Make Money While You Sleep with a 'Muse' Business

A money-making opportunity that's inexpensive to
set up and yet generates passive income while you
kite-board, eat a bowl of cereal or watch TV?
It sounds too good to be true, but it is one of the
most talked about elements of Tim Ferriss's book,
The Four Hour Workweek. Read our interview with
Tim here.
But how do "muse" businesses actually work? We
reached out to a successful entrepreneur to find
out more.
What is a "muse" business?
Jesse Phillips, a co-founder of the calendar
company NeuYear, explains a "muse" business as
such: "an automated business that gives you your
target monthly income number, so you can do what
you want." Phillips was very inspired by Ferriss's
book in starting a company to deliver well-
designed calendars to help people track and
achieve their goals over the course of a year.
"We started NeuYear to help people achieve their
dreams," he explained. "One of the best ways to
focus your effort toward achieving your dreams is
to plan and pursue goals. This doesn't have to be a
crazy big or detailed thing, it's as simple as
thinking about the steps to achieve something, and
making deadlines for each step." In crafting a
large, design-focused calendar, he and his cohorts
aimed to make that process as simple as possible.
He further explains: "A muse is not sexy. A muse is
not about pursuing your passion.
A muse is about finding a niche where you can
make money. Easily. With as little work as possible.
The emphasis is on good margin, low effort, which
will typically not be sexy/interesting/fulfilling your
passions."
How do you successfully create a "muse" business?
After successfully creating a profitable business
that was recently featured on the design site
Fab.com, here are Jesse's tips on mastering the
"muse" business:
1. Create something that people actually want, not just
something you want.
If you have a good idea and only 100 people in the
world want it, you're not going to make money
selling it to them (unless they pay $100,000 for it --
but that's not a "muse" business). This means you
have to do lots of research to find an opportunity
in the market.
A trick to this is finding what people are spending
money on. There have been an awful lot of
successful projects on Kickstarter related to coffee.
Solid coffee ideas will get way overfunded on that
platform. Perhaps you can come-up with a coffee
idea? Also iPhone accessories have been well
funded. Do you have an idea for an iPhone
accessory that will solve a real problem?
More on research
2. Test before launching!
Too many people quit their job and start a
restaurant! They struggle for 3 years and then go
bankrupt. You HAVE to create a prototype, test
with real users, and see if people will really buy
your product, before you invest a ton of money
and time.
This is why I love Kickstarter - it helps you to see if
people out there are willing to buy your product.
But you can do it easier than that, just go survey
people. Find people that buy similar products and
ask them if they'd buy yours. Put-up an easy web
page with LaunchRock or something and see how
many sign-up. This is not easy to do. The hardest
part is being honest with yourself.
3. Be willing to pivot!
No one knows the future. It's impossible to create
the perfect product that meets customer needs
perfectly without testing. Therefore, once you
launch and realize some other aspect is more
desired by the customer, you need to be willing to
shift. It's arrogant and foolish to try to force your
will on the market, you have to shift with your
growing knowledge of your market.
More on market research
4. START!
Too many people (myself included), have a great
idea, but never do anything about it. Make goals,
start working toward them, figure-out your
minimum viable product and get going. Don't try
to invent the next iPad, either! Start with
something small and simple, yet with good margins
and an existing market (this is not easy to find, but
it's out there).
5. Design is important.
A lot of entrepreneurs skimp on design when they
are starting out. I ran into the founder of About.me
at SXSW one year and he said: "Design is not the
most important thing. It's the *only* thing." This is
so. freaking. true. We are humans. We judge books
by their cover. We can't help it, it's how our brains
work. Therefore, make your design awesome. (sleek
& modern & minimal is usually easy to do, takes
less time and looks great!) Design is a huge asset .

