Tag: motivation

Wisdom From a Billionaire

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steve jobs

You have probably heard of a man called Steve Jobs. He was the co-founder of the computer business Apple.

Steve Jobs was also a writer and today I read the last essay that he wrote as he lay dying. It contained a lot of wisdom.

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world, ” he said. “In some peoples eyes, my life is the epitome of success but at this moment lying on my bed recording my life I realise that all the recognition, and wealth, that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of my death.”

You can employ someone to drive your car for you, to make money for you but you can not have someone bear your sickness for you.

Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost — Life.

Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.

Treasure love for your family love for your spouse, love for your friends.

Treat yourself well. Cherish others.”

Despite the best and the most expensive medical care, a lung transplant, the skill of the worlds best doctors Steve Jobs died in the days after he wrote his last essay.

When I put it down, I felt humbled. Inspired. Energised. I had been complaining about a few minor ills when what I should have been doing was celebrating the greatest gift of all,

LIFE.

True happiness does not come from material things. When you have mates and old friends, brothers or sisters who you can chat and talk with, that is true happiness.

The six best doctors in the world are, sunlight, rest, exercise, diet, self-confidence, and friends. Make these things the foundation of your life and everything else will fall into place.

Spend time doing what you love, and with the people that add value to your life

Have a good week. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Increase Your Faith, Overcome Your Fears, And Feel The Presence of God In Your Life

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No matter how we feel, God is always present.

Many people go through times when His presence can feel far away or absent altogether, which is often the case when someone is depressed, in grief or the depths of despair.

We all go through times when we are so busy trying to get everything to work that we don’t take the time to connect with God, thinking that we must do everything on our own strength.

Worry doubt and stress has a way of blinding us from the truth.

It’s so easy to get lost in a web of negative thinking, which in some cases can last for months, if not years. Overcoming negative thinking is achievable in many ways, but the main one is to take time each day to spend in the service of God.

Many think that service means only to pray and to help others, but this is not the case. Service also means to take care of one’s self.

Most people care more about their cars than their own mental and physical health. Fear worry and doubt can destroy your spirit in the same way that water will rust your car.

A little fear worry or doubt is natural, it keeps us safe and away from harm, but constant fear, for example, can lead to illness and pain.

Fear is automatic; like a weed, it does not need care and attention to grow. It can grow in almost impossible conditions. Often I have seen a weed growing in a crack in a wall.

Faith is the opposite.

Faith is very similar to a muscle; it needs the right nutrients and exercise. Most people however only work on their faith when things are going wrong. Then when all is better again, they don’t put in the maintenance, so their faith rusts, so to speak, allowing fear worry and doubt to drift back in.

Then the smallest setback can seem like the biggest of obstacles.

Maintain your faith each day, and you will live a happier, healthier and more fulfilled life, where you see and take the opportunities that come your way.

There is so much negative news today that you must make a conscious effort to absorb as much positivity as you can. In the form of reading scripture or motivational books, listening to podcasts, watching films and documentaries that inspire.

We must take control. As much as we may want to, we can never change others. We can only change ourselves.

Thanks for your time. Have a good day.

Rev J Martin

 

Enter the Kingdom of God is my new book and is currently on free promotion on Amazon. Water your faith today with a short but compelling read. Click on the image below.

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How Your Phone Can Increase Your Faith

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Try for one day to keep track of every time you pick up your phone. With some research showing that we pick up and put down our phones 150 times a day, just logging it may become a challenge.

Now, I’m not asking you actually to take a note, but for one day try to do a mental one. You will quickly get a sense of how much time you are focused on activities and how much time you are being distracted.

So why am I talking about this today?

Well, as the saying goes, ‘replace a negative with a positive.’ So if you have negative habits replace them with positive ones.

Of course, some people will say I need my phone for my job, etc. that’s not negative. But even I go to my phone to check for an important email and find myself replying to a text message or scrolling through Facebook.

