I've been talking with several folks recently all of whom are asking for advice? Should we pay off our debt? If we could pay off our mortgage would that be wise? I have good credit but my lender won't let me do a rate reduction to lower my payment unless I'm a few months late on my mortgage payments. Should I just not pay my mortgage? These are just a few of the questions I receive pretty regularly.
Who are you seeking advice from? If your answer is God, then you've answered correctly. It is not only the best advice you'll ever get, but there is no substitute for the wisdom God can provide you. God is much wiser than any man!
If you're advisor is one who seeks the Lord for wisdom and counsel, then that is who I'd recommend. The bible tells us to seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. How do you know if your advisor is someone who follows God's Word? Ask? Find out what organizations they belong to? Find out where they've got their training?
One of the organizations I belong to and have become a qualified member of is Kingdom Advisors. (www.kingdomadvisors.org) Kingdom Advisors is an organization that equips the finacial professional with ongoing education to walk out biblical financial stewardship in our own lives as well as helping our customers make sound decisions.
Crown Ministries (www.crown.org) is a ministry whose purpose is to also teach and equip the believer to understand money God's way. One main thing I've learned through their ministry and study groups is that God owns it all! Money is not really yours. God owns it and has ultimate control over it (whether you realize it or not). God provides our every need (Phil 4:19). Once we learn to surrender to this realization, a weight comes off our shoulders. A pressing need to worry about our finances is lifted. That's why I highly recommend you work with an advisor that has this background!
There are many I can discuss and share with you but these are just a couple I am fond of. When we seek advice, we should first go to God for His infinite and timeless wisdom. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked."
If you are looking for a professional who can help you with sound financial wisdom, God's way, please email me and I will make the connection for you!
Blessings abundant to you and your family this Christmas Season!
Michele "MAC". A. Cole
Business Development
The InSight Team
michele@wantinsight.com
If you are looking to refinance or purchase a home, please let the InSight Team lend insight in your home financing needs!
Showing posts with label financial crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label financial crisis. Show all posts
Friday, December 4, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Help for Trying Times
What do you do when you experience "trying times"? Many folks are feeling the pressures as the economy seems to be ever changing. I know almost daily I get a call from someone who is hurting financially and is need of some advice on what to do. The bible tells us to seek counsel and sound wisdom and to seek a multitude of counselors, but the ultimate counselor is God himself. There are many folks who are suffering the consequences of poor choices, whether there own or of someone else. Don't dwell on how you got there but how to get out of it!
If you believe in God there are three things we can do to help us through these difficult times.
1. Seek His face! Matthew 6:33 says, Seek ye the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness and ALL things will be added unto you. This is Good News! This means that if we seek God and we do what He ask of us, He will take care of us. What does it mean to seek Him and His righteousness. To me it means, getting into the Word of God and learning who He is. It means following His commandments for us. They aren't a bunch of rules that keep us from having fun. They are guidelines to help us live the life He wants us to live. They keep us from harm and they actually help us become a better person to ourselves and to others!! Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord and He heard me and He delivered me from all my fears. Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
2. Claim God's Promises! The bible is a wonderful resource of God's promises for those who believe in Him. These promises cover our spiritual needs as well as our physical and emotional needs as well. My favorite verse is Phil 4:19 which says, And this same God will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus! Jesus will provide ALL of our needs. We have to come to Him with a pure heart and be sure our character is free from the love of money (possessions, greed etc). He will never leave us nor forsake us!
3. Enjoy God's Provision! Just as we accept Jesus by faith, we can accept and receive God's promises of provision in faith. The only way to please God is through Faith - Hebrews 11:6. God can provide in ways we can't even think or imagine! Recently I went to the doctor's office to find that someone (anonymously) had sent a check on my behalf to cover the expenses there! That is God in action! There have been times that God has asked me to do things for folks to help them in their time of need. And as we give, it is given back to us. God loves a cheerful giver! Try it sometime. When you see someone in need, help them out and just watch how God will bless you back.
If you aren't a believer or follower of Jesus, you too can have this relationship. You just need to ask Jesus to come into your heart, ask Him to cleanse you from your past sins (mistakes). We all sin. Ask him to forgive you and help you turn from the ways of the world. He will wipe the slate clean and give you a fresh new start! Believe He died on the cross and rose again for YOU. Then receive His love by faith. And if you do this, let me know. I'd love to help you get connected to folks who will help you walk out your new relationship with Jesus!!!