Entrepreneur Essentials: Make Money Online with a Blog

Blogging is attractive to many entrepreneurs and
it's no wonder why.
Heather Armstrong, aka "Dooce," has built one of
the most profitable enterprises in the blogosphere
in telling funny, self-deprecating stories about her
kids and taking pictures of her dog. Maybe you've
wondered...could I make money online with my
own blog?
Or maybe you already have a blog and you are
wondering how to monetize it.
The truth is that making money with a blog can be
challenging. It's not as simple as setting up a
WordPress site and blogging your passion. But
with a strategic approach, and the right tweaks,
you can make money with a blog.
This guide will consist of four parts that are vital to
making money with a blog:
Targeting a Profitable Niche
"Build it and they will come" is an incredibly
compelling myth. But that's what it is -- a myth. In
order to be successful in any sort of business, you
have to build it and then work overtime getting
and satisfying customers.
When I talk to people about why their blogs aren't
making more money, it usually boils down to one
problem: they aren't sure who their audience and
how to tweak their focus to better serve that
audience's needs.
So how do you get yourself set up on the right
foot? You choose a profitable niche, even if means
tweaking your original idea.
Target a niche
In his advice on niche marketing, Steve Van Yoder
offers these guidelines that apply to blogs as well as
businesses:
"To determine if a particular niche is right for you,
ask yourself these questions:
Do I have an identifiable target population with
similar interests and needs?
Is the market large enough to support my
business?
Can I tailor my products, services, and business
identity to address that market's particular
needs?
•
•
•
Is my target market currently underserved?
Can I reach my potential customers in a cost-
effective manner?"

Identify your competition:
Once you know your niche, identify your
competition. Make a list of publications and blogs
that serve the same niche. What choices are they
making in terms of design, content, and
positioning. Doing this analysis is a critical step in
identifying how you can set your offerings apart.
You may want to start a travel blog, for example,
but your research on the competition may tell you
that focusing on the cruise experience may help
you reach the most readers.
Don't Miss These Articles on Monetizing Your Blog:
1 Getting Set Up
2Building a Following
3Strategies for Monetizing

