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How Do I Unsubscribe from Constant Consumer Culture? · Becoming Financially Confident

• 0:00
  Ralph: Is your phone blowing up with hot deals and can't miss sales?
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  Feels harmless, right?
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  That's until your bank account starts bleeding.
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  What if those nonstop buzz isn't just noise, but it's really a sinister trap?
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  Well stick around because I'm about to hand you the secret to shutting it
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  down and shutting it down for good.
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  That's what I'm gonna talk about on today's show.
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  Hey there and welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.
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  I'm Ralph and it's always great to be with you, and I just thank you
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  again for honoring me with just a little bit of your time each day.
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  We're still in pursuit of answering that big question, how can I become
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  a financially confident Christian?
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  And we're deep in our series beyond the budget, really working to find
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  that financial freedom through what I call intentional living.
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  And if you've been following along, you know, yesterday we talked about
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  the power of delayed gratification.
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  Hey, we called it your superpower.
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  If you missed it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out.
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  Today we're gonna talk about how to unsubscribe from that constant
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  consumer culture that might be making your bank account bleed.
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  Hey, that's no joke.
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  Think about it for a second.
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  You open up your email and then flash sale.
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  Listen, I'm just gonna go on a rant right now for a second.
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  ' cause as I was preparing for this episode.
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  The truth is, in many ways our email has just become that new junk mail.
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  I remember when I was a kid, my mom would get home from work and there'd be a stack
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  of mail, and it seemed like half of the mail just went right in a trash can.
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  Well, our email's becoming that as well, but I get off my ran now.
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  But maybe you're scrolling Instagram, you see those targeted ads, or
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  maybe you're like me, you're just reading the news or you're checking
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  out what's going on around you.
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  You've got what I call the sidebar of temptation, mean
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  just add after, add after add.
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  This is just a constant barrage coming at you from all directions.
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  And what is it doing?
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  If you really think about what it's doing, if you, if you pull up
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  the hood on that, look under the hood, it's just slowly training
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  us to want more and more and more.
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  And there's a couple of big things.
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  It does three things.
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  It really does right away it steals our focus.
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  If you're out there looking at the news, you wanna focus on what you're looking at,
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  and then you got this sidebar temptation.
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  Or maybe you're trying to go through your email, you got some
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  important emails that get packing.
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  Now you got these popups from Amazon and Target and all the other retailers.
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  That's the first thing.
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  It does it.
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  It steals your focus.
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  And then over time, that bleeding, it's just draining your budget.
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  And as your budget gets drained, what is really happening behind the scenes,
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  it just absolutely sabotages the peace that you're working so hard to get to.
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  And see, here's the thing.
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  You gotta understand.
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  This is like a Ralph truism.
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  This is the truth bomb of all truth bombs.
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  This is the megaton bomb.
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  The digital world is engineered for consumption.
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  That's the whole point of it.
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  It's engineered for consumption.
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  So we have a choice.
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  We can either accept that consumption and let it slowly drain us and train us into
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  spending all of our hard earned money.
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  Or we can draw some boundaries.
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  'cause if we don't.
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  We're just gonna get drowned in that noise.
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  Well, let's look to the word for some assistance here.
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  Let's go to the book of Romans.
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  You know, I mentioned on the show, Romans is probably my favorite verse
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  of the Bible, but this particular one is chapter 12, verse two.
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  It says this, do not conform to the pattern of this world.
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  It's, it's pretty straightforward, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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  What are two things that say there do not conform to the pattern of this world.
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  Well, I, I've said it.
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  The pattern of this world is more, more, more.
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  If you've been listening for the last couple days, more and more and
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  more consumption, buy now, pay later.
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  But scripture is warning us about something very sinister in that, but be
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  transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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  We've got to make that a profitable verse for us.
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  Look at first John chapter two, verse 16.
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  The lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
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  You might be saying, Ralph, okay, you do this Christian finance show.
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  I don't get the connection.
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  Well, here's the thing you gotta understand.
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  Unsubscribing isn't just digital.
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  It's spiritual because it's guarding your heart and choosing God's peace
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  rather than being bombarded with the constant consumer messages.
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  'cause here's the deal, you choose the inputs.
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  If you're choosing the inputs that shapes your financial output, you
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  want to take control of your finances.
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  That's the ultimate level of control.
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  You choose what comes into it.
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  the old adage is garbage in, garbage out.
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  If you're filling your mind with garbage, what do you think's gonna come out of it?
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  So now you might be saying, Ralph, okay, great.
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  I agree with you.
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  I'm trapped in this cycle of this consumerism.
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  You know that all those things are all around me.
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  What can I do?
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  How do I break free?
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  I've kind of already alluded to it.
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  The big solution is to create some digital boundaries and listen to me
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  unsubscribe from unnecessary messaging.
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  The digital marketers are not gonna be happy with me today.
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  But the big thing you're doing is you're choosing peace over
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  being constantly under pressure.
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  So I wanna give you an action item for today.
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  Step one, declutter your inbox.
