Overcoming the Spirit of Poverty

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:11-13

The Lord is weaning the church off her dependency on comfort, wealth, and self-sufficiency so that he can calibrate her for overcoming in the days to come. 

True wealth is found in one’s ability to trust in the Lord.  Faith is the currency of the Kingdom.  Many who believe they have faith have never really been tested.  There simply is no other way to learn how to trust the Lord than to face, in some capacity, the prospect of being without.  It may be financial.  It may relate to one’s abilities and talents.  It may have to do with one’s acceptance among peers or strangers. 

A person can have a poverty spirit even if they own many things or have lots of money.  True prosperity depends upon the disposition of a man concerning himself; when he has some form of lack and no prospect of where he might receive help and yet remains at peace, fully trusting that God is going to see him through. 

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to have abundance or to be in need.  He indicated that he had “learned the secret” of entering into the state of contentedness regardless of his circumstances.  In Philippians 4:12, when Paul speaks of “learning the secret…” he uses a word that refers to the initiation process of entering some kind of group or club.  In other words, He did not come by this insight strictly through revelation.  Paul had to walk something out with the Lord that initiated him into the mystery of contentedness.  This is a supernatural grace that God initiates His people into.  There is no free ride with this aspect of faith.  You just have to walk something out with the Lord.   

There is no rule that says how long this initiation process will take.  Actually, once you learn it, it does not necessarily mean that you will no longer face trials.  It simply means that you will no longer be shaken by those trials.  It means that you understand the drill and that you can walk it out with peace and contentment.  Overcoming a poverty spirit is really about not needing to be coddled and comforted every step of the way.  It means that one has grown up, put away childish things and gone on with God.  People who are excessively needy are loved by God, but they are not very useful to Him. 

So how does one learn contentment?  What is involved in the initiation?  Paul does not tell us everything that he went through to get to this state but I can surmise out of some of my own experiences of initiation that might prove helpful. 

1. It begins by not taking your hardships personally.  Everybody has them.  God is raising sons and that means tests are part of the process. 
2. Be assured of God’s love- he will never leave you nor forsake you.  
3. Practice thankfulness daily for all that you have.  
4. Learn how to be alone with yourself and God.  This is a big one.  Many people seek constant distractions in attempts to avoid facing their issues, needs or desires and especially God. 
5. Develop a sense of wholeness apart from any form of entertainment or public esteem.      
6. Renew your mind.   Your mind/imagination is one of your greatest resources.  
7. Realize that true riches are an internal source of wealth. 

God does not need to take everything away from you to teach you this lesson.  The fact is that everyone at some point feels inadequate.  We feel insecure about who and what we are.  These are the places
God wants to meet you and lead you to a new place of richness in Him.  If you will trust Him, He will initiate you into the spiritual realm of abundance. 

Once your inner man is settled in this place of security and peace, the fear of lack will cease to exercise dominion over you.  “He who is of a merry heart, will have a continual feast.”  Proverbs 15:15

The Journey

Twenty five years ago Suzanne and I had just graduated from seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, we were looking for a place to invest our lives and we wanted a chance to prove the gospel... to ourselves.  It is not to say that we did not believe what we were taught or what we were teaching.  But we were looking for more than here-say   We wanted a deep personal conviction backed by our own experience that would carry us through the trials of life.

So when we graduated we prayed, "God we are ready but please get us out of the Bible Belt."  It wasn't that we had anything against Texas but we were looking for a place where our faith in God was not such a prominent part of the culture.  Within a few months we were in Idaho and our journey with God began in earnest.

Twenty five years later we have our own history with the Lord, a history that continues to grow and become richer and fuller. It is full of normal everyday stories of His faithfulness and of miraculous interventions of healings and provisions.  We are grateful for our journey with the Lord and know something we didn't back then.  God is real, he is engaged with us and is walking this journey out with us every step of the way.  We are not alone.  He is there to catch us and sustain us and teach us about Himself.

But our journey is far from over.  He is continually teaching us.  A few years ago we stopped pastoring full time and moved to Boise.  We thought we were just going to step into the next phase of ministry.  But we were wrong.  I read something a few years back that I never forgot.  Stephen Covey wrote, "If you want to make a new contribution, you must make a whole new preparation."

Suzanne and I did not realize that our new contribution would come as we went through a whole new preparation but that is what we have experienced.  We felt parts of our life "taken away" and our fruitful branches severely pruned.  He was leading us into an understanding that our identity is found not in what we do or a title we hold but in who we are in our core being.  We have had to learn to receive our praise from God and Him alone.  We entered a season of "hiddeness" so that God could do a deeper work in our hearts.    Through this time we have come to discover the love of God in way we have never known it before.  How profound is His love!!!!  We have also learned more about who we are.  If you want to be known by God you have to be honest with your self and with Him.  In times of desperation there is no hiding.  It all gets laid out there and we are so much better for it.