Bonus Resource: Worksheet for Getting Started

8 Startup Mistakes to Avoid When Launching a New Business

Although starting a business will undoubtedly
be hard work, it can be one of the most exciting
and rewarding adventures of your life—if you can
avoid these crippling startup mistakes. You get to
bring your ideas to life. Build your team and
structure your business any way you wish.
However, since building a business is new to you,
learning from the business mistakes other
entrepreneurs have made in the past can help save
you a lot of time and frustration for the weeks,
months and years to come.
You're not alone either. Some of the world's most
successful entrepreneurs—ranging from Richard
Branson to Mark Cuban, Arianna Huffington, Tony
Robbins and more, have made massive missteps
along their path to eventual success. It's only
through learning from their mistakes and heeding
the advice of other more experienced mentors that
they were able to eventually achieve their biggest
goals.
From my own experience and that of others, here
are the 8 biggest, most avoidable startup mistakes
that many entrepreneurs continue to make when
building a new business.
1. Trying to Do Everything Yourself
There are only 24 hours in a day. If you want to
get a good night’s sleep, which is absolutely
necessary to performing at peak levels, the reality
is that you can’t do everything yourself. Although
being a one-person-show may be a functional
necessity in the beginning, you may want to
consider delegating simple tasks to a small team of
contract workers who can help lighten your load—
and free up more of your time for focusing on the
activities only you can do within your business.
Delegating can be a challenge, though. Others may
not perform tasks the same way you would, but
sometimes that’s okay. For example, you may like
to move the furniture in the office when you
vacuum, but your employees don’t. You need to ask
yourself if delegating the task of vacuuming and
allowing a little more dust to accumulate behind
the printer is worth freeing up some of your time
so you can focus on more important things.
2. Not Enforcing Accountability or Punctuality
If you’ve ever had a team member or contract
employee consistently show up late to meetings
and you’ve never held them accountable, you’re
telling the rest of your team that it’s acceptable to
always be late. That's a dangerous precedent to set.
Many business owners don’t want to be the “bad
guy” and enforce punctuality or accountability, but
those are the cornerstones for a growing successful
business with people who feel responsible to
deliver results across the company. Consistently
being late shows people that you are unreliable
and have no respect for yourself or other people’s
time. If you’re an entrepreneur trying to grow a
team that's invested in the future of your company,
be sure to set the standard for your employees so
they have an example to model from.
3. Starting a Business You Have No Genuine Interest
In
No matter how much time and energy you put into
your business, if you’re not truly interested in
what you do—the problem you're solving, the
people you're helping—you won’t get very far.
You have to care deeply about what you' re creating
and who you're building it for, in order to push
past the inevitable obstacles that'll come your way
as an entrepreneur.
If you’ve ever wondered why entrepreneurs like
Richard Branson and Perry Marshall are extremely
successful, it’s not because they found a winning
formula and they certainly didn't just get lucky one
day. They've accomplished incredible feats and
changed industries because they fundamentally
care about what their businesses are helping their
customers do on a daily basis. If you want to be
successful, you have to be deeply involved with
your customers.
4. Becoming Too Absorbed in the Details
Details can be important, but there is a point when
you need to accept the fact that perfect isn ' t worth
it, in order to move forward and continue making
progress with your business. In the beginning,
your business is not going to be perfect, and you’ll
be working out the kinks even with fundamentals
for a while as you get comfortable with the niche
you're operating in and the customers you're
working with.
If you get stuck trying to perfect something before
you can further develop your business and make
