Godliness with Contentment

Don't give up on your New Year's Resolution

How are your New Year's resolutions going so far?
In an article by Forbes Health, it stated that - If you find yourself in the camp of setting lofty goals for the new year only to find yourself falling off the wagon just months (or weeks) later, rest assured that you’re not alone. In fact, failing at New Year’s resolutions is so common that there’s even a slew of (unofficial) dates commemorating such failures—some sources cite “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day” as January 17 while others denote the second Friday in January as “Quitter’s Day.”
Personally I don’t do New Year's resolutions any more. I make decisions, and they have been the same for the last few years - read my Bible and pray every day. I know, not that exciting, but extremely important. Nevertheless, sometimes we get deceived with lack of progress. If we continue long enough we will see the progress. If we stop because it is taking too long to see appreciable progress, then we never get to our goals.
 
 

What about me?

Don't look around and say what about me. Focus on your blessings not on other people's blessings. It is easy to look around and find people who have more....or look like they have more. Stop wasting time and stressing yourself out!
You can get the desires of your heart if they are in line with God's desires for you. Say what? Yes, focus on what is most important. Go after what God would want you to have, put them before him in prayer and you will get them. I am straying here, but e.g. wisdom is better than money and the James tells us James 1:5 that "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
So there has always been a way to get our prayers answered. Ask God for the things in line with his desires for us... Wisdom is a great example.
I know you may want money, yet wisdom is better. When you get wisdom, then your perspective on money and on what you have vs what other people have will be a whole lot better.
I talk about how to win with money from the Bible's perspective. Get wisdom and you will win with money God's way to be sure!

We've been here before

Watch out for being the dreamer. You have come up with 100 business ideas but have never pull it off. Perhaps you say that you just didn't have the capital. But there are ways to start a business with little capital. For the 100 ideas, maybe there have been 1000 excuses why it did not work; why it won't work. Mere talk leads you to poverty. Don’t be a talker only, put in the work to make it happen.
When you scan through the pages of the Bible, you find Scriptures like Proverbs 14:23 that tells us that hard work brings a profit. Then there are others like Colossians 3:22-24 that talk about working as if you are working for God and not human masters. Paul speaks there to slaves and tells them to work hard whether the slave master is looking or not. Their true reward lies with God. So from the Bible's perspective, work is honorable. No issues there.
Companies are in business to make a profit and will make certain decisions towards that end. Sometimes when there is no profit, they cut and close and run.
What I came to, is the conclusion that we put ourselves in positions where we are at the mercy of an employer when we don’t have a backup plan or other sources of income.
There is the fact that some of us will work for an employer for the rest of our working life whilst others of us will be our own boss and start a business employing others.
The question I pose today is the same one I posed a year ago : which is riskier? Your 9-5 job working for the man or you being your own boss?
 

Playing with house money - nothing to lose

First off, this has nothing to do with gambling. This is coming from me - joyfully expressing how I feel after God's continuous blessings brought me to another birthday....a big one.
For those who don't know, my name is Keyno Hanna, and this is 'Godliness with Contentment'. Most times I talk about the Bible and money. Today there is no money, just Bible and God's grace.
Happy New Year!

Recognize and avoid dream killers

We are now squarely in the first days of 2024.
This is typically when we go to the gym and start eating better and do whatever our resolutions are…well at least we start. The trouble is, most of us don’t continue. If we reach February 1st this is a big accomplishment since we normally stop a week or two before that from history.
But if you don’t go after and obtain your dreams in 2024, then when? Ok, they may take longer than 2024 for the dreams to be a reality, but if we stop going after them then we won't ever get there. So really, we need this train to keep moving until it reaches the destination, not a block or two down the road.
But what stops our dreams, or what kills them to be very dramatic?
There is an article called - "'Dream killers – how to recognize and avoid them'" written by James Norwick. He outlines 6 dream killers:
-Family
-Friends
-Superiors (bosses)
-Past failures
-Your exhaustion
-Your fear
Interestingly enough, I wouldn’t attribute my dream killing to any of these. I would say that I have killed my own dreams in the past.
There was an Instagram post I commented on a few weeks back. The graphic read 'never let small minds convince you that your dreams are too big'. My comment was as follows: 'It is my small mind that I am worried about'.
I believe that for me and countless others, it is the guy in the mirror that kills the dream not the family and friends and bosses.
So what will change in 2024?
Norwick suggest that we learn how to spot the killers early then we stand a better chance of taking control of them and removing them from our lives. So yes, remove the negative influences from your life…It may come back that you still have to deal with you.

