Posts tagged ‘Dave Ramsey’
Bible in 365: Day 247
Ezekiel 28-31
What has wealth done to you?
Today in chapter 28 we read about the people of Tyre becoming proud because of their great wealth. “By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud.” (Ezekiel 28:4-5)
Of course right after this we read that God is planning on bringing destruction to Tyre so they will know that He is God and they are not.
Have you been blessed with wisdom and skills that have enabled you to become wealthy? I know what some of you are thinking. You may be thinking: I am not wealthy. I do not have many resources. I need more money! How does this apply to me? Well, I bring this up to remind all of us that even those living below the poverty line in the U.S. are still wealthier than a vast majority of people in other nations.
God has blessed us. God has blessed you with great wealth! It is all a matter of perspective. The question is: do you recognize where this wealth comes from? Or do you fall into the category of the hard-working American who says, “I earned it by my own hard work?” We must remember that it is God who gives us our abilities to work hard and gain money.
All we have truly is His. I felt this chapter as a warning to be very cautious about how we use and think about our wealth.
My church is beginning a Financial Peace University class this week. What I love about Dave Ramsey’s philosophy is that it recognizes that all we have comes from God and is truly His. The whole purpose of getting finances in order is not to bless ourselves but to be a blessing to others. Truly, as the last “baby step” in his plan is: Build Wealth and Give!!! Now, that is the right philosophy about money.
Bible in 365: Day 157
Our winnings after the annual Parmer family Christmas “game show.” And yes, that is cash sticking out of my brother-in-law’s ear. 
Proverbs 13-15
A finance lesson:
“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” (Proverbs 13:7) This verse made me think of the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley, which discovers some basic truths about millionaires (many of them live well below their means!). One day I hope to be the millionaire next door. The person no one suspects to be well-off, but a person who loves giving generously to others.
The other things this verse made me think about was how great wealth does not necessarily equate to loads of money. A “poor” person may be richer than anyone else if his or her life is filled with God, family, friends, and love.
“Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” (Proverbs 13:11) Remember this as God’s financial advice to you and you will never be swindled into the next great money-making scheme. Increasing money is a slow process; there is never an honest way to get rich quick. Why be in a hurry?
Want a Biblically based financial plan? I highly recommend Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU). It has been a huge blessing to my husband and me, and I believe it has literally changed the course of our married life for the good. One word of advice though: Taking the class itself will not change or fix anything. YOU have to APPLY what you learn. 
For those of you Easthaven members interested in taking FPU, I have heard rumors our church may be offering it again in the fall or sometime in the near future.
Bible in 365: Day 154
Proverbs 4-6
There are so many great nuggets of wisdom one could take away from these three chapters, like the good old philosophy that Dave Ramsey touts of freeing yourself, like a gazelle, from the hand of the hunter (Proverbs 6:5) when it comes to financial issues.
However, overall, the biggest thing I took away from today’s reading was all about how a parent is to instruct a child. We read at the beginning of chapter 4 a plea from a father to a son to listen to his instruction. “For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me, and he said to me…” (Proverbs 4:3-4)
Oh how important the formative years are to a child’s life! There is so much to teach and so little time. A question to ponder: What am I teaching my child right now? What have I neglected to teach my child?
The great majority of the lessons we read that were taught from father to son are about avoiding adultery and about the dangers of sexual promiscuity. This glaringly stood out to me because I realized that it truly is the parent’s job to teach their children about sex. Too many parents let schools cover this topic, but it is the parents who need to give their children the truth regarding these matters.
I know one day I will broach this subject with my own daughter, and I am so grateful for the example set forth in these chapters of Proverbs. But, in the meantime, I will enjoy teaching her shapes and colors and letters and will continue to answer when she inquisitively asks, “What’s this?”