sure you're solving real problems your customers
actually have, you’ll never get anywhere. There are
of course some details that can't be skipped when it
comes to your finances, sales funnels, lead
capturing and customer relations. But if you’re a
startup and you’re postponing designing your
website because you can’t decide between two
shades of blue for your typography, it would serve
you well to make any choice for the short-term,
move forward with designing your website and
revisit your colors later when it's the right time to
care about a decision like that (hint: that probably
won't be for many years).
5. Building an Expensive Website on Day One
Speaking of building websites, the last thing you
want to do as a startup is spend a lot of time and
money building a fancy, flashy website before you
even know exactly how to best serve your
customers. One of the best early decisions you can
make as an entrepreneur is to launch a basic
website in the beginning so people have a way to
learn about your product or service and contact
you. That's it.
Here's why: If your business is still being
developed and you invest a ton of your time and
financial resources into building your ultimate
website before your business is even out into the
marketplace, you’ll just end up having to redo the
majority of your work anyway. The reality of
starting a business is that some of your
assumptions will be incorrect—you'll have to grow,
adapt and change in order to best meet the needs
of your customers.
6. Consistently Rebranding a Product That Isn’t
Selling
This is the biggest startup mistake you can make as
an entrepreneur. You may have seen this happen
with other people’s products. Something isn’t
selling, so they change the name and put it in a
new package. It still doesn’t sell.
If you have a product that isn’t selling very well
regardless of how you package it, it may not be
your product that is the problem. You’re either
marketing a perfectly good product to the wrong
people, or you’re marketing to the right people in
the wrong way—there could be something wrong
with your pricing, the value propositions you're
pitching or otherwise.
No matter how much you like the clever name you
came up with, if your product or service doesn’t
appeal to your target market, they won’t buy it. It
takes time to have conversations with real
customers, gather a significant amount of customer
data, interpret that data, and do a great job
of defining your target audience, but it is worth the
effort. You don't immediately launch perfect
solutions—you have to work with your target
customers to create the best version of what they
need.
7. Taking on Unnecessary Expenses
It’s a luxury to have an office, a new computer, a
fax machine, and a double monitor setup. But that
doesn’t mean you need these things in the
beginning. If you're starting up by yourself or you
only have a few employees and they are happy to
work remotely from home, then it doesn’t make
sense to incur the additional costs of renting an
office space.
If your current computer setup is perfectly
functional, you don’t need to replace it just yet. All
of the goodies you want to purchase will come in
time, but in the beginning it’s smart to be frugal
and only spend money on activities that have a
direct positive return in terms of new revenue
coming into the company.
8. Allowing Employees to Use Personal Laptops for
Work
It’s easy to let employees perform their work on
personal laptops because that means you don’t
have to buy them one, but in the long run this is a
big startup mistake.
While many businesses do this, there are quite a
few cons to this practice. Allowing your employees
to primarily use their own personal laptops for
work means that they'll accumulate passwords,
save sensitive documents and other materials
belonging to the business that they'll have access to
when they eventually leave the company.
Turning the Mistakes of Others Into Wisdom
While making mistakes can be beneficial at times
(if you truly retain the important lessons), you
don’t have to experience them all yourself.
If you’re willing to put in the time and effort to
build a solid foundation for your business, work
directly with your customers to create meaningful
solutions for them and heed the wisdom from
others who've forged their own path of
entrepreneurship, you’ll be successful with your
startup.

