This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Making a budget and working it will enable you to obtain debt freedom and shed financial burdens. It helps you overcome the irresponsible nature that exists in all of us. And it crushes the heads of the demonic spirits that would otherwise lead us to be bad stewards of God’s resources who think only of ourselves and our desires. Writing our goals plainly on tablet (paper) concerning how we utilize our income allows us to exercise financial prudence knowing that it will lead us to give, save, and spend in accordance with God’s will for our lives. Budgeting will ultimately change the negative financial patterns that have overtaken our lives.
The process is not as complicated as some people seem to think. Just do the following and spend a little time each week checking in with your budget to ensure that you’re following through on your commitment to better your stewardship.
1) List your net monthly income.
2) If you’re a Christian, you should first subtract a tithe from your income that you will give to church ministry for the spreading of the gospel and good works at home and around the world as evidence that you have faith God will take care of your needs. No one can or will make you do this. It has to be a matter of the heart. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
3) Now subtract from your net monthly income (or the amount that remains after tithing) the minimum payment for every bill due this month.
4) When bill payments for particular services are not required each month or they vary each month (insurance, utilities, lawn maintenance, snow removal, etc.), subtract the estimated average monthly amount of each bill.
5) What remains is your disposable income.
6) You should discipline yourself (you disciple you – smile) to get in the habit of spending no more than your disposable income on additional products and services so that you don’t continue to or wind up drowning in a sea of debt.
7) Your disposable income should be spent on needs first. Prioritize in a manner similar to: 1. Shelter (house, apartment, room, etc.), 2. Transportation (bus, commuter van, vehicle, gas, repairs, etc.), 3. Clothing, 4. Food, 5. Etc, etc. etc.
8) Reason being that shelter and transportation to and from work, medical appointments, etc. will be the most difficult to come by when you’re in a tight situation. Clothing and food can be come by from many different sources when you don’t have the means to obtain them at a given time. (Mission stores, food pantries, and the goodness of family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.)
9) The amount that remains could be spent on offerings, personal care items, debt reduction, saving, entertainment, etc.
10) Do not spend amounts you subtracted for bills not due each month, so that when these bills come due you'll have money already in your budget to pay them.
11) You should discipline yourself to budget for at least a six-month cycle. Although taking the first step to budget for this month is great. Now, each week add to that a budget for the next month and so on,
A budget is somewhat flexible because income and expense estimates may not be exact and emergencies do arise. Yet, you should not use this as a reason to bend your budget to the point of breaking when these situations do not occur.
Following your budget will help you build an emergency reserve savings account to cover such emergencies and will help you reach the point of investing to truly build wealth throughout your lifetime.
Heart and mindsets that help your budgeting process are refusing to spend more than 80% of your take home pay, refusing to take out loans to get what you want, and letting God Almighty provide needs that you truly cannot provide for at the moment. He cares and will make a way through your family, friendships, co-workers, and community services.
All of the things you desire that are not necessary for you to live can wait until you have disciplined yourself to follow your budget and have built cash reserves to pay for them without using credit. After a year or two of engaging such discipline, you'll find yourself enjoying the fulfillment that comes from giving, saving, investing, and wealth building that help you carry out the purpose God intended for your life.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 30:24-28, Ecclesiastes 10:17-19, Habakkuk 2:1-4, Luke 16:8-13
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
MoneyWalk 455: Maybe short term pain but definitely long term gain
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Scripture teaches that good stewards engage in the following practices and that they reap blessings from doing so:
1. Manage money and resources like Almighty God owns it all because He does. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word is God, and nothing was made unless it was made by Him.
2. Tithing and offering to honor God for His provision and to help fund the spread of the gospel to every person around the world. And the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and you will be witnesses to me in Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the Earth.
3. Working diligently. For even when we were with you, we commanded you that any man who would not work should also not eat.
4. Living off less than your income by budgeting your spending. Know the state of your flocks and herds and write the vision down plainly on paper so that you may successfully use it to reach the desired goal.
