Slave To Debt

Jason and I have not always been Christians. For years after coming to Christ we didn't even know what Kingdom finance was. We are still paying for our irresponsibility. When you have debt you become a slave to that debt. Neither one of us carry a credit card with us anymore. We have learned to pay with cash or pay it off when the bill comes. But even as we have begun to live and handle our finances the way God desires we are still a slave to debt, because of our past mistakes.


God's desire is to restore. He sent His Son to die on a cross to restore what was lost in the garden. He is willing and capable of restoring marriages and families. He desires to have a bride (the church) who is restored to Himself. He also wants to restore our finances. I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel that so many preach on today. God wants to bless His children, yes, but we do not serve the Holy of Holy, King of King to receive things. We serve because we love Him.

The Bible says in Romans 13:8 "let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another..." Christ came to die on the cross to set us free. He is a God of restoration, and I believe over finances too. After all, everything is His anyway, we are only given stewardship over it. He lets us have our houses, cars, clothes, food, etc., and especially here in America we are blessed beyond compare.

Debt is a shameful thing. I don't say that to bring shame to those who have it, almost all of us do, I say it because that is how it makes you feel. We are blessed to have an income that covers our bills but I have been in the place where I didn't know how we were going to pay for things like food because of all the bills we had. Like a hoard of locust "debt" comes in to every aspect of your life. You argue with your spouse over finances (been there, done that); you argue with your kids because you are stressed over how you are going to pay for their sports fees or whatever else they need or want money for; you work 50-60 hours a week at one or 2 jobs, perhaps even both spouses are working that much and because you are working so much you are never there for your kids. Forget vacations, because that would just add to the debt and take away from the money coming in. Because you are working so hard it begins to affect your health; high blood pressures, insomnia, acid reflex, and various other ailments sneak in.

Jason and I have experienced first hand what the locust of debt can do to a family. But great news! God promises "to restore the years the locusts have eaten" (Joel 2:25); not just restore but look at verse 26  "you will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed." Why does He desire to do this? The answer is in verse 27 "Then you will know... that I am the Lord your God and there is no other". He desires to restore our finances as a testimony of who He is. Not by our hands, but by His miraculous provision.

That doesn't mean we are to just sit idly by and let Him do all the work. God does not like a sluggard, but we will let Him provide the right job for Jason, so he can serve God and walk in obedience. We will seek Him together in prayer and let Him provide the debt repayment plan, and we will worship and serve as we wait for God to multiply the work of our hands and to provide miraculous provision to erase this mountain of debt.

We are standing next to the mountain, standing on the Word of God, with faith that God restores and saying to that mountain, "MOVE!"

 It is so easy for the enemy to come in, and he has, and say, "this is going to take too long. You deserve to have what you want and everyone else charges it so why not you." Well I say to the enemy that I have the best Daddy in the universe and if He thinks I need it then He will provide it, not some creditor.

We refuse to be slaves to this debt anymore. We used to think that we had to be out of debt in order to step out in our ministry and go, but God desires to do something else. We are to step out in obedience to Him and let Him do the restoring of our finances. We are believing God for a $50,000 miraculous provision; to not just move a mountain but uproot and destroy it. When I look at our budget and crunch the numbers it will take 4-5 years for this mountain to move. This mountain is not going to move by our hands. It will move by the hand of God, leading us, giving us wisdom, and by miraculous provision. God is a God of restoration.