Have you had a chance yet this year to look at your bank and credit card statements, scratch your head, and wonder where it all went? If you haven't, you soon will!

None of us has the ability to change the past, so we must learn from it and move on. One of the greatest teachings in the Bible is that no matter how badly we blow it, our mistakes in the past can be forgiven, erased, and gone forever. When we focus on the past, we are destroying our future. So, let's begin to "strain", which means "stretch to the utmost" towards our future and build it. Don't dwell in the past, being a member of the IFIDA club thinking "if I'd have" only been smarter with my money, I'd be rich today. Join the IMGUNNA club and say, "This year I'm going to be a wise steward of the funds that God gives me." The key to being a smart money manager is deciding, before the money comes in, where it's going, instead of trying to figure out where it went after the fact.

Each day, God gives us a fresh new start, and with that, another opportunity to form new and better financial habits. Don't waste that opportunity today. Make a point of prayerfully deciding, "Where are the very best places for the next money I earn?" before it comes in. Always remember that just because stumbling blocks are thrown in your way, it doesn't mean you have to stumble!

Prayer: Lord God, grant me Your vision for my future and Your wisdom to know how I may adequately make provisions for it. Amen.

When it comes to our personal finances, we are like the ant, in that we have no commander, overseer or ruler to tell us to store up for the winter, and because of that, unlike the ant, most of us don't. I have found that one of the biggest reasons why many budgets fail is that we forget to budget for the "winter", those yearly, intermittent bills like Christmas and the annual house or car insurance. Jesus taught us, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'" (Luke 14:28) This means we need to know where the funds are going to come from to complete the roof, while we are still building the foundation. So, this month, we need to be making allowances for all of our upcoming intermittent bills, even the ones that aren't due for a while. I can guarantee that the insurance company won't forget to send out that annual house or car insurance bill and we shouldn't forget to save for it. Then when "winter" comes we won't end up struggling financially. With no commander to force us to store up, the onus falls on us to do it. If we follow the ant's example and store up for the winter, we will rule over our bills, but if we don't, our bills will rule over us.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to face our financial situation squarely, and to plan ahead, so that those who do not believe will have less opportunity to ridicule those who do believe in You. Amen.

What Jesus meant is that today, we don't have to wear the weight of the rest of life. We must learn to take it one day at a time, because if we don't, we'll get so overwhelmed about tomorrow's worries that we can't act effectively on today's problems.

We can never re-live yesterday,
nor can we live tomorrow today,
what we can do is reach our potential,
as God's children on this day.
If we want to reach our destination,
we must master and achieve today,
even tomorrow can be conquered,
when tomorrow becomes today.

Another way to look at it, is that we shouldn't spend tomorrow's income today, because each day has enough bills of it's own. If we want to get ahead financially, stop spending tomorrow's money today, and stop putting off today's bills until tomorrow. Today has to be our day of reckoning within ourselves. Achieving financial goals starts with deciding where we want to end up tomorrow, drawing on our experience, capabilities, and growth from yesterday, but in the end, it can only be accomplished "today". Always remember that just because stumbling blocks are thrown in your way it doesn't mean you have to stumble!

Prayer: Lord God, encourage us, and give us the strength to face today's problems today, and leave tomorrow's worries to tomorrow. Amen.

Jesus is teaching here that it's important to practice the latter which is "law — justice, mercy and faithfulness" without neglecting the former, which is tithing, or giving a tenth. Jesus Himself, in the New Testament, is telling us to tithe. This verse should clearly shatter any myth that tithing was only for the Old Testament. But tithing is intended to be a blessing, not a burden. Look at what He promises to those who obey this command:

Malachi 3:10 – "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

This is the only place in Scripture where we are invited to put God to the test on the faithfulness of His promise. Obey the Lord and honour Him with a tithe of your firstfruits and see what blessings He will pour out on you!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for Your assurance that "all the promises of God in [Christ] are yea, and in him Amen". Help us to learn how to obey Your commands and accept Your assurances with the knowledge that they are "the word of a gentleman of the strictest and highest honour". Amen.

Matthew 26:36,38-40 – Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?"

We need to learn when to be awake and when to rest. Jesus was awake in the Garden of Gethsemane and yet He slept on the boat during the furious storm. On the other hand, the disciples slept in the Garden and feared for their lives in the storm. Things that are problems to us are not problems to the Lord, and the reverse. We need to distinguish which is which. We, as Christians, knowing that a storm is coming in our life situation, tend to build bigger boats to weather the storm. But the Lord has those kinds of storms under control. All we have to do is curl up trustingly beside our Saviour and rest. But we must be awake when it comes to our Lord's burdens. If we can learn this simple lesson, we'll be saved from a lot of worry, and have more time to spend in prayer about the Lord's burdens.

Many times during the storms of our life, we wonder where God is. We look for God in the illness, the financial disaster, the marriage break-up, the bereavement, the storm. And when we don't find Him, we assume He must have deserted us. But Jesus wasn't in the storm, He was in the boat, right there with them through it all.

Prayer: Thank You, God, that You are always with us. You promised You would never leave us, never forsake us. Give us Your grace to discern Your presence and to trust Your control of the storms of life. Amen.

Have you had a chance yet this year to look at your bank and credit card statements, scratch your head, and wonder where it all went? If you haven't, you soon will! None of us has the ability to change the past, so we must learn from it and move on. One of the greatest teachings in the Bible is that no matter how badly we blow it, our mistakes in the past can be forgiven, erased and gone forever. When we focus on the past we are destroying our future. So lets begin to "strain", which means "stretch to the utmost" towards our future and build it. Don't dwell in the past being a member of the IFIDA club thinking "if I'd have" only been smarter with my money, I'd be rich today. Join the IMGUNNA club and say, "This year I'm going to be a wise steward of the funds that God gives me." The key to being a smart money manager is deciding, before the money comes in, where it's going, instead of trying to figure out where it went after the fact. Each day God gives us a fresh new start and with that, another opportunity to form new and better financial habits. Don't waste that opportunity today. Make a point of prayerfully deciding "Where are the very best places for the next money I earn?" before it comes in. Always remember that just because stumbling blocks are thrown in your way, it doesn't mean you have to stumble!

Prayer: Lord God, grant me Your vision for my future and Your wisdom to know how I may adequately make provisions for it. Amen.