[Editor's note: Many Americans are still paying off Christmas 1999. According to Women'sWallStreet.com, shoppers generally spend between $750 and $1,700 annually and routinely exceed their holiday budget by 15 to 30 percent. As much as 60 percent of holiday shopping goes on credit cards. The average American household carries $8,400 of credit card debt. (Cardweb.com) My hope is that Brian Kluth's biblical principles of money management may help me, you and the other average Americans in your congregation to find a better way.]

Over the years of financial and debt counseling with many people in the midst of financial hardships, I have discovered the surest long-term path to get out of debt and financial troubles is to make a decision to give 10 percent of your income to God first, from right off the top of whatever he gives you.

In my counseling sessions there have been people who looked at their situation and said there was no way they could give to God first. I frequently shared with them that it was going to take all the help of heaven to get them out of the deep financial pit they were in.  I would tell them that honoring God from the first part of their income was vital to their long-term stability and financial freedom. Those who chose to follow God's counsel grew in their trust and understanding of God's firm grip concerning financial concerns.

(Read more on the 6 principles of Christian giving.)

But there is more. Once you have learned to recognize God as the owner of all you have and you are actively honoring him with the first part of your income, it is important to go on and learn additional financial principles for managing your money.

Manage what you have vs. wishing for more

Most people think that the real answer for their financial future is more money. The desire to always have more can lead people into dishonesty at work, credit card debt, gambling, long work weeks, foolish investments, get-rich-quick schemes, and much worse. The Bible actually teaches that managing what you have is more important than getting more. Luke 16:10 tells us: "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones." 

Over the years I have counseled with many people in deep financial problems. The ultimate answer for their problems was seldom more money but usually was more careful, thoughtful and prayerful management of what they already had. 

Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 tells us: "Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth—except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers!"

Have a written plan

Most people have a vague understanding of where there money is really going. Once I counseled with a couple whose income had increased 400 percent in five years. And although they stilled lived in the same house the entire five years, they always lived from paycheck to paycheck with no real plan on who they were going to spend their money.  Regardless of how much their income grew, the money seemed to flow through their hands like water. Haggai 1:6 says: "Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways …You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.'"

It will be vital to your financial future that for 30 to 60 days you record in detail where your money is going. Once you have tallied this information, you can then sit down and determine if this is the best use of the money God has entrusted to you. You will then be able to move towards telling your money where to go instead of asking where it's gone.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:23 "Riches can disappear fast …watch your business interests closely. Know the state of your flocks and your herds." In other words, know in specific detail the condition of your income, expenses, debts and investments. Have a written plan to manage what God has entrusted to you.

Trust Christ more than credit

In the world we live in, there are easy credit terms and options everywhere we turn.  Almost anyone in America can have multiple credit cards, easy car loans, huge house mortgages, and furniture and electronics products with no money down and no interest for 90 days! 

No longer does America save for anything. Today, we borrow and charge to get what we want, when we want it. But in Luke 12:15 Jesus said, "Beware! Don't be greedy for what you don't have. Real life is not measured by how much we own."

Jesus knows we need certain things to live in this world.  Most people end up paying to their MasterCard to have things they don't really need, with money they don't really have, to impress people they don't really like! 

There was a time in my life when I had more month than money. I then learned I could pray to the Master (instead of paying to the MasterCard) to meet my real needs. Over the years, I have seen God guide and provide. God has answered my prayers for housing, employment, transportation, clothing, recreation and so much more. 

Recently I discovered that if you have $3,000 on a credit card and you are only making minimum payments, it will take you more than 30 years to pay off the full amount! No wonder the Bible cautions us against indebtedness when it tells us in Proverbs 22:7 that "the borrower becomes the lender's slave." 

Regardless of how much of a mountain of debt some people find themselves under, I have discovered that with God's help, most people can become debt-free of all their short-term indebtedness within one to five years. I have seen many people even go on to become mortgage-free within five to ten years. With God's help, you could be completely debt- and mortgage-free in the years to come.

[Check out these 9 tips to survive shopping this year with less spending and no debt.]

Brian Kluth is a senior pastor and founder of www.MAXIMUMgenerosity.org. His Web site has received Google's No. 1 ranking on "biblical generosity" and provides a wealth of generosity materials and resources for pastors, church committees and congregations. Kluth also posts a FREE monthly generosity newsletter to pastors, church leaders and denominations and is the author of a devotional booklet, "A 40 Day Journey to a More Generous Life" that can be used for church small groups, Sunday schools, stewardship campaigns and building fund drives.