Tell Your Money Where You Want It to Go
By Rick Warren

“Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough” (Proverbs 21:5 GNT).

To become financially responsible and experience God’s blessing in this area, you must recognize God as your provider, give the first 10 percent of your income back to him, keep good records, save for the future, and repay what you owe. Then, you need to plan your spending. This is the spiritual habit of budgeting.

A budget is simply planned spending. It’s telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went. The only way to meet your financial goals is to determine how you want to use your money and then making a plan for it to happen that way.

Financial freedom does not come from making more. It comes from spending less. Financial freedom is not based on how much you make. It’s based on how you spend what you make. You can be financially free at any level of income.

If you don’t know how to manage money at your current level, you aren’t going to know how to manage more. You have to learn how to plan your spending.

Proverbs 21:5 says, “Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough” (GNT). “Acting too quickly” today equates to impulse buying. It’s spontaneous, unplanned spending—you see it and you want it so you get it.

How do you break the habit of impulse buying? You nip it in the budget! You tell your money where you want it to go. You set up a plan

Then, you shop less. If you’re in debt, the last place you need to go to relax is the mall. If you don’t want to get stung, stay away from the bees! Study after study has shown that if you shop less, you spend less.

These are not deep, new insights. But they are certainly hard to follow. When it gets tough to change your spending habits and sit down and write out your budget and stick to it, remember that God is watching. He wants to see your faithfulness in money management, and he will help you to take all the necessary steps to become a responsible steward of what he’s given you.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!

Encourage a Graduate in Your Life

Graduation time is here, and chances are there’s a young person in your life who could use some encouragement, along with a little guidance.

Set them up for success with Pastor Rick’s The Purpose Driven Life: Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduate.

Filled with inspirational Scripture, biblical wisdom from Pastor Rick, and beautiful imagery, this unique, hardcover gift book provides a priceless reminder of the bountiful life God has planned for your graduate—and it will empower them to seek his unique plan and purpose for their life.

We’d love to send you a copy of this special resource as thanks for your gift today to help Daily Hope take the transforming power of Jesus into more lives around the world.

So request your copy below—and set a young graduate on the path to all God has for their life!

*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of materials you received from Daily Hope.

This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.