“Consider your ways”

Haggai 1:5-7

How are your personal finances working out for you? I for years did all my finances my way. Now that I have learned God’s way with money, things work out so much better. God wants you to have life and have it more abundantly. So as we go through this lesson, “Consider your ways” and make them God’s ways.

Personal finances God’s way:

1. You should work
   1. 2 Thes. 3:10-12- work to eat
   2. Prov.3:27 – help and handouts are for “whom it is due”
   3. Prov. 13:11 – if not by work it won’t increase or last.
   4. Prov. 14:23 – you won’t talk your way to wealth, you must work.
   5. A woman who works at home is doing her part to prosper the family
2. You should work to be debt free
   1. Prov.22:7 – you are servant to  your lender
   2. Matt. 6:24 – you can’t serve two masters
   3. Romans 13:6-8 – Owe no man anything, Pay your debts on time.
   4. Prov. 11:15, 17:18 – Never co-sign a note.
3. You should work to give
   1. Eph.4:28 – work to be able to give
   2. Prov.13:22 – leave an inheritance
   3. Prov. 13:7 – Great riches doesn’t mean possessions
   4.  Luke 12:15 – Your life is more than the abundance of things you possess
   5. Prov.22:1 – A good name, passed down to your children
4. You should work to be available
   1. God always uses men that are working – Moses (Ex.3:1-3), Elisha (1 Kings 19:19), Gideon (Judges 6), his disciples etc.
   2. Eph.4:1 – Walk worthy, don’t be tied down with possessions and debt or you may miss your calling.

These are just a sample of the practical truths of personal finance. God’s way is perfect (Ps.18:30). You may need to “consider your ways”.