Matthew Barnett was only twenty years old when he arrived in LA with his father, Pastor Tommy Barnett, to bring spiritual health to the declining Bethel Temple. Little did he know that this would be "the cause" that God had for him.
In this moving inspirational story, Barnett shows others through his own experiences as co founder of the Dream Center in LA, that God has a cause for their lives and shows them how to figure out what that cause is. From how to discover what God has created you to do, to motivation on how to keep you working toward fulfilling that cause, The Cause Within You has the power to change lives.
What I enjoyed most about this book is that it reminds the reader while we may have a cause we are passionate about, it must also be the cause that God has called us to. It reminds us to seek His will and not our own. As a Sunday school teacher and Vacation Bible School director, I truly appreciate Barnett's gentle reminders, as much as I am empowered by the message that fills this book. It is too easy to get so focused on your own vision that you forget God's vision is what is most important.
With tons of encouragement along the way, The Cause Within You will get you moving toward discovering what you were created to do and keep you focused on God's vision for your life. I highly recommend it.
Title: The Cause Within You
Author: Matthew Barnett with George Barna
Publisher: BarnaBooks
ISBN-10: 9781414348469
ISBN-13: 978-1414348469
SRP: $24.99 (hardcover)
Also available as an audio book and a Kindle edition.
I received a copy of this book from Tyndale in exchange for my honest opinions. I received no monetary compensation for this review.
Nik Halik, dubbed "The Thrillionaire" wants people to stop putting their dreams off for "some day" - it's never too early or too late to create a bucket list. Halik, a self-made multimillionaire believes life is about the magic not about the materialism, and since he was an asthma-challenged 8-year old growing up in Australia he’s been compiling a list of dreams to achieve by 40. At 39 and counting, his original Top ten list is only shy one walk in space to be complete, and then says Nik, “I’ll think of another 10. In fact, I’ve already started.” The difference between being a millionaire and a “thrillionaire” is not about balance sheets, it’s about living life to the fullest. Dreaming big, and using money as the tool to achieve those dreams. As Halik puts it, "find your dream and fund it!" He combines Warren Buffett-like business strategy with James Bond suave.
As the founder and C.E.O. of Financial Freedom Institute, Money Masters Global, and co-founder of The Intelligence Group of companies, Nik financially educates and motivates people around the world by sharing his knowledge so they too can experience the thrill of living without limits. He's set to take the North American publishing world by storm with the U.S. release of his European bestseller, The Thrillionaire. Publishers are buzzing and Halik and agent Ken Atchity are looking for a house big enough to handle the larger-than-life dynamic of Halik, whose currently in discussions with a U.S. film studio and television network for a bio-pic and his own reality series. Halik's next goal -- to help 1,000,000 individuals experience life as a Thrillionaire. This is one you definitely DON'T WANT TO MISS!!
Today's guest blogger is Teresa Jones, author of the Christian self-help book, Return to Your First Love.
As a Christian, I oftentimes come into contact with people who have preconceived notions about Christianity and Christians. And my friends who are non-believers sometimes treat me differently or are afraid to offend me because of my faith. I've had more than one good laugh over things people assume about me because of my faith in God, but's not only non-believers who jump to conclusions. Christians can do it too. So, when I heard about Teresa's book, I thought I would ask her to write a post about some misconceptions by and about Christians.
Return to Your First Love is not the typical self-help/relationship book filled with anecdotes and quotes from experts. Readers are invited to sit in the front row to experience actual events that dig deep and expose carnality and misconstrued ideas about Christianity, which will in turn guide them to a path of true intimacy with God.
Author Teresa Jones walks readers through decades of her life, and shares valuable lessons that have been both beneficial as well as costly. Her life experiences will speak to anyone no matter the stage of life. Return to Your First Love is a timely message that edifies, exhorts and encourages in times of uncertainty. Readers will be compelled and encouraged to seek a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Three Misconceptions About Christianity by Teresa Jones
Money is not evil:
Many Christians look at those who are rich and decide that money is evil because of some of the negative and destructive behaviors some of them have. Money, in and of itself, is not evil. The purposes for which money is used is either good or evil. When one compromises to obtain it, the motive to have it becomes destructive. The desire to have it becomes a problem then. Money is dangerous in the wrong hands, and it only messes up a fool.
