When it comes to financial stewardship, God hasn’t handed each of us a standardized checklist with little boxes to mark off one by one. Rather, He has provided us His Word with principles for effective financial stewardship—principles we have to wrestle with. In the process of this struggle, God expects us to seek His face and to pursue the counsel of godly believers who have traveled further than we along Stewardship Road.

I thank God that today in virtually every part of the United States, there are abortion alternative centers that provide free pregnancy tests, free counseling, and free material and human resources to pregnant women.

Earlier this year, my friend Doug Nichols, founder and director of ACTION International Ministries, a great missions organization, sent these humbling statistics about needy children worldwide. 

I have mixed feelings on tithing. I detest legalism. I certainly don’t want to pour new wine into old wineskins, imposing superseded first covenant restrictions on Christians. However, the fact is that every New Testament example of giving goes beyond the tithe.

First, commit yourself to regular giving to your local church and above and beyond giving to missions and other ministries.

I have encouraged women in this situation to go to their husbands, explain their deep conviction about giving, perhaps share one of the passages about how God blesses givers, and tell him she believes God will provide for their family so that the amount she desires to give won't be noticed by him, even if it is substantial.

To change the direction of our lives we need to prayerfully make wise decisions, and nothing is wiser than giving first to God, cutting back our expenditures wherever we can, and systematically paying off our debts to others,

Five years ago I received an e-mail from our friends Pat and Rakel Thurman, who had been corresponding with a tour group that was going to Egypt. This group had a special request: they hoped to find the humble grave of missionary William Borden, which was mentioned in my book The Treasure Principle.

Worry has a way of chasing after us. It tries to grab hold of us, bleed off our energy, and rob us of joy by limiting our vision to a short-sighted perspective of this life's circumstances. That's why one of my favorite passages is Matthew 6:19-34, where Jesus unveils an investment formula for a secure future and a worry-free present.