MoneyWalk 371: Trust The LORD Completely

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

As you become intimate with the LORD in thanksgiving, praise, worship, and prayer the relationship, spiritual vision, and obedience to His will that is developed will relieve past worries and anxieties. Employing such biblical principles and tools is the way to show your trust and guarantees eternal rewards as a result of helping spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the whole earth by the way you talk and walk out your life.

This order is important because talking (declaring and proclaiming) His Word and will precede walking them out. In fact, one often cannot walk out (live Christ-like) what he cannot talk out. This is not boasting in yourself and the filthy rags of your righteousness but it is boasting of Jesus Christ’s righteousness (absolute purity) that cleanses you, as a believer, from all unrighteous. It is being willing to share your testimony of the Savior and LORD of your life that He is and the change He made in your life including the growth He continues to lead you to in the future.

One who trusts Him knows He already made a way even when your natural eyes see uncertainty and no positive pathway ahead because He already filled the void in your heart that was there for so long and continually grants you mercy and grace to help in every situation in the time of need. Trusting Him by using biblical financial principles and tools betters your financial situation on earth and helps you not be moved to take unwise actions when the world around you experiences economic downturns.

Do not continue using worldly methods of living and managing money because they do not work toward an eternal purpose and may ultimately tempt and lead you to deceive, cheat, and abuse people in order to build up greater accumulation that you think will make your life better. No matter how much you build on earth this way of living can never make you rich toward God or be endeavors that please Him and will not really satisfy you even though all the material things and titles men give you will erect a façade of satisfaction.

Yet, you will continue to lack peace and joy on earth until you repent and change your actions. Your income and financial situation may get better on earth, but you will certainly reap eternal damnation for destroying your soul and other people's lives by your un-repented actions. Complete trust in the LORD which leads you to treat others (family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, employees, etc.) with love and concern that seeks result that are in each one’s best interest pleases Him to the utmost and gains you far more useful wealth eternally and on earth because you operate in His economy.

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

Deuteronomy 1:32-38, John 3:16-21, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 3:7-11, Hebrews 11:6

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

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

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 370: You Are Unique

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You are loved by the LORD and special. You were born with unique abilities that fit the purpose He has in mind for your life per the life race He desires you to run and the destiny He desires for you. When nurtured by you via intimate fellowship with Him while obeying His voice as He directs your path, you will find your wealthy place of success and fruitfulness. That place, God long ago designed for you, is ministry whether thru business, preaching, government service, music, art or other and varying vocations throughout your life.

Along your journey other people will try to convince you there's a higher calling or another area of work for you than what you know the LORD has called you to do. They will present the fruit from what they have seeded, implore you to give all you have into their ministry, and thus let them do everything that is needed so it can be done right by the one they believe has the great anointing. There are ministries He wants you to give to (money and a helping hand) and to become a disciple of to learn ways in which one can properly follow Christ. Yet, one day you may be called to venture out of that nest to walk the path He prepared you to engage for enhanced fruitfulness in your life that others can eat from and be drawn closer to Him.

By biblical standards you need to measure the lifestyle and fruitfulness of anyone who is or would be your mentor, lest you look upon their fruit, that seems outwardly good to eat, when inwardly it may be full of worms and poisons leading you down a path of destruction and death. Yet, when intimate relationship with someone displays truly good fruit then learn of them by identifying the biblical principles they employ and ask the LORD which methods you should engage to bring these principles alive in your life. Methods are many, principles are few, methods often change, but principles never do. Often various methods they use can successfully be employed in your life, especially in the early stages of your endeavors, and that is one of the reasons He connected you with their ministry.

It is worth repeating that you are loved by the LORD and have been given unique gifts and talents to help you serve other people. You are not your neighbor and God did not create you to be his clone and act exactly like him / her. When you fulfill God's plan for your life and your neighbors do also, together you fit within the perfectly designed body of Christ of which He is the head and all in all who will bring success to the body and every part through all they do.