Why does God allow these times to happen?  I just think maybe he is trying to "thicken the sauce."  At the end of the day He is looking for something a little more substantive.  All victory and no challenges makes a person shallow.  Premature success breeds superficiality.  And so we have had our wings clipped and our feathers plucked it would seem.  But in the process miracles happen deep in our hearts.  And that is what we have discovered.  The kingdom is always advancing.  Sometimes it is advancing outwardly and that is always nice.  But the real work of the New Covenant is when God does a work inwardly.  When the miracles begin to manifest in the demeanor of one's face and in the thoughts and motivations of one's heart, a person starts looking at the adventure of life differently.  Our hearts get reconciled to the ways of God.  We stop resisting and begin cooperating with the process.

I used to complain about the hardships, but I don't as much anymore.  I am discovering that I am less and less offended with God when things don't seem to go my way.  I am realizing that God is after something deeper and I am starting to be ok with it.  "Deep is calling to deep," David writes, and at first I think it was the deep in God calling to the deep in me.  At first I could not hear the call.  My deep inner man was asleep.  But lately I am wondering if something hasn't awakened and for the first time the deep in me is calling to the deep in Him.  

Thirty years ago, when Suzanne and I got married I wrote out my invitation.

I will bless the Lord at all times

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord

the humble shall see it and rejoice.

Oh magnify the Lord with me,

Let us exalt his name together.  

Psalm 34:1-3

Suzanne was gracious enough to say yes.  I am forever grateful for a such a companion to walk out this journey.  Humanly speaking, I could not have made it without her.  On our wedding day my "best man" Mike Arakawa looked at me and said, "She is perfect for you."  I never forgot that for indeed she was and God knew it.  

Thirty years ago, we worshiped the Lord by faith.  But now we do it by the personal revelation of God's heart to ours.  We worship Him because of thousands of instances of His faithfulness, through unexpected and random acts of kindness, because of friends who love us in spite of our immaturity and brokenness, because of miracles external and internal.  God has met us so many ways again and again.  Faith is not something we have to work up but rather a substance that has been worked within us that we draw upon.  We have had times together that were so powerful and rich and filled with joy that we literally felt heaven on earth.  Other times have been more difficult.  But the presence of the Lord has been the one constant thing we have enjoyed together.  It is the foundation of our love and our marriage and our friendship and fellowship and our celebration and our joy.  And it is the reason we are still in the journey and more blessed and excited than ever.  

This is our story and though I don't suspect that anyone is going to make a movie about it, we would not trade it for anyone else's because it is ours alone.  This is how God has chosen to reveal himself to us.  No one can fulfill their destiny wishing to be somebody else.  God is changing us and establishing us with Him and with you.  This is our testimony to His faithfulness.  This is our greatest treasure.

As we begin to posture ourselves for the next leg of the journey, we would like to offer you an invitation that entered into 30 years ago.

We will bless the Lord at all times

His praise shall continually be in our mouths

Our souls shall make their boast in the Lord,

the humble shall hear it and rejoice.

Oh magnify the Lord with us,

And let us exalt His name together.  

God bless you all.

Brian and Suzanne Harrison

The End of Hope Deferred!

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.  

Proverbs 13:12

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,

But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Proverbs 15:4

I am intrigued that both of these verses refer to something as being "a tree of life."  One is fulfilled desire and the other is a wholesome tongue.  Clearly there is a connection between desire fulfilled and a wholesome tongue.    They go hand in hand.  There is also a connection between sickness of heart and a broken spirit.  They too are inseparably linked.  

Many believers quote the initial line of Proverbs 13:12, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," as if it were their life verse. There are many today who have gone through a season of disillusionment, especially when it relates to the church.

But their is a new day dawning and God is inviting us into a season when deferred hope becomes a thing of the past.  Frankly, this opportunity to live in the blessing of God now has been around since Christ was raised from the dead.  However, for most, the ability to remain in the faith necessary to sustain that kind of hope was insurmountable.  It wasn't that the promises were not real but that our hearts were not strong enough to seize the substance of the established promise.

But God adds more grace and more wisdom and insight as we continually grow and assimilate all that he is saying and doing.  We are not on a "limited income" as far as the kingdom is concerned.  Literally, the more one can take in and assimilate, the more one can receive.  In the kingdom, one's portion is determined by one's appetite.  And this is affected by the context that we choose to live in.  When we live in the context of eternity, we begin to live "in His countenance."  Psalm 89:15.  Taking it all in, awakening to the divine blessing, hearing the joyful sound, abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit happens as we continually live in the light of His countenance.  God's countenance places all earthly experiences, good or bad, into the context of eternity.  And eternity is the great force in changing one's perspective.  

The time is fulfilled, Jesus said, the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe the good news.  

People of God, if we will live in His countenance, "hope deferred" will be a thing of the past.  We have been born again to a living hope.  It is here now and we can enjoy it now.