Episode Transcript
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You've walked this journeywith me. It's been 30 days in this
series of breaking chains. Andthe whole time we've confronted the
main struggles that so manypeople deal with and we've learned
to live differently. And nowfor so many of you, and I'm starting
to get the emails, you'vearrived at the question you've been
waiting for. How do I finallylive in true financial peace? And
so many people have asked me,they've reached out to me. They said,
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ralph, is this piece of finishline, is it some checkbox? I can
finally get to the pointwhere, say, ralph, I'm a financially
confident Christian. Check thebox. Or is it something deeper? Is
it a lifelong walk with God?But here's the truth I want you to
understand. You got to reallyembrace this today. Peace isn't a
destination. So many peoplethink you're going to find peace.
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And check the box, Ralph, I'vearrived. But that's not what it is.
Peace is really a journey offaith. And it's a journey that you
take one step at a time. Andwhen you anchor that in God's faithfulness,
and that's exactly what I'mgonna talk about on today's show,
we can celebrate what God hasdone for us and we can embrace that
path forward to lasting peace.So that's what I want you to join
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me for. That's exactly whatI'm gonna cover on today's show.
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame withconfidence. Hello there. Welcome
back to Financially ConfConfident Christian. I'm Ralph. I
am so glad that you chose tohonor me with your time today. It
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just makes me feel great thatyou come and just join me for a few
minutes every day. And on thisshow, my goal every single day is
to help you answer thisquestion, how can I become a financially
confident Christian? And todaywe're ending the 30 day series on
breaking financial chains. AndI hope you've joined me along this
path. And if you haven'tjoined me, you can go back and listen
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to all these. You can find allof these@financiallyconfidentchristian.com
and if you've been along withme on the journey, you know, we tackled
shame, we've tackled the fearsof debt, we've tackled the fears
of not being able to giveenough. We talked about saving, we
discussed budgeting, we talkedabout stewardship. And today I just
want to really tie it alltogether and really answer that big
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audacious question, how do Itruly live in financial peace? Ralph?
Because if you're like most ofus, you've made some progress along
the way. Maybe you're livingright now, you've got less stress,
you've got more confidence inyour financial decisions. And for
so many of us, we just want tobe done with this. We're like, hey,
it's done. I can put it torest. I'll give you an example of
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that. Right now, I'm on adiet. I started my weight loss journey.
I weighed 430 pounds. Well,just the other day, I weighed in
at 268. And I said to myself,great, I'm almost there. But what
I'm starting to realize, andyou're going to realize this in your
journey of sanctification, inyour journey of life, in your journey
of financial faith. The work'sjust starting. You're going to have
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setbacks and you're going tofeel like, oh, my God, Ralph, things
are going to be undonecompletely. And so many people struggle
with that. If you see pieces,this finish line, once you get it,
you run across the finishline, you break the piece of ribbon
there and you've accomplishedit. But the problem is when you live
in that reality, that falsereality, I'll say that complacency
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after that wins in the end.And so many people suffer discouragement,
because guess what? In life,financially especially, you're going
to have setbacks. And I foundthis from Fidelity. Fidelity did
a survey and I thought thiswas an interesting statistic. Kind
of a sad statistic, butinteresting. It says this, 73% of
Americans who complete afinancial goal, those things like
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paying off a debt, say theyslip back into old habits and listen
to this part within two years.And see, that's because so many people
think that peace is thisdestination, it's a finish line,
and they feel like they'regoing to have this level of perfection.
But I'm going to spoilsomething for you right now. It's
not about perfection. If youlisten to my show, you know, I say
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this all the time, it's notabout perfection. It's truly about
perseverance. Because here'sthe thing, true stewardship. If you
really want to live in astewardship filled life, whatever
that looks like for you, it'sa lifelong discipleship. And money
management is one of the maincore components of that. And that's
the spiritual formation. Andthings are going to happen in your
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life. Well, let's get rightinto the word of God today. I found
this verse today in the bookof Philippians, chapter 1 6. And
I think this is a great way tothink about this being a journey,
this being a continual thingthat we're all sorting after. Philippians,
chapter 1, verse 6. He whobegan a good work in you will carry
it on to completion until theday of Christ Jesus. And I just think
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we can all be reassured bythat verse. God is faithful to what
he started in us, and I hopethat encourages you today. There
are days when I get up and Ihead down to the gym and I think,
man, this is another day. Iwould love to just be done with this.
Maybe you're listening. You'rewatching right now. You're like,
ralph, I'm right there withyou. This financial struggle, man.
I just want to be done withthis. Where's the finish line? But
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don't lose heart, because whatis God reminding us of? He's going
to carry it on till the daythat he returns. Here's another great
verse from the Bible. This isfrom chapter 4, verse 18 of the book
of Proverbs. And you canreally anchor your soul in this one.
It says this again, Proverbs4, 18. The path of the righteous
is like the morning sun,shining ever brighter till the full
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light of day. What is thatreally saying to us? And I think
we can learn from this. Peacegrows over time. It's not going to
happen overnight. Here's atruth bomb. A lot of people come
to me, I do some financialcounseling with them and I'll say,
ralph, I got into debt. Giveme a path to get out of this, and
they'll come back a weeklater, like, ralph, I'm still in
debt. I'm like, guess what?You didn't get into debt overnight.
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You're not going to get out ofit overnight either. But that peace,
those day in and day outdecisions, will grow that confidence
over time. It's not going tohappen overnight. Well, let's look
at the book of James, chapter1, verse 2 to 4 again, James 1, 2,
4. It says, consider it purejoy because you know that the testing
of your faith producesperseverance. And let me just tell
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you right now, there's nofinish line, but there is perseverance.
