Do you ever struggle with making or keeping good habits?

Do you want to make a difference?

Do you consistently live the life that will move you toward your dreams?

Today is for you if…

“Your beliefs become

Your thoughts.

Your thoughts become

Your words.

Your words become

Your actions.

Your actions become

Your habits.

Your habits become

Your values.

Your values become

Your destiny.”

–Mahatma Gandhi

Do an action long enough, and it becomes a habit.

Habits are acquired behavior patterns regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

My old habits…

Snooze button

Eat too much

Habit can be:

Your life is made up of habits.

Habits will make or break us. Serve us or hold us back.

Decide On a New Habit

What habits do you need to create that bring you closer to your destiny?

What habit will help you become the person you need to be to get you closer to your destiny or enjoy the journey more?

I want to read more.

Decide On an Old Habit to Eliminate

What habits do you need to eliminate that are holding you back or hurting you?

I deleted a game on my phone that I had won over 4000 levels. It wasn’t bad for me, but it was sucking my time.

Know Your Why

Make sure it means something to you.

Your why keeps you going when it gets tough, and you want to quit.

Replace an Old Habit With a New Habit

Law of exchange.

Be Consistent

The turtle wins the race.

Small steps make a big difference over time.

Never Give Up

Miss a day, keep going.

You’re not starting over. The progress you’ve made is still encoded in you.

Give yourself compassion

Don’t give up, but most importantly, don’t beat yourself up when you mess up.

Fear is one of the biggest obstacles to creating good habits, taking action, and changing our beliefs, thoughts and words. If you’ve been making excuses for years, isn’t it time you live fearlessly free? Get my three habits to live fearlessly free and jumpstart your courageous life today.

heatherbunch.com/courage

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Do you have a dream in your heart but going anywhere fast?

Have you been saying, “someday I’ll…” Write a book, change careers, start a family, learn a new skill…but some days never seem to come?

Do you know what to do to make your purpose a reality but freeze up instead of moving forward?

Today is part 4 of our personal growth series. You’ve learned fulfilling your destiny all starts with your beliefs. Your beliefs affect your thoughts, and your thoughts determine your words. Well, your words produce something that moves the ball down the field toward your dreams.

Today is for you if…

About ten years ago, I finally started to have a dream. If anyone ever asked me what I wanted during that time, I would say, “I’m going to write Bible Studies one day.”

Except for one day never came…until I read The Seven Decisions by Andy Andrews. The Deathbed exercise brought me back to reality. I was saying one day but never took any action.

“Your beliefs become

Your thoughts.

Your thoughts become

Your words.

Your words become

Your actions…

–Mahatma Gandhi

Your Words create your Actions.

Belief creates> Thoughts create > Words create > Actions

Here are three steps to creating the actions that fulfill your destiny–your God-given purpose.

Examine Current Actions

Are your actions leading you to the life you desire or not?

You’ve got to know where you’re starting to get to where you want to go.

If you’re getting up every day watching Netflix and scrolling social media, those actions won’t get you anywhere near your dream.

Pick a New Action

What new Actions do I need to take to get me to the right destiny?

Maybe, you dream of sharing your story or the message God gave you, and you want to do that through speaking.

Example: What action can you take right now toward that dream?

If you are unsure of the right path or purpose, check out the podcast series starting with “Episode138 - What’s your biggest wish for the new year” to get you started.

Also, you don’t have to have 50 new actions…start with one or two that get you moving and move the ball down the field.

Reverse Engineer the New Action

Reverse Engineer the action to produce the results you desire

Belief > Thoughts > Words > Actions

What new Words do I need to speak to create the action?

What new Thoughts do I need to think to create the new Words?

What new Beliefs do I need to embrace to create the right thoughts?

The new beliefs, thoughts and words are the FUEL to actually do the new actions.

Fear is one of the biggest obstacles to taking action and changing our beliefs, thoughts and words. If you’ve been making excuses for years, isn’t it time you live fearlessly free? Get my three habits to live fearlessly free and jumpstart your courageous life today.

heatherbunch.com/courage

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Would you say you’re more positive or negative?

Have you ever automatically called yourself a dummy or idiot after making a mistake?

