By Matthew R. Legere

 

(Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a four part financial series.)

 

Practical Application

Your financial situation will not change overnight unless the Lord chooses to bless you in that manner.  It will be difficult at times, but if you will give the Lord control of everything, He is faithful and He will come through.  It worked for us and it will work for you, too!

Here are some practical steps in helping to turn your finances around:

1. Profess that God owns everything – Then live that way.
   
2. Pray and ask God for direction in your finances - In some cases this may be a simple prayer to the Lord or perhaps you may need to have a period of repentance for your behavior.  If you are married, it is important that you and your spouse do this together.  Seek the face of God and ask Him to provide direction for your future and your finances.
   
3. Take an inventory of your finances and determine exactly what your ongoing responsibilities are and how much you owe - In order to move forward you need to get an accurate picture of what your current financial situation is.  Look through your unopened mail, do some research in your file folders, make calls to every active credit and/or loan account to be able to list every positive or negative balance that you may have. 

Regarding your debts, it would be helpful to list out every credit or loan account that you have.  You may also want to collect the following information for each debt: remaining balance, interest rate, estimated pay-off date, and ask if all necessary payments have been made? If not, is this account in collections?

Regarding your savings or retirement accounts, you will want to determine how much money is saved, how much interest the account is earning, and project future balances based on your monthly contributions.

After the initial inventory has been completed, you may want to repeat this process on a monthly or quarterly basis to continue to assess your situation and evaluate your progress.

Create a budget / plan - After you have assessed your current situation, it is important to look ahead and determine how you will handle your finances in the future.  You will want to think of every source of monthly income that can be counted on.  Then, determine what your expenses will be.  If needed, you may also need to review your expenses and see if there are ways to cut back on certain items and be creative so that your other goals can be completed faster.

Hopefully, after creating a budget, you will have identified some financial resources that are considered “extra.”  This would be defined as any money that is left over after paying for such items as housing, utilities, food, entertainment, tithes/offering/missions, and any other essentials. 

Once you have identified these additional resources, you will want to lay out a plan for what to do with this money.  A suggestion would be, as a first step, to set an attainable amount of money, perhaps $500 to $1,000, to put into a savings account.  It does not make much sense to aggressively pay off our debts if we only have $1.57 in our savings account.  As an emergency comes up, if we do not have any money saved, we will continue to rely on credit cards to make up the difference. 

After reaching your savings goal, begin to pay off debt as aggressively as possible.  There are many different methods to pay off debt.  One approach is to begin to place a majority of your resources that are ear-marked for debt repayment to the account that has the highest interest rate.  Another approach would be to pay off the accounts that have the smallest balance first.  If one follows this approach, it will help to give a greater sense of accomplishment as debts disappear from the list.  After a debt has been completely paid off, make sure that you take the money that was used to pay that debt on a monthly basis and position it on the next debt that you wish to see paid off.

Once you get to a place where you feel comfortable that you are no longer relying on debt and are actively working to pay your existing debts off, you may want to begin to shift some of your focus on longer-term items such as planning for a wedding, saving for your next car (so that you pay cash), savings for a graduate degree, or some other worthy goal.

Become accountable - It is important to become accountable to someone else regarding your finances.  If you are single, you may want to approach a lay leader or minister in your church and see if he will ask you on a regular basis how you’ve been handling your finances.  This may help to keep you on track. 

If you are married, then you and your spouse will want to be accountable, not only to each other, but also to someone else, perhaps an older married couple or ministry couple, to help keep you on the right path regarding your finances.

Be sensitive for the moving of the Holy Ghost - As we approach the last days before the coming of the Lord, it is important that we remain sensitive to the moving of the Spirit of God in relation to our finances.  When my wife and I were in debt, there were times that I would feel impressed to give some money to missions.  Did this make sense on paper or on my inventory sheet? Absolutely not.  If I were to ask a financial advisor who did not have the Holy Ghost if I should give more to missions, he would have thought that I was crazy.  However, that’s exactly what my wife and I did.  I don’t say this to you to boast; however, the enemy is always looking for ways to keep you in bondage.  You may be doing something honorable in staying focused on paying off debt, but your efforts are worth nothing unless we are able to be responsive to the work of the Lord.  Follow the leading of the Spirit and you will never go wrong. 

Review your progress on a monthly or quarterly basis to help encourage you and/or your spouse - Continually seek to improve the handling of your finances.  Take an ongoing inventory to make sure that your expenses are appropriate and that your savings/debt repayment goals are consistent with your current and future needs.  For example, you may be focused on paying off a particular debt with zeal; however, you have just discovered that your vehicle needs brakes in the next few months and you do not have money saved for that purpose.  What makes more sense?

1) Continue working on your debt repayment strategy and, when the brakes end up needing to be replaced, you need to charge it because you do not have the money saved?

Or

2) Shift your focus from the debt repayment for a month to put money aside for your brakes and then, after the money is saved, continue on your repayment schedule?

Again, every plan must be flexible to real life emergencies.

Conclusion

As Christians, if we can catch this concept and seek to handle our finances wisely at a younger age, the potential is absolutely astounding!  We have the opportunity to be a part of a generation that can get the attention of both heaven and hell in regards to our giving to the cause of Christ!  If we are financially free to respond to the voice and will of the Lord, we can truly set this world ablaze with His glory and turn our world upside down! 

Let’s join together and seek the face of God for how we should handle our finances and continually endeavor to make sure that He owns absolutely every part of our lives.  I’m excited about what the Lord is going to do in these last days.  Pray that our generation can be a part of this great Harvest!

ninetyandnine.com

© 2006, Matthew R. Legere

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Matthew R. Legere, his wife Heidi, and their son Connor reside in Bristol, CT.   He is currently working full-time as a Senior Underwriter, attending online classes at Great Lakes University, and pursuing his local UPCI minister’s license.  He realizes that sleep will probably escape him until he reaches the heavenly gates and that he’ll be told that there will be no sleeping there either.