Many hardships come with a lifestyle of debt. God gave us the means to avoid them and to continually move forward into a place of abundance. It starts with knowing the state of your flocks and herds (your skills, abilities, giftings, assets, income, expenses, and liabilities. You must employ them in a way that glorifies the LORD, strengthens you and other people, and builds wealth for His kingdom and family purposes.
To move into good financial health you must establish a plan to eliminate the latter two (expenses and liabilities) within the next few years. Write your average monthly income, who you owe (each creditor), how much you owe them (each separate loan amount), the annual interest rate you are paying each creditor, and when each payment is due each month. Start the list showing the creditor to whom you owe the smallest balance, then the next smallest up to the largest. This information will help you draft a projection of monthly income minus expenses (a budget) that shows whether you are operating at a deficit or surplus each month and throughout the year.
The budget lets you know whether you have extra money available to quickly pay off your debts, whether you need to seek additional or higher paying work in order to quickly pay off your debts, how much you need to cut expenses in order to help you put extra money toward quickly paying off your debts, whether you can afford to spend on desires at the present time thus helping control your urge to spend money you do not have available.
It also helps you determine what you need to do to increase income and accumulate wealth you need to be able to give abundantly to Kingdom work and cover future lifestyle and retirement expenses. This type of planning carried out six months to a year helps you meet goals by telling your income what to do instead of wondering where it went.
The income and expense figures for the budget will come from your last three month’s pay stubs and from creditor bill statements. It is impossible to use the income God blessed you with in the best possible manner without keeping an updated monthly budget on paper or computer. No one can keep an accurate and consistent budget in his or her head. Consistently applying a reasonable budget to control your spending makes you a much better steward of the money God entrusts to you and helps you fulfill His plan for your life and be a great example to other people.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!
1Kings 17:8-10, Proverbs 16:9, Habakkuk 2:1-4, Luke 14:26-30, 2Corinthians 9:5-8
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