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Be Honest

Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don’t last forever… Proverbs 27:23-24

Until you really know what your financial status is you will never be able to improve it. Most people never really take the time to figure out what they spend. If they do, they are normally shocked.

I talked a young couple about their financial problems. They both worked full-time and they have three children. They were barely making ends meet. I asked them how much it would take to get them to where they did not have to use credit cards each week to survive. They said about $600 per month. When I looked at their spending imagine how shocked they were to learn that they were spending more than $600 per month in eating out and bounced check fees! Just getting to know their spending habits helped them get a $600 per month “raise!”

Write Your Plan

A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Proverbs 24:3

Wise spending is planned spending. Yes, there are always unexpected bills. Cars break down, children get sick, and washing machines have to be replaced. When we do not plan our spending we tend to get angry with God when life happens. The tires of tithers still wear out.

It is best when we plan our spending. Planning for the unexpected is a part of that. Living so that there is a little margin in your life lowers stress, improves your mood, and makes everyone happier to see you.

Be content with what you have. Save for the future. Pay off your credit cards. Live below your means. Don’t be a financial Monet. Have you ever seen a painting by Monet? From a distance it looks good but when you get close it looks like a mess. You can change with God’s help! There is hope when we follow God’s plan.

Live By A Budget

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. Proverbs 21:5

Budgets are a necessary evil. Do not obsess over it but determine to use it as a tool to help you achieve your financial goals.

A budget helps you plan your spending and know where your money goes. It helps you plan for the future, get out of debt, and control your spending. People are often shocked at how much money “leaks” out of their pockets each month when they take a real look at what they spend and start keeping good records.

Prayer: God, help me to educate myself about money and execute my plan.

Ritchie

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get. Proverbs 21:20

The Bible has more to say about money and possessions that any other subject. Essentially, everything the Bible says about money can be reduced to three principles: bring the first ten percent of all you earn to God, acknowledge that God owns everything, and manage your debt by managing your desires. The last principle is HUGE. It works in our favor no matter what the economy is like. One reason many people have financial problems has nothing to do with how much money they make but with how they spend their money. It is really not about how much you make but about how much you spend.

Do you ever run out of money before you run out of month? Have you wondered where all your money goes? Chances are that you do not know your weaknesses in spending.

Weaknesses can include impulse buying, spending creep, luxuries disguised ad needs, and thinking that buying something will fill a void in your life. Do you ever buy something that is outside your budget? Do you even have a budget? When you get a raise, a windfall, or a tax return do you go out and blow it or do you save or invest it?

Know your weaknesses to improve your financial bottom line! Even if you are in trouble financially it is never too late to begin following God’s principles for financial success.

Prayer: God, show me my weaknesses in managing money and help me to follow Your plan.

Ritchie

You cannot serve both God and Money. Luke 16:13b

The contrast that Jesus made here was a contrast of two kinds of hearts. The word translated “Money” is the word that is translated “Mammon” in some older translations. What it was referring to was the ancient god of wealth. People trusted Mammon for significance, security, purpose, provision, and happiness. Jesus was saying you cannot serve The LORD God Jehovah and the materialistic gods of this world at the same time.

Jesus is testing us to see if we have a heart that trusts God for significance, supply, happiness, security, and purpose or a heart that trusts in money for those things. Money and material things will always tempt us to trust in them for the things that are reserved only for God to give.

“You cannot serve both God and Money” is simply a test of the heart. It does not mean that money is wrong. It is just wrong for your heart to trust in wealth rather than God. Who do you trust today, God or Mammon?

Prayer: God, let me trust in YOU for significance, provision, happiness, and meaning in life.

Ritchie

Because of the economic uncertainty that we are facing right now there are lots of people who are afraid. Here is a bit of good news, however. God is in control.

Riches and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and given strength. 1 Chronicles 29:12

One of the great things about trusting God with our giving is that we admit that He is in control. By doing this we trust Him for things that only He can do anyway. It all comes from Him. Have you ever thought about the real successes in your life and where they came from? Think about it. The sale that came from nowhere, the promotion that was unexpected, the person that you met by chance who became a business partner, the opportunity that you were not expecting. The fact is God will reward those who trust Him. It does not come from longer hours, neglecting family and church, or even from a winning financial plan. It all comes from God. And He can be trusted.

Prayer: God, help me surrender all to Your control.

