Many people assume that you can’t do business without debt. But is that God’s way? What do you think God says about debt?

In order to answer that question, let me tell you a story about Jim. Jim was the owner of a machine tool shop that called me one day for advice. You see, Jim had built his business without any debt to that point in time. He was really proud of that.

But on that date, the reason why he was calling was because he had just learned that he had landed a $500,000 contract with a Fortune 500 company. Now, he was really excited to land this contract, but he was also concerned because he realized that the only way that he could fulfill this contract was if he bough a piece of equipment that was going to cost him $250,000.

His question to me was, “I thought I could build this business without any debt, but now I’m not so sure. Is there any way that I might be able to do this without debt?”

As we talked and we prayed about it, I had an idea that came to mind. I asked Jim, “Tell me about your competitors on this bid and on this job that you’ve gotten.” He told me and from the information that I learned it became obvious to me that there was an opportunity there that maybe Jim hadn’t considered.

I said, “You know, Jim? It sounds to me like this company really needs you. They have just one other supplier that’s really been charging them a lot of money for these things in the past. I think you need to go to this Fortune 500 company and tell them that it’s in their best benefit to keep you in the business and to help you in this journey. Ask them if they would give you a 50 percent deposit down on this job. I think then you’ll have the money to actually fund the machines that you need.”

Now Jim laughed at first and he thought I was crazy. He said, “They’re not going to give me a quarter of a million dollars?” I said, “You’ll never know unless you try. But if God’s in this business and He wants you to succeed I think God may have a plan and a way to do that.”

A couple of days later Jim called me back and he was almost giddy with excitement. As he shared with me, he said, “They did it. They actually wrote me a check on the spot for a quarter of a million dollars.” It was a remarkable victory for him.

You see, many people presume on the future whenever they take out debt. We don’t know what the future’s going to bring. Only God does and whenever we take debt on we assume that we have a way and an ability to pay that back, even though we don’t know what God is going to do.

But instead, we need to rely and trust on God and understand that He has ways to fund our business that we may not even understand. Psalm 18:30 teaches, “As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.”

If you’re considering taking on debt in your business, I would encourage you to pray first and ask how God wants to fund your business and then take refuge in Him.