When you’re in a group of people, and they start complaining, have you ever joined in without even thinking about it?

In part 3 of our personal growth series, we’re unpacking the key to personal growth that many people underestimate and miss out on the power it provides.

Today is for you if…

We’ve learned personal growth is about growing ourselves so we can serve at a higher level. We’ll also be able to enjoy our life more on the way to where we’re going.

To grow into our best selves, we must also harness the power of our words.

“Your beliefs become

Your thoughts.

Your thoughts become

Your words.

Your words become

Your actions.

Your actions become

Your habits.

Your habits become

Your values.

Your values become

Your destiny.”

–Mahatma Gandhi

Your thoughts become your words.

Whatever you think about or dwell on comes out of your mouth.

There’s power in our words.

Words can create or words destroy.

We choose whether we bring life or death with our words.

1 Peter 3:10 NASB

The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

Evil = inwardly foul or rotten (poisoned).

Deceit = bait used to hook people, especially those festering in excessive, emotional pain (brought on by themselves).

When I made a mistake, I was relentless with my negative self-talk–poisoning me.

Do you know what else I did? I spoke deceit. First, those words are not what God says about me, so I’m deceiving myself.

Second, I would stuff my hurt and pain and tell people I’m okay not to hurt someone else’s feelings. That’s also deceit.

My words matched my thoughts and beliefs that I wasn’t enough and that my voice didn’t matter.

As we grow and change our beliefs and thoughts, our words don’t automatically align with our beliefs and thoughts. Why?

Autopilot.

We’ve been saying these negative things about ourselves or others for so long; it’s a habit.

You see negative words used everywhere. Just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t mean we have to live that way.

We need to get our words working for us instead of against us, just like we do with our thoughts.

Steps to swap out our autopilot:

1. Choose Your Words

Start with the words you proactively chose to change your thoughts.

2. Use the Law of Exchange

Now, exchange the negative words for the positive ones.

Say them out your mouth…There’s power in hearing yourself speak life.

3. Rinse and Repeat

You didn’t create your negative word autopilot overnight, and you won’t swap it out for your positive autopilot overnight, either.

It takes time and consistency.

As you harness the power of our words, you’re growing, and you’ll find that you’re naturally encouraging others with your words too.

If you know someone, this podcast will help. Would you please share it with them?

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

What do you think about most often?

Where do your thoughts go when you struggle to believe the best about yourself? Negative or positive?

Are your thoughts serving you or dragging you down?

Welcome to part 2 of the personal growth series. Yesterday we learned the power of our beliefs to change our destiny. I gave you the steps to change your beliefs. Next, we’ll learn we have more power than just changing our beliefs. We can change our thoughts too.

Today is for you if…

Our beliefs BECOME our thoughts.

We Think > We Feel > We choose

Our thoughts are powerful!

And we average 25K thoughts per day. Many of which are repeats from yesterday. That can be good or bad depending on the thoughts we’re choosing.

“I become what I think about most of the time.” – Earl Nightingale.

We must direct our thoughts…our imaginations to work for us instead of against us if we’re going to fulfill the destiny Father’s laid out for us.

And you’ll enjoy life more while you’re on the road.

Choose Your Thoughts

Philippians 4:8 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

The Amplified version of the Bible says, “…think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Why does Paul tell us what we should be thinking?

Why should we be fixing our minds on what’s lovely, excellent and praiseworthy?

Because our thoughts are POWERFUL.

God won’t make us exercise this power over our thoughts, just as He won’t make us exercise physically.

Watch Out for Negative Thoughts

Remember, thoughts are powerful, and there are no neutral thoughts. They’re either positive or negative. They’re either serving you or not.

We become what we think about the most.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson

Once you realize your negative thoughts, go back to Choose Your Thoughts and proactively pick new thoughts that will create the results you want.

Feed Your Thoughts

The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts. – Earl Nightingale

If we want a great life, we must feed our thoughts great stuff.

What are you consuming?

Who are you hanging out with?

These will affect the quality of your thoughts.

We Think > We Feel > We Choose

So what we think will directly affect how we feel, say, and act.

Next episode, we’ll dive into the power of our words!

