If you are broke, in debt, upside down in a car payment and/or buried in credit card debt…it is MOST LIKELY because you, at some point, allowed selfishness and the desire to acquire take over your ability to make a rational, Spirit filled decision.
(I know there are exceptions to the above…however, in my 20 years of ministry I have discovered that those exceptions are rare! Trust me…at one point I was all of the above! I posted about my dumbest financial mistakes quite a while back—here is part one of the series...and here is part two.)
One of the frustrations I have as a pastor is when people want to blame external circumstances for internal disobedience. Especially in America…EVERYONE is blaming SOMEONE for their financial condition. Heck, for every condition…fat people are suing McDonalds for making them fat…anyone see a problem here? Nothing is our fault. BUT…
I believe that financial freedom will never take place in a persons life until they are willing to accept personal responsibility for where they are…and then make the hard decisions and sacrifices necessary to climb out of the financial hole they have dug.
God has HUGE dreams and plans for our lives…unfortunately many people limit “God’s dreams” to driving a certain type of car or living in a certain neighborhood…and because of that they dive into a debt hole all in the name of Jesus.
I believe it makes Him sick! (See Matthew 6:19-24)
Proverbs 22:7 says the borrower is a SERVANT to the lender…but, as followers of Jesus Christ we are to serve Him alone. We can’t serve Jesus with all our hearts and also serve Visa at the same time!
One of the biggest problems that people have when it comes to finances is that they have no plan…and because of that they’ve bought into the world’s plan, “buy now, pay later.” BTW…it hasn’t worked very well!!!
To steal a line from Andy Stanley…when it comes to finances we here at NewSpring Church don’t want a thing from you, we want something FOR you!
- We want FOR you to live in freedom, not held in the bondage of debt.
- We want FOR you to be able to provide a future for your children…instead of hoping they will provide one for you!
- We want FOR you to honor Jesus Christ with every financial decision you make…because God’s Word is so clear that until He has our money He doesn’t fully have our hearts.
We also offer FREE financial coaching or budget planning at NewSpring Church! This team exists to help people break free from their financial struggles! YES, you will have to admit where you are financially…but when we put God first and get out of debt there is tremendous freedom!!!