Cleaning in Progress

Going into 2024 (if we make it) I want to challenge you and me to take the signs down. Go after a clean slate and write on it whatever you believe God is telling you to write. In Isaiah 43:18-19, God promises to do a new thing here even greater than the Exodus.  Wow!  He says forget the past; don’t dwell on it for he is going to do a new thing even greater than the Exodus. We like to talk old stories and look back... Do you believe that God is going to do greater things in the future? The thing in view here is not just the people coming back from Babylon, but God's people from the ends of the earth coming into his kingdom. Remove the old signs, get rid of the limiting beliefs, see the new thing that God is doing!
 

Jingle all the way!

So there are many things we need to teach our children so that when they are old they don’t stray from it. One I will teach them is to stay away from Christmas debt. Christmas debt is crazy! Next Christmas you will still be paying this one off and the bank will send you a new email with a new loan promotion. They sell it as a loan - i.e. we want to help you. It is debt i.e. come and work for us for the foreseeable future.
The bank needs a new building, their shareholders are looking for better returns. Come and help us… Say No! Don't help them. Bah humbug!

Cast your bread upon the waters

Today we look at Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
It has been put forward that it talks about giving, investing, having many business ventures, diversification of one's portfolio, having a backup plan etc.. However, one Bible commentator says that 'for more than 18 centuries, there was never any doubt about what was meant here.' This was about giving. Nowadays however, our thoughts goes to business ventures and the like. This is about giving not knowing if you will get anything back in return. It is about generosity. Vs 2 says "Give" yet my NIV study Bible has there that give probably means invest. It has that vs 2 'Probably means “Invest in seven ventures, yes in eight, / for you do not know … ” That is, diversify your efforts because you never know which ventures may fail. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Diversify your undertakings and reduce the risks.' Somehow give turned into invest. Magic?
Investing is more savvy, more interesting, expected returns are tied to it… We like that.
Some quick thoughts:
-God gives us the ability to give because He has blessed us
-There will come a time when we are dead and we cannot give any longer
-if we look for perfect conditions, we will never give 
-we don’t know what our giving will do. It may turn out to bless us in unexpected yet important ways
-he who sows shall reap.  When we sow, as in giving to others then we will reap whatever God desires it to produce in us.
Why cast bread upon the waters?
-well bread sustains and if we have we should share with those who need sustenance (God's plan)
-putting bread into water means we have no desire or expectation of getting it back (giving as it should be)
Giving to the poor and needy is all throughout the Bible.

Chicken or the Egg?

Giving Tuesday comes after black Friday and Cyber Monday. I don’t think this is a good placement. The money goes out and by Tuesday very little is left. I mean I hope this is not the case for you, but for many it is. So perhaps givingtuesday.org can clamor for a change. I say put Giving Tuesday as the Tuesday before thanksgiving. That way we know when it is each year and we give before we spend. I understand that the spending includes purchasing gifts for loved ones, but in most times, if they don’t get that gift, life goes on. On giving Tuesday I am suggesting that we give to those who need food, clothing, water, shelter to make it to the next day. Many who go without the turkey on Thursday while we sit around the table with friends and family.
Many of us live sheltered lives i.e. we think that what we go through is the hardest, but we neglect to press our windows down as we drive through town to see the homeless rolling the grocery trolley miles away from the store with their life belongings in it followed closely by a few dogs. Life is really rough for so many. If we can do something on giving Tuesday to alleviate their pain for a few brief minutes because of our kindness, we have done something.
But indeed, giving Tuesday is a token, giving is how we should live. Giving is one of the things we should do with what God has given us. It is one of the things to do with money. We spend some, save some, invest some, and give some. Don’t forget to give some. And there are so many who are in need - we won't have to search long for someone who needs.
Proverbs 22:9 'The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.'
Is he blessed so as to share his food with the poor or his is blessed because he shares with the poor? 
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Simply Safe

Every day, I am getting older and slower. I can try and play Jedi mind tricks but that does not stop my aging. As I get older, my metabolism slows, my recovery time takes longer. This week I decided to schedule a meeting with my doctor. What I realize is that even though I don't like to go to the doctors or hospitals (I like my doctor btw), there are times when it is necessary. You start to feel strange stuff; it is time to go. I am reminded that money is good, but health is better. I prefer health over money. I have heard of the rich who die. They have money to go to the doctors and buy the meds and perform the surgeries, but sometimes, even though they have access to a lot of money, no matter how much money is thrown at the ailment, it does not matter. It is then, but even before then,  that we should be thinking about true safety. The question is 'are you simply safe?' In the midst of the storm - is your soul safe. We die and leave the money behind (we cannot take it with us). We have heard 1000 jokes about the coffin packed with money… Money does not make the most important part of us safe; in some cases it cannot even make our bodies safe. Get some money, yes, but don’t be deceived, it only works here, and sometimes it cannot even work here. Find your true safety in God.