Your Money God's Way

This book was nothing like I thought it was and is truly a book on tough love with your money.  Streater's message on money is very direct, straight forward and she minces no meat.  She does not coddle her readers, rather speaks very plainly, but with an exclammation point truthfully in terms that people in this day-in-age can relate to.

Rather than feel condemned for my own misconceptions & behaviors about money, it's better to embrace the truth, shed the lies, and move forward.  I've seen areas where I handled money unwisely in the past and some of the challenges that are currently being faced because of them.

She has prayers near the end of each chapter of repentence and to ask God to help us to take corrective actions and implement sound biblical principles.  Additionally at the end of each chapter are 2 things:  1)  a summary of the chapter in bullets (LOVE THIS!!!) and 2) a list of action items or questions to ponder.

God must be telling me something because the last 3 books I've finished reading all involve prayers in them at the end of each chapter, for which I've prayed all of them.  Prayer is very powerful and I'm uniting with the authors in agreeing to God's Truth.  God is moving.

Even in my situation, I do believe God wants me to take some actions -- not in a panic flurry, rather in prayer posture, worship to Him, and taking actions and letting God open & close doors.  I like how she gives examples in the book of real people who have made unwise choices but finally turned around and began making wise choices.  Likewise she also shares about people who only continue making unwise choices and never see that they are unwise.  She gives the consequences of both, and the latter is not pretty, rather very destructive not only to the person making those choices, but to those around that person. 

It is our choice to choose the lies of the enemy or listen & heed the Truth of God found in the Bible.  God is always consistent with His Word.  There are plenty of Scriptures throughout the book, too. 

Even if you're financially astute and making right decisions on a regular basis, this book still may provide for you valuable insights on how to be even better.  It is not a Dave Rampsey book, but a good compliment to his stuff. 
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Crushing The Spirits Of Greed & Poverty

This book is so good and very convicting. This book is not a feel good book nor is it filled with fluff, but there was so much Truth that applied to my life and really cut so deeply in me. It wasn't a book that I could just zip through, but there was so much thought, pondering that went into it.

Mammon is a demonic spirit, as Babylon, Greed & Poverty. She talks about how these work in our world, our society, lives, and including her own life. Sandie is very opened about as she wrote the book, how Mammon showed up in her life, and how she had to relinquish that hold that Mammon had because God used the writing of the book to expose those areas in her own life.

I cannot do an adequate book review and this is one of those books that I need to read again in a month or so to see how God is working in my own life and ask Him to further expose areas that Mammon has infiltrated my life.

Money is all around us and our world uses money for everything. It's a challenge to not worship or get sucked into all this and make it an idol. I thought I was getting better, and I am, but Mammon still has a great deal of influence in my life. She talks about how to break that hold that it has, expose the lies. We MUST know the Word of God, memorize it, use it to take authority over the enemy. The enemy may even use the Word of God against us in subtle, seductive ways, so we also need to know how the context of the Word.

All of this really comes back down to really relying on God as the sole Provider, Healer, etc. for our lives. That does not mean we're to be lazy and kick back to do nothing, rather, it means to not worry what our circumstances are, rather just keep putting your eyes on Jesus and asking Him for His solution and walking in confidence knowing that God has it all figured out and He will do what's best. It may not always be what we want, but it's His plan and it will glorify Him.

There are many parts of the book I highlighted. In fact, really, the whole book is a HUGE highlight. It's probably the best book I've read regarding money and well worth buying. I want to live in complete victory in the Lord and this is a must read on how to break the chains and bondage of Mammon & Babylon in our lives.

Popes & Bankers by Jack Cashill

This book by Jack Cashill turned out to be a disappointment to me in some ways and in other ways quite fascinating. I give this book a 1 star in terms of readability and ability to keep my interest. However, in terms of research and information, I give it a 5 star.

The best way I can describe this book is the tone of the book, for me, was similar to "This American Life" on NPR. I could imagine Ira Glass reading this book. Maybe then it would be more interesting to me.

This book is comprised of lots of politics, religion, philosophy, banking, business, murder, intrigue, ethnic groups, and more. There are all sorts of twists, turns, plots of not good things happening. There are lots of dates, statistics.

Frankly, though I'm a numbers person and deal in the area of finance such as in the area of the stock market -- that part was interesting, to learn how things came about, I did have a challenging time following. Maybe it was because I read this book in over a month's timeframe in 10-20 page intervals.

I kept hoping that as I read, that I would get excited about what I was reading only to be disappointed that characters were not further developed. But, that was not the point of the book to develop its characters, rather to introduce a plethora of characters in history who helped shaped our American financial situation, notably many of the not good things happening in America currently.

Maybe when in a different mindset, I'll reread this book. This was not a book that I could zip through, gain a handful of ideas that I could logically implement into my life. This is not the type of book I am accustomed to reading either, but thought it would be good for me to have.

It was quite interesting, however, to understand where a term or something that is happening or has happened was derived from. Money, money, money.

What I gather from all that I read, as Americans financially, we seem to keep repeating the same mistakes again and again -- it just gets bigger and more out of control. We seem to forget. The tools just become more sophisticated. It's a lack of accountability & responsibility.

It probably makes for less interesting material to have more like a flowchart in timeline format of this book, but that would've interested me more. It was not easy to read and grasp for me.

Would I recommend this book? I think if you like to read historical things and are not overwhelmed by all the data, go for it. If you want an easy read like in a weekend or so, this is not the book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”