Create Margin

 Deut. 28:¹²  “The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.”

To Step Up financially, the second thing you have to do is Spend Less. The first rule of spending is to always spend less than you earn. I understand that for some people, what they earn is not enough so spending less seems elusive. But therein lies the problem; who says what you earn is not enough? If it is not enough, God will provide more. However, when God provides, our appetite has a way of growing with our income. So start from where you are; start the discipline of spending less from where you are.

Create some margin in your life. Do not get into debt. Do not borrow! There is a function in the office and the dress code is a brown blazer. Mr. A does not have a brown blazer and cannot afford to buy one so he is asking to be booked down for installmental payment over six months. Blazer debt for six months? For such a person, Stepping Up financially is going to be a huge challenge. Cut the debt! In fact, avoid debt all together. The way to avoid debt and spend less is to create a budget. If you will budget, you will experience financial peace. Stop procrastinating because you will keep struggling financially.

At some point in my family, we were under serious financial stress. And one of the things that stresses marriages the most, apart from communication, is finance. The stress was enormous so we sat down, drew up a budget and agreed on the budget. My income did not increase at the time but we had financial peace. And since then till date there has not been any argument over money because we have a plan. Everybody knows what is coming in and where it is going. However, it is not enough to create a budget; you have to stick to it.

Sticking to the budget will not always make sense. In fact sometimes, it will be downright uncomfortable but stick to the budget. And it is because simply creating a budget will not solve your financial problems; you have to stick to it. It makes it easier to cut off things that are not in the budget. Even when you have margin, plan for it! Do not borrow; whatever you do, do not borrow.

Thought: Do not do with more what you can do with less!

Prayer: Holy Spirit, as I save and budget, cause me to experience financial freedom, in Jesus Name. Amen!