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

Genesis 25:23-26, Romans 12:3-8, 1Corinthians 12:4-14, Ephesians 4:11-32

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 369: Wealth That Pleases God

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The LORD’s will is that you would be wealthy as a result of pursuing intimacy with Him and employing biblical principles in your life, including the arenas that need money and resources to navigate. The only way to avoid the many potholes and consequences that come from pursuing more money and resources using any other way requires that you abstain from fleshly lusts and wrong-headed pursuits in order to allow God to bring you into a unique wealthy place of business and ministry where godliness with contentment is great gain. Otherwise, your life will be an eternal failure even when you seem successful on earth.

The pursuit of riches should never be the primary motivation of any believer. But riches often come and are used in the proper manner when a person sets a goal to become more productive and fruitful in his / her work and entrepreneurial endeavors within the framework of an intimate, dynamic, and disciplined relationship with Christ to help him / her fulfill God-given purpose. Make sure, no matter your opportunities or pursuits, that you always maintain reasonable time for daily devotion including thanksgiving, praise, worship, prayer, bible study, weekly fellowship with the saints, and ministry to your family and other people. When these spiritual disciplines take priority in your life, you will not pursue money and material things at all costs rather you will do so within the framework of biblical instruction and the LORD’s specific guidance to you, thereby eliminating harmful effects of anti-Christ-like behavior like deceiving or cheating others to profit your business or ministry.

In this way, you will live out your heritage as a priest and king of the Most High God by exhibiting chaste, godly, and generous conduct that overcomes evil words that some people will speak against you, especially as you prosper more and more. In fact, the example of your life as well as the natural and supernatural wealth it produces will be used by the Holy Spirit to win many people to Christ. He will be pleased with your faith-based efforts and the wealthy place to which He guides you.

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

Psalm 139:13-18, Matthew 25:14-15, 1Peter 2:9-12, Revelations 1:5-6

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

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

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MoneyWalk 367: From Debt To Poverty

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The title doesn’t sound good does it. I know you would much rather see “From Rags to Riches.” However, getting things you want via borrowed money puts your life under the heading “From Debt To Poverty.” Only when you stop living on this wealth stealing debt-laden merry-go-round will you bring into your domain godly purpose, fruitfulness, and success that comes from employing good stewardship practices confirmed in scripture for the good of man, corporately and individually. This then puts you on the pathway to experiencing firsthand the rags to riches testimony that truly glorifies the LORD and blesses you, your family, and the many others your life is meant to bring goodwill.

Every decade credit card debt increase astronomically. The average person is carrying tens of thousands of dollars in car, recreational vehicle, furniture, appliance, electronics, jewelry, and retail store debt. Also, many people are carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in home mortgages. Amounts that also greatly increase every decade. The numbers far exceed the level that inflation alone would have had on house prices. Regardless of income and affordability, they are simply choosing to buy larger homes with far more amenities even when family sizes and sometimes paychecks are getting smaller. Many people have also been convinced by the banking system to continual tap supposed equity out of their house to purchase consumer goods that depreciate. These practices leave them with very little to draw from when problems arise that requires substantial savings and investments to resolve.

Spending borrowed money (even when it’s called home equity) to obtain consumer goods leads people to neglect giving to spread the gospel, make disciples of men, and support vital need-meeting ministry. It also leads them to neglect saving for emergencies and future growth through investing. In essence, being a debtor and continuing to take out more and more loans is a major spiritual vehicle that transports people into a life of spiritual and natural poverty no matter what they currently look like on the outside. When you have not built substantial savings and investments, all it takes for you to land in such poverty is a bout of unemployment or business sales falling off for months or years for you to lose many if not all the things you thought you owned and for you to forsake giving to the LORD’s work because you feel you must do all you can to pay the creditor you can see instead of the God who is unseen with natural eyes.

You should avoid debt like the plague it is. Do not use it as the means for obtaining consumer goods, pursuing / maintaining entrepreneurial endeavors, schooling, or anything. Thus, when trials come, as they periodically will, the things in your possession will not be subject to repossession and foreclosure because you will truly own them and you will not become bankrupt. A debt-free lifestyle, which is the LORD’s design for your life, will help you overcome worldly temptations and avoid the spiritual and natural poverty satan is step-by-step trying to lead you into in order to destroy your future and your ability to be used greatly by God.

