Poverty is a mindset

Sabertooth

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What do they mean when people say that poverty is first how people think.
There are two main types of financial poverty,
  1. Objective, where the numbers confirm such a declaration, and
  2. Subjective, where one is poorer than they want to be but could still make ends meet, if they got their priorities straight.
#2 happens when people pay for luxuries/habits that they really can't afford.
 
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public hermit

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I don't know. It depends on who's saying it. I'm not going to pay much credence to someone who, with a full belly, tells me, "Poverty is just a mindset." Even people who know what it's like to be flat broke can forget, over time, just how bad it can be. What they mean in saying that might not correspond to the reality.

Would someone who is truly starving and in want say, "Poverty is just a mindset?" I don't know. Maybe. Whatever the case, if they did say that, they couldn't mean by simply changing their mind they would no longer be hungry or in want. Their mind can't abrogate the fact (can it?). So, I don't know what it's supposed to mean.
 
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Porpoise

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I've been mostly poor for years but I've never really felt poor, in a way. I don't feel like I need a lot. Happiness doesn't come from money, and neither does safety. I think a person can be wealthy materially, but not be truly rich, and someone can be poor materially, but feel as if they had everything they could want.
 
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TheGreatTribulation

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I've been mostly poor for years but I've never really felt poor, in a way. I don't feel like I need a lot. Happiness doesn't come from money, and neither does safety. I think a person can be wealthy materially, but not be truly rich, and someone can be poor materially, but feel as if they had everything they could want.

I am miserable poor. I cannot stop lusting for riches.
 
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Sabertooth

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I am miserable poor. I cannot stop lusting for riches.
I am semi-retired.

Numerically, I am still poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but I am happy that I can make ends meet. Anything else is just gravy.

And I have a credit score of 800 (15 years after a bankruptcy). That kind of success comes from deliberate resource management, following His leading AND God blessing those efforts.
 
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TheGreatTribulation

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I am semi-retired.

Numerically, I am still poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but I am happy that I can make ends meet. Anything else is just gravy.

And I have a credit score of 800 (15 years after a bankruptcy). That kind of success comes from deliberate resource management, following His leading AND God blessing those efforts.

My credit is destroyed and I have 3500 in collections. I hate being poor I am miserable. I have tried so hard to get rich but God is not blessing me.
 
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TheGreatTribulation

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That might be your first problem. There's a reason coveting is a sin...

Yes I know but I cannot help it. I am miserable poor. There are so many things I want that I don’t have. I’ve tried to be content but it’s not working.
 
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Sabertooth

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I have tried so hard to get rich but God is not blessing me.
Jesus said,
No one can serve two masters;
  • for either he will hate the one and love the other,
  • or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and [Riches]." Matthew 6:24 NKJV

and
Therefore do not worry, saying,
  • ‘What shall we eat?’ or
  • ‘What shall we drink?’ or
  • ‘What shall we wear?’
For after all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.
" Matthew 6:31-33 NKJV
 
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TheGreatTribulation

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Jesus said,
No one can serve two masters;
  • for either he will hate the one and love the other,
  • or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and [Riches]." Matthew 6:24 NKJV

and
Therefore do not worry, saying,
  • ‘What shall we eat?’ or
  • ‘What shall we drink?’ or
  • ‘What shall we wear?’
For after all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.
" Matthew 6:31-33 NKJV

I do seek first the kingdom and serve Jesus above all but I still feel that God is not blessing me with my needs.

Thank you for the scripture you are sharing.
 
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Sabertooth

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My credit is destroyed and I have 3500 in collections. I hate being poor I am miserable. I have tried so hard to get rich but God is not blessing me.

Before my husband was laid off we lived okay, between my disability and his income we didn't have a lot but we certainly had a roof over our heads and all our actual needs met, even had extra to pay for cellphones and internet/cable (not that either of those two things were necessary). We had a household income and we lived within that income, finding the ability to give in charity and to the church as well.

There was a couple who worked with my husband who were younger, but between them both working they actually made more than my husband and I, as I'm disabled and am unable to work. Mind you, this couple didn't have children, it was just them in the home.

