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From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night, you are negotiating, communicating, persuading, and influencing — trying to get people to cooperate with you to accomplish the things that you want them to accomplish. So the pivotal question with regard to selling is not if you are doing it, but if you are good at it.

Unfortunately, over the years, a stigma has grown up around the selling profession. Many people feel that selling is a low-level type of activity, and they don’t like to be associated with it — even people who are in sales! Virtually no colleges or universities have a ‘Department of Selling,’ even though almost 15 million Americans make their living by selling something to someone. It is the largest single identifiable occupational group in the United States.

Salespeople are the movers and shakers in every business and industry. They are the key people who create the demand for all the products and services that keep everyone employed at every other occupation.

The ‘Gap’

The basis for all successful sales efforts is a discipline called gap analysis. Gap analysis is clearly defining what your idea, product, or service can do for a person and then deciding how to demonstrate that in a compelling way.

The very best persuaders, communicators, and salespeople are those who concentrate their attention on identifying the gap that exists between a prospect’s current situation and the ideal situation and determine how big it is. They then focus on widening that gap in every possible way, until the prospect begins to feel more and more dissatisfied with his or her current situation and more and more desirous of enjoying the preferable situation that is achievable by the use of the product, service, or idea.

Let me give you an example. I recently took my car into the dealership for a regular checkup and service. I was quite happy with my car — it was a nice car, it was paid off, and it was running fine … or so I thought. The service manager did an excellent job of analysis and came back to me with the sad fact that the car required not only new tires all around, but also a complete new set of brakes, a wheel alignment, and a lot of other things. The total cost would be about $3,000.

You can imagine my reaction. I was shocked. I had no idea that the car required that much service. Well, I thought, what the heck, at least it’s cheaper than buying a new car. Then a salesman at the dealership pointed out to me that the car would drop another $2,000 in value at the turn of the model year, which was coming up in about 60 days. He told me that if I kept the car, and repaired it, I would lose $5,000 off the total value of the car, which I could never recover.

Suddenly, I went from complacency about my car to dissatisfaction, and then to great dissatisfaction and an intense desire to improve my condition in some way. The salesman then went on to explain that he could take my car as a down payment on a brandnew luxury car, with no cash out of my pocket, and he could spread the payments over three, four, or five years so that the cost to me would be very reasonable. At that, all my resistance vanished. I started out satisfied with my car, then became so dissatisfied with it that I bought a brand-new expensive luxury car — and, surprisingly enough, I drove away happy.

This sales person identified my gap — my car needed a tune-up. He then widened that gap, leaving me discouraged with my present situation. He then offered me a solution to fill that gap and satisfied my discouragement (filled the gap).

Remember that people buy solutions to their problems, not products or services. In fact, as a salesperson, you need to be more of a problem finder than a vendor. The more you focus on the problem, or the gap that exists between the real and the ideal in the customer’s situation, the faster you will find a place where your product or service can plug the gap.

Identifying the Gap’

The bigger the problem that the customer or prospect has, the bigger the potential sale. One of the most powerful questions you can ask a person is, ‘How much is that problem costing you?’ Help him or her to identify not only the obvious direct costs, but also the not-so-obvious indirect costs.

Ask the prospect, ‘What are the implications? What is the meaning of that problem to you? What other things does it affect in your work or personal life?’

The most astute salespeople are those who are capable of finding a small gap and then expanding it into a wide gap. They are capable of discovering a small problem or dissatisfaction in the mind of the prospect and then, by questioning and commenting, increase it until the prospect develops an intense desire for the solution they are offering.

If you are selling to companies, you have to use questions to determine what the decision makers in the organization want to accomplish. What is the gap between where they are and where they want to be? How is the decision maker rewarded, and for what? What does the decision maker have to do to earn the respect, esteem, and support of his or her superiors and co-workers?

One of the deepest subconscious needs of all people is the need for selfesteem, for feeling valuable, important, and worthwhile. If you can ascertain what people need to do to increase their self-esteem and their perceived value in their organization, and then show them that by using your product or service, they can earn the approval and appreciation of the people around them and above them, they will often be very motivated to buy what you are selling.

When you meet prospects for the first time, you will find that they are usually unaware that a gap exists between where they are and where they could be. They will often say things like, ‘I’m not interested,’ or ‘I can’t afford it,’ or ‘We’re quite happy with our current situation.’ These are normal and natural responses. No one likes to change. Your job is to describe a state of even greater satisfaction that they could enjoy if they did something different. Virtually all advertising is aimed at showing people how much better off they could be with a product or service that they have not yet acquired.

Ask Gap Questions

Gap analysis is based on asking good questions — questions focused on discovering problems that might be troubling the prospect. There is a direct correlation between the use of good questioning techniques and sales success. The more and better questions you ask aimed at finding a problem or uncovering a dissatisfaction, the more interest the prospect will have and the more sales you will make. The person who asks questions has control.

