As a young and naïve pastor, Dan Willis maxed out twenty-three credit cards and ruined his credit to support his ministry. It wasn’t until massive debt caused the cards to stop working that he realized that God never asked him to do this. Through his candor and honesty, Dan reveals the five steps God showed him to get out of debt: stop spending, create a budget, develop a debt payoff plan, begin … begin saving, and repair bad credit. This led him to becoming a thriving and financially-free ministry. Now, Dan is on a mission to teach this to the world. Using biblical principles, but not relying on miracles or “name-it-and-claim-it” theology, Dan provides easy-to-follow, practical steps that can be used by anyone to escape financial bondage. Finally, he encourages readers to use their financial freedom to help others and advance God’s kingdom, and to use their newfound fiscal wisdom to store up wealth. Without shaming those who struggle financially, 5 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom is the perfect combination of spiritual wisdom and practical advice for those who desperately need it.
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My Penny’s Worth
5 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom is a no-nonsense book that states the facts as they are and thankfully the book is easy to read. It won’t take you long to read it, but the benefits might just save you years of heartache as “debt puts you in bondage.”
Faith and finances are spiritually attracted to each other. Not attached to each other but attracted to each other.
A great quote
I love the quote “Don’t take financial advice from people who are broke. “ It makes sense to seek out what the Greatest Financier has to say on these matters. Moreover, there are references to back this up.
If you want to be debt free then this is a good book to read, and if you have a mentality of “I want it, I’m going to get it” regardless of your finances, then perhaps it is time to fess up and say enough. Don’t have the courage? Then you are not alone as Dan Willis had to learn the hard way too.
Financial freedom and talents
However, there is more to this book than just how to find financial freedom. It also talks about our talents. Yes, those talents that are described in the Bible. Do we bury them or increase their value? Who had theirs taken away from them, are you one of those people?
Thank you, Dan, for writing 5 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom.
*I was given this book for free. No compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.*
I’m sure most of us can relate to the author’s story of watching our credit cards bounce from store to store. Before we have realized it, it stops bouncing and you hear the horrible beep of denial across the loud speaker in the store. Well, maybe not the loud speaker, but it might as well be. I can remember how I was excited to get my first credit card. My husband and I said we will use it for emergencies only. How long did that great plan last? Not very long as more “we are pleased to inform you that you have been pre- approved for a new credit card from ….”
I loved the visual of shredding your credit cards. The author is right. If they are maxed out, you can’t use them anyway. Better to get rid of them and pay them off, then keeping them and paying on them just enough to use again. It must have been so hard for his congregation to take that first step toward the shredder that morning. But what freedom they must have experienced as they knew they would never be using the card again. The enemy’s hold was lessening as their freedom from credit became closer for them.
The scripture, ” The love of money is the root of all evil,” has been misquoted so often. I have heard people say “money is the root of all evil, ” but the scripture specifically says “the love of money.” It sure makes a big difference when you know the correct way to follow the word of God. I get the premise of the book, that we should be debt free, but I don’t like to feel guilty because the only way I could afford a medical procedure was to charge it. We all have choices and sometimes those choices are not agreeable by others. I do pray about our finances and I know what we need to do.
There are times that emergencies come up and a credit card or borrowing money is your only choice. Does it mean I lack faith because I used a credit card? I don’t think I should beat myself up when I have to act quickly during an emergency. There are so many teachings on tithing and I always want to make sure that the words I’m hearing are lining up with the Bible.
I liked when the author said the prayer to lead people to Christ until he put in about tithing during the prayer of salvation. I can’t recommend this book because I found it to be more about tithing and how to have lots of money which seemed important to the author. The author does have a few good points, but I found it difficult to follow his train of thought and the use of some of his examples. The best thing I can say is use your judgement when reading a book such as this and seek God for wisdom in what you should do about finances.
I received a copy of this book from celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Five simple steps to financial freedom
I found this book very interesting and informative. The author tells us how he got out of credit card debt. I kept thinking while reading about how it would help me. At times I wanted to ask the author questions. The book is put in simple words, easy to understand. I do think this book will be helpful for many people.
A lot of the book is based on verses from the Bible. From the Old and New Testament. There is a lot of scripture that relates to our finances. The book is written for Christians so had a lot of good points in the book for Christians. However, the five simple steps is good for everyone to follow.
I received an complementary copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. I was not required to write an positive review just an honest one. This is my own opinion.
WHAT DID I LIKE?
There were some really great “zinger” statements in this book, and it was an easy, inspiring read. I also really like that he calls out using debt for ministry. He describes racking up credit cards for church expenses, and this was totally me. Hello? If God is going to provide, he’ll provide actual resources, not bondage to plastic :). One other thing I loved: the connection that Willis made between living debt free and being used by God to do miraculous things.
WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE :
The chapters themselves provide a good organizational framework, but within each chapter, the author jumps around a bit. It was easy to read (like listening to someone talk), but occasionally hard to follow. There were a few places where Willis used some “churchese” that even I didn’t fully understand.
Also, Willis uses the King James Version for all the Scripture references. This works against the “easy to read” factor. It’s not my preference. And there were a few Bible nerd interpretation things that I had an issue with. WOULD I RECOMMEND 5 SIMPLE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM?
Probably not, for the reasons above, but mostly just because there are better resources that cover the same territory. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not my first choice to recommend for this topic. My first recommendation for this topic is still Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition The Total Money Makeover.