5. Eliminating debt and moving forward to live debt-free. The borrower is a slave to the lender. God desires that you be the head and not the tail.
6. Eliminating cosigning and surety for other people’s debts. Do not cosign for other people’s debts unless you want your coat taken and be subject to ridicule and irresponsibility.
7. Diversifying assets. There is safety in the multitude of counselors. Therefore, save and invest with seven or eight different reputable sources and with a similar number of different types of investments.
8. Saving a reasonable portion of your income. There is oil and wine in the dwelling of the wise but a foolish man spends all that he gets his hands on.
9. Investing a reasonable portion of your income to produce greater profit. The master commended the faithful servants who traded with what He gave them and produced double to present to Him.
Working diligently to serve, gain experience, and develop skill that produce income to care for yourself and your family and help provide for others in need is certainly the road to take. It will help you have more provision for yourself, family, and other worthwhile priorities as opposed to the meager welfare that might be afforded by other people when you choose the other route of not seeking to consistently work.
Many forces in the world seek to pull you away from the above foundations of good stewardship by telling you that some other principle is more important in our modern, civilized society, such as having access to as much personal credit (loans) as you can get your hands on. Advisors are telling people that they cannot live without credit and that they should keep credit card accounts open at all cost. Other people are saying that you will always have bills or car notes or house notes. New sources are pointing to the need to have all of these in order to keep your credit score as high as possible.
For the unsuspecting and those ignorant of truth this sounds like great savvy advice. However, you should understand that the Word says that not one jot or tittle of His Word will ever fail to produce good in your life. Therefore, any so called principle or new method of doing something should always be measured by biblical principles for good stewardship. If it does not comply or attempts to make God’s instruction null and void, you should not only question it but also refuse to go down that road.
What good is getting, keeping, and continuing to get more credit when the very principles / methods you’ve been engaging in have or will get you in trouble in the future and cause you to have trouble over the long haul. In the short haul it may seem a benefit but looks are often deceiving. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is death.
When you choose the short haul path that is opposite God’s instruction, you eventually come to a point in time when that path leads to destruction in the long haul but also in your future short haul periods. Consider the debacle that has gripped our economy and individuals over the past few years. Much of it started by unreasonable decisions made concerning housing, real estate, unreasonable mortgage options and selections, the packaging of such mortgages as investments, maxing out loans for cars and personal pleasure merchandise and services, and people throwing diversification of investments and assets out the door.
Individuals and our nation would be in a far better place if we had chosen to apply biblical principles and not be swayed by what looks good in the short term. We would continue to gain long term favor and blessing which in turn would positively cover our future short term periods. A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes haste to be rich shall not go unpunished.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 28:20, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Habakkuk 2:2-5, Philippians 4:13, 2Thessalonians 3:10
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Scripture teaches that good stewards engage in the following practices and that they reap blessings from doing so:
1. Manage money and resources like Almighty God owns it all because He does. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word is God, and nothing was made unless it was made by Him.
2. Tithing and offering to honor God for His provision and to help fund the spread of the gospel to every person around the world. And the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and you will be witnesses to me in Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the Earth.
3. Working diligently. For even when we were with you, we commanded you that any man who would not work should also not eat.
4. Living off less than your income by budgeting your spending. Know the state of your flocks and herds and write the vision down plainly on paper so that you may successfully use it to reach the desired goal.
5. Eliminating debt and moving forward to live debt-free. The borrower is a slave to the lender. God desires that you be the head and not the tail.
6. Eliminating cosigning and surety for other people’s debts. Do not cosign for other people’s debts unless you want your coat taken and be subject to ridicule and irresponsibility.
7. Diversifying assets. There is safety in the multitude of counselors. Therefore, save and invest with seven or eight different reputable sources and with a similar number of different types of investments.
8. Saving a reasonable portion of your income. There is oil and wine in the dwelling of the wise but a foolish man spends all that he gets his hands on.
9. Investing a reasonable portion of your income to produce greater profit. The master commended the faithful servants who traded with what He gave them and produced double to present to Him.