Good salespeople always plan the wording of their questions, rewriting them and practicing them before they get face-to-face with a prospect. Poor salespeople, on the other hand, make up their questions as they go along.

Here are some great questions for gap analysis.

The first question is an application of the ‘magic wand technique.’ Imagine that you have a magic wand that you can wave over the prospect’s situation and you ask this question: ‘Mr. [or Ms.] Prospect, if this situation were absolutely perfect in every respect, what would it look like?’ Then remain completely silent. When the prospect begins to describe the perfect situation, you’ll uncover the gaps you can fill to create his or her ideal future. When you explain how your product or service can bridge those gaps, you will greatly enhance your chances of making a sale.

A great set of questions begins with the words what if? — ‘What if you could do this? What difference would that make to your current situation?’ Or, ‘What if we could achieve this particular result for you? What effect would that have on your current operations?’

Good questions that grab the prospect’s attention will start him or her visualizing and imagining an ideal future state, exactly the state that your product or service is meant to achieve.

Fill the Gap

Now that you have asked questions aimed at uncovering your prospects’ current problems, needs, and dissatisfactions, you need to fill the gap with your solution. Listen carefully to the answers they give you, and ask additional questions to help them expand on their situation. Take a few moments to feed their answers back to them, to show that you were really listening and that you really understand their needs. Then position yourself to influence and persuade your prospects by showing them how your product or service just happens to be the ideal way to solve their problems, satisfy their needs, or achieve their goals.

When you take this low-pressure approach to getting people to do what you want them to do, they will buy from you with pleasure, and they will recommend you to their friends. They will feel they are being helped to improve their lives rather than being pressured into buying something that they many not want or need.

Brian Tracy is one of the world’s leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness, and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area.

Brian Tracy’s audio programs are available at Nightingale Conant — title include: Psychology of Achievement, The Ultimate Goals Program, The Power of Clarity, The Psychology of Selling and others.

Nightingale Conant has several success resources available including a free Mission Statement Builder and a free subscription to their Motivational Quote.

No sales force can truly be considered a ‘best practice’ unless it meets the test of measurement. If the ‘practice’ works, you should be able to visualize, define, and measure the results. There is no easier way to prove the ‘measurement’ theory than with sales.

In the past 15 years, strategic management has focused more and more on measurement. Strategic management was revolutionized in the early 1990’s by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton when they created their measurement system, the ‘balanced scorecard’. Other approaches adhere to the same rule of accountability by recognizing some of the weaknesses and vagueness of earlier management approaches.

Measurement provides a clear prescription as to what companies in all areas, from sales to marketing should measure in order to reach their financial goal. You often hear the expression in sales, ‘what gets measured gets done’, but in recent years I have expanded this statement to, ‘what gets measured by the individual, creates accountability and therefore gets done’.

For instance, as a sales manager you may give your sales force a specific sales target, a measurement if you will. At the end of the month or quarter if the sales person did not reach that target, you may question them on it. Chances are you have heard every variable and excuse in the book; ‘Our product or service has no name brand recognition’, ‘Our product was too expensive’, ‘I cannot get anyone to meet with me’. Giving the sales force a ‘target’ or a measurement, still leaves a window of accountability. In fact, what gets measured still may not get done.

Measurement alone is not enough to create accountability. You also need a commitment or buy in from the sales person. Commitment is internally motivated while compliance is external. Compliance is following a rule, commitment is something you believe in. If you empower your sales force to create their own set of measurements, they are going to be more motivated to meet them. Often when measurements or targets are instituted and monitored by someone else, the responsibility can easily be diffused to other external forces.

There are various ways to create accountability and commitment in a sales force. For example, in the weekly sales meeting, you can ask your sales person to quantify each and every prospect and opportunity in his or her sales cycle. If they are given a target of X amount, ask them to determine the number of appointments they will need to reach that goal, take it a step further by asking them to determine the amount of calls needed each day and week to make the specified number of appointments. Once they have created their own set of measurements, ask them to rate each prospect. Which ones have a greater chance of closing? Why?

Accountability and ownership is the first step in establishing legitimate return measures. With systematic assessment and ongoing evaluation, an individual can become more and more committed to reaching his or her own personal goals.

Copyright 2005 Thomas Baskind

About The Author
Thomas Baskind is a managing partner in Lexien, a sales performance improvement and management consulting company. Tom works with a wide range of companies helping them improve sales and leadership effectiveness. http://www.lexien.com.

The perfect investment would be a permanent medium that guarantees safety of principal,
steadily increasing income, steady growth, instant liquidity, and protection of purchasing
power. Good luck with that.

In the world we inhabit, nothing is safe. Nothing is sure in any field of life. The world is a competitive place.
Sorry to be the one to tell you.

