How Do I Live in Financial Peace and Keep Stress from Coming Back?

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We've journeyed together for almost 30 incredible episodes in this

 

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series, and we've worked together building powerful financial habits

 

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and finding contentment and really anchoring our confidence in Christ.

 

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But now you might be saying, Ralph, what happens now that the series is ending?

 

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Is financial peace a destination you just reach?

 

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Or can it truly be a lifelong journey of growth and faithfulness?

 

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Stick with me today 'cause we're gonna embrace the path forward together.

 

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Hey there, and welcome back to your daily, financially Confident Christian.

 

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I'm Ralph and it is great to be here again with you today as we talk about

 

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the things of faith, and we answer that big question, how can I become

 

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a financially confident Christian?

 

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That's our goal.

 

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Today is a really special day as we begin to wrap up this series of dealing

 

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with the stress of money worries.

 

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And over the past 30 days, we've walked through major transformation.

 

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We've transformed our mindsets, we've built practical habits, and

 

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we've integrated faith into every one of those financial decisions.

 

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And if you've been with me the whole time, I just wanna say thank you and

 

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think about how much you've learned.

 

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And if you miss some of 'em, you can always go back and check 'em out.

 

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We've explored big topics like challenging consumerism and cultivating gratitude.

 

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We talked about defining values, trusting God, breaking that impulse, buying trap,

 

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and making every dollar serve a mission.

 

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And today we're gonna start to bring all those pieces together

 

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and really embrace this ongoing journey of financial stewardship.

 

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So let's ask this question today.

 

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Am I truly embracing the lifelong journey of savvy and faithful stewardship?

 

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That's really my focus and my goal today.

 

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Am I truly embracing that lifelong journey of savvy and faithful stewardship?

 

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And you're listening right now.

 

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Maybe you feel this, you've made some incredible progress.

 

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You're feeling more confident, you're feeling less stress.

 

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You're starting to feel some of that peace.

 

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Part of you says, you know what?

 

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Crap, great, great, great.

 

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30 days I'm done.

 

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I wanna be done with this money work.

 

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I just don't wanna worry about it anymore.

 

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Maybe right now you're afraid that a setbacks gonna undo all your progress.

 

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Man, I've been there.

 

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And see, here's the struggle we're talking about.

 

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The struggle is really seeing financial peace as a destination.

 

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We can't do that.

 

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We can't.

 

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We can't always be looking at financial pieces of destination,

 

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some that we've reach and then Hey, hey, destination's over.

 

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We made it, the bus stops here and we stop.

 

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' cause that's not how financial peace works.

 

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'cause If you do that, you're going to find yourself in a place of complacency.

 

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You're gonna win and then discouragement, and then quitting

 

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after you lose sometimes.

 

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'cause you're not gonna win all the time.

 

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Maybe for you, like me, maybe you're burdened by perfection.

 

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You just have this perfectionist mentality.

 

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I've heard many people say that to me, Ralph, you're just such a perfectionist.

 

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Maybe you're listening right now and you feel that same way

 

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and you feel burdened by that.

 

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And instead of embracing this ongoing relationship with money,

 

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and more importantly, this ongoing relationship with God, now I'm done.

 

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God, you've given me what I need.

 

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I'm good.

 

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The problem is that static mindset, that belief that it's just this

 

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destination reach and I'm done.

 

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It causes stress and that stress just blocks resilience and it

 

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blocks the true growth that you have the capacity to get to.

 

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Here's the thing I want you to understand.

 

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My big takeaway for today, if you hear nothing else, I say, I got a lot to

 

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say today, but if you hear nothing else I say today, I want you to hear this.

 

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Financial stewardship isn't a program that you just check the boxes and complete.

 

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I can't give you a course on, Hey, financial stewardship.

 

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Here you go.

 

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You've won.

 

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Here's your diploma.

 

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Go enjoy life.

 

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It doesn't work that way.

 

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Financial stewardship is a lifelong discipleship journey.

 

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I talk about this on the show all the time.

 

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It's a journey.

 

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My weight loss right now is a journey.

 

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My, my health, you know, decisions are a journey.

 

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Financial stewards is the same thing.

 

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It's a process of learning, learning new skills, learning to

 

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adapt to some of those skills.

 

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But it's a process.

 

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It's a process of growing.

 

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And when you first started this, you might say, I, Rob, I even thought

 

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about, donating to charity or tithing.

 

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Man, I'm, I'm up to 20% now.

 

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That's growth.

 

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And I hope at the end of this, at the end of this series, we're gonna

 

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start another one, just a couple days.