They constantly struggled to make ends meet, were constantly broke and never had extra money in their pocket come payday... so once they asked my husband how we managed to have so much on our income, when they seemed to have so little.

And my husband's point blank answer was live within your means. We had a single used car with no car payments. Our cellphones weren't the latest and greatest etc. We looked at what we had to live on, and contented ourselves with what we could actually afford, instead of trying to keep up with trends or the jones'..

If all you can afford to eat is beans, then you eat beans, and give thanks for that..

If a car payment is straining your finances buy an older used car and learn how to do your own minor repairs instead.. our only vehicle is 20 years old...

If you can't afford an internet service then don't have one... libraries do, just go to the library if you need to avail yourself of such services for free..

Excessive debt for the unnecessary is unnecessary... you find that many of the things you need, aren't real needs at all
 
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faroukfarouk

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Before my husband was laid off we lived okay, between my disability and his income we didn't have a lot but we certainly had a roof over our heads and all our actual needs met, even had extra to pay for cellphones and internet/cable (not that either of those two things were necessary). We had a household income and we lived within that income, finding the ability to give in charity and to the church as well.

There was a couple who worked with my husband who were younger, but between them both working they actually made more than my husband and I, as I'm disabled and am unable to work. Mind you, this couple didn't have children, it was just them in the home.

They constantly struggled to make ends meet, were constantly broke and never had extra money in their pocket come payday... so once they asked my husband how we managed to have so much on our income, when they seemed to have so little.

And my husband's point blank answer was live within your means. We had a single used car with no car payments. Our cellphones weren't the latest and greatest etc. We looked at what we had to live on, and contented ourselves with what we could actually afford, instead of trying to keep up with trends or the jones'..

If all you can afford to eat is beans, then you eat beans, and give thanks for that..

If a car payment is straining your finances buy an older used car and learn how to do your own minor repairs instead.. our only vehicle is 20 years old...

If you can't afford an internet service then don't have one... libraries do, just go to the library if you need to avail yourself of such services for free..

Excessive debt for the unnecessary is unnecessary... you find that many of the things you need, aren't real needs at all
I can remember going hungry - decades back - but the Lord always provided me with enough; one's needs if not one's wants. (It probably did wonders for one's weight having to go a bit hungry for a while also...)
 
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TheGreatTribulation

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Before my husband was laid off we lived okay, between my disability and his income we didn't have a lot but we certainly had a roof over our heads and all our actual needs met, even had extra to pay for cellphones and internet/cable (not that either of those two things were necessary). We had a household income and we lived within that income, finding the ability to give in charity and to the church as well.

There was a couple who worked with my husband who were younger, but between them both working they actually made more than my husband and I, as I'm disabled and am unable to work. Mind you, this couple didn't have children, it was just them in the home.

They constantly struggled to make ends meet, were constantly broke and never had extra money in their pocket come payday... so once they asked my husband how we managed to have so much on our income, when they seemed to have so little.

And my husband's point blank answer was live within your means. We had a single used car with no car payments. Our cellphones weren't the latest and greatest etc. We looked at what we had to live on, and contented ourselves with what we could actually afford, instead of trying to keep up with trends or the jones'..

If all you can afford to eat is beans, then you eat beans, and give thanks for that..

If a car payment is straining your finances buy an older used car and learn how to do your own minor repairs instead.. our only vehicle is 20 years old...

If you can't afford an internet service then don't have one... libraries do, just go to the library if you need to avail yourself of such services for free..

Excessive debt for the unnecessary is unnecessary... you find that many of the things you need, aren't real needs at all

I try to keep my bills very low. But I am still not rich. I do try to live within my means but that doesn’t mean that God is blessing me financially.
 
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faroukfarouk

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In principle, the tithe I would see as an Old Testament obligation rather than in the New Testament; it was linked with Levites, of which there are none today. Now it may be that a person is motivated to give freewill offerings of more than one tenth. But this is distinct from the Levitical obligation under the Old Testament.
 
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