MoneyWalk 24a Organize Records & Balance Checkbooks

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

There are a number of ways you can organize records for purposes of making sure all financial data is in a few locations that can be quickly and easily accessed in order to know the data that should be used to periodically complete net worth statements and household budgets (giving-saving-spending plan), and to find current and past financial account information when needed.

1. Gather all the creditor billing statements (including utilities, etc.) that you have laying in piles on your tables and in drawers around your house. Make sure you at least have all the latest billing statements from all your creditors. For recordkeeping ease, put all billing statements in one filing system. Copy each billing statement creditors send you electronically each month. You may have to contact creditors to get copies of each billing statement so you have them all.

2. On a table, arrange each billing statement by day of each month on which payment is due from the 1st thru the 31st. When the payment due date fluctuates each month simply use the day of the month that tends to be the earliest ever requested by the creditor. For example, if your electric utility payment is generally due anywhere from the 12th to the 17th, then use the 12th as the payment due date for recordkeeping and budget (giving-saving-spending plan) purposes.

3. Once arranged in the above order, put all the bills in a filing system with tabs at the top of each folder / divider that shows the above noted day-of-the-month order for arranging records. The tab at the top of each folder / divider should be labeled with its own date from the 1st thru the 31st. as well as the name of one specific creditor’s billing statements that will be placed in that folder or behind that divider tab. When more than one creditor’s payment due date occurs on the same date then you should have that same number of folders / dividers with the same due date but different creditor names on them. For example, 1st-Home Mortgage, 1st-Car Note, and 1st-Cable subscription.

4. You only need days of the month recognized on folder / divider tabs when a payment is due on that date from at least one creditor. So, if the next date on which a payment is due is the 5th of each month, then your next folder / divider tab should be similar to 5th-MSUFCU Visa.

5. You should keep the billing statements for each creditor in January through December order during each billing year, so you know the last one received is always the one for which payment is due or payment has been made. Keep at least one year of consecutive billing statements and you can usually get rid of any billing statements older than one-year.

6. You should put a monthly recurring appointment reminder on your computer calendar or smart phone calendar that reminds you by email or text of each creditor’s payment due date at least seven days in advance of the payment each month to ensure you do not miss checking your budget and paying the bill on time.

7. When you get calendar email or text notification that a payment is due, immediately refer to the latest billing statement for that creditor in the filing system to either write a check and mail it, or use the phone payment option, or use an online payment option.

This recordkeeping system provided organization you need to identify (a) the consistency of each month’s payment due date for each creditor, (b) the amount due over the past year for each creditor, and (c) other data that will be helpful in charting your financial future via ongoing monthly budgets (giving-saving-spending plan) and periodic net worth statements. Without it or a similarly organize system you will make mistakes in timing and with money that will cost you dearly over the years by keeping you in financial bondage and outside of the wealth building process. Tune in to the next article to find out more about organizing other financial records.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 27:23-24, Isaiah 55:10-11, Luke 14:28-30, 2Corinthians 8:12, 20-21, 9:10

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MoneyWalk 24 Organize Records & Balance Checkbooks

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You must diligently organize financial records, balance checkbooks, and review all accounts to ensure errors are corrected (bank, credit card, investment accounts, etc.) in order to have a healthy financial life. At all times, good financial stewards know exactly how much money they have at their disposal or they are able to quickly find out from account ledgers. People who don’t organize and immediately record deposits and deduct withdrawals from account balances are usually in poor financial shape. They often write checks and take on debt payments for more than they can afford to spend.

Getting a current account balance from a teller or looking at your checking account online doesn’t show how much you really have to spend because many checks are cashed days or weeks after they're written. The fact that $1,000 was payroll deducted into your account on Friday doesn't mean that $1,000 is available for you to spend on desires until your next paycheck. You cannot know what you truly have available to spend unless you know what's in your account after you subtract all checks written and record monthly bills that still must be paid during the pay period. Also, you need to make sure there is room to save an adequate emergency fund for unexpected bills that will periodically arise. In addition, you need to make sure your account balance will allow you to have enough extra income each pay period to eliminate your debt within a couple of years or sooner if possible and thereafter to invest 10% or more in vehicles that will provide enough annual compound growth to build wealth.