8 Startup Mistakes to Avoid When Launching a New Business

Although starting a business will undoubtedly
be hard work, it can be one of the most exciting
and rewarding adventures of your life—if you can
avoid these crippling startup mistakes. You get to
bring your ideas to life. Build your team and
structure your business any way you wish.
However, since building a business is new to you,
learning from the business mistakes other
entrepreneurs have made in the past can help save
you a lot of time and frustration for the weeks,
months and years to come.
You're not alone either. Some of the world's most
successful entrepreneurs—ranging from Richard
Branson to Mark Cuban, Arianna Huffington, Tony
Robbins and more, have made massive missteps
along their path to eventual success. It's only
through learning from their mistakes and heeding
the advice of other more experienced mentors that
they were able to eventually achieve their biggest
goals.
From my own experience and that of others, here
are the 8 biggest, most avoidable startup mistakes
that many entrepreneurs continue to make when
building a new business.
1. Trying to Do Everything Yourself
There are only 24 hours in a day. If you want to
get a good night’s sleep, which is absolutely
necessary to performing at peak levels, the reality
is that you can’t do everything yourself. Although
being a one-person-show may be a functional
necessity in the beginning, you may want to
consider delegating simple tasks to a small team of
contract workers who can help lighten your load—
and free up more of your time for focusing on the
activities only you can do within your business.
Delegating can be a challenge, though. Others may
not perform tasks the same way you would, but
sometimes that’s okay. For example, you may like
to move the furniture in the office when you
vacuum, but your employees don’t. You need to ask
yourself if delegating the task of vacuuming and
allowing a little more dust to accumulate behind
the printer is worth freeing up some of your time
so you can focus on more important things.
2. Not Enforcing Accountability or Punctuality
If you’ve ever had a team member or contract
employee consistently show up late to meetings
and you’ve never held them accountable, you’re
telling the rest of your team that it’s acceptable to
always be late. That's a dangerous precedent to set.
Many business owners don’t want to be the “bad
guy” and enforce punctuality or accountability, but
those are the cornerstones for a growing successful
business with people who feel responsible to
deliver results across the company. Consistently
being late shows people that you are unreliable
and have no respect for yourself or other people’s
time. If you’re an entrepreneur trying to grow a
team that's invested in the future of your company,
be sure to set the standard for your employees so
they have an example to model from.
3. Starting a Business You Have No Genuine Interest
In
No matter how much time and energy you put into
your business, if you’re not truly interested in
what you do—the problem you're solving, the
people you're helping—you won’t get very far.
You have to care deeply about what you' re creating
and who you're building it for, in order to push
past the inevitable obstacles that'll come your way
as an entrepreneur.
If you’ve ever wondered why entrepreneurs like
Richard Branson and Perry Marshall are extremely
successful, it’s not because they found a winning
formula and they certainly didn't just get lucky one
day. They've accomplished incredible feats and
changed industries because they fundamentally
care about what their businesses are helping their
customers do on a daily basis. If you want to be
successful, you have to be deeply involved with
your customers.
4. Becoming Too Absorbed in the Details
Details can be important, but there is a point when
you need to accept the fact that perfect isn ' t worth
it, in order to move forward and continue making
progress with your business. In the beginning,
your business is not going to be perfect, and you’ll
be working out the kinks even with fundamentals
for a while as you get comfortable with the niche
you're operating in and the customers you're
working with.
If you get stuck trying to perfect something before
you can further develop your business and make
sure you're solving real problems your customers
actually have, you’ll never get anywhere. There are
of course some details that can't be skipped when it
comes to your finances, sales funnels, lead
capturing and customer relations. But if you’re a
startup and you’re postponing designing your
website because you can’t decide between two
shades of blue for your typography, it would serve
you well to make any choice for the short-term,
move forward with designing your website and
revisit your colors later when it's the right time to
care about a decision like that (hint: that probably
won't be for many years).
5. Building an Expensive Website on Day One
Speaking of building websites, the last thing you
want to do as a startup is spend a lot of time and
money building a fancy, flashy website before you
even know exactly how to best serve your
customers. One of the best early decisions you can
make as an entrepreneur is to launch a basic
website in the beginning so people have a way to
learn about your product or service and contact
you. That's it.
Here's why: If your business is still being
developed and you invest a ton of your time and
financial resources into building your ultimate
website before your business is even out into the
marketplace, you’ll just end up having to redo the
majority of your work anyway. The reality of
starting a business is that some of your
assumptions will be incorrect—you'll have to grow,
adapt and change in order to best meet the needs
of your customers.
6. Consistently Rebranding a Product That Isn’t
Selling
This is the biggest startup mistake you can make as
an entrepreneur. You may have seen this happen
with other people’s products. Something isn’t
selling, so they change the name and put it in a
new package. It still doesn’t sell.
If you have a product that isn’t selling very well
regardless of how you package it, it may not be
your product that is the problem. You’re either
marketing a perfectly good product to the wrong
people, or you’re marketing to the right people in
the wrong way—there could be something wrong
with your pricing, the value propositions you're
pitching or otherwise.
No matter how much you like the clever name you
came up with, if your product or service doesn’t
appeal to your target market, they won’t buy it. It
takes time to have conversations with real
customers, gather a significant amount of customer
data, interpret that data, and do a great job
of defining your target audience, but it is worth the
effort. You don't immediately launch perfect
solutions—you have to work with your target
customers to create the best version of what they
need.
7. Taking on Unnecessary Expenses
It’s a luxury to have an office, a new computer, a
fax machine, and a double monitor setup. But that
doesn’t mean you need these things in the
beginning. If you're starting up by yourself or you
only have a few employees and they are happy to
work remotely from home, then it doesn’t make
sense to incur the additional costs of renting an
office space.
If your current computer setup is perfectly
functional, you don’t need to replace it just yet. All
of the goodies you want to purchase will come in
time, but in the beginning it’s smart to be frugal
and only spend money on activities that have a
direct positive return in terms of new revenue
coming into the company.
8. Allowing Employees to Use Personal Laptops for
Work
It’s easy to let employees perform their work on
personal laptops because that means you don’t
have to buy them one, but in the long run this is a
big startup mistake.
While many businesses do this, there are quite a
few cons to this practice. Allowing your employees
to primarily use their own personal laptops for
work means that they'll accumulate passwords,
save sensitive documents and other materials
belonging to the business that they'll have access to
when they eventually leave the company.
Turning the Mistakes of Others Into Wisdom
While making mistakes can be beneficial at times
(if you truly retain the important lessons), you
don’t have to experience them all yourself.
If you’re willing to put in the time and effort to
build a solid foundation for your business, work
directly with your customers to create meaningful
solutions for them and heed the wisdom from
others who've forged their own path of
entrepreneurship, you’ll be successful with your
startup.

