Michael Pink here. Just want you all to know how much I appreciate you posting your comments and insights here. Not only do they speak to me and encourage me in a number of ways but they also help others.

I have visited over the years many blogs or forums but never have I come upon a group of people so genuine and so willing to offer a word of kindness and encouragement as you all.

Your contribution is helping the body of Christ get built up! Thank you!

My comments: Prosperity is a blessing. Poverty is a curse. I have been in poverty, and I have been in prosperity, and prosperity is BETTER. I don’t think being in poverty makes someone more spiritual, it makes them more limited in what they can do. Having personal financial resources means that a person has more choices and freedom in life, and as a result they also have the power to positively impact other persons in their circle of influence.

I have personally known christian friends who have taken a “vow of poverty” in their life. That’s their choice. I chose prosperity. And
I teach my children to do the same. My son, who has been taught that Jesus WANTS him to prosper, is fast approaching his adulthood with big dreams, and excels in his performance. I have been teaching him about prosperity during his High School years, and he now wants to pursue college studies in Finances, World Economics, International Trade, Investing and Investments, the Stock Market. He is a future Leader, groomed for success at a young age.

The point is this — People need to be TAUGHT about prosperity, financial wisdom, sound financial practices. It’s part of the Kingdom. As they are taught about it, their Attitudes are formed, and God can use them as Leaders, and Tools in the Kingdom.

I have told my son that I EXPECT him to do EXCEPTIONALLY WELL in life; that I want him to be wealthy and prosperous and be a blessing to the world, and that I want him to do better than I have done in my life. He loves hearing it!! He smiles, hugs me, and says “Thanks Mom!”. He has permission to be unlimited, so he believes that he has Unlimited Potential. Thus, he will go far in life, and God can use him for great things.

Michael, Keep teaching what you are teaching to whoever will listen.

Nobody really wants to be poor. Poverty hurts. There is also shame associated with poverty. My past relatives were very poor. I grew up hearing their stories of deep shame they felt during childhood in poverty.

Prosperity is better. Lets teach our youngsters, and young men and women how to prosper, in Christ, and in practical ways concerning personal finances.

Sorry if this post is too long. I just wanted to share.. . . . .Thank You.

seems i spend a good deal of my day felling guilty over my desire to be successful.

In the Bible there were plenty of times when Isreal would subdue a nation and that nation left them alone for 40 years. Who out there says this can’t happen today as well? We have been progammed that this is the end times because of things that have happened recently. No prayer in school, liberal this and that, Islam growing at a rapid race. SO WHAT! Many times in the Old Testament there were bad times - they were always followed by times of peace and blessing. Don’t concede this might be the end times.

This is the reason I think Christians are letting the world just do what they want and want to do to us. We have the mindset that this is the end times and we are powerless to change it. I would rather go down swinging than to just let that happen. Here’s to blessing, prosperity and favor for Jesus’s children!

I think you have identified exactly why the corporate church has been so impotent in our culture. Without opening a protracted conversation on eschatology, “why polish brass on a sinking ship”? If the world is going to get worse, no matter what Christ in us wants to do on earth, why bother? Simply put because Jesus told us to disciple the nations and not to worry when he was going to return (Acts 1:7). Could it be that the most effective way to disciple the nations is to be planted in the very world (in the world not of it) that needs to be saved? In the parable of the wheat and the tares (Math 13) Jesus says that the seed is the SONS OF THE KINGDOM and the field is the world. No one said it was going to be easy, in fact we are promised tribulation and persecution for His Words sake. But when we bring Jesus and His Kingdom principles to the various areas of our culture that we may be gifted in, then a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. When the sons of the Kingdom are planted in the world there will be a great harvest!

Please know that your comments are welcome on this site. One of the weaknesses of this format is how easy it is to misunderstand the intent of someone in an email based communication, as I am sure you have experienced over the years.

The fact that we may not agree on everything is not a bad thing at all because it challenges both parties to seriously consider what the other is saying while better understanding possibly their own viewpoint. Having said that, it is not accurate to suggest that if anyone disagrees on the blog, they are casted as having a poverty mindset or lacking faith. While that may be the opinion of some (and that opinion may or may not be correct) it is only an opinion and this is a place for the free and friendly discourse of ideas. We are free to disagree, but hopefully with mutual respect. We might just discover how wrong we were later. So let’s all walk in love, with firmness of our convictions but with an open mind. Blessings.