When money is in the hands of the wise and those of high moral character, money can accomplish great things. He that has the gold makes the rules. I wish more money was in the hands of responsible Christians. One can feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and provide shelter for the homeless. Character promotes a purpose and avoids waste. God does everything with a purpose. If you have no Godly purpose for desiring wealth, God will not give it. For those that say they can get money without God, beware. Satan blesses too.
Holiness is not a technique:
Holiness is not a technique or a method to look godly. No one has ever seen God, He is a Spirit. Therefore, no one has a clue as to what it means to look holy. Holiness is not long dresses and no makeup. Avoiding entertainment such as movies and secular music doesn’t make one holy. However, there are some forms of entertainment that should be avoided. God wants us to enjoy life, as long as it is done within His Will. His Holy Spirit leads us unto all truth. Holiness is a state of the heart. Holiness causes us to treat our neighbor right. Holiness is having the mind of Christ.
Pastors are not super beings:
We are to honor those to whom honor is due. With that said, we should honor our pastors. God assigns pastors to watch over our souls. They are our leaders, our guides, and they model godly behavior before us. Some also refer to them as the angels of the house of God. However, pastors are not to be worshiped. Worship only belongs to God.
In today’s church, the role of the pastor is construed in the lives of some church members. Oftentimes, some perform services to vie for the attention of the pastor. Some want to be known as the pastor’s favorite, which creates competition, and ultimately division within the body of Christ. Without a doubt, a pastor serves a special role in the life of a believer. But, he or she is a believer as well. One day, pastors will have to face God’s judgment like everyone else. Only God has a heaven or hell to put us in.
Teresa Jones is a writer for the Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA), which publishes the award-winning Journal of Ordinary Thought (JOT). Teresa is a member of Toastmasters International and the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE). Teresa is faithful member of the Apostolic Faith Church, where she serves as a prayer counselor for the Prayer Line Ministry. She and her husband, Alexander, have been married for 16 years and have two children. You can visit Teresa R. Jones website at www.teresarjones.com. You can contact Teresa at teresa.jones@revelation2-4.com.
Today's guest blogger is Kathy Balland, author of Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul
In Lose the Diet you’ll discover your power to achieve and maintain a healthy weight naturally without diets. Food deprivation is uncomfortable and ultimately causes weight gain. Instead, enjoy the good health and joy that you deserve. Lose the Diet shows you how.
• Drop the diets and the weight in a healthy and natural way.
• Find out why deprivation doesn’t work.
• Learn about the mind-body-soul connection’s effect on weight.
• Discover that happiness leads to a healthy weight rather than the other way around.
• Insightful tools and information that help you to find balance — from the inside out!
Kathy Balland, an expert in the mind-body-soul connection, teaches people how to tap into their own inner power for success. Clinically certified in hypnotherapy, her publications and seminars provide deep insights into the true causes and their remedies that prevent people from achieving their goals. Balland is a graduate of the University of Phoenix and the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
She is clinically certified by the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners and certified by the American Board of Hypnotherapy. As president of Blissful Publications and author of Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul, Balland provides information to enrich and empower people to achieve happiness and success.
Three Ways to Find a Healthy Balance in Your Life
Often when we try to find balance – whether it is in our weight or in other ways, we search for the answer outside of ourselves. (In the case of weight management it can be diet pills, diet food or fad diets and counting calories.) These “quick” fixes are actually not quick, because we end up spending a lot of time (and money) going from one quick fix to the next.
However, the reality is that you already have the answer within yourself. After all, we are all different – with different wants and needs, which is a good thing! But because we are so used to looking elsewhere, we can become “disconnected” from what those wants and needs are. We can also lose our sense of self-esteem in the process – and self-esteem is a major key in finding balance.