Sometimes forgetting all about the reason I picked the phone up in the first place.

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What I started to do is, I have a 30-second lock on my phone so when I set it down it locks within 30 seconds. And to unlock it I have to put in a password.

Now, I changed this password to the word ‘prayer.’

So every time I open my phone I am reminded to say the short prayer. “Jesus I surrender to your will.” When I started to do this, I was instantly connected to God more each day.

If you’re going through hurt, worry or doubt it can help you detach from it, even if it’s only for a brief moment.

When we get into a state of worry, doubt or anxiety we can lose ourselves for days, weeks, or even months as we are completely absorbed by what is going on in our lives.

It could be a serious situation, and I don’t want to make light of that, it could be something within your family or with a friend or in your community.

But if we lose ourselves in these events and let worry doubt or fear consume our spirits, our faith can weaken as we can question everything.

Certain events can even test our faith, pulling us down, separating us from God.

We can go through a period where we even give up on Him.

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If you find yourself lost in this place, it’s important not to beat yourself up about it. We all have to deal with a certain situation in the best way we know how.

If you tend to use your phone a lot, screens can be locked; screen savers can be put in place, helping us to keep focused on the only thing that matters. Our creator.

You can change your passwords to meaningful positive, motivating words or phrases that help you throughout the day. Each day you are regularly programming your mind with faith.

Just for that split second when you pick up your phone, it can break a negative thought cycle that you may be going through, by connecting you to God. Adding peace to your day

And, when we are more connected, we are more relaxed, we are more centred, we are more at peace.

Whenever you read scripture, prayers or motivational literature, it calms you, and you realise that everything is going to work out.

When you are in the peaceful calm state which prayer brings, you can think level-headedly. You no longer feel from a place of worry, doubt, stress, depression or anxiety, but from a place of faith.

You are coming from a grounded, centred place, and when you come from that place you can see, no matter what is going on in your life, from a new perspective, a fresh perspective, a view you can mirror to the past.

And, in the past, everything worked out, so you know it will work out this time as well.

I wish your self, family and friends a beautiful weekend and may God bless you all, in a 1000 ways.

Thank you for reading
Rev J Martin

Is Free Will The Ultimate Power?

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free will

When God created us, He gave us free will, without free will, we would be robots. Predictable, boring, with no room to grow.

The major decision we have to make is to live in faith or live in fear.

Let’s just say Tommy has an interview, Tommy might initially feel overjoyed, rushing to share the news on social media.

But when the buzz has worn off, Tommy begins to doubt if he is good enough for the job, so he calls a friend, explaining how he feels. Jason encourages him, not by some magic trick but simply by telling him what he already knows deep down.

That he is awesome and will ace the interview.

Tommy puts down the phone in good spirits, pumped up for the interview. If only he could walk in right now. His energy alone would win him the job.

After a few hours, Tommy’s doubt returns.

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Before long, he’s back where he started, and to make matters worse Tommy has an argument with his girlfriend, and they break up. Becky tells him how useless he is, telling him attending the interview would be a waste of time, for a loser.

Tommy decides not to attend the interview.

A friend on the morning of the interview calls Tommy to wish him good luck; he tells his friend what happened. Again, his friend builds him up not by some magic trick but by telling him what he knows deep down within.

That he’s better off without a girl that doesn’t believe in him. That the job will help him grow as a person; that he will be doing a job he loves.

Tommy gets in his car and goes straight to the interview. Fired up, he walks in with confidence, energy, and style. He instantly connects with the people taking the interview, so much so they are memorized. Tommy gets the job.

What has happened here?

Tommy’s free will took him on a rollercoaster that almost when off the rails. We all have the choice to doubt or to have faith in each moment.

Free will is like the pendulum on a grandfather clock; it’s what makes the clock tick. It is what creates the ups and downs of life.

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The thing that we need to know is that we are not the pendulum, we are the battery that powers the clock, but unlike conventional batteries our power comes from God and His power never runs out.

