MoneyWalk 423 Overspending Leads To Bondage

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Overspending is a very big problem in the world today, especially with the decades long increases in loan credit availability. Most people are in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt via credit cards, charge cards, car loans, student loans, mortgages, and cosigning for other people’s debts. Over the past five decades savings has declined from approximately 15% of income to not much more than 1% today. Immigrants who come to our shores soon begin to go after loans like those they see around them, so they can immediately purchase all the things they think they missed out on in their former land. It’s a pity we’re leading them on this path at the risk of financial ruin, divorces, and severing of family relationships.

Many people are purchasing much larger homes with very expensive amenities and furnishings than ever before, more expensive cars, and generally more expensive clothing and other merchandise to impress people around them. This makes them feel like they’re successful in everyone’s eyes including their own. They often feel this will make their names great to onlookers, but it often ends in financial and personal tragedy when such purchases are the basis of one’s security and reputation. Sad to say there is a notable increase in general unhappiness with life, divorce rates, depression rates, suicide rates, and many other indicators that seem to have followed the trajectory of our poor financial stewardship and increased movement away from biblical financial principles.

Not long ago, some people felt they didn’t have to save and invest in a diversified manner because the equity in their mortgaged house provided all the wealth they needed for their future and the material things they wanted to get now. They signed massive home equity loans to finance remodels and other lavish purchases (cars, boats, RV’s, jewelry, you name it). A good number even signed for mortgages that allowed them to use credit amounts greater than the amount of equity they had. Thus, stripping most if not all equity out of their properties mostly for the sake of immediately getting material things they really could not afford and that would not help them build wealth to ensure that they and their families would have secure futures.

One thing I need to make unequivocally clear, I am not against people earning large sums of money, purchasing expensive items, or being comfortable in life. I am not the values police waiting to check your every purchase to make sure it’s in line with my beliefs or even scriptural principles. However, I recognize that many will suffer unnecessarily in the area of finances and its connection to so many other areas of life unless they learn, understand, and act on the wisdom of God laid out in the bible. The Holy Spirit indwells believers for the purpose of guiding them so we can become more Christ-like the longer we live upon the earth. He instructs and encourages us to live out biblical principles including those that affect the financial areas of our life. Therefore, I must share the negative consequences that ultimately come upon those that become slaves to lenders, fools who spend all that they earn, cosigners for others, and spiritually blind wealth impersonators who fail to pay attention to ensuring their earnings far exceed their expenses.

No one can continually spend more than he/she earns without running into financial turmoil and future lack. Some big money grips who thought they could, ran into earnings, foreclosure, repossession, bankruptcy, poverty, and even homelessness problems later in life that showed the error of their thinking. We must utilize biblical principles to ensure that we progressively put ourselves in a situation where God, man, and human financial systems work to our benefit so we can properly care for ourselves, our families, our Churches, and others that God leads us to help. In fact, God usually brings an abundance above and beyond what our mere actions could bring when we commit to doing things His way for His glory. This does not mean that you are without problems and suffering or that you receive everything you ever wanted. It means that God is sure to care for your eternal soul and earthly livelihood by providing all your need according to His riches in glory. For many, this can mean great monetary wealth to be used in the context of giving the LORD ever increasing worship via funding evangelistic and disciple-making ministry and where a great portion of it could also be used for greater creature comforts.

My admonition to you at all times, including holiday seasons and special occasions, is to check your spending at the door by recognizing that living within your means today provides a greater opportunity to display trust in the Almighty, to build wealth for the future, to give abundantly to the Church for Kingdom ministry, and to have more creature comforts in your latter years when you will need them the most. A lifestyle of good financial stewardship relieves the stresses, pressures, and worries upon individuals and families that poor stewardship created and worsened. Remember, you are made to be a conqueror not a victim, a winner not a loser, a lender not a borrower, wealthy not in poverty, a Christian not a slave to the devil and his bondage strategies. So, take control of your life by putting a stop to overspending. Cut up those credit cards that have been taking you deeper and deeper into the pit of financial despair. Get a second job temporarily or earn extra income via an entrepreneurial endeavor to help pay off the loan bondage and start a savings and investment fund. By doing so, you will increasingly eliminate worry and anxiety, breathe easier, better care for your responsibilities, and create a more intimate relationship with the LORD.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 8:18, 28:12, Proverbs 22:7, 27:23-27, Romans 13:8, Luke 12:16-21, James 5:1-8

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

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MoneyWalk 422 You Can Clean Up Your Mess

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many people were caught up in the economic downturn, credit, mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy, and financial bondage mess that occurred from 2007 through 2009. Many have been unable to continue making monthly payments on their home, vacation, rental properties, and other loans due to reduced income, layoffs, lack of emergency funds and other savings, etc. Quite a number had financial institutions foreclose on their properties, filed bankruptcy, or had property repossessed. Others are simply pressed to their wits end even now trying to figure out how they’re going to stay afloat financially.

No doubt some catastrophes occurred, the type of which, some people could not possibly have foreseen at the time they signed for mortgages and other loans. However, everyone is able to foresee danger ahead at least in the sense that everyone knows problems will occur every so often in life and they will need financial resources to help resolve them to relieve stress, be able to continue to pay bills, and avoid financial destitution and other bondages that will negatively affect them as a result of emergencies. The only way to appropriately and adequately handle such situations is by planning that helps you live a prudent lifestyle based on your income as well as employing consistent, reasonable, long-term saving and investment practices. This godly pattern allows you to avoid financial bondage that would otherwise be the result of such situations.

Unfortunately, many people chose not to follow biblical principles in managing their lives and money. Thus, they gave place to the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell them (1) the market would crash, or (2) they were going to lose their job or be laid off, or (3) they were putting themselves and family in bondage by signing for loans, or (4) they didn’t have the education and skill to profitably navigate investment situations that required leverage, speculating they would always be able to bring in enough revenue as a landlord to cover principle and other costs of loans they signed for).

The devil continues to whisper his word into their ears and yours; get everything you deserve and do not worry about your financial situation or tomorrow. This sounds very much like words spoken by Jesus, yet it is absent of instruction contained in the whole counsel of God (the bible), Just like what he said to Jesus when he was fasting in the wilderness, he looks to tempt all of us to do things not in our best interest by using similar incomplete, misconstrued instructions. However, studying the whole counsel of God tells us (a) to build a house only after counting the cost, (b) that wise people live within their current means and do not take out loans to finance things that do not normally appreciate in monetary value, (c) to set aside adequate savings and investments, and (d) to leave an inheritance to our children’s children.

You must understand, the devil wants to bring a mindset upon you that causes you to forsake the principles of God, or better yet, never regard them in the first place. Once he has influenced your mind to live according to the principles of worldly people around you and consider them sages worthy of your utmost attention, he knows you will bring destruction into your life and finances that will ruin your ability to use the highest potential the LORD planted in you. He wants you to look good on the outside but be rotten on the inside and to tell others of the highfalutin material things and worldly positions you’ve attained via debt so you can lead them into the same desires, activities, and bondage he led you into. For many, this process continues for quite some time while everything seems to be working out quite well. Then, suddenly out of nowhere destruction rears its head. This is the type of situation that led to the mess with unaffordable mortgages, car loans, overspending, foreclosures, repossessions, and bankruptcies many people experienced and that others will inevitably experience in the future unless they start listening to and following godly instruction.

Of course, many finance companies, developers, and real estate professionals were greedily feeding you the worldly method, so their coffers could get fat and bulge while you were gorging yourself on enormous amounts of mortgage and other debt. These are some of the many culprits beside you and your past failure to properly manage money and one is not more at fault than another. Some of these entities are now in financial trouble just like you and some have been liquidated and no longer exist.

If the description above fits you, just let it be a learning experience and put it behind you. Know, by the word of God, that you can move forward, be fruitful, and prosper when you’re willing to learn and apply biblical principles throughout the remainder of your life. Other people and institutions cannot and will not do it for you. The steps to getting your financial house in order are:

(1) Let God be involved in your finances through tithing and abundant offering. He honors those who honor Him!

