Happy Chinese New Year 2008

For all who celebrate Chinese New Year, I hereby

Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous Chinese New Year!

Keep out of debt

"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. "- Proverbs 22:7

Many people are one paycheck away from bankruptcy because they have no savings and spend every dime they make. If you're servicing debt you don't have any money for yourself and your family! You are then working whole life not for yourself and your family but for the bank.


Below is an advice from Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world.

“Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and remember:

1. Money doesn’t create man; it is the man who created money.
2. Live your life as simple as you are.
3. Don’t do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel good.
4. Don’t go for brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
5. Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on those who really are in need.
6. After all it’s your life so why give chance to others to rule your life.”

Your discipline today will govern you tomorrow. Do you agree?

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Rich Yet Poor

An Arab, losing his way in the desert, was in danger of dying from hunger. At last he found one of the cisterns out of which the camels drink and a little leather bag near it. "God be thanked!" exclaimed he. "Ah, here are some dates or nuts; let me refresh myself." He opened the bag, but only to turn away in disappointment. Alas, they were only pearls, and what good were they to a man who was dying of hunger?

Was this man rich or poor? He was rich yet poor.

(Source: e-Sword Bible Illustration)

"The amount of money you have has got nothing to do with what you earn.. people earning a million dollars a year can have no money and.. People earning $35,000 a year can be quite well off. It's not what you earn, it's what you spend." - Paul Clitheroe

"Becoming wealthy is not a matter of how much you earn, who your parents are, or what you do.. it is a matter of managing your money properly". - Noel Whittaker

Indeed, there are people so poor that the only thing they have is money. May we learn to live richly instead of die with riches!

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Live richly instead of die with riches!

"If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can't buy"

Everybody want to be rich thinking that money can bring happiness! It does bring happiness but only temporary.

According to Benjamin Franklin, "Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one."

Many might agree that Money is indeed not the most important thing in the world. Unfortunately, many still love money. Have you heard the saying "In God we trust, all others must pay cash?"

“Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail” - Richard Friedman

"There are people so poor that the only thing they have is money."

"Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy." - Spike Milligan

"Money often costs too much." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who believe money can do everything are frequently prepared to do everything for money. Well, would you rather live richly or die with riches?

Photo 1 by Minimalist taken from this source
Photo 2 by tigerweet taken from this source

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Don't reject your blessings

“Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.” - Socrates

What you are today is God's gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God. He is waiting for that gift right now. Make it something extraordinary.

Do take note that blessings may comes in different package.

Take a look at this story:

The Gift
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, in the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study and told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.

Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "with all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was a very successful businessman. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away and had willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.

With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse: Matthew 7:11 "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father, who is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?"

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

(Source: Internet; Author Unknown)

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Photo 1 by Colin 30d taken from this source
Photo 2 by nAODI taken from this source
Photo 3 by teemus taken from this source

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What is your greatest loss?

When Wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When Health is lost, something is lost;
When Character is lost, all is lost!

We all value things differently. So what is the most precious thing in life you value most? Is it Wealth, Health, Relationship or Career? Well, why don't you spend some time and find out for yourself. Then do something about it!

The Bible tell us the greatest loss in Matthew 16:25-26 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Photo by TommyOshima taken from this source

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Don't let money become your master

“It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.” - George Lorimer

“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” - Benjamin Franklin

"A life lived only for money is a lonely life."

“The art is not in making money, but in keeping it”

"Money does not change people, it only unmasks them." - Angelo Riccoboni

"The test is not how much money you have. The test is who you become when you have it."

"What we have to get straight in our heads is that owning the money doesn’t mean anything. It’s the doing with money that develops us - it’s not in the having. And when you have more, you’re enabled to do more." - Jack Canfield

“Money will come when you are doing the right thing.” - Mike Phillips

Photo by amalthya taken from this source

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Make sure you use all resources available

The more you use your brain, the more you have. Using it, wakes up idle brain cells.

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” - Anthony Robbins

“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“I've continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually anything and everything in their lives in an instant. I've learned that the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.” - Anthony Robbins

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You can become valuable - Find out how!

A bar of iron is worth $5. If made into horseshoes, it's worth $15. If into needles, $100; if into watch springs, $1000. This is also true of you and me.

"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour." - Jim Rohn

“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” - M. Scott Peck

You determine what you are worth. You create your value.

“The real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money.”

“Through self-doubt, we lose our sense of self-worth.”

"Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value." - Albert Einstein

Photo by StarrGazr taken from this source

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Who is really charitable?

No man is so poor as to have nothing worth giving.

“Lots of people think they're charitable if they give away their old clothes and things they don't want.” - Myrtle Reed

"Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much."

“True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense” - Emanuel Swedenborg

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting."

"Seek joy in what you give; not in what you get."

“The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.” - Pierre Corneille

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving." - Mother Teresa

The Bible tell us how to do good in Matthew 6:1-4 (NKJV) -

"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."

Photo by vanessapr taken from this source

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Count Your Blessings

"Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character."

“It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.”

“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.” - Oprah Winfrey

"There is always, always, always something to be thankful for."

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you'?" - William Arthur Ward

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True Wealth

A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world.

"It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich." - Henry Ward Beecher

To be wealthy, aim for more than just money.

You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy. - Garth Brooks

If we're not rich, it's our duty to make all the money we can without sacrificing the things more important than money, self-respect, peace of mind, honor, and the rights of others.

We must strive to be excel in making a life and not just making a living - making money.

The Bible gave instructions to the rich in 1 Timothy 6:18-19 - "Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

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Needs and Wants

Failing to distinguish between the needs and wants keeps many people poor.

A surplus of wants is oftener the cause of poverty than a shortage of income. Many remain poor because they can't resist buying things they don't need.

He is poor - however much he earns - if his expenses exceed his income.

It's tough being poor, but not as tough as being in debt.

Photo by szlea taken from this source

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Health is Wealth

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

It takes many people a lifetime to learn that health is more important than money, fun and fame.

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” - A. J. Reb Materi

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