Well, you may be in a situation right now where you're anxious about your finances,
but I want to give you some good news.
It really is possible to turn any financial situation around, and we're going to give
you tips today on how you can do that on enjoying everyday life.
Well welcome to the program today.
Howard Dayton, the founder of Crown Financial Ministries, joins us again today with practical
steps on how you can control your finances and stop allowing them to control you.
You know, Howard, first of all, welcome.
Thank you.
Thanks for being back again today.
It was great to be with you.
And I just kind of got stuck on that word control because I thought, you know, really
money does control a lot of people.
Oh, absolutely.
No question about it, and the Lord wants us to be free of that joy because we can only
be experiencing the fullness of our relationship with Christ when this stuff doesn't control
us.
The only thing that should control us is Him through the Holy Spirit.
Exactly right.
And He doesn't even force us, so it's not even really like a control like we might think
of control.
He wants us to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit, but if you're controlled by other
outside forces, then it's very difficult to follow that leadership of the Holy Spirit.
For example, if someone is over their head in debt, then it's difficult to follow the
Lord's leading if He wants you to give something that would be beyond what you would normally
do.
Yeah, exactly right.
I love what Proverbs 22.7 tells us that the borrower is servant to the lender, and as
you said, you know, the Lord doesn't want us to be servant to the creditor.
He wants us to be servant to Him and to those people that He puts in our path.
So when you are in debt, significantly in debt in particular, it does, you know, restrict
your freedom to really follow and serve Christ the way He wants us to.
You know, Howard, I think we've had so much debt in our society, and it's just such a
part of our lifestyle today that I would imagine that most people, even watching right now,
it probably has never even entered their mind that they could ever live debt free.
Yeah.
Well, I look at my children, and it's been an encouragement.
I mean, my daughter's 27, and of course she grew up in a house where debt was not encouraged,
and she and her husband already have their house paid for, and what was really exciting
to us, the month after they paid their house off, and they ate peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches for five years to do that, but they had a friend of theirs who was having
a difficult pregnancy, was going to cost him $1,000 more at the hospital, and because
they didn't have that payment for the house, they had that $1,000 they could give to their
friend, and that really is what I think is on God's heart that we would be freed up
to follow what He wants us to do.
Well, you know, the impatience factor is so big today because one of the reasons why
they're so much debt is because people don't want to wait and save for the things that
they want.
That's right.
And my husband, maybe we can say he has a gift in the area of finances, I don't know
exactly where it came from, but when he was even a young boy, he would save money in
his socks, he put his money in his socks and hid them in his dresser drawer, and he came
from a family of several children, and he would always have money, and many of them
would be wanting to borrow from him all the time.
And so he saved and saved and paid cash for his first car, which was a very nice car,
and Dave has always had that principle in him.
First of all, he's a very patient man, and so I'm sure that when you have patients in
your character, that helps you in this area.
But because of that, we have saved and paid cash for everything in the ministry, and we've
never paid any interest in all the years that we've been doing this, and I'm not saying
that it's wrong if somebody has to do that or feels led to do that, but I'm just saying
it's such a, it takes such a burden off of you to, yes, sometimes you have to wait on
things.
It took us five years to build our building that we're sitting in here now versus just
going out and getting it right now and then making payments on it for maybe 20 years,
but we saved the money for those things, and really once you get in the habit of doing
that, that just becomes your lifestyle and the way that you live.
No different than just charging things.
Now I use charge cards for convenience, and I pay them off, and I'm not trying to put
anybody on a guilt trip because I know that when people listen to stuff like this, it's
like, well, are you telling me it's wrong?
No, I'm not telling you it's wrong, but I am saying that we need to not let those things
control us, and we need to at least have a mindset, you know, I could live and not have
this mountain of debt over my head if I'm willing to live a little bit differently than
the rest of the world does.
Yeah, you're exactly right, and what I like about waiting on God is that you know it's
him.
I mean, when he provided you the money to build this building, you knew it was him.