If you have a friend who needs a thought upgrade or is struggling, please share this series of podcasts with them. You’re helping them discover the power God gave them to live a better life.

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Do you want to live a life of significance?

Do you want to make a difference?

Do you desire to leave this world better than you found it?

If we want to help others, we must master the skills and gain experience. To do that, we must invest in our personal growth. We’ll focus on the keys to personal growth to be our best and help others at a higher level over the next several episodes.

Today is for you if…

I used to be jealous of others’ success. I thought they were lucky.

What I believed affected my destiny. I believed I didn’t get the lucky gene and lost out on the success lottery.

But, I was not doing the work to grow myself. I wasn’t willing to invest in myself.

More willing you are to invest in yourself, the more effort you’ll put in, and the greater your reach and effectiveness.

“Your beliefs become

Your thoughts.

Your thoughts become

Your words.

Your words become

Your actions.

Your actions become

Your habits.

Your habits become

Your values.

Your values become

Your destiny.”

–Mahatma Gandhi

Beliefs are the feeling of absolute certainty of what something means.

Belief is the way we define ourselves.

Our beliefs create, and our beliefs destroy.

Somewhere along the way, we created a belief that holds us back from living our life of significance in certain areas.

You may be thriving in one area, be average in another and dismal in yet another.

What makes the difference, whether we’re surviving or thriving? Belief.

Key #1 is to Change Our Beliefs.

We must change our beliefs holding us back if we’re going to grow into our best selves and help others to the level we desire.

Steps to change your beliefs:

1. Discover the belief

What do you believe about…

See your belief for what it is with no judgment.

2. Know your Why

Ask yourself, “Why do you want to change the belief?”

Our why makes it worth the effort to change.

When you can make it about something bigger than yourself, the self-doubt becomes a lot smaller.

3. Challenge Yourself

Make yourself do things you didn’t think you could do.

“If I say I can’t do something then I must.” – Jim Rohn.

4. Exchange Your Beliefs

Every time that old belief tries to stop remind yourself of the truth. Exchange the old belief for the new one.

Then repeat step 3 – Make yourself do things you didn’t think you could do.

When you’ve done that thing enough that you thought you couldn’t do, you realize there’s more in you.

You’ll think, “If I can do that? What else can I do?”

When changing beliefs, fear can crop up. It can be scary to change whole belief systems. If you need help overcoming that fear, get the Habits to Live Fearlessly Free worksheet at heatherbunch.com; this worksheet will give you three habits that will continue to counteract that fear and change your beliefs so you can help others at that higher level.

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Do you still feel like something’s blocking you from really getting close to God?

Do you also struggle with letting other people into your life?

Have you ever shut out someone that was trying to help you?

It’s time for growing closer to God, part 5! We’ve discovered the lens we see God affects our ability to grow closer to God. We’ve also learned how to rest. Rest in His Love, His Grace and His Presence.

Today is for you if…

The biggest block I’ve seen that keeps people from growing closer to God is…Fear

And fear can show up in all kinds of ways.

Fear of…

Fear usually comes from our past hurts.

Fear thinks its job is to keep us “safe.”

But fear causes us to withdraw and puts a wall up to keep us safe from getting hurt again. The bigger the hurt, the bigger the wall.

However, that wall keeps us from our beautiful, close intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father and people.

How do we remove the block and break down the wall of fear?

1 John 4:18 NASB

…perfect love casts out fear…

Perfect in this scripture means: mature from passing through the necessary stages to reach the end goal.

It’s like a sailor’s telescope. For a telescope to work, each stage opens up one at a time until it’s fully extended until you can see further than you could with your naked eye.

Perfect love means we go through each growth stage to understand God’s, incredible love.

The next part of 1 John 4:18 says, “…because fear involves punishment.”

Punishment means torment from living in the dread of impending judgment.

We get punished and judged by people all the time. We might fear God’s judging us too.

The great news is Jesus took any punishment we would have received from us through his death and resurrection.

Ephesians 2:8 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

We don’t have to earn it–He earned it for us! Remember, rest in His Grace.

As 1 John says, as we’re perfected or matured in divine love, it casts out fear.

We’re not going to let fear block us from growing closer to God.