The book – Lose the Diet: Transform your body by connecting with your soul was created to help you to reconnect and find that balance, and there are three tools from the book that are located on the resources page of the Lose the Diet website: (http://www.losethediet.com/_site/pages/Resources.aspx)
The balance chart helps you to discover your own inner wants and needs. The Affirmation Steps allow you to put those needs into a positive affirmation statement (which helps you to focus on your needs in a positive way, so that you can achieve success). The Self-Guided Meditation allows you to relax, re-connect and visualize so that you can reach your goal. (If you are familiar with The Secret – then you know how powerful the mind is!)
I do recommend that you sign up for the FREE half hour guided meditation audio, (on the left side of the resources page) which will help you to de-stress (another important part of finding balance) and it will introduce you to guided meditation so that you learn how to use the self-guided meditation. You will also receive a book excerpt and additional information through the Lose the Diet ezine.
The book Lose the Diet explains these tools in more detail, and provides additional tips and guidance for achieving balance from the inside out - but the three tools contained on the resources page will help you get started. Again, the page is: http://www.losethediet.com/_site/pages/Resources.aspx. Enjoy!
Author of Recovering Me, Discovering Joy / Uplifting Wisdom for Everyday Greatness, Vivian Eisenecher has been an inspirational speaker, mentor and writer since 1996. Using her experience, strength and hope, she is committed to helping educate and enlighten the general public about the puzzling aspects of the addiction/recovery process and the strong correlation between anxiety, depression and alcoholism. Vivian holds a marketing degree in Business Administration (magna cum laude). Her other published works include articles for The Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Woman’s World, Viewpoint, and JUST FINE: Unmasking Depression and Anxiety Disorders (due out in 2009). She is featured on the 2009 Faces of Recovery Calendar and is a Board of Director for A New Path (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing). You can visit Vivian Eisenecher's website at: http://recoveringme.com/in/.
How I Found the Road to Recovery
By Vivian Eisenecher
People ask all the time, “If the drink or drug is ruining somebody’s life, why doesn’t the addict or alcoholic simply put the drink (or drug) down?” For years and years, families, loved ones, medical professionals and society in general have repeatedly asked this question. In Recovering Me, Discovering Joy, I have an answer for the “why” of addiction. I can only speak for myself but in so doing I know that I speak for others unwilling (understandably) or unable (completely understandable) to come forward with their story.
Crazy as it seems, I didn’t like the way I felt when I was sober. That’s why I drank. Imagine that! I could not recover from alcoholism until my social anxiety and dysthymia (a chronic low-grade depression) were successfully treated. These two disorders drove my alcoholism. They were “why” I drank. The biggest problem for me was that they were never diagnosed. The miraculous thing is that they were finally and simultaneously treated only after I could (or would not) stay sober and the treatment center was throwing every available tool into the mix to treat my alcoholism. It was serendipitous because what was thrown at my alcoholism worked wonders for my anxiety and depression. The tool that has kept me sober to this day is the successful treatment of my social phobia and dysthymia. After numerous tries at sobriety and numerous relapses, my shrink threw his hands in the air and said, “Let’s try an antidepressant.” I knew sitting in his office right then that this would be a life-changing event for me. And it was.
It took awhile after anti-depressants were introduced for medical professionals and the public to understand their wide spread implications (and effectiveness) to relieve a number of different ailments. I know, I know there is so much negativity and so much derogatory information being disseminated in the media about anti-depressants. But rarely has the incredible stories of transformed lives ever been talked about! To share my profound story of hope is one of the main reasons I wrote Recovering Me, Discovering Joy. I am passionate about spreading how I found successful recovery.
My life has been transformed by the miracle of modern day medicine. The serotonin levels needed to be corrected in my brain. That’s it! Just like those people prone to high blood pressure take medications to keep from having a heart attack or stroke, I take medication to keep from losing my life to alcohol. Drinking again would be a death sentence for me for sure.
