Then your poverty will come to you like a drifter, and your need will come to you like a bandit.

–  Proverbs 6:11

Read:  Proverbs 20:4; Proverbs 21:17

Poverty doesn’t just happen. There are reasons for it. Today let us look at some tendencies that can make us reap the undesirable harvest of poverty and open us up to the bondage of the spirit of poverty. (1) Laziness: Resistance to work or exertion. (2) Idleness: Not employed or busy; avoidance of work or employment. (3) Guile: Skillful deceit; a tendency to deceive and to misrepresent issues. (4) Lack of integrity. I have found that it is commonplace for people to be full of desires, projecting into the future; even though many times there is no basis for the expectations that they have. Such practices eventually lead to poverty. When we have no seed in the ground, it is unwise to expect a harvest. We must also avoid making excuses. It is important that we are diligent with our business and be faithful to carry out every assignment we are given. Resist the tendency to be angry, jealous, or envious of those who are prospering and don’t engage in slander or explaining away the success of others. Determine not to be wasteful and don’t misuse God-given increases in attempting to compete with peers. Other impoverishing tendencies include lack of planning and procrastination (Proverbs 6:6-11); stinginess (Proverbs 11:24); refusing instruction from God-given mentors such as parents, teachers, pastors (Proverbs 13:18); timidity and unwillingness to take risks (Proverbs 22:13), etc. Child of God, the word of God stands as a mirror for us. If you examine yourself and find any of these attributes, ask God to help you change. Plead the Blood of Jesus over your life and your family, cast down every generational curse of poverty and claim the prosperity of the new covenant through Christ Jesus. Then seek to acquire the character profile of the wealthy; begin to live by the principles of hard work and diligence. Then wealth will begin to follow to you. May poverty never come around your life anymore, in Jesus’ name. You will prosper and live in health, even as your soul prospers.