It’s almost impossible to build an emergency fund, eliminate debt, and increase wealth without organizing financial records, balancing checkbooks, and reviewing accounts for errors. These practices help you know the state of your flocks and herds at all times so you can properly budget income, appropriately spend, save emergency funds, eliminate debt, and invest.

If you do not follow an organized accountability plan, financial institutions will rake you over the coals with non-sufficient fund fees, late fees, overdraft fees, and other account charges. In addition, you are likely to find yourself deeply in debt, possibly facing repossession, foreclosure, and/or bankruptcy. Open your eyes right now to see you can undo financial bondage, build wealth, and fulfill your God-given purpose when you properly manage money including organizing financial records, balancing your checkbooks, and reviewing all accounts to ensure errors are corrected.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 27:23-24, Isaiah 55:10-11, Luke 14:28-30, 2Corinthians 8:12, 20-21, 9:10

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

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MoneyWalk 23 Manage Money By Love

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

In order to have a solid spiritual foundation, you must believe with all your heart that God loves you so much that He sent His only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to eliminate the judgment due your sins in order that you, believing on Him, will have everlasting life.

He loves everyone equally in this same way and desires that everyone would choose to have relationship and fellowship with Him in Christ even though each one deserves eternal punishment for sins committed in this life. He already provided the blood sacrifice, mercy, and grace necessary to secure your salvation and eternal life. In addition, He provides every spiritual tool necessary to display faith in Christ and receive complete blessing & reward for your life so you can finish the race / journey prepared for you.

When you commit to Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you and guides you to forsake sinful worldly ways of living by taking you through a continual maturity process (intimate worship / prayer time focused on Him followed by evangelism and disciple-making that incorporate good works). In order to obey His first and greatest commandment, you must love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. This love motivates you to obey the second commandment, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. Together, these are the foundation for all He made you to be and do.

This means His love must guide management of your life, including finances according to His will and way expressed in the bible. Engage a plan for giving, saving, and spending money on earth that (a) leads people to Him, (b) teaches them to obey His commandments, (c) keeps you and family spiritually and naturally healthy, and (d) allows you to increase income and assets to, in a greater way, serve His aim for you and others on earth. This must be a much higher priority than seeking to increase your material lifestyle and comfort.

His love and loving Him leads to daily prayer and bible study filling your heart with the Word. It also leads to regular weekly fellowship with other believers that encourage you to love and minister to others. These love-based disciplines faithfully and constantly aim you in the direction of engaging biblically based good stewardship of income, assets, and resources entrusted to you. When engaged, this ensures you fulfill God-given purpose and ministry calling to be blessed in order to be a blessing to many others.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 7:13, Proverbs 8:21, John 14:21, and Romans 13:8

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MoneyWalk 22 What Is Your Net-Worth?

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You must calculate net worth in order to determine the state of your finances. It is the value of all assets minus the amount of all liabilities. Assets are owned goods or properties that have a market value expressed in dollars. They are in bank or brokerage accounts, etc. that show cash values or property that could be sold for a realistic estimated dollar amount.

Bank and brokerage accounts (e.g., savings, checking, certificates of deposit, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds) are considered liquid assets, which means they can be quickly cashed in at a financial institution or sold quickly to obtain the cash value. Other assets are considered illiquid, which means they usually cannot be converted into cash very quickly (e.g., houses, land, cars, artwork, and artifacts). In fact, you may not get the amount you believe they’re worth or you might get more at the time of sale because their value is based on what a buyer is willing to pay a seller at the time of the transaction.

