HomeBudget

Economical problems are one of the main perplexities that families have to get over. The
inability to solve these problems well can cause stress and arguments between husband and
wife, and also with children. In this lesson we’ll see how we can improve this delicate aspect of
family life.

In this topic, we will help each other on practical tips and strategies on how to spend money and
biblical principles on how to handle it.
- As we go, we can comment and contribute any views and Bible verses that are of help to
this subject and all that is helpful.
- We are all WORKS-IN-PROGRESS, And if you are struggling in a particular area, I
recommend you pray and submit/cast it to God, and ask Him for help, that's what He is
there for.
- James 1:5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives]
to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will
be given him.

A household budget.​ What is it?

● it is a spending plan that accounts for the income and expenses of a household. This can
be a single source or multiple income sources to be contributed.

REASONS WHY FAMILY BUDGET PLANNING IS IMPORTANT:

- It provides an accurate perspective of our financial situation within God’s world.
- It makes us wiser in our spending.
- It helps us avoid getting into debt and not making ends meet.
- It creates the opportunity to support God’s work more generously.

What the Bible says

Luke 14:28 For which of you, wishing to build a farm building, does not first sit down and
calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?
Luke 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to complete [the
building], all who see it will begin to mock and jeer at him,
Luke 14:30​ Saying, This man began to build and was not able (worth enough) to finish.

It is good for every family to meet together at the start of the month to make a budget. They
must take the following into account:

~ ​INCOME​: Total contributed by each member. Don't spend more than that figure.
~ ​EXPENSES​: A list of everything we must buy or pay for, remembering the total income we
have.
Money is not ours; houses and grounds, pictures and furniture, garments and luxuries, do not
belong to us. We are pilgrims, we are strangers. We have only a grant of those things that are
necessary for health and life.... ​Our temporal blessings are given to us in trust, to prove
whether we can be entrusted with eternal riches. If we endure the proving of God, then we
shall receive that purchased possession which is to be our own-glory, honor, and immortality.
Letter 8, 1889. - {AH 367.3}

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​Household Budget

God’s Tithe …………………………………….K XXX

Rent …………………………………………….K XXX
Food ……………………………………...…….K XXX
Hygiene and cleaning products ……………..K XXX
Children's education…………………………..K XXX
Maintainance,...………..…………………..…..K XXX
Transportation……………………………..…..K XXX
Donations and help for needy individuals…..K XXX
Savings……...………………………………….K XXX
Unforeseen…………..………………………...K XXX

To get the complete picture of our financial situation, two major components are essential in a
typical budget spreadsheet: Income and Expenditures.

We Are to Recognize God's Ownership

That which lies at the foundation of business integrity and of true success is the recognition of
God's ownership. The Creator of all things, He is the original proprietor. We are His stewards.
All that we have is a trust from Him, to be used according to His direction. - {AH 367.1}
This is an obligation that rests upon every human being. It has to do with the whole sphere of
human activity. Whether we recognize it or not, we are stewards, supplied from God with talents
and facilities and placed in the world to do a work appointed by Him. Education, 137. - {AH
367.2}
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The great solution to our finances

1. TITHING
You may wonder why the above model budget places ​tithe​ right at the top.
- Leviticus 27:30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit
of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. [I Cor. 9:11; Gal. 6:6.]
- Deuteronomy 8:11-19
11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his
judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
18But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth,
that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve
them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

- A PRAYER OF HIM THAT RETURNS TITHE

- Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce the
third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger and
the sojourner, the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your towns and
be filled,
Deuteronomy 26:13 ​Then you shall say before the Lord your God​, I have
brought the hallowed things (the tithe) out of my house and moreover have given them
to the Levite, to the stranger and the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow,
according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not
transgressed any of Your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
Deuteronomy 26:14 I have not eaten of the tithe in my mourning [making the tithe
unclean], nor have I handled any of it when I was unclean, nor given any of it to the
dead. I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that
You have commanded me.
THEREFORE
- Deuteronomy 26:15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless
Your people Israel and the land which You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a
land flowing with milk and honey.
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- Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In
what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings.
Malachi 3:9 You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole
nation. [Lev. 26:14-17.]
Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse,
that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I
will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall
not be room enough to receive it. [Mal. 2:2.]
Malachi 3:11 ​And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before
the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:16 ​Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the
Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of
those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.
Malachi 3:17 And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My
peculiar treasure). ​And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
 Malachi 3:18 Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.
God asks us to give the tithe back as a test of fidelity in material things. Not doing so is robbing
Him, and that carries a curse, which means the absence of His blessings.
The bottom line to this is: we cannot go wrong in giving. It's An opportunity that we have to step
out in faith with God and watch Him do something special.

