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Is "More Money" Really the Answer to My Financial Stress? · Becoming Financially Confident

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  Ralph: You've worked hard, you've managed your money, maybe even increased your
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  income, but then deep down, do you still feel this nagging financial stress?
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  What if the answer isn't just more money, but something even far more liberating?
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  Stick with me today because I'm gonna share exactly how
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  to find that real freedom.
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  Hey, and welcome back to your Daily Financially Confident Christian.
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  I'm Ralph, and we continue our journey answering that big question, how can I
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  become a financially confident Christian?
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  Now, if you join me yesterday, you know, we wrapped up a powerful series
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  on dealing with the stress of money worries, and if there was 30 episodes
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  in that series, I encourage if you missed any of 'em, you can go back and
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  check them out right on our website.
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  But today I'm excited to launch a new series and this one we're
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  calling Beyond the Budget.
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  Finding financial freedom through intentional living.
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  We're gonna talk about a lot of intentional living discussions.
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  And today's core question is, this is more money, really the
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  answer to my financial stress.
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  Now, maybe you've been there, you get that raise and there's
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  this, you know, moment of relief.
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  You're like, go, wow, this is fantastic.
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  I, I got that raise.
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  Now, things aren't gonna seem so tight and, and for a little while it
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  stays like that, but then over time, expenses start to creep up again.
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  And those bills start to feel stressful again, and you chase more income, but the
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  peace doesn't last because there's this belief that somehow income equals peace.
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  And that's a very common belief.
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  The problem is, it's so disappointing when it doesn't deliver.
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  'cause what it really does, it just leaves you chasing endlessly and endlessly.
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  You're, you're just never content.
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  You're never free.
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  And that very pursuit.
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  That very pursuit becomes its own source of stress.
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  I remember, I, I fell into this trap myself.
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  I'll never forget it.
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  I decided that I wanted to buy a really expensive watch
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  'cause I had to have this watch.
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  My business had been doing well, it had groan.
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  And, and I saw this watch as a sign that I had arrived and my
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  wife and I and the two boys, we decided we're gonna go to the mall.
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  And we went to this fancy jewelry store.
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  And I'm looking at the counter, man.
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  I'm telling you, I'm, I'm all puffed up.
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  I'm feeling great about myself.
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  And I picked out the one I wanted and I said, oh, this is, this is so beautiful.
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  It's a beautiful watch.
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  And the lady behind the counter, you know, she sized it up for me and checked out.
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  And I don't even wanna tell you what I spent, 'cause it was ridiculous.
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  But I'm walking down the mall and I'm kind of putting on this little crazy
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  strut, and you look at me, look at me.
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  I got home and oh look, a day or two later, guess what?
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  I just felt empty again, the reason I felt empty, was because
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  it was all about what others think.
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  See, here's the thing.
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  Income is important.
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  Yes, it is important.
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  The Bible teaches something far more important and far more valuable.
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  It teaches contentment.
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  And the thing you've gotta understand is what I don't want you
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  to hear today, we start this new series about intentional living.
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  You need to understand that contentment doesn't come from possessions.
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  Let's get into the word.
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  Let's look at the book of Luke, chapter 12, verse 15.
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  It says this, watch out.
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  Hey, when a verse starts, watch out.
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  Guess what?
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  Watch out.
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  Watch out.
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  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
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  Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions, and I wish I had read that
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  before I went and bought that watch.
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  And here's another truth, mom.
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  Peace isn't about your income size, it's just not.
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  I've met some very wealthy people who are definitely not at peace, and I've
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  met some people who are just barely making it, who have a level of peace
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  that I could only hope to get to.
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  Peace isn't about your income size, it's about how you manage,
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  and more importantly, what you think about what you have.
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  See, here's the thing.
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  You gotta ask yourself if your desires are always growing.
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  When your income grows, you're always gonna feel stretched.
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  You're just always gonna feel stretched.
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  It wouldn't matter how much income you have because the
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  desire keeps growing with it.
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  See, God calls us to something completely different.
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  God calls us to steward what we have with purpose.
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  With purpose, and see true peace.
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  It's my personal view today, what I wanna share.
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  True peace comes from intentional living, not just more money.
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  So now you're saying, Ralph, what can we do?
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  Is, is, if more money isn't the answer.
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  And Ralph, I'm confused.
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  What's the answer?
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  Kind of already alluded to it, but I truly believe the single solution
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  is to embrace intentional living.
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  Now you're gonna say, Ralph, what does that mean?
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  Well, let me tell you right now, I want you to embrace intentional living.
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  I want you to align your spending.
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  I want you to align your savings, and I want you to align your giving.
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  Align those with your values, align those with your purpose, and align
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  those with a level of contentment.
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  You gotta choose how money serve you and how it serves God instead of letting
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  culture dictate your financial life.
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  Hey, when I bought that watch, that's what I was doing.
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  I was letting culture dictate my financial life.
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  I made this ridiculously dumb decision.
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  I ended up selling the watch a few months later, but I had
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  to make a conscious decision.
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  I had to be intentional.
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  I had to choose how money serves me.
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  Instead of letting culture just dictate it.
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  So I've got your one action item for today.
