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Ralph: Do you ever feel anxious or worried about your finances?

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Have money struggles left you feeling stressed and disconnected from God lately?.

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Well, let me tell your friend you're not alone.

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Stay tuned today.

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As we explore finding peace in God's financial plan for your life.

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This is an episode you don't want to miss.

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Welcome to our spiritual Sunday show.

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I am so glad you chose to join us.

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I just want to thank you for listening and supporting the program.

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I can feel that we're growing and we're reaching more people.

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I'm coming to you again from the Estep Farm at the Saggio Accounting studio  today.

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Let me put on my podcaster, put down those overalls and push that adding machine to the side and let's get into some financial wisdom from a Christian perspective.

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Let's start today with Philippians chapter four, verses six through seven.

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And it says this.

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Don't be anxious about anything.

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But in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving.

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Present your request to God.

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And the peace of God.

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Which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.

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Jesus.

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Isn't that an amazing promise from God.

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Even when money feels out of control, we can come before God in prayer asking for help and direction.

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And the peace of God himself will guard our hearts and minds.

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So on today's show, let's unpack how to find that financial peace, even during stressful times.

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I'll share from my own journey.

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And my struggles, then we'll dive into some practical steps you can take to align your finances with God's will and experience his supernatural peace.

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Now don't forget to subscribe to our show and join our email list.

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You do that askralphpodcast.com you don't want to miss tomorrow show.

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Tomorrow, I'm going to be talking about habits of highly resilient people.

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And in this age, in this culture we're in now, we all need to be highly resilient.

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So don't forget to tune in tomorrow for our episode tomorrow.

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Today, we're talking about finding peace in God's financial and his overall plans for us.

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I don't know about you, but money and finances have been a major source of stress and anxiety at various points in my life.

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Maybe you can relate with that.

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I remember early in my marriage, my wife and I accrued quite a bit of debt and it felt suffocating at times.

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No matter how hard we worked, we always seemed behind and not able to get ahead.

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During that strained season, we had to learn hard ways to start bringing our struggles to God in earnest prayer, we realized we couldn't fix everything on our own.

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With our limited strength and our limited wisdom.

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As we pursued God's heart for our finances.

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He began to change our perspectives and guide us.

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Step-by-step onto a better plan.

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Now that's been a while it's been over a decade.

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I can see how God used those financial trials to grow our faith.

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But more importantly, he taught us how to depend fully on him, but at the time I can assure you, there were plenty of sleepless, stressful nights.

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I'm sure you can relate to that.

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If you're in a season right now where money feels out of control or finances are weighing on your peace of mind, then this episode is for you.

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Let's talk about some practical ways.

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We can find freedom from financial anxiety.

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And step into a peace filled plan.

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God has for each of our lives and folks, he has a plan for us.

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We just have to be willing to listen.

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The first key I've learned is that we have to surrender control over the situation, as scary as that might feel.

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We don't have control.

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Often we struggle so hard trying to manipulate and force outcomes on our own timing and on our own terms.

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But look to the book of Psalms chapter 46, first 10.

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It invites us to be still.

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And know that I am God.

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That is such a great passage from the Bible that speaks to that.

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We don't have control when it comes to finances.

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We have to let go of the illusion that we're ultimately in control.

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We just aren't.

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We need to acknowledge that everything we have comes from God.

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All of our resources originate with him as first Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 14 says Everything comes from you.

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And we have given you only what comes from your own hand.

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What a humbling.

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But freeing perspective When we sincerely pray God, this financial strain is beyond my ability to fix.

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I choose to surrender control.

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Please lead the way that very act of surrender helps peace.

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Start to flow into our anxious hearts.

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We can exhale knowing the burden of solving it all.

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Now, rests in his very capable hands.

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He'll handle it for us.

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The second thing we need to do.

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We need to start actively seeking God's vision in our finances.

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I'm convinced that most of our money stress is the result of poor alignment between our spending and saving habits and what God actually wants for us.

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We chase that American dream or what culture tells us we should want.

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But meanwhile, we never slowed down enough to ask God, what does wise faithful stewardship look like for me?

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We've got to ask that question.

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In prayer, you have to be honest with him about your financial goals.

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And your fears ask him to reveal any ways you might be wasting money or wasting resources on things that don't align with his vision for your life.

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As you start to gain clarity on what he cares about versus areas of mere personal preferences.

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You'll notice clear action steps.

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They start to present themselves.

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Obedience is the key here, folks.

