How to deal with COVID19 and your finances

Here is the outline and main points to an interview I did with Steve Yoder a trusted friend and financial advisor who shares some powerful Biblical truths to help us through this crisis.

You can hear this podcast by clicking here: https://anchor.fm/todd-d-martin

1)     How do we trust God for our finances in uncertain times?

a.      Recognize Him as the source of everything and acknowledge your total dependence on Him.

b.      Know that God is not surprised by uncertain times, even financial uncertainty.

(story of sticky note)

c.      Remember specific times in the past when God “came through” for you and write down your story of God’s faithfulness in your past to help give you perspective in the present circumstances.

d.     Be willing to admit your lack of trust in Him if that’s where you’re at, be willing to tell Him you’re not sure whether He is able to come through for you in these coronavirus challenging times…truth telling helps us to be honest with Him which will then help us to better hear the truth He wants to tell us about our personal circumstances and who He is in relation to them

e.      Lay your financial situation before God (write it out), and ask Him to show you what He wants you to know about your present circumstances and what He wants you to do about them

f.       Keeping our eyes (our focus, our thoughts) on Him will give us peace even in uncertain times financially, because we trust in Him. (How do we do this?)

            You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
            all whose thoughts are fixed on you! ⁴ Trust in the Lord always,
            for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

g.      Turn to Him with everything, no matter how small or insignificant.

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

2)    What is a Kingdom orientation (mindset) toward finances that can give us a good perspective in these uncertain times?

a.      Worry and anxiety about how to pay our bills or where our next paycheck will come from are not part of what God had in mind for us when He created our world and placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

Ø  ¹⁵ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ¹⁶ But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except…”(Genesis 2:15-16)

Ø  When you look at those verses, we see that it was God who “placed” them, who gave them a “purpose” to tend and watch over the garden, and who also “provided” for them. That was God’s plan for all of us from the very beginning of time. We find God doing this throughout the whole Bible with all kinds of people.

b.      In the book of Acts, the apostle Paul tells his audience on Mars Hill that God has determined where persons will live and also their appointed times.

Ø  ²⁶ From one man, Adam, he made every man and woman and every race of humanity, and he spread us over all the earth. He sets the boundaries of people and nations, determining their appointed times in history (Acts 17:26)

This is our time, our generation, our appointed time in history from God!

c.      So what is a Kingdom mindset when it comes to finances?

Looking at how Jesus taught the crowds and His disciples about money is a great place to start when we think about a Kingdom mindset.

Ø  What is the Kingdom of God? We pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A simple definition of the Kingdom would be, the rule and reign of God, and it’s here and it’s right now.

Ø  I can imagine the disciples were eager for Jesus to take over all Israel and overthrow the Roman empire, potentially setting them up for his cabinet members in His Kingdom and experiencing the wealth and privilege that position would give them. At one point, they wanted to call down fire from heaven to eliminate the “bad guys”. They wanted Him to take over, set up His Kingdom, rid their land of the Roman oppressors, and set them in position to rule with him.

And so, when He began talking to them and the crowd about the Kingdom of God, they probably thought, “Ok, now He’s going to tell us when and how He’s going to set up His Kingdom. Instead, He told them not to worry about food and clothes, position and power.

·         He directed them to look at a sparrow… birds are unemployed. Yet, he told them that their Heavenly Father feeds them.

·         He directed them to look at the flowers of the field…they are clothed more beautifully than all of Solomon’s glory.

·         In essence, His Kingdom is governed with a different mindset, where no worries need to take over our lives, where His provision is for the smallest of critters, and seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness first is the means to having all our needs met.

·         In fact, in the Lord’s Prayer which we often pray, we say, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Do we believe that He will provide for us today and that we really don’t have to worry about tomorrow? Do we really believe that He is great enough to handle all our needs? We pray, “God is great and God is good. And we thank Him for our food. By His hand we all are fed. Give us Lord our daily bread.” And He does!!