The best assets to own as a bulk of your portfolio is usually a diversified portfolio of company stocks, generally through no-load low-expense stock index mutual funds like an S&P 500 or a total stock market index fund. They have more historical data from which consistently larger positive grow trends can be shown over a ten or more-year investing cycle than any other type of investment. For one who needs short-term protection from the stock market ups and downs, a 25 to 30% portion of investible assets can be put in stable value funds and/or no-load low-expense intermediate bond index mutual funds. In addition, after one pays off all non-mortgage debt, a minimum $10,000 emergency fund should be built and maintained. You may need to build a larger emergency fund if you know that you will soon face an emergency (layoff, large uncovered medical expense, etc.) and will need to cover it and/or household expenses you will not be able to adequately cover based on income.

Other assets (e.g. investment real estate, antique cars, etc.) could be worthwhile but usually require more skill to purchase, properly maintain, and appropriately manage, and accurately determine annual average growth patterns. In addition, they might not provide much risk protection and investing stability when you cannot own enough of them to truly be diversified. Thus, it is recommended that you first build an adequate emergency fund, second build the mutual fund portfolio usually on a dollar cost averaging basis, and then invest in other assets on a debt-free basis.

Liabilities are debts you owe someone else for material goods, services, or loans. This includes such items as business loans, real estate mortgages, student loans, car notes, revolving charge card balances, personal loans, etc. You should engage a debt snowball plan to as quickly as possible pay off what you currently owe because they lead to future trouble due to high finance charges and accumulation of many loans over time. Many people find it hard to make all payments required and live a reasonably comfortable life. They also find that required minimum monthly payments do not stop loan totals from continuing to grow to be more than the amount originally borrowed. Scripture does not give a picture of good and bad debt. It simply tells you to avoid borrowing and co-signing because they make you a slave to the lender, are speculative in nature, and harm the vast majority of people who continually use such methods to fund lifestyle. It confirms assets will be taken from many due to inability to make required payments. Advertisements and temptations convince people debt is great to get everything desired out of life. Yet, every year we see millions of people thrust into poverty due to usurious interest charges (payday & substandard loans), repossession, foreclosure, and bankruptcy.

At least annually, you should calculate your net worth to measure how successful your financial plan or lack of one has been. This will give you an idea of how far into the future you could pay your current debts or expenses if all income stopped coming in. This measurement is necessary because two decades ago the economy changed and layoffs became commonplace in many industries. Today, we see this in a more extreme way in that it has encumbered many of our main economic engines (e.g., banking, mortgage, housing, commercial real estate, automobile, and retail industries).

The ‘lifetime employment with one company dream’ came to a screeching halt. This current trend of changing jobs every 5-7 years, bouts of unemployment, and untimely emergencies and catastrophes that occur in your life should help you understand you will suffer financial hardships and great amounts of stress that will negatively affect your relationships when you do not follow God’s plan for managing finances and building net worth.

A Christian who continuously uses good stewardship will accumulate a greater net worth throughout his life that will allow him to weather economic storms better than others. He will also be motivated to help more people and give more to ministry work than people who are poor stewards who spend all their money on consumer purchases and debt service and thus fail to build wealth.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Genesis 13:2, Job 42:12 Luke 19:2-10, James 5:1-5

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

You can find books authored by Randy Parlor and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

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MoneyWalk 21 Financial Obedience

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Being obedient to God is of utmost importance when managing your money. If you do not consistently use biblical money management principles, you'll never reap benefits God wants you to have. He wants you to prosper, however true and lasting prosperity is had only when you consistently manage your life and resources according to biblical standards so you can sow time, talent, and money into spreading the gospel to other people and making them into disciples.

He wants to bless you immensely, rebuke the devourer, and stop satanic forces from causing spiritual and financial hardships. This comes only when you consistently work as unto the Lord, give abundantly, and serve others. Obedience is a necessary extension of faith that enables you to grow in stature with God and man. It develops in you New Testament saving and sanctifying faith instead of empty words with no godly action behind them.

Faith without obedience (corresponding good works) is dead when it doesn’t move you closer to the will of God in Christ and serve as an example for others to do the same. When you don't obey Christ by allowing biblical principles to guide your life, you become a servant to Satan, sin, and those you borrow from. Your life, purpose, and worth will be on a path of destruction that will hinder your ability to live godly, properly serve others, and prosper on earth. When left unchanged, this will lead to destruction of your relationship with Jesus Christ and forfeiture of the eternal life He wants for you.

