Resonance

Tag: poverty mentality

  • Deliver Us from Poverty

    When Jesus made a profound statement that the poor will always be among us, He was reiterating an idea God had already established in Deuteronomy 15:11. It’s a fallen world, and the law of diminishing returns has the capacity to leave many things impoverished. Lack of money is the lowest form of poverty called material poverty. The power of poverty does more than strip a person of financial gain. Today, let’s see why we all need deliverance from poverty so we can walk in the fulness of His glorious riches.

    We have already discussed spiritual poverty so let’s discuss what poverty does to the soul; our emotions, will and mind.

    Emotional Depravity

    Beyond the physicalities, poverty can greatly decay one’s soul. Our soul is a makeup of our mind, will and emotions in the very least. You may not always identify how poverty incapacitates your soul. Having no money in your pocket should not and does not automatically mean you should be depressed. Immediately you lack, the lack itself is not the problem. It’s the fact that you allowed it to completely override your emotions.

    Once you’re emotionally distressed, you cannot hear God well. You give more room for doubt. Things become harder than it looks too. There were times you had absolutely nothing and you were completely fine. You did much better than the days you had little but were worried. I’m not lying. Never allow anything to steal your joy. If you’re only joyful when things go well, it’s risky. If your emotions rise and fall with the circumstances of life, it’s as though you’re tossed to and fro.

    Let the enemy know that nothing can take your passion away. Nothing can steal your joy. If your emotions are saying otherwise, you choose to believe in God’s Word over your emotions. You’re allowed to be concerned but not allowed to be worried. You’re allowed to be sad but not allowed to be depressed. Don’t let poverty take you on an emotional rollercoaster as though the world has ended. God has come through for you before so have that assurance. Count it all joy when you go through tests and trials. Don’t allow your spirit to be crushed.

    No Willingness

    Poverty attacks your will. How many times have you sat in a conversation where the problems of this world was being discussed? Problems of your nation, your continent, your institution, your family, your community, etc were being discussed and what was the conclusion? Learned hopelessness. It doesn’t cost anything to be hopeful so don’t let poverty take that one from you. People condemn Nigeria by identifying its numerous problems and then conclude that nothing will ever change. Stop sharing ideas and plans with people who are always telling you what you can’t do. You have no idea the things that are possible.

    If you have no willingness to fulfill destiny, don’t be surprised if you don’t. A willing man is more dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. The enemy knows in most cases, they can’t fight you boot for boot. So they deceive and scare you into not being willing anymore. There’s a curse in your family. Are you willing to have a change of story? You are stuck in an addiction. Are you willing to be free? Your marriage is fallen apart. Are you willing to fight for it? Because if you’re not willing, you cannot be helped. You have self-sabotaged your destiny.

    One couple don’t have money and are willing to keep going. Another one divorced because there’s no money. It’s not the circumstances per se; it’s how you approach it. The enemy has been attacking your willingness all this while. He knows that if you give up, it’s easier for him. He is trying very hard to make you unwilling. No situation is impossible. There’s absolutely nothing in this world that someone hasn’t survived. Be willing to fight the good fight of faith. Be willing to reconcile with your spouse any time there’s a misunderstanding. Have the willingness to wake up everyday and show up at the arena of your destiny, even if your little actions today are not showing any signs of fruition. A willing man is a winning man!

    Scarcity Mindset

    It’s not a good thing to be poor for a long time. It changes your mindset so quickly. You view yourself as a victim. Anything can happen to you at will, and you accept it as your reality. You’re unable to think long-term because you’re trapped in a short-term survival disposition. You cannot thrive if you’re always trying to survive. You’ll think this victim mentality will make you humble but no, it will make you entitled. Anyone who can help you (which is everyone else except you) is looked upon with contempt. Scarcity mindset will make you think that someone’s success means you have failed.

    If the enemy comes to take something from you, you don’t fight him. You rather thank God that at least he didn’t take everything. If your boss cheats you and decides to cut your salary in half without any pre-arrangements, you accept it as God’s Will and thank God because some people work hard and aren’t paid. It sounds humble but it’s not. How about those who are favoured and didn’t work for what they were given? If you keep comparing yourself with someone worse than you, you’ll keep getting worse off. Poverty will cause you to settle for less and still complain that there’s never enough.

