What next?

So often we get to that place where we ask “what next?” I have done everything I could think of to remedy the situation. I believe that I am obedient and that I have stepped out in faith. I believe that I have acted and done all that the Word expects of me, yet the breakthrough still tarries.

Eph 6:13 Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ( MKJV )

The message translation puts it this way: “Eph 6:13 Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet.”

This reminded me of the saying “It’s not over till the fat lady sings” ( should I have said: till the `well-proportioned lady` sings )

After having done everything humanly possible, the next thing is to wait. Patiently, expectantly, silently, wait.

Psa 25:2 O my God, I trust in You; do not let me be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me. 3 Yea, let none who wait on You be ashamed; let them be ashamed who sin without cause. 4 Make me know Your ways, O Jehovah; teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day long.

Isn’t it amazing, that David could say it like this “I trust in You; do not let me be ashamed”, “let none who wait on You be ashamed”.

David had such a confidence, that God will answer his prayer, he boldly reminded God of his covenant as a co-heir of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Let none who wait on You be ashamed”

As we are co-heirs, with them, we also have the confidence, that God will not leave us to be embarrassed and ashamed.

It is during this time of waiting that the enemy will come with his sly tactics, trying to mess with your mind and your thoughts. This is the time, when the outcome seems far away, that he will launch his attack. When you feel like giving up. He will never attack when things are looking up -–he attacks when weakness wants to set in.

Jam 4:7 Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

It is during this time that we have to stir up our faith, in submission to the Word.

Now we have the right to remind the enemy of our covenant with God. Resist the negative thoughts, the doubt and everything else he wants to throw at us. Then, the s

Scripture says “he will flee”

Stand firm, hold your ground, the breakthrough is coming, resist the enemy and the victory is yours.

You are Righteous

Philippians 3:9"...not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." I don't care how badly you may have messed things up yesterday or how many mistakes you have made, I want you to begin this day knowing you are righteous! Not because of anything you've done but because you've received, by faith in Jesus, the very righteousness of God. Just look at the kinds of benefits the Word of God says that righteousness will bring: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" (Ps. 92:12). "When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth" (Prov. 11:10). "The seed of the righteous shall be delivered" (Prov. 11:21). "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers" (1 Pet. 3:12). "For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield" (Ps. 5:12). "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles" (Ps. 34:17). "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Ps. 37:25). "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever" (Ps. 37:29). "The Lord loveth the righteous" (Ps. 146:8). Don't let the devil rob you of even one of these blessings by telling you you're unworthy of them.

Run him off. Shout out loud, "I am the righteousness of God!" Then step out in faith and enjoy

the privileges God has prepared for you!

Rom 3:21 But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, toward all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness through the passing by of the sins that had taken place before, in the forbearance of God; 26 for the display of His righteousness at this time, for Him to be just and, forgiving the one being of the faith of Jesus. 27 Then where is the boasting? It is excluded. Through what law? Of works? No, but through the law of faith. :28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law.

Can the Finite Understand the Infinite?

Psa 77:11 (msg) Once again I'll go over what GOD has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; 12 I'll ponder all the things you've accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts. 13 O God! Your way is holy! No god is great like God! 14 You're the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do-- 15 You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph. 16 Ocean saw you in action, God, saw you and trembled with fear; Deep Ocean was scared to death. 17 Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that. 18 From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked. 19 You strode right through Ocean, walked straight through roaring Ocean, but nobody saw you come or go. 20 Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron, You led your people like a flock of sheep.