(2) Budget your income. Prior to each month, write a monthly plan that describes how you’re going to spend income you reasonably expect to receive. You must estimate and subtract all known expense categories, so you know if you will have a surplus or deficit. Estimate your income versus expenses for each of the next six months in order to have a longer-term view of where you would be if you keep doing what you’ve been doing up to now. Then revise your budget based on the changes you need to make to truly be fruitful, profitable, and prosperous. This will reveal the great condition you can soon be in when you impose financial discipline on your life.

(3) You must save a starter emergency fund of $1,000 or so (with the intensity and focus of the lion that runs down the antelope). This money should be put in money market accounts at a local credit union or bank because it needs to be secure in short-term periods. It serves as financial self- insurance to meet emergency needs and help you avoid turning to loans to try and get yourself out of future jams.

(4) You must eliminate debt and stop cosigning (with the intensity and focus of the deer who outruns the cheetah). Cosigning is simply taking on someone else’s debt. You cannot afford your own and you certainly will not prosper taking on someone else’s debt. You also will not build wealth if you continue to hold onto the psychology that it is acceptable to continually take on more debt. When your budget shows a deficit, you must work extra jobs or create entrepreneurial endeavors that produce greater income to help cover necessities and more quickly eliminate debts.

The absolute first thing you have power to control is getting rid of things too expensive for your current situation (high value cars, motorcycles, boats, campers, and sometimes homes), so you can move forward in getting out of bondage and setting yourself up to build substantial wealth. You may be able to lessen some of your mortgage and debt obligations by having an honest discussion with lenders about your financial situation and requesting forbearance, mortgage modification, short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure, or whatever other financial help it can offer to help you get out of the mess. The less you have to pay a lender is the more that you can put toward debt elimination and wealth building. Remember, you usually do not have the help you really need because you do not ask for it!

(5) Thereafter you must build an emergency fund of at least $10,000 and then invest at least 10% of your gross income for the long-term and plan to remain debt-free for life and every year increase your annual investment deposits by a percent or two. Over time, put the investment money into a diversified array of seven to eight holdings such as no load low expense total stock market index mutual funds with different brokerage houses, 401k, 403b, and Roth IRA plans. You need exposure to equity investments in order for the money to compound and exponentially grow from your younger age period to your older age period for purposes of greater proportional giving to spread the gospel and live comfortably in retirement while engaging reasonable desires like travel and senior entrepreneurial endeavors. Over long-term periods of 10, 20, and 30 years, such equity investments have historically delivered far higher average annual growth that you can get from bonds, CDs, and annuities, etc.

These steps and disciplines bring supernatural power to you for engaging debt freedom, greater blessing, and reward that gives you more income to invest each year, which catapults you much quicker out of financial bondage and into the wealthy place.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 11:24-25, 12:15, 14:8, 16, 21:20, 22:7, 17, 27:23-24

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 421 Scriptural Principles Never Change But Methods Do

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Methods are many, principles are few, methods often change, but principles never do. Many people mistake methods for principles and attempt to tell others that if they do not give a certain offering at a certain time or in a particular manner their lives will not be fruitful. This could not be farther from the truth. It is off-base to say a person will not be blessed when he/she does not give a specific amount of offering or according to a specific request (Passover, café, art, etc.) or in a specific way (heave offering, wave offering, everyone walk to the front, in an envelope, by electronic funds transfer, etc.) when the person otherwise follows scriptural principles of tithing and free-will offering. These are clearly defined in scripture as pleasing to the LORD whereas having to walk to the front or give by electronic funds transfer are methods that can vary from time to time or be based on Church or personal preference.

Some methods can provide a great boost to your giving and allow you to support ministry efforts greater than what you can do by yourself. It is possible that heaving or waiving your offering before giving it may enhance your worship experience but they are not principles such that everyone who does not heave or waive offerings will not receive a return from the LORD. A particular method will not necessarily produce any more blessing or reward. Neither does one scriptural principle cancel out another. For example, heaving and waving each offering without consistent tithing, budgeting, debt elimination, investing, and/or entrepreneurial endeavors is not likely to break the shackles of your financial bondage and take you to the wealthy place.

It may produce a momentary emotional high and a belief that what the offering requester said would happen is going to come to pass, but for those already in financial bondage it likely will be followed by more of the same old bondage in their lives when not accompanied by the other financial stewardship principles. Failure to let the Holy Spirit guide you in following each scriptural principle as you learn and understand them will likely hinder the material blessing and reward that could flow into your life no matter how many heaves and waves you perform while giving.

The above has been spoken for the purpose of helping you see it is of utmost importance to continually seek the LORD and intimacy with Him, so you will follow the greatest principle of all: “do whatever the LORD tells you to do.” His instruction will always be in line with scripture and if you truly hear him ask you to do an unusual thing from time to time such as give in a certain way or a certain amount, please do it. Joining with the congregation in a certain way of giving may be invigorating and unifying for the local fellowship and thus you should be open to the LORD leading you in this way. Just realize you are not damned if you do not give according to someone’s method even though you may have to take heat from Pharisees and unbelievers.

Stay away from any method that is not clearly in-line with a scriptural principle such as those that are not based on loving the LORD and people or that are based on greed. Following scripture by using methods aligned with its principles will produce the fruitfulness and prosperity the LORD desires for your life.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Psalm 37:21-24, Proverbs 2:6-8, Matthew 23:23, 1Corinthians 12:14-26, Ephesians 4:11-16

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 420 Being A Witness

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Being a Christian witness is telling others about Jesus Christ and how intimacy with Him provides salvation and eternal life for you and them. It is much like your response as a witness in court when you’re asked questions about the person or circumstance in question and you’re expected to give honest answers about what you know. However, a Christian witness does not always wait until someone asks him/her questions about Jesus Christ and the gospel. He seeks opportunities to share.

We do not wait until a situation has become so bad (criminal or civil violation of the law) that we feel like we must come forward as a witness. Instead, we understand the LORD put each one in various situations among family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances so we can positively enhance many different lives and lead them to Christ by sharing the gospel and our personal testimony. In fact, He uses many people to touch the lives of many other people they do not know and who may be on the other side of the globe through websites, internet articles, etc. You too become a greater witness to the world when you provide such ministries with financial help, direct other people to their websites, and forward ministry articles.

Some Christians say we need to witness without beating people over their heads with the bible. I sometimes wonder if we pick up this mentality from what unbelievers have said, or from feelings of embarrassment, or from our carnal nature that wants everyone to like us. No matter how gently you approach some people, they will immediately take the position that you are a bible thumper who beats people with the word. There is not much you can do about such opinions except to know that the Word you speak is godly seed and that the other person has the ability to one day let it take root in his/her life. Not being ignorant of satan’s tactics should lead us to know that he wants to say and do everything he can to convince us to quit speaking the Word to other people.

The gospels contain many examples of Jesus speaking words that some people did not want to hear. If you were a religious leader or an unbeliever even after you heard the Word and saw the miracles He performed certainly you too would have mistaken Him calling priests snakes, vipers, and whitewashed tombs as not supporting the good news He spoke of. Think of how much more you probably would have said Jesus should be a better example after you saw Him whip the moneychangers out of the temple and when he appeared to be taking advantage of women by having them give into His treasury while he abandoned the natural money earning work (carpentry) He had been trained to do (carpentry). Not to mention, you might have thought it despicable for Him to call many of the twelve disciples away from providing for their families and put them in a position of being jailed and beaten because they believed the Word He spoke.

