MoneyWalk 271: The Best Way To Pay Off Debt

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Paying your debts off starting with the one with the lowest total balance is the best method for those who need to see quick victories in debt elimination in order to be motivated to keep going down that road. After that bill is paid off then you would move to the next lowest total balance and put all your disposable income, after making minimum payments on all other bills and expenses, toward eliminating that debt. You need to keep doing this until all your debts are paid off as well as refuse to take on more debt in order for your financial situation to turn around and take you into the land of financial freedom. Some studies have surmised that more people stick with debt elimination using this model because a quick victory or two keeps their excitement and drive for financial freedom at a very high level.

The top down bill payment method is a mathematically sound way to pay debts off because it allows you to minimize (to the lowest possible level) the amount of finance charges you pay. As discussed above it may be best for most people to use the lowest total balance method explained above. But for those who will remain motivated the top down method works. I and many people I have served have used it to more quickly reach the land of financial freedom and monetary wealth.

Using this model, you pay only the minimum due on each bill except the one with the highest finance charge. Put all extra disposable income that’s not needed for groceries, gas, and other necessary items with the minimum payment for this account each month until it's paid off. Then its minimum payment plus the extra disposable income is available to pay down the account with the next highest finance charge. Continue this process down the ladder of lower percentage finance charges until each bill is paid off.

If you have more than one account with the same finance charge and the same or different outstanding balances, pay off the one that you will be able to use at many different retailers and borrow cash from in case of an emergency. If both accounts let you do this, then use all of your extra income to pay off the one with the lowest outstanding balance so you can more quickly pare down the number of creditors.

An extra step that could help you eliminate debt faster when using either of these methods is, for debts that would take you more than a year to pay off, to shop a number of financial institutions to find an account with a finance charge (annual percentage rate) that is much lower than what you’re paying now. Make sure it has no early pre-payment penalties and no closing cost / fees that the lower payment will not make up for in the next few months. Then, refinance by transferring the balances on higher interest accounts to these accounts to give you a lower payment overall. Now, in your budget replace the old higher minimum payment with the new lower minimum payment and thank the LORD for showing you methods that can help you reach financial freedom much faster than otherwise possible.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 28:12-14, Proverbs 22:7, Luke 16:8, Romans 13:8

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MoneyWalk 270: Your Reward Is Coming

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Biblical money management principles help you plan life in a way that will greatly benefit you and your family as you move through the mountain and valley experiences you will face in life. They will keep you focused on giving first, saving next, and spending within reasonable limits to keep you out of the debt and financial struggles that many people have when they do not use such principles. They are engaged by faith and provide a resistance to your natural inclinations that help your faith grow more each day by trusting in the LORD to provide things you need or desire that you do not have cash to purchase, without you going in debt to get them.

Though life can be tough sometimes and struggles and hardships will undoubtedly come your way, using biblical principles makes life better for you and your family because by them you set pre-planned giving and spending levels for each pay period that you will not exceed unless the Holy Spirit specifically directs you to do otherwise. Those operating in faith will find that giving abundantly to support ministry works and usher unbelievers to Him is always on His heart. Thus, blessings and rewards flow to those who by faith commit themselves to be in alignment with His heart for giving to propel the Great Commission in the earth.

Yet, you must also understand that exercising self-control and being willing to sacrifice current pleasures is also on His heart so that you consistently spend far less than the income you make and also save a meaningful portion of your income in order to repel the clutches of materialism and be aware that some things he is calling you to do and situations you will face will require the use of such assets in the future. Many people find that inexplicable promotions, bonuses, and greater income producing opportunities come their way after they consistently employ the principles of stewardship, abundant giving, sacrifice, contentment, and self-control that lead to the use of other principles like debt-elimination, no cosigning, saving & investing, and diversifying assets. They begin to understand that this process is not a pledge of poverty or acceptance of lack, rather it is one that trusts the LORD to provide His very valuable treasures designed for them in due time in the way that is pleasing to Him and most beneficial to them and those they are to be a godly example to.