In short, it’s a jungle out there and the worlds’ wealth does not, will not, and can not
increase fast enough to allow for the compounding of interest or the pyramiding of profits
on everyones’ ‘invested capital’ all at the same time. Someone has to lose!

Losses are an economic fact of life. That’s why, every so often, adjustments are made
through bankruptcies, scaling down of obligations, and currency devaluations.

Thus, in the pursuit of wealth, as the economic pendulum swings back and forth, one finds
oneself forced to ’speculate’.

To speculate, of course, meaning to think about things yet unknown; trying to
foresee the changing economic tides and attempting to conserve purchasing power through
the retention of cash, money market funds, and bonds during cycles of deflation, and
various forms of equity holdings during cycles of inflation.

The perfect investment? Yeah, right. As the song says, ‘Welcome to the jungle, baby!’

Because No One Cares More About Your Money Than You

http://dynamic-stock-market-strategies.com

Good trading,
Don Heggen

Many dual income couples, include their children on each group health insurance plan to maximize benfits. However, without some sort of system in place to help the health insurance companies coordinate benefits, it’s possible that either you or your doctor would be reimbursed for more than 100 percent of the actual cost of your claim.

To prevent this, health insurance companies typically designate one parent’s health insurance plan as the primary plan and the other as the secondary plan. (That’s why the patient questionnaire at your doctor’s office asks for information on primary and secondary coverage.) The primary plan is responsible for paying covered expenses up to the limits of the policy. If any unpaid costs are left over, the secondary coverage kicks in.

THE DATE OF BIRTH DETERMINES WHICH HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDES COVERAGE

The birthday rule is often used to determine which plan is primary and which is secondary. Under this rule, the plan of the parent whose birthday occurs first in the calendar year is designated as primary. The date of birth is the determining factor not the year so it doesn’t matter which spouse is older.

Like most rules, the birthday rule has exceptions:

- If both parents share the same birthday, the parent who has been covered by his or her plan longest provides the primary coverage for the children.

- If one spouse is currently employed and has health insurance through a current employer, and the other spouse has coverage through a former employer, the plan belonging to the curently employed spouse would be primary.

- In the event of divorce or seperation, the plan of the parent with custody generally provides primary coverage. If the custodial parent remarries, the new new spouse’s coverage becomes secondary. And finally, the non custodial parent’s health insurance plan would provide a third layer of insurance protection. This order of payment can be altered by a court issued divorce decree or by agreement, but the health insurance companies must be notified.

THESE ARE JUST HEALTH INSURANCE RULES NOT THE LAW

Keep in mind that these practices are common among health insurance companies, but they are not governed by law. Practices may vary from one insurer to another. Read your policy carefully to make sure you understand how your insurance company handles dual coverage. If the policy coverage is unclear, ask for help from your employers benefit specialist or your insurer’s customer service department.

About The Author
Ivon T. Hughes of The Hughes Trustco Group is a licensed Insurance Broker. Author of The Life Insurance Handbook. Get a FREE Copy TODAY!
Email:
Web: http://www.hughestrustco.com

A second-to-die life insurance policy, or survivorship life as it’s sometimes called, insures two lives - a husband and wife usually or business partners. However, the death benefit isn’t paid out until the second insured person dies.

Usually, the death benefit from a second-to-die life insurance policy is intended to go to the children , a charity or pay taxes owed after both spouses pass away.

In the U.S. there is a marital deduction permitting you to leave an unlimited amount of assets to your surviving spouse with no taxes payable at your death. Those assets then become part of the estate of the spouse and if it includes a second to die life insurance polciy it could help pay any taxes. In Canada, there is more lenient tax treatment.

There are also tax ramifications for small businesses, which is why business partners also purchase second-to-die policies.

THE REASON TO BUY SECOND TO DIE LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES

With a second-to-die life insurance policy your beneficiaries can pay debts with the proceeds of your policy, so they won’t be forced to sell your house or liquidate assets to pay the bill.

A second-to-die life insurance policy can help to construct a financial plan reducing the tax burden of wealthy individuals by creating trusts and using second-to-die life insurance as part of the estate-planning process.

ADVANTAGES TO SECOND TO DIE LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES

1. Less expensive. Second-to-die life insurance is usually less expensive than life insurance but depends on the blend of the ages. The premium is based upon the joint life expectancy.

2. Estate Preservation. A second-to-die policy appeals to individuals who feel strongly about preserving their estates with the life insurance paying the taxes.

3. Easier to buy. It’s easier to qualify for a second-to-die policy than for individual life insurance. Since both insureds must die before the benefit is payable, the insurance company is less concerned that one of them might not be in good health.

* Builds your estate. In some cases, second-to-die life insurance is marketed as a way to build an estate, not just insulate it from taxes. Much like individual life insurance, the death benefit of a second-to-die policy can ensure that certain people receive money, even if you spend every nickel.

4. Second-to-die life insurance might make sense for people who don’t have a lot of money but want to leave an estate for their children.

