Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
The Lord woke me up Saturday, a week ago, in the early morning hours, around 3AM, to teach me a concept which religion has made complex, but God made simple. “A focus on thanksgiving, praise, and blessing removes lack of anything from one’s life.” When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the Garden of Eden which was filled with great abundance as described in Genesis 2. Adam and Eve lacked absolutely nothing. God provided an infinite supply of everything to them in the Garden. satan comes along in Genesis 3 and convinces Eve that she is missing something. The first temptation was to focus on lack. The way to lose what one has is to focus on what one doesn’t have. satan knew that if he could get Eve to pay attention to her perceived lack long enough, she would set her intentions on what her attention was paying attention to in the Garden. The thing that would eventually cause her Spiritual and physical death is what satan got Eve to focus on through subtlety. It is no different with us today. Jesus teaches us in John 10:10 that “the thief,” who is satan, WILL NOT COME UNLESS he “can steal, kill, and destroy.” Is he able to steal, kill, and destroy you through wrong thinking?
II Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Let’s break down II Corinthians 11:3:
The Greek word for “beguiled” is “exepatesen,” and it means “deceived, led astray.”
The Greek word for “corrupted” is “phthare,” and it means “spoiled, ruined, deprived of integrity.”
The Greek word for “simplicity” is “haplotetos,” and it means “singleness, purity, sincerity of devotion.”
Paul warns that the danger is the corruption of good—the privation of pure devotion to Christ through wrong thinking. Let me explain “privation.” Augustine of Hippo developed this definition, or theory, in the 4th and 5th centuries, which is mainstream today, in Christian theology and thinking. After leaving Manichaeism (which taught evil was a co-eternal substance), Augustine embraced Christianity and began rethinking evil as a privation of good. It is the absence, lack, or corruption of a good that ought to be present in a thing. It is not a substance or created entity but a deficiency in the fullness of being, order, or goodness. Ok, I can see we’re scratching our head wondering, “what did he just say?” Let me define “privation” another way. Evil is not a created substance or thing but the absence or corruption of good in something that ought to possess it.” For instance, darkness is not a creation. It is a lack of light. Poverty is not a creation. It is a lack of right thinking. Evil is not a creation. It is the lack of righteousness.
It is very important we as Believers understand privation because it is the fundamental building block of evil:
It is not a substance. Privation is not “something” in itself; it exists only as a lack.
It is relative to good. It is measured against what should be present (e.g., blindness is privation of sight).
It is dependent. Privation cannot exist apart from good—it is parasitic on the good it diminishes.
There are moral and natural dimensions to privation:
• Moral privation = absence of righteousness (sin).
• Natural privation = absence of order or health (disease, chaos).
II Corinthians 11:3 illustrates the privation principle: evil, or sin, is not a created substance but the corruption of good through wrong thinking and doing. Just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s subtlety, Believers risk losing the fullness of devotion to Christ when their minds are deprived of The Truth. As we’ll see, the antidote to privation is thanksgiving, praise, and blessing, which restores the mind to wholeness, removes absence, and guards against corruption.
Hebrew Thinking
• Creation is fullness: God creates light, order, life, blessing.
• Absence is deficiency: Darkness, sin, poverty are not “created things” but conditions of lack.
• Language of privation: Hebrew roots often describe evil as “crooked,” “empty,” “missing,” or “without.”
• Theological implication: Only God creates; evil and lack are parasitic, dependent on the absence of God’s good order.
Let’s look at Sin as Absence
• Hebrew often defines sin in terms of missing the mark:
• Word: (ḥāṭā’) = “to miss, to fail.”
• This is not a substance but a failure to hit the target of righteousness.
• Another word: (‘āwōn) = “iniquity, crookedness.”
• Again, it is not a created entity but a distortion of the straight path.
• Thus, sin in Hebrew thought is deficiency or deviation, not a rival creation.
Let’s look at Poverty/Financial Struggle as Absence
• Hebrew wisdom often frames poverty as the lack of wisdom or diligence:
• Proverbs 10:4: “Lazy hands make for poverty.”
• Word: (rēsh) = poverty, want.
• It is not a “thing” but the absence of resources due to lack of right action or thinking.
• The Hebrew concept of shalom (peace, wholeness) is fullness; poverty is the lack of shalom in material life.
