Is Your Hard-Earned Cash Going Down the Drain?

You ever feel like no matter how much you make, it just disappears?

Almost like there's a hole in your wallet?

That's what I want to talk about today.

And I want to get right into the scripture.

I found this Bible verse from the book of Haggai.

It's chapter one, verse six.

And I just want to read this to you because, man, it nails something.

And I deal with also about every day in my practice.

And this is what it says again.

This is the book of Haggai, chapter one, verse six.

It says this.

You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

Well, think about that for a second.

People are working hard.

You might be listening to this right now.

Maybe you're sitting there on your way to work, you're listening to this.

Or maybe you're watching this on YouTube.

You're like, Ralph, that's me.

I work really hard.

It feels like no matter what I do, I just can't get ahead.

And I hear this, my practice, almost every day.

People I work with to try to help them improve their financial situation.

It's always the same thing, Ralph.

I work really hard.

I'm trying to do all the right things.

A lot of times it leads to a level of discontentment.

They feel like their priorities aren't aligned with God's.

If we don't manage our resources wisely, if we're not good stewards of those things, guess what happens.

Just like the Bible verse says, no matter how much money you make, you earn all those wages, you put them with a purse at holes in it.

I get this picture, that in your own mind, you fill this purse, you fill this bag.

Let's call it a bag for sake of a better term.

You fill this bag with all your coins.

It's heavy.

You pick it up, and as you notice, you're walking across the room and things are just dripping out of it.

Well, think about how that ties directly into your spending.

Well, the main chief things that people talk to me all the time, they say, rob, I just don't understand where my money goes.

It's true.

But here's the thing.

The reason people don't understand where their money goes is because they haven't found where their leaks are.

And that's really the whole point of today's show.

I want to talk about how to find those leaks.

For so many people.

It's things like forgotten subscriptions.

You have these subscriptions.

You sign up for Netflix, you sign up for Spotify.

Hey, maybe you sign up for the gym and you Just never get there.

Those forgotten subscriptions just add up.

Because, listen, it's like set it and forget.

It just gets charged to your account every month.

You just forget about it.

I forgot I was even paying for that.

I haven't used that in months.

Hey, listen, I'm right there with you.

There's one particular one that just keeps on renewing every year.

And I finally said to myself, you know, I'm just gonna.

I'm gonna cancel it right now, even though I just paid for another 12 months.

For a lot of people, it's so small.

Daily habits, things like that.

Coffee stop.

And, you know, if you listen to my show, you probably say, ralph, you're always picking on coffee spots.

What's a leak?

How about those gas station stacks?

I'm just gonna run in here, grab something really quick.

Or maybe it's just convenience fees in general.

You know, a lot of people don't understand when they go to the ATM machine.

I'm gonna go get 20 bucks.

How much are you paying for that?

How much is your bank charging for that?

How much is the ATM itself charging you for that?

Not to mention it.

Impulse purchases that you usually buy with that cash, you might be saying, ralph, those are just little things, dude.

They're just little odds and ends.

And yes, they're individually, they're small, but when you add them all together, they become huge things.

They become really big things.

What does the Bible tell us about this?

Stewardship means plugging those leaks.

Stewardship means taking that purse and finding out where the money's leaking into.

If you really want to conquer your financial situation, if you really want to get ahead, start saving, pay off debt, all that kind of thing, the main thing you've got to do is start plugging those leaks.

Now, you may be saying, ralph, okay, great.

I get it.

I've got the purse with the holes in it.

I'm doing all the things you're talking about.

How do I get past that, Ralph?

How do I make an impact?

The first thing I want to tell you to do is go look at your bank statement.

Go in there and look at every single transaction.

Where are you spending your money?

You might find those unused subscriptions there.

You might find things.

I didn't realize I was charged this overdraft fee.

So many people don't realize the bank fees they're paying because maybe they could have a minimum balance.

They wouldn't get charged a fee at all.

So audit your bank statements.

Audit your credit card statements.

A lot of people don't even look at their credit card statements.

They don't read the credit card statement.

I think this is one of the things.

If you want to be financially prudent, if you want to be a good steward of your resource, one of the main things you've got to start doing is looking at that credit card statement.

Read that thing from beginning to end.

I don't know how many times I've worked, and this is a lot of times I work with a business client.

We're putting their books together at year end to do their taxes.

And I'll say to them, do you realize you were charged all these fees, Ralph, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Well, they had fraud on their account and collectively they were little odds and ends, but they weren't looking at it.

That's a good place to find those unused subscriptions.

Also look at your credit card statements.

It's a great time to set up alerts or, or set up a budget.

We talk about budgets on the show all the time.

Or what I called the other day an intentional spending plan.

Because those alerts, when you see that come through, one of the best things I've ever seen somebody do is they set up an alert whenever any.

Anything hits their account, they get an alert.

Because guess what?

They're going to see it.

They're going to see it and they're going to do something about it.

We need to realign our priorities.

We need to realign our thinking.

We need to realign our mindset.

We need to be good stewards of money.

Because here's a simple truth, and I want you to hear this because this is my hug to you today.

I mean, I want to share love with you today.

God doesn't want you working hard only to feel empty.

God doesn't want you to have that purse with the holes in it.

That's why I put it in the scripture.

He's trying to point out something.

He's trying to show you something.

He's trying to show you a way to get past that.

God wants you to experience peace and he wants you to experience provision.

So here's my one action step for today, this week or today.

I just want you to ask God to just pray.

Just pray about this.

Say, God, show me the leaks in my spending.

Lord, help me to have the energy and determination to go look at that bank statement like Ralph said, to go look at those credit card statements and really examine where my money's going.

Start to track where my money's going.

Because you could just take one step this week to patch some of those items.

I'm going to tell you right now, it will be an amazing shift in your complete financial situation.

How about we pray together?

Father God, we come to you right now and we know we're broken people, Lord.

We know in so many ways that we aren't good stewards of the resources you've given us, Lord.

And we need your help right now.

We need your help today to help us plug up some of these leaks.

Lord.

She show us where we have these shortcomings, Lord, and give us the courage, the strength, the determination to actually do something about it.

Lord, we know that you want us to experience peace.

We know that you want us to experience provision, Lord.

So I ask that you would help me to do that today.

And I asked this in complete confidence, knowing that you will do it for us, Lord, in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Listen, as I said, God doesn't want you working hard only to feel empty.

God wants you to feel the abundance of everything he's given you.

He's given you all these things.

He just wants you to steward them wisely.

And here's something I'd like to give you.

I'd love to give you a copy of my new book.

I just released this book.

It's called how to Become a Financially Confident Christian.

It's a book that is a passion of mine.

So many people are struggling with their finances and I just want to offer this to you for absolutely nothing today.

You can get it by going to financial.

Financially confidentchristian.com becoming Again, that's financially confidentchristian.com becoming.

I would love to share that with you because it'll be simple steps to help you finally get to that point of becoming a financially confident Christian.

Now listen, today I just want to leave you with this.

I have confidence in you.

You can do this.

Just take one small step today.

Read that bank statement.

Look at that credit card statement.

Start tracking where your money's going to.

Because God wants you to find financial peace.

He doesn't want you to battle.

He doesn't want you to be stuck in that cycle of financial shame.

He wants you to break free of that with confidence.

So again, go get a copy of my book.

You can get that at financiallyconfidentchristian.com becoming.

And I just wish you peace today.

God bless you.

You have a great day today.