How to plan your Budget Biblically

Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough. (Proverbs 21:5 TEV) 

A budget is simply a plan. It's telling your money where you want it to go, rather than wondering where it went. And the problem many of us have today is that we don't know where our money is going because we don't have a budget. 

But if you want to get out of debt, you have to nip it in the budget. Do you remember Barney Fife, from The Andy Griffith Show? He used to say, “Nip it, nip it, nip it in the bud.” We need to nip it in the budget. 

Notice today’s verse says, “Plan carefully.” That means budgeting; a budget is simply planned spending. Planning carefully means you say, “This is what we're going to spend next year and next month,” and by doing that, the Bible says, “You will have plenty.” It's a promise of God.  

On the other hand, as today's verse says, “[I]f you act too quickly, you will never have enough.” This refers to what advertisers, marketers and retailers call impulse buying. You know what impulse buying is? Have you ever gone into a store without planning to buy something, but you bought it on an impulse? You didn't think about the purchase; it was totally emotion-based. You saw it, you wanted it, and you bought it. 

And if you act too quickly, impulse buying plus no budget equals financial disaster. Have you ever bought something without thinking and later regretted it? Most of us have! And that's why you've got to have a plan.

When you make purchases this week, ask yourself if what you are buying is something you really need. Ask, “Is this an impulse buy?” 

Impulse Buying with No Budget Equals Financial Disaster is written by Rick Warren as a Daily Devotional. He is the author of the New York Times Best Seller The Purpose Driven Life. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century.

I reposted it because I know it will help us as Christians and believers to learn how to plan our budget based on Biblical Principles. Enjoy reading this and share with a friend.

How to be Financially Fit

Financial Fitness: Generosity Reaps Generosity  

The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. Proverbs 11:24 (Msg) 

If I sow generosity, it is going to come back to me, and I'm going to reap generosity. 

Every farmer knows this. A farmer has sacks of seed in his barn and he looks at his empty field. He doesn't complain, "There is no crop! I wish there was a crop!" He just goes out and starts planting seed. When you have a need, plant a seed.  

It seems illogical that when I have a need, I should give.

Why did God set it up this way? Because God is a giver. He is the most generous giver in the universe, and God wants you to learn to be like him. He wants to build character in you. 

The Bible says, “Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce” (Proverbs 3:9 NLT). This is the principle of tithing. It's the principle that says every time I make $100 -- the first $10 goes back to God. 

Tithing is an act of worship. We are giving to God. We're saying, "All of it came from you anyway." God says, "Put me first in your life and watch what I do." You may think you can't afford to tithe, but the reality is, you cannot afford not to tithe.

This daily devotional was written by Rick Warren.

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