Should You Take The Journey To Financial Freedom?

To answer that question, you need to ask yourself a big question and several smaller ones.

The question is "At what point should you start worrying about your debts"? If you are just "managing" on a monthly-basis, then perhaps you already have a 'debt situation'. Also, if the answer to ANY of the following is 'Yes' or 'Maybe', it is a warning sign that you're sliding - slowly but surely - into the financial bondage called debt:

Do you think you cannot 'afford' to pay tithe or give offering in church?
Are you spending more than 20% of your monthly income on meeting your debts?
Are you beginning to delay opening letters from financial institutions?
Can you only ever afford to make the minimum payments on your credit cards?
Are you using your credit card for day-to-day purchases without paying it off in full each month?
Are you beginning to rob Peter to pay Paul?
Are you taking out new loans to pay off old ones?
Are your total non-mortgage debt amounts to more than your annual income?
Do you have nothing left over to save after meeting all your monthly expenses?

If you've answered 'Yes' to any of the above, then you need to begin doing something about it now!!

For the next 30 days, write down everything you spend money on and how much you spend - be it in cash, with cheque, with debit/credit card(s), by direct debit or standing order. You need to have an initial picture of how much you spend in a typical month. The result will surprise you; but your journey to financial freedom has begun.

Change Requires Preparation

It has been said that you cannot be doing something the same way as before and expect a different result. If you want a change in your finances you need to prepare for it - especially in your thoughts.

The General Superintendent of Elim Pentecostal - John Glass (http://elimgs.blogspot.com/) visited my church - New Life Bible Church, Bethnal Green, London. In his message for the day, he gave an illustration using the new Airbus A380 which will be able to carry over 550 passengers at once. Though this will mean big business for airports, many of the current runways are not big enough for the A380. The solution is to widen the runways in anticipation of the new plane - if they want it to land at their airport. many are already PREPARING.

The same is true for financial freedom. We need to prepared to get out of debt and into freedom. Over-indulgence MAY have got us into it; a lot of sacrifice will be needed to get us out - with the help of God of course.

Watch your daily activities closely; you are either repairing the mistakes of the past or you are preparing for the future.

Freedom Takes Wisdom.

When a person realises that he/she is lost anywhere, the first thing to do is find out WHERE he/she is. Then the person asks for direction from there to where he/she wants to go. That is wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight. After gaining knowledge, wisdom is used to meet new situations.

Financial Freedom will take wisdom to attain. The first wise step to take is to have a knowledge of where you stand financially. By taking the time to do a little calculations, you need to know:

1. How much do you own?
2. How much do you owe?
These will help determine your net worth which we will deal with later.

3. How much do you have coming in (income)?
4. How much do you have going out (expenditure)?
Is your spending more than your income?

The Bible says "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds" - Proverbs 27:23. We don't have to reach the point of desperation before seeking to be free.

What Is Freedom?

Freedom, depending on your point of view, may have many meanings. Freedom, in one sentence, can be defined as "the absence of restraints upon our ability to think and act".

Today, many people are not debt-free not to even mention being financially-free. How we act with our money are often restrained by the amount of payments we have to meet every month.

Being in debt is one thing, but doing nothing about it is another matter. The world's financial system has been set up in such a way that one can actually be in debt all his/her working-life until death!! The way the pensions in many countries are going, the governments cannot afford to take care of you when you retire; so you have to do something about it now.

Should you even be bothered about financial freedom? If your job stops today and you cannot live as you as you're living now for the next 3 months (at least), you should be concerned.

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds - Proverbs 27:23