How to Be a Millionaire, Saving Very Little per Month

Do you think being a millionaire is out of the
question for you?
Think again. If you avoid consumer debt and start
investing when you're in your twenties or thirties,
you can be a millionaire.
Here's how.
You Can Become a Millionaire: The Beginning
Let's assume you have $0 in your investment
account right now. You have no debt, but you
haven't saved anything, either.
Let's assume you put your investments into a tax -
deferred account, such as a 401 (k ).
Let's also assume that your investments, over the
long haul, will grow at an annualized average rate
of 7 percent. (Investing legend Warren Buffet
predicts the long-term annualized return of the
U.S. stock market in the early-to-mid 21st century
will be 7 percent.)
Remember: this is a very, very long-term average -
over the span of 20 years or more. In any given
year, your investments might be up or down.
Don't focus on the short-term. One year - or three
years, or five years - is small-scale when you're
talking about a lifetime portfolio.
With those three assumptions in mind - you're
starting at $0, you're investing in a tax - deferred
account, and you'll get a 7 percent return over the
long haul. Let's look at how much you need to
invest to create a $1 million portfolio.*
The Math of Becoming a Millionaire
If You Save: $100 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 58 years and 6 months.
That's a long time - if you're 25 now, you'll be 83
by the time you're a millionaire - so I recommend
saving more.
If You Save: $200 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 48 years and 10 months.
Notice how simply saving an extra $100 per month
($200/mo instead of $100/mo) shaves a decade off
the time it takes you to become a millionaire.
If You Save: $400 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 39 years and 4 months.
That means if you're 25 now, you'll be a
millionaire at age 64 - in time for retirement.
If You Save: $750 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 31 years, 1 month. If
you're 25 now, you'll be a millionaire at age 56.
Did someone say " early retirement?"
If You Save: $1,000 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 27 years and 6 months. If
you have a baby today, you'll be a millionaire by
the time you dance at your child's wedding -- or
maybe by the time your grandchild is born.
If You Save: $1,500 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 22 years and 9 months.
What a huge improvement over the "58 years" we
were quoting at the $100/month savings rate!
If You Save: $2,000 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 19 years and 7 months.
Have a baby today, and you'll be a millionaire
when he or she is in college.
If You Save: $2,500 per month
You'll Be a Millionaire In: 17 years and 3 months.
Have a baby today, and you'll be a millionaire
before your kid is out of the house. If you're
currently 25 years old, you'll be a millionaire by
age 42.
Want to run your own calculations? There are
many online calculators can help you.
How Can I Save That Much Money?
I'm guessing your next question is something along
the lines of "How on earth am I supposed to save
$2,500 per month?"
I can boil that answer down to four words: Earn
more. Spend less.
Here are some resources to help you earn more:
Here are some resources to help you spend less:
One final note:
If your employer offers a 401(k) match, take full
advantage of it. Otherwise, you're leaving "free
money" sitting on the table.
Conversely, if your employer doesn't offer a 401(k)
match, or if you're self-employed (like I am), take
the reins and start heavily investing your
paychecks into tax-advantaged accounts like
Traditional and Roth IRAs and Individual 401(k)'s.
Remember: if your job doesn't give you retirement
benefits, that isn't an excuse to forgo saving. Take
responsibility for your financial future.

Can You Become a Millionaire Earning $30,000 a Year?

