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Ralph: Ever look at your bank
statement and wonder, Hey,

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where did all the money go?

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Why some purchases feel great and
others, well, they just leave you empty.

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What if every dollar you spent
was a direct reflection of

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what you truly value in life?

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Here's the truth.

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It can be Stick with me today.

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I'm gonna help you do
just that on today's show.

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

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I'm Ralph, and it's so great that you've
chosen to give me a little bit of your

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time again, today we continue our journey
in answering that big question, how can I

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become a financially confident Christian?

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And we're strongly building a
foundation in our new series called

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Beyond the Budget, finding Financial
Freedom Through Intentional Living.

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We're really talking
about intentional living.

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Yesterday we explored contentment
and gratitude, and I really

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hope you caught that episode.

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If you didn't, I'm gonna
encourage you to go check it out.

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And today we're gonna ask a new question.

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This one gets a little deep.

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So be ready.

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What are my true values and how do
they actually guide my spending?

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See, I think it's so important that
we start to understand our true values

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and how they guide your spending.

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' cause maybe you spend things on,
things that don't really matter to you.

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I feel that way many times.

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Maybe for you it's a, a closet
of clothes you never wear.

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Hey, I'm guilty of that sometimes.

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My wife said to me one time, she goes,
Ralph, on the second floor of the house,

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you've got a bunch of clothes up there.

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You never even look at.

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Guilty is charged.

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Or maybe for you it's
subscriptions that you barely use.

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You know, you download a
subscription or you, you buy an

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app and you just never open it.

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I think about on my own iPhone,
how many apps I have that

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I just never even look at.

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And a lot of times the issue
is stuff just creates stress.

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We add more stuff.

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Trying to fill a void, trying to, trying
to fill this emptiness and all that stuff

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does is create more stress, not joy.

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It kind of, it makes you wanna
embrace a minimalist life.

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And the truth is, when we really
examine our spending, we spend by habit.

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Well, we always do that.

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That's what we do.

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We do this, we do that.

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It's a habit.

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Or maybe we spend by desire, oh, I
want to do this, I want to do that.

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Or a lot of times, and I think this is
one of the big problems we have right

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now, is we spend based on social pressure.

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But notice I didn't say in any of
that we spend based on our values,

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because a lot of times your spending
doesn't reflect your values.

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When your spending doesn't reflect
your values, that's a disconnect and

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that disconnect, to be honest with
you, a hundred percent truthful, it

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causes guilt because you're guilty.

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I'm not spending on the
things that I truly value.

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It causes regret because
the money's gone in.

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You're thinking, Hey,
but what if I done this?

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What if I did that?

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What if I was more charitable?

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What if I helped my, my family?

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The trifecta of this, it causes stress.

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See, because right now as you're
listening, you're probably

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saying, Ralph, I work hard.

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I truly do.

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I put in the hours, man.

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I put in the reps. You work hard, but
your money doesn't serve your purpose.

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But here's the thing, and I want you
to hear this loud and clear today.

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Every dollar that you spend,
Is a vote for what you value.

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I'm gonna say that again 'cause it's
so important that you hear me today.

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Every dollar that you spend
is a vote for what you value.

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Now you might be saying, great.

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Okay, that sounds good, Ralph.

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But here's the problem.

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If you don't define these values,
society's gonna define them for you.

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And oftentimes, if we're honest
with ourselves, we allow society

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to, to really define our values.

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In the end, God calls us
to live intentionally.

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I talk about intentionality is
almost a whole point of this new

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series, and God calls us to live
intentionally and to steward wisely.

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Look at the book of Proverbs.

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Open up the chapter four verse 23.

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It says this, above all else,
guard your heart for everything

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you do, flows from it.

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Now that's impactful.

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If you think about that above
all else, above anything else

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that you do, guard your heart

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for everything you do, flows from it.

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Your money flows from your heart
because it's something that you do.

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Right?

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And when our values align with our
financial choices, when we really

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think about this is what my values
are, and we align those with our

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financial decisions, with our spending
choices, then money becomes a useful

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tool for joyful purpose-filled living.

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'cause in the end this is about
stewardship, not restriction.

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A lot of people say, oh,
Ralph, here he goes again.

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He cannot talk about where I can't
spend money and I shouldn't spend

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my, it's not what I'm saying at all.

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But when you align your values with
your spending, that tool now becomes

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a joyful purpose-filled living, and
you're able to live in abundance,

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not restriction, and rather than
stress and want and guilt and fear.

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You live in a place of joy and
clarity and peace, and hey,

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isn't that what you want today?

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So I've sold you on that.

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Now you're saying, Ralph, what can we do?

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How, how do, how do you spend in
alignment with your true values?

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Well, here's where the solution starts.

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It starts by identifying your core values
and aligning your spending to match them.

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And then you've got to just say, look,
I'm gonna let my values guide every

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single financial decision that I make.

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And now I'm gonna tell you how to do that.

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Here's your action step for today.

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I want you to identify your
top three to five core values.

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Spend about 10 or 15 minutes just
reflecting on what are your true core

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values, what matters most to you?

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Is it family?

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Is family important to you?

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How about your faith?

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You're listening to this, I
bet faith is important to you.

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How about your health?

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A lot of people say, we hate with health.

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Health, I don't have anything.

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Maybe it's freedom.

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It's the ability to not be chained or in
that, in those cycle of financial shame.

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As I talked about, maybe one of your
values is generosity, and I just want you

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to, to spend about 10 or 15 minutes and
just write three to four or five of those.

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Write them down.

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For example, we talked about faith.

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Maybe, you know, staying spiritually
connected and trusting God's

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provision is important to you.