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

Genesis 12:1-3, Deuteronomy 28:43-48, Proverbs 22:6-7, Romans 13:6-8, James 4:2-8

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 368: The Heart That Opens Heaven’s Windows

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Faith in the LORD and wanting to be of service in planting His kingdom seed in the hearts of men, women, and children all over the world and throughout time should lead you to give a tenth of your income and a free-will offering to the Church for the work of ministry. The tenth is the tithe and an offering is a free-will gift of an amount you choose. Not as an obligation, rather as a representation of the kind of great faith exhibited by the one whom the LORD identified as Abraham, father of our faith. Without any contradiction he gave a tenth unto Melchizedek the priest who without beginning or end is likened unto Jesus Christ. We know Jesus Christ as the only one of whom it is witnessed that He lives and receives the tithe through the loins of His earthly priests.

Wonderful trust is displayed by the father of your faith tithing of his increase long before the Law was given to Israel. Jesus said we should display justice, mercy, and faith and not leave tithing undone. The book of Hebrews admonishes, encourages, and instructs every Christian throughout the ages and explains that men collect believer’s tithes on earth but Jesus Christ receives them in Heaven.

The discipline of tithing helps us trust the LORD using His far better spiritual insight, allows the gospel to be preached and all people discipled by us and other ministers, aligns the spiritual atmosphere to bring about our betterment spiritually and financially, encourages us to utilize the Holy Spirit’s empowerment living inside us, and glorifies our LORD during and beyond our years. Knowing that the New Covenant is far better than the Old Covenant motivates Christians to engage tithing and offering to spread the gospel far more than our desire to obtain things we want and even seem to need. Yet it also makes possible many opportunities to receive far more than needed without having to make a priority of obtaining such things. Scripture expressly affirms that one who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly whereas one who sows abundantly shall reap abundantly.

Tithing and offering represent a principle of proper conduct for everyone who confesses to know Jesus Christ. They should be given consistently in order to produce and support ministry throughout the earth. The prosperity of all faithful tithers is seen by helping thousands of people develop a relationship with Christ while continually being able to plant more resources toward this mission. This moves God’s heart to pour out earthly treasures upon you as well so that being blessed you can continue to be a blessing to even more people. However, your failure to follow God’s instructions will likely cause your debt to rise, separate you from wealth, hamper your ability to simultaneously save and invest, and hamper the life and good works Christ wants you to do.

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

Genesis 14:20, Malachi 3:8-12, Matthew 23:23, Luke 12:13-21, Hebrews 7:4-8

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 366: Contentment Is Not Laziness

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Some believers have been fooled into thinking the LORD does not want His people to prosper financially and thus poverty becomes to them a badge of holiness. Automatic ridicule is then aimed at anyone who obtains a level of wealth above the amount they believe is reasonable. They believe those folks must have violated biblical principle because it does not lead people to high incomes or wealth accumulation.

This could not be further from the truth in scripture. God has spoken words of spiritual, emotional, physical, and financial prosperity for all His people and makes it available to each according to His will and calling for their lives. He simply does not want our pursuits to be based on the love of money. He wants each one to pursue the area of longing He put in his / her heart while realizing that He will make pathways, open, and close doors that bring him / her necessary income to live and live more abundantly as we engage good stewardship practices identified in the Word.

Simply being rich does not mean that a person has done anything to please God, but it is not automatically an identifier that he / she has not walked in a way that pleases Him. No matter how you came into wealth, right now He wants you to be as much about leading people to Him and letting your life express His glory and show that you are His friend as did Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth, King David, Isaiah, Esther, Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas, Lydia, and the rich who were doing good works like those expressed in 1 Timothy chapter 6.

An import message He wants us to hide in our hearts, whether rich or poor, is that we should not be lazy because faith without works is dead and he who does not properly care for his household is worse than an infidel. Also, we should be content with our current state in terms of not complaining about it, yet faithfully working as unto the LORD to improve ourselves so we may also improve upon our ability to give and expand the Kingdom of God in Christ in the hearts of people on earth. For if they leave this life without Him as Savior & LORD there is no hope of eternal paradise for them and only a reality of outer darkness and torment forever.