Can you become a millionaire if you only earn
$30,000 per year?
Yes, absolutely. Here’s how.
Start Investing Early
At age 25, you begin earning $30,000 annually.
That’s an income of $2,500 per month, before
taxes and deductions.
You save $458.33 per month, and spend the other
$2,000. (Remember, this is a savings rate of less
than 20 percent of your gross income).
Your savings of $458.33 per month amounts to
$5,500 per year.
You put that money in a Roth individual
retirement account, also known as a Roth IRA.
($5,500 is the maximum that you’re allowed to
contribute to a Roth IRA per year, based on 2013
rules. Learn more about Roth IRA’ s here.)
You put the money into a passively - managed index
fund that tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
There's Nothing Fancy About it
In other words, you’re not doing any fancy,
advanced investing. You’re not day-trading or
stock-picking or betting on the Next Big Thing.
You're not flipping houses or starting companies or
buying Apple stock.
You're not doing anything sophisticated or time-
consuming or risky. You’re just tracking the broad,
overall market through a low-fee index fund: the
simplest type of investing that you can do.
You don’t touch your money. You never withdraw
it. You just let it sit there, reinvesting its own
dividends, and enjoying the power of compound
interest.
Your money grows at 7 percent annually. Guess
what? Within 38 years, by the time you’re 63,
you’ll have a nest egg of $1 million.
Can you believe that? By saving only $458 per
month -- which is the amount that some people
spend on their car payment -- you can grow a
million-dollar nest egg by the time you retire.
Stepping Up Your Savings
Okay, what if you earn $40,000 per year? Can you
bump up your savings a bit more, and start putting
aside $600 per month?
If you do, you’ll shave 3 years off the amount of
time it takes you to become a millionaire. Rather
than becoming a millionaire in 37 years, you’ll
reach your goal in 34 years. That means you can
celebrate your 60th birthday, millionaire-style, if
you start when you’re 25. Not only will you retire
as a millionaire, you'll also potentially be able to
retire early!
At $600 per month, you’re saving only 18 percent
of your gross income. If you can bump your
savings rate up by another 2 percent -- to a rate of
$667 per month -- you’ll shave yet another two
years off your timeline. You’ll be a millionaire by
age 58 if you start at 25.
Isn’t it stunning what a small bump in your
savings rate -- just an extra $60 or $70 per month
-- can do?
This effect is the result of compound interest,
which is the term that describes your interest and
gains accumulating its own interest.
The longer you stay invested, the more compound
interest works on your behalf. That’s why its a
great idea to start saving for retirement when
you’re young.
Source: CNN Money Millionaire Calculator

THE PASTOR WHO TAUGHT THE MARRIED ABOUT PRAYER

✝ A Must  Read till the End. 🙏👍

THE PASTOR WHO TAUGHT THE MARRIED ABOUT PRAYER

Joe and his wife don't sit next to each other during Church services.

Even when going to Church services, they go in different vehicles; and when they travel in the same car, it is usually a very quiet and uncomfortable ride.

Joe sat at his usual spot in the Church service; the fourth line on the far left row. His wife sat on the center row.

The Pastor took to the podium.

"Husbands, stop wasting your time praying" the Pastor began.

The congregants got alarmed. No one expects to hear a pastor saying prayer is a waste of time.

"I am not here to discourage you to pray. I am here to encourage you to pray right.

Husbands, stop wasting your time praying if you are not treating your wife well.

The Word says that when you treat your wife badly, it hinders your prayers. Men, you claim to be prayerful.

You come to church driving your expensive cars, giving your offertory and tithes, active in Church, some of you are Church leaders; but how are you treating your wife?

You may look good to us Church members, but it is your wife and children that know who you truly are" said the Pastor.

Joe turned to face his wife. She looked at him. Joe could see her eyes.

Her left eye swollen from the blow he gave her last week when she confronted him about his alcoholism, pornography use and mischievous behavior.

People couldn't tell she had a black eye because of the make up she had on, so well done.

The Pastor continued, "People have perfected the art of cover up. Here in Church, so many are hurting but you wouldn't know.

People come here wearing their nice clothes, shiny smiles, they are active in ministry but hurting a lot in their marriage.

We have become numb and plastic, brushing things under the carpet. But today we shall heal; we shall address those wounds we hide"

The Pastor cleared his throat and continued, "Many of those who are hurting their spouse are using the church to hide.

