You've worked hard, you've managed your money, maybe even increased your

income, but then deep down, do you still feel this nagging financial stress?

What if the answer isn't just more money, but something even far more liberating?

Stick with me today because I'm gonna share exactly how

to find that real freedom.

Hey, and welcome back to your Daily Financially Confident Christian.

I'm Ralph, and we continue our journey answering that big question, how can I

become a financially confident Christian?

Now, if you join me yesterday, you know, we wrapped up a powerful series

on dealing with the stress of money worries, and if there was 30 episodes

in that series, I encourage if you missed any of 'em, you can go back and

check them out right on our website.

But today I'm excited to launch a new series and this one we're

calling Beyond the Budget.

Finding financial freedom through intentional living.

We're gonna talk about a lot of intentional living discussions.

And today's core question is, this is more money, really the

answer to my financial stress.

Now, maybe you've been there, you get that raise and there's

this, you know, moment of relief.

You're like, go, wow, this is fantastic.

I, I got that raise.

Now, things aren't gonna seem so tight and, and for a little while it

stays like that, but then over time, expenses start to creep up again.

And those bills start to feel stressful again, and you chase more income, but the

peace doesn't last because there's this belief that somehow income equals peace.

And that's a very common belief.

The problem is, it's so disappointing when it doesn't deliver.

'cause what it really does, it just leaves you chasing endlessly and endlessly.

You're, you're just never content.

You're never free.

And that very pursuit.

That very pursuit becomes its own source of stress.

I remember, I, I fell into this trap myself.

I'll never forget it.

I decided that I wanted to buy a really expensive watch

'cause I had to have this watch.

My business had been doing well, it had groan.

And, and I saw this watch as a sign that I had arrived and my

wife and I and the two boys, we decided we're gonna go to the mall.

And we went to this fancy jewelry store.

And I'm looking at the counter, man.

I'm telling you, I'm, I'm all puffed up.

I'm feeling great about myself.

And I picked out the one I wanted and I said, oh, this is, this is so beautiful.

It's a beautiful watch.

And the lady behind the counter, you know, she sized it up for me and checked out.

And I don't even wanna tell you what I spent, 'cause it was ridiculous.

But I'm walking down the mall and I'm kind of putting on this little crazy

strut, and you look at me, look at me.

I got home and oh look, a day or two later, guess what?

I just felt empty again, the reason I felt empty, was because

it was all about what others think.

See, here's the thing.

Income is important.

Yes, it is important.

The Bible teaches something far more important and far more valuable.

It teaches contentment.

And the thing you've gotta understand is what I don't want you

to hear today, we start this new series about intentional living.

You need to understand that contentment doesn't come from possessions.

Let's get into the word.

Let's look at the book of Luke, chapter 12, verse 15.

It says this, watch out.

Hey, when a verse starts, watch out.

Guess what?

Watch out.

Watch out.

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions, and I wish I had read that

before I went and bought that watch.

And here's another truth, mom.

Peace isn't about your income size, it's just not.

I've met some very wealthy people who are definitely not at peace, and I've

met some people who are just barely making it, who have a level of peace

that I could only hope to get to.

Peace isn't about your income size, it's about how you manage,

and more importantly, what you think about what you have.

See, here's the thing.

You gotta ask yourself if your desires are always growing.

When your income grows, you're always gonna feel stretched.

You're just always gonna feel stretched.

It wouldn't matter how much income you have because the

desire keeps growing with it.

See, God calls us to something completely different.

God calls us to steward what we have with purpose.

With purpose, and see true peace.

It's my personal view today, what I wanna share.

True peace comes from intentional living, not just more money.

So now you're saying, Ralph, what can we do?

Is, is, if more money isn't the answer.

And Ralph, I'm confused.

What's the answer?

Kind of already alluded to it, but I truly believe the single solution

is to embrace intentional living.

Now you're gonna say, Ralph, what does that mean?

Well, let me tell you right now, I want you to embrace intentional living.

I want you to align your spending.

I want you to align your savings, and I want you to align your giving.

Align those with your values, align those with your purpose, and align

those with a level of contentment.

You gotta choose how money serve you and how it serves God instead of letting

culture dictate your financial life.

Hey, when I bought that watch, that's what I was doing.

I was letting culture dictate my financial life.

I made this ridiculously dumb decision.

I ended up selling the watch a few months later, but I had

to make a conscious decision.

I had to be intentional.

I had to choose how money serves me.

Instead of letting culture just dictate it.

So I've got your one action item for today.