Michele@wantinsight.com
The InSight Team
If you believe in God there are three things we can do to help us through these difficult times.
1. Seek His face! Matthew 6:33 says, Seek ye the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness and ALL things will be added unto you. This is Good News! This means that if we seek God and we do what He ask of us, He will take care of us. What does it mean to seek Him and His righteousness. To me it means, getting into the Word of God and learning who He is. It means following His commandments for us. They aren't a bunch of rules that keep us from having fun. They are guidelines to help us live the life He wants us to live. They keep us from harm and they actually help us become a better person to ourselves and to others!! Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord and He heard me and He delivered me from all my fears. Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
2. Claim God's Promises! The bible is a wonderful resource of God's promises for those who believe in Him. These promises cover our spiritual needs as well as our physical and emotional needs as well. My favorite verse is Phil 4:19 which says, And this same God will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus! Jesus will provide ALL of our needs. We have to come to Him with a pure heart and be sure our character is free from the love of money (possessions, greed etc). He will never leave us nor forsake us!
3. Enjoy God's Provision! Just as we accept Jesus by faith, we can accept and receive God's promises of provision in faith. The only way to please God is through Faith - Hebrews 11:6. God can provide in ways we can't even think or imagine! Recently I went to the doctor's office to find that someone (anonymously) had sent a check on my behalf to cover the expenses there! That is God in action! There have been times that God has asked me to do things for folks to help them in their time of need. And as we give, it is given back to us. God loves a cheerful giver! Try it sometime. When you see someone in need, help them out and just watch how God will bless you back.
If you aren't a believer or follower of Jesus, you too can have this relationship. You just need to ask Jesus to come into your heart, ask Him to cleanse you from your past sins (mistakes). We all sin. Ask him to forgive you and help you turn from the ways of the world. He will wipe the slate clean and give you a fresh new start! Believe He died on the cross and rose again for YOU. Then receive His love by faith. And if you do this, let me know. I'd love to help you get connected to folks who will help you walk out your new relationship with Jesus!!!
Michele@wantinsight.com
The InSight Team
Friday, June 26, 2009
Our founding fathers and principles of Christianity
The following article was written by Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries. I feel called to share this with you in its entirety. Please read it to its’ conclusion. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please send me feedback via the blog or email.
233 years after the Declaration, our freedom is at risk
“As they penned their names in the summer of 1776, the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence noted their “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” and pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Their words illustrated the enormity of the sacrifices they might be required to make and their dependence on God’s help for the success of their cause. Victory would require nothing short of a miracle. America’s poorly trained Continental Army was outnumbered three to one by the British and their German mercenaries.
Years after America’s miraculous victory in that war, John Adams said that the “general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.” Adams was among the signers of the Declaration of Independence alon with men like Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
Franklin said that Jesus’ system of morals and religion is “the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.” And Rush noted that the U.S. Constitution was “as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament”
These are just a small sample of the statements confirming the Christian worldview of our founding fathers and their dependence on God. They understood the need for divine protection and provision – something we must never forget if we hope to experience God’s continued blessing on our nation.
Because our foundations were built upon honoring God, He made our nation great. Our prosperity was a gift. We made a practice of rewarding merit, and the practice helped fuel continued progress. And, we became one of the most well-ordered societies in history.
Instead of looking to God, many Americans are now looking to man and human wisdom for solutions to the ongoing financial crisis. The majority appears open to more government intervention and control, consequently limiting the freedom we have enjoyed, which has allowed our creativity and innovation to flourish.
Today, on many levels, we have shunned God. We have taken his blessings of prosperity and made them a higher priority than Him. Our drive to preserve our national and individual prosperity is leading us to bigger government with more controls over the private sector and dependence upon foreign credit.
The same events that would have led us to fall on our knees and ask for God’s help now cause us to seek help from Washington. This help is extremely costly, and as a result, we’ll be adding trillions of dollars to our national debt over the next 10 years.
These massive government deficits must be covered by taxing Americans, borrowing from other nations, or printing more money. Tax increases hurt the economy and cost jobs, borrowing makes us dependent on nations like China, and printing more money devalues our currency and causes inflation.
All of these tactics are misguided attempts to restore prosperity and good times, and they will all result in less freedom and potentially, future bondage. President Obama was recently quoted as saying that our federal debt is “unsustainable” and that we are “mortgaging our children’s future.”
