The Daily Routine And Your 24-Hour Masterpiece

Joe Louis, a US boxing champion, once said, “A champion doesn’t become a champion in the ring, he’s merely recognized in the ring. His ‘becoming’ happens during his daily routine.” I believe that all of us can fully concur with this statement because if we look around, we find what the majority of the successful and significant people have something in common is the tenacity and grit to work on their achievement day in and day out.

One of the persistent persons whom I admire is Evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018). It is a well-known fact that this man of God spent hours in his younger days, perfecting his preaching style. After Graham graduated from Wheaton College, he had trained himself to preach with pure sincerity and energetic enthusiasm. He had decided that every message was to be simple, easy-to-grasp notion about sin and salvation. Reading was a part of Graham’s daily routine and he read a wide variety of subjects. Even though he was one of the best preachers in his time, he was still not satisfied with his progress. To his friends, he admitted varying weaknesses in his preaching style such as rambling and had made every effort to remove that habit. In spite of that, many people were blessed by his messages and not only that, many who heard them actually made a commitment to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

Well, do you like to know how effective he was? This amazing man preached to over 77 million people face-to-face in evangelistic rallies in 53 nations around the world. More than 215 million people in 185 nations received his messages through satellite feeds. And the best part is that more than three million souls responded to his altar call. Among those millions were some of my friends who went to the altar in response to his call for salvation in the evangelistic crusade that he conducted in 1978 in Singapore.

Your Daily Routine
The secret of these successful people is thus hidden in their daily routine – things that they do out of sight. The tenacious effort that they put in daily to make sure that their dream comes true. So, how are you going to begin this process of success in your life?

24-Hour Masterpiece
Begin by determining to make today into a masterpiece. Yes, start with today and do it immediately. Work on your 24-hour masterpiece – one day at a time. Do your very best and maximize the life that God has given you. Make every day count. A fruitful day will add up to become a fruitful week. A fruitful week will add to become a fruitful month and year and ultimately your life is a very fruitful one. This life is your masterpiece and you are the artist appointed to make sure that this masterpiece becomes a reality.

Staying In The Moment
One day, you will have to face God and He will ask you about what you have done with your life. You can prepare for that day with God by preparing to maximize your life today. Today is of paramount importance because you only live in the “todays”. Therefore learn how to focus upon the present moment instead of allowing your subconscious mind dragging you into a daydream. We all do some day-dreaming but too much of it will make us lethargic and non-productive. Thinking too much about the past or future is futile. The gold is found in the present moment because this is the only time that you have the fullest control.

Appreciate the fact that every moment is different. You will never get the same moment twice – similar maybe but never exactly the same. I believe God really wants you to appreciate your present moment. He has blessed you with eyes to see, ears to hear, tongue to taste, nose to smell and hands to touch – use them to enjoy all the people and things that God has given you. Take time to smell the flowers and listen to some really great music – I recommend worship songs. When you eat, focus on the food that you put in your mouth and you will be surprised how delicious your meal is. Let your physical senses be activated and present in the moment. Your soul and spirit will respond with gratitude and thanksgiving.

As the Bible says there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Time for achievement and time for relationship. When you fellowship with a person, give him or her 100% of your attention. That moment would be memorable both to you and your companion. When you do a task, give that your fullest attention at that moment. You will do a better job when you are 100% there to do it. If you catch yourself drifting into a daydream, snap out of it by counting backward – 5 to 1. And you will be back to do what is important for you at that moment.

The abundant life that Jesus talks about in John 10:10 can happen to your life. When you live intentionally, purposefully and deliberately, you will enjoy every moment of your day. The masterpiece would come forth at the end of every day. And one day, when you see God, you will have no regrets because you can happily tell Him that you have lived a fruitful life, and have maximized your time for His glory.

In the next blog, I like to give you some specifics to help you be a real success by becoming the person that God wants you to be. God bless!

You may like to watch this video and appreciate how you can work on your 24-hour Masterpiece every day.

How I Stop Smoking

I remember the day I put the first cigarette to my mouth. It was a cold stormy day at Changi Air Base in 1973. My nose was fighting a cold and the sneezing did not stop for the whole morning. A fellow soldier leaned forward and handed me a cigarette.

“This will stop your cold.” he said assuredly.

