Economic Fear (part 1)
Last week at the Catalyst Conference, Dave Ramsey spoke about some principles of leadership that he uses with his team. Following his session, they took a few minutes for Q + A regarding the current economic situation.
I will paraphrase what I understood that Ramsey said:
When watching the news the past few weeks, after the crisis hit, it was obvious to see fear written on the faces of our leaders. Our president, congressional leaders, and wall street pundits looked almost panicked because of the financial realities that they were seeing.
My response (Ramsey) was not one of immediate fear. My personal financial house was in order, my investments were appropriately diversified, and I have no debt, so I was not nervous about what was occurring.
At one point, however, when watching the wall street ticker, I saw the bottom drop...and I was hit with a wave of fear. I felt myself begin to panic. God spoke to me at that moment, that we were experiencing not just a 'moment' of fear as a nation. We were experiencing a 'spirit' of fear. Our nation has been swallowed by this spirit of fear.
We need to be reminded of what 2 Timothy 1:7 says, 'For God did NOT give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.'
Anytime we begin to act and react out of fear, we start to act foolishly. God calls us to live out of wisdom and yet out of faith. We, as believers, need to actively counteract the temptation toward fear. We need to intentional live out of faith.
This is a time to shake off the spirit of fear and declare out dependence on a God who is far bigger than this economic crisis. It is also a time to get our personal financial houses in order so that we can have a firm foundation for the future.
My response (Ramsey) was not one of immediate fear. My personal financial house was in order, my investments were appropriately diversified, and I have no debt, so I was not nervous about what was occurring.
At one point, however, when watching the wall street ticker, I saw the bottom drop...and I was hit with a wave of fear. I felt myself begin to panic. God spoke to me at that moment, that we were experiencing not just a 'moment' of fear as a nation. We were experiencing a 'spirit' of fear. Our nation has been swallowed by this spirit of fear.
We need to be reminded of what 2 Timothy 1:7 says, 'For God did NOT give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.'
Anytime we begin to act and react out of fear, we start to act foolishly. God calls us to live out of wisdom and yet out of faith. We, as believers, need to actively counteract the temptation toward fear. We need to intentional live out of faith.
This is a time to shake off the spirit of fear and declare out dependence on a God who is far bigger than this economic crisis. It is also a time to get our personal financial houses in order so that we can have a firm foundation for the future.
I thought that this was a significant prophetic word to us at the moment. In a later post, I will share some additional thoughts that Ramsey shared about 1) whether to buy gold or stock; 2) how to build a wise and Biblical foundation for your finances.
You can check out his website here.
