Your nothing can create something big
MANY TIMES we hear people complain about having nothing or about not having much to survive on, or to start their business, or to do anything at all. So they become stuck in self-pity or complaining, and believe their only way out is to either get external help, or to sit and suffer until they perish.
Always remember that real prosperity does not mean that tomorrow’s needs are met today. It means that today’s needs are met today. He said that He will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So God deals with your needs daily! Let us not confuse needs and wants. Furthermore, He says He daily loads us with benefits.
Needs are for today, wants may be for the future. However, the key thing to recognise and know is that there is always something you have to get to go where you want to go. Stop complaining about a lack of money and start identifying what you have that can be used to help you. You may have land, an extra room, a skill, talents, and even something you may think is insignificant. The widow in 2 Kings 4 only had a little oil. She thought it was nothing, but it created a major oil flow that would get her out of debt and into profitability. We can even use our mouths to create miracles on a daily basis by speaking positive words. Stop looking down on yourselves and begin to think big!
NEW WAY OF THINKING
In order to come out of poverty, you must change your way of thinking, because poverty and prosperity both begin in the mind. Always remember that your present circumstances don’t determine your future, and size has nothing to do with value. The widow looked at her small bottle of oil as nothing, without realising the various and potential uses for the oil she possessed. Oil can be used for cooking, fuel, healing, lubrication, cosmetic purposes and more; and she could not begin to embrace the prosperity and potential for prosperity until her way of thinking and her views changed.
You may have an extra room in your house. Fix it up, and capitalise on tourism. Connect with Airbnb and make the room available. Oftentimes when people visit our island, they want to have a home experience rather than a hotel experience. Just put your rules in place – you decide what your house rules are and maintain them. Begin to tithe from everything – don’t listen to the sceptics, tithing brings you blessings from God. Also, ask the Lord for wisdom in money management.
... Opportunities presented daily
OPPORTUNITIES ARE presented to us daily. However, based on how we view or think about things, we miss those opportunities. For example, feeding somebody who many not have a meal. If you had the last meal, would you share it with someone else?
Many times people focus on the availability of money, and they only look at the big picture and ignore the smaller picture that has the potential to make the big picture even bigger. You may think you don’t have much, but begin to take inventory of what you already have. If you are a dressmaker/seamstress or tailor, God wants to do something significant with your skill/talent.
Instead of sitting and complaining about business being slow, make an item of clothing and give it away to someone as a gift. If you are someone who does not have a job, begin to volunteer and help someone else with what they have to do. Find a church and clean it and pray for your family, your community, your nation; that is human resources at work and you are labouring at one level to receive a blessing on a different level. Recognise that every blessing comes with a prior instruction.
One of the tenets of biblical economics is that as you put God first, God will put you first.
GIVING OUT OF NOTHING
If some of you were that woman who had the last and the servant of God came to ask you to give them out of your last set of resources, some of you would run to the media and scandalise the servant of God publicly. If you had an expensive cologne that valued US$1m, would you break it open and pour it all out on Jesus’ feet?
Giving is the sure sign that you have conquered greed. But, ironically, we have become so greedy that now we lack.
Poverty is not an indicator that you are not to give. The successes of the past generations came as a result of their understanding (and practising) that giving out of nothing results in God’s blessings and constant provision.