The story is told of a blind tortoise, which lived in a well. Another tortoise, a native of the ocean, in its inland travels happened to tumble into this well. The blind one asked of his new comrade whence he came. "From the sea," was the response. Hearing of the sea, the tortoise swam round a little circle and asked, "Is the water of the ocean as large as this?" "Larger," replied he of the sea. The first tortoise then swam round two-thirds of the well and asked if the sea was as big as that. "Much larger than that," said the sea tortoise. "Well, then," asked the blind tortoise, "is the sea as large as this whole well?" "Larger," said the sea tortoise. "If that is so," said the other, "how big then is the sea?" The sea tortoise replied, "You only know about the water in your well. Your capability of understanding is small. As to the ocean, though you spent many years in it, you would never be able to explore the half of it, nor to reach the limit, and it is utterly impossible to compare it with this well of yours." The tortoise replied, "It is impossible there can be a larger body of water than this well; you are simply praising your native place in boastful words."

This is only a Mongolian myth, but one that can teach man a great deal concerning his prejudiced view of his own knowledge. If man knows so little of the natural surroundings of his life, how much less must he know about the Infinite Creator of all things.

The finite can neither see nor comprehend the Infinite. The Infinite has to reveal Himself. Henry Ward Beecher said: "When Columbus drew near to the eastern coast of the American continent, he could see that there were mountains, but do you believe he knew what minerals were in them? Do you suppose he knew all the trees, all the shrubs, all the vines, all the herbs there? He knew something about the outlying islands of this great continent, but he did not understand the details that went to make it up”.

I can understand there is such a being as God, but when it is said that He is infinite, I am so finite that my comprehension ends right there.

I cannot understand infiniteness. All things in the natural world symbolize God, yet none of them speak of Him but in broken and imperfect words.

High above all He sits, more sublime than mountains, nobler than lords, truer than parents, more loving than lovers.

His feet tread the lowest places of the earth, but His head is above all glory; everywhere.

He is supreme."

Psa 63:1 God--you're my God! I can't get enough of you! I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts. 2 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. 3 In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. 4 I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you. 5 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy; I smack my lips. It's time to shout praises! 6 If I'm sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection. 7 Because you've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. 8 I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post.

Psa 63:9 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom, marked for death, bound for hell. 10 They'll die violent deaths; jackals will tear them limb from limb. 11 But the king is glad in God; his true friends spread the joy, While small-minded gossips are gagged for good.

Daydreaming

I remember way back when in school, how easy it was to sit and stare out the window, dreaming about the future, of owning a fast car, being a superhero and so on. The classroom and the teacher definitely not part of my dream.

How quickly do we begin to get distracted by the cares of the world? We think about the negative, the mundane, and the ugly side of life.

It is at moments like that, when thinking about the sad side of life, that the enemy steps in, to abuse our thoughts, for his purpose.

Phi 4:8 Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things.

The Word of God encourages us, to think on what is good and edifying. God does not want us, to waste our thought energy, on the things that breaks down and not build up.

Often during counselling sessions, I have discovered that the problems the counselee struggles with, are perceptions and the result of `wrong thinking`.

We are so quick to think and focus on false realities, on issues that do not even exist, so much so, that we fall apart, without proper cause.

1. “Whatever things are true”: this thing that bothers you, the story you’ve heard. Is it actually true or is it just a rumor, designed to spoil your day.

2. “Whatever things are honest”: this venture you are planning, the action you want to embark on. Is it based in honesty and with integrity? Will people be hurt because of it? Will reputations be destroyed?

3. “Whatever things are right”: I have learnt that there is: the nice thing to do, the `good` thing to do and the “right” thing to do. What are you doing? Is it nice, good or right? A white lie may seem to be the best thing to do, but is it the right thing. A Lie remains a lie, no matter what.

4. “whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely”: Am I thinking vengeful thoughts or what? The Lord reminds us that He will vindicate us and that vengeance belongs to Him. Therefore I should be thinking on what is pure and lovely. When we contemplate vengeance, it never goes with pure and lovely thoughts.

5. “, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise”: The rumor I feel like starting up – is it based on truth or just plainly, a bad report. Should I be starting the rumor in the first place? When I discuss my friends, my colleagues, my pastor, whoever, do I speak words of praise or condemnation?