Right, exactly.
I mean, you're not acting in the flesh and going ahead and doing something, and the same
is true for us personally.
I mean, my wife drove the same car for 17 years, I mean, we used to call it puff because
of the smoke that would come out the back, but it was paid for and not having that monthly
car payment allowed us to make so much more progress in the rest of our finances.
So patient and being content, which is a big thing, you know, contentment's mentioned
seven times in the Bible, six times it has to do with money.
And so for us to learn, as Paul did in Philippians 4, he learned to be content in any situation,
which is not exactly normal in our culture.
Exactly, exactly.
But it's really key for us.
We're going to hear a story now that I think will encourage people.
Here's a story about a young couple who wondered soon after their wedding, where did all the
money go?
Hundreds of wedding details went off without a hitch, but it was only a short time into
their marriage when Chris and Sherry Coleman realized their household finances were out
of control.
Oh man, when we first got married it was, yeah, extremely tight.
We, you know, we're using wisdom with our finances and we had more going out than we
did coming in.
Faces and the simplest foods were staples at the dinner table.
Even fast food was considered a luxury.
Despite everything, Chris and Sherry remained faithful to God.
We tithe, even though their finances, one thing I told Sherry is that we have to tithe
no matter what, even if we don't have the money to do other things.
As their family grew, remaining faithful became tougher as their debt increased.
Just taking care of me, who cares if, you know, I skip lunch today or whatever, but now
kids, it's a new responsibility of someone else that you are responsible for taking
care of me so that they have all their needs met.
Chris and Sherry searched for ways to improve their finances when God led them to some practical
solutions.
People say, you know, if I only had this much money, how much I would do with it?
Well, let's talk about the practical things.
What are you doing with what you got right now?
Over time, the Colmans believed God as they committed to give tithes, put money into savings,
sacrificed some indulgences, and began paying off debts.
That's not just going to dump millions of dollars in your lap if you can't be faithful
with a thousand dollars a month, you know, it's not going to happen.
God was faithful to the Colman family through many lean seasons.
They continued to honor him in spite of severe financial challenges.
Every time it seemed they were running out of resources, God provided a way.
We get like, we overpaid our phone bill or something, and we'd get a rebate check or
somebody that we didn't even know would just send us money out of the blue, and it always
happened to be, we would be like at the end of our rope, like, we're not going to make
it to the next paycheck and bam, someone would come in and that would cover.
I can't really even put it into words how thankful we are to God that his word is true
and that if you're faithful, he's going to reward you for it.
Well Howard, Chris and Sherry's story is interesting and I'm pretty intimately familiar
with it because they work for us and I remember the stress that I would see Chris under when
they were under that burden of debt or even maybe the hopelessness of thinking that they
could never own their own home.
And then through getting some counseling and some help and making some decisions and really
starting to trust God beyond just their paycheck, you know, so many people just look to their
paycheck and if they're under pressure at home, they get mad at their boss.
That's right, that's right.
And you know, that's not really fair, I mean, God can bless you outside of your paycheck,
you should make what you're worth at your job, but so many people go out and get themselves
in debt and then they're mad at everybody else because they don't have enough money
and you know, that's not right and I watch them be faithful and diligent over a long
period of time and now they own their own home and they don't have that stress and pressure
and God's blessed them in a number of ways and so we show these testimonies so other
people can know what God does for one, He will do for another and I know you've probably
heard thousands of testimonies like this.
Yeah, that's right and to me it's just a joy to see couples or individuals who are in financial
difficulty learn what God says about money and apply those principles over a period of
time and sometimes it happens quickly, other times it takes a long time, but the key is
to be faithful, to apply those principles as they were, to be generous givers as they
were, to make those sacrifices on their eating habits where they didn't eat out so that they
can create some surplus in that budget of theirs where they can pay down those debts
and begin to save for the purchase of their home.
You know, we keep using the word faithfulness and diligence and patience and I just want
to stress how important it is for people to realize that it is going to take time.
It does.