 

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But I hope you're growing this reliance on God.

 

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'cause here's the thing you gotta understand, life brings new seasons

 

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at, at 52, I'll be 53 in September, I've started to realize that life is a bunch

 

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of seasons kind of strung together.

 

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There's this season, there's that season, there's seasons of, I

 

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remember when my kids were real young.

 

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That was a season of, I'll call it early fatherhood.

 

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Then there was a season of, of the terrible twos, and then as they grew older

 

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and then a season of them going to school and playing sports and high school and

 

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high school graduations, and the season of them finding my, my oldest, finding

 

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his, his girlfriend and now wife and their seasons ahead with grandchildren,

 

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we pray and all those type of things.

 

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Life brings those seasons and it brings new opportunities, and you

 

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really have to understand and embrace this journey because your journey,

 

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that journey is a testimony to God's faithfulness in your life.

 

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Let's look at the scripture book of Philippians chapter one, verse six.

 

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This is a beautiful piece of scripture.

 

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It really talks about that journey.

 

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It says, he who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion.

 

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Until the day of Christ Jesus, he who began a good work in you began.

 

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That's a journey.

 

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That's a start.

 

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That's a first step.

 

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We'll carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.

 

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Just as we all pray for, if you're a Christian, listen to this show.

 

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You're looking forward to that day when Christ returns.

 

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That's what we, that's what we, that's what we prepare for.

 

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Your finances work the same way.

 

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God will complete his work in your finances, but it's a journey.

 

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Look at the book of Proverbs, chapter four, verse 18.

 

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It says this, The path of the righteous is like the morning sun shining ever

 

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brighter till the full light of day.

 

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See your faithfulness grows brighter over time, so you gotta

 

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learn to embrace this journey.

 

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Your ability to manage your finances is going to grow brighter over time.

 

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So embrace the journey.

 

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God is with you in every season.

 

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So learn today.

 

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If you do nothing else today, celebrate your progress.

 

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You've done amazing things.

 

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And maybe say, Rob, I'm just starting.

 

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That's great.

 

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You've made the first step.

 

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You're starting.

 

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Let's keep working together.

 

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Let's keep learning and trust his process.

 

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So now you're saying, okay, great, Ralph, that's what I wanna do.

 

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I wanna be on that journey.

 

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What can I do?

 

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How do I step forward from here and, and live this faith-filled journey of

 

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stewardship that you talk about, Ralph?

 

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Well, here's the solution and this is the intentionality part of it.

 

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You gotta intentionally commit to lifelong learning and gracious stewardship.

 

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You've got to live with a mindset of continuous improvement.

 

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A lot of people don't get that, and I don't know if we do a good

 

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job of training our kids with it.

 

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Hey, you graduated from high school, you're done.

 

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Life doesn't work that way.

 

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You're not done when you graduate from high school or you graduate

 

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from college, or you have a wife and, and you have a family.

 

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And life doesn't work that way.

 

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Life needs to be a, a set of continuous improvements and you're gonna stumble.

 

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So you also have to rely on that grace.

 

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So I wanna give you your one action item for today.

 

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Sure.

 

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One thing, I just want you to celebrate the journey so far.

 

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Yes, we're gonna start with a celebration today, and in my head, I'm hearing

 

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cool and the gang singing celebration.

 

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You don't want me to sing.

 

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It's not good.

 

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But I want you to take five or 10 minutes to really celebrate your progress.

 

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Those things that, that you've accomplished.

 

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Bigger than that, I want you to write one or two wins down from the last 30 days.

 

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Write them down, put 'em on paper, and look at those and say, yes,

 

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with God's grace I got here, that's gonna fuel your momentum.

 

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The first thing I want you to do, the second thing I want you to do

 

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is make that commitment right now.

 

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Promise yourself to Almighty God as well to keep learning, commit

 

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to that lifelong learning and that lifelong growth, and revisit those

 

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key principles whenever you can.

 

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And I'm gonna say at least quarterly you go back and re-listen to some

 

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of the episodes we talked about, the different pieces of that puzzle.

 

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I encourage you here now read a new finance book or,

 

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or take a workshop annually.

 

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I'm gonna encourage you to tune in here every day.

 

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I bring you content every day, but embrace that commitment to lifelong

 

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learning and that lifetime growth.

 

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Another thing I really think will help you is what I'm gonna say

 

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is establish a financial Sabbath, maybe monthly or quarterly.

 

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Just sit down and have a time of review.

 

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Reflect on your budget.

 

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It's just real easy to get stuck in that, in that it would just

 

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keep on that process going.

