MINDING YOUR MONEY
It’s a play on words not an essay on money management—although I did read an article, and believe it to be true from experience, that all entrepreneurs know to the penny how much cash they have on hand. I believe it to be true because I generally do and if I don’t I know that I can get the amount in a few minutes. Money is mostly mental. Prosperity and poverty are attitudes of the mind. And if you don’t “mind” your money, money will be in short supply. More on that in a moment.
I received a letter during the last recession from a lovely lady of advanced years. She was an Elder in our Lima church for many of those years and I have a soft spot in my heart towards her. She wrote—
“What I want to tell you is that I remember when Lima was going through a really hard time financially with plant closings and the recession of the early eighties, but everyone in your church was prospering. Lima is once again in bad shape just like everywhere else, and even though I don’t attend your church you will always be my spiritual father. Words can be cheap but I intend to send your some money every month to help you in your ministry.”
I remembered that time in the early Eighties. Inflation was in double digits, interest was over ten percent, unemployment in Lima was over twenty-five percent in our inner city neighborhood, and all of our people were prospering because I had taught them how to mind their money.
It was during this time that I held a meeting for a large church in Orange, California. At the time Orange County (where I actually spent much of my youth) was the richest county per capita in America. The pastor of the church asked me as we drove to lunch in his late model Cadillac—“Have you noticed how you’re income has dropped off during this recession? Ours is off by twenty-five percent.” I thought a moment and said, “Ours is up by twenty percent.”
The conversation aroused my curiosity so when I returned home I started asking people how they were doing financially and what was happening. Everyone had a story. People laid off from Ford and the tank plant said they were drawing unemployment, working an interim job, picking up side jobs, and finding sources of income that they didn’t know that they had. They were minding their money.
So how do you mind your money? Because “Money answers all things” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). You get a picture of money in your mind. Until you can hold an image of increase in your mind you’’’ never tap into the unseen resources that are all around you. You have to develop a prosperity mentality.
I did a seminar some time ago called, “The Royal Road to Riches”. In it I taught the attendees how to mind their money. One of the exercises that we did was a lot of fun and mind expanding. I had my administrator get ten thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills from the bank and rubber band them together quite tightly. Then we spent a pleasant half an hour passing the bundle from person to person. I explained, “Most of you have never held ten thousand dollars in cash in your hands. I want you to see what it feels like, the bulk of it, the weight of it, it’s dimensions and color. Get a feeling for it so that when you don’t have ten thousand dollars in your hands you can visualize it in your mind.” They learned to mind their money.
When you join me “Behind The Door” I’m going to share some insights that will help you to develop your prosperity mentality and mind your money. If you don’t have the password go to the “Donate” button, sow a seed, and you will receive this month’s password via email. Remember—you’re not only making an investment in this ministry you’re making an investment in yourself. And what you sow (as that little lady in Lima knew) is what you grow. That password is good for the rest of the month. I’ll meet you “Behind The Door”. All you have to lose is a poverty mentality. I’ll pick it up right there.