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  This can be a fun game for you to play.
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  Unsubscribe to marketing emails that tempt you.
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  For example, you realize every morning you're tempted by a 50% off.
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  Today only email from your favorite clothing store, unsubscribe.
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  Pretty simple.
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  Or maybe you get that daily email from Amazon, even when
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  you're not looking for anything.
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  Unsubscribe.
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  Or maybe that home decor website sends the weekly inspiration emails that
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  always lead to those impulse buys.
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  Gone.
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  That's your email.
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  Second step, filter our social media.
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  I'm gonna encourage you right now, mute or unfollow those influencers,
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  those brands or those accounts that trigger spending or envy.
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  For example, maybe you've got this luxury lifestyle influencer who are constantly
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  posting beautiful designer bags and vacation getaways that they make you
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  feel like you're being left behind.
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  Unfollow that you don't need that, you don't need that input of that negativity.
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  Or maybe you've got a home renovation account that that makes, you wanna
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  just keep completely doing those, those new two new projects that,
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  oh, I'm gonna redo our kitchen.
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  But you look around, there's nothing wrong with your kitchen,
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  but you saw this home renovation.
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  You, oh, this is great.
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  I gotta do this.
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  Look at these pictures you say to your husband or your wife,
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  Hey, look at these pictures.
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  No, get rid of it.
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  Or maybe unfollow a fitness brand that posts nonstop about their
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  supplements and their gear and they, they're constantly tempting you
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  to buy things that you don't need.
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  Third thing I'm gonna encourage you to do is what I'm gonna
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  call the no browse challenge.
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  That's why it might take a little effort, because if you're like me,
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  you're kind of addicted to that browsing.
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  You just say to yourself, look for the next 48 or 72 hours, no browsing retail
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  sites unless it's a planned specific need.
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  It'll help you resist that urge to scroll.
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  Amazon just, Hey, I just wanna see what's new.
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  72 hours.
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  Nope.
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  You gonna save time and money?
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  Let's get browsing that target app, unless you've already decided you need
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  laundry detergent or, or paper towels.
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  Hey, the, the paper towels are running low.
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  That's fine.
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  Go get the paper towels, but don't look at the sidebars and all the
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  other stuff that you gotta have.
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  And instead of op opening that shopping app out of just boredom,
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  we talked about that the other day.
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  Why are you doing this?
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  What are your triggers?
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  So instead of opening up that shopping app, 'cause you're just bored, you're
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  laying around, you got nothing to do, go take a walk, read a book, read my
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  book, organize a drawer, do something.
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  You can break this cycle.
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  'cause here's the deal, fewer triggers leads to less impulse.
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  This, it, it's, it's a simple equation.
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  What's coming in.
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  If you reduce the inputs, if you have fewer triggers, there's gonna be less
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  decisions and less impulse to go do it.
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  Less noise.
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  I said that clatter going around you from all different sides.
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  That's more peace and it lets you focus back to what truly matters.
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  You break free of that cycle of that noise all around you.
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  How about we pray together?
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  Father God, we just thank you for technology and access.
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  We do really appreciate it, Lord.
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  But we confess, honestly, that we're easily swayed by all this digital
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  noise coming to us from all directions.
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  So Lord, right here, right now, we ask you to help us take a stand, help us
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  filter that with wisdom, strengthen our discipline, Lord, and restore the
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  peace that we so eagerly search for.
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  And Lord, we're gonna feel a void there, so just fill our lives with your purpose
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  and not this lie of constant consumption.
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  And we ask this in confidence.
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  In Jesus name.
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  Amen.
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  I wanna say something.
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  Decluttering digitally helps you spend wisely and live freely.
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  Do you wanna spend wisely?
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  Do you wanna live freely?
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  Then unsubscribe.
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  Unfollow, and if you have to just completely unplug, you're
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  moving towards real peace.
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  And if today's episode has been impactful, you like, Hey, I know a
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  bunch of people that need to disconnect.
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  Do me a huge favor, share this episode with them.
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  Point 'em to our website, financially confident christian.com.
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  Hey, make a game of it.
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  Go onto your text list and text every single person you know and say, Hey,
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  you gotta listen to this episode.
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  It's all about how to break that cycle of that, of that stuff that's
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  coming at you from all directions.
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  I also wanna give you a copy of my book.
• 9:58
  I mentioned it a few minutes ago.
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  This is something if you're bored.
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  I'm not gonna encourage you to read just if you're bored, but it
• 10:03
  will really be impactful to you.
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  It's called Mastering Your Finances.
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  You can get to it for free, no strings attached financially
• 10:10
  confident christian.com/master.
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  Now, tomorrow we're gonna talk about, and I love this topic.
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  I'm really excited about tomorrow's topic.
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  We're gonna talk about why experiences and relationships always.
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  In bold here.
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  Always beat possession.
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  So I'm gonna encourage you not to miss it.
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  Now, let's go out there today and be those financially confident Christians.
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  You can do this.
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  I believe in you now.
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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.
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  I.