Dear Friends,

I recently celebrated my birthday and was able to reflect on the lessons and blessings I’ve received in my life.  As a risk-taking man who has always had an independent streak, I have had a tough time with the lesson of accountability.  I was in my 40s before I accepted that I needed a financial advisor of my own.  Another point of reflection for me was the blessing of Scripture in my life.  As a person who came to faith in Christ as an adult, I have been so grateful for the difference in my choices because I’ve had God’s Word as a framework for decision-making.

In today’s video, I briefly touch on four steps that will take you out of crisis and into a confident place in your financial life. As we develop our website, there will be more and more tools here to help you to take those steps.  I’ve given you some links to guide you in those steps for the time being.

The four steps are:
Step 1: Set up a budget and reduce your expenses.  Download Budgeting Worksheet
Step 2: Use cash flow to pay off short-term debt and reduce credit card payments.Personalized Debt Snowball To go back to the idea of lessons and blessings, I want to encourage you to put these four steps into the larger context of accountability and Scriptural guidance.

First of all, the lesson of accountability is a very important thing to learn and apply to your finances.  Whether you gain accountability through a small group at church, whether you have a financial advisor to keep you accountable, or whether you are reliant on your written budget and an envelope-type system to keep you accountable, I would argue that few people succeed in getting out of dire financial straits without a good measure of accountability.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NKJV) says, ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor: for if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”  Seek a method of accountability that is available and affordable for you, and pursue it boldly.

Secondly, begin relying on Scripture as a framework for your decision-making.  When it comes to financial decision-making from a Biblical perspective, there are many books available.   Hopefully some of you have taken advantage of our offer for a free book from this site.  But, there is no book that replaces the Bible as a guidebook for life’s tough choices.  If you are not in the habit of spending time in Scripture each day, I encourage you to begin with the book of Proverbs for a month.  Read one chapter in Proverbs each day. (There are 31 chapters, so it matches up well to a month of reading.)  As you read, record in a notebook the wisdom that speaks to your situation.  You will be amazed at how God uses His Word to guide your decisions and your thought processes as you go!

May God’s peace encourage you as you pursue financial wisdom and depend on His Truth.

Blessings,
Ron


Click here for the video transcript