Latest / Becoming Financially Confident / What Does "Intentional Living" Even Mean for My Money?

Transcript

What Does "Intentional Living" Even Mean for My Money? · Becoming Financially Confident

• 0:00
  Ralph: Do you ever feel like your money just has a mind of its own,
• 0:03
  like it slips through your fingers before you even realize where it
• 0:06
  went, but what if you could grab the steering wheel and confidently direct
• 0:11
  every dollar towards a life filled with purpose, not just spending?
• 0:16
  I want you to stick with me today because I've got the keys to
• 0:19
  make that happen on today's show.
• 0:35
  Hey there.
• 0:35
  Welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.
• 0:38
  I'm Ralph and I'm just so happy you've chosen to join me again today as we work
• 0:43
  to answer our big question, how can I become a financially confident Christian?
• 0:49
  Now, yesterday we kicked off our new series and it's called Beyond
• 0:52
  the Budget, finding Financial Freedom Through Intentional Living.
• 0:56
  Yesterday we started off by challenging the idea that money is always the answer.
• 1:02
  I hope you went and listened to it.
• 1:03
  If you missed it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out
• 1:05
  because we really debunked that myth that money is always the answer.
• 1:09
  And today we're gonna ask the next logical question, and that's this.
• 1:14
  Ralph, what does intentional living even mean for your money?
• 1:17
  I thought we needed to start there and really start to dive into what
• 1:20
  does Intentional living even mean.
• 1:24
  Maybe like many people, you've tried budgeting.
• 1:27
  You say, oh, Ralph, this is a hassle, but I've tried it.
• 1:30
  Maybe you even tracked spending for a while.
• 1:32
  You did it for a week or two, or maybe even a month.
• 1:36
  And in many ways this financial management just still feels sort of accidental.
• 1:40
  Like it just something you sort of just happened to you.
• 1:43
  And then money, money just be, feels like this thing.
• 1:46
  It just happens to you in general.
• 1:48
  Your spending's always stuck on autopilot.
• 1:52
  Then you're like me, you get to the end of the week or the end of the
• 1:54
  month or your, the next paycheck, you're like, Hey, where did it all go?
• 1:58
  I call this financial drift, and that financial drift is subtle at
• 2:02
  first, but it's a persistent source of stress for so many people.
• 2:07
  And maybe you're sitting there right now and you go, oh, Ralph, he's
• 2:09
  talking about intentional living.
• 2:10
  Guess what that means?
• 2:11
  That means deprivation.
• 2:13
  Maybe that's what you think.
• 2:15
  But I'm gonna challenge that right here at the beginning.
• 2:17
  See, that's a, that's a profound misunderstanding,
• 2:20
  and that misunderstanding is keeping you stuck here.
• 2:24
  See, in my view, the real struggle is living without a clear why.
• 2:29
  What's your why for your money?
• 2:31
  ' cause here's the thing I want you to hear today.
• 2:34
  Intentional living isn't about deprivation.
• 2:37
  It's just not, it's not about, well, I can't do this and I can't do that.
• 2:41
  Actually, I'm gonna flip the script and I'm gonna tell you what I
• 2:43
  really believe that intentional living is all about purpose.
• 2:48
  See, it's the ultimate level of control.
• 2:50
  It's about making conscious, deliberate choices with every single
• 2:54
  dollar that comes into your pocket.
• 2:57
  And if you're doing it right, if you're doing it right, it's
• 3:02
  gonna reflect your deepest values.
• 3:04
  And God's calling on your life.
• 3:06
  Let's look at the, at the word today.
• 3:08
  Let's look at the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verses
• 3:10
  15 and 16, and I love this verse starts with a very stark warning.
• 3:17
  Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making
• 3:25
  the most of every opportunity.
• 3:27
  Hey, when the verse starts off with, be very careful.
• 3:30
  Guess what that means?
• 3:30
  Be careful.
• 3:33
  It's talking about living and it's talking about making wise decisions.
• 3:38
  'cause it's talking about opportunities here and unwise people don't take
• 3:43
  advantage of the opportunities.
• 3:45
  Let's continue our, our look at the word.
• 3:46
  Let's look at the book of Colossians, chapter three verse two.
• 3:51
  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
• 3:57
  That's impactful because what it's saying to us is don't get so hung
• 4:00
  up on those earthly possessions.
• 4:02
  I mentioned in the show that watch I had to have yesterday that was distinctly
• 4:08
  earthly, but collage is saying no.
• 4:10
  Set your mind on things above.
• 4:13
  here's the real answer, intentional living.
• 4:17
  What I'll call purpose-driven use of God's resources.
• 4:20
  It is ultimately about faithful stewardship.
• 4:25
  So now you're probably asking Ralph, what can we do?
• 4:28
  How do we stop that drifting?
• 4:29
  You talk about and start living intentionally.
