The power of automating...
I had a student about 15 years ago, and told her for her 401k, just make it automatic.
Like just set it and forget it. Let it go.
And I was just talking to her recently and she was discouraged about her current financial situation, things are a little tight and all that. I was asking her what's going on your 401k? She's like, I don't know, I haven't looked at it in years.
I had her go in and look and she looked and she was over $150,000 sitting in her 401k that she had just completely forgotten about because she made it automatic. She set it and forgot it. And, just let it go.
So how did she feel about it then? It's so exciting because in this moment she's like, man, I feel kind of tight, but I built up a really big nest egg that I completely forgot about. And it's just sitting there because of that one decision I made all those years ago.
And so that's the power of taking this one small decision, setting it up, making it automatic, and allowing to just run.
#financialfreedom #moneymanagement #setitandforgetit #seedtimemoney
Here's a prayer for better decision making with your finances...
God, I need your wisdom to navigate my financial decision making. Help me to make choices that set me up for the future and to bring you glory.
As I budget, I pray that you would give me the right perspective to be generous, investing in your kingdom instead of just piling up treasures on earth.
Show me the difference between what I really need and what I just want in the moment. and Teach Me to Save Wisely and to Give Joyfully. And as I plan for the future, from emergency funds to leaving a legacy, please give me wisdom.
And I know deep down that my security and my worth don't come from my bank account, that they come from you and your love and your grace.
And so whether I have a lot or little, remind me that you have me covered. Let my whole journey with money be a shining example of your faithfulness, your wisdom, and your love. In Jesus name, Amen.
#prayerfulfinances #financialprayers #faithfulstewardship #boblotich #seedtimemoney
The perfect false god...
Money is the perfect false god. It promises everything. Provision, security, status, peace, joy, power, purpose, identity. this sounds like a checklist for an awesome life, right? But these are exactly the things that God wants to give us. So money is the ultimate counterfeit. It's a substitute for the real thing.
And they're competing for the same throne in our hearts. so when money's our God, we're never satisfied. We're never secure. There's never enough. But when God is our provider, our security, and that's where we get our identity, that is true financial freedom. And so it doesn't matter if you have $5 or 5 million, because when God's on the throne, money is just a tool to advance the kingdom.
#faithandfinance #truefreedom #Godprovides #kingdompurpose #seedtimemoney #boblotich
God gives more than enough...
The idea that there's not enough in the world is a lie. And if you think about it, God created everything from nothing. But then we bought into this lie that there's not enough and that I need more to be safe or to send the kids to college or to pay the bills or to retire. and it's all revolving around this idea that God must not really know what's going on.
It goes all the way back to Eden.
Did God really say that He's got you or is He actually holding out on you? And ever since, it's been doubt and fear and scarcity. And then Jesus comes to reverse all that, to feed 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. And then there's 12 baskets left over, because that's what God does.
He's always giving more than enough.
#faithandfinance #abundancemindset #godprovides #morethanenough #seedtimemoney #boblotich
It's about surrender...
Trying to control your money is holding you back, and here's why. So the tighter you grip, the more money controls you. And so obsessing over budgets and stressing over investments and fixating on savings, what if that's not God's plan? And this is the paradox of living financially free in the kingdom.
Less control means more of God's power. And that's why true financial freedom is not about control. It's about surrender.
#faithandfinance #financialfreedom #surrender #trustGod #kingdomfinance #seedtimemoney #boblotich
The mistake most Christians make when praying...
A mistake that I think a lot of Christians make in their prayer life is always running your mouth while you're praying.
It's not that words in prayer are bad, it's just that you reach a point in any relationship (but especially with God), where words and even thoughts no longer carry you forward towards intimacy. They may even hold you back.
In every marital relationship, talking and communication is essential. You never mature beyond talking to each other. But there is a level of intimacy where you have to stop talking and you have to go beyond words and even beyond thoughts to direct person to person love.
There is a type of prayer that goes beyond thoughts and words to direct spirit to spirit union with God.
