ABUNDANCE MENTALITY

Some time ago I read this book 'Born to be rich'. I just wanted to share the things that bear witness to me. Firstly the author mentioned that one thing he learnt in his walk on earth was not to be a goody two shoe for everybody. Being meek, soft, doing 'good' to everyone has damaged his walk with Christ. God is shaping us to be in His image, to be sons of God in this world. This does not mean you have to be 'good' to everybody, but you have to be led by the Spirit to do whatever He asks you to. He has made you to be able to speak with authority, to be a person of the most impressive, commanding and powerful appearance. Proverbs 23:7 'As a man thinks in this heart, so is he' appeared many times throughout his book.

He also shared about how you don't acquire riches exclusively for the good of others. You don't want to lose yourself to save mankind, so you can get some joy out of generosity and sacrifice. You are not the savior, only Jesus is. In the author's life, he was always ready for others, to serve others. He wanted to please others because he was a man pleaser but this does not make him a God pleaser. He had to dispose of his religious mindset of God wanting him to sacrifice himself for others. God requires nothing of that from him.

He said that first of all, God wants you to make the most of yourself, for yourself and then eventually for others. It's only when you become rich and fulfilled first that you can help others more effectively. Your creative thoughts will create new things for you but it will not take away things from others. Our Father is a Creator and we are made in His image, so man are inclined to create. Our spirit is already formed while we are in our mother's womb and it never grows. It is the substance of God and is already mature. The only problem is the communication between the mind and the spirit needs to be restored and developed. This restoration took place through Christ at the cross and He gave us His mind and once we have renewed our mind with His, we can again be one in spirit.

No wonder God spoke to me about renewing of my mind in Oct 2008 and later in 2011, addressed this issue about having the mind of Christ. We need to change our mind so that we won't be governed by our senses. The mind is the soul, where our emotions, desires and will reside. Psalms 23:3 says The Lord restores our soul. This restoration is to align our thoughts with His thoughts, to align our mind with our spirit which is already renewed.

For too long we have been in the frame of mind of being beggars on earth. But we are not. We are co-heirs with Jesus and we are the sons of God. We are of royal blood, King-priests. We are princes and princesses, not beggars. We are beautiful butterflies, not worms. Yes, we may be a caterpillar for a short while but that's not who we eventually are. Occasionally we may find ourselves in the rubbish dump but that doesn't make us trash. We are still of great value to the Lord.

The other thing is regardless of what someone says or does, their bodies never lie. Just like their faces, their countenance cannot lie. Our faces, our bodies follow whatever mind we allow to work through us. The body will show the truth of what you are thinking. Whether you are joyful or depressed will all show on your face, your countenance. Hence don't worry about what others think of you, because you already know what the Father thinks of you and that is all that matters. The body follows the force of the thoughts we are thinking and our beliefs.

He also said that free spenders are often getting richer than people who tend to withhold or save. Of course I am not advocating spending out of your means or not being good stewards of God's money. What I am saying is don't be stingy on yourself and withhold the things God wants you to have. These free spenders learn that they are not supposed to work for money but to let the money work for you. Just like someone also said, don't make yourself a slave of your money, let your money work for you. It's only right for us to desire to be wealthy. How can we live our life to the fullest while in poverty? How happy does a man feel when he can bestow gifts on the people he loves. Love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. The man who has nothing to give cannot fulfill his place as a husband or father or a man.

Then he talked about getting rid of the thought of competition. Don't compare yourself to others for we are all running our own race. You are here on earth to create, not compete. You don't have to take anything from anyone. You don't even have to drive sharp bargains. You don't have to cheat or take advantage of others. Why would you become richer by making others poorer? This is the mindset of the world but the Kingdom of God is different. Our God is so rich and heaven is overflowing with abundance that God doesn't have to bless others at our expense. All we need to do is to ask God for the supply.