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  I want you to start by reflecting on that.
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  Why?
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  Because that's where it needs to start.
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  Ask yourself this very difficult soul searching question,
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  why do I want more money?
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  And that's not an easy question to ask or an easy answer to answer either.
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  Why do I want more money?
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  And be honest with yourself.
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  Is it for security?
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  I just don't wanna worry about money anymore.
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  Is it so you can give more?
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  I wanna be more charitable.
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  Maybe it's not.
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  Maybe it's for comparison.
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  Hey, that's what I was doing is about, I wanna walk through the mall, look
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  at this guy, look at this watch.
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  I wanted everybody to say, look at that watch.
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  That's fantastic.
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  Or maybe it's just consumption.
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  And I'm not telling you to judge.
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  I'm not judging you.
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  Listen, I'm not judging you right now.
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  Reflect on your why.
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  Ask, why do you want more money?
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  It's not about judgment.
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  It's about awareness.
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  The second step to this, I want you to identify one unintentional expense.
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  I want you to look at your weak spending.
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  Hopefully you're still tracking that spending.
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  If you, if you're not tracking 'em, encourage you to do it, but look at
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  your weak spending and find one habit or item that doesn't match your values.
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  A friend of mine, mark once told me, he said, Ralph, I listened to your
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  show and it punched me in the gut.
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  I guess that was a good thing.
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  He sort of, he said, Rob, you know, when I listen to you sometimes
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  it, it's exactly what I need.
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  He said, punch in the gut.
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  ' cause what Mark was saying is it's that habit or that item
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  that doesn't match his values.
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  These could be things like impulse buys or maybe just convenience cost,
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  or as I was doing those status driven purchases at your spending, find
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  that who's one, maybe there's several that just don't match your values.
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  Then to be intentional, the next step is to make a conscious choice for you.
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  Maybe that's decide to either eliminate it for a week.
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  Maybe you say, listen, this is one of those status driven purchases.
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  I don't need to go to Starbucks.
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  I don't need to go wherever you're going.
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  I'm not picking on Starbucks, but maybe you eliminate it for a week, or maybe for
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  you it's that impulse buying, so maybe you need to just reduce it significantly.
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  Maybe you put in that pause that I talk about on the show.
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  Before I buy something, I'm gonna put it in the cart and let it sort of
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  stew out there, like in the crockpot.
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  Or maybe the decision is, listen, I'm gonna redirect it all altogether.
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  I'm gonna redirect it to a better goal.
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  So think about your why, look at your spending, and be intentional.
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  Make that conscious choice and decide what you're gonna do with it.
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  Eliminate it, reduce it, or just redirect it all together.
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  And I wanna tell you why this helps, because here's how it helps, it stops
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  that passive drift towards stress.
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  Because here's what I've, here's what I've observed in my own life.
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  This is Ralph talking.
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  Now, as my income increases, the stress starts to increase too, because there's
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  more of an expectation that I need more.
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  But this redirect, it redirects your energy to that intentional piece.
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  You're, you're saying to yourself, here are my values, here are my wise.
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  Here's why I choose.
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  Here's what I choose to do with my money.
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  And in the end, a big hairy takeaway from this is you prove that
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  peace doesn't require more money.
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  It just doesn't.
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  That's the beautiful answer to this.
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  Your peace doesn't require more money.
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  It just requires a better alignment with your God given purpose.
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  Well, let's pray together now.
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  Father, we just thank you for being our provider.
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  And Lord, we often believe that more money is the answer to stress,
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  It's gonna solve all our problems.
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  Lord, help us see through that myth.
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  Help us to live intentionally.
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  Lord, help us to align our money with your purposes and, and really our 'core why's'.
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  Help us to seek contentment, Lord, and help us to find clarity in these
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  intentional financial decisions.
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  And we ask this with confidence.
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  In Jesus' name, Amen.
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  Listen.
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  Financial peace isn't just about your paycheck size, it's just not.
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  I hope you trust me on that.
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  It's about how intentionally you live.
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  See, that's what this whole next 30 days is gonna be about,
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  how to intentionally live.
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  So I just wanna encourage you, take one small step, because
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  you're moving towards freedom.
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  I just wanna encourage you, if this episode has been impactful to you,
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  or if the show in general has been impactful to you, do me a favor and
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  share this episode with somebody else.
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  There are other people out there that need to hear this message of hope and
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  this message of there is a better way.
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  They don't have to live in that financial shame, in that stress all the time.
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  So I'm just gonna encourage you to share the show.
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  You can also find all of our resources at our website that's financially.
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  Confident christian.com.
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  And while you're there, I've got a special gift for you.
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  I wanna give you a copy of my book.
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  It's called Mastering Your Finances.
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  It's absolutely free.
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  It's just a small re, but let me tell you right now, it can be truly impactful
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  and you get that by going to financially confident christian.com/master.
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  Now, tomorrow we're gonna really dig in deep to really discuss what
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  Intentional Living really means.
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  I'm gonna get into the detail, so don't miss it.
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  Now let's all go out there and be.
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  Financially confident Christians, you can do this.
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  I believe in you.
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  Believe in yourself.
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  Stay financially savvy.
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  God bless you, and you have a great day today.