Have The Right Mentality

Have The Right Mentality – Part 1

Have The Right Mentality

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“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” – Prov. 23:7 KJV

Although the scripture above relates to avoiding the desire or eating of the food of someone whose thoughts are evil, there is no doubt that it can be a foundation for concluding that the thoughts of someone will determine what such will become. Jesus Christ had also weighed in on this when he said a man speaks from the abundance of his thoughts – Matt. 12:34. An individual’s thoughts will ultimately decide what such a person will do just as what an individual does will also determine what the individual will become. This article attempts to focus on the thoughts of a man in relation to poverty.

Poverty is the noun that describes a state of being poor. The word is mostly used with regards to lack of financial capability required to meet the needs of an individual and thus leaving a huge achievement deficit. This eventually leads to a below standard life style. It however has a wider meaning as poverty will generally apply to a deficit in quality required to meet a specific standard, necessary to achieve a specific goal. It will imply that a millionaire could still be regarded as poor if all the funds available to him/her is insufficient to meet immediate needs. It would also be the same if someone’s thinking falls short of the required level to get out of a situation. A substandard product will also be described as being poor in quality.

The word mentality on its own will mean a characteristic way of thinking by an individual or group. In the context of this article, someone can be said to carry a “poverty mentality” when the particular individual carries a thinking of lacking the ability to do something. “Thinking” remains an abstract process and until it is either confirmed to be the reality or it is brought into existence, it will remain only a thought process and no more.
Poverty is however a real state of someone and unless it is confirmed to be so, it will be wrong and negative for anyone to carry such mentality and live in it.

One can carry a mental picture of what one wants to become so as to help motivate one in life but it is not proper to live dreams like real life as the fallout of such will be negative also but being poor should not be a dream for anyone to dwell in either.

An individual who carries a poverty mentality believes he does not have something and as earlier stated, that may not be the reality. Statements like “I cannot…”, “it is not possible”, “I do not have such ability” and similar negatives characterise the pronouncements of one with poverty mentality. All these are statements that clearly depict the personality residing in the individual with regards to his/her belief even though there may be no proof to support such. Most times these and similar pronouncements are made when the individual has not even made an effort in any way. The person believes these statements when there is no record of ever trying and failing and even if there is such a record, he/she refuses to see it holistically as part of the requirements for success in that particular area of life.

The phrase will be better understood if a specific area of life can be used as an example and what better area than the financial aspect of man. Financial poverty in the life of most people is not because they cannot be rich but because they have accepted to be poor. God did not create anyone poor as he is a merciful God. Circumstances of birth, growth and development may have played its role in developing the thoughts of a man but that is not enough reason to fall into that pit of negative belief. No matter what you may have faced in life, your main focus should be the promise of God for your life. God is definitely not happy with your poverty situation but there is nothing He can do about it if you have decided to lock yourself down in your negative thoughts. The ability to overcome all adverse situations is inherent in the Christian and remains the decision of the individual to release it else, it will remain there whilst the person will be wallowing in abject poverty.

A reference case will be that of Lazarus in the scripture. In a story that seemed more like a report than parable it revealed a man who was so poor that he had chronic sores that dogs were licking yet, he was considered righteous enough to occupy the bosom of Abraham after his demise. His poverty state was definitely not the design of God because his spiritual state was sufficient platform that could have been used by him to escape poverty but the bible reports that he longed for crumbs from the rich man’s table – Lk. 16:19-31. He was only tied down by his mentality that the crumbs were the best he could get and the rich man was the only source so he was willing to go through the humiliation at that gate on a daily basis and he was never disappointed. That is in contrast to the Canaanite woman and her child both of whom Jesus compared to a dog but she refused such a tag and decided to bring out the positive of her situation. She ended up making up the deficit in her life by getting what she wanted – Matt. 15:22-28. In both cases, it was a case of the mentality that they carry.

