The Biblical Secret Of Financial Freedom Series

The Biblical Secret for Financial Freedom

Phil 4:12

Doing without

Like the story I heard about a lady strolling in the park, & a little frog came hopping up to her. The frog looked up at her & said, "If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a bank president."

She looked at the frog for a moment, then reached down, picked up the frog, put it in her pocket & then kept on walking.

Another stroller who had seen & heard everything, asked her, "Lady, I’m curious. Why didn’t you kiss the frog?" She answered, "Well, in today’s market, a talking frog is worth a whole lot more than a bank president."..

The Problem- Many Americans are in Financial Bondage through Credit Card Debt.

Young Families In Debt

Spending habits of young married couples with children (both spouses 18 to 25): Average after-tax income, $19,783. Average annual spending, $21,401.

Family Economics Review, quoted in U.S.A. Today, May 20, 1991, p. D1 (they are spending around 8% more than they make.)

The simple answer is spend less than you make. However, the real problem is what causes us to spend more than we make. That needs fixin.

Credit Cards

Americans owe over $400 billion on their credit cards. Consumer debt is at a six year high. The average household gets about 25 credit card promotional offers a year. Experts worry that the irresponsible and rabid marketing of credit cards? could result in a crisis for the economy.

MSC Health Action News, July, 1996

Stolen Credit Card

A man called the police and reported that all of his wife’s credit cards had been stolen. Then he added, “But don’t look too hard for the thief. He’s charging less than my wife ever did.”

Source unknown

Philippians 4:10-13

10 How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but for a while you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. (NLT)

I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. (Good News Version)

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (KJV)

We seem to think happiness comes with more stuff. So we do what Paul could not do to get it. You can spend more than you make. With credit cards so available to almost anyone with a job you can get yourself into a financial jam in nothing flat. There are emergencies when we may need to do that. The Lord has been dealing with me personally about this verse. The Apostle said I have learned the secret of being satisfied with a lot or a little. We applaud the happy with a lot, but we ignore the second part. Being satisfied with little, or learning to do without. All of the advertising is trying to get you to buy on impulse. It doesn’t matter how great a bargain it is if you don’t need it. Doing without when you didn’t have the money was a common practice for our parents and grandparents. But with credit cards so readily available we don’t do without very often until they are maxed out. The only way to get out of that mess, or to not get into it. Is to learn the secret Paul learned. In Timothy he said having food and raiment I will be content.

Ancient Secret in a Nut Shell - The Secret of Financial Freedom is being content with many things or few things. Even content doing without. It is not in getting more, but needing less.

I This SECRET CAN BE LEARNED

a. It isn’t natural -not born with it, some people don’t just have it

b. It is learned- Some people because of their upbringing are more likely to be content with less.

-If you were raised poor- but it is still a choice

-if you were raised with everything handed to you - more difficult to learn -behind the curve