No nation has been blessed more than the United States since World War II! The Industrial Revolution brought thousands and even millions of jobs to our country. Prosperity was evident in every area of our society. Everyone had a job who wanted one. Home and cars were now available to the average wage earner.

While prosperity continued it was evident that there were some significant cracks in our economic structure. Debt soon became the acceptable way of life. Our government became the leader of debt for the rest of us to follow. The government is in debt, all my friends are in debt, so debt must be for me too!

For the most part, Christians have followed the world’s steps. It is here that Christians must see a need to change.

In the abundance and affluence of our day selfishness has resulted. Remember our first lesson? It was on giving. Jesus said “it is most blessed to give than receive”. Selfishness is not the result of giving and having a heart to give. There is a process that takes place in anyone’s life if selfishness is not confessed and forsaken. Selfishness plus abundance equals greed. That’s where the “love of money” comes in and that results in the “root of all evil”.

For the Christian, financial planning is a must if one truly wants to be Biblical in his/her life. To answer questions such as “Will I ever have enough?”, “Will it continue to be enough?”, and “How much is enough?” must be answered from God’s prospective, which is, He knows all things, has all wisdom, knows our purpose in life and is in control of the future.

It must be said again that “we cannot live above our means”. We cannot owe more than we receive and think that things are going to be better some day.

I believe God is more concerned about my finances and your finances than He is in America’s economic uncertainty!

By now, I hope that you have made a detailed budget of your finances. If you are going to “build a tower” you must first of all plan, and a budget is a plan and guide for you.

Secondly, I hope you have made, raised, found a $1,000. Remember that emergencies are the greatest enemy of a budget.

You should now be ready to tackle your first debt, which is the debt of smallest amount owed. Your goal is to pay off this debt as soon as possible and then apply everything you were paying on debt 1 now to debt 2. Dave Ramsey calls this “Start the Debt Snowball”. NOW IS THE TIME TO GET STARTED!!!

UnTHINK MONEY!
Ways to waste money: Pay Banking Fees! Overdraw your checking account and you will pay from $25 to $50 for each check, so it pays to keep your balance current in your check book! Don’t pay for a checking account. Call the banks and find one which gives free checking. Refuse to pay checking fees. Not tomorrow - NOW!