We are programmed from the time we are young that wealth is inherently evil and poverty is inherently good. God shows us repeatedly that wealth is inherently good and poverty is inherently evil. Remember Jesus saying, “the poor you will have with you always.” Why? Because there are people like Eve that satan will subtly mislead into wrong thinking. They accept and dwell in the lies of satan, and when they try to escape, satan condemns them into believing they are not worthy of God’s blessing, that they don’t measure up, that they don’t meet the criteria. No one does. Only through Jesus’ finished redemptive works does anyone qualify.
God creates limitlessness through speech, but satan creates lack through stealing. satan can’t create because he’s death. He can only pervert that which God created. If satan gets one focused on lack, something they perceive they lack, satan can steal even that which one has (Matthew 25:29). The more attuned and knowledgeable we are to God’s Word, the more we can create abundance.
God creates legacies through sovereignty; satan collapses legacies through lies. Parasites can’t live without a host. Tares among the wheat. Why? Because tares must have wheat, a host, to grow. A parasite steals, kills, and destroys.
God created us to have, God commanded us to have, and God collaborates with us to have wealth as we yield to His sovereign reign over our lives. Matthew 6:33 – I yield my life to and serve a sovereign King Whom I have fellowship with every day. He gives me an assignment to rule over as the sovereign king of that assignment, and I use that assignment to serve every human being I encounter each day. When one does this, all the things the world worries about will be added unto me.
Luke 9:62
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for The Kingdom of God.
James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Matthew 25:29
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
WHERE IS OUR FOCUS?
If we focus on sin, we sin. If we focus on praise, thanksgiving, and blessing of The Lord, we walk in His righteousness and manifest the fruits of His righteousness. It is impossible to focus on abundance and lack at the same time. It is impossible to focus on God and mammon at the same time.
How thanksgiving, praise, and blessing function as remedies to privation—removing lack, corruption, or wrong thinking by restoring fullness of good.
Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name.
Psalm 34:1
I will bless The LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 145:18
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in Truth.
Hebrews 13:15
By Him [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name.
I Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Scriptural Foundations
1. Thanksgiving Restores Perspective
Philippians 4:6–7
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• Thanksgiving shifts the mind from lack (anxiety) to fullness (peace).
• It removes wrong thinking by re-centering the heart on God’s sufficiency.
Colossians 3:15–17
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let The Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to The Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of The Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and The Father by Him.
• Gratitude is the antidote to discontent, which is a corruption of good.
• Thanksgiving reorients the mind toward abundance.
2. Praise Replaces Darkness with Light
Psalm 22:3
But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
• Praise establishes God’s presence, which dispels the absence of good.
• Where praise is, wrong thinking (fear, despair) cannot remain.
Isaiah 61:3
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of The LORD, that He might be glorified.
• Praise is a divine exchange: heaviness (privation or lack of joy) is replaced with fullness of praise.
• Wrong thinking rooted in despair is displaced by The Truth.
3. Blessing Restores Order
Numbers 6:24–26
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
• Blessing is the impartation of divine order and fullness.
• It removes lack by speaking God’s wholeness (shalom) over chaos.
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of The LORD, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.
• Blessing cancels poverty (absence of provision) and wrong thinking about scarcity.
• It affirms God’s abundance.
Therefore, these practices are not just emotional responses—they are Spiritual disciplines that restore fullness where privation exists. In practice, these disciplines remove wrong thinking by reorienting the heart and mind toward God’s fullness, thereby overcoming the corruption of good with the presence of divine Truth.
Privation’s Consequences
• Just as darkness is absence of light, here corruption is absence of simplicity in Christ.
• The serpent did not “create” evil in Eve; he distorted Truth and introduced wrong thinking. This led to evil.
• Wrong thinking = privation or lack of righteousness in the mind.
• The result: minds are “corrupted” (deprived of wholeness) when they lose focus on Christ.
Remedy: Thanksgiving, Praise, Blessing
Paul’s concern in II Corinthians 11:3 ties directly to the disciplines we’ve discussed:
• Thanksgiving → keeps the mind anchored in God’s goodness, preventing deception by scarcity or lack.
• Praise → enthrones God in the heart, displacing wrong thinking with Truth.
• Blessing → speaks fullness and order, counteracting the serpent’s distortion.
Where these practices are present, the mind is guarded from corruption and remains in the simplicity of Christ.
In closing, we must remember, and guard ourselves. We’re not victims of our circumstances, our environments, the way we were raised, or even our wrongdoings. We’re the product of our thoughts and words. Remember what Proverbs 23:7 tells us. “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What we dwell on in our hearts and minds is what will come from us when we are under pressure.
Much love in Christ Jesus,
Larry