Ritchie

The Bible clearly teaches that my money will be blessed when I tithe and put God first in my finances and that it will be cursed when I do not. That is counterintuitive. The Bible is filled with things that do not make sense; serve to lead, the first are last, lose your life to find it, etc.

… so that you might trust the power of God rather than human wisdom. 1 Corinthians 2:5

When it comes to giving and tithing, human wisdom is at odds with what the Bible teaches. Human wisdom says that I can’t afford to give the first tenth of my income. Human wisdom says that if I do give that much I will not have enough money to pay my bills and l will always lack. Human wisdom says that 90% could not possibly go as far as 100%.

Faith is a completely different thing. God says he will bless me when I tithe. He promises to make the 90% go further than the 100%. He promises to bless my money when I give and to open the windows of heaven and bless me beyond what I can imagine. He promises to rebuke the devourer for my sake.

Ultimately, I must decide if I am going to trust God and all He promises in the Bible or am I going to trust what I can see and figure out. God’s power is so much better than mine!

Prayer: Help me trust your power, O God!

Ritchie

You are probably thinking that I got the title wrong on this article. Wrong! Did you know that real pleasure is only something that can be created by God? All the so-called “pleasure” that the devil offers is merely a counterfeit, cheap knock-off of what God intended for us. Pleasure and beauty are from God. That does not mean that all pursuit of pleasure is from God or pleasing to God. If a person pursues the counterfeit pleasure offered by Satan they will find that, in the end, it is not pleasurable at all.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4

The true desires of a person’s heart reveal who that person really is. God tells us to take delight in the Lord. We are to pursue real pleasure in Him.

How do you delight in the Lord? Pursue God and the things of God. Take delight in the Bible. When I read the Bible I am taking delight in Him. Love what God loves. God loves people. God loves it when we obey Him. God loves it when we trust Him. God loves it when we depend totally on Him. God loves it when we admit that we can’t live the Christian life without Him. Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.”

When I love God the way I should, He will give me the desires of my heart. I will find pleasure in Him. He will not only give me what I desire, but also, he will give me the right kinds of desires. What kinds of desires do you have? Are they the kinds of desires that are selfish or are they the kind that God is pleased to grant?

Prayer: Help me to pursue pleasure in You, God!

Ritchie

God expects boldness when we pray and trust Him.

So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family —calling him “Father, dear Father.” Romans 8:15

Some Christians approach God as if they were a bother to Him. They think that God is too busy “running the universe” to care about them and their problems. That is just bad theology. That kind of approach to God sees Him as being weak and powerless.

God wants us to come to Him with boldness. We are sons and daughters, not slaves!

It has been said that Napoleon offered a reward to two brave soldiers. One soldier meekly asked for a small reward, fearing that Napoleon would think he was wise for asking so little. The other boldly asked to be given an estate, a title, and great wealth. Napoleon looked at him and said, “You are the only one who treated me like a king today.” God is the owner of everything. Jesus is the king of the universe. We need not treat God as if He were a mere mortal.

Prayer: God, help me to believe and pray boldly.

Ritchie

Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7

One reason why some Christians never achieve financial peace is they simply give up too easily. Jesus told us to keep on going. We do not have to work in the power of our own will but we can depend on Christ’s power to be faithful.

Keep on asking means that I am to pray and keep on praying until God answers my prayer or shows me that I should pray differently.

Keep on looking means that I am to continue to believe God’s promises. Sometimes I am tempted to doubt, but with God’s help I must keep on believing.

Keep on knocking means that I am to do my part too! If you are praying to get out of debt make sure that you are tithing, managing your money well, and controlling your spending.

Prayer: Father, help me to believe and not give up.

Ritchie

Everybody knows that we are in a recession, but not everybody lives like God is in control. God is not broke! He knows your needs and He has the resources to meet your needs. We must believe in Him, though, if we are to see His power.

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22

Faith is the key to achieving anything in the Christian life. Without faith it is impossible to please God. You must have faith to receive Christ as Savior, but you must also have faith to please Christ as a believer.

Jesus told us in today’s verse that believing is essential to answered prayer. How many times have we prayed for something but really did not think God would answer our prayer? God is not going to answer selfish, narrow-minded, self-centered prayers that are for our “greeds” instead of our “needs”, but He will answer the prayers of those who believe Him.

I read about a group of farmers from the 1800’s who were experiencing a severe drought. They agreed that they would meet at the church to pray for rain. One of the farmers stripped his saddle from his horse and put it away before he went into the old church building. When asked why he took his saddle inside he replied, “I thought we came here to pray for rain!” God loves it when we believe Him!