So for the rest of this week, when you come up against hard times that has your mood all over the place. Remember that you are not the pendulum but the battery that is separate from it all.

 

Have an amazing faith filled week
Rev J Martin

 

God’s Grace Is On The Way, Free eBook

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grandma

Growing up my grandmother used to say, “you have the grace of God with you.” For the longest time I did not know what this meant. As I have got older and wiser I realize that she meant I had a faith filled view of life. I always talked with optimism, and believed that all would work out.

Personally, I never looked at this as a gift, thinking everyone was the same, but dealing with people I quickly became aware that a faith filled view was a very rare quality.

An outlook of faith can change so much, you notice simple little things that connect you to nature. The feeling you get when you walk outside on a cold January day all wrapped up and are thankful for the coat that is on your back. You feel Gods power as you look out at the rising sun.

Just for that moment all stresses worries fade away because you feel His creative force flowing through you and in the world.

There is not a passing day goes by that I am not grateful for this connection to God, but I also believe this connection can be felt by everyone. There is great power to be gained from connecting with nature, and in the reading of faith filled words. Both of them make us realize that there is a power in this world much greater than ourselves.

To often we can let worry and doubt dominate our thought life; we become disconnected from God. The feeling comes over us that we must do everything on our own strength.

This is a lonely place to be, your faith can weaken, your defenses can break down leading to illness and pain.

Each day you must spend time focused on God, focused on faith, focused on gratitude. Take a walk into nature and you will feel Gods power and grace all around you. But you must be present

You invest hours at work, on the internet, watching your favorite dramas. So, its about time you started to invest time in you. If you are waiting for others to motivate or inspire you; you will be waiting a long time. People are to busy dealing with there own lives.

My new book, God’s Grace Is On The Way, is a reminder that there is good in your future. No matter how your life is now, brighter days lie ahead. It’s a faith builder that will help you connect with your inner desires and dreams.

I believe 2018 will be a great year for you, its time you believed that too.

Download the book today for free by clicking on the image below, all I ask for in return is an honest review. Promotion ends 29th of January.

Thank you.

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The Key to Successful Living

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I was caught in a rush the other day and had to heat some food up in the microwave. Something that I try to keep to a minimum as I was always told it was not that healthy, but it was just one of those moments when I needed it.

The thought reminded me of when I was younger.

Remember when you had someone that would tell you, don’t eat that, don’t wear that, or I wouldn’t travel there. When we are younger, we had family members, friends or other people in our lives trying to give us wisdom.

We rarely listened, and even when we did, we convinced ourselves that it was our idea.

At that moment I thought; we all need that voice in our lives. Someone to tell us to make the call, or to remind us that when we say sorry all will be ok, or someone to say, ‘if you are out of breath walking up some stairs, maybe it’s time you walked to the corner shop rather than take the car.’

But the voice is not there.

Achieving what we want in life is not easy, and there is no one to keep you on track, you are sadly on your own. Something that I recommend that has worked wonders for me is reading from the Bible every day. It centres and calms the mind so that you can think clearly.

The key action that turned my life around was the day that I discovered the Great Book and started to let its wisdom wash over me. I became more understanding, loving and compassionate and shared that wisdom with family and friends.

It changed the direction of my life.

When we are going around in our mundane lives, yes it can be boring, but it is safe, it’s easy. But this is not the life destined for us; we were created to do great things.

What I found is, there are two reasons we underachieve in life, one, the fear of failure, ‘what if I don’t succeed, what if I invest my time and it doesn’t work. And secondly, the fear of success, ‘what if I do succeed, what if it leads to bigger things.”

When you read from the Bible God will speak to you, the words will translate into the message you need to hear. Fearful thoughts fade away. You will gain an unshakable faith in your abilities, and in time you will find the direction you must take.

You will soon discover that success is an ongoing process, not a destination as we are led to believe, there will be setbacks along the way, you will stumble and fall, but you must carry on.

