How or Why?

The person who knows “How” will always have a job. However, the person that knows “Why” will always be his boss!

After Thomas Edison’s fame had become international, he was advised to have scientists come to his lab and help him understand just why some of his inventions had worked. Edison didn’t see much use for it, but being open-minded, he consented to the idea. As a result, a brilliant research scientist from Germany came to his lab to explain the principles behind some of his innovations.

Edison handed the man a globe that had been twisted into a gourd-like shape and said, “give me the cubic content of this.” Weeks passed, and eventually, Edison sought out the man to ask him why he hadn’t replied. The scientist began to give him a lengthy explanation about the difficulties of solving such a problem with high mathematics. Edison then picked up the globe, took it over to a nearby sink, and filled it with water. He poured the water into a measuring tube, and holding it up, he said, “this is the cubic content.”

Solutions to most problems are far more simple than we realize. We tend to complicate them and make more out of them than they are. Learn to apply common sense and logic, and always know the whys, not just the hows.

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com

Welcome 2019

2019 can be different and can be your best year if you follow the wisdom of the Bible. Instead of trying to look at the whole year, follow the advice of God’s word. God gives life, not in weeks, months or years but days! So if we focus on the day and choose to make each day count, we will end up with a great year! So, how can we do that? Let me give you several things to do daily.

BEGIN EACH DAY WITH GOD. If you can change a day, you can change a life, because our life is constructed from our days. Psalm 92:1-2, “It’s a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and sing praises unto his name, to show forth his loving kindness in the morning and his faithfulness at night.”

PLAN A GOOD DAY. Good things seldom happen unless we think and work to make them happen. So trust God daily for guidance, acknowledging him in all your ways, and He shall direct your path.

ENJOY A GOOD DAY. Intentionally savor the good things that every day brings. Enjoy the sunrise, blue sky or clouds. Thank God for the smell of coffee, the taste of great food, the fun, and enjoyment that comes from family and friends. Purposely look for and express all that you have that is good.

MAKE GOD A VITAL PART OF YOUR DAY. And one of the most significant ways to do that is through prayer; prayer is communication with God. Something happens in us when we lift our voice in prayer, and we make a connection with His presence. The more our hearts are filled with His word, the more our prayers will be filled with faith which brings courage and confidence.

Lastly, follow the old example written years ago by a man that tried to take his life and didn’t succeed, he realized that God had spared him for a great purpose. He wrote the following which thousands have followed.

“The Way to Happiness”
Keep your heart free from hate, your mind free from worry. Live simply; expect little; give much; fill your life with love; scatter sunshine. Forget self. Think of others, and do as you would be done by.

Start this year by beginning your race to a great future and download my series “Born to Run.

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com

Twenty-One Words

In 1871 a young medical student was worried and upset over his future, like so many of us he was overthinking his path, “what area of medicine should I get into, what direction should I take.” Questions and thoughts like this are not uncommon but if they occupy all of our emotional real estates they leave no room for God. Then something happened to this young man that would forever change the direction of his life. He heard twenty-one words, yes, twenty-one words are all it took!

What were those twenty-one words? Here they are, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

With that William Osler found the secret of living for today, he became the most famous physician of his generation. He organized the world famous John Hopkins School of Medicine, became the Regis Professor of medicine at Oxford, the highest honor given to any medical man in the British Empire. The King of England knighted him. Forty-two years later at the graduating class at Yale University, William Osler, giving the address said this, “My success was not due to my talents, intellect, or gifts, rather it all began with a simple idea of doing what lies clearly at hand and leaving the rest up to God.”

We can all plan our future, but we can only live today! So let’s give each day our best and let the future unfold with God’s blessing. I might add, whatever you plan on doing, don’t ask yourself if you have enough, or what it will take, instead ask yourself, do I have enough to get started!

Download my series, How to Change your Future! And get started on a fantastic journey.

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com

How to Change Your Future

So how can we change our perspective, our outlook, our picture of our future? James Allen in his groundbreaking book, “As a Man Thinketh” said, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A person is literally what they think, our character being the complete sum of all our thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without the seed, so every act of a person springs from the hidden seeds of thought.”