I believe there is a great urgency for God’s people to turn back, to reset our dependence on God rather than on man and man’s wisdom. However, this won’t happen unless we are willing to live a life of obedience to our Lord. Our example is Christ, who gave up much in order to fulfill God’s purposes for this world. Paul examined our Lord’s unselfish attitudes in Philippians 2.
He then addressed us as believers, encouraging us to obey God “with deep reverence and fear” (verse 12 NLT) to be effective, we must “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people” (verse 15 NLT)
This means we must order our lives according to the principles of God’s economy, not man’s. We must reset our dependence upon those principles and make God, not His blessings, the object of tour our in the life. I too say, let us pledge to God our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor and live in firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.
Considering the current course of events in our nation, we cannot afford to wait. We, and we alone, are the salt and light of America, and what we do in the next few ears could largely determine the course our nation follows for decades.*
We look forward to lending insight to your mortgage and financial needs. Please call us at 913-642-3334 or email us at michele@wantinsight.com or dickw@wantinsight.com Blessings
* Reprinted with permission from Money Matters, a monthly economic magazine published by Crown Financial Ministries, Gainesville, Georgia. July 2009, Issue 376
233 years after the Declaration, our freedom is at risk
“As they penned their names in the summer of 1776, the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence noted their “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” and pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Their words illustrated the enormity of the sacrifices they might be required to make and their dependence on God’s help for the success of their cause. Victory would require nothing short of a miracle. America’s poorly trained Continental Army was outnumbered three to one by the British and their German mercenaries.
Years after America’s miraculous victory in that war, John Adams said that the “general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.” Adams was among the signers of the Declaration of Independence alon with men like Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
Franklin said that Jesus’ system of morals and religion is “the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.” And Rush noted that the U.S. Constitution was “as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament”
These are just a small sample of the statements confirming the Christian worldview of our founding fathers and their dependence on God. They understood the need for divine protection and provision – something we must never forget if we hope to experience God’s continued blessing on our nation.
Because our foundations were built upon honoring God, He made our nation great. Our prosperity was a gift. We made a practice of rewarding merit, and the practice helped fuel continued progress. And, we became one of the most well-ordered societies in history.
Instead of looking to God, many Americans are now looking to man and human wisdom for solutions to the ongoing financial crisis. The majority appears open to more government intervention and control, consequently limiting the freedom we have enjoyed, which has allowed our creativity and innovation to flourish.
Today, on many levels, we have shunned God. We have taken his blessings of prosperity and made them a higher priority than Him. Our drive to preserve our national and individual prosperity is leading us to bigger government with more controls over the private sector and dependence upon foreign credit.
The same events that would have led us to fall on our knees and ask for God’s help now cause us to seek help from Washington. This help is extremely costly, and as a result, we’ll be adding trillions of dollars to our national debt over the next 10 years.
These massive government deficits must be covered by taxing Americans, borrowing from other nations, or printing more money. Tax increases hurt the economy and cost jobs, borrowing makes us dependent on nations like China, and printing more money devalues our currency and causes inflation.
All of these tactics are misguided attempts to restore prosperity and good times, and they will all result in less freedom and potentially, future bondage. President Obama was recently quoted as saying that our federal debt is “unsustainable” and that we are “mortgaging our children’s future.”
I believe there is a great urgency for God’s people to turn back, to reset our dependence on God rather than on man and man’s wisdom. However, this won’t happen unless we are willing to live a life of obedience to our Lord. Our example is Christ, who gave up much in order to fulfill God’s purposes for this world. Paul examined our Lord’s unselfish attitudes in Philippians 2.
He then addressed us as believers, encouraging us to obey God “with deep reverence and fear” (verse 12 NLT) to be effective, we must “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people” (verse 15 NLT)
This means we must order our lives according to the principles of God’s economy, not man’s. We must reset our dependence upon those principles and make God, not His blessings, the object of tour our in the life. I too say, let us pledge to God our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor and live in firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.
Considering the current course of events in our nation, we cannot afford to wait. We, and we alone, are the salt and light of America, and what we do in the next few ears could largely determine the course our nation follows for decades.*
We look forward to lending insight to your mortgage and financial needs. Please call us at 913-642-3334 or email us at michele@wantinsight.com or dickw@wantinsight.com Blessings
* Reprinted with permission from Money Matters, a monthly economic magazine published by Crown Financial Ministries, Gainesville, Georgia. July 2009, Issue 376
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