When a bigger house, car, or better job is in your future, he simply wants it pursued and accomplished in a way that does not lead you away from intimacy with Him, that does not reduce your ability to tithe and give to your local church and other worthwhile ministry, and that is in line with your ability to handle the purchase of these things via net income, savings, and investments available to you without you lacking resources to continually and faithfully take care of obligations you committed yourself to and without winding up house, car, and relationship poor. Contentment comes into play in a great way in this regard. If you do not utilize it and recognize the LORD planted it in your spirit and wants it exercised in your actions, then you will fall for the worlds tools for bringing you down financially so you are unable to properly care for your calling, family, and Church. Massive marketing and advertisement that appeals to your flesh to get you to quickly pursue your desires is a major tool satan uses to get you to override contentment. Yet, all the things marketed are not evil or opposed by God. Those intended for you simply have a due time attached to them that meets the above noted specifications.

The LORD simply wants you to be content in His current provision for you while being a doer of the Word who lives out biblical principles that help you mature to be a son who can handle more of the treasures of His kingdom while you’re on earth. He doesn’t want you measuring your prosperity by the trinkets that other people possess nor sitting around, doing nothing, waiting for your death or His return. He wants to find you busy doing work that produces reasonable income and provides service He will be proud of because it positively affects family, Church, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.) and that allows you extra by which to prosper even more as the future moves forward. When you are willing and obedient you will have abundance of the land at your disposal.

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

Luke 12:15, 1Timothy 6:6-11, Hebrews 10:35-36, Revelation 3:17-20

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 365: Invest In Order To Prosper

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Most endeavors that could be good for you do not come with a solid guarantee from someone you can automatically trust. So, you must read, study, and question others to identify the advantages and challenges inherent in each endeavor. Even when something appears viable on the surface, follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, because it will always line up with biblical principles in a way that will truly prosper you and other people you are supposed to bless individually and corporately through church ministry.

In the investment world, you'll likely find that no load, low expense index mutual funds are good vehicles to meet stock and bond allocations of your investment plan because they offer automatic diversification due to the large number of businesses they invest in and do not require you to be a stock and bond expert and require little physical and mental effort to employ. No load means you pay no front end or back end commission to a broker to purchase them. Our definition of low expense is that you choose funds on which you annually pay and expense and marketing fee of no more than one-half a percent on the principal amount of the investment.

By using no load, low expense index mutual funds you will be leveraging the positive history of the stock and bond market and the expertise of reliable professional fund managers who pick the company shares in each fund per the particular index the fund mimics (large cap, mid-cap, small cap, total U.S. market, intermediate bonds, etc.). You will be able to find the best no load, low expense index mutual funds in many 401k type employer retirement plans and in brokerage houses like Vanguard, Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, Charles Schwab, and a few others. They will let you invest directly in the funds using electronic funds transfers from your bank / credit union account. One great thing about them is they have a history of producing higher returns year over year and over 10 to 20-year investment periods than approximately 80% of actively managed funds on which commissions are charged up-front or at the time you withdraw your money (back-end load).

Of course, if you could find actively managed mutual funds that maintain year over year higher growth than no load, low expense index mutual funds, then it would be in your best interest to invest in the active mutual funds. However, most people have no expertise in picking such funds because year over year very few active funds consistently beat the growth of the index, nor do they consistently do better over the long term. Also, they are scared to invest because of the sheer magnitude of the number of active mutual funds they would need to scour and sort thru to find what is believed to be the best funds in which to invest. Also, they are not sure how the associated commissions and investment management and marketing fees will affect their investment in the short or long term period over which investments should be held. Most simply freeze and usually do not invest in anything. The few who did pick an investment withdrew the money a short time later when the first market downturn occurred, thus solidifying their losses.

If such fears keep you from investing even in no load, low expense index mutual funds you should get the help of an adviser who charges less than 0.5% investment management fees and who can point you to funds with good past performance and expense ratios less than 0.5%. The historical track record of most every mutual fund (index and actively managed) is available. This type of information can help you decide which funds to invest in. Services like Morningstar, Yahoo Finance, etc. offer stock research apps that can help you sort thru the historical returns (going back five to ten years or more) and expenses on index and actively managed funds and find those that had higher short and long-term growth records and great overall performance ratings in their market category for many past years up to the current time. Investing in this manner with guidance from wise godly counselors will prosper you immensely as you walk forward on the path the LORD prepared for you.

