Debt Cancelled
Toni Pugh Ministries
A Missing Account
SNAPPING my fingers in disappointment, I busily searched for my phone. Shucks! I had received notification that I missed a bill payment by one day. It was nearly midnight, so I had to wait until morning to address the overdue payment — a situation I was familiar with.
The next morning, I picked up my bill as a customer service representative answered the phone. Explaining my situation, I requested a courtesy late fee waiver. The 12-month zero-interest offer had expired, and I owed $8,300.00 on the card. Much like Tarzan swinging from one vine to another, I had been transferring debts to these special offers for decades.The representative apologized for the late payment, but I reassured her that it was not necessary. The late payment was solely my fault. After I provided my name and account number, there was a brief pause before she asked, “Could you please repeat that number?” I repeated the account number slowly. She responded, “I cannot find that account number in the system.” Feeling a flutter of butterflies in my stomach, I ended the call and contemplated the situation. Hmmm. Was it a mistake, poor customer service, or a miracle? Hours later, I called another representative, who apologetically said, “I’m sorry, no account with that number exists, sir.” I was dumbfounded. Shocked. Pumped. Mystified. Had I really received a miracle? After I informed my family, they advised me to obtain my credit report before testifying. Within seven days, I received reports from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. After carefully reviewing multiple pages of lifetime credit, I found that none of them listed this particular creditor.
The Black Hole
God intervened and wiped out $8,300.00 at a 23% interest rate, which would have resulted in a monthly payment of $195.00, with $165.00 of it going toward interest. A $39.00 late payment fee had been assessed, and if only the minimum payment were made, it would take 22 years to pay off the balance at an estimated total cost of $18,104.00. Debt is an absolute black hole for the consumer.
I went to my banker with a hypothetical scenario and received some stunning information. Let’s say you have $10,000 in a savings account at an American bank. The average rate in 2023 on that amount was a paltry 0.07% — which yields about $0.59 in interest per month, or a little over $7.00 a year. Time to party! Contrariwise, say you had another $10,000 on a credit card at a 23% interest rate. The monthly payment would be $230.00, with approximately $192.00 of it going toward the interest. How absurd is that? You are making no financial strides; you are backpedaling into financial ruin. Between mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and other types of loans, total American household debt as of the third quarter of 2023 was a whopping $17.29 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Borrower Is Servant to the Lender
The Bible has plenty to say about financial transactions on earth, but one statement in particular stands out: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). Some translations substitute the word slave for the word servant. We place ourselves in a type of economic slavery every time we borrow without the intention of paying off the debt immediately, or without a long-term plan to get out of it, such as a mortgage. In fact, the word mortgage is derived from two Old French words: mort (death) and gage (pledge). A mortgage is a pledge of death. Below is a website that provides strategies for paying off a mortgage early: •Why You Should Pay Off Your Mortgage Early — Ramsey Solutions
A Widow and a Pot of Oil
A story in II Kings 4:1–7 reaffirms my point. A widow whose husband had been a member of the sons of the prophets — a prophetic company established by Samuel —was left in debt, and now the creditor had come to take her two sons as payment. Though lawful in that day, this cruel act would have left her helpless. Crying out to the prophet Elisha, she received a supernatural miracle of multiplication that allowed her to pay off her creditor and rescue her sons. Debt is bondage. Debt is a monster, and we should avoid it whenever possible.
What He Did with My Balance
After receiving my miracle of debt cancellation, I shouted, testified, and felt like running even though no one was chasing me. It took several days before I could settle down and give God the type of worship that He deserves. David said it this way: “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD” (Psalm 116:12–13). During this quiet time, God gave me a mind-blowing revelation. He said that what He did with my credit card balance is what He does with our sins — cancel them completely. Our sins, failures, evil habits, and past mistakes no longer exist, just like that account. One drop of blood conquers everything! Jesus really does pay it all.The beautiful thing is that God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). What He does for one, He will do for another. Believe God and expect your miracle today — beginning with the miracle of salvation. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:13–14).
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