You’ve heard it said before that when you are able to spend, bless, or give without restriction, you have financial freedom.
All the guru’s say it- even the Christian ones.
But I’m about to tell you what I haven’t read in a financial book but have simply learned from the wisdom of the living God.
Financial freedom is so much more than what the world has propped it up to be.
It has nothing to do with how much money we have, and everything to do with the heart posture we hold.
God wrecked my idea of financial freedom when I started praying for it.
“Lord, you’ve taught me so much about finances. You’ve given me so much insight, wisdom, and growth. Thank you. And I thank you Lord for the day I walk into financial freedom.”
Full stop, no filter- Holy Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks with what He said back to me-
I have given you financial freedom.
I knew exactly what God was saying to me.
Financial freedom, at its core, does not represent monetary abundance- God ordains each season and what my cash flow will look like- but that it’s actually about the spiritual freedom God grants us in relation to money.
The deepest struggle in my financial life has not been about making more or having enough- it has been about overcoming the deceptive movements of my heart in relation to money matters.
God has tended to the vital and integral pieces of my heart that held lies, confusion, and cultural influence as it was connected to money.
If you’ve read my most recent writing, Monopoly Money, you might wonder why I’ve been talking about money so much.
I asked myself that too.
The Holy Spirit was quick like lightning on the response-
Jesus talked a lot about money.
Why?
Because it’s related to the heart.
Heart posture is everything when you come before the Lord.
Lay your life down to him, and he will demolish whatever stands in the way of your allegiance to him and the goodness of his ways.
So it goes with money.
Christians get real weird when you talk about God taking away money.
They get real weird when you talk about him giving it, too.
Funny that Jesus never shied away from talking about the topic of giving away money or living without much of it and God clearly uses provisional blessing as a vivid example of his honor, practical love, and care all throughout the Old Testament.
It’s not about being poor or rich.
It’s about your heart.
And God will use your money to expose your heart.
He did mine.
I was used to always having it my way- making as much money as I could, working x amount of hours to achieve a goal, and spending how I wanted too.
I was also constantly striving and I viewed my worthiness as a human being as it was connected to the dollars in my bank account.
Not only the dollars, but the ability to acquire the dollars.
Pride is like that.
We get something good and we think we did it ourselves.
And then we lust for more.
And more.
And more
Until we are never satisfied.
I don’t think I need to repeat the addendum here about millionaires generally being sad, lonely, etc.
But I DO think it’s worth noting that most of us do know this to be true- that money does not actually buy happiness, or anything of real value in this world.
And yet.. we still chase, run, jump, lie, cheat, and steal our way into the madness of money.
Why?
Because it is a spiritual matter.
The spirit directly influences the heart.
The heart is the well-spring of life and what flows from it is what reveals everything about us.
And the human heart believes we can create our own happiness, satisfy our own needs, and find a way to buy ourselves into acceptance, honor, and fulfillment.
We want it to be that simple and we want to be sure that we make it happen.
Here’s the truth:
The only thing valuable enough to buy everything we need is the blood of Jesus.
It is not bought with silver or gold.
It is not made by human hands.
It was not ordained to be spilled by our own will.
It was God alone who ordained that this great gift be given.
A gloriously free gift.
But free feels foreign in a world that lives by a false system of buying redemption.
And when we live in rebellion against God, we absolutely hate that we can’t have it our way- purchasing our own power, our own authority, or our own acceptance.
We want these things; but we want them by our own method- and oftentimes, that method is our money.
So we strive to prove we can.
Here’s what I’ve come to know-
Financial freedom is not the ability to purchase anything I want or grow my 401k or set my status as a millionaire.
In actuality, it is living in the true reality of being untethered from the influence of money - in every way, shape, and form.
How does this happen?
Dependence.
You were never designed to strive for, stress over, or be emotionally led by money.
But how often we bow down to it!
We sacrifice our hearts, our minds, our well-being to it!
We give ourselves over to it in every way- dedicating mind, body, and spirit to achieving it, keeping it, spending it.
We make it our everything.
We see it as our provider, when it provides nothing outside of what God has already given.
We praise it for its promises.
