I’m going to start off this teaching by reading a letter written from a certain individual to his future son-in-law.

"Dear Shane, I have been unable to sleep since I broke off your engagement to my daughter. Will you forgive and forget? I was much too sensitive about your Mohawk, tattoos and pierced nose. I now realize that motorcycles aren’t really that dangerous, and I really should not have reacted that way to the fact that you have never held a job. I am sure, too, that some other very nice people live under the bridge in the park. Sure, my daughter is only 18 and wants to marry you instead of going to Harvard on full scholarship. After all, you can’t learn everything about life from books. I sometimes forget how backward I can be. I was wrong. I was a fool. I have now come to my senses, and you have my full blessing to marry my daughter. Sincerely, Robert, your future father-in-law. P.S. Congratulations on winning this week’s lottery."

This is a teaching on Multiple Streams of Income, but playing the lottery is not a part of achieving that. What we are going to be showing you tonight is how to break the strongholds in our minds that prevent us from achieving God’s best for our financial future. We want to encourage and empower you by the Holy Spirit to overcome the obstacles you face, are you ready for that? That’s why statistics show that most people who do win the lottery end up losing it all within a couple of years. They haven’t changed what’s in their minds. So that’s why before we even begin to implement any teachings on wealth and money, we have to get our mindsets right. This will be a different kind of teaching, but we have to get this out of the way before we can proceed with more of the practical applications of wealth-building we’ll be covering in the rest of this series.

As we discussed last week, God is going to give each of us our own unique ideas and divinely inspired concepts and insights, if we DON’T ALLOW THE FINANCIAL STRONGHOLDS BUILT INTO OUR MINDS KEEP US FROM IMPLEMENTING IT, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about tonight.

II Corinthians 10: 4-5 says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh), but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ."

Quoting such a Scripture may seem to be an odd beginning for a teaching on Multiple Streams of Income, but the Truth is this Scripture holds a major key to our success in our entire financial future. Until we grasp the meaning of strongholds and how it relates to our finances, our businesses, our entrepreneurial ideas, and even our outlook on life, we may be stuck spinning our wheels because we will not have dealt with our worst enemy – our mind.

The Scripture also tells us in Romans 12:2 to "be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," but II Corinthians 2:16 says "we have the mind of Christ." Now, wait a minute! That sounds like a contradiction. If we have the mind of Christ, what needs to be renewed? We have to rid ourselves of the strongholds we have built in our carnal mind. So we have to ask the question, What are Strongholds?

Strongholds are automatic, practiced, habitual ways of thinking – a practiced way of thinking built into us or perhaps learned as a child. They are basically lies that are sown into our thought patterns which, as we accept them and believe them, become reality to us. And you know the scripture says in Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinks in his heart, [what?] so is he." Proverbs 4:23 says that out of the heart proceeds the issues of life. Jesus made many statements saying the same thing as these two verses in Proverbs. Really think about that. Out of the heart proceeds the issues of life. So what is really taking place, rather than life proceeding in some happenstance way, life is actually being formed out of the beliefs in our hearts. We are literally reaching out into the future and preparing the road that we are going to walk on by what is in our hearts. Who you think you are in your heart is who you are going to be.

What you think is real is your reality. We all know John 1:14, which says, "The Word became flesh," but think about that in the context of what we’re speaking about here, and if it does you like it did me, it jumped off the page to me. The Word became flesh; in other words, whatever you think and say is real becomes your reality.

I’m sure most of you have heard about the book and DVD called "The Secret," which is definitely from a secular point of view, to say the least. There are some things I don’t agree with in The Secret, but there are many things I DO agree with. The bottom line is that the message in this book and movie really is no secret, because much of it has been in the Word all along. If you have seen or read The Secret (or even if you haven’t for that matter), you must get the book by Pastor Ed Gungor called "There’s More To The Secret," which is an excellent book that brings the much-needed balance to the original.

The premise of the book and movie is what they call the Law of Attraction, which basically says that whatever happens in your life is a result of what you are thinking about. Yes, there is truth to that. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Out of the heart proceeds the issues of life. The Bible also calls it "sowing and reaping." Put corn seed in the ground and you’ll get a harvest of corn. Sow seeds of fear in your mind and you will reap fear-filled events. Whatever you think and say is real becomes your reality, whether that’s positive or negative…