Prayer for today: Pray that God will help you believe His promises and obey His commands about your finances.

Ritchie

Commitment # 4 – Give More

Each year I make a commitment to give more. I not only want to give more money but I also want to give more of my time, my focus, my resources, and my energy to helping others. I think that committing to giving is one of the most life-changing commitments you can make. There is a great tension in our lives between giving and selfishness. Even persons who are not Christ-followers like to give. I believe this is because we are made in the image of God. Think about it, even the most secular, hardened skeptic loves to give gifts to children at Christmas or to help a needy child. This is because we are made in the image of God and it is in the very nature of God to give. On the other hand, we all have a fallen sin nature that sprang from the original sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. That nature is not giving, but rather, it is selfish, stingy, hoarding, distrusting, and could not care less about anyone else. When a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ they receive a new nature from God and the Holy Spirit lives within them. When you add that to the mix you get a grand tug-of-war that goes on in the heart of every Christian. The good news is that we get to choose who wins this battle.

Here is why I choose to give.

Giving makes me a better person. It’s true. Giving makes me more like Christ; therefore, it makes me a better person. Jesus said that you cannot serve both God and money. He did not say that you could not serve God and have money. You just can’t let money have you. He actually used the word Mammon, which was the name of the ancient Babylonian god of wealth. People thought that this god gave them security, significance, purpose, health, long life, and meaning in life. Wow! These are things that only God can give. No wonder Jesus said we can’t serve God and money at the same time. Whenever I start to feel like my security, my significance, my value, or my protection comes from my paycheck, my portfolio, or my zip code I am in real trouble. Whenever I find myself thinking that my purpose in life is just to make more money I become guilty of worshipping Mammon rather than God.

Giving helps me fulfill a greater purpose. We all like to feel like we are a part of something that is bigger than us. God has a purpose for the world, the church, and for you. He has a greater purpose than most of us realize. When I give I become a part of that greater purpose. I can’t fulfill this purpose on my own. That is one of the reasons I laugh at people who claim to be Christians yet they think that they do not need to be a part of a local church. Besides ignoring the clear commands of God to go to church, to worship, and fellowship with other believers, how can they possibly fulfill God’s commands to minister to people and take the Gospel to the entire world by themselves? It is impossible. Whenever I give through my local church I become a part of something that is way beyond what I can do by myself. It lets me be a part of a greater purpose. 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) “Each one should use whatever gift he’s received to serve others.”

Giving breaks the grip of materialism on my life. Few things are uglier than greed and selfishness. One thing that comes close, however, is envy. Have you ever noticed that we tend to define materialistic people as those who have more than we do? Funny how that works, isn’t it? Since materialism is a moving target and is hard to identify giving is the only real way to defeat it. It does not matter whether you are middle class, poor, or mega-rich, giving will break the grip of materialism in your life.

Giving brings more rewards than stinginess. Do you remember the old Quaker Oats commercial? Wilfred Brimley would say, “Quaker Oats – it’s the right thing to do.” I always thought that was funny. They did not talk about the great taste or how it made you feel, it is just the right thing to do for your body. That is a good example of intrinsic motivation. You do it for the greater good because it is the right thing to do. That is kind of like the first three reasons that I gave. This last reason is more extrinsic motivation. It is the carrot that you hold in front of the donkey that gets him to move. Not that I am comparing you to a jackass. I would never do that…as far as you know. Anyway, I digress. Back to the point. One of the real reasons that I give is because of all the rewards God promises. The Bible says to give and it will be given back to you in greater measure. It says that you will reap what you sow, after you sow, and always more than you sow. Pretty good deal, huh? God promises to bless me when I obey His commands, especially those about giving. Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10

There are so many rewards to giving. I feel better about myself. Jesus said to give and it will be given back to you. He also said it is more blessed to give than to receive. He promised to protect me and provide for me when I give, He promised to bless me financially when I give. These are all great reasons to give.

This is the prayer I am praying this year.

Dear God, I want You to use me this year greater than ever before. Let me be a conduit through which resources flow. Let me give the time, the talent, and the resources you have gifted to me away so that my life will make a greater impact than ever. Let me live with both hands open. I know that You will not put anything more into a closed fist. Let me know how to live a life that is not sticky. I don’t want the temporary things of this world to stick to me. Let me invest in your kingdom and in others so that at the end of my life I will have no regrets about the opportunities that I missed. I love You. Let me show it by being more like You. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ritchie