The first five principles are connected to the whole of your life, not just how you manage money. They should be a foundation for how and why you decide to do anything in life. They allow you to accomplish much, be very successful in your endeavors, and please God when incorporated with other actions like praying, studying the bible, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit within you, fellowshipping with believers (attending church regularly), and before making major decisions getting the input of a group of counselors that believe in Jesus Christ and who seek to do His will. These principles help you fulfill the purpose for which God created you.
1) Understand that God owns everything: we are only managers of His estate. God is, always was, and always will be. He is the creator of all things including you, yet He is so gracious to allow you to live in His presence and receive His blessing. You have a choice to live with Him or live without Him. At the end of your days on Earth your choice becomes an eternal one. His desire is that you would choose to live with Him living and acting according to His instruction and guidance confirmed by biblical principle.
2) You are to do good works – those that are God pleasing. This involves working to earn money and obtain resources to take care of yourself and family by producing and selling widgets and/or service. It also includes engaging with the Church to be a witness of Jesus Christ to people around you and in other parts of the world and in some instances to help meet people’s physical needs (food, clothing, shelter, etc.).
3) Be content. Choose delayed gratification instead of instant gratification. Do not buy that bigger house, more expensive car, new furniture, new jewelry, etc. until you have reached the priority goal of being a faithful tithing member of a local church and totally debt-free. Stuff to buy will still be there at prices you can afford to pay after you reach your goal.
4) Show self-control This is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5, which along with the other eight fruit shows that we walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Pleasing God is the ultimate goal and can only be displayed by living according to His commands. You must learn to be obedient to biblical principles in order to control your fleshly appetite and put the focus back on fulfilling His purpose for your life. This will help produce wealth in a way that is pleasing to God without compromising your relationship with Jesus Christ.
5) Be willing to sacrifice. Delaying gratification results in great benefits accruing to you in the long-run because is replaces short-term pleasure for long-term financial soundness and helps keep you out of financial trouble.
6) Tithe and give offerings and alms to your local church and other worthwhile ministries and charities. Continue or start tithing to your local church or a worthwhile ministry each time you receive income. In addition, give offerings and alms to join with fellow believers in serving those in need.
7) Budget your income and expenses for at least a few months ahead. A number of free resources exist on the internet to help you craft a 3 to 6 month plan that shows:
a) Your after tax income each pay period
b) The tithe and offering to be subtracted from take home pay
c) Each minimum bill payment that must be paid from that pay period’s income (mortgage, rent, credit cards, car note, etc.)
d) Other miscellaneous amounts that must be taken from the income (groceries, personal money, gas for car, monthly amount of annual property tax payment, monthly amount of annual home and car insurance premium, monthly amount of annual life insurance payment, 2 or 3 low cost weekend vacations each year, low cost monthly entertainment, etc.), and
e) Any amount left over. If there is nothing left over then you will need to work with your spouse and a close friend who is good at managing his or her money or a budget counselor to determine ways in which you can cut current expenses, determine which bills receive priority for payment at the current time, or find other jobs that can help increase your income for awhile to get you out of the rut you are in.
8) Refuse to accumulate more debt and eliminate current debt. The borrower is servant to the lender and thus God does not want His people to be in debt because it often causes people to make bad decisions and move away from God’s purpose for their lives and bring troubles upon them and their families. His desire is that you owe no man anything but love.
9) Refuse to cosign for the debts of other people. You will not help other people live in the responsibility God desires for them and you will bring financial trouble upon yourself by eventually being on the hook for paying the bills of irresponsible people.
10) Save in an emergency reserve account, so that you have resources to help care for needs during rainy days. A wise man stores a portion of his resources to meet future material needs, but a foolish man immediately spends everything he gets. You need a rainy day fund to help you overcome bad economic cycles that will occur throughout your life.
11) Invest excess disposable income to accumulate greater return. God desires that you be like the servants in the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas who went about trading (investing) the assets He had given them in order to multiplying them for greater use for His glory.
12) Diversify your savings and investments so that all your eggs are not in the same basket. Scripture instructs you to give a portion to seven or eight because you do not know what troubles may come upon the Earth. It also instructs you to seek safety in the multitude of counselors. When all eggs are in the same basket they tend to all be destroyed by one person’s malfeasance, but when they are in different baskets one person’s malfeasance does not destroy the wealth God intends for you to manage.
Following the above principles by the leading of the Holy Spirit will help you get to the point of debt-freedom and wealth building where you will multiply the money that the Lord entrusted to you; some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Revelation 4:11, 1Timothy 6:9-17, Matthew 23:23, Hebrews 7:8, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Proverbs 21:20, Luke 6:38, 14:28-30
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment