God, Goals and Your Bank Account

So when you think about your bank account, do you feel peace, panic, or pressure? What does your money situation say about you? Y'all, it's all about God, your goals, and your bank account. Let's talk about it. Everybody that I know wants to live in financial freedom. Doesn't want to have debt, doesn't want to be stretched, doesn't want to feel like they're running short on funds. But your financial freedom, yes, it's about money, but it's about so much more than money. It's about managing well what comes through your hands and using wisdom and intention and good stewardship tools in order to do that. So I wanted to talk about money today because we all need it, we all use it, we all at one point or another are trying to figure out how to get it. But if we separate our our finances from the concept of stewardship and what as an individual, as a person, as a human being, and as a human being who loves God, separating the finances from the principles of stewardship and using our finances in a good way for God's purposes and his plans for our life, we will miss the point. In fact, a lot of us are in trouble right now because we missed the point. Maybe we knew better, maybe we didn't, but we got into or are still into financial trouble simply because we don't understand some principles about using our money, seeing our money, and operating with our money in a positive way. So here's some things that I want to tell you, because not that I'm perfect, because let's say that up front, I actually have a financial background, an accountant, passed the CPA exam, worked in the financial world, institutional money management, passed my broker's licenses, all the things, y'all. I know a thing or two about stocks and bonds, but here's the thing. I have also had to fight my way out of debt. I have also wondered why my credit score will not get back up where I need it to be. I have also had seasons where there just was more month than there was money. I've been a single parent. We've been a one-income family. Uh, y'all, you name it, I've experienced it. And I know what it's like to feel financial pressure, but I also know what it's like to know how to deal with that pressure, to get out from under it, and then to stop reacting to what the world is throwing at me so that I'm constantly trying to catch up with my funds. And when I have tried to disassociate my relationship with God from my finances, my relationship spiritually with the goals that I have for my physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, that's when I get into trouble. So I want to talk to you about connecting God, your goals, and your bank account, because it's when we disconnect them that we get in trouble. So the first thing you need to know is that you need to trust God with the whole picture of your finances, or Or better said, trust God with your whole pie, the whole pie, not just the little piece. 'Cause here's the thing, we will know that we should give some money in church or we should help people out and be willing to share and be givers and be generous. But we do that little piece and then we disassociate the rest of how we spend our money from the one good thing we know we should do. So some of y'all tithe no matter what, or maybe you are a good person and you give to other people who are in need. But once we've done our good deeds, some of us separate the rest of the story from that piece of the story. And God is not interested in just a piece of your finances. He is very much so interested in the whole pie. Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Psalm 50:10 says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. That's code for there is nothing that exists that he does not own first. Proverbs 10:22 says that the blessing of the Lord makes rich. Rich without sorrow. So God is in the business of having a thought about what we do with our finances and our resources, with our money. And if we sequester him to just this one little piece— okay, I did a good thing, or maybe I gave some money to church, I threw a 10 in the offering basket— y'all, he is not trying to be pigeonholed into one little area. He wants to be a part of your whole financial situation. And that doesn't matter if you're in debt, if your credit score is bad, if you're on the verge of filing bankruptcy. He's not trying to be in the part of your financial story just when things are good. He wants to be a part of your financial story all the time. And the reason why he's interested in you being a good steward— he's interested in how you use your resources. He is interested in connecting your heart with your hands in terms of where you spend your money. Because y'all, our money is an indicator of what we're paying attention to. Did you know that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible that deal with money? So God is not ashamed or shy about talking about money. He simply wants us to include him in the conversation on a regular basis. The concept of stewardship is that God owns everything and he lets you use some of it. Stewardship is not about giving God a piece. It's about recognizing that everything belongs to him. So I want you to think about whether or not you actually have God in on your money game. If you are stressed because you're trying to figure things out all on your own, maybe you are compartmentalizing your money story and you are bringing God pieces of it but not bringing him the whole thing. Maybe you are not, as James says, asking for wisdom, because it says that God will give wisdom without reproach. That means he's not going to make you feel bad for asking him to help you out. Maybe you are not actually including God on your money planning because once you do the part you think he cares about, you figure you have to figure the rest out by yourself. The concept of biblical stewardship says, God, what do you want me to do with what you're giving me? Not just the piece that I think you want. What do I want you to do with what you've given me? And that includes everything. Y'all, there have been seasons of my life when I knew what to do and didn't do it. There have been seasons of my life when I would try to figure it out, stress over my budget, redoing it, getting out the spreadsheet and not pray about it. There have been seasons where I was so glad that I got the raise and made more money, I did not bother to consider what God might want me to do with the funds that he's given me. If you want to maximize the stewardship principles in your life, if you want to be trusted with little and much, if you want to understand how God's purposes and you serving people and the problems that people have does more for you to 10x your income opportunity than anything else. If you are not clear that God wants to be involved in your financial discussion, then you are missing out on the majority of the situation. You know, I was having a conversation with a friend recently who was talking about actually struggling with giving to the church, with tithing, with setting aside a part of her income to do good in this world, because she was like, I just feel like I don't have enough money. She never feels like she has enough money, and she actually recently said she made a commitment to God that she would tithe no matter what. Y'all, since she has been tithing— we just talked about this a couple of weeks ago— she said, all of a sudden, I'm not running out of money. She said, I'm not making more money, and I don't know how this is working. I can tell you how it's working. When we choose to pay attention to what God wants from us financially and we take care of him first, the lights stay on. You remember that hotel motel? Was it, was it Hotel Motel 6, something like that? And they say, we'll leave the light on for you. Once you lift up your eyes to pay attention to what God wants you to do with your money, he keeps the light on and keeps you conscious of what you're spending everywhere else. It just makes the way you handle money differently. God doesn't just want your money, he actually wants your heart. But your heart leaves a trail. And that trail often runs through your wallet. So are you including God in the picture, in the story of your finances? Because if you're not, you are not seeing the whole picture, and it's so important that you see the whole picture, and you can't possibly do that if you are not also including God in the story. I want you to know that this is about mindset. Um, your money is first and more about mindset than it will ever be about the amount of money you make. Because what you can get and what you can give and what you can do to participate in what God wants you to do with your money will get you so much further than you just trying to figure out what you can keep for yourself. Money cycle is an economic term. The money cycle refers to the continuous movement and redistribution of wealth within an economy. And the idea is that if I go to, go to Target or Walmart, if I go to Cracker Barrel, if I go to McDonald's— Lord forgive me— if I go to Dillard's or Nordstrom's, if I go to a water park or a movie, if I pay my bill to the light company, the electric company, or the, the gas company, when I hand my money over, that dollar, that check, those finances go into a system. And who gets my dollar next? I don't get to decide, but my dollars do go back into a system. Here's the thing: you can't determine how money comes to you or flows from you exactly in the system. You don't know where that dollar was the last time it came to you. I mean, maybe you know it came out of a cash register, but who had that dollar before you? You don't know. And the money cycle, the way money moves through the system and into your hands and out of your hands, this is what mindset will do. It will say, I can either act like a squirrel trying to get a nut, and when I get a nut, harvest it all and keep it all, or I can tell God, I'm willing to get into your money system. I'm willing to be a part of having resources pass through me so they can be used, yes, for me, but also for your purposes. And when God knows that someone is willing to participate in the money cycle, in his money cycle, often because he can trust you, more money passes through your hands. It's so important that you don't just look at your budget breakdown— your housing, your food, your debt, your entertainment— but that you're also looking at how God can use you, and you're praying over your finances and asking what is the purpose that he has for you, what are the priorities that he has for you. If you don't get God involved in the thinking, the planning, the praying, the sweating, the crying over your finances, you are missing out on what God wants to do by being involved in how you live abundantly in financial well-being, how you share, uh, abundantly as you look for others who you can bless, and how he can teach you how to expand your ability to manage what you have. And y'all, this is not about being rich, it is about being trusted. Luke 16:11 says whoever can be trusted with very little people can be trusted with much. Psalm 3:9 says to honor the Lord with your wealth. So this is not about simply making more or being more. This is about you being the person that can be trusted, that can be used, that can understand the assignment and participate in the end result. Now, when you include God in your finances and you decide to include him in how you spend and when you spend, in the decisions you make, the next thing is he's gonna want you, based on what he's revealing to you— and many of the scriptures about what to do with your finances are already in the Bible. You want a roadmap of what to do? Read the Bible, because he actually tells up that— and tells us that even an ant works hard and saves up for a rainy day. So there are principles there that you can learn. But once you get the basic principles right and you're including God in your finances, he's going to ask you to include him in the next level of your goal setting. Because there are things that we want in world. Some things that are enjoyable, like vacations, or some things that we need, like clothes, uh, some gifts that we want to give, like serving the poor, the widows, the orphans, our church. He's going to want us to, to have goals. Because when Adam and Eve were in the garden and God made Adam and Eve, he said to them, now, you know, exercise dominion. Like, you go make some choices. You name the animals, Adam. Y'all enjoy the garden. Like, I want you to enjoy creation like I enjoy creation. So there are some things that are up to you. And if you are not thinking about, yes, what does God want for me first, but also what has he put in my heart to do, how has he put in my mind to multiply or to care for other people, or to use these funds in a way that, yes, it's for my enjoyment but also for the well-being of other people— when you set goals and you're like, okay, based on scripture, I should have money when I retire, okay, God wants me to enjoy my family, so we want to go on a vacation, God wants me to be able to bless someone who's in dire need. So some of this money I'm just going to set aside for whenever God tells me that I'm supposed to give, that they're going to be causes that I hear about and events where I'm called upon to make a donation to keep a nonprofit going that serves people on the mission field or helps moms that are choosing whether or not they're going to keep their baby. I've got to have a reserve. When you realize what kind of person you want to be because of the call of God on your life, the goals that you have should be written down. If you've been around any time, you know that I like to talk about Habakkuk 2:2. Write the vision, make it plain. What we doing, where are we going, and what do we need in our back pocket to get there? I heard Oprah say once on somewhere, something, some channel, magazine, show, somewhere, y'all, but I did hear her say it. She said, life is not about money, and money will not make you happy. However, money— and I would add well-planned finances— certainly can make the path a little easier to traverse. Y'all, if there's time that your money can be funny and be totally out of control, it's the summer. Y'all listen, I got fake money in my hand. It's fake. I don't have it. Why? Because life is tripping out in these streets with finances. And that's why in the Inner Circle, one of our summer challenges is to stash yo cash. It's the No Spend Challenge where we challenge each other to pay attention to our money. So not only will we have the 21-day challenge, but we're also going to be digging into tips for being better about our budgets, managing our money, and stewarding our finances the way God would like us to. I would love for you to be a part of this journey for our Inner Circle members. Simply go to thesistercircle.com/innercircle to join the membership and to participate in getting your budget right this summer. I'd love for you to be a part. We begin July 21st, and I want you to be in the room. There are There are people who have money and who do not have peace. There are people who have finances, but they do not have faith. There are people who have their coffers full, but they are not confident in their future or what's going to happen for the, the fruitfulness of their life. They are miserable in their marriages, they are miserable at their jobs, they are miserable in their bodies, but their bank accounts are full. Trust me, if you can choose between being where God wants you to be doing what God wants you to do, married to the person God wants you to be married to, serving in the church God wants you to be serving in, growing your mind, your knowledge, getting the degrees that God wants you to be getting. If you can line up what he wants and then be satisfied with the finances he provides, and then to the degree of what you're given, that you maximize your potential and multiply what he's given you— you don't have to arrive at 7 figures and 6 figures and all the things that the interwebs want you to believe. To be settled not only in your salvation but also in the path, in the plan, in the exciting things that God wants to see happen in your life. So as you think about the basics, and if you also think about where am I going and what do I need to get there, that's where your goals lie. I gotta get to work, I need a car, so I'm going to save up for a car. I, I want to maybe one day— the, the men who sneak on here, you're like, one day I want to get married. So you put that money away because when you meet her, you want to be able to afford the Y'all, there are pieces of life that are involved with goal setting. So it's important for you to write your goals down and then not be afraid of thinking about them and what does it take to arrive. Your goals don't make you greedy, but knowing what your goals are can make you a good steward. You don't want to just pray for provision. That's great, that's the starting point. You want to pray for purpose, you want to pray for a plan, you want to get in line with what God is doing. God is not intimidated by your spreadsheets, okay? He does to merger though his foundational principles for living life and stewarding resources well with how you steward them based on what lights your fire and what puts you in the lane of God's purposes for you. So what I do and what I train my children to do— my husband and I have done it for a long time— we have short-term, midterm, and long-term goals. Let me start with long-term. Our long-term goals are for the things that are going to take us a while. It's like that big vacation, it's like the next car. It was when we were saving for a house. It long term is the big things that we know we can do, need to do, or want to do. Midterm is we're not sure what's coming. And when, um, we have a bill for something that needs to be fixed around the house, well, we're going to dip into the midterm because I really don't want to touch the money for the long term, the things I really, really want. Midterm is emergency savings— 6 months, 3 months, even a year if you can. Um, it is that if something blows up and if a door won't open and if the washing machine breaks, or if the fireplace won't fire, or if the, the house floods and I need to replace the carpets and the deductible is whack. That midterm is— it's there to spend when I need it. Short term is I live off of this, okay? I pay my house note off of this, I put gas in my car off of this, and I'm teaching my kids— my husband and I are teaching the kids— keep money limited for what you're going to blow right now so you don't blow through the money that you need later. Midterm is you don't necessarily even know what it is, but it's coming. Going out with your friends or doing something exciting or going to the movies or something that is just a bigger part of your plan, a gift for a friend. Uh, maybe you need to get some repairs done on your car. That is midterm. Long term, we put that money in a whole separate account, an account that they can't hardly even get into it easily. If you want to take your money out electronically, it's going to take 5 days to arrive. We want it to be hard for you to get to that because I don't want you to meet the girl of your dreams and not have the money to buy her ring. Your goals, starting with God and his framework for you, gets met by the things you actually want to do. It's okay to have things you actually want to do. And you use a budget for how you spend as a vision board for your values. Your budget is just a numerical vision board for your values. I have made budgets all my life, y'all, because like I said, I'm a money person. It's only when then I pay attention to what I wrote down, and I keep visiting that plan and assessing it versus my goals and saying, well, do I want to change something? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? When I write it down and then I come back to it, this is where the magic happens. Proverbs 21:5 says, the plans of the diligent lead to profit. Luke 14:28 says, suppose one of you wants to build a power. Don't you count the cost? You gotta count the cost of the goals that you have for your money. What will it take to get there? Many of us have house payments, and did you know if you just make payments every month and make an extra payment on those months where you've got a third week, you will cut the bejesus out of what you owe on your house? That's called planning. Planning, if you are looking at how you want to achieve the vacation that seems so far out— saving something, y'all, is better than saving nothing. And if you have to choose between saving for what you want and putting what you want on a credit card and having to pay for it for the rest of your life, don't get into debt to do what discipline can help you save and get prepared for. So you've got to do the little things that will get you where you want go. Okay, a goal without a plan— we've— many, many of us have heard this— is just a wish. So the first thing is get God involved. Get God involved. Ask him, how do you want me to be a good steward for you? Number 2, get involved with God. What do you want out of your life? How do you want to get there? Because money is the, the way you pave the way towards many of the goals that you have. And it's okay for your goal not to come down— the things that you want to be lightning strikes from heaven. God does not have to lightning strike you for you to go on a good vacation, okay? God does not have to lightning strike you when it's time for you to buy new clothes. God does not have to lightning strike you for you to say, you know what, I'm sick of living in an apartment, I want to go ahead and make a go for getting a house. God isn't going to lightning strike you when it's time to get a car and tell you exactly what kind of car to get. He's gonna say, why don't you get the car that you can afford. And in that, get the car that you can enjoy. Don't stress about God being involved, and also don't stress about making sure that you have goals. Just as you feel that little itch in your spirit or a little tingle in your back pocket and you're like, actually, I think I want— write it down. You don't have to do it today, but you sure can start thinking about it and planning for today. The third thing that I want to tell you is that it's important that you have a good, solid, healthy relationship with your money. Quit reacting to what's wrong and be in front of what can be right. Have a date night with your budget. I used to have my husband take the kids to church on Wednesday nights. They had a children's program, and that was my night to work on the budget. And I would get a cup of coffee, or I would get some tea, or I'd get a little snack, and I'd sit there and I'd balance the checkbook and make sure that I knew where were. Life got busier, the kids got older, we had this practice on Mondays and this thing on Wednesdays, and I lost track of my rhythm. And then I started reacting. I was not in relationship with my money, I was reacting to fires. That's not how you want to live. So a part of having a good relationship with money is that you've got to separate your emotion from money. Money is not emotional, you are emotional, and the way you spend it is emotional, but money. Numbers, y'all, are black and white. So spending time with your money and getting familiar with your numbers— stop avoiding the bad news because you're gonna have to pay the piper with your attention at some point. So get a relationship with your money where you're looking at it on a regular basis. At a minimum, I would say once a month you need to review your budget. If you can, every other week would be amazing. And if you're good, every week. Just keep tabs on where you are. Because even if you have overflow, then do you know how much money you've wasted not paying attention? Do you know how much money you could have invested instead of blowing it? Do you know how much money you could have been a blessing to someone else, or could have been a steward so that you were a pass-through for what God wanted to do? We blow so much money even when we're in a little bit of overflow because it doesn't matter. This is $5 or $10 or $20, or I'll I'll pick up the bill, or I'll do this, or I'll do that. And if you look up and at the end of the week you've spent double the money you should have spent on food just because you had bandwidth, what could you have done with that extra dollar? Because remember, money is not emotional, but you are. So you're spending it where you feel like spending it. Matthew 6:21 says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You spend, I spend, we all spend often money based on how we feel. But money is agnostic. You are the one who has to be committed to the goals that God has for you and the goals that he wants to free you up to enjoy. So healthy rhythms, weekly check-ins, monthly budgeting, annual reviews. If you are like, I can't do this by myself, maybe you're single, find a friend where y'all have a money date so that you are able to say, I achieved it, I didn't achieve it, why is my light bill so high? I'm gonna unplug everything around the house. Like, literally making this like you would take a friend for coffee and review it and get caught up. That's what you've got to do with your budget. Most people fall into budgetary trouble because they stop looking, they stop paying attention. So you want to involve God, people, trusted mentors, financial advisors, or even an accountability partner. You know, show them your bank account, show them your budget. Were you over or under? Give a report. I was over in my food. Why? I ate out too much. Okay, my, my gas was way over. What were you doing running back and forth to the mall? Shouldn't have been doing that. But involve people into the process because this will help you pay attention and be accountable for the decisions that you're making. If you're married, I know that he or she probably doesn't even want to meet with you because every time y'all talk about money you get in trouble. That's fine, work it out, be the bigger person, because it is good for you to know where you are. So just like you wouldn't neglect any relationship with anybody that had value to you, your relationship with money is one you cannot neglect. So create that money meeting date with yourself, with a friend, or with a spouse. Show up and keep looking at it so that it doesn't become like a person who just gives you a lightning rod down your spine when you see them. You're like, oh, I hate when