(story of receiving anonymous support)

·         There’s something about not only depending on God for our daily bread, but also developing a generous mindset that makes the reality of a Kingdom mindset very personal. Jesus instructed the people to go the second mile when asked to go one mile. And He said, if someone asks for your shirt, give them your coat also.

     (story of friend who asked God who he should help now)

Ø  Jesus lived during the time when the Roman Empire was at its height in power and domination of the known world. He could have railed against all the evils of His day. But instead He said things like:

·         If you’re poor at being spiritual, the Kingdom is yours.

·         If you’re mourning, you’ll be comforted.

·         If you’re humble, you’ll inherit the earth.

·         If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you’ll be filled.

·         If you get insulted, persecuted for my sake, rejoice because your reward in heaven is great!

·         Give to those who ask, and lend to those who want to borrow.

·         Give secretly because your Father in heaven sees that and will

reward you.

·         Store up your treasures in heaven instead of on this earth where things rust and rot.

·         Ask, and you will be given. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Summarize discussion of trusting God and developing a Kingdom mindset toward finances.

 Video Session 2  

1)     Are there still some fundamental financial principles that make sense no matter what the present or future reality holds?

Some things never change. Financial principles usually hold true in good times and hard times. It’s just that if we’re rolling along in the good times and we have more than enough, it’s very easy to live right up to the amount of the paycheck without any margin for the hard times that can show up very quickly with a job loss, change in health, death in the family, or the coronavirus.

You may have heard that approximately 3 out of 10 Americans have no emer-gency funds for the unexpected events in their lives, and it’s about 2 out of 10 Americans who have enough to live on for 6 months should something happen.

Financial principle #1 – Don’t spend more than you make and be sure to tithe your income first.

Ø  Let me say that in a positive way. Stop shoppingJ!!

Ok, that wasn’t meant to target anyone, but right now while we’re staying home for the most part, the temptation to order things online is stronger than normal and the nice part of that is that items get delivered right to our door step. The tough part is keeping our spending in line with our income.

Ø  When we tithe our income first we’re honoring God, who gave us the strength and the ability in the first place to work our job and get paid. He has a way of using our 10% and multiplying the remaining 90%. He’s known to be good at multiplication!

Ø  If you have trouble believing this, find someone who has been tithing all their lives and ask them to tell you their story of how God provided for their family. The whole chapter of Malachi 3 is worth reading to see God’s perspective of honoring Him.

Ø  How do we keep from spending more than we make? That question takes us to the next financial principle.

                                                                                                              

Financial Principle #2 – Set some meaningful financial goals. Goals you want to achieve are goals you will believe!

Ø  Write out your goals and discuss them with your family so you’re all moving forward together. Prioritize them! Take little steps.

Ø  Pay off your credit cards every month as an example.

Ø  Create a spending and emergency savings plan to get control of your spending and saving habits. How?

·         List all your bills and calculate your cost of living on a monthly basis, and don’t forget to calculate how much you should set aside every month for those things that don’t have to be paid every month like property tax, or quarterly insurance costs, etc.

·         If you spend each month what you should be setting aside for property tax which is due twice a year, you won’t have enough to pay the property tax when it’s due. If you’re on a mortgage payment with escrowed taxes and insurance, you’re most likely already paying for that monthly.

·         One way to get started is to track your expenses for 1 or 2 months to see exactly where you’re spending your money.

·         Compare your cost of living with your income after you’ve given your tithe to God and after you’ve set aside money for a savings account to use for emergencies. If your tithe is 10% and savings is another 10% ideally, you have 80% left over to work with for your living expenses.

·         Make spending choices in line with your goals.

Financial Principal #3 – Be a lender instead of a borrower!

