How to get out of debt

1. Conviction that not repaying your debt is not the will of God (Romans13:8).

2. Confession to God that being in debt is a sin, and you are turning from it. Refuse to allow your desires to control your spending and not God, which put you in debt in the first place.

3. Commitment is a decision to have the courage to sacrifice until your repayment is complete.

4. Confidence that God will guide you to get out of debt. God will not get you out of debt for you, but He will give you the wisdom to do it yourself.

5. Cooperate- all your family members must be united to escape debt.

6. Construct a budget that includes repayment. It starts with a pencil and a piece of paper.

7. Change your spending habits. If you depend upon making more money, you'll only adjust your spending upward.

8. Council- find someone who will hold you accountable for your budget and spending habits.

9. Contributions- God joins in when you give first to God. You can't disobey God and expect his blessing while disobeying Him.

10. Consistency- Stick with it. If you deviate, your spending will get out of control again. 

Charles Stanley

How to overcome a hurt.

You know that you have a hurt that won't heal if...

1. You can't stand the memory of how the other person hurt you.

2. You can't wish the other person well.

3. You want the other person to suffer as your have suffered.

Passive hatred is...

1. You don't like him or her.

2. You don't want to be around them.

Active hatred is...

You are wanting to cause him or her suffering.

Unforgiveness comes from....

1. Pride

2. Selfishness

Consequences of unforgiveness...

1. Emotional bondage by being wrapped up in the past.

2. It will harm how you relate to others.

3. It will damage your relationship to God.

4.It will damage your emotions.

The hurt can be healed through forgivenss.

1. This doesn't mean justifying the hurt.

2. It doesn't mean excusing the hurt.

3. It doesn't mean denying the hurt.

4. It means time cannot heal the hurt.

Unforgiveness is like a poison lodged in our memory.

Forgiveness does not mean that the other person will be sorry for what they have done to you. They may misunderstand your attempt to forgive as an attack. Forgive them for you to get past the pain. Have an imaginary conversation with the other person telling them what they did to you. How you felt, and giving them your forgiveness to break free yourself.

(Charles Stanley)

Keys to Knowing God

1. You must learn how to listen to God.

2. You must study God's Word prayerfully.

3. You must apply what God is saying to you through His Word.

4. You must make notes of what and where God has spoken to you. 

5. You must reflect on the outcome of applying God's Word, or choosing not too. 

6. You must take time to be silent and listen to God.

7. You must discipline yourself to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit inside of you. 

 The Holy Spirit impresses you to guide you while you study God's Word. 

8. You must anticipate and believe when God has spoken to you. 

 If God speaks to you and you ignore Him, why should He continue to speak to you? 

9. You must obey God if you want Him to continue to speak to you. 

If you really trust God, you will obey Him. 

Every act of obedience will build your faith if you pay attention to the consequences of obeying or disobeying. 

 (Study the life of Abraham in Genesis 12-17) 

10. You must learn to depend upon God to meet your needs. 

Depending upon the world to meet your needs is always a bad idea. 

It is a form of idolatry.

11. You must acknowledge your faith failures to God for what it is. 

 Say Lord I just haven't been trusting you, but I have been doubting that you know better than me.  

I have doubted that you will take care of me. 

Please forgive me for doubting you and not obeying you. 

Please start speaking to me again. 

I will listen, and do what you say.

-Charles Stanley

How to Handle Difficult People

It is amazing how quickly a beautiful day can be over taken by a violent storm. 

In a former job, we invited all our prospects over for lunch. 

We set out a couple of 10 by 10 canopies to grille out. 

Everything was going well until my wife called from home to tell me that a violent storm was fast approaching. 

I ran out of my office to pull down the tents and park the prospect’s vehicles inside the warehouse. 

When I started doing this, it was still beautiful outside, but we barely got finished before the storm hit. 

 You've got to prepare for a storm before it happens, or it may be too late. 

 In the same way, you've got to prepare for difficult people before they arrive.

Difficult people are just like that spring storm. If you don't prepare beforehand, you might get hurt. 

 Everything seems fine, but before you know it. You've been sucked into conflict. 

