Putting Principles Into Practice

If you’re tired of worrying about money and living paycheck-to-paycheck … you can decide now to put God’s financial principles into practice and change your life.

They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Nowhere is that more true than with money.

Like most things, the first step in making financial changes is admitting you have a problem and identifying what you’re doing wrong. What’s not right with the way you’re handling money?

Maybe you worry about bouncing a check. Or you fear the phone ringing because it might be a bill collector. Or you’re dealing with the gas or electricity being turned off for non-payment. Maybe you argue with your spouse about money. Or you’ve stopped giving to your church because you’re afraid you won’t have enough.

Those are all signs that something needs to change. And you don’t have to fear that change. It might be a little scary at first, but it will bring welcome relief from your worrying about money. Isaiah 43 tells us, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. I am doing a new thing … I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

So how do you begin to bring about this change? First, by dispelling the notion that God’s Word doesn’t contain everything you need to transform the way you handle money. Hebrews 4:12 reads “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Understanding and believing in biblical truth is essential and the first principle you need to grasp is that God owns it all. In Psalm 24:1 we find, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who live in it.” When you fully embrace that principle, everything else can fall into place.

You won’t be consumed with thoughts about the way you’re handling your money, because it’s not yours. Instead, you’ll begin to think about managing God’s money, because you’re simply His steward, or manager, of the resources He’s temporarily entrusted to you.

As His steward, God will not abandon you to fend for yourself. He is always with you and He’s promised to provide. Luke 12:24 reads, “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!”

Once you realize that God will provide, Scripture will be your guide for changing the way you think and act concerning money. You’ve struggled with His financial principles, but now they’ll be your guide. The Bible says a lot about spending, saving, investing and getting out of debt, along with contentment and generosity, everything you need to put them into practice.

Take just one principle to start. Pray earnestly about it. Ask God for strength, discipline and the desire to carry it out. Maybe that’s setting aside a few dollars out of your paycheck. Or paying more than the minimum on your credit card. Or putting a little more in the collection plate. Pick one and stick with it. Then when it’s part of your life, you can go on to the next and the next.

This is putting principle into practice. You do that with tools and structure: a budget, a will, a long range financial plan, and so on.

If you’re not living on a budget, you need to develop a spending plan now. Luke 14:28 teaches, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

There’s no better tool for developing a spending plan than the new MoneyWise app. It uses the tried and true envelope budgeting system to plan and track all of your spending. It’s free and you can download it wherever you get your apps.

Most people find it difficult to change by themselves. They need someone to encourage them and to hold them accountable. As our friend Howard Dayton puts it, “to hold their fuzzy feet to the fire.”

MoneyWise has a whole group of folks trained and ready to help you get and stay on track as you learn to put God’s financial principles into practice. They’re the MoneyWise volunteer coaches.

Proverbs 11:14 tells us, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” And Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

That’s all you need to know to make big changes in your life and to stop worrying about money. We hope you’ll get started today.

You can also __listen __to the related podcast on this topic.