For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

What are the current barriers to spiritual health in your life?

Today is Day 4 in our 30 days series titled “One Month To Live,” based on Kerry and Chris Shook’s book by that same title. “One Month To Live empowers you to focus on being who God created you to be – passionate, fully alive, living without regrets.”

I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t settle for an ordinary life anymore. After experiencing the power of God in my life, how could I settle for anything less.

In Chapter 4 of their book, Kerry and Chris talk about the importance of relying on God’s power to accomplish His purposes in our lives. Here are some excerpts:

We need the power to change. The problem is, we often think we can make the necessary changes with a little willpower, and we don’t see how dependent we are on God’s power.

We have to move from willpower to the real power that comes from a connection to our Creator. If you have come to the end of yourself and are exhausted from trying to control your life, Jesus offers you the invitation of a lifetime. In Matthew 11:28, He says “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Spiritual Energy: While our lives include many facets, our spiritual energy is more important than the others, because everything else hinges on it. We usually put a great deal of emphasis on our physical health, and that’s important, but many people completely neglect their spiritual health because they can’t see it… The key to spiritual health is maintaining a strong relationship with your Creator.

Fruitful Living: If you want to reduce your stress, for this month and beyond, then realize your role in life is to stay connected to the vine. Sometimes, I forget my role and try to be the vine. I come up with a plan and a schedule, goals, and an agenda. Then I try to work my plan and make everything happen according to the timetable I’ve set. Finally I get so stressed that I lose all my energy.

Perennial Pruning: Any gardener or vintner knows that pruning is the key to producing the best fruit… Our heavenly Father, the Master Gardener, is an expert pruner. He knows when to cut, where to cut, and how much to cut to produce the best in our lives. The pruning process is always painful, but it’s always productive.

Constant Connection: How do we maintain our connection to the ultimate power source? We need two connections to remain healthy, grow, and produce the best fruit. Constant communication is first. We maintain this connection through conversational prayer. When you wake up in the morning, it’s vital to start your day right by just talking to God. Begin the day with God!

The next element for a healthy spiritual connection is constant confession. When you become aware of something you shouldn’t have said or done, or something you didn’t do but believe you should have, just confess it and move on. We’re all works in progress. Confession simply means you take responsibility for failing and admit it to God rather than making excuses or comparing yourselves to others you think are doing worse.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for this important reminder to stay connected to the Source. Forgive me for times when I try to be the vine. Guide me to let go and let God each day. Jesus, thank You for being my Vine, the Source of everything good within me. Amen and Hallelujah!

Blessings of the Day
1) Make It Last For Life – 3 simple action steps to apply today’s message [see below]

2) Affiliate Marketing free webinar at 11 am EDT today – Learn to leverage other people’s time, money, talents, ideas, and relationships

3) Experiencing God Through Journaling free webinar at 8 pm EDT today. Virginia Morton will be sharing the amazing story behind the Marching Through Culpeper movie project.

“If we don’t act on a good idea within 24 hours, we are less than 50% likely to ever act on it. If we haven’t acted on it inside of days, then we are less than 2% likely to ever act on it.” – Bill Gates

Blessings to stay connected with the ultimate Source!

Randy Peck, M.D.
“Blessed to be a blessing”
The Connector – connecting people, ideas, and resources in Christ through the POWER of the Holy Spirit

P.S. At the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders in the U.K. earlier this year, the primary word received was “no more business as usual.”

Zec 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.

——————————————————————————————–

Make It Last For Life – 3 simple action steps to apply today’s message

1) What are the current barriers to spiritual health in your life? In other words, what keeps you from connecting to God as your primary source of spiritual life?

2) Write a letter or prayer to God, being as honest as you can about your present disappointments and frustrations. Consider how those problems or issues might be preparing you for a more fruitful season.

3) How are you doing in the areas of communication and confession? How would you practice them differently if you knew you only had one month to live?

The lips of the righteous feed many (Proverbs 10:21a)

Is your life on track with God’s vision?
How do you know?
How do you listen?
How do you hear?
Now that you know, what will you do?
How will you measure the results?
How will God reveal that you are on track?

If you’ve been following me regularly, you know that Tuesday has become my big day for webinars. Typically, I co-host one webinar at 11 am EST and another at 8 pm EST with Dr. Jerry Graham. We frequently invite special guest panelists.

As mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, I’m launching a 12-week webinar series at 8 pm EST tonight using much of the “Experiencing God” material that Henry Blackaby wrote. Through the Internet we are creating a vibrant, world-wide community of followers of Jesus.

I’m thrilled to have Ben Stewart as our guest panelist for the 11 am EST webinar today. Over the past year, Ben has become my top business coach. He’s also a web client of mine. I met Ben through Jerry. Ben is a Christ-centered Executive Leadership Coach. He is Founder and President of FastForward Companies, which provides coaching and consulting services to multi-billion dollar companies. It was during Ben’s very first business coaching call with me in mid 2008 that the idea to write a journaling book was birthed.

During a JIREH Marketing strategy session on January 28, 2009, Ben talked to me about starting his own apprentice program that teaches life skills like listening, talking, hearing, responding, encouraging, inspiring, accepting, and being inspired. Ben’s idea sat dormant until March 10 when, through a series of serendipitous circumstances, the Holy Spirit brought it back to life during another JIREH Marketing strategy session.

Later that evening on March 10, I hosted Bob Sims on a webinar titled “Dreams and Visions.” Two days later I had a dream which the LORD explained to me during my 2-way prayer journaling. This dream brought CLARITY to a Joint Venture with Ben for LIFE Skills Coaching, including an 8 week Course and an associated Cafe. The webinar today is the first fruit.

During this webinar, Ben will
1) Briefly share his personal life story
2) Share the story of how God impregnated him with the vision to start LIFE Skills training
3) Provide an overview of LIFE Skills Coaching – what it is and how it changes lives. This is our main focus.
4) Share God’s vision for a LIFE Skills Coaching Course and Cafe

For people who participate live on the webinar and complete the post-webinar survey, Ben is offering a free 30 minute consultation to answer questions and offer insight as desired. Even if you aren’t available to participate in this webinar live, by registering you will receive a follow up email to be able to listen to the recorded webinar.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for the opportunity to inspire others to greatness through the weekly webinars. Thank You for our guest panelists who sow their time and talent unselfishly to bless our participants. May today’s webinars rock the spiritual world for your glory. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen and hallelujah!

Blessings of the Day

1) “The Birth of Life Skills Coaching” – free webinar at 11 am EST on Tues March 24, featuring Ben Stewart, my top business coach

2) “Experiencing God Through Journaling“  LIFE Group – Tues March 24 (8 pm EST) is the launch of a vital, living, dynamic fellowship of believers, featuring a 12-week series of webinars

3) Download free Intro to UNCOMMON Journaling For Breakthroughs

4) Invest in my “UNCOMMON Journaling For Breakthroughs” ebook with audio

5) Begin 45 day free trial of The Journal software

“If we don’t act on a good idea within 24 hours, we are less than 50% likely to ever act on it. If we haven’t acted on it inside of days, then we are less than 2% likely to ever act on it.” – Bill Gates 

Blessings to develop the necessary life skills to empower and inspire others to greatness!

Dr. Randy Peck
“Blessed to be a blessing”
The Connector – connecting people, ideas, and resources in Christ through the POWER of the Holy Spirit

P.S. Spiritual Journaling will transform your life!

Journaling is the key
to unlock YOUR dreams!

Journaling is the key to unlock your DESTINY!

Journaling is Biblical. Our heavenly Father is the greatest Journaler of all times. The Bible is His journal – the most profound one of all times. And throughout time, the Holy Spirit has inspired millions of people to write to inspire others to greatness.

This book will absolutely change your life if you let it. You can download the introduction for free, so that you can see for yourself. All you need to do is put your first name and email address in the box below and you will have the keys to hearing God in minutes.

Your Break Through Is Just One Click Away!

“So if the Son sets you FREE, you will be FREE INDEED. ~ John 8:36 NIV

Who do you know who is looking for great resources to be empowered?

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege to speak for the first time to Karla Meachem, founder of “Empowering Christian Women.” In less than two months, Karla has had a major impact on my life and ministry. Because of Karla’s obvious love for Jesus, the Holy Spirit prompted me on several occasions recently to contact her to learn more about her dreams and goals and discover how I might be able to help her fulfill those.

