When You Can't Pay The Bills Series

Everyone has trouble with finances at some point in life. (In his book, “How to Succeed in Money,” George Bowman says, "About nine out of every ten people with an income are financial failures." He means people in general fail to manage our money wisely.

40% of Americans borrow more money than they can make monthly payments on. The average family is only 3 weeks away from bankruptcy. 85 out of 100 Americans have less than $250 of cash in the bank by age 65. Why do we have such financial problems? Is it because we’re so generous toward others that we just don’t have anything left for ourselves? Are we taking out too many loans to give new cars to our neighbors? I don’t think so…

It’s not because we’re generous…. The average American gives only 2% of their income to charitable institutions. Today, we have more resources at our disposal than any people in history, but somehow financial matters are still a source of constant difficulty and stress. Why?

The obvious reason is because we want stuff and we have the power to borrow for it…

Credit cards, 2nd mortgages and low APR automobile loans… It’s easy to get what we want…

But the underlying reason is that we feel empty, and we try to fill that emptiness with things that will bring us a sense of satisfaction and self worth, but in the end we find ourselves just as miserable as before, only with more toys, and more responsibilities, slaves to debt: struggling to make the payments on things that failed to make us happy… But the next thing is bound to do it, right? No…

The wise King Solomon said in Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” Do you feel like a servant to the lender today? Are you strapped over the barrel of negative cash flow? If so, I want you to know the Lord wants to deliver you out of that bondage and into a Simpler Life: a debt free life.

You may have noticed that when you can’t pay the bills, life becomes more complicated and less enjoyable. Financial stress is a crisis, it’s complicated stressful and it siphons the joy out of life.

It’s hard to enjoy the simple pleasures of life when you can’t pay for the necessities.

(Go to the beach for a simple day, find out you have to pay a parking meter and you don’t have the money, or the time in Maine when we had no money to get to the beach there, because they set up a toll booth to get to the harbor. Complicated finances can destroy simple pleasures.)

Unfortunately, if you are living under that kind of bondage and stress, you are missing God’s will for you: to enjoy your life and live life more abundantly…

Deut 28:11-13, “The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity-- in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground-- in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”

We have a God who wants us to live life at the top, not at the bottom. We have a God who is named Jehovah Jireh: the Lord, my provider and He has the provision to take care of every need and every godly desire you havein life. He has the riches to pay off every bill and all of your debts. He has the desire to make you a lender and not a borrower… and He wants you to live debt free; lending to many but borrowing from none!

He’s just waiting for us to get the clue and tap into the bountiful supply of His provision…

A lot of you have been tapping into your own provision for a long time, trusting in your supply and it’s not enough. It’s never enough. That’s why your credit cards are maxed-out and you’ve taken out a second loan on the house… Today needs to be a new day for us as a church body: a new day of the provision and supply of The Lord in our lives and our church. I’m believing for God’s provision to pay off all the church debts by the end of this year. Can you join me in that? I believe you can set some personal goals that seem impossible today too, and that God can accomplish them if you’ll believe and not doubt… But you have to persevere and obey the commands of the Lord, or you’re putting a curse on your finances.