Lend and DO NOT borrow!

God is giving me such sound financial advice. I am loving it! Ecclesiastes 11:4,6

"Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap...
Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well."

vs 4 talks about people who wait for ideal situations before they can sow their seed. God said to stop waiting for ideal situations before I can invest. Start where you are and work your way up. Don't say "when i have a little more money, when I get married, when ..." There will never be an ideal situation so make a habit of investing now, regardless of your situation. Sow your seed and trust Jehovah for the harvest. He is Lord of the harvest.

v6 talks about keeping busy constantly sowing your seed. Don't just do one thing. Find ways to do more than one money making activity. You never know which one will excel and or even if both will do equally well. Avoid idleness at all costs. Stay busy from morning till evening and God will bless your efforts. Instill a culture of staying busy in your children. Idleness is an enemy!

The above verses tie in perfectly with the following passage:

Deuteronomy 28:12

"The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none"

As you get busy sowing seed, God will cause his rain to come and will give you a mighty harvest. Once you get your harvest you are to lend and not borrow. I have been considering where to save or invest what God has given me but I had a wrong perspective.

1) I was thinking about investing and in my mind (for some weird reason) I was thinking, "do I really want to tie down money in some investment project".

2) I was thinking of putting the bulk of my savings into a sacco or other banking system that would lend me money in the future should I need to borrow.

Then the Lord asked me, 'What do Banks do where lending is concerned?' So I said 'they give money to an individual or organization and then ask the person to pay it back with interest.' The Lord said to me "Be the Bank!" He said to me that I should consider investing as lending money to someone who will then pay it back to me with interest, not as tying down money.

Another thing he needed to point out and correct was my expectation that I would need to borrow at some point in the future. The Lord said to line up my thinking with his word. That I will only be a lender and not a borrower. He said to align my mind and wealth creation strategy to 2 Corinthians 9:8

"And God is able to make all grace (every favor and [c]earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need [d]be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

Is that deep or what? My motto is lend and do not borrow. I will invest only and not borrow. The situation will never be ideal. Work with what you have, where you are and God who is the Lord of the harvest will safeguard your seed and ensure you receive the harvest you are believing him for.

Reading the Bible through in a year - Update

I am very excited about reading my Bible. I have made much progress and the Bible makes a lot of sense when read in sequence. Who knew?!! Having fully understood what God had told the Israelites in the Torah I now understand why in Judges, Kings and subsequent books he would get so annoyed with them. The book of Job even made real sense to me this time. I understood why Jobs friends had to ask him for forgiveness and why he had to pray for them. It makes sense!!

Okay. Call it tooting my horn but here is a list of the books I have read so far:

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians

This Month I am scheduled to read the following:

Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians

I can't wait to begin the major prophets. I know that they will make sense too. I know that God will shed his light on them and I will understand them in a new way. This is tons of fun. I love the one year Bible it has made it so easy to read the word of God. It's downhill from here. 4 months to go and I will have read the whole Bible through in a year! Hallelujah!!

Living Purposefully

I have been reading the Bible through this year. I set it as a goal at the beginning of the year and though sometimes I fall behind, I am pretty sure that I will be done by December 31st. I was thinking about this the other day and the Lord started up a conversation with me. He let me know that the reason I was able to complete the Bible in a year is because I had a reading plan that I followed daily. This reading plan made it possible for me to accomplish this great feat.

He started asking me what would happen if I committed myself for one year in different areas. What if I set goals for next year and began preparing how I would accomplish them? I thought to myself "I would achieve so much!!!"

My best friend and I have decided to take on the challenge and to begin setting goals for next year and putting in place whatever we need to ensure that we follow through. One of my goals is health and fitness. That means that I have to begin working on meal plans and exercise regimes now. I am also psychologically preparing myself to commit to the plan I lay out for one whole year.

I would like to extend this goal setting challenge to you as well. Here is where we begin. Set 3 year goals.

1. Set 5 business and career goals (e.g. Raise my income by 30% by year 3, Save 250,000 of my income so I can start my own business 3 years from now, ...)

2. Set 5 personal development goals (e.g. read 36 books in 3 years, taking 5 courses at the British Council per year, Have my Masters by Dec 2012 etc...)

3. Set 5 personal goals (Health and fitness, reading the Bible through in a year, going out and making new friends, evangelizing two weekends a month...)

This is the first step. Then under each goal write out the steps you will take to achieve the goal. Make it manageable so that you are not overwhelmed. After that is done, Break it down year by year. What will you do in 2010, 2011 and 2012?

That done, take the year 2010 and break down your goals for that year into Months. e.g. Save 10% of my income per month, read 1 non fiction book per month etc...Set yourself Monthly targets.

Now take the month of January and divide it into weeks. e.g. work out 4 times a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 6 am - 7 am or Read 3 chapters of my non fiction book etc...

Take up the challenge. See how it goes. I bet you will make way more progress than you have ever made before. Don't live your life without purpose. Give it purpose by setting achievable goals that stretch you into the next level.