 

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There is a need for a financial Sabbath to sort of reflect on where

 

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you are, reflect on your budget.

 

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Say, Hey, you know what?

 

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I put this together three or four months ago.

 

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Does it make sense still?

 

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Am I still doing the things that that Ralph said I should do that

 

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I feel, you know, compelled to do?

 

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Am I doing that tracking?

 

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Am I looking at things and comparing the two sides?

 

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This, how about my giving?

 

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Am I giving the way I should be giving?

 

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Am I stretching that?

 

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Am I, am I being a cheerful giver like I talked about a few days ago?

 

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Look at your progress.

 

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Am I making progress?

 

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Am I continuing to learn new things or am I just stuck here?

 

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And then I just want you to do one more thing.

 

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Look at God's provision.

 

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Just thank him for all that he's given you, because the truth

 

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is he has given you so much.

 

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Make that a habit.

 

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And then to do all these things, I'm gonna encourage you to embrace grace and embrace

 

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that forward motion because listen.

 

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Perfection is not the goal.

 

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I say this on the show routinely.

 

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Some people say to me, Ralph, stop saying it, but it's true.

 

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Perfection is not the goal.

 

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Perfection will get in the way of progress.

 

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You've got to expect that you're going to stumble.

 

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'cause guess what?

 

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You're gonna stumble.

 

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I stumble.

 

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But learn, adjust and then keep going because your journey is about

 

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consistency and it's about faith.

 

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He might be saying, Ralph, okay, that's great, but why does this even help?

 

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Because it transforms your finances from task to discipleship.

 

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See, I said this the other day about giving.

 

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Giving is really worship.

 

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Well, guess what?

 

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financial stewardship.

 

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That is worship.

 

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'cause you're taking what God has given you.

 

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You've taken the provision that God has given you and you're doing

 

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what he wants you to do with them.

 

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And that's just gonna build resilience.

 

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It's gonna build resilience with grace, and it's gonna ensure that

 

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long term you have growth and you have application what God is teaching you.

 

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And the biggest thing it does is it anchors your journey in

 

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God's presence and God's peace.

 

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And hey, isn't that where we all want to be today?

 

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I dunno about you, but I want to be in God's presence and

 

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I want to be in God's peace.

 

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Well, let's pray together.

 

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Father God, we just thank you for beginning a good work in us.

 

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Yes, we recognize this is just the beginning Lord.

 

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This is just the start of a journey.

 

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And Lord, we do confess our desire for quick fixes.

 

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We live in a culture where we wanna have the answer and we wanna have it now.

 

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We wanna put that behind us and be done with it.

 

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But Lord, we know that's not how life works.

 

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That's not the seasons that you promised in your Word, Lord.

 

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And we just ask that you would help us embrace this lifelong

 

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journey of stewardship.

 

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Lord grant us endurance.

 

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Lord, grant us wisdom and grant us the grace that we so desperately need.

 

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And strengthen our habits, Lord, and guide our decisions.

 

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And mostly anchor our peace in you and in you alone.

 

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May our finances always reflect your goodness, and we ask this with

 

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confidence in the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

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I just wanna congratulate you on this last 29 days, almost 30 tomorrow.

 

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We're gonna do a bit of a recap.

 

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We got some listener questions.

 

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I just wanna congratulate you on completing this journey.

 

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You've made a huge start.

 

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You've taken real steps towards financial transformation, but as I

 

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said, this is just the beginning of a lifetime of faith-filled stewardship.

 

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So I just wanna encourage you today, keep learning, keep applying, keep trusting.

 

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I also wanna say this, it's been an honor to walk with you and we're gonna continue

 

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that walk tomorrow, and if this series has blessed you, do me a big favor.

 

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Share it with somebody else.

 

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If it's blessed you, say, Hey, you know what?

 

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I listened to this series from Ralph.

 

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I listen to this show every day.

 

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It's blessed me.

 

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It will bless you too.

 

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You can find all of our episodes and our resources@financiallyconfidentchristian.com,

 

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and I've got a special gift for you.

 

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I'd love to give you a copy of my book.

 

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It's called Mastering Your Finances.

 

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You can go to financially confident christian.com/master and you

 

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can get a free copy of my book.

 

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It's a brief read, but it will be impactful to your life.

 

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Well, let's all go out there and be those financially confident

 

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Christians on a mission, on a journey.

 

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'cause you can do this.

 

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I believe in you, and I just want you to believe in yourself.

 

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Stay financially savvy.

 

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God bless you and you have a great day today.