Table Of ContentI Can Do All Things
Lessons in Personal Christian
Life Management
Stephen Kurtzahn
I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13 NKJV
I Can Do All Things is intended to fill a void in current personal development
and personal growth books. There’s some great material available by a variety of
authors to help people grow in their personal lives, relationships, jobs and
businesses. But most of that material is lacking the motivation of the gospel. I
Can Do All Things is intended to fill that void. The goal of this book is to share
the best of current personal development literature in light of what God tells us
in the Bible.
Stephen Kurtzahn is a Christian pastor who has served both large and small
churches. He’s also worked as a banker and stockbroker. Steve has many
interests, especially personal development, time management, finance and
economics, and non-profit development and fundraising.
Stephen loves to hear from his readers, so please feel free to visit
www.StephenKurtzahn.com to join his reader group, connect on Google+,
LinkedIn and Twitter, and stay in touch.
Other books by Stephen Kurtzahn, all available on Amazon.com— A Christian
Survival Manual: How to Prepare for When All Hell Breaks Loose
Help for Pastors Leaving the Ministry
For Group Bible Study—
First Corinthians Bible Study
Let Your Light Shine! An Evangelism Training Program
Meditations series—
Meditations on the Ten Commandments
Meditations on the Last Things
Meditations on Christian Marriage
Meditations on Children and Their Training
I Believe: Meditations on the Apostles’ Creed
Let Us Pray: Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International
Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of
Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International
Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
® ®
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by
Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All quotations from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism are from Luther’s Catechism: The Small Catechism
of Dr. Martin Luther and an Exposition for Children and Adults Written in Contemporary English, David P.
rd
Kuske, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 3 Edition, 1998.
Hymn verses marked (CW) are from Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, Milwaukee: Northwestern
Publishing House, 1993.
Hymn verses marked (TLH) are from The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.
Copyright © 2016 Stephen Kurtzahn
Second Edition Copyright © 2017 Stephen Kurtzahn All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For more information contact the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - What’s Desperately Needed in Personal Development
Chapter 2 - It Started with Covey
Chapter 3 - True North Principles
Chapter 4 - Roles, Goals and Priorities
Chapter 5 - Determining Your Roles
Chapter 6 - Four Ways to Spend Your Time
Chapter 7 - Making the Most of Your Time to Fulfill Your Roles and Reach Your Goals
Chapter 8 - Spending Your Mornings the Best Way Possible
Chapter 9 - Gratefulness
Chapter 10 - What Is Your Legacy?
Chapter 11 - Meditation and Mindfulness
Chapter 12 – To God Be the Glory
Chapter 1 - What’s Desperately Needed in Personal
Development
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you,
my God. Psalm 42:1
Several months ago we started refurbishing a house we owned. We had moved
away three years ago and rented it out to tenants. Trust me, allowing renters to
live in your house is not what it’s cracked up to be! We had to make several
repairs, repaint everything, refinish wood floors and install new carpeting.
As I was sanding our wood floors and brushing two coats of poly on them in the
bedrooms, painting walls and fixing leaky pipes, I started listening to personal
growth and development podcasts. I downloaded an app on my smartphone and
discovered podcasts by Hal Elrod and Peter Voogd. I think I’ve listened to
almost all of their shows. I especially have appreciated Hal Elrod’s, considering
his near death car accident several years ago and his positive attitude on life in
general. I’ve also learned a lot from Peter Voogd—although I’m not a
millennial, the age-group he’s trying to reach. I’ve since listened to Tony
Robbins, several of Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcasts, and more
recently I’ve discovered The Writing Biz podcasts by Laura Williams and EO
Fire by John Lee Dumas. Laura’s shows have taught me quite a bit about using
social media in promoting Kindle books. And how could I forget Grant
Cardone? Then there’s the Awesome Office. I’ve also read a number of personal
development and business books by several of these folks and others. The ones
I’ve personally found the most useful are:
The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod
6 Months to 6 Figures, Peter Voogd
Entrepreneur’s Blueprint to Massive Success, Peter Voogd
The 10X Rule, Grant Cardone
The Millionaire Fastlane, M. J. DeMarco
The ONE Thing, Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan
The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson
The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy
Today Matters, John C. Maxwell
EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey
Habit Stacking, S. J. Scott
I’ve learned a great deal from these books and podcasts; but as a Christian, I’ve
found that something is lacking in most of this material. They’re missing the
motivation of the gospel. For many of these folks, their motivators are making
more money, leaving a legacy, being a positive influence in the world, living a
more purposeful as well as efficient life, etc., etc., etc.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for
me, my motivation for striving to live a life of excellence is my Savior’s
sacrificial love for me. His love sent him to the cross to redeem me and to give
me a life that extends into eternity in his loving presence. I want to live my life
for him—whether that’s as a husband, a father, a writer, an author, a publisher or
a pastor (yes, I’m a Lutheran pastor!).
For that reason, I’ve started on a journey to distil many of the personal growth
and development concepts of these well-intentioned authors. After reading a
number of them, I’ve discovered they eventually restate the same underlying
principles of personal growth and development in their own unique ways. What I
want to do is to reformulate these timeless principles in light of God’s Word, the
Bible. I would also like to refer to the chapters in this book as Lessons in
Personal Christian Life Management.
Yes, we finished restoring our house and sold it in less than a week after we
listed it with a very professional and personable realtor. Not only do we not have
to worry about renters anymore, but working on this house allowed me in an
indirect way to gain many new friends and mentors who have expanded my
horizons when it comes to personal growth and development, which I like to call
life management.
Questions for Your Personal Reflection
1. What podcasts, if any, do you listen to regularly?
2. What personal growth and development books have you read
recently?
3. Do you strive to live a life of excellence? Why or why not?
4. What is your personal motivation for the way you live your life?
Action Item
Start listening to one of the podcasts I mentioned in this chapter. You can
download them free of charge to your smartphone. Start with the most
recent podcast in any series and work your way back until you get to the
first one. You can listen to them in the morning when you’re getting ready
for your day, or as you’re commuting to work, or while you’re jogging or
exercising, or while you’re mowing the grass or cleaning the house.