Financial Obedience is faith-based and leads you on the road to financial prosperity and pursuit and fulfillment of the plan the LORD has for you. It leads to you employing a monthly budget that takes into account the proper priorities of giving first, saving next, and spending third. In addition, it leads to establishment of a suitable emergency fund, debt freedom, saving, investing, and diversifying assets. It helps you get the wealth He designed for your life and helps you use it in the way He intends. In this you will be blessed to be a blessing to many others.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 11:27, 1Samuel 15:22, Matthew 28:20, Acts 5:29

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

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MoneyWalk 20 Walking By Faith

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Our triune God (the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and Holy Spirit) is infallible and unable to make mistakes. He's all-powerful and all-knowing and has the ability to make sure that what's translated for you in the bible is complete and whole. He guides born again believers that listen to Him in every area of life and every situation that arises by commanding them to keep specific laws in some areas and giving them principles with boundaries to use in managing other areas. In fact, He lives in us to direct us to His perfect will.

Search the bible and you will see that God identified Himself in these ways throughout scripture. If you're un-saved, your true need is not to be successful in this world to receive the accolades of men nor to simply have free time to do everything you think is pleasurable to you. Your true need is to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and LORD so:

1. Eternal life with God almighty is yours.

2. Your mind is renewed to pursue your true purpose on earth where your gifts, talents, and skills are meshed and entwined through your vocation(s) with evangelism and discipleship of others. This is the only way that you can mature in God’s will and it happens while you seek to lead other people to Him and be a catalyst for their growth.

3. Eternal blessings, which result from your willingness to labor for His will to be done in earth, can be deposited in your heavenly bank account to await your arrival in the new heavens and new earth.

Then, you need to allow your faith to rise to believe the real truth that God is everything He said He is in the bible: the way, the truth, the life, the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and the Almighty Judge of Heaven and Earth who will one day judge the living and the dead.

In addition to the fundamental practices of the Christian faith like regularly fellowshipping with other believers, daily bible study, praying and worshipping the LORD daily, it takes ever increasing faith to follow biblical instruction in areas such as: (a) Envisioning His plan for your life; (b) planning to aim at that future; (c) working to earn a living and build wealth; (d) budgeting so you don’t overspend your income; (e) eliminating debt and staying out of it in the future; (f) refusing to cosign; (g) saving; (h) investing; (i) diversifying assets; and (j) teaching your children to follow these practices.

In fact, it takes faith being built upon day in and day out, year in and year out to overcome all the unbiblical advice you’ll receive to do the opposite and to overcome your human nature which desires to handle finances and life in the same manner as the Joneses. Walk by faith and not by sight, in the Spirit, and not in the flesh and as you grow in Christ-likeness you’ll reap the best possible lifestyle and financial position.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Habakkuk 2:4, Matthew 9:22, Luke 17:5-6, Romans 4:19-22, Hebrews 11:6

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

You can find books authored by Randy Parlor and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

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MoneyWalk 19 The Richness Of Contentment

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many people’s finances are messed up because they try to match other peoples' lifestyles. They're disenchanted with what they have because other people appear to have more than they do. When they're unable to achieve a greater status, they see themselves as failures. When they do obtain earthly riches or fame they're still unhappy because the God-given purpose for their lives isn't fulfilled. Some regret the occupational or living situation they've put themselves and their families in by seeking success the world’s way. Many continue in a downward financial spiral until they understand the LORD has a better path for them.

Stop measuring yourself by other people’s lifestyles and ideals of success. Without godly contentment operating in your life you cannot be on the path and fulfill the LORD’s purpose for you, which is the only lifestyle and accomplishment that is truly successful. When your eyes and ears are on men, what they have, what they think, and wanting to be like them, you cannot truly thank the LORD for where you are and what you have and you will not make the most of it because you've positioned your heart and mind in a way that will not listen to His direction.

The plan He has for your life and the things He wants to bless you with may not be the same as other peoples' blessings, yet the life you live and the path that you follow based on His purpose for you will ultimately be more fulfilling. God is pleased when you follow His instruction.