If you are a Christian and are not regularly in a contemplative, abiding union with God, then you are missing out on this great joy that's not the whole of Christian spirituality, but it is certainly at the heart of it.
This is from our great conversation with John Mark Comer (author of Practicing the Way).
#fyp #christianpost #dailyprayers #johnmarkcomer #seedtimemoney
Best.mp4
Your best financial life is not just about you
The Giving Bucket...
This is from our great conversation with Dan Pourbaix from Parable accounting, @liveyourparable - listen to the whole conversation on the SeedTime Money podcast (wherever you listen to podcasts).
So many people miss that by allocating such a high percentage of our income to giving. We now have a bucket of all this money just sitting there waiting to be spent, waiting for God to give instructions on.
Hey, I want you to go take care of this widow over here.
Hey, I want you to give over this ministry here.
And the money's just sitting there waiting to be spent and giving never became, so easy or so much fun in my entire life. I love that.
You always think about like, okay, be intentional with every dollar. And all of a sudden you actually put yourself in a spot. Where maybe, you're being generous with your dollars but it lacks spontaneity or generosity that when there's just a need.
Even that idea of we have whatever amount of money set aside to give but we don't know what we're going to give to yet. We'll see what God provides as an opportunity.
I love that that mentality.
#intentionalgiving #generosityinaction #faithfulstewardship #danpourbaix #parableaccounting #boblotich #seedtimemoney
BreakingPoint.mp4
Maybe I don't know everything I think I know
Why budgeting is spiritual...
I believe the budgeting is a spiritual exercise.
The world wants to tell us that you only need to budget if you're broke or if you're an accountant or super nerdy or something like that. But, I actually see it as a spiritual exercise.
In our situation, go back about 2015. We had reached a much better financial place than we were before. I started noticing that, I was just getting sloppy with our spending. I found myself pretty much being able to say yes and buy whatever I wanted.
Like we never said No.
I found myself never asking the question of how much something cost. Or, never caring how much something costs because we had the money.
In all this, I remember praying and God just revealing to me that ease doesn't create strength, but resistance does.
So if you wanna be stronger, you need to hear No.
You need to have things to overcome. And so that's where this concept of having some walls ─ in place , is so valuable even if you don't have to do it.
Most people don't think about that this actually strengthens you and helps you develop character.
And, become more Christ-like.
#spiritualgrowth #faithandfinance #budgetingtips #seedtimemoney
✅ If God can't trust us with $100, would He really give us $1 mil __.mp4
If God can't trust us with $100, would He really give us $1 mil?
If I can't manage a hundred dollars, well, why would I expect God to allow me to manage a million?
It's how we handle these small things, that determine how much more we're gonna be able to handle.
Matthew 25, the servants, they were delegated responsibility by the owner, but the servants themselves never became owners. They remained managers.
But their responsibility was increased or decreased based on their performance.
#fyp #bibleapp #stewardship #seedtimemoney
Here's how we invited God into our financial mess...
Our finances used to feel like a puzzle that I could not solve. I tried every budgeting app, every program, and just couldn't get the pieces to fit together.
But, no money mess is too big for God.
And when you bring your mess to God, instead of trying to clean it up in your own strength, you can ask Him for help and He will put every piece together to meet all your needs. I just wasn't allowing God to put all the pieces together.
When I did He started this incredible journey in our lives. Going from literally having only $7 to my name, to being able to reach a million dollar giving goal that He put in my heart.
He has a plan for the same kind of radical generosity in all of this church in this generation.
And so if you want to get on board with that vision, we want to send you the first chapter of our award winning book: Simple Money, Rich Life. This book is a testimony of the blueprint that God used in our lives.
And now, more than 30,000 other readers who want to break out of this world's broken way of using money and step into managing money for the kingdom. So if you're interested, just visit https://seedtime.com/smrl-sample and we'll send you the first chapter of the book for free.
#godprovides #kingdomfinance #radicalgenerosity #seedtimemoney