• 4:31
  'cause that's what I want to do, Ralph.
• 4:32
  I wanna live out God's given purpose in my life.
• 4:35
  I wanna live intentionally.
• 4:38
  I've got the solution for you.
• 4:40
  It starts with defining your personal vision for financial intentionality.
• 4:45
  I talk about intentionality on the show a great deal, but it starts with
• 4:49
  having that vision and that vision.
• 4:52
  You wanna align it with your values and with God's purpose
• 4:55
  or God's calling on your life.
• 4:57
  And this isn't some big, humongous thing that you must do.
• 5:01
  You gotta make small, consistent choices day in and day out
• 5:05
  that reflect that vision.
• 5:07
  ' cause in the end, that's what becomes your compass.
• 5:09
  And that compass is gonna point you in the direction of your values
• 5:14
  and God's purpose on your life.
• 5:17
  So here's your one action step for today.
• 5:19
  This is what I want you to do to really put this intentional
• 5:22
  living into your life step.
• 5:24
  the first thing I want you to do is define your intentional financial life.
• 5:30
  You gotta sit down, maybe take five or 10 minutes.
• 5:34
  Ask yourself this very deep question, what does a purposeful
• 5:39
  financial life look like?
• 5:41
  And everybody's answer could be different to this, but ask yourself that question.
• 5:45
  What does a purposeful financial life look like?
• 5:49
  I mentioned this a little bit yesterday.
• 5:51
  it about freedom?
• 5:52
  Is it about not worrying where your next dollar's coming, breaking that
• 5:55
  cycle of financial shame or breaking that paycheck to paycheck cycle.
• 5:59
  For you, maybe it's generosity.
• 6:01
  Do you want to be more giving?
• 6:02
  Do you wanna support your church?
• 6:03
  Do you wanna support your charities?
• 6:05
  Maybe you wanna do more for your children or your grandchildren.
• 6:09
  For a lot of people, it might simply be living in simplicity.
• 6:12
  I don't wanna have all this stuff, Ralph.
• 6:14
  I don't need all this going on around me.
• 6:16
  It's just too busy in my world.
• 6:18
  And for some of us.
• 6:19
  Maybe it's our calling, and I just want you to take some time and capture
• 6:23
  a few words, or maybe even not words, but just images that represent this.
• 6:28
  For example, let's say yours is freedom.
• 6:31
  You might say to yourself, I wanna be free from that paycheck to
• 6:34
  paycheck cycle stress, that that means saying no to things that only
• 6:38
  offer that short-term gratification.
• 6:41
  So I can always say yes to long-term peace.
• 6:45
  As I said, maybe for you, it's a generosity for me, a, a purposeful
• 6:47
  financial life means having margin.
• 6:50
  I talk about that on the show all the time so that I can
• 6:52
  help when others are in need.
• 6:53
  I, I wanna be the kind of person who can respond when someone's in crisis.
• 6:59
  Maybe yours is simplicity.
• 7:00
  I'm craving less clutters physically and financial.
• 7:03
  I, I don't need to keep up great in my lifestyle to feel successful.
• 7:08
  It's a person who sees peace is the new luxury.
• 7:11
  As I mentioned, maybe it's that calling my financials should
• 7:14
  reflect my faith and my calling.
• 7:15
  I want to invest in what truly matters, my family, my church, and and the
• 7:21
  mission God has placed on my heart.
• 7:24
  So maybe you write about a quiet home with fewer bills or giving
• 7:27
  without hesitation, not even worrying about anymore that debt-free living.
• 7:32
  Maybe for you it's that Sunday family dinner, or maybe just
• 7:36
  simple words like margin.
• 7:39
  Peace or legacy or impact, or, hey, maybe this one obedience.
• 7:45
  And then I just want you to take that vision that you put
• 7:48
  to yourself together and connect it to a recent spending choice.
• 7:52
  Think of one non-essential recent purchase that you made, and then ask yourself that
• 7:57
  tough question, did this purchase align with my intentional financial vision?
• 8:04
  This is not about guilt.
• 8:06
  It's just about awareness.
• 8:07
  So for example, let's say you had an impulse, Amazon purchase.
• 8:11
  Hey, I, I bought a second ring light because it was on sale.
• 8:14
  I do content creation, but I already had one looking back that wasn't in line with
• 8:19
  my desire for simplicity or stewardship.
• 8:21
  I didn't need to, and I'm trying to steward my money.
• 8:25
  Maybe one of yours is eaten out multiple times.
• 8:27
  Know you say to yourself, I ate out three times last week, not because I had to.
• 8:31
  But because I didn't plan ahead, and I've done shows about that, and you
• 8:35
  say to yourself, my goal is to be more intentional with health and finances.
• 8:41
  Maybe for you it says impulse buys, and you're buying a subscription
• 8:43
  app and you say to yourself, I subscribe to another productivity
• 8:46
  tool and I haven't opened it one time.