As you take steps to mature in this love of God, it removes the fear and tears down the wall so you can enjoy this intimate relationship with Father.

Homework–Your Courageous Moment:

Continue to meditate on your Heavenly Father’s perfect love for you!

Go back through this series if you need to.

If you want to grow closer to God and would love someone to come alongside you, check out the Courageous Club. Find out all the details at courageous.club.

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Have you ever been afraid to come to God?

Some days do you want to crawl under a rug and hide from the hurt and pain in your life or the world?

Do you need a place to get refreshed, where your heart feels full?

Today, I’m sharing secret #3 so you can grow closer to God.

So today is for you if.

Secret 3: Rest in Father’s Presence

When you know, you’re loved and freely receive Father’s grace; you can finally rest in His presence.

There’s nothing between you to hinder the relationship.

Resting in Father’s Presence isn’t a one-time in-the-morning gig. It’s continual and throughout the day.

John 14:16-17 NASB

1 John 4:15-16 Mirror Study Bible

15 For anyone to see and to say that Jesus is the Son of God is to awaken to the awareness that we are continuously, seamlessly joined in oneness.

16 And thus we have come to know and believe the love that God has unveiled within us. God is love. Love is who God is; to live in this place of conscious, constant love, is to live immersed in God and to feel perfectly at home in his indwelling.

John gives us the key to resting in Father’s presence in John 15.

John 15:1-11 NASB

Resting in Father’s presence is abiding in the Vine.

Have you ever gone out to coffee or lunch with a great friend, and your conversation was effortless? When you’re done, your heart feels so full!

Resting in Father’s presence is like sitting down and having a cup of coffee and a piece of pie with a best friend.

Effortless, and your heart feels so full!

Why? Because you understand how loved you are just as you are and God’s grace has got you, now you can rest and be yourself with your Abba Daddy!

Homework:

As you abide and rest in Father’s presence, you build your life’s foundation so you can finally stop hiding the real you, show up fully yourself and fulfill your God-given purpose–courageously.

If you want to grow closer to God and would love someone to come alongside you, check out the Courageous Club. Find out all the details at courageous.club.

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

What do you do when you make a mistake? Do you run to God or run away and hide?

Do you see God as the Sovereign in the sky waiting to swat you with His Heavenly flyswatter when you need to learn a lesson?

Do you struggle with feeling shame when you’re in church or praying? Or does it keep you from praying?

It’s time for part 2, Growing Closer to God. Yesterday we talked about Father’s love and learning to rest in it, knowing you’re loved for who you are just as you are. Today, I want to share secret #2 to Growing Closer to God.

So today is for you if…

Secret 2: Rest in Father’s Grace.

I’m not sure what God looked like to you growing up. Some people have an image of God on His giant thrown in Heaven with a fly swatter ready to smack you when you make a mistake.

In episode 166, I talked about the lens we use to see God will shape our experience of God.

But that’s not who Father is…Remember, God is love. He doesn’t just have love; He IS love.

One of the ways Father shows us love is through grace.

Grace in the Bible means freely extending favor. He’s leaning towards you to share His best offer.

Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

It’s not about what you get right; it’s about what God did right through Jesus.

1 John 4:17 Mirror Study Bible

So now, with us awakening to our full inclusion in this love union, everything is perfect! Its completeness is not compromised in contradiction. Our confident conversation echoes this fellowship even in the face of crisis; because, as he is, so are we in this world - our lives are mirrored in him. We are as blameless in this life as Jesus is! This perfect love union is the source of our confidence whenever we face the scrutiny of contradiction.

Now, it’s not just enough to know about Father’s Grace.

You must receive His Grace. It’s a gift like salvation.

What do you do when you get a gift at Christmas or a birthday? Do you say, “No thanks, I’m good,” or do you take the gift and say, “Thank you”?

You rest in Father’s Grace by accepting the gift and saying, “Thank you Father for your Grace in this situation,” then share the situation with Him.

Rest and receive Father’s grace knowing you’re fully loved just as you are.

If you’re enjoying this show, please do me a favor. Rate and review the show if you haven’t already. This also helps others find it so they can grow closer to God too!

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Do you ever struggle to receive love? Or maybe you don't feel lovable?