You're going to have setbacks.If you're listening to my voice.
You're watching me right now.I'm going to encourage you right
now. You are going to havesetbacks, but it's how you respond
to those. It's how you growthrough those. It's that perseverance
I dare use a big word here.It's that financial maturity. Now,
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I'm going to quote DaveRamsey. I'm not on Dave Ramsey's
team all the time, but thisone I thought was very good. And
he said this. He said,financial peace isn't the absence
of debt. He goes on to saythis. He says it's the presence of
contentment. And I think Davenails it right here. Financial peace
isn't the absence of debt, butwhat is it? It's the presence of
contentment. So now I'm goingto ask you that question. I started
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with Ralph. How do I trulylive in peace? I'm going to tell
you right now, it's going totake a lifelong commitment to growth
and a lifelong commitment tofinancial stewardship. And let me
just tell you right now, it'sall about changing your mindset.
There's no finish line,there's no checkboxes. But it's truly
that walk with God everysingle day of your life to stay in
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that communion and to stay inthat stewardship with Him. And I
love what the Reverend CharlesStanley says. True peace comes not
from the absence of problems,but from the presence of God. And
I just think Charles nails ithere. You want to get to true peace.
You're never going to live alife with no problems. But if God
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is there with you, you havethe Lord's presence with you. You
will live in peace. So here'syour action step for today. I want
to give you an action step tohelp you make progress in your journey.
And I just want you to taketime right now and write down one
or two chains that God hasbroken in the last 30 days. See,
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it's so easy not to see yourprogress. I go back to my diet as
an example on a day in and dayout basis. I don't see myself shrinking.
I don't see myself gettinghealthier. But then I get on that
scale maybe once a week, I'dsay, wow, dropped a couple more pounds.
It didn't happen overnight.But if you don't go back and revisit
those things, go find thosechains that were broken. Do you have
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a debt management plan now? Doyou have a budget that you're living
in? Do you give faithfully? Doyou give cheerfully? Whatever that
looks like for you, Write downone or two of those chains that God
has broken and just thank himfor it. And once you do that, revisit
those principles query that wetalked about. You can go re listen
to or re watch that seriesagain and again. Commit to Weekly,
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daily, monthly, annually.Growth. Keep learning. Read books,
go take workshops, watch morepodcasts, listen to more podcasts,
whatever that looks like foryou. Read more books. I'll tell you
how you can get a copy of mybook for free here in just a couple
minutes. And one more thingI'm going to encourage you to do
is establish a financialSabbath. You may not have heard me
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talk about this. I've talkedabout it a couple times on this show.
But this is so very important.Whether it be monthly or quarterly,
review that budget, reviewthose goals, review that giving plan,
review those savings plan andpray about it. Truly pray about it.
And thank God for theprovision he's giving you. And just
remember this. You got toembrace grace. Perfection is not
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the goal. And you are going tostumble. You are going to have setbacks.
But it's how you get back upfrom those setbacks that makes a
difference. You learn, yourestart and trust God's grace. Because
when you do this, and when youlook at it like a lifelong journey,
it transforms money from atask into discipleship. So many people
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think they're going to check acouple boxes and their financial
problems are going to beresolved. It doesn't work like that.
It's a lifelong decision tostay in communion and discipleship.
And when you do that, when youembrace that journey, it builds resilience
and it anchors your peace inthe only true anchor in God's faithfulness.
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How about we pray togethernow? Father God, thank you for beginning
a good work in us and thankyou for your promise to carry it
through to completion,whatever that looks like on your
timeline or not ours. And weconfess that we often want quick
fixes, Lord, but you call usto be faithful and you call us to
faithful endurance. Lord, helpus to embrace this stewardship as
a lifelong journey. Give usthe wisdom for each season of our
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lives, strength to perseverethrough setbacks where we know they're
going to happen. But most ofall, Lord, give us grace to walk
with confidence in you. Andmay our finances truly testify to
your goodness. And may ourlives bring glory to your name. And
we ask this in confidence inthe name of Jesus. Amen. Well, I
just want to saycongratulations. If you've been with
me the last 30 days and you'vecompleted the break in the Financial
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Chain series, and the truth isyou've taken steps towards transformation
and you are farther along thanyou think and, and you're starting
to find that peace. Andremember, this is only the beginning
of your lifelong walk. LarryBurkett said this he said every spending
decision is a spiritualdecision. So I want to encourage
you right now. If this 30 dayjourney has blessed you, I want to
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encourage you. Don't keep itto yourself. I want to encourage
you right now. Share it with afriend. Share with a family member.
Share with somebody who needsthat financial reassurance. Who's
somebody that needs thatfinancial freedom. Because let me
tell you right now, this mightbe this very spark that changes their
life. Just send them to ourwebsite. They can pick up the whole
series atfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
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here's something else I wantto give you talked about this a few
minutes ago. I just finishedmy third book and it's called how
to Become a FinanciallyConfident Christian. I've laid it
all out in black and whiteprint. I'm going to give you a free
copy that you can downloadthat book right at my website. Just
go tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming it'll
be in the show notes as wellbut it's financially confidentchristian.com
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becoming go get a copy ofbook, send it to your friends. The
more people the better becausethis may be the very spark that changes
their life. Now let's all goout there today and live as financially
confident Christians. Let'slive free, let's live faithful and
let's live focused on God.Because listen, I know you can do
this. I believe in you andmore importantly than that, God believes
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in you. Stay financiallysavvy. God bless you and make sure
you join me tomorrow as welaunch another new series that will
be fantastic. God bless youtoday. Have a great day.