Do Your Finances Reflect Your Battle Scars?
Battle scars
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words they become your actions.
Watch your actions they become your habits.
Watch your habits they become your character.
Watch your character for it will become your destiny”.
– Frank Outlaw, Founder, Bi-Lo supermarkets in South Carolina
Scars show experience…
Scars show the pain that you’ve been there, done that…
But scars can be the best measure of future success if you’ve learned how to use them to your advantage.
When it comes to your financial life, you bear the scars of your past. You need to understand exactly where you’ve been, what mistakes you’ve made, and what lessons you’ve learned in order to make progress.
I often see people trapped in the past, afraid to go forward because of previous failings. They are scared of getting burned again so they do nothing. They expect God to bless the steps they never take. How can God bless your career when you’re trapped in the status quo? How can he bless the investments you never make? How can he bless the business you never start? Or prosper the relationship you never commit to?
God can certainly bless anything He desires, but often He is looking for us to make the first move. Unfortunately, many of us miss the greatest blessings that are right around the corner simply because we let our battle scars stand in the way.
Why do you want to succeed?
Mike longed for more money… He worked harder and harder, longer and longer. He longed for days of freedom. When I asked him why he wanted more freedom, he looked at me like I was crazy. Why would I ask such a foolish question was his insinuation? Yet I was seeking the deeper reason why freedom was so important. After breaking down his walls of comfort, Mike finally began to open up.
He wanted more time to do things he enjoyed. Yet when we examined what he did with the free time he already had, he was perplexed. So in other words he discovered what he was really saying was he wanted more time to do absolutely nothing. This revelation came after analyzing the use of his current free time. It essentially was being wasted doing little of significance.
Using the Love, Live, Prosper method I developed, Mike uncovered what was most important to him. He found a new way to live life with fuller and deeper meaning with much more significance. He discovered myths and false beliefs holding him back and how past failures were keeping him imprisoned.
Finally he broke the chains. He was free!
Now freedom meant living out his dreams, of which he was committed to do until the day he reached his goals. A prosperous journey for Mike began and ended with the Word of God. To prosper in God’s way, Mike kept God’s Word as his source of delight.
Introducing the “Faithful Five”
How did Mike make a 180-degree turn? How did he discover:
- His true calling?
- His career path?
- His spiritual gifts?
- His proper financial plan?
Mike examined five critical areas of his life: where he worked, where he gave money, where he saved and invested his money, how he viewed debt, and where he spent money.
He recommitted to be a:
- Passionate Income Earner – doing what he loves
- Generous Giver – Using God’s money to bless others
- Wise Investor – carefully multiplying the wealth entrusted to him
- Cautious Debtor – committing to only use debt as a last resort
- Prudent Consumer – spending only on things in line with values