Mat 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you,

Daydreaming is OK, when it builds up. Just don’t do it while operating heavy machinery.

Comforting Grace: Sermon 3rd April 2011

Key Text

2Co 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

a Question that often rises up in discussion and during counsel or the normal course of business is this: why do you find people who always just seem to be at peace?

• At peace with themselves.
  
  


• At peace with their surroundings.

• At peace with the kids and family.

• At peace in the workplace.

• At peace with peace.

Surely life isn’t this pink balloon they live in. There always has to bee something to complain about or moan about. There is always enough reason to be upset with something. The milk that’s finished, again. The door left open when it should have been closed. The homework assignment that should have been done a week ago. The taxi driver, the traffic cops.

We have so much right to walk around with sour expressions and long faces.

After all, God isn’t paying any attention to me and my little planet of misery.

In any case, He caused most of the misery. He caused sickness in order to teach me a lesson. It’s his entire fault my business went belly-up.

God just isn’t fair.

Who said so?

That my friend, is the biggest load of hogwash and myth ever.

Jas 1:13 Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

God is fair. He has no favourites and He will not bless some more than others. The choice of the quality of life we live, is ours.

“Do as you wish and experience the result of that…” Anon

what you concentrate on is what you create.

God has laid before us, the opportunity to chose. We chose. We chose how we live, where we live. The choice is ours.

Some people chose not to get upset.

So, how can we confirm the Grace and the Mercies and the Good Gifts of God?

I have just acted to crazy in my life, for God to still be willing to let go of my past. What I have done is just beyond forgiveness.

Psa 103:8 The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy. 9 His feeling will no longer be bitter; he will not keep his wrath for ever. 10 He has not given us the punishment for our sins, or the reward of our wrongdoing. 11 For as the heaven is high over the earth, so great is his mercy to his worshippers. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our sins from us.

Two situations comes and confirms this:

1. Jesus is hanging on the cross, between two ‘evildoers’ and the one said “Jesus, keep me in mind when you come in your kingdom”. And he said to him, “Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise”.

2. Peter denied Christ three times, yet Jesus said to him: “Peter, feed my sheep”

Some would then come and say “ Oh, but that is the New Testament and we should not forget the God of the Old Testament.

Listen: God is the same yesterday today and forever!

Neh 9:18 Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry; 19 Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go. 20 And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher, and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it. 21 Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired. 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land: so they took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.

These people totally turned their eyes away from God. They forgot the provision, the miracles they have seen with their own eyes.

But did God wipe them out?

• He continued to guide them. He did not give up on them. “the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go.

• He continued to teach them His way: And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher

• He continued to provide for them: and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it.

• He did not limit them: for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired

Yet we foolishly want to believe that God is out to get us!

We want to believe that the mess we find ourselves in is God`s doing.

He is busy teaching us a lesson.

Maybe he is not punishing you, maybe He is exposing you.

When you squeeze the tube of toothpaste, guess what comes out? Toothpaste.

Perhaps the circumstance we find ourselves in is the result of the choices we made and not God`s idea of punishment.

Maybe He has more in store for us.

Maybe we need a change of heart. Maybe we need a paradigm shift in our thinking and understanding of God.

Maybe God loves us more than we give Him credit.

After all, he did send His son to the cross for our sakes.

1Co 13:1 If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell. 2 And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me. 4 Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride; 5 Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil; 6 It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true; 7 Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.

Everything we do, every decision we make, every step we take must be done in and through love.

God has bestowed His grace on us – purely motivated by His love for us. God IS love, He cannot function in any other way than the motivation of His character and His whole being, His whole character is made up of love.

We have been created in His image as a matter of fact its more than that.

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth. 27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

• And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us:

• Who is this ‘us?’

• The Father, Jesus Christ the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

We were made in their image, we were given their characteristics, to act like them, talk like them and behave like them.

What is God’s nature? Love.

