Counsel For Young Couples

​Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word.  It gives advice for life.  If you are a young person open to getting married, or a young couple starting out.  What counsel does God give from His Word?
 
1. Obey financially - The 4C’s Tool – helps you know where God’s money is, so you can do what He tells you to do with it.  Read the Money Packet. If God says you’ll serve God or money, if He spoke of money and possession over 2300 times in scripture, and if God’s ways are not man’s ways, like heavens above earth.  Money is a big deal to God.  And it’s a big deal in marriage.  God doesn’t need it, He owns it, you need to learn what He says about it, and decide if you’ll do what He says, or what someone else says.    What does God say about money?  It reveals your heart.  Does what God said - match what you believe?  Or do you believe what someone else says?  The other reason that money is so important (obeying with it – getting God’s plan for it, not yours), is it’s the indicator of your heart, and it’s a key factor in marriage.  Sex & money, the biggest reasons for divorce - disagreement in those areas.  If you can get away from ‘he said, she said’, regarding money, and instead learn to believe and do what God says...  Your marriage will be built on a strong foundation, because your hearts will be devoted to God, not money.  He makes the decisions, you just give an account – like He commanded, and steward your resources the way He leads you, by His Word (learn it!) and by His Spirit.  If you’re not in agreement, wait.  God’s big enough to move your spouse… Just like He’s big enough to move you.  Trust Him.  His ways are higher.  They work!  He has freedom for you! not bondage. 
 
2. Live on one income – save the other.
The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Seven years from now, you could be exactly where you are right now financially, and spiritually.  Or you can be completely different.  What if you committed this seven years to the future?  You’d be ready for famine, you’d be ready for promotion, it could change the course of the rest of your life.  Bondage or freedom?  How you live today will impact tomorrow, and you don’t know what the future holds.  Jacob worked for seven years, Joseph saved for seven years, God said debt should be done in seven years.  In fact, He said don't get into debt in the first place! “Don’t let debt remain outstanding,” and “Don’t lack judgment, don’t strike hands in pledge.”  He's got better for you – for His people – then debt.  In the seven years of plenty, prepare for the seven years of famine, or the next seven years of life, which will hold more challenges and more opportunities, and God will be faithful through them all. 
 
3. Count the cost
Luke 14:28 – Suppose one of you wants to build a house.  Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?  NLT  But don’t begin until you count the cost.  For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?  Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you.  They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’  That doesn’t just apply to building a house, it applies to any financial endeavor that you are committing yourself to.  The best way to count the cost – on any new financial commitment – is the Options Tab on your 4C’s Tool.  Ask God!  What does this cost, what does it take, does your salary meet the need?  If not, something needs to change, either make more or spend less.  That has nothing to do with faith or not.  Just because you count the cost, doesn’t mean you don’t have faith.  But now you know what is needed, just like Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead… But He believed God.  Counting the Cost – just makes God’s miracle even bigger – because you realize the magnitude of what He just did!
 
4. Job Then House 
Proverbs 24:27 – Get your fields in order, after that build your house. Get a job, then build a house.  Make sure your job is secure, that the income is coming… then think about building a house.  NLT – Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.  What were fields?  The source of their income - they were what paid for everything – to build the house and maintain it, buy groceries, pay bills.  If the wise man saves for the future, income is needed.  And spending less than you make is needed.  If the wise man’s house are filled with rare and beautiful treasures, children first, and other physical possessions that reflect God’s glory and His goodness, then income is needed.  Saving – God’s wisdom – must be your habit.  And obedience must be your DNA. 
 
.5. Give Freely
“Give and it will be given to you, good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.  With the measure you use it will be measured to you.”  Giving is one of the first signs of faith and trust in the LORD.  If you are willing to give where He directs, you have to trust that He told you, and trust that if you do it - He will provide. Most people think giving is loss.  You gave away what you had.  You had more, now you have less.  But giving isn’t loss, it’s gain.  Giving out of obedience, stores up treasure in heaven, and God clearly said it will bring increase on earth.  Even during the seven years of saving and preparing, give off the top - tithe and offering as God leads.  Your heart is affected by giving.  You will love God, or money.  Those who love money, give sparingly, those who love God give freely – whatever He tells them.  They don’t hold on, they hold loosely. 
 
.6. Be Content
You can’t sacrifice for seven years, to change the legacy of your family, if you aren’t content.  If you aren’t content in the lean years, neither will you be content in the abundant years.  Because no matter how much you have, if you always want more, you’ll never be content.  A rich person was once asked, “How much is enough?”  “Just a little more.”  That person will never be content.  The more wealth, the more people there is to spend it.  Ecclesiastes 5:11 – As goods increase, so do those that consume them, and what good is it…  Philippians  - For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am.  I have learned to get a long with humble means, and I have learned to live in prosperity.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, of having abundance, and suffering need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Contentment doesn’t come from wealth. It comes from surrender, it’s worth far more than wealth which can take wings like an eagle and fly away.  Praying that you will be content in the LORD, in the season you are in, and be willing to sacrifice in this season, to prepare for the next.  Not just financially, but spiritually. 
 
.7. Pursue Godliness
What is Godliness?  What God tells you.  Know what God is calling you to do in this season.  If you are pursuing what God has called you to do…  Work diligently – honor God at your job, love completely, lay down your life for your spouse.  Listen, and value each other’s counsel.  God gave you each other for a reason!  And serve others as He leads.  If you do this, you won’t be consumed with what you don’t have yet, you’ll be fulfilled in what God has for you in this season.  Even in the preparing season, you can see fruit and harvest.  You don’t need money for ministry, you need humility and obedience.  If you focus on His presence, simple obedience, and loving each other, you will be more aware of others around you and willing to invest your lives in them.  Remember, the most impactful ministry you could ever have, is allowing someone close enough to see how you obey… Before you have the house, or the car, or the retirement or the perfect job, of the child you long for.  Sometimes the most effective testimony is your testimony in the waiting, and the obeying, and the rejoicing… 
 
Love you all,
dad