Ø  Let’s talk about the D word – Debt. Some debt is unavoidable if you want to buy a house or buy a business unless you’ve been given an inheritance to do everything with cash. Most of us don’t have that privilege. And so we go into debt with a mortgage. The good news, assuming you made a good purchase, is that you have equity to back you up. Real estate is a solid asset that can grow in value as you pay it off if you take care of it.

Ø  When we talk about being a lender instead of a borrower, I’m talking about consumer debt. The kind of debt that comes from using a credit card, or buying a vehicle or other smaller items that use financing other than a mortgage loan.

Ø  Unless you use a debit card which only allows you to spend what you have in the bank, using a credit card to make purchases is really borrowing money every time you make a purchase. That won’t hurt you IF you pay it off every month. The problem shows up when an emergency comes along and now you’re using the credit card to get you through the emergency and if it can’t be paid off, the credit card interest can stack up significantly.

Ø  If you develop the mindset that you would rather be able to lend someone money, instead of having to borrow from someone or take out a loan at a bank or finance company to make your purchases, it will change the way you view debt and it will guide you in how you make purchases.

Ø  I think vehicle purchases could be an example. This is where we could get some email response from whomever might be listen-ing to this conversation. Because it might sound like we’re talking out of both sides of our mouths.

·         For example, buying a car with cash makes sense if you’re going to hold it until it dies. Leasing can make sense if you have the cash flow to make the payments and want to make sure to have reliable transportation under warranty during the lease term. A lease often has less expense per month than a car loan.

·         Here’s the thing we need to remember that can guide us in making a car purchase or a lease arrangement: As long as you’re going to use a car or truck for transportation during your lifetime, you’re going to have costs that you have to plan for.

·         What do I mean? Well, you’re either going to save up cash every month for an outright purchase with cash, or you’re going to lay out money monthly for a car payment that you want to keep for the long term, or you’re going to make lease payments. No matter what, you’re going to have monthly costs to plan for as long as you drive.

·         Let’s go back to the financial principle of becoming a lender instead of a borrower. Do you want to be quote, a “lender” when you think of transportation, then pay with cash. Do your circumstances require you to be a borrower at the moment, then take out a loan or make a lease payment.

2)    What does a Kingdom perspective mean for the stimulus check I received or will be receiving?

I’m sure people will be all over the board on this question. Some might say, “I deserve this, or the government owes this to us for shutting down our jobs and our routines.”

Other persons will have the attitude that this was unexpected and so they will be willing to share it with those in greater need than their own family. Still others may see it as a way to spend it on things they’ve always wanted, or some may even take it as a reason to spend it frivolously. So how do we involve the King-dom with something like this that was not expected?

Ø  It’s important to recognize that it came from God. And I’m not calling the government God. He sets up those in authority over us even when we may disagree with those He sets in place or their policies. When we believe that everything ultimately comes from God, it helps us think more carefully about how to use what we’ve been given.

Ø  If we believe that this has ultimately come from God watching over us, then we can ask Him how we should best use it now that we have it. We might ask Him things like…

·         Who could use some help that I know about?

·         What organizations do I believe could wisely use a donation?

·         Is the SMC compassion fund needing some funding?

·         Is this a time to change some of my spending habits and actually start an emergency fund that would allow me not to be at the mercy of credit card debt?

·         Is there something I’ve always wanted to do for God in our com-munity but never had the funds to start it?

Ø  In my mind, this is a great time to dream with God, to allow Him to bring thoughts or pictures into our minds or to give us some hunches of what to do with this money.

3)    How can we hear from God to know what to do with:

a)    potential job loss?

b)    reduced level of income?

c)    needs of those around us?

d)   changes we need to make for our financial future in light of what Covid-19 has brought.

There is no doubt that the coronavirus situation has given all of us the oppor-tunity to reflect and evaluate what is important in life. We’ve had to slow down our normal pace of life, although in many ways it also complicated it.  In all of this, we can access God at any time, 24/7, and know that He hears us.