You are sadly mistaken if you think most people are going to start asking you about Jesus and how to be saved because your life is such a shining example of goodness. This is not to say that you and I cannot be more and more Christ-like as we continue to love, trust, and obey Him throughout our days on this earth. However, witnesses overwhelmingly speak the Word to other people because this focuses people off the witness and onto the perfection of Jesus and what He did for them. Focusing first and foremost upon living a good life in front of people instills a sense of self-righteousness that causes you to believe people come to Christ due to your righteousness. Inevitably, people will see flaws in you and as quickly as you thought they came to Jesus they would be turned off to Him if salvation is based on your lifestyle and deeds.

It must forever remain etched in your heart that it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world but lose his soul and that to live is Christ and to die is gain. So much so that you will always choose to go through the embarrassment, taunts, and ridicule that men will throw at you for speaking the Word to them and by supporting it by some actions unbelievers and present-day Pharisees will call crazy and ungodly. When it comes to witnessing remember, the Word of God (not your deeds) is more powerful than a two-edged sword. As it is continually spoken, it will help the Holy Spirit continually lead you to deeds that are more pleasing to God, but not necessarily to all men, and will help you exhibit the power of God that is necessary to lead others to Christ and disciple them.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-18, Acts 1:8, 22:13-15, Ephesians 6:19-20

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 419 Expect Blessings & Rewards

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

If you’re like me, your mind must be continually renewed to expect by faith the hope that is in your heart for the present and future. The LORD has blessed me enormously, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and economically, even though I have not always perfectly walked out my faith. But hold off on your judgment because God is not through with me yet. And, I’m sure He’s not through with you either.

God is in the blessing & rewards business for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Even for many people who are currently unbelievers, He abundantly gives what they need to turn to Him as well as abundant resources to help them care for themselves and their families in this life. He has prepared much better for those who turn to Him by accepting Christ as Savior. Salvation and the inheritance of eternal life are received by grace through faith and not of works so no one can earn them. However, earthly and some spiritual blessings and rewards have conditions attached to them that require obedience to His commands. He desires that you obtain and appropriate them on earth in a way that is wholesome and that helps you be a great blessing to others around you.

Some blessings & rewards that God wants you to have are above and beyond what you currently have and may only be obtained when you ask His will for particular situations and by faith believe and initiate action to bring these currently unseen things into the realm of the seen. Sometimes this requires constant and persistent petition and action until they are received. Satan and his demonic cohorts stand in opposition to your blessings & rewards and try to block them because of the damaging effect these weapons have on his dark kingdom. Through the funding, preaching, and serving of the gospel many people are saved and the dark kingdom is driven out of their life and heart. Because I want the LORD’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, I will forever remind myself to have a heart that loves the LORD and other people and put on the mind of Christ to be renewed in my thinking.

I will walk in the Spirit to destroy the unfruitful works of the flesh. I have the power in me to expect the specific things He wants for me, so I will pray, call forth, and wait when necessary until they come. Then, I will move forward in prayer to find out new blessings & rewards He desires for me. I will let the Holy Spirit constantly inventory my heart to ensure my motives are right, yet I understand the motive behind my prayer requests is not dishonorable even though some things he wants for me and my family are higher cost than I have ever had. The LORD simply knows how to give good gifts and sometimes desires that you and I have things beyond our current financial ability to obtain. When blessings and rewards are properly obtained, appreciated, and managed they allow you to initiate greater acts of faith, be more useful in Kingdom service, meet family needs, and offer a testimony of His goodness to others, etc.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 11:9-13, Psalm 2:8, James 4:1-2

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 418 The Best New Year Resolution

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The best New Year resolution is to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers you by your confession of faith in Him and belief in your heart that He alone is LORD who could make the sacrifice to remove your sin and save you from eternal damnation. If you’ve already believed and confessed this truth, then your best resolution is to conform yourself to His image by allowing the Holy Spirit to take you through the process of sanctification for as long as you live on this earth.

  This requires a willingness to live, give, and serve in the way the bible instructs Christians. You do not need to know specifically the unique things God will have you do throughout your time on earth. You only need to take one step forward at a time according to the practices you know are pleasing to Him like studying the bible, worshiping daily via thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, faithful fellowship with a local church, and serving in a ministry that helps your local church draw others to Christ and build them up in the faith. Adhering to these foundational practices of faith in Christ allow you to hear God’s voice of continued instruction that lead you into His perfect will.

  He does not often give anyone the entire plan for their life at one time nor all the nuances that will occur and He does not remove all temptations and obstacles that will be placed in their way to fulfilling the plan. He simply put Holy Spirit power in you that you can use to overcome and obliterate tempations, snares, and weights. But, it’s up to you to use His power to crush the enemy's head and continually move forward!

  It’s important that you be so humble that you don’t require the pastor, elders, leaders, or other members to recognize your contributions, but you understand that God recognizes faithful service to others that glorifies Him. He ultimately causes your faithfulness to rise from obscurity in His timing, not yours, so that leaders and others somewhere within the body of Christ and most times within your local fellowship begin to recognize your commitment, obedience, and sacrifice.

  This is God’s process for increasing your wisdom and stature with Him and man. This process creates steps for you to rise to elevated platforms of ministry / leadership within and outside the Church walls that give you a greater audience to whom you can minister in a way that gives God glory. Your resolution should be so strong that you are willing to crucify your own will wherever it will impede God’s will from taking place in your life and ministry.

  When you have not specifically heard what God uniquely desires as your specific life calling, you must follow the vision and goals set by God for His Church, as identified in scripture (worship, evangelism, disciple-making, and serving others). Also, you must be ready for Him at any time to identify more of His vision for your life as well as goals to move you ever closer to fulfilling the vision. God brings the greatest fulfillment and brings out the highest purpose in people who plan to consistently put their faith into actions that please Him.

  Over time, He is sure to tweak your plans where He sees fit and to change or rearrange any part of your character, vision, and goals that may need to be changed to conform to His unique will for your life. Again, humility and meekness are necessary so you don’t superimpose your will over God’s will for your life, over the method’s and traditions employed by the delegated authorities that God has placed you under, nor over the process He utilizes to create platforms and open doors of greater ministry opportunities for you.

  Your commitment to Jesus Christ and to being led by His Spirit should never allow anyone to keep you from delivering the gospel and ministering Jesus to people who are lost and misguided without Him. The best new year resolution is continued intimacy with Him, so His will becomes etched in your heart leading you to be His hands, feet, and mouthpiece in the earth who helps others come to Him and become the sons and daughters of the LORD they were created to be. That is the wealthy place that allows you greater ministry opportunities and fruitfulness.

  Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Matthew 28:19-20, Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 10:25, Hosea 4:6, Proverbs 29:18, Habakkuk 2:2-4

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 417 The LORD's Presence Prospers You

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Biblical finance teachers extol the results that come from obeying Christ’s commands by using biblical financial principles such as working faithfully according to proper spiritual authority, tithing, offering, budgeting, debt elimination, saving, investing, diversifying assets, & pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. Incorporate these into your lifestyle because they help create wealth while you live on this earth. However, intimacy with the LORD Jesus Christ that causes your life to be engulfed by His presence should be pursued first and foremost because it holds promise of the life that now is as well as the life to come. His presence lives in each person who accepts Christ as Savior via the in-filling of the Holy Spirit and leads us into His perfect will for our lives. When we maintain our place in His presence we are powerfully motivated to trust Him in every situation and for insight on the steps forward in this life: from shepherding a church family; to inventing a gadget useful to others; to starting a business; to being a fruitful employee that helps fulfill the LORD's desire for your work.

His presence matures you into the person He wants you to be as you trust and obey His guidance, both written and spoken into you by His Spirit. It brings about the elimination of comparing yourself to other people and competing with their achievements. It helps you take the focus off yourself and place it upon Him, thus giving Him all the glory for what is accomplished. In this regard, be pleased in simply fulfilling His assignments whether you receive accolades or not. Yet, the bible and Christian experience show that God openly rewards and shows off the humble who maintain intimacy with Him and are fruitful.