To be continued next week but you can download the full article from our website: www.crossandcrownchristianministry.org
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Have The Right Mentality – Part 2

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” – Prov. 23:7 KJV

It is not about the circumstance of your growth and development but about your mentality.
Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31) with poverty mentality accepted the situation he found himself in as his destiny and took to begging even when the capacity to turn things around was inherent in him but the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:22-28) who had the right mentality rejected a situation wrongly classifying her as unsuitable to have her desire by remaining focussed on the solution and the way out of that situation. You cannot turn yourself into a beggar in life and claim that is the plan or wish of God for your life. Then there is definitely a problem between you and the Almighty God that needs to be resolved if indeed that is His Plan for your life else, you are just carrying a poverty mentality. Do not let Satan deceive you that what you are asking for is help when you spend every opportunity targeting people you think have more than you with expectations of financial aid. It is purely begging. Help is a request for support on an effort that the individual has already started or can start, but cannot complete on his/her own and requires a one-off request. Begging is a complete contrast as the individual relies regularly on that support although it may be from different sources at each point. Aside from that being a wrong way to have live, it is an habit that does not project the individual as a Prince or Princess of the Most High which is what a Christian is.

The life of one with poverty mentality is a miserable life with no ambition beyond day-to-day survival. It is a completely low life similar to that lived by the Prodigal son in the book of Luke (Lk. 15:11-32) and the Christian must avoid it by all means because that is not part of God’s plan for anyone. Poverty mentality even makes someone who finds him/her self in wealth continue to live and justify the life of a failure and poor person, and of course, such a person will eventually become a failure. The following points although not in any way exhaustive will suggest ways to avoid poverty mentality and its fallouts.
a. Know who you are. The journey out of poverty begins with knowing who you are. The prodigal son was the son of a very rich man – Lk. 15:11-24. Indeed, he had misbehaved and was separated from his father, but his father was not separated in thoughts from him. He continued to believe that the best solution to his life was to accept his situation as his destiny but he was wrong. His mentality was what was tying him down to poverty. The King James’ version of the Bible uses the phrase “when he came to himself”. That can be read to mean when he discovered himself. Your start point in getting out of that poverty mentality is to know who you are, who your father is and how much he loves you and wants you to enjoy good life. You need to remember how the least person with him is living a comfortable life to be able to realise how much pain you are inflicting on yourself because of that mentality of yours. The truth is that your poverty mentality is a bondage of Satan and you need to free yourself.
b. Know God’s plan for your life – Jer. 29:11. The prodigal son knew all he had to do was to admit his errors to his father and he will be restored. If you too can admit your errors and frailties, then you are on the way out of that bondage that Satan put you with his deceit that your poverty state is your destiny.
c. Resolve to achieve that divine target for your life. That will imply that you know God’s plan for your life and all those obstacles are no longer what you see but that destined position in the Lord.
d. Live in the belief that you can do it with divine support. There is no doubt that your natural ability is insufficient to overcome those challenges but what you have available to you, on asking is the supernatural ability of the Most High God. Self belief not in your personal ability but in God induced ability is very important. The challenge may be bigger than you but can never be bigger than the Almighty God. Operate in his power and you can not lose – Eph. 6:10.
e. Confess positively about your situation. Ignore whatever Satan and his agents or the negative and pessimistic people around you may be saying or whatever you may be seeing or sensing and focus on the only one who is telling you it is possible – Lk. 1:37. Do not just believe it, confess it with your mouth the same way you use to confess all those negatives before and that success will definitely manifest.
f. Reject all negative suggestions that says it is impossible. Consciously avoid negative conversations and pessimistic people. Listen to points made to buttress their negative conclusions but turn such to your prayer point. Some of the points made may be realities but there is no reality bigger than God. No matter how convincing they may be in their arguments, the highlighted points can never be bigger than the ability of the Almighty God.
g. Draw up a divinely inspired strategy. This will be the road map to escaping from that situation and you should be willing to tweak with it where necessary. A life without plan is one designed to fail.
h. Share the experience of others who themselves have broken out of such mentality. You do not have to re-invent the wheel. Your escape from the claws of poverty mentality will be faster and smoother if you share the experience of others who have travelled that same path before you. You can definitely do with some tips here and there.
It is very certain that operating in these points will help you defeat all those negatives associated with poverty mentality or wrong mentality in general and you will experience a great turn around in your life.

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