Can You Trust God With Your Money When the Numbers Feel Tight?

Speaker A00:00:00

Have you ever opened that bank app? And before it even loads, your chest dust tightens.And it's not because you don't trust God, because the math feels loud, because that grocery total keeps climbing, because that rent is due, because that credit card balance didn't go down as fast as you'd hoped. And you truly believe that God provides. You really do. That spreadsheet still feels like it's yelling at you.If that's you friend, first thing I want to do Take you to take a breath. Today isn't about ignoring reality. It's about learning how to hold faith and numbers at the same time. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.Welcome to Financially Confident Christian, where we learn how to walk through life and money with wisdom, with peace, and with a heart anchored in God's truth. My mission here is simple.To help you break that cycle of financial shame and build steady habits rooted in faith and become that kind of believer who handles money with clarity, with confidence, and with spiritual purpose. Yesterday we talked about celebrating those small ones, and I really hope you did, about noticing progress instead of dismissing it.Today, we're taking the next step. Because sometimes you're doing everything right. You're tracking, you're planning, and you're really trying. But those numbers still feel tight.And this is where faith and finances often collide. A listener asked me this ralph, I truly believe that God provides. But when I look at my budget, I still feel anxious.How do I trust God without pretending the numbers don't matter? That is such an honest question, and it deserves a gentle answer. Because what you might be feeling is this.I don't want to be faithless, but I also don't want to be foolish. I'm stuck between prayer and pressure routes. And friend, that tension doesn't make you a bad Christian. It actually makes you a human.So I want to say this plainly. Faith isn't pretending. Faith is placing. It's not about ignoring the numbers, but placing the weight where it belongs.Because God never asked you to ignore wisdom and he never asked you to carry fear alone. Here's what I've seen again and again. Financial anxiety often arises when it feels like everything rests on your shoulders.Like if you miss one thing, everything is going to collapse. That responsibility turns into pressure, and that pressure just steals your peace. But faith doesn't remove responsibility.It just redistributes the weight. And over the years, I've walked with people through tight season. I'm talking about super tight seasons.Good planners, prayerful people, faithful givers. And I've learned this. Budgets are powerful tools. They are fantastic. But they make terrible masters. They're not meant to serve you.They're not meant to scare you. I think about one couple I work with. They had a solid budget. Man, they were disciplined. Every month, they still felt uneasy. And we talked through it.We realized something. Yeah, they trusted God. In theory, they believed in God. They.They thought he was helping them, but carried distress like everything depended on them alone. So we changed one thing. It was simple. We started praying through the budget, not instead of it.And friend over time, and it didn't happen overnight, peace started to return. The numbers didn't magically change overnight, but their hearts did.Because they stopped treating the budget like a verdict and started treating it like a conversation with God. And that's what a budget really is. It's a conversation with God. So here's today's gentle question.What if trusting God with your money doesn't mean ignoring the numbers, but actually inviting him into them? Let's talk about what that looks like. Here's the first thing I want to say. Budgets show reality, not final authority. Other.A budget tells you where you are. It does not tell you who God is. Yes, numbers inform decisions. They don't define your future.So when you see a tight category, that doesn't mean failure. It just means awareness. And guess what? Awareness is mercy. And that trust is practice, not declared. Trust grows through practice.Just like when you trust somebody else, it grows over time. It grows through prayer, it grows through patience. And yes, it grows through surrender. Here's a simple practice.Before you move money, before you adjust the category, just pause and pray one sentence. Say something like this. Lord, give me wisdom here and give me peace while I obey it. Because that peace comes from partnership, not control.And I've learned this in my own life. When we try to control everything, peace fades away from us. But when we partner with God, guess what happens? Peace returns. Do the planning.I'm not saying not to do the planning, but release the outcome. You are never meant to carry it all alone. And guess what? You can't carry it all alone. Because that provision from God often looks ordinary.God's provision is not this rare. It's rarely dramatic. It's not this big open in heaven things, it looks things like this wisdom to say, no, not this month.Or maybe it's restraint at the store, it's that delayed expense, it's that refund you didn't expect. A conversation that opens a door, a side opportunity. Or maybe it's a need met through Community, I want to remind you of something ordinary.Provision is still provision. That's what God has promised us.Look at what Philippians 4:19 says, and my God will meet all of your needs according to his riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says. It's not according to your spreadsheet, not according to your stress, according to his riches.Lord, we just thank you for caring about both our needs and our worries. Help us to plan wisely without carrying that fear on our shoulders.Teach us to trust you with every number, with every decision, and Lord, with every concern. We place our finances in your hands. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. Here's today's gentle step.Take your budget and for three minutes I want you to put your finger on just one category at a time and pray one sentence over it. Lord, give me wisdom here. Lord, provide here. Lord, help me obey here. You don't need every answer today. You just need to stop carrying it alone.And friend, if you've ever felt torn between faith and finances, you're not alone feeling like that. That's the reason I launched this show.And inside the financially confident Christian community, people often say this is where I learned I don't have to choose between being wise and being faithful. It's a safe place, it's a grace filled place and it's a place for honest conversations and I would love for you to join us there.Go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join again. That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/Join. You're always welcome to come and join us. I want to leave you with this.God sees your effort, he honors your wisdom and he provides faithfully. Yes, the numbers may feel tight, but you're not trapped and you're not carrying this alone.Go out there today and be a financially confident Christian. You can do this. I truly believe that. Stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a great day today.