Do you ever feel like your money just vanishes?

Now I'm not talking about in one big splurge, but in a slow drip coffee here.

Impulse by there until you look in your account is nearly empty.

And then you're wondering where did it all go?

What if that could change?

What if every dollar had a purpose and you were the one that was finally in control?

Imagine making spending decisions that reflect your values, not just your urges.

Well, stick with me today 'cause I'm gonna show you how to stop the money leaks and

start living with financial intention.

That's what we're gonna cover on today's show.

Hey there, friend.

Welcome back to your daily, financially confident Christian.

I'm Ralph, and it's great that you're joining me here again today as we

answer our continuing question.

How do I become a financially confident Christian?

And right now we're in week three of our series.

Beyond the Budget, we're working to find financial freedom

through intentional living.

If you've been joining me every day, I just wanna congratulate you, and if

you have missed any episodes, you can always find them right on our website.

Now, yesterday we talked about how joy often comes more from experiences.

Then stuff, we had a long discussion about how experiences or the things

that you take and you remember for a very long time, whereas stuff,

Hey, it's here today, gone tomorrow.

Well, today's question is, how can I make everyday spending decisions

a conscious, faith aligned choice?

We really want to talk about how to be intentional in our spending decisions.

So let me start by asking you something real.

If you're like me, you're often thought about this.

Have you ever checked your bank account at the end of the week and thought,

wait, I didn't buy anything big, so why is there so little left in my account?

And you start to dig in a little bit.

Maybe it's $6 for coffee or maybe $12 for that lunch out, or $9 for that streaming

app that you totally forgot to cancel.

You've been talking about doing that for a while, but you've never

gotten around to it and it doesn't seem like much in that moment.

When you're buying that coffee, you're stepping out for lunch.

It doesn't feel like it's this big, huge thing, but what happens over time

is it adds up and it steals your peace.

I spoke to a listener last week.

She said this.

She said, Ralph, I'm not blowing money on designer handbags or vacations.

it's just Amazon boxes showing up with stuff I didn't even remember ordering.

can you relate to that?

The truth is most people aren't bad with money.

we're just not always aware of where our money's going, but

here's where it gets even deeper.

See, every dollar that you spend is a decision.

A lot of people don't understand this, but every dollar that you spend is a decision

and every decision that you make in life reflects your values or your habits.

What scripture says this in the book of Proverbs, chapter 21, verse five, and I

use this one frequently on the show, it says this, the plans of the diligent lead

surely to abundance, see decisions, plans, diligent plans, what do they lead to?

They lead to abundance.

Let's look at the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verses 15 and 16.

Be very careful how you live.

Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

But what are they saying there?

Every opportunity, every decision.

And there's this warning about being careful how you live and

being wise in those decisions.

And see that's not just about other things and choices about life.

It includes opportunities with your money.

And in the end, here's the big takeaway from today.

Intentional spending is faithful stewardship.

It just is because it's saying to God this, it says, Lord, I

see every dollar you've given me and I want to use it on purpose.

See, it's that decision to use it on purpose.

So now you're asking Ralph, how do we stop the slow leak?

How do we move from that autopilot spending to intentional living?

And I've got a simple but powerful way to do it, and it's called the Sacred Pause.

And I'm gonna encourage you to create a sacred pause before you spend.

Just a ten second window of clarity and a moment to ask this really deep question.

Is this what I really want my money to say about me?

I wanna say that again because this is so important.

During that ten second window, I'm gonna talk about how to do that in a second.

But you want to ask yourself, is this what I really want my money to say about me?

So let me get right to my one action step for today.

Let's talk, about this together.

The first step is, this is practice the pause and plan rule.

So next time you're standing in line at the store, you're right there at

the target counter or the Walmart counter, or maybe you're hovering

over that buy now button online.

You're just, you're just so close to clicking on buy now.

I just want you to go back and remember that pause.

I just want you to pause and I want you to count to 10.

Once you get to 10, then I want you to ask this question, is this in my budget?

Is this decision in my budget?

And then the second question is, does it align with what I value?

See, that's the two pieces to the puzzle.

Is it in my budget and does it align with what I value?

I I used an example from last week.

Somebody had talked about these great new earbuds.

Everybody's have gotta have these new earbuds.

And I was like, you know what?

I could go buy these earbuds.

And I got on Amazon new, a really cheap, like 40 bucks

and I wanted these new things.

Everybody had 'em.

I thought about it for a second.

I said, Hey, let's take that pause.

So I took the pause myself.