In His presence you will be motivated in an ever-increasing fashion to utilize biblical financial principles to bring income, assets, relationships, and relationships necessary to help the worldwide church, your local church, and yourself carry out the mission God desires. You will not worry about what others have that you do not have. Neither will you directly pursue material things because you already know prosperity chases the righteous focused on proclaiming His fame throughout the earth. Enough to care for your needs, your family, and be a great blessing to others.

His presence shows it is not all about money though He blesses you and others with it in an abundant fashion because He wants to use you as a vessel to publish the gospel through various forms of communication, strategic alliances, and service to others. Yes, prosperity is in His presence and has great usefulness in the earth as you walk with Him day-by-day. You can have no greater relationship with God than that which comes through accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, however you can have greater fellowship with Him as you cultivate your life daily through worship including thanksgiving, praise, prayer, studying scripture, fellowship with the saints, and service to other people.

Refuse to be a rooster crowing about your early morning prayer or the length of your worship as though these things save you or make you better than others. Never tell other people they must spend as much time as you do or maybe even more in order to please the LORD or be anointed. Do not suppose you know the amount of time God desires others to be in His presence. Simply be sure He is speaking to them and nudging their hearts and wants you to continually encourage them by the example of your life and the non-judgmental motivating words you speak about seeking Him with all their hearts, souls, and strength.

The greatest thing you can do is spend time in His presence and learn to extend that fellowship while you work, serve, play, and rest. When your first love is not Christ and your first priority is not to carry out His will on earth you will likely fail to follow biblical financial principles that prosper, be on the wrong side of eternal judgment, and will not be doing others the great good He desires.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Psalm 23, 1Chronicles 16:27, Matthew 6:33, Hebrews 13:5

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 416 Do Not Be Surprised By Christmas

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Imagine the surprise of Christmas when thereafter the unsuspecting mother and father open the gift sent to them by the credit card company. They did no sound planning according to their financial situation to determine how much could reasonably be spent to purchase gifts for each other, their children, and extended family. On average people spend three times more than they should each Christmas and then have to pay hefty finance charges on top of that because they used loans to finance gifts. Many of the items will soon be forgotten but recurring bill payments will remain.

This scenario puts far too many families into financial hardship each year and is exacerbated by their failure to recognize the problem and correct it for future years. Some recognize this pattern is not worth the illusory happiness they had when giving in to the costly demands of nagging spouses who want the latest designer purse, play station, or mini bike. But they are afraid, unwilling, or insecure about stopping the pattern and letting their families know true love does not equate with the giving of material things that make the family worse off sending it into a downward financial spiral. Thus, they will be back at it again this time next year.

Unfortunately, most spend far more on ultimately worthless and forgotten gifts than they give to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to others who need a relationship with Him in order to be saved from the penalty of their sins. Jesus Christ, intimacy with Him, and the out-flowing of that into carrying out His Great Commandment is what Christmas is really about. You know, the day we celebrate Jesus Christ who came, lived, died, and was resurrected for our salvation from eternal damnation. He alone grants eternal life, a home in Heaven and the New Earth where evil and sin never reside but peace and joy abide forever!

Until you decide the commercialization of Christmas is a man-made tradition and not the LORD's instruction to us, the same poor stewardship routine is likely to be carried out each year for Christmas and bring you into financial hardship, bondage, or ruin throughout your life. Granted gift giving is no sin as long as it does not impeded your ability to properly care for the true needs of your household and give abundantly to spread the gospel. Not all things are sin but many that people have made traditions and called necessary are not always expedient for our current financial situation and spiritual growth. To display good stewardship from a biblical perspective, establish a budget for Christmas that identifies the amount of money your budget shows you can reasonably afford to spend per family member and for the gathering. Exercise your faith to declare, expect, and allow the LORD to provide more than you are able without you going into debt to get it, knowing in your heart that if He did not provide it you know He could and would if it is truly best for you all.

Have a family meeting to identify the plan you will follow and each family member's part in it that will be used to simplify life by spending within your means, refusing to take on debt, working to eliminate current debt, and honoring God and family in ways that truly matter on a spiritual and practical level. Offer each member the opportunity to tell you specifically what he/she wants for Christmas that falls within that amount (postage, shipping, handling, and taxes included). Also, offer them the opportunity to give you sales papers on which they circle many different items that fall within their budgeted amount. Alternately, they could choose to let Mom and Dad pick items they want to give within the budgeted amount. The surprise of Christmas then is no longer shock from a hefty credit card bill right after Christmas. It becomes the opening of gifts that are more useful and enjoyable because financial bondage is not created to get them. This type of discipline and self-control during Christmas and other gift giving days will put you on the path to financial freedom and wealth building. Discipline is what disciples should be known for because it matures you and builds greater self-control, commitment and integrity toward doing the LORD's will.

Teach and example this lifestyle for your kids, so they learn to become givers, savers/investors, and reasonable spenders instead of spenders, spenders, spenders. This gives them the tools they need to stay clear of financial bondage throughout their lives, by helping them know how to set proper financial boundaries and not be swayed by habits and traditions of the financially illiterate that surround them.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 16:3, Luke 14:28, Ephesians 6:4, 1Timothy 3:4-5, James 1:5, 14-18

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 415 Finance For Kids

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many people are setting up their children for financial headaches and failure as they become adults because they do not teach and example for them good money management. Many kids see the poor way their parents handle money such as failing to have a budget and family budget meetings, refusal to engage spending within their means, and encumbering their lives with debt. Some parents who manage money well unfortunately do not regularly explain to their kids that working as unto the LORD, budgeting, debt freedom, tithing, saving, investing, and diversifying assets are biblical standards the LORD wants everyone to employ because they produce the best possible situation in which to live in this world. These parents often shower their kids with money but do not allow them to be active participants in understanding and employing greater degrees of good money management on their way to adulthood.

You should have a plan for how you will increase your kid’s involvement in family finances recognizing they will have money to manage from working and receiving allowances and gifts. They will do it either for good or bad often depending upon what the parent teaches and examples for them. If you want them to be more blessed than you are then as they grow you should teach them GSS, which stands for giving first, saving second, and spending last. Along with faith to believe the impossible will happen and commensurate declarations / proclamations of the LORD's desired prosperity for you, this three-prong approach is fundamental for helping your kids learn stewardship traits they can use to avoid credit card debt and car debt that will be pushed / marketed at them by banks, retailers, and dealerships throughout college, young adulthood, and indeed throughout life.

The Giving component consists of two parts: tithing (which is 10% of a person's income) and giving a free-will offering that can be any amount above the tithe. Income for kids often starts with allowances and other gifts they receive from any source. It should be continually explained that all the money and anything else they will ever receive belongs to God and they are only stewards (managers) dispensing and using His resources according to biblical principles (His will). To have the right heart and mindset about the need for honoring Him by helping abundantly fund the spread of the gospel to lead people to Jesus Christ you need to understand that it produces intimacy with Him and supernatural blessing and reward for everyone who meets this purpose for money. You and your children must know you can live far better on 89.9 percent or less of the money the LORD allows to come into your life through legitimate endeavors and gifts than you can on 100% of that money by failing to honor Him.

The Saving component consists at first of helping each child build a starter emergency fund of $100 in a savings account. Then putting at least 10% of their income into another savings account or two to help fund future endeavors the child intends to pursue (schooling, team sports, music lessons, art, a car, etc.) or buy things the child plans to get. Help the kid find savings accounts that pay the highest annual interest available with no account fees so he/she can begin to see how money grows when earnings are added. Next, teach each one to put at least 10% of income into long-term equity investments that have a history of much higher returns via compounding and exponential growth. An excellent choice would be a no load, low expense S&P 500 stock index mutual fund via a Roth IRA or brokerage account through Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Scwab, TIAA-CREF, or another reputable brokerage house.

