Long ago, the Israelite nation left Egyptian slavery and headed to God’s promised land. After 400 years of crying out to the Lord of Hosts for deliverance, they were set free.

It was not an instantaneous journey to freedom. They put one foot in front of the other, following the cloud by day and the fire by night.

 

They had to deal with:

– the enemy who followed them out of Egypt

– their desire for Egypt’s food

– their memories of how good they thought slavery had been

 

Manna just wasn’t good enough.

Our journey out of debt into financial freedom is not much different.

It is a journey and a process. It takes time, effort, patience, persistence, determination and planning to get out of debt.

We continually battle the false promises of our debt-ridden lives. The life that debt has given us, can create in us a longing for what we have had and experienced, even though debt enslaved us in that place. We want the food, the pleasures, the trips, the things promised through advertising and our own fleshly desires. The manna of debt-free living is just not enough.

Yet, we don’t like the anxiety, the lack of peace, the burden of those debt choices. We cry for freedom but we don’t want to give up the pleasures we found in the place of debt slavery.

We are at a crossroads. There is a tough choice because getting out of debt and walking toward financial freedom is not for the faint of heart.

Financial planners and coaches agree that if it takes you six months to get into debt, it will take you a year to get out. You usually take twice the time to get out of debt, as you take to get into it.

In a world where credit is the answer, living debt-free is a challenge. Advertising alone makes us feel we need to spend more than we have, and the world’s answer is: “we have a credit line or credit card for that.”

So how do we navigate this world of debt and credit?

Our parents or grandparents would tell us, “Don’t spend money you don’t have.”

It is that simple.

They didn’t have access to the credit we do today, so the temptation to use credit wasn’t great. However, with the introduction of credit cards in 1962, that all changed. Debt grew and still grows.

Financial coach and teacher Lynn Fraser says debt is exploding all around us, and our culture is a debt and bankrupt culture. She has spent 15 years encouraging people that living debt-free is the answer, even when the world around us chooses differently: “We don’t have to live the way of the world, but it all starts with our decision to do it differently.”

Lynn Fraser and Financial Coach David van Noppen from More Than Enough Financial Fitness recommend starting with your relationship with God.

1. Get into the Word of God
2. Apply the principles God provides
3. Pray

Provision is God’s domain and He knows your circumstances and situation better than you do. He is good, kind, just, loving and gentle. He will lead you out of debt just as He did Israel.

Getting out of debt does not have a magic formula where you snap your fingers and all is well. It takes intention, purpose and planning. You need to do your part and He will help you, lead you and multiply your efforts.

Debt-free living means growing in trust with your heavenly Father. So even if you don’t have an answer for your financial issue today, you know He does and you wait on Him until He makes a way for you.

Call to action – what do I do now?

Decide

If you know you need a plan to find financial freedom, decide today to make changes. Freedom is a possibility. Put a stake in the ground that this is the day, and find someone to be accountable to, or find a financial coach or advisor to help you take the first steps.

Read Scripture

Find out what God says and learn all He has intended for you. A recently published Bible called The Financial Stewardship Bible is a great resource to help you. It lists and highlights all that God says in His Word about finances, stewardship and trusting God.

 Apply the Word

Take what you are learning in Scripture and put it into practise. For instance, God says be generous. You need to pray and ask God where and how you can be generous with your time and resources and then do it.

Pray with thankfulness

All of this is done with prayer and thanksgiving. Our financial journey is intimately tied to our relationship with God the Father, and prayer and gratitude are expressions of that journey.

If you have any questions on debt-free living, contact MoreThanEnough Financial Fitness at 613-520-4157. Financial coaches will help you find hope for today and freedom for tomorrow.

Today’s blog is adapted from the Financial Fitness Radio Show heard on September 11, 2015 on CHRI 99.1 FM with Lynn Fraser and David van Noppen.