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You Tell Your Money Where to Go
February 28, 2024
Hey Clawson Family,
Scripture:
Proverbs 21:5
Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Devotion:
Most everyone wants to be financially responsible. And if you’re a follower of Jesus, you want to experience God’s blessing in your finances. One step in reaching those goals is to plan your spending—to develop the spiritual habit of budgeting.
A budget is planned spending. It’s telling your money where you want it to go instead of wondering where it went. The only way to meet your financial goals is, first, to determine how you want to use your money and then, to make a plan for it to happen that way.
Financial freedom does not come from making more money. It comes from spending less money. Financial freedom is not based on how much you make; it’s based on how you spend what you make. You can be financially free at almost any level of income.
If you don’t know how to manage money at your current level, you aren’t going to know how to manage more. No matter how much or how little income you have, you need to learn how to plan your spending.
A lot of us have a problem with impulse buying—spontaneous, unplanned spending. You see it and you want it, so you get it.
How do you break the habit of impulse buying? Get on a budget! You set up a plan and tell your money where you want it to go. Then you shop less.
Study after study has shown that if you shop less, you spend less. If you’re in debt, stop hanging out at the mall. If you don’t want to get stung, stay away from the bees! It takes real discipline to change your spending habits and hard work to write out a budget and stick to it.
But on the days when it’s most difficult, remember that God is with you and he wants what is best for you. He wants to see your faithfulness in money management. And he will help you to take all the necessary steps to become a responsible steward of what he’s given you.
Journal:
Write down in your journal what financial freedom would look and feel like in your life.
Training:
What is one thing you can stop doing so that you are spending less? Stop doing that today! If you can’t find a budgeting style that works for you, ask your friends how they track their spending.
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