Working diligently to serve, gain experience, and develop skill that produce income to care for yourself and your family and help provide for others in need is certainly the road to take. It will help you have more provision for yourself, family, and other worthwhile priorities as opposed to the meager welfare that might be afforded by other people when you choose the other route of not seeking to consistently work.
Many forces in the world seek to pull you away from the above foundations of good stewardship by telling you that some other principle is more important in our modern, civilized society, such as having access to as much personal credit (loans) as you can get your hands on. Advisors are telling people that they cannot live without credit and that they should keep credit card accounts open at all cost. Other people are saying that you will always have bills or car notes or house notes. New sources are pointing to the need to have all of these in order to keep your credit score as high as possible.
For the unsuspecting and those ignorant of truth this sounds like great savvy advice. However, you should understand that the Word says that not one jot or tittle of His Word will ever fail to produce good in your life. Therefore, any so called principle or new method of doing something should always be measured by biblical principles for good stewardship. If it does not comply or attempts to make God’s instruction null and void, you should not only question it but also refuse to go down that road.
What good is getting, keeping, and continuing to get more credit when the very principles / methods you’ve been engaging in have or will get you in trouble in the future and cause you to have trouble over the long haul. In the short haul it may seem a benefit but looks are often deceiving. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is death.
When you choose the short haul path that is opposite God’s instruction, you eventually come to a point in time when that path leads to destruction in the long haul but also in your future short haul periods. Consider the debacle that has gripped our economy and individuals over the past few years. Much of it started by unreasonable decisions made concerning housing, real estate, unreasonable mortgage options and selections, the packaging of such mortgages as investments, maxing out loans for cars and personal pleasure merchandise and services, and people throwing diversification of investments and assets out the door.
Individuals and our nation would be in a far better place if we had chosen to apply biblical principles and not be swayed by what looks good in the short term. We would continue to gain long term favor and blessing which in turn would positively cover our future short term periods. A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes haste to be rich shall not go unpunished.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 28:20, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Habakkuk 2:2-5, Philippians 4:13, 2Thessalonians 3:10
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
MoneyWalk 46: Know Your Flocks & Herds
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
You must keep the amount of expenses below your income in order to have peace in your life because this helps you take care of all your needs and responsibilities in life including you, your spouse, and children. You don’t have to log all your expenses over the past few months nor log every single expense on a ledger for the next few months in order to decide what route to take to correct your situation. The pain of your present suffering should make you willing to follow biblical money management principles that help you establish a godly mission for your life, set proper goals, know your income, identify unnecessary expenses, and establish a budget for your family.
Many people don't like to hear the word "budget." However, when you don't develop a spending plan based on the reality of your present income then your reality throughout life will be that your expenses inevitably outgrow your income and leave you in financial turmoil with many headaches, torment, and bill collectors hounding you and credit card companies raising your interest rate to take even more from you while your suffering financially.
By counting the cost first - identifying your income and spending priorities on paper or computer via a budget – you turn your dream of financial freedom into a reality because it helps you spend less than you receive in a pay period so you can get out of debt in the most expedient manner. It helps identify your needs versus your wants, so you can focus on purchasing materials and services that have the highest priority.
Knowing the state of your finances at all times is essential to obtain financial health, wealth, peace, and joy. Indeed, it is a part of pressing upward for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, being like-minded with Him and His saints, and holding true to that which you have attained through salvation. In this way, you will maintain the maximum ability to have the maximum fruitfulness He desires you to have in this earthly portion of your life.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 27:23-24, Habakkuk 2:2-5, Luke 14:25-30, Philippians 3:14-15
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
You must keep the amount of expenses below your income in order to have peace in your life because this helps you take care of all your needs and responsibilities in life including you, your spouse, and children. You don’t have to log all your expenses over the past few months nor log every single expense on a ledger for the next few months in order to decide what route to take to correct your situation. The pain of your present suffering should make you willing to follow biblical money management principles that help you establish a godly mission for your life, set proper goals, know your income, identify unnecessary expenses, and establish a budget for your family.