Karla lives in small town (300 people) in Saskatchewan Canada (north of North Dakota). She was one of the first 30-50 people I connected to on Twitter. Her Twitter background (“Focus on Christ”) and tweets prompted me to check out the people she was following. That in turn led me to follow many of her contacts which led to lots of great connections. Of my 468 followers on Twitter, Karla is one of my favorite ones. Karla’s bold stand for Jesus encouraged me to be more bold in the Relationship Marketing (Web 2.0) arena.

After Karla and I got connected on Twitter, she began subscribing to Your Daily Blessing and inviting others to do so. I noticed she often clicked through hyperlinks I shared. As I saw her name pop up in my various reports, I prayed for her often. Clearly she has passion for others to come to know the love of Jesus.

Without me ever asking her to do so, Karla signed up for the JIREH Marketing Bronze Membership. She chose to sow a financial seed into God’s billion soul vision and become part of God’s Team Destiny. Since favor is proportional to God’s assignment, I believe Karla has stepped into a new place of great favor.

For several weeks (or perhaps longer), the Holy Spirit has been telling me over and over to start my own BlogTalkRadio show. While I wrote down to do that several times in my journal, somehow I kept allowing other things to distract me. While talking to Karla, the Holy Spirit told me to ask Karla for permission to interview her next week (Dec 2-4) on internet radio. She agreed. Thank You Jesus!

This morning I strongly sensed God wants Karla to be the very first person I interview on BlogTalkRadio. God is not only going to use Karla as a catalyst to help me launch a world-wide radio ministry, but for many others in my network and hers as well. Wow! It’s amazing what God can do through one person who is faithful to him.

Incidentally, Karla has plans to soon launch two new blogs, one to empower Christian men and another to empower Christian kids. If you want to connect to the shakers and movers on the web, Karla is definitely one of them. For my followers who are looking for resources to be empowered, I encourage you to subscribe to Karla’s awesome blog. For those who want to follow Karla on Twitter, her user name is karlameachem.

By the way, in tomorrow’s message for Thanksgiving Day, I’ll be sharing photos and highlights from yesterday’s Culpeper Community Thanksgiving Service. That was awesome. On Friday, November 28, the message will be “Where Are They?” – referring to the lack of authentic Christian blogs. That title comes from the latest blog post by Heather, one of Karla’s friends who is honoring Jesus in her struggle with brain cancer.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for Karla Meachem and her love for You. Thank You for the way you are using an ordinary mom to do extraordinary things through the power of prayer and the web. Thank You that Karla is moving to a new place of great favor with You and man. Grant her the desires of her heart. In any areas of her life where she is struggling, help her to break through. Thank You Jesus. Amen and hallelujah!

Blessings to be inspired and encouraged to live a VICTORIOUS LIFE in Christ!

Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

How do you “fireproof” your marriage?
When will you fireproof your marriage?

God truly works in mysterious ways. Today’s story is an amazing tangle of circumstances with God reaching out to bless marriages right here in Culpeper, but also in Virginia, America, and beyond.

On Tuesday evening November 4 (Election Day), Julia (my wife) and I went to hear Rick Heeren speak at City On A Hill Church in Culpeper, Virginia. Pastor GW Dameron was the gracious host. This was the first time I had ever been to the new location for City On A Hill Church, now located in the same building as AT&T (formerly Cingular), on Route 522 adjacent to Yowell Meadow Park.

What Rick shared was fantastic to fan the flames for community transformation. As Julia and I were getting ready to leave the building, the Holy Spirit prompted Julia to pick up a gorgeous handout on the table at the back of the sanctuary titled “Fireproof Your Marriage: Never Leave Your Partner Behind.” The back of that handout said:

“Learn the secrets to a lasting marriage. Financial pressures, the stress of parenting, differences between men and women, boredom, temptations – they can all scorch a relationship. The fires will come – will your marriage last? Come to City On A Hill Church this week as we start a series called Fireproof Your Marriage. The God who designed marriage intended for it to be a loving, lifelong partnership. Join us as we discuss His plans for indestructible relationships. You’ll find practical insights for building an enduring red-hot marriage.”

The Fireproof Your Marriage handout opened a discussion with GW and us about the 6 week marriage series he is hosting at City On A Hill Church on Saturdays at 6:00 pm EST, starting November 8. Julia and I learned that “FIREPROOF” (the movie) was playing at our local theaters and we talked about watching that movie on Sat Nov 8.