they come in the room, I hate when I have to talk to them. You don't want to have that with your money, which means you have to look. Now, if you're afraid to look, go get a financial advisor, uh, ask somebody who is older who seems to have their stuff together to review your budget. Quit hiding, because let me tell you something, people that have money, people that have money in the circles that I sometimes find myself in, the people that have money don't have a problem talking about about it. It's the people who don't have it that are always like, well, I don't want you to know what I have, like a squirrel with a nut. You got to get comfortable talking about money. So find some trusted people, trusted friends, or trusted professionals so that you can begin to open up about these conversations, so you can see where your life is going. Most of us work all day during the week so that we can have money to live, and then we don't live because we're running out of money. Y'all, we work too hard and do too much not to know where our money is going and to feel good about what we're doing with it. Proverbs 27:23 says, be sure to know the condition of your flocks. You need to know how you're doing. 1 Corinthians 14:40 says, but everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Your budget should make sense. Quit spending and hoping you can make it to the end of the month That is the wrong mindset because God does not want you living on the edge. Now, there are seasons, you know, and there are times where because of something God has asked us to do— maybe we're a caregiver for a family member, maybe you're taking care of your parents or your small children, maybe God has called you to the mission field and the calling says something else— but when you're just living on edge because you're not paying attention and you're not being a good steward, that's not what we're talking about. You need to make sure that everything is fitting in an orderly way into the desires that you have and the purposes, plans, and baseline that God has for you. There are lots of different people out here talking about money. Money should not be your enemy, and there are more resources than ever before for you to hop online and find a budget, build a budget. You can take advantage of lots of resources from lots of people. With my background in money, I've even come up with something to help people figure out how they can get in front of and on top of and around— get their arms around their money. You are not without information, but you do have to get control of it so that it won't have control of you. So God isn't asking you necessarily to be the richest person alive. Is— I'm not gonna be mad at you if you are, but that's not necessarily goal. He is asking you to be ready. He is asking you to be connected. He is asking you to be knowledgeable. He is asking you to have a pulse, to pay attention, to not walk in fear. Financial peace is possible, but it begins with a partnership with God, with your goals, and then with your plan, with what is in your bank. Financial freedom is not about having more. It's about knowing what matters and also managing what you have so you can move forward in faith. So here's a question I have for you. Whether it's getting closer with God and asking him about your money, or looking up some of those verses on finances, or maybe it's getting clear about your goals, or maybe it's having a regly monthly money check-in, what one financial shift should you make based on this talk in order to honor God with your money, in order to aim with accountability towards the goals that you have, and/or or how to regularly connect with your money so you're not afraid. If you can take anything away from this talk, money is a tool. That's all it is. And whatever you do to get it, you then turn around and give it away. You are a part of a money cycle, and if you want to get it, then you need to be good at giving it away. If you want to get it, you need to be good at giving. If you want to be trusted with much, God's got to that if he gives it to you and there's a need, that you will release it. Because really, anything that he asks you to do is little in comparison to everything he owns. He owns everything, and everything you have comes first from him. Now, it may go through the money cycle, but it originated with him and it was aimed for you. You want to make sure you're in the right place, especially with what God has for you. Make God a money partner. Make sure that you include him in on your goals, and then keep an eye on your bank account. So my hope is that today that you decide to connect with God, connect with your goals, or connect with the money in your bank account, and to realize that all you're supposed to do is be a conduit. Receive from your source, let it go through the money cycle and come to you, and then you be ready to be a good steward, use your resources well, and pass it along. And here's what I can guarantee when you do things God's way, especially with the resources that he's given you. He is the one who repays. So hang in there, do your money right, and trust that God not only can meet all your needs but can cause you spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially to be able to live above and beyond anything that you can ask or even think.