Am I Cheating (on) God?

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.”

Psa 113:3 (NASB)

Praising God is obligatory. It is the price of being God’s creation. Praise is about regard and respect. We are to regard (protect) and respect (appreciate) God’s very name as Holy. Both praise and respect are derived from our being watchful, our intentional choice to seek out and truly see God. We must observe and expectantly look toward and study God in order to praise Him.

You will keep on hearing,
But will not understand,
You will keep on seeing,
But will not perceive,
For the heart of this
People has become dull”

Mat 13:14-15 (NASB)

We cannot protect or admire what we have not intentionally and carefully sought out, seen, and experienced for ourselves. The blessing is that once we have, we will naturally feel motivated to protect and appreciate it. Our experience and understanding of God will have a high price in our hearts. We will work to make sure it is not harmed, threatened, devalued, or misidentified as having any source other than Him.

It will become easier to trust God, easier to give God the glory, to love God and serve Him because we value who He is, because have paid a price to know Him. We have had to trade other things we valued to seek His understanding: His attributes, qualities, feelings, and rights as God.

If we find ourselves struggling to live according to God’s plan and purpose for our lives it is because we have not taken the time to intentionally and continually seek and see Him. If we haven’t, we have to ask ourselves, what have we chosen to value instead of, or over, God?

Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; Seek and keep on seeking and you will find. Knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.”

Mat 7:7-8 (AMP)

Think of it as having a finite amount of money, say $100 dollars. Then consider that everything we seek out or focus on costs a certain amount of that $100. We all come to God impoverished (with very little) or indebted (with nothing left). When we come or return to God as adults we have already invested most, if not all, of that $100 in things other than Him.

It is important to keep in mind that whether those things, in our or society’s estimation, are good (service, exercise, family) or bad (addiction, dishonesty, hate) is irrelevant. God is due (owed) our regard and respect. It is a spiritual entitlement that must and will be paid one way or another, today or tomorrow, in this life or the next.

Keeping in mind this metaphor, when we come to God, most of us try to continue living with the same expenses as before not realizing that knowing and loving God is expensive. So we try to pinch pennies with Him. We offer God the least amount of the leftover metaphorical dollars we have left. The more righteous and obedient among us literally give ten percent of themselves to God. Ten percent!

Imagine for one moment that you are married and that your spouse only gave you 10% of themselves. They only spent 10% of their income on you and your home. They only spent 10% of their time with you. They only considered your thoughts, feelings, boundaries, and traditions 10% of the time. They only loved 10% of who you are. They only respected you 10% of the time.

Now imagine that they were devoting the other 90% to another person.

That is what we do with God when we don’t intentionally re-budget our lives. When we come to, or return to God, we must undergo serious accounting. Where is each dollar of our 100 going?

God desires it all.

The goal of life, and the reward of eternal Salvation through Christ, is to be able to live saying, “Here, God, here’s everything. Everything I have I freely and gratefully give to you and I want none of it back.”

And (Jesus) said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”

Mat 22:37-38 (NASB)

Until we find that perfect peace (100%) in heaven we are to live on earth restructuring our spiritual budget a little at a time. As we grow in God, through Christ, we say to ourselves, “What can I sacrifice so that I can give God $11 instead of $10. $20 instead of $15?”

Most of us think of a healthy relationship between humans as being 50/50. If you were to create a budget of your life, how much of your $100 are invested in praising God? Seeking God? Having a pleasurable contemplation of who He is? Regarding His character and rights as your Father and creator of all that is?

If a stranger were to observe your life: your thoughts, feelings, relationships, actions, words, habits, friendships, prayers, career, home, body, and goals, how much would they think you’ve invested? Is it obvious to others that you are seeking at least a 50/50 relationship with Him?
“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” Psa 113:3 (NASB)

God challenges us and requires us to restructure our lives to live in praise of Him.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.

2 Cor 5:17

Through Christ we can all intentionally take steps to devote more of ourselves to regard and respect God’s holy name in our thoughts and actions.