About The Author
Ivon T. Hughes of The Hughes Trustco Group is a licensed Insurance Broker. Author of The Life Insurance Handbook. Get a FREE Copy TODAY!
Email:
Web: http://www.hughestrustco.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will start a new company that will offer long term care insurance policies beginning in July 2006 and concentrate on providing long-term care services to individuals.

The individual policies would include coverage for assisted living and nursing care but there would be no group coverage products available.

CHRONIC ILLNESSES CAN BE COVERED BY LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE

Unlike traditional medical insurance coverage, long term care coverage helps patients address chronic illnesses and disabilities that employer policies and Medicare don’t cover. They usually include meals and help with daily activities such as bathing and getting dressed. This will help protect them as the average cost of nursing home care is more than $50,000 a year, according to the AARP.

U.S. Census data suggest that the population of people 65 and older will double to more than 70 million by 2030. Meanwhile the average growth in the number of long term care policies has been 18% a year.

COMPANY WILL GO NATIONAL WITH ITS LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE

The new company expects to have 12 employees the first year and expects to expand its long term care business to other states.

Currently, there are about 100 insurance companies, across the nation that sell long term health insurance products. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which provides health care benefits to 4.7 million members, will be the sole investor in the newly formed company.

‘What you will see, traditionally, is that there have been several companies that offer such products,’ said Mohit Ghose, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a Washington, D.C. based healthcare association representing 1,300 member insurance companies. ‘I think more choice for consumers is always a good thing.’

About The Author
Ivon T. Hughes of The Hughes Trustco Group is a licensed Insurance Broker. Author of The Life Insurance Handbook. Get a FREE Copy TODAY!
Email:
Web: http://www.hughestrustco.com

Do you find yourself running a small business with difficulty getting to every call? When running a small business people often feel that simply putting in a separate business line away from the home line will be good enough. It’s just a matter of time, however, that you’ll realize that one separate line is just not good enough to get to every call and to get messages from every call. With the help of a small business phone system you can take phone calls as if you’re actually in a true work office.

There are small business phone systems of all sizes for different home businesses, whether it is just you working at your home or a small business that is closer related to an actual business. There are numerous different options to allow you to get what fits your business best. You can choose from how many central office lines and extensions the phone has, whether the system is advanced enough to work with answering machines, cordless phones, fax machines and computer modems without the need for additional cards or modules, and whether you want voice mail expansion or not.

The options are endless and the accessories that can be added to the different models of phone systems help bring your system to the quality of a high end business company. The small business phone systems can become quite pricy depending on how much you add and how high quality of a model you choose, but as soon as you buy one you’ll realize what you’ve been missing out on.

Panasonic has a great website selling numerous different models and accessories to phone systems. For a basic home business, Panasonic has a backlit Three-Line LCD speakerphone selling at $219.99. This system includes three separate lines, 24 programmable buttons to allow you to program features such as speed-dial phone numbers, an intercom, transfer buttons, hold key, and much more.

There are many other models in between the lines, but the top of the line speakerphone system from Panasonic sells for $999.99. What this comes with is six central office lines with 16 extensions, plus an expansion of three central office lines and eight extensions. The touch-tone single line phones allow you to access call transfer, conference calling, hold, intercom, and many more features. You can have up to 100 speed-dial numbers programmed and personal speed-dial allows each extension up to 10 speed-dial numbers. These two small business phone systems and many more can be found at:

http://www.smarthome.com/5211.html

As mentioned earlier, these phone systems can become quite pricy. One thing that this website does offer are open box buys. These are items that function completely fine, but have been returned, used as demo products, or have missing or damaged packaging. While all sales are final, the offers can save you up to 75%. An example of the great deal is a 32-mailbox voice processing system that originally sales for $699.99 that you can purchase for just $499.99, just because it may have been used as a demo.

Yes, it is expensive you might say for just a phone. However, starting a business isn’t always going to be cheap. Just remember that in order to make money you’re going to have to spend a little money as well. With the help of a small business phone system you’ll be on your way to receiving numerous calls, helping your small business proceed to success.

About The Author
Jeff Schuman II
Small business grants and small business resources to help you start and run your own small business. Small business training, information, articles, loans and more.
http://www.sites-plus.com

What is going on in the world? To answer that let’s examine the Christian image of our Heavenly Father. We will do this through a backwards scrutiny process. That is: we will begin where we are and look back into the history of our belief to find a foundation for our faith. In effect we are starting at the top of the house and examining the structure downward until we reach the foundation. Our objective is foundation identification. Our foundation is our Father.