Explain the risk / reward scenario that can be used to the child's advantage that will allow him/her to be very wealthy later in life because they started investing at a young age even if they never become business owners or very highly paid employees. Also, let him/her know this will allow the avoidance of debt and provide greater financial flexibility as they walk through life. They should be taught and encouraged not to touch the long-term investments unless they encounter an extreme emergency or catastrophe. This money would be at their disposal when they become adults as a starter retirement fund, a business startup fund, or a ministry endeavor fund that allows them to avoid debt while working and pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors.

Finally, there is the Spending component, which we often think nobody has to tell adults or kids how to do. Yet, we all need instruction in this area to know it is not prudent to spend everything you get. Otherwise, because your outgo equals or exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall. Though spending will represent the greatest percentage of income use throughout most people's lives, it is always best for children to learn to keep it under 70% of their income. So, they employ this “spending within their means” principle when they become adults and also have to face being charged federal, state, and city income taxes. Focus on teaching them how to set budgets and goals around their money that allows them to spend only what’s left after giving and saving the appropriate proportions of their money.

The income tax effect that converts gross income to lower take home pay can be displayed by showing children how your take home pay is far less than your gross pay. This will be experienced in their early teens as they start to work for employers and/or at entrepreneurial endeavors. At twelve years of age or so help each child craft and follow a budget that includes him/her handling money for clothing, school supplies, personal care, and entertainment and make him/her responsible for keeping purchases within the amounts set for each category.

Teaching the GSS model will help children live this way as they age, go to college, finish college, get that great paying job, start that great business, and move into the real world where all the financial shenanigans will be thrown at them and attempt to grab all their income through debt payments. If they get caught up in the world's way of managing money it will financially tear them from limb to limb. It will be great to know you helped teach and show them how to avoid financial pitfalls through biblical-based discipline that serves them best throughout their lives.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 6:7-9, Proverbs 22:6-7, Ephesians 6:4, 1Timothy 3:4-5

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 414 Debt and Bondage vs Debt-freedom and Wealth

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The vast majority of investors earn far less than what the markets return over time due to (1) poor spending and investment habits largely due to the desire to have every iota of material things they can spend and borrow to get and (2) fear displayed in down markets which cause them to never invest or to pull their investments out of the market. The few people who tend to do much better are long-term investors with diversified portfolios that do not follow the above example and who generally avoid investment expenses higher than one-half percent annually.

The long-term average for the stock market has been about 11% since 1926 and has no twenty or more consecutive year period that experienced a loss. However most people earn less than 4% on average some experience huge losses because of the above noted desire and fear and thus fail to work a plan to get out of debt and use a good stewardship platform to help build wealth that serves them, their family, and others. Debt-freedom is the believer's heritage from the LORD that He empowers you to live in and prosper from so you can be all He made you to be.

Most financial pundits lead people down a path that keeps them broke and subject to foreclosure, bankruptcy, and repossession because the behavioral nature of failing to see the wisdom in debt-freedom leads people to take on more and more debt over time because they really do not see it as a problem. In fact, we come into contact with many who are broke and busted who talk about eliminating stress, pressure, depression, and trouble caused by debt by trying to borrow more to pay off their pain causing debt. Somehow, they think new debt (credit cards, personal loans, and such) and salesmen who peddle it are going to treat them better than they have in the past.

Let's not even mention the fact that people who have no aversion to debt do not control their impulses, which usually moves them to get more house than they can truly pay for without problems down the road including pain from the debt-based purchases they will to get all the things for the house as quickly and as often as they can.

It has not been uncommon for me to see people jumping around from house to house every five to seven years building no home equity and no wealth and buying many new furnishings for those houses even more often than that - all on debt. All the while they are putting very little, if anything, into investment accounts (Roth IRA, 401k, 403b, brokerage accounts, etc.) that would help them greatly in future years when they really need the assistance. This behavior often carries over into the use of debt to pay for over-the-top vacations and excessive activities for their kids (sports leagues, dancing, you name it).

Most of them get so used to having debt that they don't even look for better or lower cost alternatives because their use of debt has become a habit they dare not eliminate because it means they will not get things they want when they want them. Much of the getting is not good for them long-term because it is focused on getting things with depreciating value, low liquidity, and/or when their financial situation, if measured, shows they should not be trying to pay for right now.

Believe and employ God's instruction in the bible rather than man's instruction based on worldly habits. Follow His dream for your spiritual and financial fruitfulness versus the American Dream, pay off your debts including mortgages as quickly as possible, seek to stay that way, allow your financial plan (budgeting and debt-freedom) to be one that allows your disposable income to be the engine that will build wealth for the future through the God-given eighth wonder of the world - long-term compound interest and exponential growth.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 28:12, 44, Proverbs 6:1-2, Proverbs 22:6-7, Romans 13:8

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 413 The Fool God Made Wise

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Everybody has a story to tell: a boy who grew up in the hood and chose illegal drug dealing; a girl from a middle class family who served 25 years as a state government analyst; a girl from a poor family who grew up and became a Fortune 500 CEO; a boy who chose to be a pornographic movie star. The common theme in every person’s story is each one has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and deserves the flames of Hell for eternity. But thanks be to God that Jesus Christ’s blood atoned for each person's sin and he / she is saved upon proclaiming Him Savior & Lord. Their new eternal destiny becomes Heaven.

But God does not stop there. Though you were formerly a fool choosing your own destructive way, His life in you means you now have access to the greatest wisdom man could ever experience. You have skill to live according to God’s plan and receive the blessings and rewards thereof. Discernment of evil vs. good helps you look beyond the painful symptoms you previously experienced and helps you know and understand the cause of afflictions, despair, insecurity, lack of fulfillment, constant failure, and other problem situations. You are now empowered in heart, mind, and body to eradicate the causes and curses so you can live in peace, joy, and wholeness.

The life you know and body in which you live could not just come together on their own. Though the fool says in his heart there is no God, you know God the Creator had to put these parts together in order for them to work. True wisdom is understanding that the LORD is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent and that your life flows from Him because in Him you live and move and have your being.

Wisdom allows you to tap into greater faith and heavenly resources that will bring fulfillment to your life such as eternal and true earthly value. It will protect you and lead you to fruitfulness and increasing success through humility - the godly source for promotion, understanding of scripture and the principles therein, fellowship with a local Church that has an ever-growing relationship with the LORD, and good works with creativity.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 3:14-18, Romans 1:16-20, 1Corinthians 1:17-31, Colossians 2:1-5

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 412 Avoid Unnecessary Hardships

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Everyone experiences hardship at times in life. However, some suffer more than they had to because they failed to follow wise instruction before or during the episode. On earth or in eternity you will suffer when you fail to: (1) Openly accept Jesus Christ as Savior & LORD, (2) Share the gospel of His love and the salvation He offers everyone who will receive Him, (3) Offer Him thanksgiving, praise, and worship in order to develop an intimate relationship, and (4) Live in a manner that is contrary to the moral standards contained in the bible, including engaging relationships, fellowship with His Church, and getting and managing income and assets He prepared for you to carry out His plan for your life.

A key for avoiding undue hardship financial or otherwise is to constantly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in every situation encountered and to seek to do His will in all things in accordance with His truth and instructions. Sometimes, in order to get supernatural results, the LORD will have you do things that seem as strange as Noah building a ship to avoid a storm that wouldn’t occur for 120 years or Moses holding out a shepherds staff in order for the waters of the Red Sea to recede for clear a path to the other side or Jesus spitting & rubbing mud on a man’s eyes to heal him of blindness. You can be sure no instruction you act on violates biblical morality by only taking action on those that show you love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength while loving your neighbor as yourself.

No matter your state today, you can change the course of your history and avoid unnecessary hardship via (1) daily bible study, (2) studying and meditating on the Word, (3) learning and pursuing His way of doing things, (4) regularly worshiping the LORD via thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, (5) regular fellowship with the Church, (6) serving via local church or community ministry, (7) pursuing work that uses gifts and skills He gave you, (8) managing (according to biblical principles) the income obtained through your labors in a way that funds gospel work at home and abroad and builds wealth throughout the future to care for your immediate family and help others when necessary.