To reduce the incidence of substance abuse, we must continue to look at the underlying factors that fuel it. And by so doing, we will not only help prevent drug and alcohol addiction but we will improve the quality of life for so many. Please read Recovering Me, Discovering Joy for fresh insights into the ongoing societal battle against substance abuse and for an inspiring tale of redemption. You, too, can recover. In Recovering Me, Discovering Joy I show you how. God bless you and yours…
About the Book:
Recovering Me, Discovering Joy reveals how to recover (from any ailment or condition) not to normal but to a better normal. After numerous attempts at sobriety, stints in more than three rehabs, followed by repeated relapses, Vivian shares the “secret” that finally brought her lasting recovery and profoundly changed her life. In an effort to improve the success rate of recovery and quite possibly save lives, one of the book’s main goals is to raise awareness about the profound correlation between depression, social anxiety, and alcoholism. Vivian has struggled with these disorders and is in recovery from all three.
In addition, Recovering Me, Discovering Joy is a remarkably honest book of creative non-fiction about the positive nature of life’s problems. It is about the journey to know oneself. With a sense of humor and an uplifting spirit of gratitude, Vivian suggests ways to live a more meaningful life. She offers a fresh look at enduring truths which we all tend to forget in our day-to-day fast-paced lives. By using stories from people in recovery, famous quotes and personal reflections, she re-establishes the importance of faith in the healing process. Her experience, strength and hope provide the reader with keys to living a richer, easier and happier life.
WIN PRIZES!!!
The RECOVERING ME, DISCOVERING JOY VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on January 5 and end on January 30. You can visit Vivian's blog stops at http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in January to find out more about this talented lady!
As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available. One winner will be announced by Pump Up Your Book Promotion at the end of each month.
Today's guest blogger is Dean Kilmer. Dean is the preaching minister for the College Street Church of Christ in Waxahachie, Texas. He is also the author of the Mastering the Word and Igniting the Moral Courage of America: Six Ways You Can Inspire People to Live with Integrity.
Dean will briefly discuss how we can restore our families to moral integrity.
Jerry was 41 years old with two teenage boys, a Christian wife who loved him and a 20-year-old girlfriend on the side. When I talked with Jerry and his wife Fran, she was in tears. He was leaving her for the younger woman and there was nothing she could say or do to change his mind. Now jump forward fifteen years and go with me on another visit to Jerry. He is sitting in his chair all alone crying because the young chick is gone. He never sees his boys. His ex-wife has moved on with her life after suffering the horrible pain of divorce. He will now spend the rest of his life alone!
At 39, Bob faced a similar situation. He was having an affair with a lady at work. Once again I was called to the house. I reasoned with Bob about what he was doing to himself, his wife and his three children. He would be separating himself not only from his family, but also from God. He would probably lose his soul over this affair, but even worse, his children would become bitter and probably lose their faith in God. Bob repented. His children are now grown and all three are leaders in the church, married with children. Bob and his wife are enjoying their retirement and rejoicing in the love of their grandchildren.
Over a lifetime, the greatest joys are found by building godly families. Here are some keys to help keep your family strong.
1. Read Corinthians 13:1-9 to your mate on your anniversary each year and insert your names in the texts. For example, I would read verse one and say, “If I, Dean could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have the love of Karen, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Going down to verse four I would say, “My love for Karen will be patient. I, Dean will be kind to Karen always . . .” If you will read the whole passage this way and make a year long commitment to each other, you’ll have a great relationship.
2. Write a family mission statement! Why did God put your family on the earth? Why do you exist? You can formulate a mission statement by having each member of your family answer these questions: a. What will I do to make life better for each member of this family? b. What will I do with my life to make our community and our country better? c. How will my life impact future generations for God? d. What will people say about me at my funeral? e. When I meet God, will he be proud of me?
3. Start having fun! Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” We are always talking about working at marriage and raising children. Stop working so hard at it and enjoy the love of your mate and your children! Slow down and drink in the smiles, the laughter, the beauty of life! God designed marriage to bring pleasure! Over a lifetime, the joys in your family will be the greatest of all joys!
4. Stand firm on God’s moral values. Pain comes into your home when a child becomes pregnant before they are married, develops an addiction, or commits suicide. To keep pain out, establish God’s love and teachings as the foundation for your home! He knows exactly how the family should function.
The IGNITING THE MORAL COURAGE OF AMERICA VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on October 1 and end on October 30. You can visit Dean's blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in October to find out more about his latest book!
As a special promotion, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available. The winner will be announced on our main blog at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.wordpress.com on October 30!
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