I am going to start by referring to the book of Matthew. Jesus must be the root of our study because therein is the answer to our quest for understanding of our birthright and heritage. Jesus referred to us as seeds sown in the field of the world. He said those seeds that are good are the sons of the kingdom of God. He said that at the end of the age we would shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father. (Matt. 13:37-43) Further he told us that we should not worry about our lives but search for and seek the Kingdom of our Father. (Matt. 6:25-34) Jesus spent a great deal of time on this matter. It is contained in one of his longest surmons. He said we must struggle to understand, we must make an effort to incorporate these spiritual things into our very being. (Matt. 7:7-12) The very thought implies we must spend time thinking and pondering things beyond our physical capabilities. We must learn of our spiritual heritage through struggle. Not struggle in the physical sense. That is; not in combat, but in mental struggle, in our minds.

Jesus told us he and his Father are one. (John 10:29-30) Jesus said he was in the Father and the Father was in him. (John 10:38) He said that in our Father’s house are many rooms and he has gone to prepare a place for us. (This place having been prepared already after his death and resurrection. We need only accept this as our relative position in the universe.) He said we know the way to the place were he is going. (John 14:1-4; John 12:50) He was saying he and our Father were one when he said ‘if you really knew me you would know the Father.’ (John 14:6-7; 14:10-14)

Now comes the really important thing that Jesus himself said that stipulates that we are members of the body of God! Jesus said that we would realize that he (Jesus) is in his Father and we are in him (Jesus) and he (Jesus) is in us. (John 14:20) I could, and probably should, rest my case here. I will not though, after all, I am a writer. I will continue to assert the strength of the spirit of our Father and its influence in our lives and the impact of such on the entire planet. The contingency of this entire life form renewal is this: obey Jesus’ command! (John 15:17)

Jesus said over and over that he would be raised because he had a command from the Father that he would do. This command was to lay down his life for those chosen and to take it back up again.

Jesus prayed shortly before his death that we would be brought into complete unity with him and the Father. (John 17: 20-23) Isn’t it clear? For Jesus this was not a matter of faith but of knowledge! He was certain! He knew! He needn’t have faith that he was the Son of God! He knew it! He realized we must have faith that we are the children of God, but certainly he gave us enough evidence to assume the facts are the facts. If we don’t accept this then we do not accept Jesus (do we?). For that purpose He left the Holy Spirit to guide us.

This is the mission of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is not a part of God in the sense that it is a third entity in the trinity. The trinity is a doctrine thought up by the early Catholic Church that was an attempt to explain the presence of the Holy Spirit in the discussions of Jesus. The early Catholic Church had something when they described God in a Trinity and it has stuck through the years. I am not going to argue the validity of the doctrine however, Jesus never said I and my Father and the Holy Spirit are one! Likewise, you cannot separate the Holy Spirit from Jesus and God so, why argue about what you call that special relationship?

The Holy Spirit is:

* the glue that binds the body of God together.

* structure that connects the cells.

* the DNA of the God head.
* the comforter around your shoulders that says you belong.

* the indescribable knowledge of things you have not experienced.

* the share of the love of God that envelops you.

* the protocol converter that allows your soul and spirit to pray uninhibited to God.
* the conversion method that builds you into the full measure of the unity.

* the presence that warns you of danger and rewards you for things done in secret.
* the path on which God sends his peace and love.

The Holy Spirit is not:

* a ghost that travels from individual to individual.

* an entity that descends on you only in the presence of the TV evangelists.
* a member of the council of God.
* a messenger boy.
* a telecommunications link to dial when it is your will.

* a ticket to pass go and control God’s actions.

Jesus referred to the kingdom of Heaven in nearly every parable. Usually beginning with:

‘The kingdom of heaven is like …’

Usually, he told of its similarity to a farmer sowing seeds or of something growing. The problem is that the early church (after experiencing phenomenal growth and severe persecution) let the power that was awarded them through spiritual growth go to their heads. (Remember: We grow spiritually in direct relation to the number of people that we influence toward the knowledge of God! Toward the gospel … that the Kingdom of God is near. We grow with the number of seeds of this type we plant.) These early churches began developing laws and councils not to establish new and more efficient ways to share the gospel that the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15) was near, but to usurp the power of God on earth and exert control over the humans themselves.

You and I must pay the price for this inconsiderate and arrogant behavior to this day. This behavior is referred to in the Bible as prostitution because the church, in so doing has subjugated itself to the governments of humans. It is no longer spreading the love of God but hoarding gold into their own treasuries. They have placed their treasure on earth and therefore their hearts on earth as well. They have allowed themselves to become the puppets of the governments and not the measure of it! Now; at long last; only in the end, do they begin to see that the ones thought to be their servants are actually their masters! What a sad day for them. It is as though they were drunk. They have lived off the money they have extracted through guilt placed religiously on the masses. They have increased the burden continually harder and heavier constantly taking more under the guise of good works until they have squeezed the life from the people. The people having been drained by the governments and by the religious groups calling themselves churches have grown callused and cold and incapable of trusting or loving. How can we trust these organizations to teach us who God is? How?