Early yesterday afternoon, my wife asked if I wanted to go with her a few hours later to watch the matinee showing of “The Secret Life of Bees.” Normally I’m not a big movie buff, especially during the work day. But I agreed. When we got to the theater, I asked how much longer “FIREPROOF” would be playing at the theater and found out that was the last day.

So Julia and I watched 2 movies back-to-back – “The Secret Life of Bees” and “FIREPROOF.” For someone who only goes to a movie once every 2-3 months, and never to back-to-back movies, this was peculiar. Both movies were fantastic – extremely wholesome stories. Fireproof starred Kirk Cameron and was made by the creators of “Facing The Giants,” one of my favorite movies of all time.

As a result of the Nov 4 discussion with GW and the FIREPROOF movie yesterday, Julia and I now plan to participate in the “Fireproof Your Marriage” series that starts Saturday November 8 at City On A Hill Church in Culpeper. If you live nearby and are available, we invite you to join us.

Who is FIREPROOF for? According to a blog post titled “Singles loving FIREPROOF,” “it’s for everybody. Kids, parents, older couples, singles. Everybody. Each viewer learns about forgiveness. The movie speaks to all relationships and has application for us all as we accept and serve each other unconditionally.”

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for these two fantastic movies. Thank You for leading Julia and me to watch them together yesterday. Thank You for the “Fireproof Your Marriage” series that starts in Culpeper on Saturday November 8. May everyone who participates be richly blessed. Bless all those who were involved in the making of these two movies. Thank You Jesus. Amen and hallelujah!

Link of the Day
www.fireproofmymarriage.com

Blessings to fireproof your marriage!

“And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” (Matthew 10:14)

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your use of Web 2.0?
What are you going to do to improve that?

I feel like a kid in Toy Land. During the past 6 weeks, I’ve plunged big time into Social Marketing and have discovered how much fun Web 2.0 is and how effective it is at building relationships and growing my network. Leadership is about influence.

What’s the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Well, my wife gave the best summary I’ve ever heard while we were walking earlier this week – Web 1.0 is 1-way communication and Web 2.0 is 2-way.

Last week I was saying Web 2.0 is at least 10-100 times more powerful than Web 1.0, but now I realize that’s a gross underestimate. Web 2.0 is at least 100-1,000 times more powerful than Web 1.0.

Let me give just a few simple examples to make my point. I’ve been sending these daily devotionals for 27+ months now. Typically, my net growth rate (new subscribers minus unsubscribers minus invalid email addresses) is about 7-10 people per month.

Well, since beginning the five week series of webinars titled “UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” on Oct 2, my net growth with my Constant Contact list alone has been 158. That doesn’t include Twitter.

On October 9, I hosted Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, a.k.a. The Blog Squad, as my guest experts. They were awesome. What they shared would benefit every business, every ministry, and every church. I was so impressed, I had the entire webinar professionally transcribed for my very first time and then used that to make a Camtasia video. I published that video online and it’s FREE for 3 more days. See today’s Link of the Day before this opportunity passed you by forever.

Denise recommended everyone on the webinar open up their own Twitter account. She said all the shakers and the movers on the Internet are now using Twitter. She said she was a skeptic until she started using it. I was a skeptic too until I started using Twitter. Now I’m a believer. Let me share why.

Since opening my own Twitter account two weeks ago, I now am following 179 people and have 96 people following me. I’ve had 36 new people follow me in just the past 2 days without doing anything to try to attract them. What’s so significant about that? Every Tweet I post (and each only takes me 2-3 minutes) shows up instantly at the top of every personal Twitter web page for everyone who is following me. But not only am I building relationships and influencing those people, but everyone who is following them as well. That’s an opportunity to influence tens of thousands of new people in just two weeks.

In the past week using Twitter, I got connected to “The Internet Marketing Inner Circle.” I’ve learned more about Internet marketing and a variety of other interesting topics than I did in the past year. This is incredible. I feel like I’ve had my head buried in the sand by not learning about and using Web 2.0 until the past 2 months.

My favorite Bible is the “The Maxwell Leadership Bible.” According to Dr. John Maxwell, “the American church is dying due to lack of strong leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” To be a leader, you must have others follow you and your example.

Jesus said the whole Bible could be summarized in the Greatest Commandment – to love God and love people. In other words, “Life is about relationships.” Other names for Social Marketing are “Relationship Marketing” and “Attraction Marketing.”

