TERRI: I've discovered one simple thing that will delay
your dreams more than anything else. I want to
talk to you about how to identify it, stop it, and
do the opposite, which will accelerate your progress.
(Music)
TERRI: Hey, I'm Terri Savelle Foy, and you're watching
Live Your Dreams. I pray that as you invest in
yourself today, you're captivated and you're
catapulted to live your dreams. You know, research was done not
too long ago from the University of California. They launched a
$5.6 million, three-year project on the topic of gratitude,
specifically, keeping a gratitude journal. Listen to
what they found out. The research concluded that keeping
a journal of gratitude, just every day, writing a few things
that you're grateful for, resulted in better sleep, fewer
symptoms of illness, more happiness, less anxiety and
depression, increased self-esteem, less stress, and
reduced negativity, just by journaling your gratitude just a
little bit every day. In fact, business research was done. They
wanted to do a study on how important is appreciation in the
workplace? Well, in this recent study on reasons employees leave
a company, listen to what they found out. 46% said they leave
the company because they feel unappreciated. 61% said their
bosses don't place very much importance on them as people.
88% said they do not receive acknowledgement for the work
they do. In other words, appreciation is important.
Acknowledging appreciation is very important. Another survey I
read about management, they were asking 200 companies, "What
motivates your employees?" thinking it's going to be
raises, and bonuses, and fringe benefits, and things like that.
Out of a list of 10 possible things, appreciation is the
number one motivator. Isn't that amazing? In other words, people
want to be appreciated. They just want to hear the words,
"Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing." Well, I've
discovered so does God. In fact, the Bible says, "Be thankful and
say so." Well, God responds to a grateful heart. Now, here's
something he does not respond to, and that's complaining. I
started the broadcast by saying that nothing will delay your
dreams more than this, and the answer is complaining. I heard
Joyce Meyer say that that word "complain" actually means "to
remain." "To stay overnight," one definition said. To complain
means you remain where you are. You will see no progress. You
won't benefit. You'll stay where you are year after year if
complaining just becomes a way of life. Well, Jim Rohn, he
said, "Complaining, indulge in this slightly, and you might as
well forget about the future." He said, "Spend five minutes
complaining, and you will enter a financial desert." Then he
said this, "Choke on the dust of your own regret." Now, that's a
bit dramatic, but do you remember the Israelites?
Remember how they were circling the same mountain for 40 years?
Apparently, they were supposed to get around it within 11 days.
It was possible to get around that mountain in less than two
weeks, and it took them 40 years. Why? Because they
complained. They complained about everything. They
complained about the water, the weather, the food, the
leadership, the distance, the climbing. "It's too difficult.
It's too miserable." Finally, God said, "I've had it. Trip
canceled." Well, Jim Rohn said, "Even God himself can only take
so much." Their complaining caused their dream to be delayed
year after year after year. Well, complaining opens the door
for the enemy in our lives. In fact, I was listening to a ...
It was a success CD or something. This man named David
Horsager, he said he was trying to learn how to be successful.
He really wanted to go to the next level in his life. This
very successful, wealthy mentor just began to teach him some
things. He told him, he said, "I want you to make a 30-day
commitment to stop complaining." He said this was 18 years ago.
"He told me, 'Stop complaining. Don't complain about the
weather, about the traffic, about how tired you are. Don't
complain about your food, how you slept last night, how much
you have to do today. Don't complain about how hungry you
are, how slow things are moving. Don't complain about your body.
Don't complain about your hair.' He said, 'Not one complaint out
of your mouth for 30 days.'" He said, "It changed my life."
Well, now, he's a best-selling author. In fact, his clients
include people like Wells Fargo, the New York Yankees, people
like that. He said, "Making myself stop complaining changed
my life." Well, same with Joe Vitale. Some of you may have
heard of him. Years ago, he was living in Dallas-Fort Worth. He
said he was at the bottom of the barrel. He said, "I was so
broke." He said he was living in an apartment, paying $79 a
month. He said he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. He
has a plastic table and chairs. He went to the library, and he
borrowed a book about being successful. Well, as he's
sitting here reading this book, it said in there, "If you want
to be successful, be grateful." He said, "I'm sitting around."
