Financial Blessing Requires Careful Planning

By Rick Warren — Feb 19, 2015 “Plan carefully and you will have plenty.” (Proverbs 21:5a TEV) If you want to be financially strong, you need to start writing down what you spend until you know where it’s all going. This is the principle of accounting. You’ve got to keep track of your finances! Proverbs 21:5 says, “Plan carefully and you will have plenty” (TEV). If you don’t have plenty, you’re not planning carefully. You don’t have anybody to blame but yourself. You may say, “But I had this emergency!” Everybody has emergencies. Everybody gets laid off or has unexpected expenses. The difference between the people who make it through and those who don’t is how they planned for those emergencies. If you don’t expect them, of course you’re going to be devastated by them. Have you ever made it to the end of the month and wondered, “Where did all my money go?” Ignorance of your financial condition plus easy credit equals disaster. You’ve heard that phrase, “Money talks.” It does not. It just walks away quietly, and it doesn’t tell you where it’s going. So you have to keep good records so you know where your money is going. Here are four things you need to keep good records of: what you own, what you owe, what you earn, and where it’s going. There are several ways to budget, and you need to figure out which one is best for you. You need to get online, get into your bank, get to your accountant’s office, get into your books — whatever it takes to get on track and understand your money so that it works for you and not against you. Proverbs 23:5 says, “Your money can be gone in a flash, as if it had grown wings and flown away like an eagle” (TEV). That’s a pretty descriptive picture. If you don’t know where your money is going, it’s just going to fly away like an eagle. Fortunately, the U.S. government is kind enough to remind us by putting an eagle on every dollar bill. So every time you look at that bill, let it be a reminder that it’s going to fly away unless you tell it where to go. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over Are you on the same page as your spouse when it comes to your finances and how much you both know about them? Why is it important that your finances are a joint effort? What steps do you need to take today to be able to better track and allocate your money? How do you want God to bless you financially? How are you being faithful to him with your finances?