Pastor Favour really caught my attention when he wrote his post “The Cure For Poverty”, where he states that poverty is not about money but rather it is spiritual.

He makes several statements such as:

“Poverty is much deeper than the absence of cash. As a matter of fact, the chronic lack of money is just one of the various manifestations of poverty.”

“The cure for poverty lies in the liberalizing of the soul through life-transforming and energizing spiritual enlightenment.”

(Picture shows Pastor WD Favour deliver a lecture at Success Academy, Nigeria)

Now it may be easier for those of us in the “Western World” to make such declarations (at least in the eyes of the more impoverished countries of this planet. They tend to think that we don’t suffer or have challenges of any kind of poverty in the Western World. Of course we do, but we also have to admit that it is worse in countries such as Africa).

But let’s remember that the above statements were written by a man who was brought up in Nigeria, has faced what could be termed as “real poverty” and has conquered it!

I invited Pastor Favour to give his testimony for the readers of A Positive Mindset for Positive Living and he responded by suggesting I interview him on this blog.

I thought that was a great idea, so read on to learn how a great man of God (yes he is a pastor AND a believer) has proved that you are stopped by circumstances only if you WANT to be!

Pastor Favour, can you share a little about your childhood? What were the conditions you lived in?

I grew up in a little village called Odumara, in the South Eastern Nigerian State of Imo.

Life back then was simple and less complicated. There was no electricity anywhere; everyone had to trek or cycle several kilometres to the villages’s central market to collect drinking water.

I have memories of forage through the forests of the village for fire wood – we didn’t even have a kerosene stove. Lol.

What kinds of struggles did you and your family go through?

As our family grew larger and we moved into the city, things became harder; or I think, I became old enough to feel the pains of the situation.

My parents were both educated at the University of Nigeria and were Civil Servants. They were also very faithful Christians. But the cost of taking care of six children and several extended family members was more than their meagre salaries could afford. So we practically had to feed from hand to mouth.

In spite of my parents tremendous efforts and sacrifices – which resulted in huge mountains of debt – we often had to go without meals and rarely had adequate nourishments.

My parents high ethical and moral principles, plus their abiding faith in the goodness of God, provided the inner strength and hope that sustained us from day to day and year to year.

Everyone in the family had to make sacrifices. We had to endure lots of strenous hours and days in the farm, and other forms of deprivations. One of my most painful memories was the period I had to hawk bread on the streets of our neighbourhood just to make ends meet for our family.

Do you remember what thoughts went through your mind when you were young?

Yeah. I had thoughts like, “Why are we poor?” “Will this ever end? Would we ever be in a situation where we would never have to worry about where our next meal was going to come from? How long are we going to be like this?”

And these thoughts often made me very angry, and sad.

How did those thoughts influence your life.

Those thoughts simply made me hate poverty. I resolved never to be poor and never to be in financial debt to anybody. I also resolved that I was going to fight poverty in my life, in my family, and in my nation.

How did you come to the conclusions about poverty that you so clearly express on your post “The Cure For Poverty”?

I understand poverty. I also understand why people are poor.

The simple reason I do is because I experienced it in my own life and family. I observed it first hand in the lives of most of the people I grew up with.

Beyond these reasons, however, is that in my quest to eliminate it from my personal life and family – which involved lots of studies, prayers, meditations, and counseling with the poor – I learnt volumes about its nature and why masses of people fall into it.

What made you realize that you too could pursue success!

My greatest inspiration for success are my parents. They never gave in to their circumstances. They are Christians ad believed in God’s promises. They always taught us that there was a better future and that we could become anything we wanted to be. They believed in the power of books.

My dad began to build a library for me even before I was 10 years old! At that age I read about great Christian entrepreneurs like Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and so on. Though he often lacked the resources to afford good food and clothes for us, he never failed to buy me a good biography every now and then!