A difficult person’s facial expression, demeanor, tone, and behavior pull you into their negative disposition. 

Before it's all over, you ask yourself. What just happened?

Let me give you an illustration about how conflict happens. 

 One of the hottest things a few years back on TV was American Idol. 

One reason for its popularity was the conflict between the judges. 

The tension stemmed from how each judge thought differently. 

For example, Simon normally said something negative to the contestant. 

Then, Paula attempted to soften her criticism with kindness. 

The judges got upset with each other based upon their different perspectives.

Conflict is going to happen because we all see things differently. 

There are negative and positive aspects about every situation and person. 

The conflict stems from how we all come from a different point of view. 

 If we don't intentionally take an unselfish viewpoint, we will drift into conflict. 

We're going to be drawing conflict into our lives like a magnet.

We must prepare ourselves for difficult people and notice them when they arrive. 

If we don't, things might get out of hand.

GET UP EARLY. Take the time to reflect, relax, and read before you start each day.

DO MENTAL CHECKUPS. Monitor your thoughts, mood, and conversations throughout the day.

SMILE. When you approach someone, smile. It's amazing how something as simple as a smile can open doors and reduce conflict. 

It's extremely hard for a difficult person to be rude to you while you are smiling at them. 

Smiling even works while you talk on the phone. It comes through in your voice.

BE EXTREMELY FRIENDLY with other people. When you are proactively being friendly, it makes people really uncomfortable being abrupt with you.

STAY CALM. When someone is angry and is raising their voice at you, you can feel your emotions matching theirs. 

By staying calm and quietly responding, the other person will eventually calm down to your emotional level.

LOOK AWAY. Normally, it’s better to look at the speaker; however, a lot of anger is shown by facial expressions. 

If someone is losing control, look away.

PARAPHRASE. Calmly, repeat back to the upset person what they are saying. 

Paraphrasing simply means that you understand them, and does not mean that you agree.

SYMPATHIZE with how they must be feeling.

How to Know if You Are Filled with the Holy Spirit

1. A Spirit Filled Believer is not dominated by their circumstances.

2. A Spirit Filled Believer responds to stress in a way pleasing to God.

3. A Spirit Filled Believer might be tempted to respond in an ungodly way, but yields to the Holy Spirit's guidance anyway.

4. A Spirit Filled Believer follows the Spirit's leadership and acts like the recreated person that they really are and not selfishly.

5. A Spirit Filled Believer receives empowerment to do God's will because it flows through his or her surrendered will from the Holy Spirit.

6. A Spirit Filled Believer surrenders voluntarily to the Spirit's moment by moment and step by step direction.

7. A Spirit Filled Believer recovers from sin quickly.  

8. A Spirit Filled Believer responds to the initial promptings of the Holy Spirit inside of them.

9. A Spirit Filled Believer refuses to allow the world to steal from him or her the qualities that God has put inside of them.

10. The question is not whether you can identify whether someone else is a Spirit Filled believer, but can you identify a Spiritual Filled Believer in you?

(Charles Stanley)

God's Money in My Hands

1. God owns it all.

2. God has made you His money manager.

3. Make decisions based upon what God has told you to do with His money.

4. If you do good with a little, God will give you more money to manage.

5. You must acquire it in God's way.

6. You are to work as unto God, and He will repay you with more of His money.

7. You are to wisely invest His money.

8. You are to save His money for His purposes.

9. You are to make gifts of His money, and God will return more money for you to manage.

(Lk 6:38)

(Charles Stanley)

The Dangers of Drifting from God

1. You begin to ignore your conscience.

2. You step out of the will of God into some type of sin.

3. You start living in denial of what is true, and what you're doing is sin.

4. You start to shrink away from what is spiritual 

  (I John 2:28).

5. You lose your ability to hear God.

6. Your heart becomes hardened (Heb. 3:12).

7. You become deceived by sin.

8. You begin to suffer, and are deceived from knowing it.

9. You grieve the heart of God because He knows the consequences of what's about to happen as a result of your drifting.

10. You miss God's best.

11. It impacts every aspect and relationship in your life negatively.

12. You feel guilt which creates stress.

(Charles Stanley)