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being willing to tweak spending habits or make scary career moves in order to walk in step with his spirit and his plan for your life.

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For example, for us, God made it clear that aggressively paying off all of our credit debt.

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Was critical before we could fund other goals.

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But looking back, I can see how valuable that season of intense focus was for recalibrating our hearts around biblical financial principles.

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As you seek God's unique vision for your money journey.

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Determine to obey whatever he reveals is the next faithful step.

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Write it down and start taking action.

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Trusting him to guide you continually the clarity and peace you'll experience from walking in his purpose is truly beyond compare.

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Trust me.

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I've done this.

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You won't be able to compare the peace that you will find

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and thirdly, combat financial anxiety through gratitude.

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If you listen to my show, you know, I talk about this all the time.

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Nothing diffuses worry faster to lifting our gaze, to recognize all the blessings we already have.

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And we do have them folks.

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I've encouraged you to start a gratitude journal.

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Do this related to your finances, writing down even just a few things weekly helps train our brains over time to operate from a perspective of abundance and not lack.

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And the crazy thing is this.

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The abundance already exists all around us.

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Even during those times, when money may seem tight.

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We just fail to notice it most days.

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Thank God for our reliable car to drive.

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Thank God for clothes on our back.

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Thank God for friends who bless us.

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Thank God for humble work that provides income.

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Thank God for past financial needs.

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He faithfully met the book of Philippians chapter four, verse eight, encourage us to think on whatever is true and noble.

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As you develop eyes to see the genuine good in your current financial situation, peace is going to replace that anxiety and that striving it's going to work folks.

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And lastly, this one is majorly important.

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You've got to bathe your finances in prayer, continually pray over your budget, pray through financial decisions before making them ask others to pray for you regarding specific money goals or strains you face.

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Not those vague quick prayers.

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We sometimes throw up on Sunday mornings, but truly covering every aspect of your journey.

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In focused, persistent prayer as Philippians chapter four promised in our opening passage, praying earnestly is a portal into God's supernatural peace.

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This is a way to release the tension building inside through verbal prayer, and then listen quietly for his still small voice to offer guidance or encouragement.

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Let your loving father shoulder, the weight of it.

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With you in prayer, let him take it, give it to him.

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Drawing close to God as a provider will transform how you view your earthly resources.

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You're going to learn to hold, everything.

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You have money, possessions time with open hands, understanding he could ask.

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You to steward or release it differently at any moment for his kingdom purposes.

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But living as his faithful steward ushers in profound freedom, it gives us financial freedom from financial anxiety.

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What a beautiful place to land.

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Now, before we wrap up, I want to remind all of our listeners to visit our podcast page.

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You do that at askralphpodcast.com . There you can leave us a review, share your thoughts, or even send a message with questions for future episodes.

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We are building our calendar folks and I need your ideas for shows.

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While you're there.

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Make sure you join our email list.

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So we can send you are daily email with what's going on with the show.

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You can also schedule a consultation.

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Me, if you have some specific items that you wanted to discuss, and here is a big ask for me from today.

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If you know, someone who's struggling with their finances and having difficulty finding peace.

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Share, not only this episode, but also our show.

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We're trying to reach people to help them.

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And if you tell them about the show, maybe they'll come and listen.

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Friends.

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I hope today's episode has encouraged you that finding peace even in money matters is absolutely possible through centering our lives around Christ.

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He truly cares about redeeming this area that causes so many people.

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Intense anxiety and pain.

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His vision for our finances includes freedom.

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It includes purpose, but most of all, it includes great joy as we walk hand-in-hand with him.

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Let's pray together.

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Father God, thank you for the incredible promise that your peace is available to us.

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Even regarding financial and material needs.

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Forgive us for trying to fix and control situations that are too heavy for us to carry alone.

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Help us to surrender anxiously striving, and instead prayerfully seek your voice and leading in all areas of stewardship.

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Please reveal any ways we might be mismanaging the resources you have given us.

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embolden us to make courageous changes so that our spending our savings and giving aligns with your vision for our lives above all allow your perfect peace to reign.

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Over our hearts and minds, as we choose to trust you fully with both today's needs and tomorrow's unknowns.

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We ask this in Jesus' precious name.

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Amen.

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So my friends, I say this to you in closing, stay financially savvy, and God bless you.

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This has been Ralph Estep, Jr.,.

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Reminding you to stay tuned and keep pursuing God's best for your business.

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For your budget.

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And for your abundant life.