We praise it for its power.
But we neglect to see that it has the ultimate authority over us, when we give our lives over to it.
The sense of power we seek actually makes us powerless.
We are but a slave to what captivates our heart- and for so many- now and throughout all of history- that is money.
For the worldly way, this makes sense.
But for followers of Jesus?
He has warned us of these ways.
And he has a better way.
One of the best things God ever did for me was to take away my money.
All the prosperity preachers just rolled over in their graves.
No, God does not delight in poverty.
But He does delight in dependence.
And he will use various methods to break the yoke of oppression off of your life- including taking things away.
How many people can truly say they have lost it all- and yet gained so much more in the process?
Let me be clear here- it wasn’t just the money itself, it was also the ability to make the money.
Suddenly, my illusionary ideas about being my own provider were shattered.
I was found in a puddle of pride as the storm broke over me.
But he didn’t leave me there- broke(n), battered, or bruised.
He came beside me, and proved himself faithful as Jehovah Jireh- my provider.
He provided for every need- it was simply the excess that was cut off- the money that afforded me the luxury of believing my pleasure and power were connected to sources other than my God.
It was not to punish me.
It was to refine me.
Financial freedom is a process- and this was the beginning of mine.
I found myself triggered in every way.
I was questioning my entire life trajectory, choices, and purpose.
What did it all mean without the money to show for it?
Oh, how God showed me a better way!
I felt fear rise up in me each month as a bill was due or when I thought of my future.
But then my faith would also begin to rise as I watched God provide in perfectly-timed ways every time there was a financial need.
And He held my heart in the midst of it all.
I had never known surrender like this.
I had laid down my life to Jesus- but this area of my heart was putting up a fight in the face of surrender.
It felt like such death was occuring as I laid down my need to control and welcomed fresh surrender into the arena.
I was picking up my cross.
The Holy Spirit began to peel back layer after layer of my money mindset.
Money and all that it encompasses (achievement, image, control, pleasure, etc.) was tethered to almost everything in my life, and I previously had no idea.
I could not see the way it was all connected, until he opened my eyes to see it.
My need for control, my lack of surrender, my fears, hopes, dreams, and desires.. It was all influenced by thoughts of money.
Money symbolized so much of the fear that was hiding in my heart.
Money had more power over my life choices than the voice of God did.
Money had me gripped with endless expectation that never came to fruition.
Money was and is not evil- but the deceit that hid behind it was.
This was one of many idols God broke down in my life- and in a season where I felt like I was being un-done in every way, I came back together with a fire in my bones that was built by the refiner.
I found spiritual riches that were not hidden in a treasure chest, but found hidden in Christ alone.
I found that my fear was unfounded, and my God faithful.
I learned to let go of the need to know everything and instead follow the wind of the Spirit.
I broke free from the generational curse of dictating my worth through the amount of money I had (or the image it bought me).
I found solace for my soul in placing all of the trust I had in the hands of my God.
I found joy in giving and receiving in complete freedom.
Day by day, moment by moment, something was breaking in me.
And something was breaking off of me.
I was being set free.
Freedom was not found in my ability to travel to 10 countries in a year.
Freedom was not found in the false peace that money would cover all my bills and render me ‘safe.’
Freedom was not found in the pleasure of clothes being bought, material things abounding, or a new iPhone.
Freedom was not found in setting up a life that looked good to others.
Freedom was not found in depending on what my achievements could do for me and what doors they could open.
Freedom was not found in a false sense of security that I had once believed money bought me.
Freedom was found when my finances no longer had a hold of me.
I found faithfulness in my God and the desire he has for us to depend on him for all our needs.
I found freedom in my identity.
I found riches beyond comparison that could not be held in my hand, but only in my heart.
I found joy in simplicity.
I found ease in the trust that God would always provide for me.
I found peace in understanding that God’s provision was never dependent on how good or bad I was, but only on how good he always is.
I found something most of the world has not known- a life of freedom from the burden of sin and shame and deceit that money can oftentimes mask within us.
God exposed my heart and set me free, while providing step by step for me.
There is a purity that these seasons have bought me.
I’m so grateful to be financially free.