MoneyWalk 132: Good Money Managers Maintain A Budget

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Worldly financial experts have said paying yourself first is the solution to all your financial woes. However, that method doesn't work, unless you know what your net income is and you spend less than your net income minus what you paid yourself first during each pay period. This is called budgeting. If you don't budget, you'll eventually stop paying yourself first and you'll spend all that you previously saved to obtain needed cash to meet your unaffordable living standard.

I certainly believe that you should pay yourself as close to first as legally possible. However, unless your employer pays you under the table (which is generally not godly and can land employers and employees in legal trouble and prison), other entities will receive a good chunk of money you earn (the IRS, social security and Medicare administrations, union dues, health care deductions, etc.) before you receive and are able to save some for yourself. Even independent contractors and business owners have obligations that must be paid before they can legally put money away for their own savings and investment. For instance, if you don’t pay quarterly taxes due, then all that you’ve paid yourself and more could be required of you in taxes, interest, and penalties. Failure to pay the right amount over a prolonged period of time could be considered tax evasion and land you in prison.

Therefore, a budget is necessary because it helps you know how much you earn over given periods of time which in turn helps you understand amounts that you are obligated to pay in taxes and other requirements. Also, it helps define the amount of income that is disposable to spend on other desired products and services that are not needs. The only true need most people have is giving a proportionate amount of income to honor God to allow the biblical law of reciprocity to supernaturally grow your prosperity. Secondly, food and shelter are needs. Thirdly, transportation may be a need. Most other expenditures are for desires. A budget allows you to place all things in their proper priority. Regular planned giving to the church and to others needs as God directs (alms) assures that God will provide your need according to His riches in glory. When He provides you must understand that giving a portion back to perpetuate the gospel and growing God’s kingdom in the hearts of men is the first priority, then shelter, then food, then clothing, then other things in lesser priority.

Many times people don’t have a budget and also don’t prioritize in the right manner. They act as if they cannot get food and clothing free of charge from many different sources. Also, many people try to hold onto houses and rentals at a certain socio-economic status instead of looking for and accepting a less costly alternative (maybe even staying with family and friends) over the short or long haul in order to make ends meet during tough financial times. These options appear for everyone when their need over the short and long-term is not based on perpetual irresponsibility, rather it’s based on emergency need (acute surgery and recovery), local employment conditions (immediate loss of manufacturing jobs, etc.), or catastrophic events (death of a bread winner, etc.). Looking for, asking for, and utilizing these options when necessary along with properly prioritizing and budgeting your spending help you weather the financial storm and grow wealth over the course of your life, so at some point you never have to be in the same situation again.

Unfortunately, succumbing to modern day credit arrangement hampers your prioritizing, budgeting, and pay yourself first strategy. When you spend all you make and continually get loans to buy everything you want, the day will come when you'll have a mountain of bills you can't pay. Don't be fooled, whether you're considered rich or poor you can get into a habit of overspending your net income and end up in financial ruin. A budget helps measure all your expenses, so you know when you're living above your means. It will help you see which expenditures to eliminate or reduce to allow you to live less stressed, more joyfully, and more peacefully. When you mix budgeting with honoring God first through tithing and offering, you have a potent combination that is supernaturally charged to prosper you to take care of your needs, others needs, and growth of God’s kingdom.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Proverbs 30:24-25, Ecclesiastes 10:18-19, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Luke 16:9
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