Not all poverty is created equal. There is such a thing as a poverty gospel, which teaches that if
you are poor, you are pious. If you are poor, you're closer to God. The Bible does teach,
'Blessed are the poor in heart,' not necessarily poor in finances and though the definition of
poverty will differ to each and every one of us differently, I want to share today about four
types of poverties that people can experience, and we have to be very careful not to think that
just because somebody is poor, it means, that they're cursed or just because somebody's poor,
that means that, they are actually closer to God. First type of poverty is when it's an attack. An
attack from the Devil. It can happen, you may say, An attack from the devil? Yes. Satan can
attack Health, he can attack our Finances, he can attack Relationships. In fact, one of the
first things that will happen as a result of the Fall is that men will make their bread,
you know, they will work in the sweat of the brow and the ground will produce thorns and thistles
and we see that throughout the scripture, even things like where God says that, you know, I will
rebuke the devourer for your sake. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. It's not limited only to
our spiritual and our physical, it also includes our material. The enemy is out to kill, destroy
and to affect our finances. Sometimes that happens through an Open Door like stealing, where we are
involved in stealing, ripping people off and that could open the door for the enemy to steal
from our finances eventually or maybe, we did not help somebody who was in need and we were able to
and we shot our heart down towards that person, thinking that somebody else should do that and
God saw that and it displeased Him and He maybe withdrew His protection from your finances and so
some things could be generational, where there's an attack, perpetual attack on your finances,
in your family, everybody was always poor even though they were hard working. In that regard,
you should come against it. You should repent of anything that maybe have opened the door to it and
ask God for mercy and grace and begin to live a generous life, full of faith and life of trusting
in God instead of in finances. This second type of poverty is an affliction. It's the one where
it happens to anybody, could happen to everyone. If you're serving God maybe even not serving God
and this kind of poverty, it's not a curse, it's a test. The scripture says that, 'Many are the
afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all.' Psalm 34 Verse 19. This type
of poverty is temporary and while you're being tested, you're being purified like Job. He went
through a season of poverty, it was an attack but in reality, it was an affliction. It was a test,
the Lord was testing him and because his character, his trust in God was solid, eventually he came out
of that. The Bible says that, 'The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked,' and so maybe you're
going through that season, it's maybe pandemic or perhaps, you know there's layoffs at your work and
you're struggling financially and you know it's easy to just go and start chasing the devil but
perhaps, it's just a test perhaps, it's just a season that you're going through and be faithful
to God, be faithful to love God, love people, to still serve Him and to still be generous.
You might not be able to do that financially but be generous with your time, be a person who does
not allow your Christian character be paralyzed, crippled just because of financial struggle that
you're going through and under no circumstances, don't go into greed and don't go into something
foolish or something that is ungodly in the area of finances like, making money in ways that do not
glorify God and do not honor your testimony as a Christian. Poverty number three, an act of love.
