Poverty is a mindset

[Sabertooth]

I don’t do the math and calculate it out to 10% but I think that I actually may be giving more than that.

Your answer sounds haphazard. Going into bankruptcy we were running our finances from a single joint account. We quickly lost track of our assets and our debt spun wildly out of control.

After the bankruptcy, we adopted a variation of the Envelope accounting system. (We were already tithing.) Our finances continued to improve from there.

 

[Sabertooth]

It probably did wonders for one's weight having to go a bit hungry for a while also...

"I know how to [live humbly],
and I know how to [live in prosperity].

Everywhere and in all things I have learned
both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:12-13 NKJV

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

Your answer sounds haphazard. Going into bankruptcy we were running our finances from a single joint account. We quickly lost track of our assets and our debt spun wildly out of control.

After the bankruptcy, we adopted a variation of the Envelope accounting system. (We were already tithing.) Our finances continued to improve from there.

Well I don’t have a lot of income and I give as much money as I can. I tithe to the Church and I also donate to the homeless and nonprofit organizations even though I don’t have much myself.

 

[faroukfarouk]

"I know how to [live humbly],
and I know how to [live in prosperity].

Everywhere and in all things I have learned
both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:12-13 NKJV

Excellent and relevant passage; thank-you!

 

[Hazelelponi]

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.

God doesn't have to bless you financially..

If you want something of your finances to change then you have to change. Work two jobs if you want more, pick up all the over time you can..

Do you think my husband and I felt "blessed financially" when he was stuck walking to work in an ice and snow storm?

Do you think we felt blessed by God when once again our old car was once more broken and needing repairs?

Do you think we felt particularly blessed when I was sleeping in the hospital room on a cot or a chair (instead of a hotel room) so I could be with my daughter as she was dying of cancer far from our home?

Blessed by God is not how you "feel", God owes you nothing. If you want something more than what you have, you have to work for it..

 

[Mark Quayle]

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.

What do you do call people who can't afford what they want, but they are warm and fat? In some countries that is rich.

 

[Sabertooth]

Well I don’t have a lot of income and I give as much money as I can. I tithe to the Church and I also donate to the homeless and nonprofit organizations even though I don’t have much myself.

Tithing is 10% off the top of your income to your church for its running expenses. Everything else is "giving" (which is good when you can afford to do so).

If you are a Born-Again Christian, God promises to bless your remaining 90% to go farther if you tithe [Malachi 3:10-11].

I can testify that He has done so for us.

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

God doesn't have to bless you financially..

If you want something of your finances to change then you have to change. Work two jobs if you want more, pick up all the over time you can..

Do you think my husband and I felt "blessed financially" when he was stuck walking to work in an ice and snow storm?

Do you think we felt blessed by God when once again our old car was once more broken and needing repairs?

Do you think we felt particularly blessed when I was sleeping in the hospital room on a cot or a chair (instead of a hotel room) so I could be with my daughter as she was dying of cancer?

Blessed by God is not how you "feel", God owes you nothing. If you want something more than what you have, you have to work for it..

I have been working for it. I have been working hard for years. I have been trying to start my own business but it is not profitable and I have to do everything on my own because I cannot find a wife for support.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I have been working for it. I have been working hard for years. I have been trying to start my own business but it is not profitable and I have to do everything on my own because I cannot find a wife for support.

Learn how to be content with what you have, there's a lesson in it.

You follow a Jesus who didn't have a home and slept in parks when there wasn't a couch to crash on... think about it.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I think it’s wrong. Poverty is not a mindset. The rich are hoarding all their money and not sharing with anyone. That’s what creates poverty.

The rich "hoarding their money" are not to blame for someone else's poverty. It is their money to do with as they wish, just as is your money to do with as you wish. It does not belong to the government nor to your poorer-than-you neighbor. And generosity on the part of the rich doesn't make the poor no longer poor.

BTW, I've never gotten a paying job from a poor man.

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

Tithing is 10% off the top of your income to your church for its running expenses. Everything else is "giving" (which is good when you can afford to do so).

If you are a Born-Again Christian, God promises to bless your remaining 90% to go farther if you tithe [Malachi 3:10-11].

I can testify that He has done so for us.

Yes thanks for sharing I am somewhat aware of those principles. But I feel like God has put a strong desire in me to be rich. I honestly believe that he is telling me that I’m going to be extremely wealthy someday. But it’s making me angry because it’s not happening. I’m trying to trust in God’s plan for me but it’s hard when I’m suffering. Doesn’t the scripture say that God will give you the desire of your heart?

 

[faroukfarouk]

Do you tithe?

No; see post #20.

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

The rich "hoarding their money" are not to blame for someone else's poverty. It is their money to do with as they wish, just as is your money to do with as you wish. It does not belong to the government nor to your poorer-than-you neighbor. And generosity on the part of the rich doesn't make the poor no longer poor.

BTW, I've never gotten a paying job from a poor man.

Haven’t you ever read the story of the rich man and Lazarus. When the rich stand before Jesus Christ they are going to be held accountable for what they’ve done. If they’ve been greedy money hoarders they will be judged severely.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Yes thanks for sharing I am somewhat aware of those principles. But I feel like God has put a strong desire in me to be rich. I honestly believe that he is telling me that I’m going to be extremely wealthy someday. But it’s making me angry because it’s not happening. I’m trying to trust in God’s plan for me but it’s hard when I’m suffering. Doesn’t the scripture say that God will give you the desire of your heart?

This life is not for this life. A strong desire to be rich is a trap.

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

Learn how to be content with what you have, there's a lesson in it.

You follow a Jesus who didn't have a home and slept in parks when there wasn't a couch to crash on... think about it.

Yes I know that you are right. I am trying to be content but it isn’t working. I feel like God keeps telling me that I need to get money so I can help more people.

 

[public hermit]

What do you do call people who can't afford what they want, but they are warm and fat? In some countries that is rich.

Is that what that means?

"Poverty is a mindset" def. = people who can't afford what they want, but they are warm and fat

Okay, but as you point out that is not true poverty. It is rich, compared to some, but it is also not being hungry and in need. If that is what it means, then "poverty is a mindset" does not refer to true poverty, but simply not having all you want.

 

[Sabertooth]

Doesn’t the scripture say that God will give you the desire of your heart?

He told Israel's son Joseph that he would be ruling one day, too, but He took an counter-intuitive route to do so.

If it is God, He will do so as you honor Him, not by striking out on your own wisdom.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

This life is not for this life. A strong desire to be rich is a trap.

Then why do I feel like God is putting this desire in me. I have prayed that it would go away but something inside me keeps telling me that I need to get money. I strongly feel like the Holy Spirit is telling me to get rich so I can help people.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Haven’t you ever read the story of the rich man and Lazarus. When the rich stand before Jesus Christ they are going to be held accountable for what they’ve done. If they’ve been greedy money hoarders they will be judged severely.

I don't say the rich don't have to answer for what they do (as is also true for the poor), and I personally think that if my "brother" (neighbor, friend, stranger even) has need of something I have, shame on me for not sharing it, but it is not the cause of the poverty of the poor; I do say that what belongs to the rich applies the same as it does to the poor --what is theirs is theirs.

 

[TheGreatTribulation]

He told Israel's son Joseph that he would be ruling one day, too, but He took an counter-intuitive route to do so.

If it is God, He will do so as you honor Him, not by striking out on your own wisdom.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

Thank you for what you said about Joseph. There was a lot of wisdom in that. Even though it’s hard for me I will try harder to trust in God’s plan. God bless you and thank you for the insight.