Christian Financial
Counseling
If you have a stack of unopened bills and are afraid to
answer the phone, and don’t know where your money is going, you
may be in need of a financial “makeover.” You and your spouse
may be fighting and experiencing stress in your marriage due to
your current debt condition. Christian financial
counseling is a tool to help get your finances under
control and your marriage back on track. God has blessed us
with gifted men and women who can offer godly financial
advice.
Proverbs 22:7 says: “The rich
rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
Does this mean we should never borrow? No, but it warns us
never to take on a loan without counting the costs. A loan we
can handle is enabling, a loan we can’t handle is enslaving.
The borrower needs to realize that until the loan is repaid he
or she is a servant to the individual or institution that made
it.
Finances are commonly the
reason for the many divorces we have seen in the Christian
community. The first thing to do is to agree where the source
of stress is coming from and admit that you need help through
solid Christian financial counseling. This counseling
may be as easy as visiting your pastor and getting his advice.
One visit could enlighten you on where to make adjustments
financially. He may advise you to see a professional
Christian
financial counselor who should be able help with
organizing or consolidating your bills and improving financial
stewardship.
Even if your marriage is great
and you don’t seem to be experiencing any debt management
problems a Christian financial counselor can help you with
other financial concerns. Do you have a retirement plan? Do you
have an emergency fund? Are satisfied with your tithing amount?
These are practical and common questions we all face and need
to deal with.
If you don’t have a financial
adviser in your church body there are quite a few listed in the
yellow pages and online. It is ideal to get references through
your church, your friends or colleagues who may have visited a
Christian debt
management service that they found to be very
helpful and insightful. Personal testimonies are always the
best recommendations. We should always go to God first in
prayer, He is our primary source of help. There are many
scriptures written in His word that relate to our personal
finances and being good stewards of what He has blessed us
with.
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