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If it's family, maybe prioritizing
time and and caring for loved

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ones is important to you.

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Maybe maintaining your physical and
mental wellbeing is important to you,

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or having margin and flexibility and
not being controlled by money or as I

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mentioned, generosity, helping others
through giving and through service.

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Just write 3, 4, 5 of those things
down and really put them pen to

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paper, and I want you to do that.

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I want you to go back, and this is the
hard part, review your recent spending.

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I'm gonna do what I call the values test.

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Look at your tracker, look at
your budget and ask yourself this

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very difficult, deep question.

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Does this spending
truly reflect my values?

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As an example, let's say you're,
you're, you're all about health, but

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then you look at your spending and you
spent $180 on fast food last month.

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I don't know about you, but I
don't think that's very healthy.

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I'm not judging you.

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Your value is health.

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And then you went and spent
$180 on fast food last month.

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And if you, if you're honest with
yourself, that doesn't align with your

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desire to feel better and live longer.

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Now, maybe one of your
values is generosity.

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It's a great value to have,
but your budget shows no giving

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to churches or any causes.

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You're generous, where if generosity
matters to you, you may wanna reallocate

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some of that discretionary spending.

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So rather than doing the things that
you're doing for fun or whatever it

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is, if generosity is important to
you, then allocate money to that.

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Maybe for you family's valuable.

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You're, you're paying for four
streaming services but haven't

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had a real family night in weeks.

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Yeah.

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You've got the streaming services coming
in, you've got the Netflix and the Prime

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and the Paramount, whatever those things
are when you look at your spending, you

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haven't really had family night in weeks.

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So maybe for you, you gotta cancel
two of those services and just use

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that money for a weekly family dinner,
or go for a hike or go do something

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fun as a family, not worry about
those doggone streaming services.

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And then I just want you to do one
more thing, and that's plan one.

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Value aligned change.

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You made those core value decisions,
you looked at your spending, and just

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pick one decision to change this week.

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Whether that's cutting an expense,
redirecting funds, maybe saying no to

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those impulse buys because this is where
the rubber meets the road, my friend.

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You make your money match your value.

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So let's say we get back to
that health thing and you say,

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well, here's what I'm gonna do.

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I'm gonna skip takeout and cook
a healthy meal at home twice this

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week, and I'm gonna use that savings
to buy quality grocery shop the

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outside of the store, as they say.

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Maybe faith's important to you
and you're gonna begin tithing

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a small amount consistently.

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Hey, even five, 10, $20 a
week, because that's important.

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You value that so your
finances honor God first.

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Maybe for you, it's that freedom.

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You wanna cancel a subscription you
don't use and put that even, Hey,

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listen, even 15 bucks extra towards
paying off a small debt or building that

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emergency fund that we talked about.

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If family's important to you, maybe
block out Friday night for, for

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screen free game time or dinner
or or some kind of family event.

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And again, if generosity is important
to you, set up a $10 a month recurring

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donation to a cause you believe in,
Hey, tie the two things together

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and as a family, talk about that.

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Can you do service?

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Can you find a cause
that's important for you?

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Hey, these are all things that you value.

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I'm not telling you what to value.

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In the first step you mentioned
you wrote down what you want to

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value and see, here's why this
helps, because here's a truth bomb.

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Misaligned spending equals stress.

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If your spending's not aligned
with your value, you're gonna have

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stress, you're gonna have guilt,
and you're gonna have what I called

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a couple days ago, that drift.

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But here's the beauty of what
we've talked about today.

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Value align choices.

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When you choose to align your
spending with your values.

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That equates to peace.

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It equates to satisfaction
and it equates to direction.

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And then that tool, that money we talked
about, it becomes a vehicle for purpose.

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Well, let's pray together.

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Father God, we thank you for
giving us purpose and giving

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us calling in our lives.

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And we confess, Lord, that we
often spend without direction.

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We just go with whatever
society tells us to do.

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We don't really look at our core values
and the values that are important to You.

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So, Lord, we just ask first, that you
would help us identify our values and

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then align our choices with those values.

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God grant us clarity, grant us
wisdom, and grant us discipline,

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Lord, to let our money glorify you.

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And we ask this with confidence.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Listen.

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When your money votes for
your values, peace follows.

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So I just wanna encourage you, take
time to today to identify your values.

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Make one aligned financial choice, just
one ' cause you're moving towards freedom.

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And if you know someone could benefit
from this show or benefit from this

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episode, I'm just gonna encourage you
right now to share the show with them.

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It's a lot of people out there that are
struggling and they need some hope, they

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need some direction, and I bring this show
every day to help build that hope, build

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that momentum, and build that direction
in a positive way, grounded in scripture.

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So I just wanna encourage you, share
the show with somebody that you

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know that could benefit from this.

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You could point 'em right to our
website that's at financially

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confident christian.com.

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It's real simple.

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Go and send them a text.

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Just say, Hey, check this website
out, or send them an email.

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Hey, check out financially
confident christian.com.

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I also wanna give you a gift today.

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If you go to my website, financially
confident christian.com says Master.

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You can get a free copy of my book.

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It's called Mastering Your Finance.

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It's just a quick read, but it will be
so impactful and it's absolutely free

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when you go to that website, financially
confident christian.com/master.

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Now, tomorrow we're
gonna talk about trust.

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We're gonna be talking about
trusting God in uncertainty.

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How to make him the anchor
of your financial peace.

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So I'm gonna encourage you, don't miss it.

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Let's go out there and
be financially confident.

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Christians, you can do this.

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I truly believe in you.

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Believe in yourself.

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Stay financially savvy.

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