He had a pencil. Well, remember, he lives in Texas, so this is a
regular pencil. He said, "I'm sitting there, reading this
book. It says, 'If you want to be successful, be grateful.'" He
looks around this apartment. He's like, "Be grateful? What in
the world do I have to be grateful for?" Well, then he
kept reading. It said, "When you're grateful, you will
attract more to be grateful for. When you complain, you will
attract more to complain about." He said, "Well, with this
pencil, I can start writing my dreams and goals." Your chance
of success increases by 98% when you put your dreams and goals in
writing. He said, "I've got a pencil. I can write my goals."
Then he said, "With this eraser, I can start erasing my limiting
beliefs." Well, he said that moment shifted his life. Of
course, today, he's a New York Times bestselling author,
multimillionaire, and a success coach to hundreds of thousands
of people. Well, I want to give you a 30-day challenge. I took
this on myself. Me and my team up here, we've done it. People
all over the world are doing it now: A 30-day challenge to no
complaining. You're going to realize, "Wow, I didn't know I
was complaining so much," but just make yourself, catch
yourself when you start to complain about your weight,
about how hungry you are, you're exhausted, you didn't sleep
well. Just practice not complaining. Then number two:
Journal your gratitude. For 30 days, take on this challenge.
The Bible says, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and it says, "I will give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for me in
Christ Jesus." God finds it very important that we just express
our gratitude. I believe a grateful heart is a magnet for
miracles. I believe it opens a door for God to do so much in
your life like you've never seen before. People like Oprah
Winfrey, she said, "If you focus on what you don't have, you will
never, ever have enough." She said, "If you focus on what you
do have, you're life will go to the next level." She said,
"You'll end up having more." Well, she said she did the same
thing. She said, "I stopped complaining, and I just started
journaling my gratitude." Just every day, waking up and writing
something quick that she was grateful for. Well, to me,
that's like the Word of God says, "I will enter his gates
with thanksgiving, and I'll enter his courts with praise."
That's what you're doing, when you just start your morning
prayer time just saying, "Lord, I just want to thank you for
what you've already done. Thank you for being faithful. Thank
you that I woke up this morning. Thank you that I'm healthy.
Thank you for this house. It may not be my dream house, but I'm
thankful I have a house. Thank you, Lord, that I have a job. It
may not be my dream job, but I have a job. It's better than
unemployment. I have a job, and I thank you for it." Well, Oprah
Winfrey said she started doing this 16 years ago. She said, "I
believe this is the single most important thing that I have ever
done." Now, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.7 billion. She said
it's the single most important thing she thinks she's ever
done. Well, success leaves clues, doesn't it? When someone
said that, when Oprah said that, I was like, "Come again? I think
I'll try journaling my gratitude," just getting into
that habit. Now, of course, this isn't a little trick. This isn't
a magic key. It's just starting that attitude of recognizing
what you have to be grateful for. When you write it down, of
course, you're more aware of every single day just being
grateful. Well, I know in my life, I have seen massive things
change, momentum like never before, doors of favor,
opportunities, increase in my life like I've never dreamed of.
In fact, Steve Harvey said, "Gratitude is a powerful
process." He said, "The only way to move to the next level is you
must show gratitude for where you are." He said, "If you show
gratitude, it gets you to where you want to be quicker." Well, I
could go on and on of different actors and celebrities who say
the same thing, but God's the one who said, "Be thankful and
say so." Not just think it, say so. Well, Ephesians 5:20 says,
"Always giving thanks to God the father for everything in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ." God's telling us,
"Be grateful for everything. In every situation,
you have something to be thankful for." There's
Scripture about Scripture, in fact, I put them
in this little gratitude journal, so many Scriptures from
the Word of God that tell us to give thanks, because a grateful
heart is a magnet for miracles. Well, do you remember the story
of Jehosaphat? Now, in this story, we see how gratitude,
praise, thanksgiving can actually help you win battles.
If you're facing a battle right now, a financial battle, a legal
battle, a health battle, a weight loss battle, a marital
battle, gratitude is the key. You know, in that story with
Jehosaphat, we see how God will actually go to work to fight the
battles for you when you start expressing gratitude and praise
and thanksgiving. If you remember that story, 2
Chronicles, Jehosaphat's coming against this army. He's
outnumbered. He doesn't know how in the world he can defeat them.
The Bible records how he sent the praisers out ahead of him.