His kindness subsequently propelled me unto the road of becoming a smoker. Little did I realize the pleasure that nicotine could activate in my brain. The simple scientific explanation is that my brain and your brain has cell structures known receptors. Nicotine activates them to produce a brain chemical known as dopamine. And so after a puff, my whole being would dance to that song by James Brown – “Whoa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now!”

Before too long, I was carrying a pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket. After breakfast or lunch, (not dinner, because I ate at home and my mother would kill me if she caught me smoking) my hand subconsciously reached for the pack, automatically took out the cigarette, tapped it a few times on the table top, placed it to my mouth, reached out for the lighter, puffed out the first cloud of smoke, and lazily gazed at the swilling fume as it caught the ray of sunlight shinning in to where I usually sat.

Every working day, that little canteen at our airbase was filled with cigarettes’ smoke from all the young soldiers who ate there instead of eating at the cookhouse. I found company and friendship among those fellow smokers. And so that added to the appeal to smoke because I was one of the crowd.

A year later, one of my subordinates led me to Christ. The Holy Spirit convicted me about my smoking habit and so I decided to stop. One day, in a spiritual bravado, I threw a new pack of cigarettes down and crushed it with my boot. I said, “In the name of Jesus, you are no longer a part of my life.” Half an hour later, after lunch, the urge to smoke drove me to pick up those crushed cigarettes and smoke again.

Little did I realize that, in such a short time, I had become addicted to smoking. The habit loop of “cue, routine and reward” within the brain had taken over my life. My Christian friends, who were ex-smokers, suggested replacing cigarettes with chewing gum, every time when the urge to smoke came. It worked for me – even though struggling with nicotine withdrawal was not easy.

What actually happened in my brain was that I had changed the “routine” part of the habit loop. The “cue” which was the after-lunch habit at the canteen continued to trigger the bodily desire for nicotine. So, what I did was to get out of the canteen as soon as I finished my meal and simultaneously, putting a chewing gum into my mouth. Then, to help myself further, I decided to stop eating at that canteen and got my driver to drive me to eat at the cookhouse where smoking was not allowed.

The law of displacement was really working for me. Of course, I prayed a lot too, especially when the urge to smoke became almost unbearable. And with the help of the Holy Spirit and the encouragements from my new Christian friends, the desire to smoke completely evaporated.

There is now a better method that you can use if you are fighting certain bad habits or smoking. This idea by Mel Robbins of counting backward, 5 to 1, really works for me. I wish I had learned this Five-Second Rule when I was struggling with my smoking habit. However, at this juncture, this Five-Second Rule is helping me now in overcoming my “addiction” to procrastination and laziness.

Now, let’s say, at this moment, you have the urge to smoke. You can intercept this urge immediately by counting backward 5 to 1. This is to prevent this thought of smoking to enter your subconscious mind which is in your basal ganglia. When your countdown hits “one”, immediately counter the “routine” with another activity such as putting a chewing gum or candy in your mouth or put on a nicotine patch.

It is worth trying out this Five-Second Rule. If the temptation comes back again, count backward again and go into a positive action. If it comes back ten times, count backward ten times. Your brain needs that regular interruptions so as to make the new routine a part of your subconscious mind. Keep doing this until you have victory.

I pray that you will succeed in using this approach to overcome all your bad habits and enjoy real freedom in your walk with Christ. If you want further information about how the Habit Loop works, please check the video below.

God bless.

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How To Murder The Thief Of Time

Have you heard of an old adage: “Procrastination is the thief of time”.  This was coined by Edward Young, a 18th Century English poet. Even after all these years, his description of procrastination is still revealed in our daily life. How many of you have been robbed of your success by this thief of time? How many projects and interests have been discarded because of procrastination? How many relationships have been affected because of it? In this article, I hope to share about how you can kill “procrastination” – yes, literally murder this thief of time before it even appears.

Let me share with you my most recent “murder” story – it’s about my reluctance to write this blog. Why? Because I have many things to do – the topmost task is to prepare the sermon for this Sunday. However, writing this blog is one of the three items that I had planned to do since early morning and I had been putting it off till even after lunch. Then, just a short while ago, I counted to myself from “five” backward to “one”. Sat down, turned on the laptop, clicked the blog app and began to type. It was as simple as that.

