{"id":169,"date":"2009-09-22T12:53:18","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T12:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html"},"modified":"2009-09-22T12:53:18","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T12:53:18","slug":"asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html","title":{"rendered":"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><\/font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mt-image-center\" alt=\"Charity 2.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/224\/import\/Charity%202.jpg\" width=\"124\" height=\"91\" \/><\/span>The statistics are frightening.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>We&#8217;re a nation in debt, privately in our own families, corporately in our businesses and organizations, and nationally in our government.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Indebtedness is now growing into an even deeper crisis as our present economic troubles mount.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Debt may be our attempt to temporarily ease our pain; but it&#8217;s a long-term bondage that robs us of a future and a hope and a freedom to pursue our dreams. <\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">In Jesus Lord&#8217;s Prayer he offers this, very startling appeal: &#8220;Forgive us our debts&#8230;&#8221; Is Jesus serious? <\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">Often we interpret this in a spiritual way, believing that Jesus is promising us that we can ask God to forgive us our debt of sin.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>This is true.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>We can ask God to carry and cancel our spiritual debt.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>But there is also a very practical and down to earth application to this appeal: We are invited here to ask God to actually forgive our financial debt!<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"3\"><font color=\"#000000\">Is it actually possible to expect God to pay my bills, even when I&#8217;ve been foolish with my spending?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The answer is, yes.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>God may not do this in the way we expect, or always in a way that eliminates all our pain.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>But he does promise to carrier our load, including the practical burden of our financial debt.<span>&nbsp; <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">God may do this by teaching us principles of wisdom, prudence and discipline.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The book of Proverbs in the Bible is full of financial wisdom. He may on the other hand deliver us quite miraculously, even instantly. Quite often he uses both wise, long-term and miraculous short term solutions.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The key: God cares, and he invites us to bring all our needs to him in prayer, and to present bold requests for him to meet those needs.<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"3\"><font color=\"#000000\">If you or someone you know struggles with debt, enlist a partner today &#8211; God himself.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>God will cosign your obligations &#8211; when you give him in return full right to work in ALL areas of your life.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>That&#8217;s the deal in working with god: ALL or NOTHING. God will own my problems, when I let him also own me.<span>&nbsp; <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">From there we both begin the amazing, sometimes slow, sometimes miraculously rapid work of clearing the slate of my messed up life!<\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><strong>&#8220;Dear God, I have put myself in the bondage of debt.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>It&#8217;s my problem, but it&#8217;s also something beyond my ability to fix.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I need your help.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I ask you now to take this debt as your own and forgive it.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I ask you to <span>&nbsp;<\/span>work with me to justly return what I owe to those to whom I am indebted.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I ask for wisdom and discipline, but also for miracle provision.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I know I don&#8217;t deserve your involvement, but I also know you love me and want to teach me how to live by your principles, something I will need for the rest of eternity.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Thank you ahead of time for clearing my debt and teaching me a new way of living.&#8221; <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The statistics are frightening.&nbsp; We&#8217;re a nation in debt, privately in our own families, corporately in our businesses and organizations, and nationally in our government.&nbsp; Indebtedness is now growing into an even deeper crisis as our present economic troubles mount.&nbsp; Debt may be our attempt to temporarily ease our pain; but it&#8217;s a long-term&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-for-finances"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The statistics are frightening.&nbsp; We&#8217;re a nation in debt, privately in our own families, corporately in our businesses and organizations, and nationally in our government.&nbsp; Indebtedness is now growing into an even deeper crisis as our present economic troubles mount.&nbsp; Debt may be our attempt to temporarily ease our pain; but it&#8217;s a long-term&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-22T12:53:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/import\/Charity%202.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt","og_description":"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The statistics are frightening.&nbsp; We&#8217;re a nation in debt, privately in our own families, corporately in our businesses and organizations, and nationally in our government.&nbsp; Indebtedness is now growing into an even deeper crisis as our present economic troubles mount.&nbsp; Debt may be our attempt to temporarily ease our pain; but it&#8217;s a long-term&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html","og_site_name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","article_published_time":"2009-09-22T12:53:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/import\/Charity%202.jpg"}],"author":"Mark Herringshaw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html","name":"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/import\/Charity%202.jpg","datePublished":"2009-09-22T12:53:18+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-22T12:53:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/import\/Charity%202.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/import\/Charity%202.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/09\/asking-god-to-co-sign-on-my-debt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Asking God to Co-Sign on My Debt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/","name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","description":"Prayer, Daily Prayer, Simple Prayers, Quick Prayers, Prayer Requests","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948","name":"Mark Herringshaw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","caption":"Mark Herringshaw"},"description":"Mark Herringshaw is writer, speaker, spiritual life coach and pastor at North Heights Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the author of \"Six Prayers God Always Answers: Results May Vary,\" and \"Nine Ways God Always Speaks: Only Available in Certain States,\" both co-written with Jennifer Schuchmann. His third book is \"The Karma of Jesus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mark is a native of Santa Cruz, California. He has studied at Azusa Pacific University, The Academy of Performing Arts, Cambridge, Ontario, and Luther Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Regent University. Mark and his wife Jill have four children. His true passion is walking with people in the exciting adventure of communicating with God.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/author\/mherringshaw"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}