Strategic Tools for the Mission (Free Money Finance)

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 14.

Financially, you are motivated to get going, to jump into the how-to?s, the nuts and bolts, and see the progress. But before that we have to unpack the financial stuff that will delay our progress and pack up the tools that will get us closer to the goal of building our financial fortress.

Nehemiah made two strategic requests of the king. He knew he not only needed the king?s blessing, but also his assistance in this tremendous undertaking. He asked the king for a letter to the governors of the surrounding cities so he would be safe in traveling to Jerusalem and to put the other governors on notice that he had their boss?s approval for such an undertaking.

As a result, this letter would also appoint Nehemiah governor of this broken-down city in Judah. His second request was a letter to the keeper of the king?s forest to give wood to repair the city and to make a home that he would occupy. The king did all that, plus he sent out the cavalry to protect Nehemiah.

Our tools for the mission after surrendering our financial lives to the Creator is knowing that the life of obedience is not a life of taking away our freedom, but one of unequalled and unparalleled freedom. It is freedom from the pain of financially poor decisions, the freedom of now having margin in your finances.

You will have the freedom from the consuming power of money, and you will also have the freedom from debt. The Word of God describes debt as bondage or of being a slave to the lender.

Thousands of people I have counseled, coached, emailed, or spoken to in groups have expressed the truth of this Scripture.

The way we accomplish this is to know exactly where the money is going and how much is coming in. Take a pad of paper, or download a free thirty-day diary from our website and start recording every cent that comes in and goes out.

This exercise may cure some right off the bat. There are many who would rather not spend than have to write down every cent spent. If that is you, you may have already won, as Publisher?s Clearinghouse would say.

To reach your goals you have got to know what your goals are and then start a spending plan. We will not use the term budget, because nobody likes it.

This will allow you to better utilize other tools to show you in which areas you need to reduce spending and increase income for a season. As my good friend and fellow financial counselor Stuart Easterly says, ?This is the season of sacrifice.?

Understand that this will not be forever; this is only boot camp. You will be able to tell yourself, ?I, with God?s help, can make it during this time of sacrifice.? After the season is over and you look back at the time it took to achieve your goals, you will see God?s hand as He carried you through many tough times.

Remember, you are obeying God by changing your lifestyle, getting out of debt, and increasing margin in your life.

Once you have a spending plan, you need to place restrictions on yourself. Maybe you have to put yourself on a cash-only system or avoid the places where you are tempted. In order for the spending plan to work, you must adhere to it 100 percent, with no exceptions.

Source: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2012/02/strategic-tools-for-the-mission.html

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