What I did was simply applying the “Five-Second Rule”.

It was Mel Robbins, a lawyer and motivational speaker, who discovered this technique by chance. In 2009, she was at the lowest ebb of her life. At 41 years old, she was unemployed and broke. Mel was devastated with life, worrying about the liens on her home, facing bankruptcy and also disharmony at home.

One day, she woke up, totally miserable and decided to just sleep on even the alarm clock had rung. She reached out to hit the snooze button, then she remembered watching a NASA launch on the news the previous night. So, instead of giving in to the temptation to sleep on, she counted backward to herself, “5-4-3-2-1” and just like the rocket being launched to outer space, Mel catapulted out of the bed. That little “stupid trick” as she called it, broke the back of poverty and made her a millionaire.

What Mel had accidentally stumbled upon was really a scientifically proven psychological phenomenon that God has placed in our brain. I shall spare you all the scientific explanation and just give you the basis of this Five-Second Rule according to Mel.

The Rule states: The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must push yourself to move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it.

Once you understand how your brain functions, and that you can interrupt the “self-destructive” force by getting into action within five seconds, you now get a fighting chance to kill procrastination. (Another scientist says that we have 8 seconds to kill procrastination… isn’t it great to know that).

I am personally using this rule to achieve more and getting a lot of satisfaction by murdering this thief of time. This Five-Second Rule is not just an idea, concept or advice for you to daydream about. It is a tool and a powerful “murder” weapon. As in all tools, they are useless if you do not use them.

I use this rule to kill the procrastination to read bible, pray and meditate. I use it to exercise and do “unpleasant” tasks like cleaning and washing. I use it to write my books now. I also use it to connect with my loved ones and friends.

To tell you the truth, it may not be that easy to kill “procrastination” but I always manage to kill it. Every time, it woos me to take the comfortable path, I counter it with my weapon – by counting backward from 5 to 1. Then when my countdown hits “one”, I immediately go into action.

I am showing others how to apply this rule to overcome bad habits. In another blog, I will share with you more about how you can overcome smoking, drinking, gluttony and even pornography addiction.

I have also shared this rule with my students in two sessions of the Spiritual Leadership class. You can watch one of the sessions below.

That’s all for now, my friends. and be sure to check in and read the next blog about overcoming addictions. God bless.

When I Put A Gun To My Head

It was a dark night in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when misery formed strange images in my mind. I had lost my ministry and I was running away from life. I was suffering from burnout and my ideal world had collapsed. The voices in my head kept echoing messages of rejection and condemnation.

“God will never use you again. You are such a failure and disappointment.”

Those relentless voices hammered mercilessly. They suggested that I should end my misery by shooting myself with the Chinese pistol that I had bought earlier from a Cambodian police officer.

The lone table lamp had spotlighted the drawer where the gun was kept. Everything became surreal and today as I remember it, it was almost like an old black-and-white film of the 1920s. I recall a strange force that directed my hand to place the gun to my temple. I also recall weeping silently in the midst of the loudness in my head. That busy verbal traffic in the mind was indeed from another dimension, urging and encouraging for the finger to pull the trigger and end it all.

Then a loud voice echoed in that dark room. It was really loud. Loud enough to make me stop everything. A voice that I was so familiar with but had not heard for a long time.

“Stop! I will restore you.”

That voice was firm but enveloped with the love and assurance I needed so badly.

To cut the story short, God did restore me and since that time, some thirty years ago, He has blessed me with a beautiful life, wonderful relationships and fruitful ministry again.

How did I recover from depression and overcome the suicidal thought?

First, I realized that even though I was depressed and emotionally devastated, I was still able to make decisions. For example, the decision to kill myself was my decision… even though it was prompted by the devil through depression. Then, when I heard that loud voice of God, my spirit recognized that was the voice of my Master and I responded by putting my gun down. That was a right decision.

Like Elijah who first listened to the voice of fear when Jezebel promised to kill him (1 Kings 19:2), he reacted and bolted. What was the remedy for such fear? God gave Elijah His assurance by replacing the fear with words of faith and encouragement. Elijah had to make a decision to listen and act upon the words of God or make the wrong choice of listening to the destructive voice of Jezebel in his head. He had to make a choice and he could.

