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

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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.

  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