Now move forward as a blessing to many others and a help to yourself since, in Christ, you have maximum power, authority, knowledge, understanding, tools, and spiritual weapons to make a positive difference. When you respond in wisdom, you have the ability to avoid undue hardship, build godly character, and experience a supernaturally positive end-result in every situation you face.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Haggai 2:10-19, Malachi 2:1-9, 2Corinthians 2:14-16, 1Peter 3:8-12

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 411 Properly Handling Crises

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Y2K was the acronym given to the scary scenario of computer shutdowns, meltdowns, massive loss of information, and power outages some experts predicted would greatly disrupt business and personal lives upon reaching the year 2000. The possibility that peoples’ lives could have been seriously disrupted and hampered was based on the erroneous assumption that many computer programs contained only two digits of computer code in fields pertaining to each year. To some a shutdown of all systems seemed inevitable when the clock struck 12am January 1, 2000 because computers chips had fields for only the last two numbers of the century and would not recognize the beginning of a century other than 1900.

The apocalypse that was supposed to come would render people powerless and unable to take care of ourselves and business because we had become too dependent on computers for most everything. Nothing was supposed to power up, massive computer systems for big corporations would go off line and need to be replaced by a system forward thinking enough to grasp 2000. Equipment could stop delivering electricity, gas and water. Banks, ATM’s, and stores would shut down leaving the nation and indeed the world in an indefinite quandary. This problem was supposed to negatively affect our pocket books and business coffers due to the huge expenses everyone would incur for years trying to fix the problems Y2K would cause.

In a 1998 article, I identified that the Y2k problem would not last and that at all times in human history people could conquer negative effects of emergencies, catastrophes, and crises and have their needs met by managing their everyday lives and finances in line with biblical principles. You will be faced with trying situations, seasons, and crises at times during your life, so you must consider principles for blessing and reward underlying the stories of Joseph in Egypt, Babylon conquering Israel, and the early church persecution described in the book of Acts.

Five important lessons gleaned from these stories are: 1) God gives advance warning that we will experience such seasons in life; 2) Even though you don’t know the extent of damage that may arise, plan for overcoming such seasons by reducing unnecessary spending and by saving and building a network of helpful resources; 3) Find several reliable and wise Christian leaders / experts to find methods to weather the storm by avoiding fear, making good decisions, and living in victory; 4) After prayer and thoughtful consideration take prudent action while obeying any specific instructions the Holy Spirit gives; 5) Worship, learn, and fellowship with other saints in a local Church on at least a weekly basis because our togetherness, joint effort, combined monetary and other resources will help you have victory over crises and provide a greater opportunity to share the gospel with others, draw them to Jesus Christ, and help meet their need during times of adversity.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Genesis 41, 2Kings 20:16-19, Psalms 68:6, Matthew 28:20, Acts 4:12,32-37, Hebrews 10:24-25

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 410 Retire But Never Retired

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Christians understand that one can retire from a certain occupation but for the remainder of their lives on earth they should never retire from good works. Those who continuously serve the gospel inside and outside their local church (in their homes, workplaces, social gatherings, etc.) by evangelizing other people and making disciples, show that God's love is truly in them and takes priority over anything and everything else. Such good works will be overt (clearly displayed for others around you) and at other times covert (concealed in your lifestyle, communications, or private encounters with others).

Paid ministry can be very valuable and sometimes is absolutely necessary within the Church, yet other types of work are just as valuable. In fact, every one of the LORD's children should see themselves as full-time ministers as we serve in any field of legitimate work including accounting, auditing, household domestic engineering, clerical, administrative support, janitorial, doctoral, etc. Along with using the great intellect and physical ability He gives us to make the widgets, technological advances, and business increases favorable for our lives and the lives of other people, we also seek to influence them to Christ by our ever “maturing in Christ” lifestyle and communication. In His kingdom and to people who see truth clearly, volunteer and low wage workers are just as valuable as high wage, executive, and famous workers when their feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

God and those who know Him honor every one in any legitimate field who seeks to be productive and fruitful in building the kingdom of God in the hearts of men. This benefits society by reproducing men and women with godly moral fiber. For example, honor should always be placed on a wife or mother who does not work for an employer but works to meet her family’s needs and communicates the hope of salvation and eternal life to them and other people through how she lives, maintains the home, and communicates.

You should never retire from being fruitful in evangelizing & discipling others. That is never God’s plan for you. The bible never identifies that possibility for the faithful though you can certainly enjoy a pension and greater freedom from having to work for income because the LORD has provided and you have been disciplined to steward and grow investments to be more than enough for you to live on for the rest of your life. A faithful Christian, no matter his / her age, only replaces one mission field for another group of people to which he / she will minister and never retires to a life of complete inactivity or leisure, so the gates of hell (the devil’s tactics, strategies, fiery darts, accusations, etc.) will not prevail against you. So before you retire from your current workplace, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in crafting a plan identifying the ministry you will engage in your next field of endeavor.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Genesis 2:3, Proverbs 10:4, Romans 12:11-13, 2Thessalonians 3:10-14

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 409 The Absolute Best Training

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Borrowing to pay for bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees might seem worthwhile if all the stars were to align to provide you with a high-paying career that quickly allows you to pay off the school loans while providing adequate food, shelter, clothing, and transportation necessary for you to have a stable life. That's where the "if" gets too large. Most people who have taken on student loan debt cannot handle it, especially the amounts being accrued today.

Some heaped up loans and failed to finish school and remain in low paying jobs where they are constantly pursued for payment but do not make enough to meet the payments due and provide for their families. Others failed to pursue degrees / training with the few types of ability and skill development that reasonably provide income high enough to help them quickly eliminate the debt. Some pursued degrees in areas of work they later realize they hate. Some obtained bigger loans than they absolutely needed while pursuing a degree. More than 30% of student loan money goes to lifestyle / desires as opposed to expenditures that were truly needed for the tuition and minimal living expenses that it takes to obtain the degree / training sought (designer clothes, parties, cars, etc.).

Obtaining loans automatically puts you behind the eight ball because you start your career off with debt and in a position that scripture clearly teaches the LORD does not want you to be in. You should know that when you truly desire to be debt-free, out of financial bondage, and in a position to build wealth for the future like He proclaims you can, that the power of the Holy Spirit inside you is strong enough to help you bypass loans and use cash, grants, scholarships, and other non-debt means to obtain training. Certainly, you may also have to work enough to take care of basic expenses and only take a few classes each semester while you research and find other resources to help you maintain debt-freedom and the greater success it will allow to come into your life now and in the future.

Research should start before teenagers begin high school to ensure that you apply for all the federal, state, local, and private grants and scholarships available in order to tremendously reduce the out of pocket school expenses both parents and students will need to make. Make best friends of admissions, financial aid, library, and human resources specialists at your local school. When necessary, tap family and close friends for donations that can be put toward schooling by letting them know your goal and asking that instead of giving you birthday and Christmas gifts that they instead provide monetary donations to help pay for your higher-education that will help you be successful and lead an independent life as you move into your adult future. Mostly all of the non-monetary gifts are not used very much, collect dust, and eventually get lost in attic, basement, and garage storage space.