Accepting Jesus as your Savior and LORD and seeking His kingdom and righteousness is crucial, above all else, in order to rightly use the income, time, and talent He has given you. While daily reading the bible, you'll recognize the ways it shows you how to faithfully honor Him publicly and privately. God will supernaturally bless you beyond what you have envisioned as you pray daily, study the bible daily, give praise to God throughout the day, listen for His instructions, fellowship weekly with other believers, pay tithes, give offerings, and regularly help a church ministry perform its service. Pleasing God is the ultimate desire you should have with a mind toward creating a place where the peace of God and joy in the Holy Ghost permeates your life in the natural and eternal realms. Then and only then will the bulk of your blessings and rewards have maximum usefulness for you and other people.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Joshua 1:8, Proverbs 3:9-10, Matthew 6:33, Luke 6:38

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MoneyWalk 269: Control Your Income And Expenses

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The only way to truly prosper financially is to spend less than you earn so you have money left over to invest for future growth for greater giving and living. It has been said that when your outgo exceeds your income your upkeep will be your downfall and a fool and his money are soon parted. You need to tell the money entrusted to you by God what to do according to His will and design so that circumstances and other voices do not misdirect the money and pillage your and your family’s future.

For the next six months, use a budget to identify your expected income and expenses each month. Getting all your income, debt, and expense information together and drafting your initial budget will take about four hours. The process can be faster if you have a computer or online budget program because you can copy and paste entries you otherwise would have to write down numerous times. Once you've finished your initial budget, it usually takes less than an hour every pay period to maintain your budget and track your results including revising income and bill payments that differ from your original estimates.

If you remain disciplined and conservative in your spending, using as your original income estimate only average net monthly income as the basis for budgeting, then it’s easier to maintain control over your situation so you can reap savings and investment benefits when raises and promotions come your way. On a sheet of paper, enter your average net monthly income. Then, subtract a tithe of your gross income plus an offering. Next, subtract the minimum monthly payment due for each bill that you have, such as mortgage/rent, car note, visa, mastercard, school loans, retail charge cards, gas, electric, water, cable, telephone, etc. The remainder is what you expect to have available for personal expenses, savings, and debt elimination. Personal expenses include groceries, gas, bus fares, clothing, movies, etc.

The moment you know the amount of your next paycheck, you should revise the original estimate for that pay period so you have a more accurate picture going forward of the income you actually have to try pay expenses, give, save, and invest. You should do the same when you know the actual amount of expenses you will have to pay during particular pay periods. Remember, continuing to have categorical expenses that compromise your ability to stay financially solvent is largely up to you based on how much debt you take on in order to have things. You can stop the madness when you decide to do so. The simple process described above helps you maintain the control necessary for financial vitality by encouraging you to write the vision down plainly, know the state of your flocks and herds, and count the cost before building so you can experience greater financial prosperity. You can do all things through Christ that strengthen you.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 27:23-27, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Luke 14:28-32, Philippians 4:11-13

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MoneyWalk 268: The Only Real Hope

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many worldly and religious people will give you advice that arouses carnal desires. This is not compatible with biblical instruction and will lead to spiritual degeneration instead of maturity in Christ. No blessed gain will result from carnal desires. The only lifestyle that produces blessed gain is the willingness to bear your cross daily to follow Christ while enduring ridicule, embarrassment, and persecution. This does not mean that all or most of your life will be filled with pain and suffering, but it does mean that you will stick with your decision to be saved and become more like Christ no matter what comes your way or how much you must endure. Seeing and being with Him in heavenly eternity will more that make up for any struggles you must endure on earth.