God fed Elijah with physical food to give him back his energy. God allowed him to sleep and recuperate his strength. Then He sent him on a 40-day journey to Mount Horeb. That was to give him some physical exercise and something to do. Then at that sacred mountain, God assured Elijah of his calling and sent him back to his ministry. You can read all these in 1 Kings 19.

Did God depend upon Elijah to feel good before He sent him on a new assignment? No! God knew that what Elijah needed was not having the “right feeling” but the right direction.

I did not feel good or happy even after I heard the voice of God. However, I was at peace and slept in that lonely room for a couple of days. Then God sent people of favor to help me. He had told me after the suicidal attempt that He would blessed me with the “blessings of Abraham”. I did not know what was that supposed to be for me.

What God did was to send me on a journey into the unknown. In a few short years, He blessed me with businesses that produced financial blessings that I had never dreamed of. Then, with some friends, God led me to establish a church and three orphanages in Cambodia.

Even though, initially, my depressive mood was still there, I listened to the encouragements from the friends whom God sent. When doors of business opportunity were open, i put myself to work. Establishing a supermarket, a grocery store, three restaurants and three orphanages took a lot of effort and time. But all those activities were good for me.

You do have the ability to make right choices even though you may feel lethargic and down. Listen to the message below and let the Word of God help you move on to the road of recovery. Remember, you can make right choices.

1. Decide to talk to God
2. Decide to talk to your friends
3. Decide to get up and do some physical exercises
4. Decide to go to Church or go online and join a church service

In my next blog I will share about the “Five-Second Rule” that will get anyone out of the valley of despair into the mountaintop of good activities.

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When You Feel Like Giving Up

Fear Comes By Hearing

Depression is a mounting problem today. During this uncommon time, the number of people who have been affected by depression has increased drastically. What does the Bible say about depression? Is there a way out of depression?

From the very familiar narrative of Elijah’s depression, found in 1 Kings 19, you will be able to discover some steps to help you or others out of depression or emotional struggles.

Elijah just had three miraculous encounters with God in 1 Kings 18. He called down fire from heaven, he called down rain to come after a three-year drought, he supernaturally outran King Ahab’s chariot all the way to the gates of Jezreel. He should be full of faith with three glorious encounters under his belt.

No one would ever believe that after such marvelous experiences with God, that faith would have departed from a man of God such as Elijah.

Elijah was affected because he heard that the evil queen of Israel, Jezebel, was going to kill him. The great prophet of God went into a panic and ran all the way from the north to the south of the country. Why was that so – why did he react so drastically after hearing the threat from that evil woman?

Just as faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), fear also comes by hearing. A good example to remember is that light and darkness do not coexist, and so faith and fear also do not coexist. When darkness is there, you need to turn on the light. Switch that light off and darkness is immediately revealed. This also tells us that darkness is always there but for the energy of the light.

Fear is always a part of your human experience but faith is that confidence that you have in the living God that keeps fear at bay. As long as your trust is in the Lord and you have the fullest confidence that God is with you always then this faith-belief is powerful enough to prevent fear to overwhelm you.

What is the first step that you must take when you are going into depression?

Realize this truth – you may be depressed but the power of making choices has not been taken away from you. The only thing depression does is to cause you to make the wrong choices. For example, depression may make you decide to consume lots of alcohol, take drugs, cut yourself with razor blades, eat yourself to death, isolate yourself from everybody, etc.

All these wrong decisions are actually harming you rather than helping you. That is why I say that “Depression is a Liar.” Determine to fight this liar with the truth of God.

Feed yourself with the positive messages of God’s Word. Yes, you will never feel like listening to another sermon or helpful advice. But do not be tricked into thinking that one day, you will receive that right feeling.

Guess what? You will never have the right motivation or right feeling to do anything that will get you out of depression. You just simply have to take the bull by the horns and make small decisions and take small steps to recovery.

So, the first step is to force-feed your depressed mind with the positive words of God. and at the same time, be sure to feed your physical body with nutritious food and not junk food.

In the next blog, I will share with you further steps on how you can get out of depression or how you can help someone get out of depression.

Here is a video message that I shared about how you can overcome depression.

Where Do You Find Your Passion?

Passion is not a thing that you can discover outside of yourself. You will never find it in a person, relationship, project, career, church, ministry or place. Passion is a feeling. So, in order to find your passion, you need to look into the mirror. Your passion is found only in you in as much as my passion is found only in me.

