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Why These Hard Times Are Good For You

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Throughout the bible, fellowship with Christ and fellowship with the saints often involved not peace & prosperity, but suffering & heartache.  Is this to say that we cannot be blessed or cannot have a lot, God forbid.  The Lord wants us to be able to live righteously in either scenario. According to the bible it is important for us to be content with what we have, be it a lot or be it a little.

In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul gives this wisdom, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The amazing insight given us in this verse is one of complete reliance on the things of God.  Are you worrisome toward the economy or toward your situation?  You need to get right with God.  You need to repent of your reliance on things of this world.  You need to turn toward God, put all things into His hands and truly trust that He is able to provide all your needs.

This “recession” or “depression” or whatever it may be is a time given us of God to remember Him! To wake up out of our slumber of sin & idolatry to truly worship Him and to rely on Him for all things.  He is simply waiting for each of us to do just that!  When will we follow Him?  When will we turn from our wicked ways?  When will we return to the bible way of truth?  When will we repent of our unbelief and turn again to complete & utter reliance upon the Lord and His glorious gospel.  Won’t you do just that today my friend?  Wherever you are, pray that the Lord might forgive you for your sin of unbelief, and that He might lead you again down the path of righteousness through Christ Jesus.

Oh that we would return to the Lord and follow Him in rigtheousness!  Hating sin but loving the sinner.  Being content in all things.  Seeking the face of the living God.  These things are the way of bible economics my friend.

The Lord has laid it on my heart to leave you with the ultimate financial wisdom in Matthew 6:19-34.  Please do read it.

19: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22: The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23: But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25: Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27: Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30: Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

I trust that the Lord will use His Word to work in your life.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Budget Your Money! – DFA Tip of the Week – 3/23/2009

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There are many ways to reduce costs in our every day lives, so to help do just that each Monday I will post a money saving “Tip of the Week”.

“And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.” Luke 19:17

This weeks tip involves…keeping a budget!

One of the single best pieces of financial advice you could ever receive is simply to keep a budget.  This is far from new information, but is something that bears repeating over & over & over again until it is adopted!  In Philippians 3:2 Paul says, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” I too am saying it is not grievous for me to mention your need to budget your money, and indeed for you it is safe.

Budgeting

There are several approaches you can take to budgeting:

  1. Manual – use a pen & paper to create a physical copy of your family budget. You do not see this option mentioned on a lot of modern finance blogs and may think of it as “out-of-date” or “unstylish”…however…despite all that modern technology has to offer, this can be one of the most effective forms of budgeting available even today; it all depends on your specific situation.
  2. Spreadsheets – use MS Excel…even better…the free OpenOffice Calc or Google Docs Spreadsheet. This is an option a lot of people prefer due to the control you have, the privacy you have, and the flexibility you have.  A draw back of this option is that it can be both time consuming and tedious to set up the spreadsheet, especially if you are not versed in the use of spreadsheets.  There are many good free templates out there, but again…if you are not a seasoned spreadsheet user, this can be a tough road to hoe.
  3. Online tools – Using a piece of software built for the purpose of budgeting. There are both free & pay options available.  Some of the best free tools include Mint & Wesabe.  Two fee based software packages that are not free but are very effective budgeting tools  are YNAB (YouNeedABudget) and Mvelopes.  I am actually in the process of reviewing both of these and will be posting my results  soon.

What do I use to budget?  Currently I am using a combination of all three methods.

Because my wife has a serious aversion to computers & technology, we use a Moleskin journal to record our family budget.  The journal is used as a simple & quick overview for our income & expenses.  We do not go into detail here, but simply list the basic monthly debits & credits of our money.

The one technology interaction I request my wife does participate in is Mint.com.  We both have separate Mint accounts and use them to help us budget and keep track of our spending & individual transactions.  Keeping track of this information in a handwritten journal is both time consuming & impractical when free tools such as Mint.com exist.  Another benefit Mint provides us is the ability to view spending trends which enables us to visualize & identify problem areas, then develop a plan to curb them accordingly.

As I mentioned above I am currently in the process of downloading, installing, using & reviewing both YNAB & Mvelopes software budgeting tools.  Both of these softwares come highly touted and offer free trials, of which I am taking full advantage.  YNAB provides a 60-day free trial and Mvelopes offers a 30 day free trial.  Some differences between the two include but are not limited to the following:

  • Software type – YNAB is a software you purchase once & install on your PC whereas Mvelopes is a web & fee based subscription service.
  • Data importing – Mvelopes automatically downloads & imports your banking information for you while YNAB requires you to manually import the data.
  • Acessibility – YNAB is only accessible from the computer you install it on, but is more secure in that wise.  Mvelopes is accessible anywhere you have an Internet connection and browser therefore making it susceptable to security hacks and is also unusable if the Internet connection goes down, but if all is well gives you the ability to view your information from any Internet device.
  • Cost – YNAB is a one time purchase whereas you must pay for Mvelopes every month you use it indefinitely.

What do you think?  How do you budget & which methods mentioned above do you use?  Like I said, I am currently using all three & hope to narrow it down here in the near future.  Please share any experience you have for the benefit of all readers.

Click here to see all our past DFA Tips of the Week.

How to Get Out of Debt

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Originally posted by J.D. of Get Rich Slowly

This article has some very good concrete steps to getting out of debt.  I believe the contents that follow do follow biblical principles, even if J.D. didn’t do so purposely.  Any faithful stewardship is on track to follow bible teachings, all you need to realize if you’re already working to rid your life of debt, is that God has granted you all that you have and you are just a steward of those things.  Please read J.D.’s article and apply it to your life in the context of God’s Word.  To be compliant with copyright laws, I am only posting snippets of the article here.  To get the full Monty, please visit J.D.’s original post.

Debt elimination involves three steps:

  1. Stop acquiring new debt.
  2. Establish an emergency fund.
  3. Implement a debt snowball.

Here’s how to approach each step. (I’ll use Nick’s situation as an example, but the principles apply to everyone.)

Stop acquiring new debt

(This step can be accomplished in an afternoon.)

This may seem self-evident, but the reason your debt is out of control is that you keep adding to it. Stop using credit. Don’t finance anything. Cut up your credit cards.  That last one can be tough. Don’t make excuses. I don’t care that other personal finance sites say that you shouldn’t cut them up. Destroy them. Stop rationalizing that you need them.

Establish an emergency fund

(This step will probably take several months.)

For some, this is counter-intuitive. Why save before paying off debt? Because if you don’t save first, you’re not going to be able to cope with unexpected expenses. Do not tell yourself that you can keep a credit card for emergencies. Destroy your credit cards; save cash for emergencies.

How much should you save? Ideally, you’d save $1,000 to start. (College students may be able to get by with $500.) This money is for emergencies only. It is not for frivolities. It is not for shoes. It is not for a Playstation 3. It is to be used when your car dies, or when you break your arm in a touch football game.

Implement a debt snowball

(This step may require several years.)

After you’ve stopped using credit, and after you’ve saved an emergency fund, then attack your existing debt. Attack it with vigor. Throw whatever you can at it.

Many people say to pay your high interest debts first. There’s no question that this makes the most sense mathematically. But if money were all about math, you wouldn’t have debt in the first place. Money is as much about emotion and psychology as it is about math.  Psychologically, using a debt snowball offers big payoffs, payoffs that can spur you to further debt reduction.

If you apply disciplined prayer & God’s Word to these solid principles, you will be successful in reducing your debt!