As a little boy, I loved stories, but I preferred those stories about entrepreneurs and how they did it I think that’s the primary reason I have this passion for success today. Before I was a teenager, I had formed my own opinion about faith; I considered faith to be the ability to take risks. That definition has stuck with me till date.

Someone from Kenya heard me talking about if you change your mindset you can be successful at anything you want. I know this can be a difficult concept to grasp when you sunk into difficult circumstances.

They said to me: “Its all right for you, you can say things like that, you live in the Western World. You need to come and see what how we live in Kenya” What would you say to them?

First of all, I’d say that I understand that thinking. In fact, most poor people in poor nations share that mindset.

One aspect of poverty I’ll never ignore is the fact that the poor are often the victims of poor decisions and judgements made by previous generations, as well as those made by poor leadership.

You see, when your ancestors make poor quality decisions and choices, they create a negative climate that infirms not just your external environment, but also your mental processes.

Remember that the principal thing you inherit from your culture is a way of thinking – a mindset.

So, I would agree with the Kenyan, and any other person for that matter who would say so.

But then, that’s exactly the point, as I would point out to such people – poverty is a mindset! Change the mindset, and you change the condition.

Do you have any challenges to share with our readers?

I understand the negative consequences of poverty too well. However, I believe that the cure for poverty is not in any type of condescending charity from rich nations; such charity is often manipulative with long-term injurious consequences for the poor.

Besides, it’s most likely to be hijacked by corrupt leadership thereby robbing the poor of its intended benefits. My efforts are deliberately geared towards challenging the poor to take responsibility over their fate, empowering their mental processes with adequate mind food, and inspiring them to make the right choices regardless of the cost.

My primary targets are the young men and women with whom I believe I have greater chances for mental transformation. This is why we set up the Success Academy Nigeria where principles of success, entrepreneuring, personal leadership, and wealth creation are taught with dedication.

My prayer and hope is that the Lord will crown our efforts with His own success and glory.

So, the conclusion is:

• It does not matter where you were born.
• It does not matter if you were poor or rich as a child
• It does not matter if you were told you could or you couldn’t do something
• It does not matter where you are right now
• It does not matter that the world is talking about recession

What matters is, if you change your MINDSET today, be assured:

You can follow Pastor Favour on twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/wdfavour

and you will find me here:
http://www.twitter.com/kiwichamp

Check out Pastor WD Favour’s post Victims of an Illusion

Of course there are many folk in this world who are born into poverty (as WD Favour was). But does that mean that this is their destiny? What keeps them there? Could it be their mindset? I believe so.

The poverty mindset is also found in the so called “Western Nations”, except that the outward evidence is not as severe as it is in countries like Africa. But nevertheless the same basic root is at work.

As Pastor WD Favour states in his blog post “The Cure For Poverty is Not Money”, in fact as he also comments in his post, “it is beyond money”. I wholeheartedly agree!

I am sure you have heard the saying “If you give a man a fish today, he will need more fish tomorrow, if you teach a man to fish today he can catch his own tomorrow”.

Well that may not be the actual quote, but its the general idea.

So how do we teach people in poverty to fish?

First we need to teach them to change their way of thinking.

Instead of focusing on things like:

• I cannot see my way out of this, so I have to learn to cope.
  
  
• What will I do tomorrow?
  
  

Focus on:

• There IS a better way than this, and with God’s help I will find it!
  
  
• I was born to conquer, not to cope.
  
  
• I believe God can give me the ideas I need to do something to leverage my way to a better life.
  

I believe that poverty is passed on from generation to generation when a negative and “poor me” mindset is cultivated. In the same way riches can be passed from generation to generation when the mindsets that are taught by example in the home are positive and of the “you can do it” nature.

I look forward to seeing your comments on this subject. It would be great if you created a post on your blog also about this subject.

Let’s have a Blog Action Day, every day, and while you are blogging do check out your own mindset for hidden “minefields” of negative thinking.