Once you understand that your passion is a feeling, then you would not be ascribing blames unto others for “what they make you feel”. Now, you know why it is futile to blame your spouse, loved ones, friends and relatives for how they “make you lost your passion”.

You must have heard of the passion known as “enthusiasm” that is made out of two Greek words, “en” (within) and “theos” (God). It literally means “God within”. Believers with enthusiasm are people who are truly inspired by God, empowered by God and overjoyed by God. To a certain extent, the Christian passion is a result of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and so we continue to have the joy and zeal while serving the kingdom of God. Therefore, for the Christians, our passion is spiritually empowered and enhanced. This means that we should have better management over it. I named this divinely-endowed passion as the “God-in-you” moment.

The presence of the Holy Spirit and the love of God in our life become the fuel for our constant enthusiasm in every situation. James understood this “God-in-you” passion when he said, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (James 1:2). The Bibles says that “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised Him.” (Luke 4:14-15). Here is one example of Spirit-inspired enthusiasm – the zeal that Jesus had as the “Man of the Spirit”. And later, the Holy Spirit inspired the people of God and they had the same Spirit-inspired enthusiasm as the “Church of the Spirit.”

The Pentecostal movement has become one of the fastest growing Christian movements in history simply because of the Spirit-inspired enthusiasm experienced and expressed by its adherents. However, you don’t have to be a Pentecostal to express this “God-in-you” enthusiasm. As long as you realize that you are given the privilege to manage and control this “God-in-you” passion, you can then use it at will.

You are now no longer looking for passion but you can bring your “God-in-you” passion to the things that you do. So, if you have been given a ministry to do, it is you who bring the passion, vitality and energy there. If you are in a relationship, it is you who bring the same “God-in-you” passion to the person whom you love and care for. When you go to work, it is the same thing – your daily chores may become mundane and boring but it is you who bring that enthusiasm into the job.

Have you ever noticed when an enthusiastic person walks into a room? Even if the person may not be a believer, his or her presence can create such an impact upon all in that room. Now, if a soulish-generated enthusiasm is so powerful, what about a spiritual “God-in-you” type of enthusiasm? You should try it and see what happens! Bring out your “God-in-you” passion in everything that you do. Bring this spiritually-inspired passion to a relationship, career, or a place and see the result. Seriously, all you need to do is to try it. There is nothing to lose but everything to gain. God bless!

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Are You Still Looking For Your Passion?

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Passion is something that I believed had to be discovered. After living for more than six decades on this earth, I can only say that it is not to be so.

For the disciples of Christ, we may think that we can find our passion in the Church, ministries or worship services. For some, they hope to find it in the mission fields or in social services.

For the younger people who are dating, they might think that they can find their passion in a relationship or a person. Maybe they think that marriage will spark a new passion in them. However, take a serious look at all the marriages around and do you find any great passion in most of the marriages?

How about those starting on a new career – the illusion of an ideal job that would give them great passion in life. The truth is that this passion soon fades away when the going gets tough.

You may be going through that now. Then you think that maybe when you become your own boss by launching a new business and making a lot of money, then your passion will be rekindled. Yours truly have been there and done that – the sad answer is that I did not find passion there either.

After some years of hard work, you might think that by moving to a new country or travel to many places, you will discover your passion. Guess what, you will be disappointed.

So, if we cannot find passion all around then where can we find our passion? That is a million-dollar question and today, hopefully you will get the answer.

The answer is found by looking at the mirror. Yes, the person in the mirror has the source of the passion that so many people talk about. Passion is not a thing, relationship, person or a place but a feeling. You are like saying, “what?”

Now for the eureka moment – Passion is not something that you find elsewhere, outside of yourself but what God has placed within you. – It is the God-given energy and vitality that you bring to the situation; that you bring to a relationship; that you bring to a job, that you bring to whatever that you are doing.

In short, Passion is that God-given “enthusiasm” that has been placed within you.

The Bible has a lot of say about this: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Paul the Apostle says, “Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Romans 12:11) and “Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men…” (Colossians 3:23).

In the next blog, I will share with you how you can activate this God-given passion in your life. God bless and enjoy your life in the Lord.

Albert Kang