Many people don't like to hear the word "budget." However, when you don't develop a spending plan based on the reality of your present income then your reality throughout life will be that your expenses inevitably outgrow your income and leave you in financial turmoil with many headaches, torment, and bill collectors hounding you and credit card companies raising your interest rate to take even more from you while your suffering financially.
By counting the cost first - identifying your income and spending priorities on paper or computer via a budget – you turn your dream of financial freedom into a reality because it helps you spend less than you receive in a pay period so you can get out of debt in the most expedient manner. It helps identify your needs versus your wants, so you can focus on purchasing materials and services that have the highest priority.
Knowing the state of your finances at all times is essential to obtain financial health, wealth, peace, and joy. Indeed, it is a part of pressing upward for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, being like-minded with Him and His saints, and holding true to that which you have attained through salvation. In this way, you will maintain the maximum ability to have the maximum fruitfulness He desires you to have in this earthly portion of your life.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 27:23-24, Habakkuk 2:2-5, Luke 14:25-30, Philippians 3:14-15
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
MoneyWalk 45: Financial wisdom
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Godly wisdom should be regarded more than gold, silver, and precious jewels because it produces godly character and wealth to fulfill your purpose in life. This wisdom produces a correct knowledge of God, realizes the need for intimate fellowship with Him, and helps you understand the specific reason you were brought into this world. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endures forever.
You were created to glorify God by loving and respecting Him through fellowship with Him in praise, worship, and prayer and by fulfilling the mission He gave you on this earth. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom and those who are humble are the ones truly honorable. A righteous man makes plans for the life and work he will pursue, yet he allows the LORD to direct and change his steps as He sees fit.
Solomon, the richest king upon the face of the earth, abandoned his relationship with God by allowing his pursuit of the greatest possible wealth, fame, and lustful worldly activities to take priority over God’s will for his life. Alcoholic beverages, wild feasts, many women, and vast riches did not fill the void in his heart. He was unfulfilled even though he achieved earthly greatness in all these areas! See then that you walk cautiously and not as a fool but with godly wisdom; redeeming the time because the days are evil. Move forward in the way God would have you to and at all times stand on the foundation of truth and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, you will have wealth without spiritual health, which is no good!!! At the end of his days Solomon was disappointed in all that he had and achieved and concluded that the entire duty of man is to love God and keep His commandments. Honoring the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and He instructs those who follow Him to true greatness. Learn biblical financial principles and commit to using them. You'll see positive and eternally successful changes overtake your life.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Psalms 111:10, Proverbs 15:33, 16:9, Ephesians 5:15, 6:14
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Godly wisdom should be regarded more than gold, silver, and precious jewels because it produces godly character and wealth to fulfill your purpose in life. This wisdom produces a correct knowledge of God, realizes the need for intimate fellowship with Him, and helps you understand the specific reason you were brought into this world. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endures forever.
You were created to glorify God by loving and respecting Him through fellowship with Him in praise, worship, and prayer and by fulfilling the mission He gave you on this earth. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom and those who are humble are the ones truly honorable. A righteous man makes plans for the life and work he will pursue, yet he allows the LORD to direct and change his steps as He sees fit.
Solomon, the richest king upon the face of the earth, abandoned his relationship with God by allowing his pursuit of the greatest possible wealth, fame, and lustful worldly activities to take priority over God’s will for his life. Alcoholic beverages, wild feasts, many women, and vast riches did not fill the void in his heart. He was unfulfilled even though he achieved earthly greatness in all these areas! See then that you walk cautiously and not as a fool but with godly wisdom; redeeming the time because the days are evil. Move forward in the way God would have you to and at all times stand on the foundation of truth and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, you will have wealth without spiritual health, which is no good!!! At the end of his days Solomon was disappointed in all that he had and achieved and concluded that the entire duty of man is to love God and keep His commandments. Honoring the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and He instructs those who follow Him to true greatness. Learn biblical financial principles and commit to using them. You'll see positive and eternally successful changes overtake your life.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Psalms 111:10, Proverbs 15:33, 16:9, Ephesians 5:15, 6:14
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
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