Doesn’t it make sense that when you add value to other people first without expecting anything back from them, they will automatically be attracted to you. Jesus said, “It’s in giving we receive.” I want to be an UNCOMMON Giver. What about you? Will you let me coach you to unleash the power of the web in your business or ministry?

You’ve invited to participate in tonight’s Week 3 webinar of the UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” series. The topic today is “Content Sharing, Bookmarking, and Renegade University.” This is about improving your search engine viability very quickly. Seize this opportunity while it’s still FREE. After October, the 5 week course will cost $150/person. See today’s Link of the Day to register.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, we praise You as the God of the Internet, Your supernatural highway of communication. Thank You for opening my eyes of understanding to the power of Social Marketing. Thank You for the UNCOMMON favor you are showing me as many, many new people are attracted to the messages I am sharing on Your behalf. Open the eyes of my readers to the power of Social Marketing to grow their own ministries and businesses to advance Your Kingdom here on earth. In Jesus’ name we pray and give You glory! Amen and hallelujah!

Link of the Day
Register for the FREE Week 3 Webinar for “UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” – Includes link to Recorded Webinar video “How to Create Massive Visibility so More Clients Call YOU!” with The Blog Squad

Blessings to be a good steward with Social Marketing!

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:3-5)

In what area of your life do you need to let go and let God?

Today’s message is a beautiful story of the power of prayer and trust.

When I was at the ProVision Network meeting this past week, Pastor Dan Stratton introduced Mike Barber, who might well be the Superbowl Champion of the world for prison ministry. Dan told us Mike frequently says “I am committed to helping those who are committed to helping me.” That is the basis of Faith Exchange, which is name of Pastor Dan’s church.

God has entrusted me with discipling three young people in their early 20′s who will soon be shaping the culture of the world. Jon Monroe, JJ Phillips, and Amy Pittman are part of my expanding web team. Each of them has been experiencing powerful breakthroughs in several areas of their lives as we work together Monday through Thursday. I am so humbled by the goodness and greatness of God in blessing me with this uncommon opportunity to sow into the lives of young people.

Each morning we spend 30-90 minutes of devotional time together to start our work day seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness first. At the close of this time, we each pray – for one another, for our families, for excellence in our work, and for our clients. Two weeks ago we talked about the importance of healthy weekly routines. I then asked Jon, JJ, and Amy to each lead one of the devotionals one day per week.

When leading a devotional, each person is responsible for reading some scriptures, sharing thoughts about those, and then asking at least one powerful question to the team. I’ve been deeply touched by how God is speaking to all of us through each person. After Jon shared his message on May 5, I realized that God is giving them messages to share with the world, not just our team. Therefore, I encouraged each of them to start their own blog (weB LOG) to get their messages out on the web.

Little did I know that Amy had been prompted by the Holy Spirit just a few days before to start her own blog. She had planned to ask me for help in getting that started. When Amy led our team devotional on May 7, I was so deeply by her authenticity that we set up her blog (Amy’s Place) that same day. The Holy Spirit prompted me to ask Amy to use her devotional message to write her very first blog post. She did and when I read that later in the evening, my eyes filled with tears.

Amy is just 20 years old, but she was the Virginia state champion in forensics while in high school. God has gifted her with an incredible ability to write and speak and now she finally has a way to share those gifts with the world through the web.

During yesterday’s devotional time, the Holy Spirit prompted me to speak a prophetic word over Amy that she will begin an international radio and TV ministry in 2008. Little did I know that 2 hours later, we would spontaneously shoot our first video of Amy and post that to Amy’s Place (her blog). Visit today’s Link of the Day to be touched by the God’s awesome goodness and love.

Ben Stewart, one of the top Christ-centered business coaches in the world, taught me recently that there are 5 characteristics of a well-functioning team. At the foundation of these 5 is trust. Through our morning team devotionals and prayer times, God has developed tremendous trust within our team where we feel comfortable being real with one another.

Prayer Power
Loving and faithful Father, thank You for guiding and directing the steps of our web team to develop a firm foundation of trust. Thank You for John, JJ, and Amy. Bless each of them and their families. Thank You for birthing Amy’s place this week. May Amy’s messages speak life and hope into the lives of millions of teenage girls. Thank You Jesus. Amen and hallelujah!

Link of the Day
Amy’s Place – Letting Go and Letting God

Blessings to let go and let God!

Please Turn on Javascript