As humans we want the easy way out, we don’t want to put in the work. Everyone wants to be successful and live the high life, but they want it handed to them. This is not how the world works.

Finding our own truth is something that we must all do, and for me, this can only be achieved reading the word of God. Through scripture, God will speak to you, and you will know what you must do.

I wish you all the best on your journey. May you find what’s true to you.

Enjoy your week.
Rev J Martin

Warning: If you don’t use your God given talent, you could lose it forever.

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Sometimes, I felt like I didn’t have what it takes, but here I am. I inspire and touch 1000s of peoples lives each month.

And you know what?

You are right here beside me. Supporting me, pushing me forward. So, I just want to thank you.

Thank you for reading my words, on my blog or Facebook page. Thank you for downloading my books, and thank you for leaving me the reviews that helped me get my message of faith out into the world.

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Each of us is capable of so much, but we need to go after what we want. If I had of let the negative thoughts win, I would not be in the position I am today.

It reminds me of an ancient story about a master who got his three servants together and said, “I’ve got these talents.” (Now back in those days a talent was a measure of gold.)

So, he said to the three servants, “take these talents and see what you can do with them. I’m taking a journey, and I will be gone for a while. When I come back, we will go over the books and see how you did.”

The master said to the first, “here is five talents for you. Five. Heres two of them for you. Two. And here’s one for you. One. Take those talents. See what you can do with them. When I come back, we’ll get together and go over it all.”

The servants said, “okay.” The master set off.

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When the master came back from his trip, he called for the three servants, and asked, “How did it go with those talents. Your five, what happened?”

That servant said, “Well, I took the five talents you gave me and put them to work. It was a little shaky at first, but things soon got rolling. I worked as hard as I could, and my talents grew to seven, eight, nine, ten. In the end, I double my talents from five to ten. The books will show.”

So the master said, “ Good job.”

Then the master turned to the second servant and said, “ I gave you two talents, what happened?”

That servant said, “about the same thing happened to me. I put the two talents to work. Working hard they grew to four talents. I doubled my talents from two to four. Books will show.”

And again the master said, “Well done.”

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To the last servant, the master said, “ I gave you one talent. What happened?”

That servant said, “Well, I took that one talent you gave me, and I carefully wrapped it, and I dug a hole and buried it, camouflaging it.” I guess so no one would steal it.

He said, “fortunately, nobody got it. I knew you were going to be here today so I dug it up. Here it is, safely wrapped. I did not lose it while you were gone.”

According to the ancient story, the master said, “ take that talent away from him and give it to the man that has ten.”

Now, you might say, “Well, I don’t like that arrangement. The poor guys only got one talent. He’s got ten; it ought to be more even.”

The moral of the story is; what ever you don’t employ you forfeit.

Put another way, whatever you don’t use you lose. Lack of use causes loss.

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If you tie your arm to your body and leave it there long enough, you’ll never use it again. It’s over for the arm. The only way to keep the use of the arm is to keep using it.

When you give up due to lack of faith, fear, doubt, or worry. You lose automatically. If you don’t use the gifts and abilities God has graced you with, they will diminish.

Ambition unused decreases. Strong feelings unused diminish. Faith unused decreases. It will decrease, it’s a law.

Today, I want you to know that you too have been graced with many talents. If you choose to sit back and not use them, then you will live a very unrewarding and frustrating life.

Many people will say, but I don’t know what my talents are. Well, make it your mission to find out.

God given talents are things that you do naturally. Write, talk, paint, provide service, listen, motivate, and educate.

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Often you have done them most of your life. They are never forced, they are straight in front of you, but you fail to see them. We take them for granted because we think they are irrelevant. Looking back over your life with purpose you can easily find them, and I welcome you today to do so.

Now, like a muscle that has not been used for a very long time, it will take rehabilitation until your natural talent flows as freely as it once did but it is worth the effort.

Show your gratitude to your heavenly Father today by using and increasing your talents.

