I don’t want you, my reader friend, to be living one flat tire, medical bill, or broken household appliance away from financial devastation. Trust me, it’s such a stressful way to live your life.
Now take a deep breath. I have good news for you. There is hope and there are ways to be proactive with your finances, rather than reactive. Proper financial planning is the key to avoiding many financial pitfalls. The most basic financial planning task, but the most critical for success, is a realistic monthly budget.
I want to encourage you to see creating a budget as a way to be responsible and respectful of the resources that God has entrusted you with. What you give attention to in your life is what you will gain affection for. What you have affection for changes your activities and attitude. If you truly love God and want to show affection for him, one of the ways to do that is to actively and responsibly manage your personal finances.
If you have a realistic monthly budget that you actually commit to follow, it will allow you to live a more fruitful and peaceful life from a financial standpoint. You will have a handle on how much income is coming in to your household and how much money is being spent each month. Also, careful budgeting ultimately allows you to give a portion of your income to kingdom causes, such as your local church or non-profit organizations, because you are not spending more money than you earn. There are missionaries, pastors, and non-profit organizations all over the world that are currently acting as the hands and feet of Christ by serving God’s people. They could truly benefit from your financial support so they can continue to do the kingdom work that God has called them to do. Stop and pray right now about whether or not your budget is being properly managed. Do you currently have a tithe or financial offering as part of your monthly budget? If not, consider starting with a small portion of your income each month and see if God blesses your finances.
The biggest objection I hear is that people do not know where to start when it comes to actually sitting down and creating a budget. As a result, I have done all of the hard work for you because I believe this is so important. Simply enter your name and email address below and I will then send you a complimentary budget worksheet. All you have to do is fill in the blanks and then add and subtract. That’s it. So no more excuses!