When you think of God, do you feel like He's waiting to punish you?

Do you run to Him or away from Him when you make a mistake?

It's part 2 of Growing Closer to God. Today, we're learning Secret 1 to grow closer to God.

So, today is for you if…

Secret 1 to grow closer to God: Rest in Father's Love.

To rest in your Heavenly Father's love, you must know how fully loved you are just as you are.

Ephesians 3:17-19 NASB

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Growing up, I felt like I had to earn God's love. Now, consciously I would tell you, of course, you don't have to earn God's love. It's a gift, right?

But my actions showed I believed I had to earn it.

I had to learn to rest in God's love, knowing I'm fully loved just as I am.

If you have to earn love, it's conditional love, which is not love at all.

1 John 4:7-10; 18-19 Mirror Study Bible

7 Beloved, love always includes others since love springs from God; its source is found in the fellowship of the Father, Spirit and Son. Everyone who encounters love immediately knows that they too are born of the same source! It is not possible to fully participate in love without discovering God. To love is to know God; to know God is to love.

8 Not to love, is not to know God. There is nothing in love that distracts from who God is. Love is who God is - they are inseparable.

9 The love of God is unveiled within us in the Son; he was begotten of the Father in the flesh and sent into the world that we might live because of him. Our lives are mirrored and defined in him. Both his birth in the flesh as well as his commission into the world were entirely God's doing.

10 Love is not defined by our love for God, but by his love for us! It is not our response to God that attracts his attention; we have always had his undivided affection as declared in the prophetic promise and finally demonstrated in his Son's commission and work of atonement for our sins.

18 Fear cannot co-exist in this love realm. The perfect love union that we are talking about expels fear. Fear holds on to an expectation of crisis and judgment [which brings separation] and interprets it as due punishment [a form of karma!] It echoes torment and only registers in someone who does not yet realize the completeness of their love union. [With the Father, Son and Spirit and with one another.]

19 We love because he loved us first!

We did not invent this fellowship; we are invited into the fellowship of the Father and the Son!

Homework:

Read John 4:7-10 and 18-19 in the Mirror Study Bible translation… I'll put it on my website under episode 167.

Soak in it.

Now write out what it means to you.

Each day when you pray to Father, just thank Him for His love.

You can also journal to Father about His love. Write down all the ways you see His love showing up in your life.

If you would, email me what you're Father's showing you about His love for you at [email protected]. I would love to celebrate with you!

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father's got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!

Do you do all the Christian things, pray, read Bible, and go to church, yet you don’t feel close to God?

When you approach God, do you feel not enough? Not good enough, haven’t done enough, not holy enough? Not as good as so-and-so?

Or do you feel like you’re too much for God to love you? Too much sin? Too many issues? Too many mistakes? Too much drama?

We’re starting a new series–Growing closer to God. As Christians, that’s our goal, right? But how many of you feel like you’re doing all the things but still feel far from Him most days?

Today is for you if…

I grew up in church…born on Friday in church on Sunday.

But I didn’t actually feel close to God until my 40s.

Why?

I knew God in my head. I had the head knowledge. I did all the things you’re supposed to do.

But I hadn’t experienced Him intimately first-hand.

How about you?

For many of us, the biggest hindrance to experiencing God first-hand is the lens through which we view Him.

Did you ever own a pair of glasses or sunglasses that were colored?

The first pair of glasses I got as a kid were rose-tinted. Everything I saw looked rosy.

The lens you view God through will determine how you see Him and experience Him.

That’s good or bad, depending on how you see him…

When anything happens to us, because we see God as punishing, performance-based or whatever, we interpret that it’s God doing that to us.

But what happens if we change our lens?

Homework:

Discover the lens you’re viewing Father through.

It may be multiple lenses... a mix of good and bad.

Next, decide what lens you want to view Father in. In what way do you want to grow closer to Him?

Over the next episode, we’ll explore the three secrets to growing closer to God. This will help you change the lens you view God so you can experience Him first-hand.

If you’re enjoying this show, please do me a favor. Rate and review the show if you haven’t already. This also helps others find it so they can grow closer to God too!

Thanks a bunch for listening!

You got this, and Father’s got you!

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!