Always remember that life in your human body is like vapor: here today, gone tomorrow. In the scheme of eternity, it’s like a needle in a haystack; such a short time that it’s almost non-existent compared to eternity. It passes quickly and sometimes abruptly. So, ensure you’re intimate with the LORD to hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Now, enter into my eternal joy!”

This can only be had via a salvific relationship with Jesus Christ, which produces the richness of contentment in lifestyle, relationships, and finances. His contentment does not lead you to be a couch potato who believes nothing and fails to work. Rather, it causes you to seek His will concerning what to believe and work toward. Then, it is obedient in following Him and waiting patiently for the fruit to grow and ripen, even though at times it does not appear to the natural eye that much is produced and sometimes others ridicule you and you may suffer a while. A contented person never seeks ungodly or ill-gotten gain, rather he/she waits for God’s law of reciprocity to bring forth a great harvest. Then, he/she manages everything the LORD provides to continue magnifying Him by sharing the gospel with the world and making disciples of other people.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Ecclesiastes 1:8, Luke 3:14, Philippians 4:11-13, 1Timothy 6:6-10, Hebrews 13:5-6

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

You can find books authored by Randy Parlor and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

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MoneyWalk 18 Be Content

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

To grow spiritually, you must be content with the financial situation God placed you in. This doesn't mean you lack ambition to do more than you're now doing, rather it recognizes (A) your appreciation for the present blessings God has given you, (B) that you consider more intimate fellowship with Him to be the success you seek, and (C) that you step-by-step wait on Him to open doors that lead you to the fulfillment of your purpose and calling in Christ.

Understand, what you consider to be the path leading to success may not be the path the LORD wants you to choose. Blessing & reward on His path, far exceed what you would get from the path you would otherwise choose. You must learn to hear His direction and options for your life. These can be heard only through prayer, reading the word, living by the word, and fellowshipping with the saints.

These disciplines should motivate you to use the following biblical financial principles to manage your current and future income:

1. Working regularly and diligently. During periods of unemployment this means volunteering your time to worthy causes when you’re not beating the street looking for work.

2. Diligently budgeting prior to and through each month to ensure your expenses are less than your disposable income. This means trusting God to provide what you need (through other people, etc.) when you don’t have money to pay for it.

3. Tithing each pay period.

4. Building an emergency reserve account of at least $1,000.

5. Using excess disposable income to pay off current debt.

6. Refusing to continue using credit / debt to finance desires.

7. Building an emergency reserve account of at least $10,000 after all non-mortgage debts are paid off.

8. Invest at least 10% of your gross income in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc. via a combination of Roth IRA, 401k, and brokerage investment accounts.

When you delight yourself in Him by loving Him enough to do what He instructed, you'll receive the desires of your heart because the closer you get to God the more His desires for you and mankind permeate your life and become your desires. You'll then have contentment by giving and building wealth from your present income source and will eventually be promoted to a greater position of income and assets (which may include entrepreneurial endeavors) from which to serve the LORD and other people.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Luke 3:14, Philippians 4:11-13, 1Timothy 6:6-10, Hebrews 13:5-6

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

You can find books authored by Randy Parlor and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

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You can connect with Randy Parlor on Twitter and Linkedin

You can also view and/or listen to MoneyWalk articles at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnztOIesOKIrSd_H6c-8mQ

MoneyWalk 17 Should You Do It Yourself?

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Throughout your life, you'll be faced with situations where you'll have to determine whether it's cheaper to do a job yourself or hire someone else to do it. You've seen sitcoms in which a husband that has no carpentry skill keeps trying to perform repair jobs and his lack of ability costs the family more money and time than if he had immediately hired a competent professional to do the work.

This often happens in real life because it takes each person a bit of time and experience to understand how God specifically gifted him / her for a specific type of work in a way that allows him / her to perform quality work. Some people are simply not gifted to be great carpenters. Yet, this doesn’t stop most of us from trying to fix things we don't have the ability to fix because on the front end it seems much cheaper to do the job ourselves and it’s usually by trial and error that we begin to understand what we are truly gifted to do and able to become skilled at.