He sent all these people ahead to just start praising,
worshiping God, thanking him, he's so amazing, Lord, you're so
powerful, You're so faithful. Well, their praise, their
gratitude was so confusing to the enemy that they began to
slaughter each other. Well, see, when you start just saying,
"Lord, you know I'm going through a lot right now. You
know I'm going through a battle. Father, I just want to take a
moment and just say thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you're
fighting this battle for me. Thank you, Lord, that you know
I've been in this health battle for awhile with my weight, but,
Lord, I thank you. You've given me a fast metabolism. I thank
you, Lord, you're changing things in my favor." You are
going to confuse the enemy. You know in that story with
Jehosaphat, he did three things. He said, "Lord, I don't know
what to do." Number two, "Even if I did, I don't have the
strength to do it", but number three, "my eyes are on you." The
Bible actually says, "The battle is the Lord's. The victory is
yours." He won the battle. I want to challenge you today,
whatever battle you're facing right now, get this ingrained in
you. When you complain, you just open the door for the enemy to
come into your life. When you stop all those complaints and
you just lift your hands and you just start praising God,
thanking him for what he's already done, for what he's
about to do in your life, you have just opened the door for
God to work in your life. Keep that in mind. Complain means you
remain, you stay overnight. Praise means you make progress.
I'm challenging you right now to make this a part of your life.
Now, when we come back, I want to share some powerful
things with you that will convince you to stop
complaining and start expressing gratitude. I'll be right back.
(Music)
ANNOUNCER: A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.
You can unlock the chains of bondage from
your life and experience great blessings when
you develop a life of gratitude and praise. That's why
Terri is offering you her special gratitude package today.
In The Power of Gratitude, you'll discover how power is
released that can break barriers and bring break throughs when
you develop and express a grateful heart to God. You'll
also get the companion resource, My Gratitude Journal. This
convenient journal will become a treasured part of your daily
routine as you take account of God's goodness in your life.
Don't delay. Get this special package offer today and step
into the blessings God has for you. Call or go online to
request your copy of The Power of Gratitude along with My
Gratitude Journal. Call toll-free 800-795-5597 or visit
us online at Terri.com. Discover how the power
of gratitude can dramatically change your life today.
TERRI: So we're talking about the power of gratitude
and how a grateful heart is a magnet for
miracles. You know, that could be the one little thing
missing in your life is you haven't really just stopped
complaining and recognize what you have to be grateful for. I
truly believe that it will open doors in your life like never
before, doors of favor, opportunity, increase,
promotion. It gives God an open door to start moving in your
life. You know, when we first came out here to Rockwall,
Texas, it was in September of 2014. I left a position at my
dad's ministry, came out here, started from scratch. You know,
following the plan of God for my life. It was a big step of
faith. Well, that first day here, we're in our offices.
We're believing God for everything, computers, paper,
pens, energy drinks. We're believing for everything. Well,
we had our first little team meeting on day one. We're
sitting at this little table. I don't know why, the Lord just
put this on my heart. I've never seen anybody else do it. I never
learned it in a success book. I just passed out these little
post-its to everybody at the table. I said, "I want you to
just write down a few things that you're grateful for. It can
be big. It can be small, just something you're grateful for."
Well, they went around the table writing some things down. Then
one by one, I said, "Let's just share them out loud." They began
sharing them. Well, let me just tell you, you can't help but get
encouraged in an atmosphere like that, just that simple
procedure. Some team members remembered things that others
forgot. Others recognized little things that they didn't even
think of. I told them, "Share as big or as small as you want.
Nothing is insignificant." Well, we had so much to be grateful
for. People started sharing things like all the new people
we met last week in Boston or our YouTube subscribers have
doubled in just a short time or the new book release or that we
get to work in a faith-filled environment. I remember one
person saying, "The 14 year old little girl who stopped cutting
herself after hearing our messages. Thank you, Jesus." We
just went around the table, one by one, just sharing what we're
grateful for. Well, do you know that was in 2014. We haven't
stopped. We do it every single week. We know the Bible says,
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with
praise." I believe that's what you're doing. When you just
start your prayer time just saying, "Lord, I just want you
to know how grateful I am. Thank you so much that I had the day
off yesterday. Thank you, Lord, that's it's beautiful outside.
Thank you that I'm healthy. Thank you for the car I drive."
Can you imagine if your child entered your presence just
saying, "Mom, I just want you to know how grateful I am for
everything. I don't take it for granted this house we live in,
the clothes you buy me. I just want you to know I am so
grateful." If your children did that, wouldn't you just be like,
"What else do you want? I just want to overwhelm you with
blessings." That's how God feels too. Do you know, since that day
we started doing this, on day one, we've never stopped. Do you
know, we have never seen so much growth, favor, opportunities
increase in such a short time. In fact, my parents came out
here to tour the offices and just celebrate what God had
done. My dad said to me, he's looking around at the offices.
