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.

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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.

  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 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