In my meditation this morning, I was praying along the lines of understanding what constitutes poverty. One of the best definitions I have ever heard comes from Graham Cooke. He says that poverty is living with meager possibilities. I expanded on the definition a bit however, because when we think about our possibilities, often times we don’t consider how unlimited our potential is because we think about what WE can accomplish.
The kingdom of God is based on our ability to understand God’s yearning for partnership with us. He wants to build a relationship and expand our possibilities. He wants to show us what his capacity and our input working in harmony looks like.
That kind of interaction between two parties is born out of faith. Not only does it stemmed from our faith in God but it really flows from gods faith in us. He believes in us. He believes in our potential. He believes in our possibilities. His goal is to help us believe not only in him but in ourselves. He wants to put our lives into the category of all things.
Genesis 24:1 (NKJV)
Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Overcoming a poverty mindset is realizing that God wants to bless us in all things. That means he wants to prosper us in every aspect of our lives. Paul said it best when he said above all things I want you to prosper and be in health to the same degree that your soul prospers.
1 Chronicles 29:14 (NKJV)
But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You.
Overcoming a poverty mindset stems from our ability to realize that everything comes from God. Often I hear people say tithing comes from the old testament. It does. Actually however, tithing proceeded the old testament. And in fact, today, God’s abundance towards us stems from our understanding that everything belongs to God. It is all his including us.
Psalm 8:6 (NKJV)
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
Overcoming a poverty spirit means realizing that we have Dominion in the earth realm. That means, somethings will never happen if we don’t do them. Dominion is a signed responsibility. To the degree that we know our responsibility, and walk in the authority that we have been given we can overcome much poverty. Because poverty is one of the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. And he has given us the same assignment.
Psalm 57:2 (NKJV)
I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.
Overcoming a poverty spirit means realizing that God performs or works on our behalf. But it doesn’t stop there. God works for us, in us, and through us. His ultimate goal is to train us to walk in the same authority that he walks in. He wants us to love the same way he loves. He wants us to perform the same way he performs.
Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Overcoming a poverty spirit means that we must pursue the kingdom of God and God’s way of making things right. In doing so, whatever we need is added to the infrastructure of our lives. Here’s the clincher, we are the ones who recognize the things that need to be made right. We are also the ones responsible for exercising authority to make them right. It is a part of our partnership with God.
Mark 9:23 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
At the end of it all, overcoming a poverty spirit means recognizing everything stems from what we believe to be true. The law of belief says, whatever we believe to be true, whether it is true or not, if we believe it, to us, it becomes the truth.
To truly move beyond poverty, our intern realities have to be rooted in the truth of the Gospel. Our paradigms have to be converted into paradoxes. The paradigm is seeing things one dimensionally. A paradox allows us to see contradictions. As we recognize those contradictions, we can use our faith to counter act them. It is our beliefs that give us permission to see beyond our own experience, knowledge and values into the spirit realm and to bring those things that don’t exist in this realm from the spirit into our natural space. In a nutshell that is how poverty is defeated. It is releasing the will of God on earth — through us as we manifest what exist in heaven.