How to Get Out of Debt While Paying Bills & Saving Money: Quick Money Tips for the Financially Challenged

If you’re anything like me, keeping a monthly budget can be really difficult. I start off the month well-intentioned but end up completely  off-track once expenses and social events start rolling in. Plus, If I’m honest, I like to spend money far more than I enjoy saving it. Both of these tendencies combine to create a sizable and intimidating issue for me when it comes to covering my monthly expenses and meeting my financial goals.

Over the years my income has steadily increased but my debt and savings either stay the same or go in the wrong direction. And that’s not entirely due to my emotional habits around spending. It also has a lot to do with being confused about how EXACTLY do I tackle this monster of a problem and it what order? How do I get out of debt? Do I save my nine month emergency fund before I start paying it off? Or should I put 10% of my income toward both at the same time? And if so, how do I live without 20% of my income when I’m having a hard time meeting my expenses with 100%? Plus, what EXACTLY constitutes an “emergency” and should I continue to save and pay off my debt when I’m in an “emergency” scenario?

To help navigate through all of the advice scattered out there in books and personal finance websites, I have compiled some quick and really simple budgeting tips from Dave Ramsey’s Guide to Budgeting. These are all low-tech and low-fluff to help focus on the KEY strategies to get in better control of personal finances without getting overwhelmed or confused.

Quick Tip #1: Follow DAVE Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps

Instead of making a crazy, technical budget and thinking off all the financial decisions that need to be handled, Dave suggests starting with these 7 Baby Steps. Start at 1 and then work your way down the list:

Quick Tip #2: Start Early

Dave recommends making your budget a few days BEFORE the month starts, even if you haven’t been paid yet or aren’t sure what your income will be. Need a place to create a FREE online budget? Click here.

Quick Tip #3: Write it Down

Whenever you make any purchases make sure you write it down and add it to your budget that day. Don’t rely on memory, account balances, or weekly receipt round-ups.

Quick Tip #4: Cash Flow Emergencies

If an emergency comes up try to cash flow it before tapping into your emergency fund. Ramsey says:

“If you can cut up to 10% off items in your budget to pay for something that comes up, then cash flow it. Otherwise, go for the savings.”

For example: If you need $200 for an emergency dentist appointment, go line-by-line through your budget [groceries, entertainment, gas, clothing, etc.] to see where and if you can take 10% of what you have already budgeted to cover the  expense. If you can’t cover it all without using 10% or less, cover what you can from the cash flow and then use your emergency fund to cover the rest.

Git’er Done Priority & Goal Setting Series: “The Power of Focus” Step By Step Pt. 1

I am of the mindset that it is impossible to plan anything, solve problems, manage time, or reach goals without having a daily habit of reviewing and tracking your priorities. I mentioned in my previous post that I have had a series of setbacks and that is largely because my daily routine of setting, reviewing and tracking my priorities were neglected and then postponed indefinitely. For the last two days I have been working on getting organized so that I can create a plan to get my medical and financial life back on track and running as smoothly as possible again.

Over the years I have learned many different tools that help to do exactly that and I’d like to share some of the best systems with you over a series of posts that I’ll refer to as The Git’er Done Series. In this series, each blog post will go over one system in detail. Try one or all and see which you like best and standby as I try to combine them all  into one easy (and hopefully digital) system.

Initially some are more complicated than others to learn and get started but they all work really well and quickly (about 5-20 minutes a day) once you get the planning stages completed (about 2-5 hours). It may seem time consuming but I can’t stress how helpful this process is. Although I feel like my life has spiraled out of control, these systems work so well, that as I have been reviewing my goals from previous years, I see have met almost all of them even though I got distracted and fell on difficult times.

To make this a bit easier for you all to follow along, I created four worksheets that I reference below and they can be found here. You can either print them out and then fill them in by hand or you can type in your answers in Microsoft Word and then print out the completed copies. Give it a shot and let me know what you think in the comments below. Also, let me know if you think a corresponding YouTube video would be helpful.

Here we go….