We do not attract what we want but that which we are, so to change our perspective of life we must change our thoughts, by that I mean the entire character of our thoughts. This at first is not an easy thing to do but as we start on a total reconstruction of our thinking, we will be amazed of its dynamic effects upon our emotions, outlook and the direction our life begins to take. All thoughts produce the tree of the seed that they come from. We cannot directly choose our circumstances but we can choose our thoughts. Emerson said: “A man (person) is what they think about all the time.” This being true, let’s begin today to change our thoughts from the negative to the positive, this not only changes us but changes our perspective of life.

An immigrant and his family relocated from Europe to New York City during the Great Depression, his only skill was making sandwiches and selling them on the street corner out of his kiosk. He sold so many sandwiches that he was able to put both sons through college!  Amazing story, but I left out the most important part, this man was a little blind and a little deaf. Being a little blind he couldn’t read the newspaper that was filled with bad news, and being a little deaf he didn’t hear all the negative news about the economy. To him his perspective of his future was amazing, he believed he was in the greatest country on earth, he had a great perspective.

How about you? Would you like to change yours?

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com

You Can Change Your Future

We all have many things in common, but there’s one big thing we all have in common and when this is understood we can change our future. So what is this big thing that can change our future?

All of us live our lives out of a narrative, a story. Regardless of our background, religion, or culture. This narrative has been formed from many sources, through family, friends, tragedies, experiences, culture and religion. These narratives have built pictures, images in our lives that control or influence the way we act, the decisions we make, the career path we choose, the type of person we marry and the opinions we form. Since a story can be seen it can be concluded that if we can change what we see by changing the story we can change our future.

The Bible is God’s story, His story of creation, His story of redemption and His story of salvation. As we see God’s story it begins to have a great influence upon our lives. So what is God’s story and how can it change our future?

God’s story is a story of creation. God created the world and He created it wonderful, filled with an expression of Himself. No doubt you have visited places where you can hardly take in the beauty of it. All creation is a reflection of its creator. Like us, whenever we build or design or construct something it’s a reflection of us.

God’s story is a story of how we left Him to go on our own. That’s when mankind fell and fell apart. How can we discover our true identity and worth apart from the one that created us? But the story continues.

God’s story is a story of redemption. God never gave up on us. He sent His son in our likeness and as our substitute to take upon Himself the full penalty of our sins so we can be reconciled back to Him

God’s story is a story of salvation. Salvation came through His son Jesus and through Him we can be reunited back to our creator placed in right standing because of what Jesus did.

So how does that story affect us and how can we change our future? When we allow God to introduce us to us, we gain a picture of us that is bigger, better, stronger ad greater than what we could have come up with. Through God’s picture of us we can change our future.

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com

If God be for us!

"If God be for us, who can be against us," Romans 8:31.   Personalize those words so they will apply to you.  Say, "If God be for me," and then bring to your mind a picture of all the things you think are against you.  Now, bring a picture into your mind of God facing your obstacles.  Can they stand against God?  Practice this until it builds an incredible strength in you.  No problem, obstacle, or difficulty needs to defeat you.  Accept that as a fact, hold it confidently and firmly in your mind until it becomes a reality. Remember, this must be done with a humble faith in God and not an inflated faith in your own power.  Everyday fill and refill your mind to overflowing with that kind of faith until your thoughts and thinking has been completely renewed. 

Faith, the greatest power in the world, moves mountains and throws obstacles aside. It overrides so-called impossibilities.  It crushes fear. It makes life vital, dynamic and joyful.  The answer to all of your struggles, to all your defeats, and to all your hopes as well, is faith!  Wholehearted, enthusiastic faith in a God who believes in you so much that He sent His Son to perfectly redeem and restore you back to Himself and by the power of His Holy Spirit came to live in you!  "If God be for us, who can be against us."

Action steps:

1). Right this moment bring to mind all the things you think are against you, and begin to see God facing them with you.

2). Memorize the following. "If you have faith..nothing shall be impossible to you," Matthew 17:20. "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes," Mark. 9:23.

3). Remember, God is for you and nothing shall succeed as your enemy.  

-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com