Our Daily Bills

Give us this day our daily bills.  This became our prayer when our finances were turned upside down.

While many are wondering;  how can I tithe when I can’t pay my bills; we were wondering, now that we tithed, how can we pay our bills?

Our Daily Bills

As a former real estate agent, and a mortgage officer, we made a decent salary. Enough to cover our monthly business and personal expenses, including fun money. We took family vacations, ate out often and bought whatever we wanted, when we wanted.

We paid our bills monthly bills at one time just to know they were paid and out of the way; so we could enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Well, in 2007 when the real estate market crashed, so did our income. Monthly bill paying turned into paying bills twice a month. Then weekly, and before you knew it, we were paying our bills every day.

 

The thought of paying bills this way was completely for the birds! It wasn’t peaceful to our hearts, but when you live on commission, we had no choice.

You could say it was a coming to Jesus moment for us.  You see, we realized it’s easy to trust God for finances when you have money in the bank, and everything is going well. But let your bank account get down to $2.25. You’ll find out real quick how much you believe what you say you believe.

And that is where we found ourselves!

Please don’t misunderstand us, we have always operated with in a budget. And when our income changed we eliminated all unnecessary spending. At that point, we were simply trying to survive on a 72% decrease of our normal income.

We weren’t use to paying bills late, or incurring late fees for that matter. You can only imagine how frustrating it was for us. Becoming overwhelmed with discouragement, we called our spiritual mentors for help.

If your bank account leaves you no choice but to wait on God, then read this post... Click To Tweet

Sharing Our Financial Struggle

Was it embarrassing to expose our financial situation? Yes, but we are told in Proverbs 11:14 where there is no counsel the people fall. Since this was new territory for us, it was wise for us to seek counsel.

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” ~ Proverbs 11: 14 (NKJV)

I remember so clearly when our beloved Pastor and mentor Lorri told us, “this is your opportunity to trust God for your daily bread. You are going to have to find peace in the waiting. Your bank account leaves you no choice but to wait on Him.”

That may not have solved our problem, but it did help us find peace in the waiting. And while spiritual counsel brought some emotional comfort, she even took it a step further and suggested we use a daily bill sorter.

Now that was foreign to me. I remember telling her, that will stress me out to see bills daily. However, she went on to explain that even though we were in a season of challenge, we can find peace when we choose to do things decently and in order.

We may not have the means to pay our bills at one time, but by having them sorted and organized, helped us know how to pray for specific bills to be paid by specific times. Not to mention, it helped us prioritize what bills needed to be paid first in order to avoid late fees. It was then that she blessed us with the daily bill sorter.

Our Daily Sorter

That may not have solved our problem, but it did help us find peace in the waiting. And while spiritual counsel brought some emotional comfort, she took it a step further and suggested we use a daily bill sorter.

We remember telling her, that will stress us out to see bills daily. However,  she went on to explain that even though we are in a season of challenge, it can be peaceful when we choose to do things decently and in order.

She went on to say, that we may not have the means to pay our bills at one time, by having them organized; we will know how to pray for specific bills. Not to mention, this system will help us prioritize what bills need to be paid first to avoid late fees. It was then that she blessed us with the daily bill sorter.

 Our Daily Revelation

While implementing the bill sorter, we sought God for a specific scripture regarding our finances. And God placed 2 Corinthians 9:8-10 (AMPC) on our hearts to stand on.

“And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. 9 As it is written, He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever! 10 And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity].”
~ 2 Corinthians 9:8-10 (AMPC)

What we love about this passage is that God promises to provide seed to the sower and bread for our food. Meaning, because we have already proven ourselves to be a sower by giving God what belongs to Him and looking to be a blessing to others, we know through His word that He will continue to give us resources to sow while providing our daily bread (our daily bills.)

This truth resonated so much with our hearts, that we decided to start confessing it in our prayers.

Lord your Word says; give and it shall be given back to us. You promised to provide bread for our food (our daily bread, taking care of our daily bills) and give us seed (resources ) to give to others and your kingdom. So we thank you that your Word will not return void and you will do what you say, in Jesus Name!

As we started praying over our finances with those scriptures and implementing our daily bill sorter, we found great peace in what seemingly was an overwhelming  to us.

Not only did we find peace, but our bills were getting paid on time.

Our Testimony

There was one situation that we remember so clearly. We had two bills due within a few days of each other, and we had received a financial blessing. There was not enough to pay both bills, so we tithed and paid the bill that was due first.

Literally, the very next day, we received a check in the mail that was enough to pay that other bill.

Look at God!

The first Scripture that came to mind, when this happened was Matthew 6: 35

“So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.”
~ Matthew 6:35 (AMPC)

In the past we were so concerned about paying our bills at one time just to know they were paid, not realizing that by doing that we were being anxious about tomorrow. As if God wasn’t going to provide bread for tomorrow.

In The End

Walking through that difficult season taught us so much about waiting on God. Waiting for what He promises in His Word, after we have done all to do to stand.

Quite honestly, some of us haven’t done all we know to do. Then we question if God is real or if He heard our prayers.

Yes, we must give what belongs to God, operate on budget, and practice good stewardship. But what about the times when you’ve done all those things and you still fall short?

That is where we’ve learned to continue standing while we wait on God and find peace in the waiting.

PS…If you are in a season of believing God for breakthrough in your finances,  download the Financial Confession we created and still use to this day! You can download it from our community library or by filling out the form below.

~ André and Timberley Gray