You know, we're not offering kind of an instant overnight answer to a problem that it maybe
took years to get into, but it is possible and it is God's will and if we do what we
can do, then God will do what we cannot do and like them, they started really trying
to get out of debt and they started maybe sacrificing where they could, then they started
having these little miraculous things happen where somebody would send them money or they'd
get a refund on a phone bill, they didn't know that they overpaid and so often we want
miracles from God, but we're not really even doing what we can do.
That's right.
Exactly right.
There's people, there's God's part when it comes to handling our money and there's
our part, our responsibilities and God's the owner, He's the one who provides for us.
Our part is we need to be faithful, as you said, to work hard, to be absolutely honest,
to spend wisely, to give generously all these things.
Once we've done that, then we can be content knowing that in the Lord's timing, He's going
to put us in a better place.
That's exactly right.
Yesterday at the close of the program, we were talking about your money map and we didn't
get very far and I'm sure that some people are saying, I want to know about the rest
of that map.
So we just want to go over a few more of these things, seven things you suggest that people
do that can kind of help them and one is this $1,000 emergency fund and then have a spending
plan, don't just spend but have a plan and now you say save one month's living expenses
and work toward paying off credit cards.
Yeah, the big picture choice is that there are seven destinations on the journey to
true financial freedom and with Bev and I, the key was we had the long-term vision of
becoming totally debt-free, free to do anything because our investments would be providing
our income.
We wouldn't have to earn a salary so we recognized that we were never going to reach that dream
if we didn't have smaller achievable destinations along the way and that's really what the
Crown Money Map is all about, it tells you where you are, where you want to go ultimately
in the next step and destination two is you pay off that plastic, be relentless in working
to pay off your credit cards and you save one month's living expense.
Once that's done then you start to focus on your other consumer debts like your car, 70%
of all the automobiles are financed in our country today so pay that rascal off and save
three months living expense so at each destination you do become financially more stable, healthier
and more of your resources are freed up to give and make progress on the journey.
I'm just going to read the rest of this because it's almost time for us to take a break but
this is such good advice.
Save for major purchases including retirement, college, car and other expenses.
Buy home, begin investing money for the future, pay off your home mortgage, child's college
fully funded through saving, get an estate plan in order, final destination, retirement
fully funded, free to be generous the time and your money.
Now I know that a lot of these things are like the people, hang on there Joyce and Howard
I'm just trying to keep my lights from getting turned off this week but you know it's good
to have long term and short term goals.
And so it's great to just think I just want to get my light bill paid but I think people
should have a goal beyond that because some people never get out of that mentality of
just living paycheck to paycheck to paycheck and so when we come back on the second part
of the program I want to talk about some of the reasons that I've found even in my own
life in the past and things I like to teach about why people do have lack in their life
and I'm sure you'll be able to weigh in on some of these things and it'll be really interesting.
So when we return we're going to discuss some some more things about why people have lack
in their life and what they can do to make some very positive changes so be sure you
stay with us.
Here's what's coming your way on enjoying everyday life in two weeks.
Five episodes of enjoying everyday life that'll help you understand what Joyce Meyer Ministries
is really all about.
It's all coming your way in two weeks right here on enjoying everyday life with Joyce
Meyer.
Don't miss the 26th annual Women's Convention 2008 in St. Louis.
Experience how much God loves you and wants you to enjoy every day of your life.
Joyce's special guests include Creflo Dollar, author and teacher Lisa Bavir, special music
by gospel legend Yolanda Adams and acclaimed singer-songwriter worship leader Darlene Schach
along with the Hillsong Australia band leading worship at every session.
I want you to go home believing that you can do whatever you need to do.
Hurry phone and online registration in September 17th.
We'll see you in St. Louis.
Be relentless in your pursuit of God.
While we're back with Crown Financial founder Howard Dayton talking about some issues concerning
finances.
Howard, I think you've given us some good insight and lots of things to think about
and now if you'd allow me I'd like to revert back to one of my teaching series for a few
minutes and let you weigh in on some of these things.