Make up your mind to follow scriptural instruction, including biblical money management principles, no matter how bad people around you ridicule them. Such a lifestyle confirms for you and shows other people that your eternal hope is in Christ and is therefore sure. God desires to bless you abundantly to enable you to take care of your true responsibilities while on earth. And, His provision includes options that allow you to enjoy many things that are not true needs but are enjoyable. He simply does not want you to choose any desire that leads to the pursuit and engagement of ungodly options.

When you choose Jesus as Savior and LORD, He seats you in heavenly places far above principalities and powers. Let this reality and the hope (eager and sure expectation) of eternal life move you to live by His commands and principles. Your mindset in all areas, including finance, should not evolve from the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life where you assume that God wants you to have great wealth to heap pleasures upon yourself. Rather, it must evolve from the foundation laid by the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ, who commands that we use our lives and wealth to glorify Him by abundantly financing the Great Commission and serving other people. This is the only pursuit that truly blesses you.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Psalm 71:5, Colossians 1:4-5, Hebrews 11:1, 1John 3:3

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MoneyWalk 267: Balance Your Accounts

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You cannot build wealth through irresponsible money management. A lot of money could come into your hands through inheritance or through using gifts and skills God has given you, yet many peoples’ experiences have proven that ill will be foolishly spent and squandered and leave you lacking if you do not handle it according to practical money management principles.

Giving to support church ministry that builds the LORD’s kingdom in the hearts of men is the first step to building true wealth. Knowing the state of your income versus expenses is second. Spending less than your net income is third. Eliminating debt is fourth. Eliminating co-signing is fifth. Saving to cover emergency and purchase desired items is sixth. Making continuous monthly investments is seventh. And, diversification is eighth.

Balancing your checking, savings, investment, and credit accounts each month will help you adhere to the above money management principles so that natural and supernatural abundance can accrue to you. Whereas, failing to organize your finances, immediately record additions and subtractions to income and expenditures in your accounts will lead to over-spending because you’ll inevitably think you have more disposable income than you really have to spend.

Start by balancing your checkbook for the last month at the beginning of each new month by subtracting every check written and all ATM withdrawals from your checkbook balance. Never throw away withdrawal slips until you've balanced your checkbook after the end of each month. Use the balancing method on the back of your monthly statement. If you can't understand the directions, ask a friend or a customer service representative at your financial institution to help you. This process takes about two hours each month but will get easier and less time consuming the more you perform the task and use disposable income to eliminate debt and creditors from your financial picture.

Now you can use the same type of process to balance your other accounts to ensure that your monthly expenses are not exceeding your income, you’re not being charged for items you did not purchase, your accounts shows accurate additions and withdrawals for the month, and so you can contact your bank or any creditor to straighten out discrepancies. If you are willing and obedient in you will get to enjoy the best of the harvest the land produces. Failing to be a good steward will subject you to future financial harm.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 27:23-27, Isaiah 55:10-11, Luke 14:28-30, and 2Corinthians 8:12

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MoneyWalk 266: Let Love Guide You

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Everything you have or ever will have has been entrusted to you by the LORD. You are supposed to be a good steward of these manifold blessings for the benefit of His kingdom, other people, and yourself. He loves you so much that He doesn't want you to reap the negative consequences that come from being a poor manager of the life, resources, and money He entrusts to you. But, in order for you to reap the blessings of peace, joy, and godly prosperity you must put on the mind of Christ by placing your trust in Him, which will lead you to regularly and consistently pray to Him and study the bible so that you get to better know Him and His way of having you do things as you walk out this life!

His love will let you know that charity should first begin within your home and within your church family in order to be properly spread abroad and displayed to other people. You must love God and other people enough to do what God directs you to do in the bible concerning how you live and manage the money He’s entrusted to you because this best serves you, your family, your friends, and other people by allowing you to help others without neglecting any of your godly responsibilities.

