Cash-flow awareness…

I began this series on surplus last week in response to the moving of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I have absolutely no doubts that surplus is God’s will for His children. Surplus is good. To have more money than your immediate and most urgent needs require, is an empowering state to be in. I bet you could do with more surplus in your finances. And, as I said in the previous post, the Holy Spirit gave me a very simple and often ignored key to surplus: spend less than you earn.

This raises an important question: How can you spend less than you earn when you don’t have even the slightest idea on how much you earn.

As I mentioned last week, money is flowing to everyone on this planet in varying measures. The poor will inadvertently claim that this is not the case with them. Yet, a lot of the people that are usually regarded as poor have more regular cash-flow than lots of wealthy people; it’s just that they are not aware of it, which is why they are poor; because cash-flow awarenessis essential to prudent and profitable use of cash.

Are you aware of how much you earn per time? in order to apply this all important step towards creating surplus, in order to spend less than you earn, you need to carefully determine how much you earn in the first place. I have already referred to this as cash-flow awareness.

Know how much you earn

“How many loaves do you have?” He asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five – and two fish.”
~Mark 6:38

The awareness of what you already have positions you for surplus.

Jesus Christ fed over 5000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Afterwards, when He told His disciples to gather the crumbs, they filled 12 baskets! From the previous state of lack in that desert region, He moved the crowd into satisfaction and surplus – a powerful description of the kind of metamorphosis the Holy Spirit wants to perform in your life at this time.

Notice first, however, that Jesus Christ demanded an awareness of what they already had in the first place.

“How many loaves do you have?” He asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five – and two fish.”
~Mark 6:38

In the preceding verses, the disciples had been hopelessly preoccupied with their hunger and lack, just like most folks are today. Jesus altered this orientation. “How many loaves do you have?” He asked. “Go and see.” He shifted their attention from their needs to what they already had. This is an important prerequisite for divine multiplication and abundance: awareness of what you have. It sets you up for the miracle of supernatural abundance and the creation of surplus. Shift your attention from your needs to what you already have.

In practical terms, know how much you earn if you want to spend less than you earn and move from debt to surplus.

When you become aware of how much money you are actually getting, you can then plan on how to stay below that figure. If you don’t know what that figure is, how would you know when you’ve gone above it? You wouldn’t be able to accurately determine that you are spending less than you are earning, if you do not know how much you are earning.

How much is your income?

How much do you earn in a given period of time?

The answer to this question is not as easy as you may think; even for people who earn salaries, and who think that they know how much they earn. People who earn conventional salaries may easily think they have an accurate answer to this question. I doubt most of them really do. If you were to ask a salary earner how much they earned, you may hear that they earned 15,000 naira per month. But, is that really the case?

When I talk about how much you earn, I mean, on the average, how much money that flow into your hand in a given period of time. You always earn more than your so-called salary. This is because God has provided many and various means by which He channels resources into your life on a regular basis.

Many, many people simply “ignore” how money flows through their life.

For instance, gifts; you have no idea how much cash you receive yearly through gifts. As a matter of fact, this a major channel of divine supply. It is a key cash-flow channel. Many people are not aware of this. If you were to meticulously track the volume of cash that flow to you annually through gifts, I’m certain you will be pleasantly surprised.

Money comes into your hands in so many ways. You may be shocked to discover that the person who claims to be earning nothing may in fact be getting up to 20,000 naira a month through gifts.

Find out what you earn. Know how money flows into your life. Know how it comes. I call it building your cash-flow awareness, and it is an important key towards enhancing your financial health. You’ve got to become aware of how money flows into your life. Where does it come from? You may find it quite interesting as you try to become aware of money, that a substantial amount of your money comes from certain channels. Pay attention to that too.

So, how much is your income? It is impossible to save in a meaningful way and move beyond lack if you don’t know how much you earn.

Let’s get more practical

Get a note book and record on a daily basis every single cent that comes into your life. This information will definitely empower you to begin to save more and create wealth for yourself.

Now, let me lead the way on this. Here is a list of some of the channels through which I’ve noticed money flow into my life:

• Gifts from individuals and organizations.
• Tithes and offerings from individuals and churches.
• Royalties from my books.
• Publishing fees from my publishing services.
• Publisher compensation from the sale of books that I publish.

There are other channels, of course, but you get the point. Now get on with it; carefully list your own cash-flow channels.