Back in 2005 I did a series on finances and one of the teachings was eight reasons why
we have lack in our life and you know I had plenty of that in my life in the past actually
I like to share with people the first time that I preached in public like in front of
a real congregation I had to borrow a suit from my pastor's wife because I didn't have
any really decent clothes at that time.
And so I know what it's like to do without and I've watched God change that in my life
over the years through applying his principles and so I had to start looking for reasons
in my life why I had such lack.
You know a lot of times we just wish we had what somebody else has or we wish things weren't
this way but wishing doesn't really change anything.
We have to take action so the first thing that I remember God dealing with me about
was having a poverty mindset.
When I was growing up I must have heard a million times we can't afford it.
We can't afford it.
We can't afford it.
Or you know well you know we're just not those kind of people.
We can't afford that we're not in that class or you know we'll never have this or we'll
never have that.
I had a poverty mindset but you find that that affects people.
Oh absolutely in a significant way and you know I grew up in a family that was just the
reverse of that.
My dad was a business guy he was an entrepreneur and so I was taught from an early age you
can do anything and the difference between those two is really significant and I think
again knowing where we are in Christ that we are his children that he does care for
us and loves us and wants the best for us hopefully knowing that and what God says
about handling money can break that poverty mentality which I think cripples a lot of
people.
Yeah I do too.
You know like one of the things that I can remember doing like 30 years ago is I would
always buy they had a day old bread section in the store and I would always buy that day
old bread or bread that was a couple of days old and if I'm going to eat bread I really
like really fresh bread but I persisted in buying the stale bread because I had that
mindset and it wasn't really that much cheaper it was just I think at that time like 10 cents
and I remember one day when I was in the store and I was already teaching the word and you
know believing God for a change in many things in my life one of them being you know our financial
needs being met and he said he just put my heart don't you really think that I could
afford that 10 cents for you to have the fresh bread and so it was a big step of faith honestly
for me to go ahead and buy the fresh bread and that may sound ridiculous but that was
like where I was at at the time and so God cannot give us anything we're not willing
to have and we have to learn how to follow our heart and I didn't say follow our flesh
I said follow our heart but I find so many people have a poor self image and they don't
even think that they should or could have nice things they just get stuck in that well
grandma did and mama did and I guess I always will and it just doesn't have to be that way
no and again if we're faithful to even be faithful in small little things in our financial
life that puts us in a position where the Lord can and trust more to us so I think we ought
to be generous with a sense of expectation you know what's the Lord going to do I don't
know how he's going to do it I don't know when he's going to do it you know I'm not
going to put him in a box because he's the Lord of the universe and I'm not but I do
have an expectation that in some some way the Lord is going to entrust more resources
to me once we've been faithful you know the word wait on God and we hear a lot about
waiting on God and I think we look at waiting on God like this passive when I hope God does
something but if you study the word wait well even in the amplified Bible it brings it out
very clearly it says that to wait on God means to to look long for and expect God and so
we really do need to live with expectation I love what God told Abraham at a point in
his life where he had lost everything he said go to the top of the mountain and look north
south east and west and whatever you see I'll give it to you yes so I think sometimes we
need to ask ourselves well what do I see that's possible for my future perhaps some of our
precious viewers today have just got such a mess around them that all they see is lack
and and just you know bills and they just feel like that they'll never get out of the
mess that they're in and I really want to encourage people today to to believe God and
not let that poverty mindset get hold of you where you just feel like you can never ever
have anything other than what you've seen in the past and then of course going along
with that is God had to do with me about a poverty mouth and I you know what I mean by
that is is you know we have to be very careful what we say I mean I don't think that we should
be going around all the time saying I can't afford it I can't afford it can't afford
I'll never be able to afford that I'll never have a new car I'll never have a new house
you know we know that there's power in words the power of life and death is in your mouth
that's right so why not start saying some things that sound like they've got some faith
in them give God something to work with yeah that's right and I think a big part of it
is having that close relationship with Christ and asking him you know what should our financial
