You are committing financial suicide when;
• Your monthly income cannot cover all the bills you are supposed to pay each month.
• You’re spending all your monthly income and do not have at least $1,000 emergency fund.
• You’re applying for loans to get even more than you can afford to pay cash to get at the moment of your purchases.
• You’re failing to immediately subtract the amount you've written a check for from your checkbook.
• You’re failing to reconcile your bank account(s) monthly.
You're a kamikaze whose plane will inevitably hit a ship and burst into flames. The saddest part is you'll also hurt your spouse, children, other dependents, and your local Church by not being a good steward of money the LORD entrusts to you.
The bible instructs you to plan and keep records so you know the state of your income versus expenditures. You must by choice consistently keep the amount of monthly household expenses below the amount of monthly take home pay in order to have financial peace and joy in your life. Some people don't like to hear the word "budget." However, when you don't budget the reality is you inevitably overspend your income and thus get trapped in debt, lack of giving, and financial bondage. The word budget seems restrictive to some people because they think it limits the material things they’re able to experience and pleasures they derive from them. However, it does not do that. Your income puts a limit on what you can experience. When properly drafted, a budget simply shows you what your income allows you to live on and what is necessary to have a healthy financial status and the enjoyment thereof.
If you don’t like what the budget shows you concerning limitations inherent on your income level, then the budget has done its job by leading you in the right direction by showing you the need to use skills and abilities to initiate entrepreneurial endeavors and extra work to earn more money to maintain and increase giving, saving, and standard of living. In addition, it has done a great job showing you the right-sizing and/or elimination of monthly expenses necessary to maintain financial integrity and soundness in your dealings until such time as you actually receive consistently increased income from your work efforts.
When your monthly outgo exceeds your monthly income, your upkeep will be your downfall. You must learn to consistently spend less than your income in order to (a) have a healthy financial life, (b) give abundantly, (c) accumulate necessary savings for rainy days, and (d) be in the wealthy place the LORD reserves for His sons and daughters. The budget or whatever you choose to call it (giving / saving / spending plan, etc.) shows you when spending exceeds income and allows you to employ simple math necessary to determine which expenses can be immediately right-sized or eliminated and how much increased income is needed to cover necessary bills and also to put an adequate amount toward outstanding debt so they can be eliminated within the next couple of years. Therefore, you must employ a budget you regularly consult and update to chart your financial path in a way that helps you get everything out of your income that will serve the purposes of God for your life and your involvement with the Church.
Your budget should be designed to ensure you (a) give an acceptable proportion of your income to gospel ministry for evangelism & disciple-making, (b) save and invest a proportion necessary to help you live comfortably when in your senior years, and (c) spend an appropriate portion to care for needs and engage some desires and pleasure early in life in a way that keeps you financially healthy. The road to financial health and wealth is not hard to find or stay on, but it takes diligence in applying tools like budgeting, debt elimination, saving, and investing to get where God wants you to go. The diligent soul shall be prosperous because God rewards people who diligently seek Him by employing biblical financial principles in their lives.
Please pray for this ministry, email me with any questions, and contact me to speak at your busi-ness/ministry’s conference/workshop. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!
Psalm 66:12, Proverbs 27:23-24, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Luke 14:28-30, Romans 13:8
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