So what do we do when life change happens? When our job routines change and income is reduced potentially, and we see others in greater need than ourselves?

Ø  First of all, I’m suggesting we cry out to God. Instead of complaining, we can lament, which is a way to grieve over our situation, to grieve the loss of what we had, to grieve the change that has disrupted the lives of not just thousands, but billions of people, to grieve over our lack of prepara-tion during the good times. Whatever comes to mind, grieve it! It’s really our confession to God of our current reality.

Ø  This idea probably sounds really strange.  Why would this do any good?

It helps us handle the emotions that are under the surface and helps us face the reality of what we see and hear. By doing this, we’re speaking truth, we’re being honest with God about what we’re feeling at the moment. I know we say, we just need to have faith, which is true. But as we admit where we are, and our inability to be in control, we can more easily recognize that God is big enough to provide for us and by doing that we are turning to Him as our source of everything even if we don’t see it at the moment.

Ø  In other words, when we confess our own lack and our need for Him, He responds in ways that only He can provide and in the process we find hope coming alive in our hearts and minds.

Ø  The other thing that goes right along with this is to ask Him to show us what He wants us to know, and once we know, what does He want us to do with what we know.

Ø  This is really about repentance and obedience. What I mean is that once we see what could be done differently and turn toward making those changes, we are repenting or turning from what we used to do, and turning toward what God is directing us now to do. When we then follow Him obediently, it’s better than any sacrifice we could make.

Ø  So does that mean I might have to plan more wisely for how to use my money? Yes! Does it mean I might have to quit spending on some things and plan to spend my money on other more important priorities? Yes! Does it mean I might have to get retrained for other work if my job doesn’t come back as normal? Yes! Should I be more aware of the needs of others right around me and look to God to direct me in figuring out ways to help them? Yes!

Ø  Here’s the important point that makes it really simple. Say YES to God! Whatever He says or prompts you to do, just say YES!!

Video session 3

4)   What are some potential resources that could provide learning oppor-tunities to improve financial understanding and practical applications for our family?

The most important one to give us a Kingdom perspective on money is the Bible. The book of Proverbs has all kinds of wisdom to share about money. The Gospels are full of the teachings of Jesus with how to view money and what to do with it for the good of others.

Beyond that, there is so much help available today whether it’s online, through webinars, books on all kinds of financial topics, seminars and conferences, that you could literally spend full-time just learning about how to handle your money. Someone said that if you want to become an expert on a subject, spend just 15 minutes a day studying it. That’s true about money as well. So what are some specific resources?

Ø  The resources will depend on the topics you want to learn about.

·         For example: one of the best overall programs you can participate in is the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program. It’s an excellent resource and covers a wide range of financial topics that any individual or family could benefit from and put to practical use immediately.

·         Look for some resources not just for you as an adult, but also for your children or grandchildren. When Joy and I first started thinking about this for our oldest son, Justin, we had found a book by Malcom McGregor on how to teach your kids about money.

·         Ironically, one of the best ideas we got from him was the idea of using envelopes to help him understand the value that money has different purposes. By having him put money in different envelopes for tithing, saving, spending, and expenses, he learned the value of money and why it was important to have it available for different purposes.

·         It turned out to be a lesson for us as well because there were times that he had more cash than we did and we borrowed from him a few times until we looked at each other one day and told ourselves that our 7 year old had a better handle on understanding the value of money than we did. We started using the envelope system which is actually what Dave Ramsey now promotes in his program.

·         Getting help from a financial planner can be of value as well, specifically for the more complicated financial matters involving insurance, retirement planning, wealth transfer issues in estates, etc.

5)    How might this Covid-19 situation impact us for the good financially?

Ø  re-examination of our budgets by reviewing/evaluating our spending habits

Ø  recognition that relationships are more important than wealth

Ø  re-examination of financial priorities, plans, and assumptions

Ø  recognition of our need to depend on God who owns everything and supplies all our needs