How manifesting made me lose money and how I got out of debt

A few days ago I started a new life of being free of credit card debt. This has only happened once before in my adult life when I received a sum of money that allowed me to pay off my debt. However over the course of one year that debt slowly crept up again. 

It has been a relatively small and manageable debt, but nevertheless I never earned enough to be able to pay it off entirely, and have only done so now due to a financial miracle. 

This time I intend to not let the debt creep up again, and I’m feeling pretty confident that I can do it, though writing this will definitely help me stay accountable! 

What’s different? What gives me this new found confidence? 

I no longer believe in manifesting, or the ‘law of attraction.’ 

To be clear, I do believe that manifesting can work for some, but for me it contributed to bad financial management. And contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually think that being good at manifesting is beneficial. In fact it comes with a huge risk that is not understood by those who practise it. 

The principles of manifesting made my finances worse because I didn’t count the pennies, I focused on believing I was living an abundant life, which often resulted in me spending money I didn’t have. One time I can remember weighing up the benefits of book a hotel or a hostel for a trip away. I opted for the hotel because something I’d read on the law of the attraction encouraged me to think it was bad for my finances to think I needed to be careful with money. 

It’s only in the last two years that I have learnt to be careful with money. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve never been materialistic, I love buying second-hand clothes, and don’t have a fancy car. However, when you aren’t earning a huge amount, spending can easily add up. 

My bad financial planning started when I was a student and I was given an overdraft and a credit card from the bank. Having been bullied and lonely as a child, I had developed a ‘live for today’ attitude as a teenager; drink, drugs, partying. FOMO wasn’t a term back then but it was definitely what drove me to spend money I didn’t have. 

This FOMO continued when I got into spirituality to help with chronic fatigue that was caused by my lifestyle. I was drawn in by the promises of books and courses that would help me manifest the life of my dreams, health and spiritual advancement. With such important spiritual seeking to be done, why should I let something as shallow as finances hold me back?  

Meditation might be free, but we get tempted. There’s always a new book, a new course, another crystal to purchase, and with it is a promise that the ‘next thing’ will be ‘the thing’ that will bring us inner peace. 

I look back and I regret it. So much money spent in looking for the truth in all the wrong places. 

Then one day two years ago I started to get curious about spiritual truth. I’d been listening to psychics and astrologers during the covid lockdown and I started questioning why they all said different things, and sometimes contradicted each other. 

One of the psychics quoted bible verses, and I began to get curious about the Bible. One day I said the Lord’s prayer and felt the presence of God. It felt so different to all the spiritual feelings I’d experienced during practises like yoga and meditation. I instantly knew that the God of the Bible was real, and that he is not the same as what spiritual people sometimes refer to as ‘god consciousness,’ ‘source energy’ or ‘the universe.’ 

Which brings me to manifesting. Manifesting works. The principles are true to some extent, but if you read the Bible you will that God does not operate like a vending machine. God gives us good gifts and meets our needs. God does answer our prayers, and perform the miraculous. I am only free of credit card debt because of a God-given miracle. 

However, what God does not to do is meet our every desire. The Bible says that ‘the heart is deceitful above all things,’ and that actually we need a relationship with God, in order to keep our desires in check. It’s this relationship that stopped me from being tempted to buy courses, and books that I didn’t really need and that were actually full of spiritual lies. 

Manifestation can be effective but I thank God that I was never actually that good at it. Because when manifesting works it is not God that is providing the rewards. In fact, sometimes it could be Satan. When Jesus is baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible says that ‘the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8-9

The Bible describes Satan as ‘the god of this world.’ When we become spiritual seekers outside of a relationship with God, then it may not be God that is providing our needs. Attempting to get something through manipulating the ‘universe,’ it is a form of witchcraft that can open you up to the devil answering desires instead of God. The Bible warns against witchcraft and this manipulation of the spiritual realm because it comes with spiritual risks. 

While we might manifest the money, the new job opportunity, or friend, we might actually have opened up spiritually to demonic oppression. This can look like mental and physical health issues, negative events, a sense of chaos and disorder in our lives, and relationships. 

God has helped me put my finances in order in a way I could never managed by myself. For the last two years I’ve been more careful with money, and have becoming comfortable with saying, ‘’I can’t afford it,’’ without thinking I’m going to jinx my ability to receive money. On the contrary it’s following God that I believe allowed our family to receive a financial blessing. I have also prayed for two years to be free of debt.

We aren’t rich, and we are still just getting by day to day. I don’t mean to imply that God wants to make us all rich, or that everyone who follows Jesus is going to be poor. 

It’s not really about the finances in this life, but where we end up in the afterlife. 

God wants us to know him, to begin a relationship with him. He has a plan put in place for us to come to know him. Miracles are sometimes how he reveals himself. Miracles are one of the ways he calls to unbelievers. 

God is real, not the trappings of religion, but a real, supernatural being. Having a relationship with him is worth so much more than all of the false promises of manifesting and it’s hidden spiritual risks.

For more info check out the resources below

A Case For Christ - Film about a legal journalist who sets out to disprove the Biblical story of Christ after his wife becomes a believer.

Metanoya - Resources For The Christ Curious

New Age To Jesus Testimonies