Develop a bare bones budget (income/spending plan) that helps you identify the amount of money needed to meet your degree/graduation goals. Be willing to sacrifice other enjoyments (no desire should be a sacred cow that cannot be eliminated) in order to make it through training and develop the skills and learn of tools that can make you valuable and provide high income. Of course the first and foremost priority should be to have an intimate born again relationship with Jesus Christ and learn his ways and standard and seek to employ the evangelism and disciple-making power He placed in you in the career field selected by confirmation of and laying on of hands of the presbytery. So you can be right in the center of His will as your forge out into the work-a-day world for the rest of your life. Borrowing always fuels the desire to spend money unnecessarily and to borrow more money for the same purpose. It gives the impression that borrowing is something that should continue throughout life. It puts you in a horrible position of having to repay funds even when you are unable to increase income to cover the payments (due to catastrophe, happenstance, choice, etc.). So, just don't borrow and commit to get your training the debt-free way because that is the absolute best training that will bring true riches into your life.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 9:10, 16:3, Romans 12:2, Colossians 2:8, 2Timothy 2:15-16

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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

MoneyWalk 408 Integrity Is Necessary

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

It is sad when Church elders must defrock preachers whom God used for many years to build successful Churches, and to hear about former executives of MCI, Adelphia, Tyco, Enron and other business and investment brokers being caught up in financial scandals that land them in prison. Each of these leaders had been blessed and rewarded above their fellows and had no need to engage such schemes. Essentially, lack of biblical moral integrity was the underlying activity that brought about these consequences.

We should all be saddened for each one of them and hope changes occur in their hearts such that greed and wrong priorities will not in the future override contentment and honesty. Following Christ and obeying His instructions are the only way you can learn true morality and make progress to overcome the enemy’s temptations to (by any means necessary) obtain wealth, power, position, fame, and control of other people at any cost. When you make these the prize you seek, you will be receptive to greed, deceit, oppression, manipulative, and malicious activity to get them. Of course, an unregenerate heart and mind may say you are making them a priority to obtain as much money as you can as fast as you can to more elaborately build God’s kingdom. After all, Jesus is returning soon.

However, constantly ask the LORD to search your heart and show you its true desire and help you change to ensure that He is the highest priority. God knows that immorality can capture people’s hearts - yours included. It usually starts small then insidiously grows larger. That’s why the bible tells us to be led by the Spirit, so we won’t follow the immoral direction of the flesh (fallen human nature and its ungodly appetites). Following God’s instruction confirmed by His nature and modes of operation as described by the bible is the only way that you can effectively and continually walk in moral integrity. In this mode, which is available for every Christian, you see through His eyes and draw from His power to make every ungodly thought and temptation captive to His will.

Such integrity is as important in your stewardship of money as it is in marriage, employment, church ministry, business, etc. When it is the base of operation in your heart it will over-rule soulish worldly thoughts that would otherwise direct your actions. A lifestyle of disobeying the LORD might gain the world or what you think is a worthwhile part of it. However, you’ll lose your soul in the process and for eternity when you’re not truly repentant as a result of faith and complete trust in Jesus Christ as Savior & LORD. In addition, like some of the people alluded to in the first paragraph, you may on earth lose the very thing you made your prize (riches, power, fame, position, control, etc.).

In Christ, you have eternal life and all the riches, power, fame, and leadership from His treasury in Heaven necessary to carry out His purpose for you on earth. Make sure your intimacy with Him is your highest pursuit so integrity per biblically-based morals is at the forefront of everything you pursue and every endeavor you undertake. Then, He will have no problem adding these things into your life and you will be able to handle them without letting them control and manipulate you to do things that fail to give Him glory and possibly land you in deep earthly trouble. When He adds them you will truly experience His blessing and reward with no sorrow added to it!

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Proverbs 10:20-23, Matthew 6:31-34, Matthew 28:20, John 14:6, Galatians 5:13-24

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 407 God Will Provide

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

When an individual or the majority of any nation’s citizens put their trust in the LORD and pursue intimacy with Him they will never be bankrupt. They will be inspired and led by Him to engage the perfect law of liberty to be able to follow His commands and principles that lead to abundant life in every venue. They will be immensely blessed and rewarded for every initiative they undertake to show love for the LORD and other people.

Because no one is perfect, we all can get better and do better in various areas of our lives to usher in greater blessing and reward He has in mind for each of us. When we start to fail as individuals or a nation, if we are to return to the intended pathway, we must consider whether or not we are engaging His initiatives His way according to His standards. For example, carrying the ark on pull cart was not in accordance with His standard and ended up with one of King David’s faithful servants killed even though he was trying to do a good thing by catching the ark of the covenant when it was sliding off the cart. The failure encountered would have been avoided by following the LORD’s already spoken and affirmed standard of having priests (prepared for this service) carry the ark by its poles.

He is not obligated to provide when we do things our way, though at times He may. Often, if we do not recognize the error of our way, we will be fooled into thinking it is right based on the blessing or reward that falsely presents itself as evidence we were right. These things can then become a harm to us later down the road. The best way to avoid this in every area of life including business and personal finances is not to be fearful of making wrong decisions, rather to be mindful of submitting your life and all decisions to Him and talking with and listening for His voice and instruction from the beginning through the end of each day and being willing to make course corrections whenever He speaks such change to you.

There are certain disciplines the bible encourages that you definitely should engage: (1) tithe and be an abundant giver, (2) know the state of your income and assets, (3) stay away from debt as the means of financing and getting what you want, (4) saving and investing and diversification to help build greater wealth for the family and the kingdom. These things put you in position to be greatly blessed and rewarded to help you better fulfill the plan of God for your life.

One can never say the LORD has not or will not allow someone to come into high income or great wealth who does not do these things or who has not claimed Christ as Savior, but the Word certainly speaks of eternal and earthly blessing for those who engage the above noted disciplines according to His will. When looking out on the masses and seeing the majority suffer through poor personal financial situations, deteriorating family relationships, and spiritual affliction no matter their level of income and assets, it makes you realize His way of being and doing is always better than anything anyone else could ever come up with.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Job 22:21-28, Proverbs 18:20-21, Matthew 6:33, 1Corinthians 15:58, Hebrews 13:15, 2Peter 1:3-11

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 406 A Life Worth Living

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

What is your motivation? Is it having expensive homes, fancy cars, and other toys? Is it having notoriety, fame, or power? Pursuit of such status and material things should never be a Christian’s primary motivation. In your life, some form or level of them will come as a blessing or reward. Yet, you must remember they could serve as an aim for temptation to be introduced to your mind by the devil and his demon allies in order to get you to prioritize these temporal things as more important than intimacy with Jesus Christ. Succumbing to pursuit of these things as the priority for your life and activities will inevitably cause you to be ill-equipped to mentally and emotionally handle higher levels or amounts of them, with godly humility and meekness. Pursuit of such things without following biblical instruction and the Holy Spirit’s leading will cause you to make alliances with the wrong people, businesses, and/or endeavors in order to try and get more of them and the prestige they seem to point to on earth.

However, you will be truly blessed and rewarded only when you keep your focus continually on the main priority of your life on earth, which is being intimate with the LORD and pursuing His will for your life by helping lead people to Him, so the Word, written and spoken, can help draw their hearts to Himself and learn to obey everything He commanded. This motivation seen and made real via subsequent, consistent activity brings you to a place of having more than enough to carry out ministry and steward possessions far beyond what the average person gets to work with.

No matter what vocation, avocation, recreation, or pleasure time you currently have or ever hope to have, you must stay focused on the main mission we are instructed to carry out in the bible (being a good steward of the manifold blessings the LORD entrusts to you in order to maximize evangelization & disciple-making of many others while on earth). This priority weaved throughout your life and activities develops your character, worthwhile skills, proper use of spiritual gifts, and life and financial fruitfulness. You can help yourself immensely by reinforcing this highest, righteous priority by daily, consistently reciting a prayer declaration like the following.

“LORD give me the knowledge, understanding, and discipline to successfully use my gifts, natural & spiritual, to serve You, the body of Christ, and other people in order to produce great relationships and profitable enterprises and to help release people from bondage the enemy tricked them into. Help me never be ashamed to use the platform you’ve given me (my job, business, politics, music, sports, etc.) so that I can be a godly example to all others with whom I come in contact.”

