While growing up, I wasn’t taught how to budget or save money, but rather I was taught how to use debt to pay off other obligations. This was a generational cycle that I wasn’t aware of until years later. By the time I entered college at the young age of 18, I already had credit card debt, and I was about to accumulate student loan debt.
This post will share a little bit of my story and also bible verses to help you combat living paycheck to paycheck and break the generational cycle of lack.
Table of Contents
The Beginning: Living Paycheck To Paycheck
I received both my bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and at the end of my graduate studies, I had over $80,000 of student loan debt.
For years, I avoided the debt. But at the end of 2019, after getting inspired by seeing others share their experience of paying off their debt on social media, I decided to face it head-on, and I started talking with my husband about setting up a plan to pay mine off once and for all.
At the beginning of 2020, my husband and I created our debt payoff plan. But, like so many small businesses affected by the pandemic, the income from my blog Arts and Budgets hit a plateau.
In 2021, many opportunities came in for the business. We were able to create multiple income streams through our social media channels and the blog. So much so, we were able to pay off all credit card debt and put a huge dent in our car loan.
But the next year (2022), something amazing happened: the business started to take off. I was living in a prophecy that I had received two years before on my birthday, that the Lord would bless the business and we would see an increase rapidly.
It happened FAST! God moved fast! We had our first six-figure year in 2022! But I was still bound to the generational cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. I still believe credit cards were my source, and didn’t realize that I was idolizing credit cards and believed they were my source.
The Wake-Up Call: A Year of Surrender and Revelation
It wasn’t 2024 when my husband and I decided to take a year off from the business and not launch anything. That was one of the hardest years of our lives financially— We didn’t have much because we didn’t save much in the years prior.
It was then that we realized where we were wrong and how much we needed the Lord. We surrender it all to the LORD. Everything– the business, the money, credit cards– everything. We learned to trust the Lord with everything and not to lean on my own understanding.
“It was a year of trusting the Lord and also working together. We couldn’t lean on our own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight”– Proverbs 3:5-6
It was the first time in our lives that we gave it all to God. I realize that going back to credit cards was a generational cycle that I had to break. I put up all of my credit cards and didn’t use them at all. I gave them up, and we had to trust God..
The Turning Point: Trusting God With Our Finances
One of the main things that shifted for us was renewing our minds through God’s word. God’s word is the foundation of everything in our lives. During this time, I learned that I was in a generational cycle that started well before I was even born. I needed deliverance, and I needed to break fast. My husband and I fasted for a whole year and truly devoted our lives to the Lord.
Everything changed… We changed what we listened to, how we spent our lives, and made sure to put the Lord first. It changed us from the inside out.
It was the first time in my life that credit cards were no longer my source but the Lord.
The Breakthrough: Finding True Financial Freedom
There’s always fruit when you choose to be obedient to the Lord. That year, our marriage grew stronger than ever because we put God right at the center. We didn’t earn as much income as we did in 2022, but every single need was met. We even paid off our car completely, and God surprised us with a huge blessing when our rent was covered for six whole months. That was nothing but God’s faithfulness at work!
While we learned how to budget and save, the most important thing was knowing the word of God, which is true wealth.
Bible Verses to Break Free From Financial Strongholds
Bible Verses To Help Break The Living Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
Philippians 4:19
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Proverbs 21:5
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”
Proverbs 13:11
“Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
Proverbs 3:9–10
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Psalm 34:10
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
Psalm 37:4
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 23:1
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Proverbs 10:22
“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”
Psalm 112:3
“Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.”
Bible Verses For Debt Freedom & Paying Off Debt
Romans 13:8
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”
Proverbs 22:7
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
Psalm 37:21
“The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.”
Deuteronomy 28:12
“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.”
Deuteronomy 15:6
“For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.”
Malachi 3:10
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Luke 14:28
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”
Habakkuk 2:2–3
“Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the vision awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.’”
Proverbs 16:3
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
Ecclesiastes 11:2
“Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.”
Bible Verses For Financial Freedom
Deuteronomy 8:18
“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Proverbs 3:9–10
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
Luke 6:38
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Proverbs 31:16
“She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
Psalm 37:25
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
Proverbs 31:18 (NIV)
“She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
Proverbs 13:22
“A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.”
Matthew 19:21 (NIV)
“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”
What are some of your favorite bible verses? List them below. 🙂
Leave a Reply