life look like in the future and and what what should I be doing today that will position
us to be in a better position financially in the future in other words while you're
still in trouble yeah start asking God to show you what you can do to get out of trouble
and then be faithful in doing it the third thing I have that will really affect people
and cause lack is jealousy and envy and you know it's pretty difficult when you're really
in need of something and you see somebody else get it to be genuinely happy for that
I find that to be a real challenge sometimes but I honestly think that sometimes God will
test us by putting somebody in front of us that has received what we want to see if we're
going to trust him for his plan for our life if we're going to get a bad attitude well
I think more than anything the Lord wants to develop our character that it would conform
to the person of Christ and and that when we have the wrong attitude I do think that
often he'll withhold things from us because he's mostly intent on developing our character
and it may be discipline that he's inflicting on us at the moment ultimately to develop
that godly character well just like you wouldn't give a car to a teenager that had already
shown you that you couldn't trust him in other areas that's right you know you might want
to and you'll save it for him you'll keep it for him but you're going to teach him
some things first and so you're right God does have to teach us sometimes how to handle
things properly and he really doesn't want us to be jealous and envious because the
Bible tells us that we're not to covet that's right what other people have it's actually
one of the the big ten and we need to realize God has a plan for us and just try to develop
the habit of being happy for other people and then just saying God I know that you have
a plan for me and so we've got about 30 seconds left here hired before I have to close so
what would be the last closing comments that you'd like to make well Joyce I would just
encourage people to learn what God says about handling money and that how you handle money
has a huge impact on your intimacy and your relationship with Christ Luke 1611 tells us
if we're not faithful in the use of worldly wealth who will trust us with the true riches
and the true riches in life is that intimate relationship with Christ and there's plenty
of practical things you can do to get your finances in order based on the word of God
but it's that intimate relationship with Christ that's the dearest thing on this planet that's
exactly right well Howard thank you so much for being with us today we appreciate it well
we're offering some resources as always and we always do this just as sure as we're on
the program we're going to offer you some teaching resources because I know that the
only thing that's really going to change your life is the word of God that's what changed
mine it's what's going to change yours so if anything you heard today struck a chord
in you or you're thinking well you know I really do need to change some things then
really what you had today was more or less like a little spiritual snack but you need
to have some full course meals on this subject so we want you to get these teachings and
in this book that we're offering so you can really have financial freedom so we're offering
a DVD teaching called the cause and the cure for financial deficiency and then a book by
Howard Dayton your money map so my announcer give you all the information that you need
for these things and we just want to remind you to stay happy be a blessing everywhere
that you go and expect God to do great things in your life because he has a big plan for
you someday I want to be out of debt someday I want to stop living paycheck to paycheck
someday I'm going to be able to pay cash for a car someday I want to retire someday we
want to pay for our kids college someday someday someday do you have someday dreams about your
money make someday start today when you discover the cause and the cure for financial deficiency
a DVD teaching by Joyce Meyer and for a limited time we're including this invaluable resource
by Howard Dayton your money map book today's offer is specifically designed for anyone
who wants to see your money go further and move toward a more secure financial future
call and request the cause and cure for financial deficiency with a donation of $25 or more
along with the bonus your money map book call today 1-800-727-9673 or log on to Joyce Meyer
dot org it's Joyce Meyer dot org
next time on enjoying everyday life I think we see something different with our money
than we do with the rest of our lives where God is concerned like either he can't handle
it or he sees that as different or less important and when we see God being faithful in one
area of our life we we know that he'll be faithful in all of it including our finances
you mean more to us at Joyce Meyer Ministries than you may ever know we appreciate you and
we thank our friends and partners for making this worldwide ministry possible together
we're feeding the hungry clothing the poor and presenting the gospel to the nations please
contact us or visit Joyce Meyer dot org today to share your prayer requests find out more
about our resources see Joyce's conference schedule and to join us in partnership as
we share the love of Christ around the globe