In fact, we have this big, giant gratitude wall where we put all
of our little post-its all over this wall. Everybody on my team
has a gratitude journal. Every week we're journaling our
gratitude. Well, my dad said to me, he said, "Sis, you know that
what's happening out at this ministry, it's not normal. This
is the goodness of God. This is the favor of God." In fact, he
said, "I've served on boards of ministries for 20 years. We've
never seen this kind of favor and opportunities." Then of
course my parents saw the gratitude wall. My mom was just
saying the other day, "I believe that is the key because you've
maintained a grateful heart. You're not taking things for
granted. You're not just, when something good happens, you're
not just like, 'That was awesome.'" Do you know our first
response every time is thank you, Jesus. A grateful heart is
a magnet for miracles. If you want to stop the progress in
your life, complain. I'm serious. Nothing will delay your
dreams more than complaining out of your mouth. In fact, not too
long ago, it was coming to the end of the year. I was just
starting to get tired from a lot of traveling and a lack of time
off, a lack of sleep, things like that. Little by little I
was starting to complain. I know better than to do this, but you
just start to little by little say things like, "I am so tired"
or "Oh man, I wish I could just have a day off to just rest,"
things like that. Well, finally, I got ahold of myself. I said,
"No complaining." I took that challenge, with myself, I said,
"For 30 days I am going to do my best to guard my mouth and not
let complaints come out of my mouth." That means over
everything. When you look in the mirror and you're grossed out
over maybe your body or your hair or you start to see some
lines and stuff, no complaining. No complaining about how you
slept. No complaining because of flights delayed and you're
sitting in an airport for hours. No complaining. I said, "I'm
going to make myself journal my gratitude for 30 days." Just
every morning going into my little prayer time with the
Lord, grab a pen and my journal and just write a few things down
that I'm grateful for. Well, I shared on a previous broadcast
how the first 30 days I ever did that some of the most amazing
things began to happen in my life. I'm talking about dreams
that I had for seven years came to pass in that 30 day time
period. Another dream I had for three years, to get a certain
book translated in French, it happened during that 30 days. I
mean major things were happening. One was that
our ministry received more donations ever to help our
outreaches with safe houses and girls' homes. We received
more donations ever in that single month. I could go on and
on, I just don't have time to tell you everything. Well, when
you start seeing God doing amazing things like that, my
lightening fast mind says, "I think I'll do another 30 days."
So I kept this up. The next time I did this, things like I
received invitations to speak in Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Barcelona,
on and on. I saved $5,000 on my daughter's dentist appointment.
I received a nice book royalty check. Our revenue at the
ministry up to that month in the year surpassed the entire
revenue of the previous year, 12 months. In fact that month that
we presented our broadcast to a network thinking that we're
gonna get one time slot they gave us eight time slots. I mean
it goes on and on and on. One thing after another. In fact,
the ministry, we saw things like it took us six years to get a
million views on YouTube. Now there's a million views every
six weeks. It was just like major acceleration. Well, I
believe, like a said, a grateful heart just opens the door for
God to do so much in your life. But when we complain it opens
the door for the enemy, so this is my challenge is for you to do
the same thing. Take that challenge with us. Number one,
go 30 days with no complaining. Number two, just start being
grateful. You know, throughout the Bible, the Lord says, "Be
thankful and say so." Ephesians 5.20 says, "Always giving thanks
to God the Father for everything." Zig Ziggler made
this quote. He says, "Of all the attitude we can acquire surely
the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the
most life changing." I agree with that. I never knew that ...
Just that simple act of being so grateful gives God so much room
to work in our lives. I've discovered that expressing
gratitude actually gives you strength. You know, a lot of
times you might feel just like you've lost the willpower to go
after your dreams. It may even be a dream to loose weight, a
dream to get out of debt, and sometimes you know you can get
excited about that dream, you get motivated, maybe you watch
broadcasts like this and you start to get that zeal. But then
when you get home and then you really have to start adding
discipline and commitment to it you just feel weak, you just
lost the zeal. Do you know that gratitude actually strengthens
you? In fact there's this scripture that says that Abraham
grew strong as he gave praise and worship to God. Isn't that
amazing? Well, there's also scripture in Psalm that says God
inhabits the praises of his people. That word inhabits just
means he lives in, he dwells in, and he abides in the praises of
his people. So when you go into your prayer time and you just
start saying, "Lord, I just wanna say thank you, I just
praise you Father for never leaving me nor forsaking me.
