Anger #2

 Prov. 16:32  He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

I know, especially as a man, I like to feel strong and mighty. The Bible says that a man that is slow to anger, or a person that thinks before he or she speaks or does, is better or more powerful than the mighty. It also goes on to say that a person who ruleth or controls their own spirit, their seat of emotions, is better than someone who is strong and wise enough to take or overthrow a city. Bottom line: think, pray, take a deep breath, count to a thousand if necessary, but control your temper and don’t let it control you.

Wayne

Anger

Eph. 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

How in the world could someone be angry and not commit a sin? I know from personal experience that when we are angry, we think less rational, and act in a way that later we are very embarrassed about. In the next few posts we will be looking at how we can really control our anger.

Wayne

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When Little Is Better Than Great

Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.

Have you ever heard that someone sold their soul to the devil? Although many of us would never dream of doing such a thing, we would not mind having a lot of revenues, even though we might have obtained them a little dishonestly. The Bible admonishes us that it is better to have a little with righteousness ( being right with God ). Our main goal should be our relationship with God not our status in the community.

Wayne 

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Generational Debt #2

In the previous post I mentioned generational debt. I hope that everyone has read the passage in 2Kings 4. If not,the woman in the story was very fearful because her husband had died and left an unpaid debt. It was the custom of that day that when someone died with an outstanding debt,  the creditors would come and take the children away, and make them work to pay for the debt. Although this is not the practice in our day and time, I believe we are leaving our families with generational debt. Generational, because it is passed on from generation to generation. Fathers, we need to make sure that we have certain things in place so that in the untimely event of our death, our families are financially secure.

1. Have enough term life insurance to pay off house and car

2. Pay off all credit cards and small debt now

3. Teach our children how to handle their money so that after we are gone they will be responsible adults.

Many people get stuck in generational debt because of a lack of knowledge. It has often been said: you will always get what you’ve always got, if you always do what you have always done.  Change your ways.

Wayne

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Generational Debt

2 Kings 4

 1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 2And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.  3Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 5So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 6And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 7Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

I would like for anyone who is reading this blog to do one thing. Please read these verses and think on two words, Generational Debt. In my next post I will explain what it is, and how we can avoid it.
Wayne

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If I Only Had

 1 Timothy 6 : 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain

If I have heard this statement once,  I have heard it a thousand times. ” If I only had…” Contentment is a hard thing to find, or a hard place to stay. People all the time associate the meaning of contentment with stuff, money, or a better social status. The Bible plainly teaches , that we can have great gain ( wealth). The problem that a lot of us face is the manner in which we want to obtain it. We need to seek it through godliness ( holiness, trying to be like God and Christ) mixed with contentment ( a  satisfied state of what we have and where we are now),  not where I wish I was, or what I wish I had. With these two ingredients coupled together, we can have great gain or profit in life now, not waiting until we have more, but yet realizing how blessed we are now.

Wayne

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Get Rich Quick

 Prov. 28 : 20 & 22 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. 22He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

Another big problem that people get into when it comes to finances is,  they think that they can become wealthy very fast. The Bible plainly states that he who tries this:  will not be innocent, they will have an evil eye, and will have poverty. Many young couples do not heed to this warning, and try to accumulate the same amount of things in the first few years of marriage, that it took their parents 20-30 years to attain. Young person , couple, or whoever, please have patience and remember, you may be able to acquire “it” fast, but “it” could take a lifetime to pay for.

Wayne

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Who Is Your Master?

This may seem like a strange question, especially since we are talking about money. You may be asking,” what do you mean who is my master? I tell my money exactly where to go. ” Or do you?  The Bible says in Prov. 22 : 7 “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. “If you have a car payment, house payment, credit card payment, stereo payment,television payment, furniture payment, motorcycle payment, a ring payment… do I need to go on? If you have any of these, then you are a slave to the company you owe. If you think differently, then stop making payments and see what happens. You get up every morning and go to work because you are a slave, and have to pay for all of these things.  Matthew 6 : 24 states “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 ( wealth ).” Basically, we as humans will serve someone or something, but not both. The Bible uses the word mammon, which means any type of wealth. If you are trying to accumulate a lot of stuff , then materialism is your master. If you would like to be free from this vice, then your only option is making Christ your master. You see, if Christ is your master, then He will help you master your life, including your stuff.  If you would like to know more about turning your life over to Christ, then click here to find out how.

Wayne

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Financial Problems

Many marriages in today’s society are stressed because of money problems. Not to mention, the single parents out there struggling, trying to survive. I have copied some facts from Dave Ramsey that I thought were alarming.

57 percent of all fights in marriages are about finances… 9 out of 10 divorces that occur within the first seven years of marriage are related to financial stress. Singles are among the millions filing for bankruptcy each year.

Myth: Debt is a tool and should be used to help create prosperity.
Truth: Debt is not a tool; it is a method to make banks wealthy, not you.Debt is dumb. Most normal people are just plain broke because they are in debt up to their eyeballs with no hope of help. If you’re in debt then you’re a slave, in the sense that you do not have the freedom to use your money to help change your family tree. According to a recent USA Today article about debt, 78 percent of baby boomers have mortgage debt, 59 percent have credit card debt, 56 percent have car payments.

Over the next few posts I am going to give you some examples from the Bible that will help you in your daily struggle with you finances.  

Wayne

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The Power Of Words

Last night I was watching a television show and a man and his wife were arguing. It got intense and the woman told her husband, ” I hate you.” We need to be very careful with the words that we use. When we get angry we forget about what is right and become more concerned with letting the other person have it. Words cannot be retracted. There is a story of a woman who spoke with hateful words toward a certain gentleman in town. The man talked with the woman explaining how this made him feel. The woman trying to defend herself said, that they were merely words, and that she really did not mean it. The man then asked her to take a basket of feathers to the top of the town’s bell tower and throw them to the wind, wait a couple of days and then try and collect all of the feathers back into the basket. To this the woman replied, ” that would be impossible.” It would be the same as  trying to take back words already spoken. Once a word in anger flies from our lips, the damage is done. Lets be careful with our words.   

James 3 :5-6 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Wayne

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