Don’t you see? Have you never read in the Bible where God had already worked mightily among the gentiles without the exertion of the Hebrew laws? The first vestiges of this human need to control were shown when the disciples from Judea were telling new believers in Antioch they would have to be circumcised to be saved. God didn’t impose that on them! What gave the humans the right to? (Acts 15) Who was to say what was impure and immoral? If God gave his spirit to these new believers who were these humans to issue controls? Jesus left only two commands: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and might; and love one another. (Matt. 22:37-39) Just go sow the seed without judging or imposing laws … let the King worry about weather someone is dressed properly for the wedding. (Matt. 22:8-14)

So, let us get back to God. Who is God? How is he formed?

‘Yet to as many as received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God; children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’ (John 1:12-13)

The original apostles basically rejected Paul, who was called after Jesus had risen, due to his doctrine. Yet his letters have survived to this day. None of the apostles had more anointing from God than Paul did and certainly none had more vision. None seemed willing to accept God’s will to free human kind.

Paul teaches us we received the spirit of son-ship not fear. He told the Romans that if we were sons we were also heirs and if heirs, co-heirs with Christ. How can we argue with chapter eight of Romans? (Rom 8:28-30) If Jesus and God are one and Jesus and we are one are we not one with God? Or at least is that not the ultimate goal of God’s will? If then Jesus is one with God and yet still maintains his independent identity do we not also maintain ours after we have reached that glorified state? If Jesus maintains his independent identity (yet shared throughout our Father) then our Father must be a being constructed of many cells of independent identities purified and glorified! How can we continue to set our Father on some thrown in outer space? How long before we embrace him and let him take us into his embrace? How long must we maintain this adolescent arrogance that separates us from our Father?

Our Father … is just that! He is our Father!

Haven’t we been told our bodies are the temple of God, because God lives in us? (1 Cor. 3:16) How can we continue to think of ourselves as mere pawns and servants in a game of life that does not accept us? How can we continue to be encumbered by the physical burdens put on us by churches, governments, and the media?

If we are part of a body unit (as we are referred to in the very Bible we hold as truth) and so it is with Christ (1 Cor. 12:1) is it not so also with God? There is only one God. Only one Father. Only one body. Only one faith. Only one spirit. Over all, through all, and in all. (Eph. 4:4-6) It is impossible that our heavenly Father could have spawned a child different than himself. Jesus told us over and over that the Kingdom of heaven was like a farmer sowing seeds. He told us over and over the fruit would be of the same species as the plant on which it grew. But even earlier in the Bible there is evidence that everything God created brought forth after its own kind! (Gen. 1:11-12, 1:21-22, 1:24-25) Most important of these was in Genesis 1:27 when God created man in his (God’s) own image. This did not indicate that man looked like God! What one activity of creation set man apart from the remainder of the creatures and plants? We find the answer in Gen 2:7 where our Father breathed into our nostrils the breath of life. Not the breath of physical life, the breath of the spirit of our Father. This is the same breath; the same term; used in those last days of Jesus (after the resurrection) when he breathed on the disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ (John 20:22) Jesus was in actuality the redeemer of the human race because we lost the spirit of God in the fall of man when Adam disobeyed the commands of God.

As time passed and humans became more dependent on the physical solution; they lost all spiritual contact with the Father. Men relegated Our Father to a far away and distant kingdom. In effect (as a result of fear and guilt caused by disobedience) men created god! Whoa! What am I saying? I am saying only this … humans created the box that put our Father off in the far reaches of outer space … I am saying Adam rejected Him. Remember God used to walk and talk with Adam in the Garden of Eden. It was after Adam disobeyed that he (Adam) began to hide. He (human-kind) has hidden ever since. We still hide today.

Romans 11:32 reads that (you need to read all of Romans) God bound all humans to sin so that He could show mercy to all humans. Our Father in his infinite love for us sent another to redeem us from that sin. Because of this, we cannot say “I earned it!” or “God owes me!” There is only one way that God allows the bondage of sin (that He bound humans in) to be removed and that is through Jesus. This Jesus was the second Adam who did obey and conquered death and breathed into us the living spirit the second time! We can’t be good enough to earn our place with God. God will not allow it. If we want to be with Him we must accept the way He provided so that we cannot take credit away from Him. He will not allow us to place ourselves on an equal footing with Him. If you don’t like that, get over it!

Didn’t Jesus say He and the Father are one? If He and our Father are one yet different members, isn’t it true that God is also one as well as many members? I don’t say this to simplify God nor to reduce his deity! Don’t condemn me until you have allowed the spirit to open your eyes to the immensity of the potential! Do you think for a minute that our Father quit creating worlds when he created ours? Do you think for a minute God was created by humans and limited to their measly little calculation capabilities? Do you think for a minute the Father of our spirits is limited to just those things you can see? Get real! (1 Cor. 12:12-30)

God is love. If this is so (and I believe it is); then love never fails, keeps a record of wrongs, and is not easily angered. (1 Cor. 13) Does this imply that God is a blob, a cloud of entities floating around the cosmos making all who come in contact feel good? Not! Our Father is a body closely knit together by the Holy Spirit. Take a minute and read John 17.