 

Thanks for reading.
Rev J Martin

Power Of Words

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YES I CAN

Words have a great impact on your world. They inform you, educate you and have the power to make you buy one product over the next.

What if you could harness this power.

I have already written a short book on the subject but would like to expand on the topic today as over the last week it has come to my attention that we all need a reminder from time to time.

I know a man that says, I always seem to miss the bus, or it is pulling away as I arrive. His daughter, on the other hand, says, I always seem to arrive just before the bus comes or when it is pulling into the station.

Each of them has made a separate law for themselves. One for success and one for failure.

This is a simple example that may lead to missing a plane from time to time, but often people through their words create many limiting laws for themselves, restricting what they can achieve in life.

I never remember.

I can’t learn anything new.

I don’t have the time to read.

I haven’t got enough education to do that.

If you say any of these things or anything similar you are not alone. It is estimated that by the time a child is 18 years old, it has been told that they can’t or don’t do that, 147000 times.

It is not surprising then as adults we take a negative view on life; avoiding trying anything new. The good news is you can change it all today by harnessing the power of your words.

When faced with a new task or challenge; turn I never, I can’t; I don’t, I haven’t, too – I always, I can, I will, I have.

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Do not be fooled my the simplicity of changing these words. Simple changes like this in your language can have a massive impact on your life and those around you.

Now changing language is only the first step, you must then put in the ground work of speaking these words of faith regularly; it will change your outlook, which in turn will change your life.

First Steps

This week, make a conscious effort to monitor whenever you say something negative about yourself or towards another; at the end of the week, you will have a list of the words or phrases that may be limiting your life or damaging your relationships.

The next step is to speak the opposite purposely. Example: I will never learn this, too, With practice, I will learn this

Many things we say have almost become a habit, they just roll off the tongue without thought. To break any habit at first may be hard but the fruits of your efforts will be very rewarding.

If you have the habit of saying, I haven’t got the time, make the time. As you would not miss a doctor’s appointment, set an appointment for yourself – to visit an old friend, to read a book or attend the gym.

James 3:2
If anyone can control his tongue, it proves that he has perfect control over himself in every other way.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your Sunday and week ahead.

Rev J Martin

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Eliminate Your Fear And Live the Life You Want

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Recently I seen a movie called, Joe and the Volcano. It starred Tom Hanks very early in his career. For those of you that have not seen the film, Tom plays the character, Joe.

Joe does not enjoy his life; he does the same old thing every day in a dead end job; he is miserable, and sees no way out. He had lost all faith in himself and life.

Joe knew he was capable of doing more, but he had given up on himself. We can all identify with this in some way. As he was miserable with his life, he was constantly sick with different ailments he would create for himself to get out of work.

One day he took the morning off to go for an appointment; the doctor seeing the pattern thought he would trick Joe. So he told him he was suffering from a new illness called a brain cloud and had only six months to live.

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Joe believed the doctor.

It worked out that there was a reason the doctor told him this, on a nearby island there was a volcano which was going to erupt soon, but if someone jumped into the volcano and sacrificed their life; all would be ok.

Joe, believing that he only had six months to live was easily convinced that he was the man to save the island.

He was given unlimited credit cards and told to enjoy himself first then he would have to sacrifice himself to the volcano. He was told to live like a king, and die like a man.

Joe’s life now had a purpose; he wanted to do it.

When people have no meaning or purpose to their lives, they will throw themselves into anything. Drink, drugs; a job that doesn’t add any value to their life; a relationship that they know is bad but they stay there anyway because they don’t value themselves enough to walk away.

Well, when the doctor told Joe that he was going to die from this brain cloud, Joe decided to live his life; all fear left him, he didn’t care anymore.

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It got me thinking about my own life; did I have to be told that I was going to die to do all the things that I wanted to? It’s so easy to put things off, to say, l will visit my friends abroad next year.

We can so easily take life for granted, not realizing that each day is a gift that we must treasure.

