What Does "Intentional Living" Even Mean for My Money?

Do you ever feel like your money just has a mind of its own,

like it slips through your fingers before you even realize where it

went, but what if you could grab the steering wheel and confidently direct

every dollar towards a life filled with purpose, not just spending?

I want you to stick with me today because I've got the keys to

make that happen on today's show.

Hey there.

Welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.

I'm Ralph and I'm just so happy you've chosen to join me again today as we work

to answer our big question, how can I become a financially confident Christian?

Now, yesterday we kicked off our new series and it's called Beyond

the Budget, finding Financial Freedom Through Intentional Living.

Yesterday we started off by challenging the idea that money is always the answer.

I hope you went and listened to it.

If you missed it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out

because we really debunked that myth that money is always the answer.

And today we're gonna ask the next logical question, and that's this.

Ralph, what does intentional living even mean for your money?

I thought we needed to start there and really start to dive into what

does Intentional living even mean.

Maybe like many people, you've tried budgeting.

You say, oh, Ralph, this is a hassle, but I've tried it.

Maybe you even tracked spending for a while.

You did it for a week or two, or maybe even a month.

And in many ways this financial management just still feels sort of accidental.

Like it just something you sort of just happened to you.

And then money, money just be, feels like this thing.

It just happens to you in general.

Your spending's always stuck on autopilot.

Then you're like me, you get to the end of the week or the end of the

month or your, the next paycheck, you're like, Hey, where did it all go?

I call this financial drift, and that financial drift is subtle at

first, but it's a persistent source of stress for so many people.

And maybe you're sitting there right now and you go, oh, Ralph, he's

talking about intentional living.

Guess what that means?

That means deprivation.

Maybe that's what you think.

But I'm gonna challenge that right here at the beginning.

See, that's a, that's a profound misunderstanding,

and that misunderstanding is keeping you stuck here.

See, in my view, the real struggle is living without a clear why.

What's your why for your money?

' cause here's the thing I want you to hear today.

Intentional living isn't about deprivation.

It's just not, it's not about, well, I can't do this and I can't do that.

Actually, I'm gonna flip the script and I'm gonna tell you what I

really believe that intentional living is all about purpose.

See, it's the ultimate level of control.

It's about making conscious, deliberate choices with every single

dollar that comes into your pocket.

And if you're doing it right, if you're doing it right, it's

gonna reflect your deepest values.

And God's calling on your life.

Let's look at the, at the word today.

Let's look at the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verses

15 and 16, and I love this verse starts with a very stark warning.

Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making

the most of every opportunity.

Hey, when the verse starts off with, be very careful.

Guess what that means?

Be careful.

It's talking about living and it's talking about making wise decisions.

'cause it's talking about opportunities here and unwise people don't take

advantage of the opportunities.

Let's continue our, our look at the word.

Let's look at the book of Colossians, chapter three verse two.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

That's impactful because what it's saying to us is don't get so hung

up on those earthly possessions.

I mentioned in the show that watch I had to have yesterday that was distinctly

earthly, but collage is saying no.

Set your mind on things above.

here's the real answer, intentional living.

What I'll call purpose-driven use of God's resources.

It is ultimately about faithful stewardship.

So now you're probably asking Ralph, what can we do?

How do we stop that drifting?

You talk about and start living intentionally.

'cause that's what I want to do, Ralph.

I wanna live out God's given purpose in my life.

I wanna live intentionally.

I've got the solution for you.

It starts with defining your personal vision for financial intentionality.

I talk about intentionality on the show a great deal, but it starts with

having that vision and that vision.

You wanna align it with your values and with God's purpose

or God's calling on your life.

And this isn't some big, humongous thing that you must do.

You gotta make small, consistent choices day in and day out

that reflect that vision.

' cause in the end, that's what becomes your compass.

And that compass is gonna point you in the direction of your values

and God's purpose on your life.

So here's your one action step for today.

This is what I want you to do to really put this intentional

living into your life step.

the first thing I want you to do is define your intentional financial life.

You gotta sit down, maybe take five or 10 minutes.

Ask yourself this very deep question, what does a purposeful

financial life look like?

And everybody's answer could be different to this, but ask yourself that question.

What does a purposeful financial life look like?

I mentioned this a little bit yesterday.

it about freedom?

Is it about not worrying where your next dollar's coming, breaking that

cycle of financial shame or breaking that paycheck to paycheck cycle.

For you, maybe it's generosity.

Do you want to be more giving?

Do you wanna support your church?

Do you wanna support your charities?

Maybe you wanna do more for your children or your grandchildren.

For a lot of people, it might simply be living in simplicity.

I don't wanna have all this stuff, Ralph.

I don't need all this going on around me.

It's just too busy in my world.

And for some of us.

Maybe it's our calling, and I just want you to take some time and capture

a few words, or maybe even not words, but just images that represent this.

For example, let's say yours is freedom.

You might say to yourself, I wanna be free from that paycheck to

paycheck cycle stress, that that means saying no to things that only

offer that short-term gratification.

So I can always say yes to long-term peace.

