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ISSUE: ‘I’m on food stamps and section 8. So what?’
RESEARCH AND STUDY
Again while reading the text for my Macro Economics course, the author states that those with higher incomes essentially pay for welfare, social security, and Medicare benefits. After reading that I began to think that I have to become wealthy so that I can help my nation!
The epiphany that my having been poor accounted for the federal government having to increase their spending, in order to provide services for lower-income individuals, such as myself was sobering. At the time, I needed the service of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; but eventually, that need for assistance gave me a sense of entitlement. But that’s what poverty does. Because someone, other than myself, was taking care of my needs, I became accustomed to their provision. I began to think they were required to give me assistance and meet my needs.
In a distorted way, poverty provoked that sense of entitlement. I thought that because I qualified for programs that gave me certain benefits, that I was entitled to assistance. I then began to live my life in entitlement mode. I believed it was the governments’ responsibility to ensure I received Supplemental Nutritional Assistance and to provide me with Public Housing. In some convoluted way, poor people believe that the government has ‘all this money’ and that it is only right for them to help. When in actuality that within itself is an oxymoron; because if one were educated enough on the current state of our nations economic status, they would know that our government, with its $98.5 billion dollar deficit, actually has no money at all. But oftentimes, entitlement and ignorance go hand-in-hand.
Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.’ The word ‘destroyed’ in the Greek means ignorant or unwittingly unaware. Those of us, who’ve lived on government assistance, have done so ignorantly. Not ignorant as far as being unknowledgeable of employment and educational opportunities, but ignorantly unaware of what the Bible says about prosperity. But why have those of us who are born-again, tongue talking, believers of the Lord Jesus Christ lived below the national poverty level and continued to depend on the government? The Bible provides that answer explicitly. Hosea 4:6 says, ‘Because [we] rejected knowledge.’ At some point in all of our poverty-stricken lives, God tried to give us knowledge of His ability to provide for us, but we either willfully ignored this knowledge or just downright refused to believe He was able. Philippians 4:19 says ‘…my God shall supply all [my] needs according to His riches…’ not according to wealthy Americans.
My becoming prosperous, having the ability to ‘be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]’(2 Corinthians 9:8, Amplified Version) isn’t just for ‘me and mine’, but also for my country. Prosperity would enable me to provide a service to my nation. Just as our nations military and law enforcement provide a service of protection, my ability to be in a higher income bracket will give me the opportunity to assist those, who like my former self, have lived far below the national poverty level. It’ll enable me to help my ignorant brethren, through my tithes and offerings, get the knowledge I no longer reject. Won’t you join me?
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Ask God to forgive you for rejecting His knowledge. Ask Him to reveal to you other areas of your life where you have felt entitled. Repent and no longer hold anyone responsible for meeting your needs other than God. Be sure to continue to feed your spirit on Biblical Prosperity.
If you are financially stable, ask God to reveal areas in which you have become overly independent on your finances. Sow your experiences and provide opportunities to learn from your experiences to those you personally know are economically challenged.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
If someone you know has been unemployed or lived on section 8, food stamps, and government assistance for years, get this teaching to them. Print a copy and take it to them or forward them this email. Be sure to take them this entire ECONOMIC REVELATIONS series but also the OBEDIENCE series as well. You may not need it but you know someone who does.
RESOURCES
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