12 Reasons I Was Broke; How You Can Get Out of Debt!
I was broke…and I HATED IT! No one likes being broke, yet we live in a country where around 78 percent of people live from paycheck to paycheck. I was there, struggling, confused and frustrated…and when Lucretia and I got married we had over $100,000 worth of debt and did not even own a home! Then…finally in 1999 I fully surrendered my finances to the Lord and today Lucretia and I have ZERO debt except for our home…here are the reasons I personally held out…
#1 – I was all about what I could accumulate…not understanding that everything this world has to offer will one day be in a junk pile. AND…it took me awhile to fully understand that selfish, self centered people were miserable and NEVER did anything significant that impacted the world for good. However, God seems to always bless and use people who are generous!
#2 – My heart did not fully belong to Jesus (Jesus said if our heart is His then our treasure will be as well…Matthew 6:19-21!)
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#3 – I lived in fear rather than faith…I didn’t understand the reality of Psalm 24:1 that God owns EVERYTHING and that He has way more than I could ever imagine. I used the excuse that “I could not afford to tithe” until I finally realized that I would actually NEVER be able to afford to tithe until I first took the step of faith and began to do what God has so clearly commanded of me in the Scriptures.
#4 – I did not fully understand that followers of Jesus actually became more generous, not more greedy! (See Luke 19:1-10) Also…Jesus didn’t seek to give the minimum, He gave it ALL (II Corinthians 9:15)
#5 – I had a scarcity mentality, after spending some time not having a place to live I began to actually believe that the more money I accumulated the safer I would be. (BTW…we’ve seen this prove to be untrue as over the past five years thousands of people who thought their retirement was secure have seen their hopes shattered!) (See Psalm 49:10, Ecclesiastes 5:10)
#6 – I did not actually believe the promises found in Malachi 3:10-11, Proverbs 3:9-10 and II Corinthians 9:6-8! WEIRD! I believed the promises in Scripture about salvation but not the ones about finances! (BTW…you don’t believe until you actually take a step of faith!)
#7 – I didn’t realize that my finances were actually a spiritual battlefield…and if the enemy could enslave me to Visa, Mastercard and American Express then I could not fully serve Christ with my life because I would spend most of my time serving them! (SEE PROVERBS 22:7!!!)
#8 – I made excuses such as, “I give to God in other ways other than finances,” not realizing that He said that MONEY was actually the #1 competitor for my heart Matthew 6:24)…and that when I got that area of my life right the other areas were more likely to fall in line.
#9 – I did not fully trust God with “my money!” I actually believed that I was the one who “worked hard” and produced all that I had…not fully understanding the implications of Deuteronomy 8:17-18!!!
#10 – I actually believed that the tithe was an OT law…not realizing that the principle of tithing was established HUNDREDS of years before the Law was written and that in the NT there is not one single example of a gift ever given to the church that was less than 10%.
#11 – I was STUPID financially! I made BAD decisions (actually purchasing a car and agreeing to pay 12% interest for 84 months b/c the minimum payment was so “affordable! THEN I finally learned that if we follow what the Bible says about handling money that we will be blessed–period!!!
#12 – I had ZERO discipline and fully bought into the idea that financing my lifestyle was what I needed to do!
BTW…this area of your life isn’t going to fix itself…it’s going to get better when you decided to put God first and do what the Bible says in regards to how to handle money. I know that doing so has made a HUGE difference in my own life!!
Breakthrough IS NOT going to happen because you ask God to allow you to win the lottery…breakthrough happens through SURRENDER and SWEAT (doing whatever it takes!)
If you want to be free in this area of your life YOU CAN BE!! The choice is yours!!!