I waited 10 seconds and then I realized I had already had, I actually

had two pairs of working Bluetooth headphones and I didn't need these.

This was just a want.

This wasn't a need.

So what did I do?

I took that 40 bucks I was gonna spend, and my wife and I went out and had a nice

dinner together and see that one decision.

That one pause, that one saying to myself, Hey, do I really need this?

That conscious choice brought way more joy than that $40 pair

of Bluetooth headphones, which honestly would've sat on the shelf.

'cause I've already got two pairs.

That's step one.

Step two, if you battle this, one of the things I really encourage you to do is do

what I call a cash only in one category week, I want you to pick your weak spot.

Maybe for you it's that takeout or that's stepping out for lunch or those coffee.

I pick old coffee all the time, but maybe that's what, or those quick

target runs, you know, it's gonna go ahead and cut a couple things.

Maybe just one thing.

Here's what I'm gonna encourage you to do instead.

Withdraw cash.

Kinda like using that old envelope system.

Only use that amount this week.

So for example, one listener told me she gave herself a $40 cash

envelope for snacks and for fast food.

she saw this as an area where she was struggling with trying to stay

on point with her spending and staying on point with her budget.

So she said, Ralph, here's what I did.

Real simple.

I took $40 out.

I put it in an envelope.

I wrote snacks and food on it.

And when the cash was gone, she says, I was done for the week.

And then she reported back to me, she said, Ralph, I didn't just save money.

That would've been big enough.

She says, I felt free, and I love the way she ended her comment to me.

She said, Ralph, I was back in control.

Hey, if you want to gain that control, there's something you can do.

Another thing I'm gonna encourage you to do, step three in the three step

process, I. I want you to do a daily, two minute review, so at the end of

your day, whatever that looks like for you, maybe you're unwinding for

the day, you're checking your emails.

Before you go to sleep, I want you to get out your phone or maybe keep a notebook.

I think notebooks are actually good for this.

And write down what you spent just for that day.

Write down what you spent.

No judgment here.

Just write it down because I want you to start to build this awareness.

My wife and I were having this very discussion with

our youngest son yesterday.

He was talking about, Hey, everything is so expensive and I, he's living in

a house with a bunch of other people that're, sort of renting rooms and, he

said, dad, I really want to get on my own.

And I said, okay, well what does that look like?

And he goes, well, it's so expensive to do it right now.

And I said, okay, well, where does your money go?

He said, well, how would I figure it out?

I said, son, it's not complicated.

It's why two for a living?

I said, listen to my show once in a while.

I said, just take each, at the end of each day, just write down where you spent

your money, not about judging yourself, but about awareness, because I know

this tiny habit builds mindfulness and it's that mindfulness that will help you

break that cycle of asking that question.

We started off with, you get to the end of the week and you're

like, where did my money go?

Let's pray together.

Father God, we just thank you for every dollar that you've entrusted to us.

And Lord, we ask that you would forgive us for the times we spent

without thought, not even thinking about it, not even planning it.

And Lord, right now, we want you to teach us to pause, Lord.

Teach us to plan and to live with that intention that you want for our lives.

And we just ask that you would let every financial decision be a reflection of

our faith, a reflection of our values.

Lord, we ask you to make us wise and make us faithful in even the small things.

We just ask this in complete confidence.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Friend, here's the thing I want you to hear today.

It's the little choices that shape a big life.

When you pause, when you plan, you're not just saving money.

That's that's a big enough piece, but you're building peace.

You're becoming the kind of person who walks in confidence.

Not just in confusion, and I wanna just encourage you right now if this

episode has been impactful to you, if you're getting value from this

show, I would love it if you would share this show with somebody else.

Other people can learn.

Other people can grow.

Just like you're growing by picking up this show on a daily basis, I'm just

gonna encourage you to send them to financially confident christian.com.

Hey.

Text him, send him an email and just say, Hey, I listened to this guy, Ralph.

He's got a lot of good ideas.

He's really helped me with my finances, and he's done it from a place of faith.

Again, just send him to financially confident christian.com.

Hey, while they're there, get a copy of my book.

I'll give you a absolutely free copy of my book.

It's called Mastering Your Finances.

You get to that by going to financially confident christian.com/master.

Get it for free.

No strings attached.

Now tomorrow we're gonna get into another powerful topic.

We're gonna talk about the beauty and savings of secondhand simplicity.

You're gonna love this one.

We're gonna talk about how you don't necessarily have to buy

that new, flashy, shiny thing.

You've got this.

I believe in you.

Believe in yourself, and let's go be those financially confident Christians.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you and you have a great day today.