[Darris McNeely] Today we're going to cover point number two in making your world in 2014 better, getting a handle on your life, managing your spiritual condition, and managing the affairs of your life in a better way in the coming months ahead.

Point number two I want to talk about is managing your finances. Get a handle finally and determine to get a handle on your finances in 2014. Point number one under this: get out of debt. Make a point that you are going to get out of debt this year. Look at the major areas of debt that you have, and maybe there are many of them. Maybe you have multiple credit cards that you hold a lot of money on. Maybe there's some major expense that came up this past year that you've not been able to pay off. Heavier margins than you'd like to carry. Whatever that might be, look at all of them. Don't be afraid of them. Don't ignore them. Begin to take one of them at a time, maybe it's the highest interest rate, maybe it's the one debt that would cause the greatest disruption in your life if it wasn't taken care of, and begin to take tangible steps to pay it off, get it managed, get it reallocated with the lender, whatever it might be so that you can begin to take some steps to get it corrected. But determine to get out of debt.

One of the biggest ways to get out of debt and remain out of debt in the future is to if you've never done it, get on a budget. Get on a budget. Begin to understand what's coming in and what's going out, and make a list, and live within the debt that you have, the income that you have.

Stop being like the United States' government in other words and live within your means. And it's very simple. Just start a list. What's your rent? What's your mortgage? What's your food bill? What are your utilities? What other payments do you have? Car payment? Maybe you have too many car payments. Maybe it's a credit card. Maybe it's the utilities. Just begin to look at them and find out how much money you have to work with. And if it hasn't gotten beyond control or out of control perhaps you can then get it in control and you can begin to manage your expenses to the point where you begin to get a balance, a positive balance in your financial situation, and you pay yourself. You begin to save.

And don't forget God in the whole equation as well. God lays a claim upon our income as well. It's called tithing. That's another subject, but don't forget that as well.

There's a third step that we can look at as a practical way for some of us in 2014 to finally get a handle on our finances, and that is to look at your estate. I call this the Downton Abbey plan. That's right, the Downton Abbey plan.

We've all been watching, many of us, the popular PBS series Downton Abbey, the lord of the manor in England and the greatest state house that surrounds this whole story. But at the heart of the whole story is the ability to pass that on from one generation to another, to keep that estate intact. That's been a major plot. Well, we don't have a big house and a big estate, but we do have something. We have assets that we need to pass on, and maybe this is the year to begin to plan to take care of those assets. It'll cost less money, and for those that have to take care of those things after our death, then they can have an easier way about it, and it gives you control as well over those matters.

Three very practical steps for all of us to begin to look at and to take stock of: to get out of debt, to live by a budget, and plan for our future by estate planning.

Three keys steps, all of which can help us to accomplish what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 22:7 that to avoid the problem that is said there that the borrower is servant to a lender. Begin to make yourself the lender, and that you serve a higher purpose with the things that we have, the stuff that we accumulate, and the stuff that we try to manage in our own lives. If we do that, we're going to have a better year ahead and multiple years ahead, and we're going to be able to get a handle on certain key areas of our life. Make this the year we begin to do that.

Next time we're going to talk about the most important thing you can do in 2014 to get a handle on your world.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.