digging deeper

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DIGGING DEEPER 1. Trust God a. Commit emotionally to ‘Deed’ your possessions to our Lord as an act of submission and your faith in Him to provide. b. Try dropping ‘my, mine and ours’ from your vocabulary and substitute “His” or “Our Lord’s”. c. Every morning and evening recite and meditate on 1 Chronicles 29:11-13 for the next 30 days. (Put it on a sticky note and place on your mirror).

2. Be Content a. Ask God to reveal just how blessed you truly are. b. Prayerfully ask God to reveal your personal God honoring lifestyle. (It’s about what God wants for you, not the maximum you can afford.) c. Enjoy what God has given you the freedom to buy. d. Stop comparing your lifestyle to others. We always notice those who have more and rarely those who have less. e. Make an effort to live more simply. f. Giving is the only antidote to fear, materialism and/or greed.

3. Eliminate Debt a. As of today, start to avoid debt. (If you can’t pay for it, don’t buy it.) b. Pray. Seek God’s help and guidance. c. Create a Debt Reduction Plan that includes: i. Reducing expenses ii. Temporary additional income iii. Drastic lifestyle change (at least temporarily) iv. Sell what is not being used v. Reallocate ‘monthly margin’ monies towards paying off debt. d. Attend the upcoming Financial Peace University Class OR Budget and Debt Reduction Workshop e. Celebrate paying off a debt as a family win! Discuss as a family how to celebrate.

4. Be Generous a. b. c. d.

In prayer, seek His will for you concerning giving. Ask Him to provide and give you the faith to do your part in giving. Determine what percentage you are giving and increase it gradually until you achieve or exceed 10%. Share your plan of obedience with the family and be prepared to share how God provides while you increase your giving.

5. Save for future needs. a. Warning: Find the balance between savings for future needs vs. saving with the goal of becoming rich. Do this at the same time as you increase giving. b. Setup an ‘automatic’ transfer from your checking to your savings account with each paycheck deposit. c. Build a $1,000 Emergency Fund. d. After funding the Emergency Fund, save towards having three to six months living expenses in savings.

CONSIDER ATTENDING THE UPCOMING EVENTS: Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Class Wednesdays, February 10 - April 13 | 7:00pm | W-209 Budget and Get Out of Debt Workshop Saturday, February 13, 2016 | 8:45 am - Noon | W-209 “More than Enough” Estate Planning and ‘Getting Your Living Trust’ Workshop th Saturday, February 27 8:45am to Noon With Greg Ring, Fulcrum Philanthropy Systems and David Carlson, Christian Trustmaker Planning Now For Beyond 65 Workshop Saturday, March 19, 2016 | 8:45 am - Noon | W-209 Raising Financially Freed-Up Kids Workshop Sundays, April 3, 10, 17 & 24, 2016 | 8:45 am – 10:am Worship Center South Conference Room