This week I have received several emails asking various questions about spending money- gaining financial freedom. I thought that the best way to handle this would be to break up this topic into several posts so as not to be too overwhelming and hopefully for it to be fairly easy to digest and put into practice! All of the emails I received had to do with the same questions….

How do you master money when you feel like money has actually mastered you?

How do I get in the black with my finances when I am always in the red?

How do I get out of debt?

Good thing for all of us that we CAN find financial freedom through sound Biblical principles for wise money management and solve all of our dollar dilemmas!

I don’t know about you, but my whole life, I believed societal myths about money and it wasn’t until I stacked them up against God’s truth that I was truly set free from them. Do any of these myths sound familiar? Let’s see how they stand up to God’s living truth!

Myth: Money is the root of all evil

Truth: No….. money can actually be used for great good. It is really the love of money that is wrong.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Myth: If I just have enough money, I will be satisfied.

Truth: Satisfaction with your financial situation does NOT come from the amount of money you have, but wisely managing what you have.

Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

Myth: You must borrow money and pay it back in order to prove financial responsibility and establish good credit references.

Truth: Borrowing and paying back money is not always necessary to get credit. Most lenders are more than anxious to extend credit in order to collect inflated interest rates over an extended period of time. Why?

The borrower is slave to the lender.

The first aspect of this subject that I think is important for us to discuss is how to know whether you are trustworthy in the way you spend money. You must first desire to please the Lord in every way that you manage the financial resources He has given you. Before you purchase anything, it is good to ask yourself:

• Is this purchase a true need or just a desire?
• Do I have adequate funds to purchase this without using credit?
• Have I compared the cost of competing products?
• Have I prayed about this purchase?
• Have I been patient in waiting on God’s provision?
• Do I have God’s peace regarding this purchase?
• Does this purchase conform to the purpose God has for me?
• Is there agreement with my spouse about this purchase?

The Bible says:

Have you run your purchases through this filter? How would your spending habits be different if you did? I would love to hear all of your thoughts about this in a comment below. I think we would all agree that our money is not ours…. but it belongs to God and we are called to be good stewards of it. God is the owner of everything.  We are the managers of what He has entrusted to our care.

1 Chronicles 29:11

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

This scripture tells us that God is the owner of everything.  Stop and think about that for just a second.  How often do we insert the possessive pronouns of “my”, “mine”, or “ours” when talking about possessions?  It reminds me of a child who says: it’s “mine”, “mine”, “mine!”  But according to scripture house, cars, money and all possessions belong to God.

Most commonly the idea of people claiming money as “their” money leads them down the road of poor decision-making.  Think about all of the financially immoral acts in our society.  All of them typically occur because people make decisions with the perspective of it being “their” money versus it being God’s money.

• When we acknowledge God’s ownership, every spending decision becomes a spiritual decision.  
• We need to stop asking, “Lord, what do You want me to do with my money?” 
• The question needs to be restated, “Lord ,what do You want me to do with Your money?”

Many blessings,

Coach Megan 🙂