We have the same nature, we have the same trademarks, and we are supposed to act the same way.

In LOVE.

When we begin to act and think and walk and talk like God, we will begin to experience and receive and display God.

His grace and mercy should be part of who we are. Not violence and ‘lets get them and lets destroy them’.

His mercies are new every morning.

Our mercies and grace should be the same.

Strategize Your Success

Deon Hall http://www.kaleoministries.co.za/

Jos 1:7 Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. 8 And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. 9 Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. GOD, your God, is with you every step you take."

An internet dictionary defines success as ‘an event that accomplishes its intended purpose’ and ‘a state of prosperity or fame’. What is your definition of success? Do you measure your success by your bank balance or the size of your house, or perhaps by the status you have managed to achieve?

Passion The truth is that, even if you have all the material possessions anyone could possibly want but you are not a happy person, you have some more work to do. Life is too short to spend it merely going through the motions of making a living. You need to find a way of making enough money from doing what you love best—your passion. The resulting happiness, joy and boundless energy will affect every aspect of your life in a positive way.

Do you know what your passion is? Passion is the limitless enthusiasm and profound excitement you feel when you ‘just know’ intuitively that you simply have to do a particular activity for the rest of your life because it was ‘meant for you’! Successful people are driven by the overwhelming flow of energy they get from living and experiencing their passion.

Mat 5:5 "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less.

That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. Many successful people are successful because they found ways to turn their much-loved hobbies into highly successful businesses.

Maybe you can turn your hobby into a business! When you do something that you are totally passionate about, you don’t need self-discipline to do it—you just want to spend most of your time doing it—and you want do it to the best of your ability. What an amazing recipe for success!

Plan your success

Successful people write their strategies down. Unless you have clearly defined long- and short-term goals, your efforts will be aimless. In fact, you may end up with dozens of uncompleted projects and feelings of total frustration. Writing your goals down helps you to organize your thoughts, and puts things in perspective. Once you have all the steps worked out and written down in the correct order, with diarised deadlines for each step, your plan will come together.

Hab 2:2 And then GOD answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. 3 This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming--it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time.

It is very important to remember that without diarised deadlines your strategy will forever remain just a strategy—a strategy which will have no results unless you take action. Taking action is the most important step of any strategy!

You need to identify and acknowledge all possible obstacles, in order to find the best way to overcome each of them. These obstacles may be internal or external: internal obstacles may be your own prejudices, your fears, a lack of support, low self-esteem, and so on, and external obstacles may be things like lack of resources, or training, or space.

Successful people align their words, thoughts and actions by picturing and experiencing their success through positive affirmation (see a following section for more detail on this), ‘self-talk’ (thoughts), and visualization techniques (imagining).

You need to speak, think and act in unity to achieve your goals. If you say you want to lose weight but your self-talk is: ‘This is too hard’, and the picture you see in your mind is of a ‘fat failure’, you will not take the necessary action to lose weight.

What you concentrate on you draw to you.

Successful people don’t just talk—they do. They take risks, and they don’t give up when they make mistakes—they simply do it better the next time. It is also true that most successful people have excellent time-management skills, which helps them prioritize all their activities, tasks, projects, meetings and events—whether planned or unplanned.

To ensure the successful accomplishment of your strategy and goals, follow these easy steps: Decide what you want. Start with the end in mind—your ultimate goal. Write down each goal as a significant future event or behavior.

Be very specific about what you want. Say, for example: ‘I want a highly successful gardening service business (significant future event) that will provide me with an income of R60 000.00 per month by December 2011, so that in 2020 we will be able to afford to live comfortably and retire well.’ Your goals must be measurable.

This will help you to keep track of your progress. Set deadlines for achieving your goals. Set deadlines for achieving your goals. Commit to specific dates. This way you will act with more urgency—and remember that the dates must be written down. Always have a written-down strategy.