You must engage in a continual learning and fellowship process to know God’s ways and desires for you. This enables hope and faith to rise out of love so you can serve everyone in the way that He desires by regularly giving a tenth of your gross income plus a free-will offering to help spread the gospel throughout the earth and equip the saints for evangelism, discipleship, and other worthwhile ministry. Now, add a plan for living within your means (budgeting), eliminating debt, and saving & investing instead of borrowing. Then, prosperity will rise from the ashes as you continue you engage practices in line with these biblical principles.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 7:12-16, Proverbs 8:18-21, Matthew 22:34-40, Romans 13:8-10

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MoneyWalk 265: Statement of Net Worth

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Your true worth is determined by the fact that God made you in His image and desired that you would choose to believe in Him and have an intimate relationship with Him. He made you with freewill to live according to your true worth by accepting Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior and thus be useful to Him and the building of His kingdom on Earth. Freewill also allows you to refuse His offer, live according to the dictates of satan and your carnal mind, and thus reap the consequences thereof.

Taking periodic inventory of your beliefs and actions to see if they line up with the LORD’s biblical standards shows whether or not you are living in accordance with your true worth. Likewise, taking an inventory of your monetary assets and liabilities in order to calculate your net worth shows how well you are living the biblical standard in the financial arena of your life. This arena touches every other arena of life such as caring for family, abundantly helping spread the gospel, helping provide physical means for those serving in ministry, working, friendship relationships, health, education, properly using gifts, skills, and abilities, etc.

Your true worth is certainly not determined by the amount of your net worth, yet your personal net worth statement is one of the indicators that help identify whether or not you have laid up treasures in Heaven versus laying them up on Earth. You generally want to see your net worth grow from year to year via giving, budgeting, and debt-free living disciplines that open Heaven’s windows upon you producing an ever increasing income stream from which you save and invest more in companies that produce higher returns.

You can enter “net worth statement” in an online search engine and find sample statements and instructions. Simply put, create an Asset column to describe each individual asset you own such as a house, rental properties, stocks, bonds, and savings. Then, list the dollar market value next to it. Now create a Liabilities (Debt) column, describe each debt you owe creditors such as a home mortgage, rental property mortgages, car notes, credit cards, personal loans, etc. Then, list the full amount owed next to it. Total the dollar value of all assets and then the dollar amount of all debts. Now, subtract total debt from total assets. The result is your monetary net worth.

If your net worth is negative or small, identify whether or not this is due to you overwhelmingly investing the treasures entrusted to you in carnal things of this earthly realm that have you steeped in debt and financial trouble or whether it’s because you’ve overwhelmingly given great amounts of income and resources to ministries that spread the gospel and build the LORD’s kingdom in the hearts of men. If your net worth is large consider whether or not it’s because you’ve been idolizing money and saving and investing much of it while failing to give a proper proportion of it to help fulfill the Great Commission or whether it is because the LORD has caused you to greatly reap (prosper) as a result of regularly and consistently sowing great amounts of your income and resources into building His kingdom. The testimony behind your present net worth helps identify whether or not your net worth reflects that you live according to your true worth.

If your net worth is negative, small, or large and in either instance you have failed to be a good steward, you are not in a hopeless situation. Following God’s plan for good stewardship from this point forward including abundant giving to gospel ministry, living well within your current income, knowing the state of your income and expenses (budgeting), eliminating debt, saving, investing, and diversifying assets will bring supernatural assistance to help you live according to your true worth and properly build net worth.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Genesis 13:2-6, Job 1:1-5, 1Timothy 6:17-21, James 5:1-8

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MoneyWalk 264: Obedience To The LORD Is The Path To Success

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

In every area of life you have boundaries guided by bible-based instruction that allow several ways to be a good steward of the resources God entrusts to you, unless He tells you specifically what to do in a given situation. What you cannot do because of the weakness of your flesh, the LORD Jesus Christ gives you power to do by the indwelling and guiding compass of the Holy Spirit.