I want you to start by reflecting on that.

Why?

Because that's where it needs to start.

Ask yourself this very difficult soul searching question,

why do I want more money?

And that's not an easy question to ask or an easy answer to answer either.

Why do I want more money?

And be honest with yourself.

Is it for security?

I just don't wanna worry about money anymore.

Is it so you can give more?

I wanna be more charitable.

Maybe it's not.

Maybe it's for comparison.

Hey, that's what I was doing is about, I wanna walk through the mall, look

at this guy, look at this watch.

I wanted everybody to say, look at that watch.

That's fantastic.

Or maybe it's just consumption.

And I'm not telling you to judge.

I'm not judging you.

Listen, I'm not judging you right now.

Reflect on your why.

Ask, why do you want more money?

It's not about judgment.

It's about awareness.

The second step to this, I want you to identify one unintentional expense.

I want you to look at your weak spending.

Hopefully you're still tracking that spending.

If you, if you're not tracking 'em, encourage you to do it, but look at

your weak spending and find one habit or item that doesn't match your values.

A friend of mine, mark once told me, he said, Ralph, I listened to your

show and it punched me in the gut.

I guess that was a good thing.

He sort of, he said, Rob, you know, when I listen to you sometimes

it, it's exactly what I need.

He said, punch in the gut.

' cause what Mark was saying is it's that habit or that item

that doesn't match his values.

These could be things like impulse buys or maybe just convenience cost,

or as I was doing those status driven purchases at your spending, find

that who's one, maybe there's several that just don't match your values.

Then to be intentional, the next step is to make a conscious choice for you.

Maybe that's decide to either eliminate it for a week.

Maybe you say, listen, this is one of those status driven purchases.

I don't need to go to Starbucks.

I don't need to go wherever you're going.

I'm not picking on Starbucks, but maybe you eliminate it for a week, or maybe for

you it's that impulse buying, so maybe you need to just reduce it significantly.

Maybe you put in that pause that I talk about on the show.

Before I buy something, I'm gonna put it in the cart and let it sort of

stew out there, like in the crockpot.

Or maybe the decision is, listen, I'm gonna redirect it all altogether.

I'm gonna redirect it to a better goal.

So think about your why, look at your spending, and be intentional.

Make that conscious choice and decide what you're gonna do with it.

Eliminate it, reduce it, or just redirect it all together.

And I wanna tell you why this helps, because here's how it helps, it stops

that passive drift towards stress.

Because here's what I've, here's what I've observed in my own life.

This is Ralph talking.

Now, as my income increases, the stress starts to increase too, because there's

more of an expectation that I need more.

But this redirect, it redirects your energy to that intentional piece.

You're, you're saying to yourself, here are my values, here are my wise.

Here's why I choose.

Here's what I choose to do with my money.

And in the end, a big hairy takeaway from this is you prove that

peace doesn't require more money.

It just doesn't.

That's the beautiful answer to this.

Your peace doesn't require more money.

It just requires a better alignment with your God given purpose.

Well, let's pray together now.

Father, we just thank you for being our provider.

And Lord, we often believe that more money is the answer to stress,

It's gonna solve all our problems.

Lord, help us see through that myth.

Help us to live intentionally.

Lord, help us to align our money with your purposes and, and really our 'core why's'.

Help us to seek contentment, Lord, and help us to find clarity in these

intentional financial decisions.

And we ask this with confidence.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Listen.

Financial peace isn't just about your paycheck size, it's just not.

I hope you trust me on that.

It's about how intentionally you live.

See, that's what this whole next 30 days is gonna be about,

how to intentionally live.

So I just wanna encourage you, take one small step, because

you're moving towards freedom.

I just wanna encourage you, if this episode has been impactful to you,

or if the show in general has been impactful to you, do me a favor and

share this episode with somebody else.

There are other people out there that need to hear this message of hope and

this message of there is a better way.

They don't have to live in that financial shame, in that stress all the time.

So I'm just gonna encourage you to share the show.

You can also find all of our resources at our website that's financially.

Confident christian.com.

And while you're there, I've got a special gift for you.

I wanna give you a copy of my book.

It's called Mastering Your Finances.

It's absolutely free.

It's just a small re, but let me tell you right now, it can be truly impactful

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

Now, tomorrow we're gonna really dig in deep to really discuss what

Intentional Living really means.

I'm gonna get into the detail, so don't miss it.

Now let's all go out there and be.

Financially confident Christians, you can do this.

I believe in you.

Believe in yourself.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you, and you have a great day today.