Why Does Giving My Money Away Feel So Risky?

I gotta be honest, today's episode has been really tough for me. I just went back and forth several times thinking about what can I talk about today?Because I know the topic that I want to talk about, but how exactly to present it, that was the hard part. So I'm going to start off with something bold and I'm going to ask a question on today's show and that's this.Do you trust your paycheck or do you trust your provider?Now you might be thinking, I'm not sure where Ralph is going with this, but I'm going to paint a picture today that I think will really ground you in what the true meaning of generosity and giving is.Because, listen, if you're like me, you see these prosperity preachers all over the Internet, all over email, social media, all those things, and they promise wealth if you send them just a few bucks. And it just aggravates me because I see people sucked into this.And at the same time, we feel culture telling us to hold on tight to what we have, to save more and to protect ourselves. But that's not what Jesus is telling us to do. See, Jesus is telling us to give even when it feels impossible.So today I want to talk about why giving feels so risky. Because it forces us to answer a really tough question and that's paycheck or provider? This is Financially Confident Christian.Your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph.I'm helping you every day in this show to break the shame of financial difficulties and to really grow in financial confidence. And we're continuing in our series breaking those Financial Chains.Now yesterday we talked about multiplying your talent to really build more income for yourself. I dispelled a lot of myths and a lot of innuendo out there. So if you missed gestation, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.You can find all of our shows@financiallyconfidentchristian.com but today we're going to go into the battlefield. Yes. And I think that is exactly what it is. A lot of times when I was thinking this morning, I said, can I go and be that direct?And I think I have to be today because this is a battlefield. And so many people have said this to me. They said, ralph, why does giving feel like gambling? I thought that was an interesting way to put it.This is the honest to goodness truth. I think I know why the I think I know what the answer is, because it comes down to what I started today's show with. Who do you really trust?Do you trust your paycheck, the cash, the money that's in your bank account? Or do you trust the provider who provided all of it for you?Because, listen, if you're like me, you've worked hard, You've worked to save some money, you've worked to set some money aside, you've got that budget set, maybe you've worked really hard to get your bills paid down, Your debts are starting to shrink, they're starting to go away a little bit, and you're starting to feel some margin, you're feeling some room.And for so many of us, you might be listening right now, you're like, ralph, I finally feel like I'm on this steady platform where things are going okay. And now, to be honest with you, Ralph, you're sending me this show today, and it's talking about collection.You're talking about generosity, talking about giving. Maybe you're sitting in church and that plate comes by, or maybe you know someone that has a need and your gut screams out to you.And this is the battle. This is where that spiritual battle is playing out in so many people's minds and in their hearts. I think that's the bigger part.You start to ask yourself, if I give, I won't have enough. And see, I want you to just think about that for a second, because at that moment, you're making a choice.And a lot of people don't think about this, but I truly believe this is it. God spoke to me today and he said, ralph, go into this direction. You're making a choice. Do you trust your paycheck or do you trust your provider?I'm going to tell you right now, I know about a business owner. Cash flow was super tight and payroll was due on Friday. And honestly, there just wasn't enough in the bank account to cover that on Tuesday.And he shared with me, he said, ralph, I feel like God's nudging me to support this missionary family. I was at church on Sunday and.And the pastor talked about this missionary family, and I honestly don't remember where it was, but this missionary family that really needed support. And he said, as I thought about that, as you know, I started to have this fear.And he said, ralph, in so many ways, I was thinking, if I do this, if I support this missionary family, I'm going to be reckless. And he told me, he said, straight up, he said, I'm scared, Ralph. I want to protect My cash.But he told me, he said he took a step of faith and he gave anyway. And I'm going to tell you right now, a lot of people said, well, did money fall from the sky, Ralph? Absolutely not.This is not a prosperity preacher show today. But what did happen was doors opened and he said it was a miraculous Ralph. He said it wasn't all of a sudden, it was just over time.He said my clients that used to take forever to pay started paying early. And he said I started to have some margin in that payroll. He said I started to notice that I wasn't frightened with that Friday payroll so much.And this is the part that I really wanted to share today because he said this. He said more than money. And see, that's the, that's the key takeaway from today.More than money, he said that day I realized I've been trusting my balance sheet, not my God. And see, I think there's a lesson in there for all of us. It wasn't about the dollars.So many of us get hung up on if we give, we're going to have less dollars. And honestly, I just recorded a show in my Truth Unveiled with Ralph show where I go deeper into this. I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.You can find all of those episodes at truth unveiled with Ralph.com and I'll put that in the show notes. But I did a super deep dive into giving and I talked about this. But he said this. He said, ralph, it wasn't about the dollars.It was all about that dependence. See, here's the thing. And he said this and he nailed it. He said culture all around us tells us that paycheck is security.Now he's self employed, but kind of the same idea that paycheck is equal to security. And so many of these clowns, knuckleheads, whatever you want to call them, these prosperity preachers, I get so disgusted watching them.They're getting their stupid emails. They put it out there like giving is somehow this financial jackpot.Send them $100 and you're going to find all this abundance just like pulling the lever on a casino slot machine. But see, that's not what Jesus teaches. The core of Jesus is teaching on this. And I'm going to get to some scripture in just a minute.I'm putting scripture a little bit later in the show today. But the core of Jesus's teaching is giving equals trusting him. It's a test.And see, that generosity forces the question, do I trust what I can produce? Do I Trust that paycheck. Do I trust my labors? Or in turn, do I trust the one who provides it all? Get right into the Scripture right now.Second Corinthians, chapter nine, verses six to eight. Remember this. Whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also leap generously.Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work. See, that's the central core of Jesus teaching. Give what you've decided in your heart. And God loves that cheerfulness in that listen.And, and this may. This may ruffle a few feathers. If you don't have a cheerful heart in giving, don't give. You're not doing anybody any favors.But what it really gets into the last couple of pieces of this verse. And God is able to bless you abundantly.And look at this promise, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work. Let's look at Proverbs is another one that really backs this up. Proverbs, chapter 11, verses 24 and 25.One who gives freely grows richer, while one who withholds unduly comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Again, we're going right back to Jesus's teaching, freely giving.But then he gives you the counterpoint to that. If you withhold, you come into poverty. That's pretty direct. And see, here's where the dichotomy is. Prosperity Gospel says, give so you can get more.That's what these knuckleheads all over the Internet, all over social media are saying, Give, give, given. You're going to get a blessing coming back. And I get so annoyed watching those people. But God turns the script upside down. He says this.He says, give so you can be free. And see, there is the secret to the whole thing.Freedom comes when you stop worshiping that paycheck and you start worshiping the provider of that paycheck. So on the show every day, I want to give you an action item, something you can do. So today's action step is this. Stop making giving the leftover.Stop making giving the table scraps. Now, you need to hear this right now, because God is speaking to me today and I need to give this message to you. Stop giving him the leftovers.And start giving him the first step of trust. Because with every dollar that you give, you're declaring something bold. Paycheck. You're not my God provider. You are.So I'm going to encourage you today. Write down this question on a piece of paper. Do I trust my paycheck or my provider? And let that guide your giving this week.And I'm going to encourage you. Pick an amount to give that stretches you. Make it first in your budget. Pray each time, Lord, please fill this gap.But don't forget to thank him because he is the provider. And just thank him and saying, I choose to trust you because that's really what it comes down to.Do you trust that paycheck or do you trust God the provider? That's the question for today, and you've got to figure out your answer.But how about we pray together, Father God, we confess we've trusted our paychecks more than you. And we believe the lie that our security is what we earn, Lord. And today we just shift that. We declare our provider is greater than our paycheck.And Lord, we just ask that you would make us bold in our giving and free us from fear. And most of all, Lord, teach us to trust you first, always in all things. And we ask this in confidence in the name of Jesus. Amen. Giving feels risky.I get it. Because it forces you to decide something that we talked about a couple times now. Who do you trust? Who do you trust?Is it that paycheck or is it your provider? Because that's the real battle. That's when I say battlefield, that is the battlefield. So I'm just going to encourage you one more time.Don't wait until you feel safe, because that day is never going to come. Give today. Give first and give boldly. And just watch what happens when your provider takes over, because you are going to be amazed at what happens.And today I want to ask you for a favor. One of the things that I'm really setting out to do in this month of September is to grow the show.One of the best ways we can do that is through word of mouth. I mean, I can do advertising. I do a ton of advertising to get people to discover the show.But one of the things that you can do to help that process along is share the show with somebody else. Maybe, you know, somebody else that's trying to battle that decision point of trusting their paycheck or trusting their provider.Just send them a link to our website that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com and say, hey, Listen, I listen to this guy Ralph. He's got a lot of positive things to say. Maybe you could profit from that.Send him an email, send him a text, talk about it in your small group Bible study. I really want to impact people to help them break that financial shame and get into a level of confidence.And in order to do that, the other thing I'm going to do is I'm going to offer you a free copy of my book. I just finished writing my third book. It's called how to Become a Financially Confident Christian.It's a roadmap that gets you to what we talk about every day on the show and you can get a copy of that absolutely free.All you gotta do is go to my website that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming I'm going to give you that website one more time and it will be in the show notes and send it to everybody you know again financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming and go get a copy of the book. You can download it right there. You get a PDF for it if you want to get it on audio.If you want to buy a hard copy, there's links in the show notes to do that as well. Certainly encourage you.It's a great thing to share with the holidays coming up, be a great book to share with somebody who's really trying to break out of that cold owned culture and really be a financially confident Christian. Now tomorrow on the show I'm going to talk about why do you feel unprepared for big life financial decisions?Because the truth is we're all going to face these from time to time. I just want to encourage you today, you can do this. I believe in you. It's time that you believed in yourself. Have some confidence in yourself.Stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a great day today.