As I said, maybe for you, it's a generosity for me, a, a purposeful

financial life means having margin.

I talk about that on the show all the time so that I can

help when others are in need.

I, I wanna be the kind of person who can respond when someone's in crisis.

Maybe yours is simplicity.

I'm craving less clutters physically and financial.

I, I don't need to keep up great in my lifestyle to feel successful.

It's a person who sees peace is the new luxury.

As I mentioned, maybe it's that calling my financials should

reflect my faith and my calling.

I want to invest in what truly matters, my family, my church, and and the

mission God has placed on my heart.

So maybe you write about a quiet home with fewer bills or giving

without hesitation, not even worrying about anymore that debt-free living.

Maybe for you it's that Sunday family dinner, or maybe just

simple words like margin.

Peace or legacy or impact, or, hey, maybe this one obedience.

And then I just want you to take that vision that you put

to yourself together and connect it to a recent spending choice.

Think of one non-essential recent purchase that you made, and then ask yourself that

tough question, did this purchase align with my intentional financial vision?

This is not about guilt.

It's just about awareness.

So for example, let's say you had an impulse, Amazon purchase.

Hey, I, I bought a second ring light because it was on sale.

I do content creation, but I already had one looking back that wasn't in line with

my desire for simplicity or stewardship.

I didn't need to, and I'm trying to steward my money.

Maybe one of yours is eaten out multiple times.

Know you say to yourself, I ate out three times last week, not because I had to.

But because I didn't plan ahead, and I've done shows about that, and you

say to yourself, my goal is to be more intentional with health and finances.

Maybe for you it says impulse buys, and you're buying a subscription

app and you say to yourself, I subscribe to another productivity

tool and I haven't opened it one time.

I say, I want financial freedom, but my spending doesn't reflect that this time.

Ask yourself these very difficult questions.

Was the purchase life giving or just a distraction?

And then ask yourself this really difficult question, did it move me

closer to or further away from peace?

Once you've done those two things, I want you to plan one next intentional choice.

Think about an upcoming spending moment that you're gonna have, and

think about how you can redirect that money more intentionally.

As we talked about, maybe you delay it, maybe you reduce it or

you reallocate it with purpose.

Lemme give you a few examples.

Let's say you've got an upcoming family outing.

So instead of going to an amusement park this weekend, we we're choosing

a, a hike and a homemade picnic.

It's that frees up $150 to pay down our credit card bill.

I would say that's living with purpose.

Or maybe for you it's that new clothing temptation.

I, I saw a summer sale pop up in my inbox.

Hey, I see those all the time.

Instead of buying more, I took 10 minutes to clean out my closet.

That small act realigned me with simplicity 'cause that was the thing

that you said was important to you.

Or maybe it's that caffeine run decision.

I budgeted for five coffee shop visit this month and I'm down to my last

one and now I'm choosing to skip it today 'cause that $5 will go towards

my emergency fund instead because you find value in, in safety and peace and

an emergency fund is important to you.

So ask yourself, What's one small but symbolic shift that I can make

this week that will have an impact and help me to live intentionally?

How can I show God that I trust him through this next financial decision?

And here's why this helps you, because it fights that drift.

I've talked about that drift.

It fights that drift because you're being intentional.

It builds that intentionality and it creates that alignment

between faith, between money.

Purpose because you define what your purpose is and you've

aligned that with your decisions.

Well, let's pray together now.

Father God, we just thank you for being our provider.

And Lord, we confess our money often feels accidental.

It just seems like it happens to us sometimes, and we know that's not the

way you want us to live our lives, Lord.

So we just ask that you would help us define financial intentionality.

Lord, grant us wisdom and grant us discipline as we really work to live

within your will, and we ask that you would help us to have our money

reflect your purposes for our lives, and we ask this with confidence.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Listen, financial peace isn't about income.

I said that yesterday and I said that again today because it's so important.

It's about how intentionally you live and you can live intentionally.

You gotta define your vision and make one intentional choice today, because

listen, you're moving towards freedom and I just wanna encourage you now, if

this episode has been helpful for you, do me a huge favor and share it with

somebody else who needs to hear it.

It's a whole lot of people out there who are battling that feeling of being

like their money is just, is just working and it's accidental to them.

It just happenstance and, and they can learn from this show and

they can learn from this episode.

So I'm just gonna encourage you to share it with them more.

People need to hear about the peace that comes with being intentional.

You can visit financially confident christian.com or

share that website with them.

And while you're there, I wanna give you a free copy of my book.

It's called Mastering Your Finances.

It's just a quick read, but it is impactful and it will help

you live that purposeful life.

And you can get to it by going the financially confident

christian.com/master.

Now tomorrow we're gonna tackle the more is better myth.

We're gonna talk about more and more and more like when my kids were really

young, they say, I need more, I need more.

And we're really gonna start to challenge consumerism.

So I, I wanna encourage you not to miss it.

So let's all go out there and be financially confident.

Christians, you can do this.

I believe in you now.

Believe in yourself.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you, and you have a great day today.