Consider all the possible obstacles and write down steps for overcoming each one. Plan your goals—step by step. Consider what, how, when, where, with whom and why, and write down your answers. Create goals which you can control.

Own your goals—they are yours. Find the accountable. Reward yourself. Write down rewards for yourself for every achieved step. It will inspire you to keep going and, besides, you will deserve it!

Missed deadlines

If a deadline comes and you haven’t reached your goal yet, you need to re?assess the situation. Sometimes things out of your control will happen and prevent you from moving forward, but usually you can see such a problem coming and can take timely action to prevent it from derailing your plans completely.

If you have not achieved your goal—or some step towards your goal—because you procrastinated, you need to examine your reasons for procrastinating.

Be completely honest with yourself and re?examine your desire to achieve the goal. Sometimes you will simply have changed your mind—and that is not a problem if you genuinely no longer want to achieve the goal.

Restoring Integrity:

Mat 5:34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all! Not by Heaven, because it is God's throne; 35 not by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; 36 nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.

Are you out of integrity with yourself and others? Ask yourself these questions?

Ø Who would you try to avoid if you bumped into them?

Ø Are you involved in any activity, which you won’t reveal to anyone else?

Ø Are you involved with anyone you wouldn’t readily introduce to your colleagues, family or spiritual leader?

Ø Do you have debts you don’t or won’t pay?

Ø Is there anything you do without your spouse or partner’s knowledge?

Ø Are there things about your life right now that you would rather not tell your children?

Ø Do you have in your possession things that you borrowed and never returned?

Ø Do you take credit for others’ work?

Ø Is there a perfectly good reason for you having two cell phones?

Ø Do you ever check up on your spouse / partner / children / staff?

Ø Do you read other people’s mail / e-mails / smses?

Ø Are your taxes paid up to date?

Ø Do you allow people to belittle or humiliate you?

Ø Are you always where you say are?

Ø Do you promise to do things when you have no intention of doing it?

Ø Do you misrepresent yourself?

Ø Are you addicted to any substance or do you have self-destructive habits?

By allowing others to abuse you or your relationship in any way, you are out of integrity with yourself. Shakespeare wrote: “To thine own self be true.” It is self-defeating to give your power away in this manner.

Decide to behave with integrity – it’s a choice. Acting and behaving with integrity creates high energy levels and it heals the body on a cellular level.

Pro 11:3 The integrity of the honest keeps them on track; the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin. 4 A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart, but a principled life can stand up to the worst. 5 Moral character makes for smooth traveling; an evil life is a hard life.

Communicate with integrity

Pro 11:13 A gadabout gossip can't be trusted with a secret, but someone of integrity won't violate a confidence. 14 Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

How do you respond when there is conflict or a stressful situation at the office? Do you avoid the subject or person? Do you get angry? Do you go into denial?

To start communicating with integrity do the following:

	Ø Everything you say should be true. Do not be tempted to lie about anything. If you are found out people will lose their respect and trust in you.
	Ø Do not gossip or repeat anything you hear. Change the subject subtly when someone starts to gossip.
	Ø Clarify and confirm what the other person is saying before jumping to conclusions. Only respond to feedback once you are certain that you know and understand what was said.
	Ø Stick to the subject at hand. Don’t use a previously bad situation as a weapon in order to gain the upper hand in a conversation, meeting or feedback session.
	Ø Never curse or swear. It is unprofessional and you will lose the respect of others.
	Ø Do not disconnect a telephone call when you feel upset or angry. It is unprofessional to slam down the phone. Ø Stay calm and watch your intention when you speak. Ø Decide to resolve the issue amicably and with respect. If you find it impossible to discuss the issue on the phone, make arrangements to meet. By the time you are face-to-face you would be much calmer and able to resolve your issues.
	Ø Say “please”, “thank you” and “I am sorry” when necessary.
	Ø Do not make decisions about a person based on ‘hear-say’ or reports from others. Speak to the person direct and hear their side.