I was shown that the recording angel makes a faithful record of every offering dedicated to God
and put into the treasury and also of the final result of the means thus bestowed. The eye of God
takes cognizance of every (least possible amount) coin devoted to His cause and of the
willingness or reluctance of the giver. The motive in giving is also chronicled. ​Testimonies for
the Church 2:518, 519. - {AH 368.3}

Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in
him.
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2. GIVING
Acts 20:35 In everything I have pointed out to you [by example] that, by working diligently in
this manner, we ought to assist the weak, being mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, how He
Himself said, It is more blessed (makes one happier and more to be envied) to give than to
receive.
Essentially, our giving changes us and changes the world. How?

1. Provides resources for the kingdom growth (evangelism, ministries, preachers,

Orgs...ADRA, Hope channel, etc)
2. We bring light and joy to the world by our generosity. So when we invest so much in our
own possessions, there is very little emotional return, however, when we invest in the
lives of others, there is tremendous amount of joy that we get from giving and benefiting
someone else's life.
3. Our giving helps us fulfil the two greatest commandments.
- if our giving is motivated by the love of God and of mankind, it fulfills the greatest
commandments of God with all your heart, soul, and mind. So it should be fun to give.

Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you give a
tenth of your mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier (more
important) matters of the Law–right and justice and mercy and fidelity. These you ought
[particularly] to have done, without neglecting the others.
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​ . DEBTS
3
Proverbs 22:7​ The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Romans 13:7 Render to all men their dues. [Pay] taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to
whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due.
Romans 13:8 Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he
who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one's
fellowmen, meeting all its requirements].

Our economic problems can be compounded with the anguish of having to pay what we owe. Not
incurring debt is wise.
-
- we were slaves to sin and Jesus came and set us free. So if He wanted to set us free in
that area, I don't know why He would want us to be in bondage in the area of debts. So
whether you've acquired debts through your own mistakes, or circumstances beyond
control, I believe that God wants to see His children living debt free lives. And the good
news is that Jesus wants to help us to become debt free.
~ MTN & AIRTEL Money nkongole…..don't, tekwesha, aikona man……
~ Credit cards, those are burdens
So as stewards of Gods resources, we are required to use money wisely and to make the most out
of it.
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4. SAVINGS

Proverbs 30:24 There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:
Proverbs 30:25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they lay up their food in the summer; [Prov.
6:6.]
Proverbs 30:26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks; [Ps.
104:18.]
Proverbs 30:27 The locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands;
Proverbs 30:28 The lizard you can seize with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.
Learn When to Spare and When to Spend
In life, there is what is called “a rainy day”. You should learn to know when to spare and when to
spend. We cannot be Christ's followers unless we deny self and lift the cross. We should pay up
squarely as we go; gather up the dropped stitches; bind off your raveling edges, and know just
what you can call your own. You should reckon up all the littles spent in self-gratification. You
should notice what is used simply to gratify taste and in cultivating a perverted, epicurean
appetite. The money expended for useless delicacies might be used to add to your substantial
home comforts and conveniences. You are not to be extremely poor; you are to be honest with
yourself and your brethren. Penuriousness (poverty mentality) is an abuse of God's bounties.
Lavishness is also an abuse. The little outgoes that you think of as not worth mentioning amount
to considerable in the end. ​Letter 11, 1888. - {AH 379.4}
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Summary
What must be remembered?
What must we content ourselves with?
1 Timothy 6:6-8
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is
certain we can carry nothing out. And having and clothing let us be content.
In addition to practicing self denial, teaching our children the value of savings is important, as
well saving in the consumption of electricity, water, fuel, telephone use, avoiding wastefulness in
all and at all times.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,

Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

E.M