternatively learn how home business benefits are influencing global business trends
Ref. Network Marketing Business School.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
ENTREPRENEUR PRAYER
ENTREPRENEUR PRAYER
I pray for guidance and I will pray as entrepreneur, in this manner
Oh Heavenly Father, creator of all things, help me, For this day I go out into the world naked and alone, and without your hand to guide me I will wander far from the path , which leads to success, prosperity and happiness.
I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.
You have taught the lion and the eagle to hunt and prosper with their teeth and claw. Teach me how to hunt with words and prosper with love so that I may be able to be a lion among men and an eagle in the market place.
Help me to remain humble through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from my eyes the prize that will come with victory with my family.
Assign me task to which others have failed; yet guide me to pluck the seeds of success from their failures. Confront me with fears that will temper my spirits; yet endow me courage and determination to laugh at my misgivings and to overcomes any forms of discouragements.
Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals and objectives; yet help me to live this day as though it may last. Also, help me develop great passion towards my new found opportunity like my network business.
Guide me in my words that they may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossip that none be maligned. Lay your hands on me and my business associates to develop progressive business so that we may able to help many people in there aspiration for prosperity and good health.
Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying again; yet show me the way that uses the Law of Average and the Law of Leverage. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity; yet endow me patience; which will concentrate my strength and energy.
Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown; yet grant me compassion for weaknesses in others. Suffer me to know that all things shall pass; yet help me count my blessings of today and yesterday. Let me manage all my resources so that nothing will go to waste, let my business benefit not only for family’s good but also for the community.
Expose me to hate so it not be a stranger; yet fell my cup with love to turn strangers into friends and friends into brothers and sisters. Allow me to be an instrument of peace, love and prosperity and good heath to others.
But all these be only if you will. I am a small and lonely grape clutching the vine yet though has made me different from all others. Verily, there must be a special place for me. Guide me, help me. Show me the way for success, prosperity and happiness.
Let me become all you have planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by you to sprout in the vineyard of the world. Please protect me from opportunist who may disturb my activities and take away needed resources for my business.
Help and guide me as your humble entrepreneur to witness the realization of my dreams. All this thing I ask and pray in the name of your son Jesus our LORD and Savior, who seat and reigns with you in heaven, forever and ever AMEN.
Note: Prayer 3-Our Father, 3- Hail Mary 3- Glory Be
Oh Heavenly Father, creator of all things, help me, For this day I go out into the world naked and alone, and without your hand to guide me I will wander far from the path , which leads to success, prosperity and happiness.
I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.
You have taught the lion and the eagle to hunt and prosper with their teeth and claw. Teach me how to hunt with words and prosper with love so that I may be able to be a lion among men and an eagle in the market place.
Help me to remain humble through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from my eyes the prize that will come with victory with my family.
Assign me task to which others have failed; yet guide me to pluck the seeds of success from their failures. Confront me with fears that will temper my spirits; yet endow me courage and determination to laugh at my misgivings and to overcomes any forms of discouragements.
Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals and objectives; yet help me to live this day as though it may last. Also, help me develop great passion towards my new found opportunity like my network business.
Guide me in my words that they may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossip that none be maligned. Lay your hands on me and my business associates to develop progressive business so that we may able to help many people in there aspiration for prosperity and good health.
Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying again; yet show me the way that uses the Law of Average and the Law of Leverage. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity; yet endow me patience; which will concentrate my strength and energy.
Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown; yet grant me compassion for weaknesses in others. Suffer me to know that all things shall pass; yet help me count my blessings of today and yesterday. Let me manage all my resources so that nothing will go to waste, let my business benefit not only for family’s good but also for the community.
Expose me to hate so it not be a stranger; yet fell my cup with love to turn strangers into friends and friends into brothers and sisters. Allow me to be an instrument of peace, love and prosperity and good heath to others.
But all these be only if you will. I am a small and lonely grape clutching the vine yet though has made me different from all others. Verily, there must be a special place for me. Guide me, help me. Show me the way for success, prosperity and happiness.
Let me become all you have planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by you to sprout in the vineyard of the world. Please protect me from opportunist who may disturb my activities and take away needed resources for my business.
Help and guide me as your humble entrepreneur to witness the realization of my dreams. All this thing I ask and pray in the name of your son Jesus our LORD and Savior, who seat and reigns with you in heaven, forever and ever AMEN.
Note: Prayer 3-Our Father, 3- Hail Mary 3- Glory Be
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE
'PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE'
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
'Purpose Driven Life' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain. But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since. I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures?
Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD.
NOW, PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS --------------------
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