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

Proverbs 19:20-21, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Matthew 27:57, Acts 17:10-12, 2Timothy 2:15-17

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 364: Long Term Vision Is Necessary

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Over the vast majority of 20 year periods, the stock market experienced greater growth than most other investment vehicle markets (bonds, fixed income, real estate, precious metals, etc.). The up and down swing of stock prices is much more volatile over shorter time periods (a few months or a few years) thus making them riskier during short time periods. By living off less than you make, honoring God with the tithe, establishing an emergency fund, and achieving total debt elimination and afterward putting at least ten percent of each paycheck in diversified investment vehicles, you will soon get to a point where you’re able to let and see much higher long-term stock market growth work for you without having to worry about the short-term risk of the market.

For sure, you will need a wise person or two from whom you seek guidance who will help you get control of your emotions by teaching you not to fear short term downward swings in the stock market. They know that when you move investment money to historically far lower growth vehicles each time you see a downward swing and have experienced what would be a short term loss you solidify that loss throughout your future. In addition, the money will continue to earn much lower growth over the long term as you worry about trying to find something you can be comfortable investing in in a high growth market at a later time. Most people never make the move back into the stock market because they continue to be afraid of risk that has historically been shown to take you higher and higher and provide far greater growth over long term periods. So they languish in low growth investments throughout their lives and cannot be as blessed and rewarded in the financial arena of their lives as the LORD would have them be. An abundant portion of what you lose out on by not taking the reasonable, historically reliable stock market risk could otherwise have been given into the Kingdom to lead people to Christ and disciple them, to take better care of yourself and family, and to pursue other worthwhile endeavors.

Certainly, you should avoid the risk of an undiversified stock market investment. If you invest in single stocks you should own a variety of at least eight solid ones and likely far more. Otherwise, you are going down the road of a get rich quick mentality and will likely suffer great loss over both short and long term periods and then put your tail between your legs and run away from the market never to return again. It is far better to invest in diversified no load, low expense stock index mutual funds like S&P 500, Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap, and Total Stock Market offered by reputable brokerages such as Vanguard, Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, American Funds, etc. Investing a smaller portion into a diversified portfolio of other types of investment vehicle like real estate, bonds, entrepreneurial endeavors, etc. can augment your short term and long term growth plan and you might then find that one or more of them become a really big hit for your life.

When you employ this type of long term vision you’ll be able to give abundantly and live abundantly while keeping money invested over the long haul by virtue of the fact that your foresight in planning has helped you live debt-free so you continually have the funds to make such investments and reap the harvests they produce. A great portion of money will remain invested in the stock market until you expire and pass on to your heirs and the Church simply because your increasing prosperity will dictate that you don’t need to live off it. It takes long-term vision, knowledge of historical market returns, and confidence in the fact that Jesus chose you to be a steward over part of His resources in order for you to succeed at properly managing the income and assets He entrusts to you. You'll always be a good steward who prospers immensely when you follow this spiritual and financial roadmap.

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

Proverbs 11:14, 29:18, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Lamentations 2:9, Matthew 25:14-15, Luke 19:13

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 363: Saving Is Important To The LORD

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The LORD’s return is imminent. It’s certainly closer today than it has ever been and He instructs us that upon His return, we should be found busy completing our part of the Great Commission in our family, workplaces, neighborly relationships, and all arenas of life. We are citizens of Heaven and need to understand that we are seated with Jesus Christ in heavenly places, yet we should not be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. Thus, we must understand that biblical principles require a natural action that we are able to take by the power God gave us when He created us and even greater power of His Holy Spirit living in us upon becoming believers in Christ and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The creation of God and its inner-working then causes that natural action to result in supernatural results that glorify Him and bring about the good He intended for you and people around you and many times to those in the uttermost parts of the earth.

Prayer brings great results that we desperately need in our lives and world, yet it must be displayed by the work of opening your heart, mind, ears, and mouth to listen for the LORD and talk with Him. Reading the scripture on a regular basis like we should, or with any regularity, requires that we actually open the book, use the internet, or some other physical tool to distinguish the LORD’s instruction in order to progressively know what is important to Him and for you and other people. Thus, you should recognize that He instructs everyone to take action in the financial and other arenas of our lives that are physical in nature and are good works that bring supernatural results when employed. Saving is one of these principles that require action that you do not want to overlook or think He does not care about lest you fail to receive the great benefits that He stored therein for your life, care of your family, and future involvement with the ministry of the Church to change the lives and trajectories of many other people for His glory.

