Podcast Blog: S6, E3 - Ralph Estep, Jr., How Faith and Finances Affect Each Other

A spiritual chicken-and-egg question is how faith and finances intertwine. Do we grow our faith by giving our finances over to God? In allowing God to watch over and drive our saving and spending, do we become more faithful?

The answer, of course, is yes and yes. On this episode of the Selah-award winning Practical Faith Academy podcast, my guest is Ralph Estep, Jr. Estep is a public accountant turned podcaster who focused on stewardship in multiple realms. His primary theme is giving control of your finances and your life to God, living your journey with wisdom, purpose, and faith.

In this podcast, Estep discusses the intertwining of faith and finances and how one impacts the other. He delves into specific situations, such as marriage or church finances, to show the benefit of mixing God’s wisdom and support with sound financial principles. He emphasizes letting God guide your life and trusting God will provide what you need, not necessarily what you want.

For a topic that may seem dry, challenging, or even irritating, Estep brings a positive, fresh approach. He explores a great truth; when we turn over our finances to God's service (since God gave us the money and ability to make money in the first place), then we find we can trust God in other areas of our lives in an upward spiral of faith.

Highlights of the podcast:

3:00 What a seven-day practical faith means to Estep

5:00 How should your faith influence your financial decisions?

8:18 How to merge faith and fear as a couple in a marriage, and what family financial framework should be put in place

11:24 How does financial stewardship impact your spiritual growth?

13:17 Provision follows obedience

19:55 What God desires of us in terms of financial stewardship

21:59 How people can be content, even when digging themselves out of a financial hole

26:37 Advice for people working in church finance

30:16 The hardest part about putting faith into practice

32:47 Estep’s best tip for developing and maintaining a seven-day practical faith

35:03 How to find Estep’s podcast, financial services, and more

The Practical Faith Academy podcast can be played directly on the Cecil Taylor Ministries website at https://www.CecilTaylorMinistries.com/podcast. While on the site, please check out everything Cecil Taylor Ministries offers, including our Instant Content books and video studies for individual learners, small groups, and churches.

The episode is also available on major podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and others) and hosted on Podbean. Search on each platform for "Practical Faith Academy."