They think that because they give offertory and tithe, because they make public prayers, because they stand in front to give testimonies or because they hold a Church leadership position that they are right with God. God is interested in what you do in your marriage and in your family.

Your first ministry is your home. Stop trying to blackmail God with your service in Church yet you are mean and hurtful towards your spouse"

Many of the members of the congregation got restless and unsettled.

The Pastor continued, "Many of those who are being hurt by their spouse hide their pain and want to project an image that all is well to validate that they are blessed and in control.

Some of you are active in Church to run away from the pain in your marriage"

The congregation was silent. Some straightening their ties, others fidgeting with their Bibles, adjusting their sitting position.

This pastor was preaching truth and it was uncomfortable.

The Pastor continued, "The husbands are not the only ones guilty. Wives, don't you know the Word says when your husband found you he found good and you bring favour?

Then why are you the source of your husband's headache and stress? Have you been so toxic that you have turned your prayerful husband into a prayerless one?

Do you make him regret marrying you because you bring more complications than he had before marrying you?

How you treat your husband can be a stumbling block in his walk with God or an environment that encourages growth.

Many of you married your husband primarily because of his relationship with God, why are you now destroying his relationship with God instead of celebrating and nurturing it?

Why are you being a burden to your husband emotionally, spiritually, socially, sexually and financially instead of being one who brings favour?"

Joe's wife looked at Joe. Joe looked at her, she looked away.

The Pastor paused to drink his glass of water.

The Pastor continued, "When I am thirsty, I drink a glass of water.

When your spouse gets thirsty, will you allow God to use you to bless your spouse?

You've been told many sermons that focus on you as an individual, that God will make you prosper as an individual.

I am here to tell you your blessings are tied to people, you are blessed to be a blessing to others. Our God is not an individualistic God.

Your blessing is tied to your marriage, your family. It's not about you, you, you; it is about Jesus and Jesus is about love.

What good is it to prosper and be successful when you have no love? It is all vanity.

God cares about your family, how you treat your spouse and children"

Silence.

"Yes, we pray. But what kind of prayers does your spouse pray because of you?

When your spouse prays, is it largely to cry to God because of the hurt you bring?

Is it to plead with God to change you from the monster you've become?

Is it to plead for grace to deal with how difficult you are? Or is to give thanks for you?"

Silence.

"Are you really prayerful? Do you really value prayer?

Then why is it that many of you find it easy to come to us priests for us to pray with you as an individual, you find it is easy to pray in public in a Church service or Bible study, but find it so hard to pray with your spouse?

Isn't that telling of what is going on in your marriage? Don't you know that the more you pray with your spouse the stronger your marriage will be?

But how can you find it easy to pray with a spouse you hurt or who hurts you?"

The Pastor paused and looked at the congregation. Eyes staring at him.

"I challenge you. I challenge you to pray with your spouse and to treat your spouse well.

Husbands, you are the head of the home. I challenge you to stand up and go to where your wife is and pray with her as a start of a more prayerful chapter in your marriage.

Don't do it because I asked you to but because you want to. Your choice"

One by one, the husbands present stood up.

Joe stood up too.

Joe walked to where his wife was.

The face of Joe's wife overwhelmed with love, she looked on as her husband walked to her.

She almost stood up but he gave hand gestures at her to stay seated.

Joe reached where she sat. Their eyes met.

Joe knelt down. He stared at her then kissed her swollen left eye.

"I am sorry" he said.

"Can I pray with you?" He asked.

She got up from her seat and knelt down too.

There, on the floor as the Church service was still ongoing, husbands prayed with their wives.

Joe prayed kneeling with his wife.

They prayed for forgiveness, for thanksgiving, for love, for renewal, for peace, for direction; for their marriage.

Marriages were healed at that service .💏✝🛐☮

If You have been blessed by this message please share. You might just be saving a marriage.✝🙏