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 8:18, Jeremiah 27:5, Matthew 6:33, James 4:3, 1Peter 5:1-4

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 405 Conquer Debt And Thrive

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Our banking and retail industries allow most anyone to easily become burdened by debt he / she cannot afford and eventually cannot pay. You will reap terrible spiritual and natural headaches when you follow the advice of many advisors in these industries instead of managing your life and money based on biblical principles like:

• Working long-term as unto the Lord (so that promotion and pay increases can come to you at various points in life).

• Honoring the Lord via tithing and abundant giving to your local Church and other endeavors that please His heart according to the bible.

• Ensuring expenses do not exceed net pay, which is maintained by drafting and following a giving, saving, spending plan (budget).

• Ensuring the highest priority responsibilities (food, shelter, transportation, and clothing) are taken care of when you're in tough times, instead of pigging out on material things you don’t need (alcohol, illegal drugs, play station, x-box, cable, cell phones, RV's, boats, non-economical cars, etc.) even after constantly telling others you don't have money to take care of obligations that are truly important. All higher priority responsibilities can be found free of charge for at least short periods of time (via friends, churches, and social service networks with missions designed for this purpose).

You should commit to a step-by-step good stewardship process designed to eliminate financial bondage and prosper you. Such discipline will not line up with the world’s encouragement to constantly take on debt to get things you want, whether material things or the possibility of a successful entrepreneurial endeavor. Thus, you need to be resolute because some of these worldly voices will disparage you and claim you are being unrealistic by avoiding debt like it’s the plague. Most people uncommitted to achieving a debt-free lifestyle continue to experience severe financial hardships and bondage that truly could be avoided.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Deuteronomy 28:12, Proverbs 17:18, 22:7, Romans 13:8

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 404 You Will Get Results

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many times you wonder whether or not you will get results if you follow the people who suggest they know success principles. The type of success you are aiming for should show itself in the life of the author and people who for several years faithfully adhere to the principles. In many instances, success will show little by little until a few years down the road the person is in a position far better than most people in society around him and you can tell he / she has maintained and matured in positive upright character along the way.

There are many times where the only thing you get is empty promises from authors and so-called teachers who exploit for money your desire to prosper. There are others who use this desire to send you down questionable and illegal paths where you might become a well-known face of American Greed. And of course there are a few who have tapped into a real vein of prosperity that helps the faithful prosper in a way that maintains integrity, honesty, and goodwill for others.

You should want to be in the latter situation and avoid the other two scenarios. Often these authors, whether they know it or not, have captured and relay to other people the essence of biblical principles. God’s word is the only source guaranteed to prosper you immensely in the manner that He desires for you on Earth and in eternity. That is why no matter the teacher you should make it a point to compare a person’s teaching with biblical principles to see if they align and only utilize those steps, points, etc. that indeed align with the Word.

We have been debt-free for almost two decades, have been tithers and abundant givers for well over two decades, and have prospered immensely when compared to the place we started. We looked to no man to point the way to us on how to live. We look solely to the LORD and trusted several of his pastors and teachers who shared truths that aligned with the Word and what the LORD had been showing us. We were not looking to be wealthy. We only wanted to be pleasing to Him and good stewards of His manifold blessings. He has done far better in our lives than what we thought and asked. We are so grateful for His mercy, because we know we deserve nothing, and also grateful for His grace, because Daddy God loves His people so much He bestows upon us the choice to be saved, inherit eternal life, and obtain far more than we could ever deserve.

He has helped us to lead others down this same path. You too can have this kind of future and greater. The sooner you become intimate with the LORD and start employing His principles the sooner godly success will permeate your life to allow blessing and rewards to overflow and positively impact the lives of other people.

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

Matthew 6:33, Mark 16:15-19, Luke 6:38, Romans 13:8, 2 Corinthians 9:5-7

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 403 Tithing Produces Blessing & Reward

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Abraham and his progeny tithed prior to the law being written. The written law contained three different tithes. Jesus spoke of not leaving tithing undone. And, Hebrews speaks of the One in Heaven (of whom it is witnessed that He lives) receiving the tithe given to Him through men on earth. The tithe is given from a person's increase. For an employee, "gross pay" is representative if your increase, whereas "net pay" is only a portion of your increase. If the difference between your gross pay and net pay did not represent real dollars, Uncle Sam would not receive anything on which to operate government, pay our federal employees, and take care of the nation’s expenses. Thus, the difference is real dollars accounted to you, then taken from you as taxes routed through the IRS.

When asked what they make, you never hear people quote a net income figure or take-home pay. They always identify the gross amount because this is the amount they were actually paid during the year. When their employer identifies the amount they make per year, it always identifies the gross amount because this is the amount of money the employer actually paid them. When you work for an employer, gross pay is your increase, regardless of whether you receive it directly and must pay expenses out of it or whether the employer pays expenses out of it to someone else on your behalf.

It would be out of order to consider net pay the basis for tithing (due to the premise that you only tithe on what is actually received in your pay check) because you could do many things to cause net pay to be far less than gross pay. For example, you could have child support taken out of your check or you could have your pay garnished and sent to someone who holds a judgment against you. If these things are not increase, the receiver would not want it because he / she would not be getting real money.

The current mechanism for taxes being taken out of your pay up front by employers was established by the government to ensure that people did not fail to pay taxes during the year, then spend all their earnings, and then be unable to pay taxes after the end of the year.

Entrepreneurs / business owners are in a different situation, because they incur some expenses long before they receive revenue from customers. Such expenditures give them an opportunity to receive income, and hopefully abundantly. Thus, they can reduce gross pay by the amount of expenses necessary to obtain revenue and the result would be their true increase.

It is always best to offer the Lord the best of everything earned (the first-fruit of your increase) because you want to (1) recognize His handiwork in your life, (2) thank Him for continuing to abundantly bless and reward you and meet all your need according to His riches in glory, (3) do your part to advance His kingdom and Church, (4) help meet other people’s needs, and (5) give you the desire of your heart as you delight yourself in Him.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, 1Corinthians 9:22

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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 402 Evangelize & Make Disciples By All Means Possible

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Throughout life, there will be many situations where you should employ every type of witness and disciple-making imaginable: Christ-like living, speaking the gospel message, wearing Christian paraphernalia, and according to biblical principles properly managing money the LORD entrusts to you. You certainly should use methods that do not violate biblical standards of morality. However, you cannot afford to let satan convince you that any positive method of evangelization and disciple-making are not useful in helping people see the value of accepting Jesus Christ as Savior & LORD.

Anyone convinced by satan that the above noted methods are somehow ungodly will be ineffective in at least some fields in which he or she is planted. The enemy’s ultimate vision is to convince each person of the ineffectiveness of more and more methods until he/she is estopped from communicating his/her witness at all. Some have bought into the belief that they do not need to communicate the gospel in any way rather they only need to live right in front of others and that this alone will lead others to Christ. When you supposedly live right but never speak the gospel message unbelievers know you as no more than a good man or woman.

Unbelievers are not particularly drawn to Christ because of your good deeds alone because they see many other people of all religious and non-religious backgrounds doing good earthly deeds. You might encourage them to become a good man or woman on earth, but without Christ leading their lives men and women who do good deeds throughout life bring upon themselves the same eternal damnation that is upon those we believe are the worst despots in history, simply because no one’s works can ever be good enough to earn salvation and eternal life. Only your acceptance of Christ’s atoning sacrifice makes you righteous enough to have your name written in the Book of Life.

Your intellectual prowess and good deeds do not cause unbelievers to accept Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws them to Him using His words spoken by you and good deeds He inspires you to do. We witness of Christ's perfection as the only one who can offer salvation and eternal life to all who come to Him, for we have no perfection of our own no matter how many good deeds we do! Anytime and any way in which we glorify Him is an opportunity that He can use to draw unbelievers unto Himself, whether by communication, Christ-like living, paraphernalia, or managing money He entrusts to you.

Please pray for this ministry and email me with any questions. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!

Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, 1Corinthians 9:22

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

You can find many other MoneyWalk articles on Facebook by looking at the NOTES created by Randy Parlor at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000444069041&sk=notes.

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