    Don’t walk through life as a victim. You are more than a conqueror. You’re not immune from the vicissitudes of life, yes. Things will get hard sometimes. Life could be tough. You’ll lose on some days. Good people will die, and some wicked people will never be punished. You’ll be broke sometimes but don’t be poor. Have a rich mindset although you have an empty account. Be willing although it looks like there’s no way out. Be anxious for nothing. Anxiety has never solved any problem you’ve ever had so stop confusing being concerned with being worried.

    If your soul cannot be wearied by poverty, you have already stepped into the abundant life reality.

  • Exposing the Decadence of Poverty

    Poverty is the lack of any good thing, the depravity to not attain it and the ignorance not to detect your need for it. Ignorance itself is a lack of knowledge, a form of poverty. Poverty takes many forms. Personally, the worst form of it is having something good in abundance and not benefitting or seeing the need for it. Do you understand how complicated that is? You can have something in abundance and not see its relevance until you lose it.

    See, once you identify the extent of poverty, you’ll hate it completely. In no way should we embrace or defend any form of poverty. One of the systems of the world is poverty. It’s a weapon fashioned to cause many to fail and fall. Because we live in a fallen world, limitations are everywhere. There’s always a problem, a need, a lack. There seem to be endless possibilities of evil but limited definitions of good. Thus, the spirit of poverty is a tangible part of the systems of this world. You cannot go through the vicissitudes of life without encountering poverty.

    The Spirit of Poverty

    Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus became poor so that we can become rich. There are several dimensions of poverty and the most serious of them all is spiritual poverty. We were created to be rich towards God. We were made to have a rich relationship with God. Once we take God out of our lives, we are like fish outside water. God spoke to the earth to produce trees, the skies to produce birds, the sea to produce fish and Himself to create humans. God is our national habitat. Outside of God, we step into depravity.

    In Isaiah 61, we see that the Messiah came to bring the Gospel to the poor. In God, we have all sufficiency in all things. In God, we lack no good thing. Immediately sin came into the picture, poverty became an environment. Thus, poverty has a spiritual component to it. God does not have need of anything. He is All-sufficient. That is the aseity of God. If you don’t realize your need for Him, you’re the poorest amongst all. If this kind of poverty is not what you want to first get rid of, you have no business reading on.

    In Psalm 69:22-23, David prophetically prayed a deadly prayer against the wicked; the material prosperity and good health of the wicked should cause their eyes to be blind towards their need for God. The end goal of this life is to be extremely rich towards God. We need to break free from anything that seeks to deprive us of God, even if it includes good things. The enemy does not mind if you prosper as long as you don’t prosper in this area. Prosperity in every other area apart from this is meaningless.

    The Mindset of Poverty

    Poverty is not only spiritual, it is mental. There’s a mental component to it. If someone has lived in poverty for so long, giving them a lot of money will not solve anything. Poor people are quick to ask for money when they meet rich people. Remember this when you become wealthy; philanthropy does not solve the problem of poverty. Jesus Himself said that the poor will always be among us. It’s a mindset. Give them everything physical and they will still remain poor. Poverty has a technology of turning gold into dust.

    If you want to bring someone out of poverty, it’s best you train their minds early on. Education is one of the cures of poverty. That’s why wealthy people will rather build a school in their village than to distribute cash.  However, don’t ever be discouraged from helping the poor and needy in society. It’s one of the things written all over Scriptures, and it pleases God. That notwithstanding, if it’s your motive to bring them out of poverty, tackle the roots and not the fruits. Otherwise, it becomes a sinkhole for your wealth. The mindset of poverty is so strong that you don’t realize how normalized it is.

    When some poor people become rich, it shows. They lack discipline. Money controls them and amplifies their weaknesses. They don’t see money as a tool. They see it as a god. They scramble for things they never had, enjoy the pleasures of sin they couldn’t afford and make mistakes they cannot repay. Then they are back to square one. This has happened to many NBA players. They grew up poor and ended up poor after retirement. You cannot have more money than your level of wisdom and financial literacy. You cannot be richer than your mindset. Eventually, your finances fall back to the level of your thinking.