As Jesus is our head so our Father is Jesus head. There is a government within the body of God. (This is a mystery still because the generation of the eternal Father pre-existed our generation and has not been revealed to us. I suspect because it is none of our business (yet). Be aware though that a body such as this with total and complete love and communication grows in power, strength, and glory exponentially through the sowing of the seeds of the gospel and harvesting of the souls of the chosen!) This is why Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.’ (Matt. 23:36) Why do we continue to limit our Father to a box in outer space? Are we one body or not? Are we sons of God, or not? Do we believe or not?

Isn’t it clear? By boxing our Father up in our own minds … by creating a window through which we will allow ourselves to view him … we are not limiting God … we are limiting our ability to accept his love and grace. We are pushing him away with our own hands and preventing his love from enveloping us.

Here then is my faith: That my Father (whom I love) has extended sufficient love toward me to include me in the body of Christ (which has become the body of God … because Jesus is IN God and God is IN Jesus). I will do my best to be worthy of that honor. I have HOPE because I know that the grace provided for me through Jesus is sufficient to cover the gap between who I am now and who I will be. Further, I have the peace that comes with total confidence that my Father’s intervention and investment is sufficient that he will not allow me to be taken (against my will) from the body. I know that my will is to do his will. That is to say; my will is to fulfill the command left me by Jesus. That command is ‘Love one another’. Jesus, having fulfilled the command our Father gave him (Matt. 26:42, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42), has overcome time. Time was forced to acknowledge him its master when he was resurrected. Therefore, the time of Jesus life though non-synchronous with our own still includes us not only now, but in the past and in the future as well. That is to say that though I was unworthy I am worthy because the will of our Father was fulfilled through the obedience of Jesus. Since Jesus obeyed our Father’s command I can be justified through him. What a spectacular gift! Our Father has bestowed his kingdom on us and provided the method both to mature us and protect the kingdom from our disobedience in one single act!

I leave this final evidence: We are all sons of our Father through faith in Jesus; all of us who have been initiated into Christ; have been clothed with Christ. There are no races. There are no sexes. There are not bosses. We are all one in the body. We are all heirs with Christ. Even though we are heirs, we have been treated as employees; because we were too young spiritually to be afforded the position of our birth. Likewise, as children, we are subject to the fantasies and principles of the world. Our Father though sent Jesus (his son); born of a woman (so that he would also be flesh as we are); to rescue our spirits. He redeemed our spirits so we would be able to receive the full rights of sons. Because we are sons, our Father sent the spirit of his son (Jesus) into our hearts. That spirit calls out ‘Dad! Father!” We are no longer slaves to the laws! We are sons! We are the offspring of God; when will we accept this and begin to act like it? (Gal. 3:26 - 4:7)

Redeem means to rescue, ransom, or liberate from captivity. As children we hide from the potential punishment we believe is pending due to our guilty feelings brought on by our disobedience. (Additionally, the prosecution (the devil) sits at our side and accuses us of sins, to the point that we defy reality and turn our backs on the potential of our birthright.) The truth of the matter is that our only disobedience can be, not loving each other and not loving Him!

Our Father has given those to prepare God’s people for unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Don’t you see? As we continue to grow in love we also grow into him who is our head! We grow into Christ. That’s right! The same Christ who is one with God. (John 17, Eph. 4:12-16)

This is a very simple choice: continue in the struggle with ceaseless lust for more possessions and sensuality; thereby clouding our comprehension and separating ourselves from a life with our Father … or … love each other and grow into the unique and complete oneness with him! (Eph. 4:18-19)

Our Father … God … has invited us with all vigor to grow up! Our Father has given us a way to become one with him through Christ! What are we waiting for? Let’s do it!

Finally, as we mature spiritually, so also does the anti-body (the anti-Christ who is probably also of the seed of Abraham). We should be happy, as the world seems to become more embroiled in the anarchy that persists. It is inevitable that these things happen. I wanted to explain what was happening as best I could before they did.

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Tim Tuohy is a senior designer for mainframe systems at one of this country’s largest railroads. He is assigned to the Communications Server Support group. He is an honorably discharged, decorated veteran of the Air Force. His extensive training and education, as well his travels throughout the North American continent, bring reality and excitement his novels and stories. His accomplishments include many highly technical designs and installations. He lives outside Atlanta where he is working on a new novel.

People sell real estate notes to raise cash quickly. A real estate note is just the loan document created when you financed the sale of your house or investment property. It could be a mortgage note, or a land-contract or contract-for-sale. The point is that the buyer is making payments to you, and you want to cash in.