When Joe was told, he was going to die his whole world transformed. He went straight from the doctors to work and quit. Then on the way out, he asked the girl that he had fancied for years out for dinner. He wasn’t worried about rejection or what people might say.

When Joe eventually jumped into the volcano with the girl that he fell in love with, he was thrown back out.

For me, the volcano was a symbol of fear. When Joe jumped into his fear, there was nothing there. That’s the way fear is; it looks big, but when you have the courage to turn and face it you will realize that there is nothing much to it.

Joe went from working a dead end job to travelling the world on a magical quest, simply because the fear was removed from his life when he found he had a short time to live.

If you had six months to live what would you do differently?

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Would you stay in the same job? Would you be worried about the things that you are worried about right now? Would you have the same people in your life?

This film reminded me of a book my friend lend me a couple of years ago, in that book it asked, what would you do if you had three months to live?

My answer was, I would love to write down my thoughts and inspire and motivate others.

On the next page, I got a shock, it said, you could die today, so whatever you wrote on the last page start spending as much time doing that today. So I did.

So what would you do? Well, whatever it may be, decide from today you are going to delegate your life to it.

The main reason Joe stayed in the same job as long as he did, he feared change, most people fear change. A lot of people stay in jobs that make them miserable or relationships that make them unhappy.

Sometimes to see the beauty of life, you have to be willing to change; change cities, change jobs, change relationships, change friends.

We were created to bring so much to life, not to do a job that has no meaning for us for 40 years. God created you to achieve great things, to bring love happiness and joy into the world.

If your life is not the way you want it to be; if you are not living the way that you want to live; if you are not experiencing what you want to experience, you have to ask yourself why?

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In the film when Joe quits his job he says to his boss, I sold my soul to you for $300 a week. He is not alone. Many people work jobs where it’s no longer healthy for them to be there, but because they don’t have faith in themselves and their abilities, they stay there.

They remain there as victims, volunteer victims, because no one is making them do it, they volunteer. They willingly do it.

They volunteer to hide in fear; they volunteer to believe that God gave others unlimited resources, and not them.

Our Heavenly Father asks one thing of us; that we have faith.

Having faith means to go for what you want in life. My grandmother used to say, do what makes you happy, if it means living under an old cart. The older and wiser I get the more I understand the wisdom in those words.

One day of happiness is like 1000 days in misery.

John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The thing about the truth is; people don’t want to hear the truth. People don’t want to hear that if they are not happy, they must change. People don’t want that sense of responsibility.

Don’t be held back in fear, rise up in faith and begin to live the life that you have always wanted to live.

I love to fly, but I also know that some of them planes are coming down quicker than they are going up. It’s dangerous for that plane to fly. You see some ships leave the harbour and sink; it’s dangerous for the ship to be on the ocean. You read about people leasing their homes, and the people that rent the house tear it up; it’s dangerous to let somebody move into your home.

Yet, the engineers will tell you that it is more dangerous for them planes to stay on the ground, that it will rust out faster than it will up in the heavens.

They say that ships will collect more barnacles in the harbour and become unseaworthy faster than they will sailing the high seas, and they say that if that house stays empty, it will deteriorate faster than if you have someone living there.

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Just like a plane was built for flying, and a ship was built for sailing, and houses were built for living in; we too were created for a purpose. We were built for accomplishment; we were engineered for success, we have been graced with the seeds of greatness that we must share with others to see the fruits of life.

The greatest danger we have as human beings is doing nothing at all.

Stop 100 young people on the street and ask them if they are happy at their work, only 5% will say they are. Follow these people until they are 65 and of those that are still living, studies have shown that only 5% will be happy with their lives.

Let today be the day that you decide to be part of that 5%.

Let today be the day that you start to plan your future, start to use the gifts and talents that God has graced you with. Do something that you have always wanted to do but have been putting off.

I wish you, your family and friends happiness health and love.

Thank you for your time.
Rev J Martin

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