    The Effects of Poverty

    One time I looked round at my environment, and I saw so much filth. In the midst of the filth were all kinds of food sellers. Filth is normalized in our minds because of poverty. Mediocrity is accepted in our workplaces because of poverty. Office workers can compress all their work done into one hour, and yet, they were on their phones for five. No one can complain about their work ethic because the money being paid them is not even enough. As long as artisans are paid, they don’t mind doing a mediocre job. Motivation rises and falls with money. This is all the doing of poverty.

    Tell me why you save your meat until you’re done eating? Why are you not taking good care of yourself? Because you can’t afford to. Poverty. If the only thing that is stopping you from doing something you know you should do is money, it’s the mindset of poverty that’s affecting you. In our world today, we think the only reason why we go to work is because of money. Meanwhile, it has not always been so. When I wrote why the world system is all about money, I explained how the world has changed because of that. See, if someone can afford your release clause (this is a football term), they can get you to do whatever they want. Why? Poverty mindset. Don’t have a release clause!

    Ghana is not a lawless country. Africa is not an orderless continent. The inability to enforce law and order is as a result of this same decadence. The police department is not paid well, so just an extra tip can cause them to overlook all sorts of offence. They have families to feed, remember? Everyone wants to become a politician, not because they have the country at heart, but it brings them closer to the national cake. The people complaining can be silenced by a few dollars, and those still making noise are doing so because they are not benefitting from the corruption. Corruption exists because of poverty, be it material or moral poverty.

    The Weapon of Poverty

    The ups and downs of life are many times manipulated by poverty and mammon. If money can change your theology, then poverty shaped your upbringing. The system can be designed to make the standard of living better for everyone, theoretically. It’s all a matter of distribution, and we have talked extensively about Kingdom distribution. Practically, the system is designed to keep masses poor because poverty makes one a slave. One of the few ways to rule over a fellow human is to make them poor. Once they are dependent on you, they are enslaved to the very system destroying them. A society where everyone is financially independent is difficult to manipulate. So poverty is used as a weapon by the elite to control the masses.

    As long as Africa remains poor, there are many who benefit. Africa is not poor by accident. It’s by design. Many corporations and international institutions benefit from our poverty, and make sure our system is designed to keep us poor. All the humanitarian aids they lend to us is meant to destroy our industries and keep us dependent. When leaders who challenge the system come on the scene, their associates are still manipulated by extravagant amounts of money so they can destroy the system from within. This has happened countless times. Poverty is a weapon fashioned against Africa. We are not financially free as a country. We are not economically free as a continent. Our political freedom is therefore a mirage. Such a paradox; rich in natural resources, poor everywhere it matters.

    If the only reason why you’re committing a sin is because you lack money, that’s the poverty system working against you. Single people sleep with married people and they know it’s wrong. They are not even enjoying themselves. It’s money they need. The systems of the world can make you a slave because of poverty. Release clause have caused girls to off pant. If not for poverty, why will you ever accept something from a stranger? Poverty sets people up for greed. Poverty fuels a lot of envy. Our efforts to avoid one sin causes to justify another sin. The love of money is birthed in many because they tasted poverty and swore to make it by hook or crook. Therefore, they became crooks.

    Why will you spend all your life doing a work you hate, and is known to destroy people’s health before they reach retirement? To escape poverty. Anything that puts one in survival mode will cause them to think about today at the expense of their tomorrow. There’s a poverty you can taste and selling your soul to the devil becomes a valid temptation. Do you think it’s normal to sacrifice your loved one for money? Poverty is a weapon fashioned against your destiny. It coerces people to make many wrong choices because they were trying to avoid many wrong choices.

    So you see? Poverty is one of the underlying causes of many sins. What is enjoyable about sleeping with a man old enough to be your grandfather, if not for poverty? That man will rather marry a woman from a rich family and think that by that choice, they have escaped the hard life of poverty. The reason why money has so much power in our world today is because of poverty. Money is man-made, remember? Poverty has indeed become the sole reason for critical decisions of life; it’s determining what courses children should do, who they marry, where they stay etc. all in an effort to escape the decadence of poverty.

    We have more to discuss for the whole month of May…
    The habits of poverty
    The control of poverty
    Moral poverty
    Emotional depravity
    Lack of will & willingness
    The victim and slavery mentality