The first few times no one should blame you for trying to do work yourself. It's natural to press the boundaries of your ability to try and learn a new skill when the opportunity presents itself. Also, it is good stewardship to look for less costly ways to obtain goods and services, so you are not the foolish person who quickly spends all money received. This allows you to provide for your family’s needs and save and invest a portion of income the LORD entrusts to you. However, once historical evidence shows you're unable to provide quality workmanship necessary to adequately maintain your home and other areas of your life or that ‘doing it yourself’ winds up being more costly in the end, you should search for someone with a proven track record of providing quality services at the lowest possible price.

When a major job needs to be done, ask the question, “Should I do it myself?” Your answer should be a resounding “NO” when past history shows you’re not gifted to do the work, could not become skilled at doing it, do not desire to spend necessary time to do quality work in the arena in which you need service, or it is not cost effective for you to pull away from work for which you are skilled and called to do. Otherwise, you will become a poor steward of the time and money God entrusted to you because you will waste it trying to complete tasks you already know you cannot skillfully complete. To make matters worse, you will often have to pay someone else to re-do the work.

It is better to draw the right conclusion up-front about your skill level and capability, so resources are not wasted over and over again as you journey through life. The right person does not necessarily have to be a high-priced professional. When you’re strapped for cash you can draw from friends and family members who are gifted or skilled in the area of your need or who know someone that is and who can provide you with quality service at a cost that fits within your spending limit. If such help does not materialize when you think you need it, you must simply continue to have faith that the LORD will provide all your need in due time according to His riches in glory.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Romans 12:3-8, 1Corinthians 12:18, Ephesians 4:7-13, James 3:1-2

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

You can find books authored by Randy Parlor and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

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You can connect with Randy Parlor on Twitter and Linkedin

You can also view and/or listen to MoneyWalk articles at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnztOIesOKIrSd_H6c-8mQ

MoneyWalk 16 Utilizing Other People’s Skills

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Have you ever needed carpentry work, but no ability to do it yourself at a level that would be aesthetically pleasing? Have you purchased something only to find out later you paid far more than you had to? Have you needed to set up proper business and personal income recordkeeping and prepare tax returns and realized that much of what you need is beyond your expertise and ability to give much time to figuring out how to be an expert in the accounting field?

Most people experience these types of situations. You do not have to feel as though there is no hope for getting what you need and experiencing the beauty of a great result. Such situations can be remedied by knowing your limitations and finding people who have skills you need to get the job done effectively, efficiently, and sometimes less costly than if you tried to do it. We have sometimes found it beneficial to utilize other people’s skill and give them a chance to hone their skills and earn income even though we could have completed work we needed done. In many instances we paid them more than we could have saved doing it ourselves.

Never become a lazy freeloader or feel as though you are entitled to use other people’s time, expertise, or money at no cost to you. Entitlement is a mental affliction based on pride, arrogance, and covetousness that makes you obnoxious to others. You must do the daily things you need to do to survive, live comfortably, and make a positive impact on others in this world. Slothfulness – the unwillingness to do things you can do within normal daily living parameters and the gifts, calling, and skills the LORD has helped you attain - will make you unable to build the life and financial empire He desires for you.

Now that you’ve decided laziness is off limits, understand that failing to recognize where your skill ends will also cost you a great deal more than it will if you recognize He designed life so other people’s skills can help you and yours help them. There are certain things you know you cannot do effectively (decorating, plumbing, accounting, etc.). Search for someone with requisite expertise who will do a good job and, if necessary, allow you to pay less than normal until you're financially able to pay full price. It is a good practice to get at least three estimates and check each person’s work for former clients to make sure the person you select has a good work history and product. Also, never fail to pay what is due those who help you when it is in the power of your hands to do so. You will experience immense blessing and reward relationally and financially when you engage the practice of using other people’s skills.

Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your business or ministry conference or workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Exodus 18:18-20, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Luke 19:13, Luke 5:4-7

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