You can sell the entire contract, or just a certain number of payments if you want. The buyer of your property will have the same terms and payments. He’ll just be making those payments to somebody else.

Selling real estate notes can be an intimidating process. You know you won’t get the full face value for your note, but will there be other fees you have to pay too? How do you know if the buyer is reputable? What is a normal discount on a note? Here are some guidelines to follow:

1. No upfront fees. If they ask, go someplace else. You should be able to find many note buyers who will check your buyers credit and give you a quote without charging you.

2. No other fees, with a couple exceptions. The buyer has already figured his expenses before making the offer, so there are only a couple fees you should have to possibly pay. First, you may have to pay for the title policy, if there are problems with the title that prevent purchase. Second, if the property appraises at less than the sales price, you may have to pay for the appraisal. You should only pay exactly what these cost the note buyer though.

3. Be sure that the note buyer gives you a written purchase agreement with the purchase price and contingencies. Ask questions about anything that isn’t clear.

4. The note buyer should check the credit of your property buyer upfront. Unscrupulous buyers can quote one price initially, and then lower it later, using the excuse of the property buyer’s bad credit score. This is called ‘bait and switch,’ and it isn’t ethical.

5. Contact several note buyers for quotes. You’ll need to provide information like the type of property, sale price, payment amounts, current balance, etc. They should respond within a day or two.

6. When you get a quote you like, you’ll have to send copies of the Mortgage or Deed of Trust, the Note, the closing or Settlement Statement, and the Title Policy. If there is no recent appraisal, they will usually arrange for that.

7. Processing time varies, so ask. Usually, once you agree to the offer and send the documents (if done by mail), you can expect to receive a certified check or electronic transfer to your account within two to three weeks.

Get Top Dollar When You Sell Real Estate Notes

Notes with a balloon payment get a higher price. ‘Seasoned’ notes sell for more too. Those are notes that have had payments made on them for a while. Some note buyers will buy new or ‘unseasoned’ notes, but if you can wait until six payments have been made, you’re likely to get a much better price.

Higher interest rates and shorter loan periods will get you more money too. This is something to consider before you sell the house, if you think you might sell the note in the future.

You can sell second mortgage notes, and other second-place real estate notes as well. Note buyers will look at these differently though. The first and second place notes can’t add up to much more than 70% of the value of the property, or you’ll be looking at a steep discount

Discounts, by the way, will almost always seem steep. It is common for note buyers to pay 20% to 30% less than the current balance on the note. I’ll let them explain why. Suffice it to say, they need to make money on the deal, and you should be sure you have a good use for that cash before you sell those real estate notes.

About The Author
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. See a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500 on his home page, or go straight to the section on real estate investing: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com/investing-in-real-estate.html

Where not here to crow on about that, instead we want use this move as an illustration of how to time a trade correctly. In all markets when they go right great and sure we piled up big profits, but markets can make us all look stupid and they do regularly!

Here we want to go over two ways to cut the risk of trading in energies (and other markets) so lets look at them. Don’t predict. This is one lesson traders never learn.

It was tempting to buy into the support in the crude and unleaded gas, but we waited and used the stochastic indicator to time the entry - when it crossed with bullish divergence, we entered.

Not only does this method help you get in, it also helps you stay out, until the time is right.

We are extremely bullish of natural gas and wanted to get in and waited when prices approached support for the stochastic to give us the buy. It didn’t.

Prices have since dropped. We will get an opportunity, but won’t trade natural gas until support holds and momentum picks up. The lesson is always buy strength and don’t try and pick a bottom, that’s a mugs game.

Pay no attention to the news

Energies (and most other financial markets) are driven by trader psychology. Let’s look at the supposed fundamental reasons for the move today.

Three bits of news that are supposed to be bullish, there are more but check these out:

In Nigeria the world’s 12th-largest oil producer and eighth-largest oil exporter unidentified gunmen on

Tuesday kidnapped two Filipino oil-industry employees of Petroleum Geo-Services, a Norway based company

In Norway the world’s seventh-largest oil producer and third-largest oil exporter an oil service strike that began Wednesday threatens production.

Exxon’s Baytown refinery is having problems restarting earlier this week, and an oil spill in a Louisiana channel affecting some refinery operations also encouraged traders to buy.

Big deal and this moved the price of oil? Don’t think so.

News is always around and most of it has no influence on prices, so don’t pay attention to it. The only bit of news that’s significant is that Iran and America are at loggerheads, but we knew that anyway.

Finally

These markets are driven by greed and fear and there is no better place to see this than in the charts. When you look at the charts be patient and don’t pick bottoms watch for STRENGTH To enter and never enter on weakness.

The stochastic is the best short term indicator to time entry points so check it out.

Do we think these energies are going higher? The answer is at present yes, they could test new highs but rather than predict we will let the market action tell us.

FOR more FREE info

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