It's when it's a choice when a person chooses to become poor because they choose to give or forego certain
privileges that were offered to them. In fact, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 verse 9, it says that, Jesus became poor so we will be made rich. Keep in mind, to be poor
like that, you have to be rich first, okay, so this kind of poverty is not forced on you. You
choose it, Why would you choose that? Because you decide to love God, in such a way that causes you
to give of what you have. The woman who gave a year's worth of income in the form of a breaking
an alabaster box on the body of Jesus. She was considered crazy by people around her. In fact,
some call it a waste. A woman who gave her last you know in the way of honoring God to a corrupt
Temple and Jesus still complimented her sacrifice. Instead of calling her, you know, crazy,
Why are you doing that and so, I have many times in my life have become poor in the sense that,
things that I had, I parted with, gave it to other people and blessed them and for a season, I stayed
like that. Now things came back and you know, I enjoyed them and then when the Lord you know,
puts on my heart, I choose to give them again. Throughout the ages, the church age so many
missionaries, so many Christians have chosen to become poor. They've given their income,
they've given their resources to other people. Some lived very very meager humble lives
to advance the kingdom of God and that's a choice that they made. It honors God, it glorifies His
name but in order to make the choice, you have to be in a place to give something first and so for
those of us, who are in that place not because we made a choice to serve God but because some
kind of an affliction happened, this is not the same, this is slightly different. Now, the poverty
type number four and this is the poverty, Bible also talks about and I need to mention that you
know, yes it could be an attack, it could be a test, it could be a choice and the last one,
it could be simply stupidity. Did you just say stupidity? Yes, the Bible has many verses and I
will not go through all of them right now in this video, where Laziness leads to Poverty,
where Rebellion leads to Poverty, where Addictions lead to Poverty, where cheating on your spouse,
lead to poverty, where Greed, where Pride, where Impatience lead to Poverty. If you read Book of
Proverbs, you will see so many golden nuggets and truths, not just to get closer to God but
also how to prosper financially and wait, hold on, just before you throw the stones, oh my gosh,
he's a Prosperity preacher. I'm not a Prosperity preacher, I'm a Gospel preacher but I do believe
God wants people to be blessed so that we can be a blessing, so that we can help the poor, God never
expects the government to take care of the poor. He expects us to do that and how can we do that if
we are the ones that need the government to take care of us and so, when God blesses us, it's not
just for us. It's so that God can be a blessing through us. He doesn't want us to be a bottleneck
but to do that, we have to be faithful, we have to be holy, we have to be pure, we have to walk
away from greed, we have to not worship finances but worship with finances, worship God and we have to walk
away from sin, drugs, alcoholism, sleeping around, greed, impatience. All these have very damaging
effects on your finances. If you begin to commit your life to God, you will see that God will
bless your finances. But please understand, your Prosperity has a Purpose, your Blessing has an
Assignment. God wants to make you a blessing, you know, I've experienced when I believed God to give
me, you know, finances, give me the car, give me this and give me that and then, when God started
to bless me, He would bless me with more than I need. He didn't do that because I was better
than other people, He didn't do that because I was luckier, He didn't do that because I was clever,
smart or financially intelligent. Even though, there were some practical things that I did,
that I would say contributed to that blessing but behind the scenes, God did that because He wanted
to make me a blessing to someone else. I remember, the first time that I was able to give a car away,
I remember the second time, the third time, I think by now I think six cars, that me and my
wife have given. I'm not bragging about this, I'm saying that the feeling of being someone's
miracle, being used by God to be an answer to somebody's prayer is incredible. It's amazing,
yes, you don't get all richer from it but it's not the point. The point is being closer
to God and the point is to be richer in good works through giving of things that we have.
Whether it's simple things like couch or a phone or a computer or you're helping, giving somebody a
service or you're giving somebody a smile. God wants to bless you but to do that, you have to
allow God to help you, not to make decisions that will lead you into poverty. If you're currently
under a demonic attack in your finances, I pray that God will give you the strength
to walk in obedience and honor to Him, so that this will come to an end. Perhaps you're right now
in a season of struggle, you've done everything right, persevere, hang in there, things will get
better. Maybe you're in a difficult season because you chose to give, you chose to help somebody
and things are not looking so well for you. I remember that feeling, I remember that season,
it was very painful but hang in there because your Lord Jesus Christ did that as well. He became poor
and you're reflecting His character, if you chose to do that for His kingdom. But if you are today,
going through poverty and it's really because of stupidity, really unwise decisions like prodigal
son, you wasted all your livelihood with harlots, parties you know, addictions, immorality. Return
to God, humble yourself before Him and begin to make an honest living. Honor God with your
finances and always remember, God blesses you to be a blessing. Thank you for watching this
video. As always, don't forget to click thumbs up and share this with other people. I know so
many pastors are afraid to talk about finances and I know this is a very, kind of a gray area
for a lot of people but hey, I want to tell you the truth and I want to preach to you from God's
Word in these short videos and I just hope that it brings blessing and clarity to you and I hope
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reminded each time that we upload a video or when we go live, until next time, God bless!
Thank you!