Obedience to His commands and principles brings manifold blessings to your life such as peace, joy, perseverance, natural comfort, true wealth building, and righteousness in the eyes of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Following the ways of the world and satan, our enemy, by using its ungodly methods leads you to a dry land where you find pressure to perform, stress, distress, unhappiness, and failure in God's eyes because you’re operating in rebellion to His will. Some unknowingly rebel because they fail to regularly ask Him for direction and listen to His direction.

If you don’t hear God speaking to your heart, keep reading the bible daily, praying daily, fellowshipping with the saints weekly, and staying away from people and situations that lead you to seek worldly desires and lifestyles. You will hear the LORD’s voice when it’s necessary that He reveal something to you. Otherwise, the path you should follow by the Holy Spirit’s leading is based on principles He left us in the basic instructions before leaving earth (bible) and can be summed up in this, love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. The obedience wrought by this heart and mindset will lead you to everything you need to live successfully and be a good steward of your income and financial resources.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 11:26-28, 1Samuel 15:22-23, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 5:29

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MoneyWalk 263: Having Love, Hope, and Faith Prospers You

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Failing to follow biblical principles represents a lack of faith in God and the all-powerful standards and ability of His kingdom to produce everything you need, in abundant proportions using methods that please Him. Yet, many people do not want to believe God gave us biblical money management principles to follow, because the world's methods seem to allow them to more quickly and easily obtain material things they want.

He recognizes that we make mistakes in judgment along the way to maturity. However, He does not want us to be ignorant of the enemy’s tactics nor unfaithful in observing His principles throughout our lives because a disobedient attitude leads to forfeited opportunities, blessings that become cursed, and eternal consequences. Take the path that will truly help you eternally and naturally. Your unfailing hope to live with God in paradise and be useful to Him and your fellow man while on earth produce faith to live by biblical principles.

You’ll have peace, joy, contentment, and abiding love when you make your mission to do His will and you’ll provide services and/or products to others out of love rather than greed. You must believe this truth when it comes to managing your money as well as other areas of your life. Look for the money management principles contained in the bible and faithfully use them. You'll find that God rewards people who diligently seek Him and make His plan first in their lives.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Habakkuk 2:4, Matthew 9:22, Luke 17:6, Romans 5:2-5, Hebrews 11:1-2

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MoneyWalk 262: Godly Satisfaction

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Grumbling and complaining about your situation tricks you into moving out ahead of God in pursuit of things that you feel are necessary for your fulfillment. Instead of listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction, you allow Satan to pull you into activities that are self-destructive, which lead to greater heartaches, headaches, and stress because fleshly desires to obtain riches, fame, positions, and material things can never satisfy your soul.

When this ungodly path is chosen you don't have the power of God working in your life to root out sources of trouble and your life continues unprotected from Satan and the demonic forces because you haven’t made God’s will your first priority. Pursue greater fellowship with God as your top priority, instead of making your priority everything humanly possible to get more money, fame, or power. Being content in Him and thus allowing Him to bless and reward you and show you the pathway and actions that for you lead to far greater resources to fulfill your God-given purposes is far better than seeking the world’s idea of success and pathways to it to get where you want to go.

In the meantime, learn to manage the resources that God already gives you in a manner that allows you to get the most out of them. Such good stewardship involves abundant giving, normally keeping expenses well below income, eliminating and staying out of debt, refusing to cosign, putting away reasonable savings, producing a lifestyle where you have surplus to invest for the long haul, and diversifying your savings and investments.

When utilized in conjunction with other spiritual disciplines like love, hope, faith, worship, praise, prayer, contentment, self-control, and sacrifice, this creates a godly balance in your life no matter the enormity of blessing God continues to pour you’re your life because he who is faithful over little will be faithful over much. Even though others make not be able to see it from time to time, the LORD will bring promotion to your life through natural and supernatural means when you are satisfied in Him.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 31:6-8, Psalm 16:11, Joshua 1:5, Romans 14:17, Philippians 4:11-12

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

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