Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and was accused of having an affair with the wife of an Egyptian official.  Consequently, he was put in prison. However, God was with Joseph all along.  After interpreting the Pharaoh’s dream, Joseph rose to power and no one had greater authority except for the Pharaoh himself. Later on, Joseph reunited with his family during the great famine.

From his story, I learned that when struggles come, I have to remain faithful and trust in God’s plan.  I should not blame God for the situations I was placed in.  Meanwhile, I must also use these opportunities to rely on God even more.  Lastly, I need to acknowledge that God already has a plan and will definitely turn a bad situation into a good one.

Some Tips

Here are some things to consider when making a tough decision:

• Pray – Scripture tells us that we can pray for wisdom and it will be given to us (James 1:5). Of course, wisdom is not about just knowing the answer, but more about learning to exercise good judgment, so don’t be let down if your answer doesn’t just magically come to you.
• Study the Bible – Take a look at Proverbs 16:3, notice the order, first we commit our work to the Lord, then our plans will be established. In other words, knowing God more will help us learn to make wiser, more “Godly” decisions. Our will conforms to His.
• Seek Counsel – Have the humility to listen to and consider the advice of those you trust (Proverbs 12:15, 15:22). It’s also good to get the advice of older, more experienced people, in addition to your peers.
• Practice Discernment – Not all the advice you get will be good advice, make sure it stacks up well against scripture (1 John 4:1). Be especially careful of signs and audible answers. He certainly CAN answer prayer this way, but it’s not wise to rely only on that.
• Don’t Test God – We are explicitly told not to “put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7). So, you shouldn’t pray things like “God, if this is your will, then “. Likewise, don’t bargain with God (see Judges 11:29-40 for an example of what can go wrong).
• Consider Fasting – In scripture, people will often fast before making major decisions (Acts 14:23). However, (like with prayer above), be careful to not set improper expectations, and make the goal of fasting be growing closer to God.
• Trust in God – In the end, after prayerful considerations, just make a decision. Don’t grow anxious over the decision because God’s has it under control (Matthew 6:25-34). And even if you make a “wrong” decision, God can, and will use it for good (Romans 8:28).

Further Study

If you’d like to know more on this subject, I found the following particularly useful:

Can I Know God’s Will by R. C. Sproul

Your Plans; God’s Plans (a free sermon by Timothy Keller)

This model contains 13 of the most important forms that Dave includes in the information in Financial Peace University.  He gives 15 forms with his package, but I have only included what I believe to be the most useful here.

To buy any of his financial products or for a boat-load of information on financial advice from a Christian perspective, check out Dave Ramsey’s site at: www.daveramsey.com

The document is cell-protected so the only cells that can be changed are the cells that are in grey [where you plug in your own information].    As in the other budget excel model, the numbers and information already plugged in to this model are fictitious and there as an illustration

Hope this blesses you and assists you to be the manager of God’s resources that He wants you to be.

It’s a word nobody likes to think about and even less people actually like to do it; but it is imperative to secure financial planning to budget!  Budgeting, or not budgeting, can be the difference in your financial future, but it only works if you do it.

For the Excel geeks among us, I have attached an excel model budget I made up that Kim and I use for our own personal budget both for monthly planning, and it lets us see a whole year at a glance. There are some numbers in the model already just as a visual guide to let you see how this model works.

I have also attached a document that gives some instructions on how to make the best use of the excel model.

It’s our hope that this information is tremendously practical, helpful and useful to you as you begin to plan out the use of the money God has blessed you with. Hope this blesses you.

Phelps’ hateful claim however, raises an interesting question.  What does a loving God hate?

One can’t find any evidence in the Bible that God hates people.  The only reference to God hating anything is always an action, or an attitude of the heart of a person, but not the person themselves.  In other words, the Bible tells us God hates sin; which raises another interesting question, “What is sin?”

According to Bible commentaries and wikipedia alike, “sin” is a term borrowed from archery meaning, “to miss the mark.”  The “mark” is to live in harmony with God’s will as He gives us life in its fullness.  At times we sin by taking matters into our own hands; by doing the things we aren’t supposed to do [sins of commission], and by not doing those things we should do [sins of omission].

We all have missed the mark of God’s purpose for our lives.  We all have sinned, myself included.  Any Christ-follower [Christian] should be the first to admit that each of us fall extremely short of the example Jesus set! Amazingly, God loves us anyway, like any good father loves his children in spite of their screw ups.  Even Fred Phelps.

The visit from Phelps to this area and this campus last spring reminds me of God’s concern for the poor and oppressed.  Throughout the Bible God repeatedly hears and responds to the cry of the suffering and oppressed.  We at CA, cry along with God at the message of hatred preached in Jesus’ name.

Fred Phelps and those like him, take it upon themselves to oppress people and often target the LGBT community.  My heart, prayers and thoughts go out to each person in these groups on any campus.  This is not the message Jesus came to bring.  His message consisted of the kind of love that brings hope, transformation and life.

It is our hope that through the experience of his visit last spring a dialogue can begin that didn’t exist before.   We hope that preexisting walls between groups can be broken down.  It is our hope that the true nature of God is forwarded through love, day by day.  Lastly, we hope that the campus can see that God loves them and we are here as Christians to love and serve just as Jesus did.