• 8:49
  I say, I want financial freedom, but my spending doesn't reflect that this time.
• 8:54
  Ask yourself these very difficult questions.
• 8:56
  Was the purchase life giving or just a distraction?
• 9:00
  And then ask yourself this really difficult question, did it move me
• 9:02
  closer to or further away from peace?
• 9:05
  Once you've done those two things, I want you to plan one next intentional choice.
• 9:10
  Think about an upcoming spending moment that you're gonna have, and
• 9:14
  think about how you can redirect that money more intentionally.
• 9:17
  As we talked about, maybe you delay it, maybe you reduce it or
• 9:20
  you reallocate it with purpose.
• 9:22
  Lemme give you a few examples.
• 9:24
  Let's say you've got an upcoming family outing.
• 9:27
  So instead of going to an amusement park this weekend, we we're choosing
• 9:30
  a, a hike and a homemade picnic.
• 9:32
  It's that frees up $150 to pay down our credit card bill.
• 9:36
  I would say that's living with purpose.
• 9:39
  Or maybe for you it's that new clothing temptation.
• 9:41
  I, I saw a summer sale pop up in my inbox.
• 9:44
  Hey, I see those all the time.
• 9:46
  Instead of buying more, I took 10 minutes to clean out my closet.
• 9:50
  That small act realigned me with simplicity 'cause that was the thing
• 9:53
  that you said was important to you.
• 9:56
  Or maybe it's that caffeine run decision.
• 9:57
  I budgeted for five coffee shop visit this month and I'm down to my last
• 10:01
  one and now I'm choosing to skip it today 'cause that $5 will go towards
• 10:07
  my emergency fund instead because you find value in, in safety and peace and
• 10:12
  an emergency fund is important to you.
• 10:15
  So ask yourself, What's one small but symbolic shift that I can make
• 10:19
  this week that will have an impact and help me to live intentionally?
• 10:23
  How can I show God that I trust him through this next financial decision?
• 10:27
  And here's why this helps you, because it fights that drift.
• 10:30
  I've talked about that drift.
• 10:32
  It fights that drift because you're being intentional.
• 10:35
  It builds that intentionality and it creates that alignment
• 10:38
  between faith, between money.
• 10:41
  Purpose because you define what your purpose is and you've
• 10:44
  aligned that with your decisions.
• 10:46
  Well, let's pray together now.
• 10:48
  Father God, we just thank you for being our provider.
• 10:52
  And Lord, we confess our money often feels accidental.
• 10:55
  It just seems like it happens to us sometimes, and we know that's not the
• 10:58
  way you want us to live our lives, Lord.
• 11:00
  So we just ask that you would help us define financial intentionality.
• 11:05
  Lord, grant us wisdom and grant us discipline as we really work to live
• 11:09
  within your will, and we ask that you would help us to have our money
• 11:12
  reflect your purposes for our lives, and we ask this with confidence.
• 11:18
  In Jesus' name, Amen.
• 11:21
  Listen, financial peace isn't about income.
• 11:25
  I said that yesterday and I said that again today because it's so important.
• 11:29
  It's about how intentionally you live and you can live intentionally.
• 11:34
  You gotta define your vision and make one intentional choice today, because
• 11:38
  listen, you're moving towards freedom and I just wanna encourage you now, if
• 11:43
  this episode has been helpful for you, do me a huge favor and share it with
• 11:47
  somebody else who needs to hear it.
• 11:50
  It's a whole lot of people out there who are battling that feeling of being
• 11:53
  like their money is just, is just working and it's accidental to them.
• 11:57
  It just happenstance and, and they can learn from this show and
• 12:00
  they can learn from this episode.
• 12:02
  So I'm just gonna encourage you to share it with them more.
• 12:04
  People need to hear about the peace that comes with being intentional.
• 12:09
  You can visit financially confident christian.com or
• 12:11
  share that website with them.
• 12:13
  And while you're there, I wanna give you a free copy of my book.
• 12:16
  It's called Mastering Your Finances.
• 12:18
  It's just a quick read, but it is impactful and it will help
• 12:21
  you live that purposeful life.
• 12:23
  And you can get to it by going the financially confident
• 12:26
  christian.com/master.
• 12:29
  Now tomorrow we're gonna tackle the more is better myth.
• 12:31
  We're gonna talk about more and more and more like when my kids were really
• 12:34
  young, they say, I need more, I need more.
• 12:36
  And we're really gonna start to challenge consumerism.
• 12:39
  So I, I wanna encourage you not to miss it.
• 12:41
  So let's all go out there and be financially confident.
• 12:44
  Christians, you can do this.
• 12:47
  I believe in you now.
• 12:48
  Believe in yourself.
• 12:50
  Stay financially savvy.
• 12:51
  God bless you, and you have a great day today.