Monday Reflections

Great service yesterday...we are continuing our series in the book of James...it has been convicting...life changing...sooooooooooooo practical!!!! This message was on $$...James speaks to the wealthy at the beginning of chapter 5...harsh words. AND HERE IS THE THING...if we have a house over our head we have more than 80% of the people in the world! 80%! YET WE VIEW OURSELVES AS HAVING LITTLE! While we decide what clothes to wear...which outfit...which t-shirt to put on...there are kids in our world who are DIEING OF HUNGER!

So we talked about $$...we talked about HOARDERS...people who have much...have saved much, but are SO STINKIN' SELFISH! They aren't willing to share what they have been blessed with...The other group is CONSUMERS...they spend...spend...spend...run up credit card after credit card...they get loans for everything...their couch...their grill...EVERYTHING...they spend more than they make! They can't give money to God, but they sure can spend it on other things!!

We closed by talking about taking an exit off the path to financial ruin and sin...we talked about taking the exit that is for FINANCIAL FREEDOM...the road will be bumping...LOTS of potholes...it won't be easy...BUT the process of becoming financially free will be rewarding...it will be worth it.

WHY...why should we do this? So the church can get more money? So you can be out of debt? Those should NOT be your main motivation...our motivation should be that GOD wants us to be financially free...AND we should want to do that for him! Because we are his kids...

2Cor. 9: 7...Give from your heart...give what GOD has laid on your heart. That means when we give to God it isn't an after-thought...it is planned...AND it is becasue we love him!

As I said yesterday...I'm not a financial advisor...this is what I know though...we have several steps we can take to get us going on the right path

1. Confess...repent of our sin...our sin of poor spending or of hoarding...
2. Pray for self-control!
3. START GSL! (Give money to God...Save!...LIVE on the rest!)
3. TAKE ACTION...get help!! Jump in the Financial Peace University class we talked about...get in touch with a Christian financial planner...TAKE ACTION...don't keep sliding farther in the pit...GET HELP and START TODAY!

It may take you YEARS to get out of the mess...BUT YOU CAN DO IT! YOU CAN! No matter how dark your think the path is...you can have financial freedom...