Thank you for giving me strength to do what I could never do on
my own. Father, thank you for healing my marriage, thank you
for healing my body." When you just start praising God you've
just welcomed his presence. He abides in the praises of his
people. Well, there's another scripture that says, "In his
presence there's fullness of joy." So when you praise God you
bring his presence and his presence brings joy. Well then
another scripture says, "The joy of the Lord gives you strength."
So to me it's like this mathematical equation, you
praise God, it brings his presence, his presence brings
joy, and joy gives you strength. Strength for what? To do
everything God's put in your heart to do. To pursue the
dreams that he's put in your heart. That's what it's gonna
take. You know, I remember years ago when I was going through
such a hard time in my life, I heard a minister say this. They
said, "Don't look at everything you've lost, look at what you've
got left and start praising God for it." I remember thinking,
"What do I have left, what do I have to praise God for?" But
they began to explain that when you praise God you open the door
for him to move into your life. I was so miserable at that time,
everything was falling apart, and I remember going down in my
kitchen at 11 o'clock at night, my marriage is falling apart,
I'm falling apart, and I made myself offer that sacrifice of
praise. I just started praising God and thanking him for
everything I had. Thank you for my house, thank you that I have
a job. Lord I thank you for that little girl asleep in her bed. I
prayed for that baby, and you gave me the desires of my heart.
Every time I would just start offering praise and thanksgiving
to God, the heaviness would lift, the depression would lift,
the misery would leave, and peace would come into my heart.
I'm telling you this gives God an opportunity to heal you, to
restore you, to strengthen you, to open doors like never before.
And let me just say this real quick. As you start this habit
with me of journeying your gratitude, stop complaining, do
you know the highest expression of your faith is when you start
thanking God ahead of time for what he's about to do in your
life. For example, I remember a couple of years ago at my
birthday party, I was sitting there opening presents and my
parents gave me a gift card to go shopping, my sister gave me
this beautiful Paris box with all these goodies in it, and
then my husband, I opened up his present and it's a piece of
paper that says, "You've got an iPad coming." I was like,
"Rodney, thank you!" I hugged him, you know. Well, really,
this is not an iPad, this is just on paper it's coming. What
would you think if I'd said, "I'll save the thanks when I see
it, thanks for nothing." He'd probably say, "You bratty little
wife, give me the iPad back." No, I thanked him because I
trust him, I trust his word, so if he said it I know he's gonna
do it. Well, God's the same way. You can trust him. God's the one
who said in Philippians, "Do not fret or have any anxiety about
anything but in every circumstance and in everything
by prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your request
known to God." That means when you present your dreams, your
goals, your faith projects to God, when you start thanking him
ahead of time, that's gonna get the ear of God. You've just
expressed the highest expression of faith is through praise and
thanksgiving. You can trust him so go ahead and thank him for
it. I want you to get this series "The power of gratitude"
and the "Gratitude Journal". As soon as it arrives, I want you
to take that 30-day challenge and say, "I'm gonna do this. I'm
gonna guard my mouth, I'm gonna make myself not complain, and
I'm gonna start journeying my gratitude." Listen to this
message over and over and over and let it just get on the
inside of you to where it just becomes a way of life, where you
just start thanking the Lord for what he's done and for what he's
about to do. So your praise, your thanksgiving, your
gratitude, that is the highest expression of your faith in God.
And the thing is you can trust him. He said, "Present your
request with thanksgiving." So take the challenge with me, and
then update me. I wanna hear what God is doing because we've
got some of the most amazing testimonies of people seeing
doors open up in their life because of a great God. Stop
looking at the years you lost, look at the years you got left.
ANNOUNCER: A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles, and you can
unlock the chains of bondage from your life and experience
great blessings when you develop a life of gratitude and praise.
That's why Terri is offering you her special gratitude package
today. In "The Power of Gratitude" you'll discover how
power is released that can break barriers and bring
break-throughs when you develop and express a grateful heart to
God. You'll also get the companion resource "My Gratitude
Journal". This convenient journal will become a treasured
part of your daily routine as you take account of God's
goodness in your life. Don't delay. Get this special
package offer today and step into the blessings God
has for you. Call or go online to request your
copy of "The Power of Gratitude" along with "My
Gratitude Journal". Call toll free 800-795-5597 or visit
us online at Terri.com. Discover how the power of
gratitude can dramatically change your life today.
(Music)
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