Business by the Book Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth .   In order to accomplish something great with any group of people a mission statement is vital. Mission statements are very popular; almost every organization has one. However they are largely overlooked, mothballed, inconsequential, or simply something used for ma

Business by the Book    Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.   Years ago I was working on my son’s classic Chevrolet Nova. There was some sort of electrical problem that we were trying to fix. My wife came out to the garage and asked if there was anything she could do to help. I said, “Yeah, would you go to the auto parts store for me, I need some fuses. She was kind enough to agree and asked me exactly what I needed. I said, “25 amp fuses.

Business by the Book Genesis 11:6 … and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do .   Genesis 11:6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is  one, …   To accomplish great things with any group of people that group needs to become one. It’s interesting that the very first group of people ever assembled was a marriage. Adam and Eve became a small group when God created them and put them in the Garden of Eden. Concerning this very first group the Lo

Business by the Book Genesis 11:6 … and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do .   This is the Lord God speaking. He says that if certain conditions exist within a group of people, anything that group can imagine can be accomplished. Working within a group of people can be difficult to say the least. Every business owner, every parent, every pastor, and every coach on any team will probably agree that accomplishing great things with a group o

Business by the Book Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy  it  for ten’s sake.   Six times Abraham asked the Lord to withhold destruction if there were a certain number of righteous people in the land. Six times the Lord accepted Abraham’s offer. Usually if we do ask for a concession, and it is granted, we stop asking. Imagine the conversation:  Will

Business by the Book Genesis 19:16  And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.   Let’s recap. The Lord pronounced destruction of a region in which Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived. Abraham negotiated with the Lord an agreement wherein the people would be spared if ten righteous souls could be found. From Sc

Business by the Book Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?   Today’s topic has no verse from the story we are considering to support it. However, with your indulgence I would like to share a point of philosophy concerning the issue of dealing with objections within the framework of a negotiation.  

Business by the Book Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?   When objections arise there are several ways to successfully deal with them. Yesterday we noted the major way in which the Lord dealt with Abraham’s objections was that He chose to make no mention of them. Rather He allowed Abraham to cont

Business by the Book Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?   Few people like to deal with objections. Also, few people are highly successful, especially in sales. I believe these are related. Highly successful individuals usually have a few things in common; one of these is they know how to effectiv

Business by the Book January 12 Genesis 18:13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?   All seven questions Abraham asked the Lord were closed end questions. Meaning they could only be answered with a yes or no. They could either be granted or denied. The Lord said yes, or granted, each of these questions. Closed end questions are the easiest to ask and the most problematic to answer. A politician once

Business by the Book Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it  for ten’s sake.   Years ago the organization that I worked for gathered all of the top managers together for a management training seminar. One exercise in this seminar was to separate the managers into two groups, one group was made up of the younger managers the other with the older manag

Business by the Book Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy  it  for ten’s sake.   When Abraham began this negotiation with the Lord his starting place was fifty righteous souls. If the Lord found fifty righteous, destruction would be waived. Abraham got the Lord all the way down to ten righteous souls. If the Lord could find ten souls that were righteo

Business by the Book Genesis 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it .   It’s always amazing when someone becomes angry, offended, or insulted when asked to make a concession during a negotiation. It’s like their mother took away their Lucky Charms when they were a baby and they begin to pitch a fit, or grow sullen, or find some other wa

Business by the Book January 6 Genesis 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack  of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it .   Someone once said, “You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”  This phrase is championed by Dr. Charles Karrass who gave seminars around the globe on negotiation. I attended his seminar years ago and learned much about the art and scien

Business by the Book Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it .   Adam’s work was to dress and to keep the Garden which God planted. Likewise, those today who work at providing goods and services to others utilize, in part, God’s natural resources that He put on, and in, the earth. A solid understanding of this truth has many benefits to those who embrace it. One such benefit found is a greater appreciation for

Business by the Book Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it .   No matter the occupation, each and every person that makes a living by producing goods or services does so by utilizing one or more of God’s natural resources. Don’t believe it? I didn’t either the first time I heard it, but over the years I have come to accept the first sentence of this devotion to be true. The cabinet builder uses wood from the

Business by the Book Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it .   Years ago I was standing on a tee box with one of my best friends. As we were waiting for our turn to lose our golf balls a large commercial airplane flew directly over us as it was landing at DFW airport. I said to my friend, who was a commercial pilot for a major airline, “For the life of me I do not understand what keeps that plane in the sky.

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Acts 20:13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot .   Over the past 364 days these devotions have been dedicated to “Minding Your Thoughts”. We have looked at every verse in the Bible containing the words mind, think, thought, minds, thoughts, mindful, thinkest, minded, thinking, thin

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;   The word “imaginations” as used here is defined as “a reckoning, computation, a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith, a judgment, decision” (Strongs).  No one is immune to such

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him  not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened .   Consider this.  Jesus made an astounding statement to the woman that He met at the well in John chapter four.   He said: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Fath

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Luke 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts .      Within Mary’s words of praise there is a nugget of wisdom to be found.  She associates pride with the imagination. It is within the imagination of a person that they are lifted up to a place of importance above others.  Jesus as our perfect pattern of propriety tau

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Lamentations 3:61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and  all their imaginations against me;   The imaginations that the Israelites had against Jeremiah turned into actions. Twice in as many verses the prophet states that the Lord knows their imaginations against him. In verse 60 he states that the Lord has seen their imaginations then in the very next verse, today’s verse, h

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life Lamentations 3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and  all their imaginations against me.   Jeremiah is sometimes called the “weeping prophet.”  Lamentations is a book of Jeremiah. It is unique, in the Hebrew it is an acrostic and it is written as if it were a message for a national funeral. It portrays the capture, overthrow, and destruction of Jerusalem (which took place in 596

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 25 Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you .   The Lord is speaking of false prophets. Notice what the Lord said in verse 16: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that pro

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart .   How sad! The people of God chose to walk according to their own devices. They decided to do that which they imagined in an evil heart. This is a serious decision which God says was a …very   horrible thing . (Jeremiah 18:13)  Becaus

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 16:12   And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me :   ‘Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication’ is what it is called, meaning “There can be no words without images” (Aristotle). This is the imagination at work. For example, when someone hears the phrase “red roses fo

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.   Imagination is a part of everyday life. Without an imagination it would be impossible to imagine not having an imagination. Without imagination art wou

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them  to do; but they did them  not.   Jeremiah wrote more about the imagination than any other writer of the Bible, but these were not the prophet’s words, they were the words of

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them :   Upon reading the verses surrounding today’s it is clear that no good comes to those who walk after the imagination of their own heart. However this is the climate in which we seem to live. People make outrageous and unprovable claims as authoritative and ge

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels  and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward .   Consider what the Lord says:   But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be we