Proverbs lets us know that a fool quickly spends all he / she receives whereas the wise save for the future. Luke tells us that a wise man would not build a house without counting the cost to know that he has enough to complete it. A reasonable amount of savings and an ongoing pattern of saving a portion of the money the LORD entrusts to you helps you solidly build the house of your life and maintain an ever firmer financial footing as you move deeper into the life and work He called you to. A great method for employing the saving principle that has brought great results in many peoples’ lives is to budget your income and expenses in the way that allows you to build a first tier emergency fund of $1,000 and then after you have paid off all your non-mortgage debt you should save at least $10,000 and up to six months of expenses. You also will want to thereafter employ saving for extra things such as birthday, Christmas, wedding anniversary gifts, private school and/or college education costs, and for placement in equity investments that can allow you to amass great wealth for the care of your family, your future, your Church, and your ministry calling.

People that employ a give first, save next, and spend third habit in their financial lives more often have a greater positive impact in life than those whose habit is to spend, spend, spend. Usually, believers who master this principle give abundantly to ministry work and their tithes and offerings grow larger throughout the future. It’s almost impossible to consistently give as the LORD instructs and have something to invest for future growth unless you first live beneath your income and save because the desire for things of this world and massive debt to get them otherwise encompass a greater part of your income and stops you. This brings unnecessary sorrow into your life by stopping the natural and supernatural flow of blessing and increase that God intends for you and your family. Our LORD is all about helping you eliminate unnecessary sorrow and having maximum impact throughout the course of your life and He determined that this could not be done without consistently employing saving as a financial component of your life.

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

Deuteronomy 8:18, Proverbs 6:6-11, 21:20, Matthew 25:19-21, Luke 14:28-30, 19:15-17

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 362: Be A Good Steward

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Scriptural instruction leads you to plan to give abundantly and avoid future debt in order to spend within your means for things necessary and desired in this life. This becomes your giving, saving, and spending plan that is a monthly written tabulation used to keep your expenses far less than income and your liabilities far less than assets. Through this discipline you will become debt free not many years into the future and thereafter build substantial wealth for purposes of kingdom advancement and caring for future needs, given that emergencies and catastrophes will be experienced, even while you currently give in a tremendous fashion to the LORD’s work and worthwhile charity.

It gives you greater ability to affect people with the gospel as they see and hear your testimony and example of the LORD’s blessing and reward in your life. Other people’s talents and services are needed to help you reach your full potential because there are things that you may not be good at that they are good at to help you safely navigate the waters you have dominion over, such as budgeting know how, accounting, bookkeeping, taxes, investment knowledge, etc. No man is an island unto himself, thus you cannot accomplish God’s purpose for your life without relationship and inner-working with others. No doubt, some people will come and go and be more or less involved during different periods of your life, but together those with wisdom and a good example serve as the multitude of counselors who identify the LORD’s safe boundary mechanism that propels you into His prosperous purpose.

While consistently tithing and offering and after becoming debt free put into equity investment vehicles at least a seven percent portion of the money entrusted to you by the LORD (via income through employment and other natural and supernatural means). Trade it in the market using at least seven different no load, low expense stock index mutual funds or similar historically reliable high growth investments. Trading is identified in scripture as good stewardship practice that brings great return throughout your life.

Also, put at least three percent of your income in a bank or other financial institution in stable value accounts that pay interest. Though such savings usually grow at a much lower rate of return than stock mutual funds, they provide a hedge against down markets and funds that will help take care of emergencies and catastrophes that arise at various times throughout your life.

In addition, plan for the day when you can soon put at least two to five percent of your income toward entrepreneurial endeavors such as business startups, inventions, angel investing, real estate, etc. Such endeavors have historically shown, for one to two percent of the population, that they provide some of the highest returns that can be obtained. The discipline you learn and additional growth you receive on your money from these good stewardship methods will help you take care of all your God-given responsibilities, give more to the Church than will otherwise be possible, and faithfully complete the plan for which He made you.

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

Job 1:1-3, Proverbs 11:14, Ecclesiastes 11:4-6, Matthew 6:19-21, Luke 12:32-34

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