If we don’t develop self control in our spending we will never have the discipline needed to evaluate and take advantage of the opportunities for investment the Lord will bring our way. Likewise, most of us won’t have the cash necessary to invest when opportunities come our way. Please consider this. We can probably all recall an opportunity to invest that we could not take advantage of because we did not have the cash to do it. Because of not controlling spending we miss opportunities. Jesus appointed one of the disciples to be his treasurer. Why? I presume he wanted an accurate accounting of what happened to the money they had. Do you think he still might be interested in this?

We find as we are diligent in the financial area of budgeting that God’s blessing is there. What is it that keeps us from diligence to do something simple like budgeting? In most cases it is simply laziness. As stated in Proverbs, laziness is not the path to prosperity.

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth (Proverbs 10:4).

I heard one minister say it like this, “Where there is lack, there is slack.” What did he mean? He meant that if we are experiencing lack in our personal finances, then we should examine what needs to be adjusted in our finances, because our hand is slack in some area. Let me be blunt. If you are not willing to be disciplined in the area of your spending you will not be prosperous. Budgeting is the perfect entry level way to become disciplined in your finances. If we read the Bible, we understand that self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit and yet many believers struggle in this area. If we want the Lord to teach us to prosper, we will have to make some changes.