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The Curse Was Never the Plan: How to Break the Curse of Lack

The Curse Was Never the Plan: How to Break the Curse of Lack

by Kevin Ortiz

Books Christianity

Season 1

CHAPTER 12 - The Tree by the River

In this final chapter, “The Tree by the River,” the book closes with a powerful picture of what it means to live a truly blessed life. Drawing from Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17, the author compares a person who trusts God to a tree planted beside a river. The tree still experiences heat and drought, but its roots reach deeper than the circumstances around it. The message is clear: blessing does not mean a life without hardship; it means being deeply rooted in God through every season. The chapter then brings the book’s central theme full circle. God’s blessing was never meant to stop with one person. As promised to Abraham, “you will be a blessing to others.” In Christ, that blessing flows outward through generosity, wisdom, faithful work, businesses, families, churches, caregiving, justice, hospitality, prayer, and service. The author reminds listeners that a blessed life doesn't necessarily look like wealth, fame, or comfort. It may look like peace around a dinner table, a business providing fair employment, a church handling resources responsibly, a missionary being supported, or simply someone remaining faithful through suffering. The stories of ordinary people, and the author's reflections on Carlos Ortiz and the television ministry that reached twenty-nine stations, illustrate how something planted in one place can eventually provide shade for people far beyond its origin. The chapter ends with a commissioning: don't live merely to receive the blessing; become a channel through which God's grace reaches others. We are encouraged to plant things whose fruit we may never personally enjoy, trusting that someone in the future may benefit from what we faithfully begin today.

CHAPTER 11 - When the Blessing Comes: Keeping What God Gives

This episode explores what happens after the blessing comes. Receiving greater resources, influence, success, or opportunity is not the end of spiritual formation, it introduces a new set of temptations. Through Uzziah, Hezekiah, Solomon, Job, and Boaz, the episode shows that abundance itself is not the problem. The danger is allowing success to produce pride, self-sufficiency, isolation, misplaced trust, or forgetfulness of God. The harvest can be more spiritually dangerous than the drought because prosperity can make dependence on God easier to forget. The episode challenges us to prepare for increase before it arrives: remain accountable, practice wise privacy, plan for generosity, welcome honest correction, and keep our resources under God's authority. Ultimately, the goal is not merely to receive the blessing, but to remain faithful enough to carry it without allowing it to become our master.

CHAPTER 10 - Blessed to Be a Blessing: Funding the Gospel in a Short Hour

This episode explores the power of God-given vision and faithful generosity. We discover that God enlarges us not simply for personal success, but so we can carry greater responsibility and become a blessing to others. Through Abram, Joseph, Nehemiah, William Carey, and the story of a man planting mango trees, we see how vision gives purpose to today’s decisions and can create a legacy beyond our lifetime. The episode then turns to funding the gospel, emphasizing that giving is participation, not a purchase or a way to force God’s blessing. Whether through money, time, skills, prayer, or service, every willing contribution can help carry God’s work farther. The ultimate goal is not wealth, but faithful stewardship: receiving what God entrusts, using it wisely, and allowing it to become a blessing to others.

CHAPTER 9 - The Lack of Vision: Receiving Direction Without Forcing the Future

This episode explores vision as receiving God’s direction without trying to control the future. It explains that true vision is a God-given picture of a possible future that shapes faithful decisions today—not ambition, fantasy, or pressure. Through Abraham, Joseph, Nehemiah, Habakkuk, William Carey, and the parable of the man who planted mango trees, it emphasizes that vision requires faith, patience, honest assessment, wise counsel, responsible action, and a willingness to wait when the timing is unclear. Ultimately, God’s enlargement is not measured by wealth or status, but by greater responsibility, service, purpose, and the ability to use whatever He entrusts for the good of others.

CHAPTER 8 - Faith: Acting on What God Said Before You See It

This episode is about faith, acting on what God has said before you see the outcome. It explores how faith is not positive thinking, presumption, or the absence of fear, but trusting God enough to take the next faithful step even when circumstances look impossible. Through the stories of the four lepers, Abraham, the widow of Zarephath, Isaac, Peter, and others, the episode shows that faith works alongside wisdom, courage, patience, and action. It also acknowledges that disappointment can wound faith, and that rebuilding trust in God may require grief, counsel, rest, and time. The central message is simple: faith does not guarantee a particular outcome; it responds to God’s word with obedience. We are called to discern what God has actually said, refuse to let fear or past disappointment have the final word, and take the next faithful step. Like Peter’s response to Jesus, the posture of faith is: “But if you say so.”

CHAPTER 7 - The Lack of Character: Becoming Someone Heaven Can Trust

This episode explores the importance of character and becoming someone others can trust. It looks at faithfulness in small things, honesty, keeping our word, and stewarding what God and others place in our hands. Through biblical examples and practical lessons, the episode shows that character is not about earning God’s favor, but about allowing Christ to form integrity in us so that our lives can become a blessing to others.

CHAPTER 6 - The Lack of Discipline: Doing It When You Don’t Feel Like It

This episode focuses on the lack of discipline, learning to keep doing what is wise even after the initial motivation fades. Discipline is described as practiced faithfulness: returning to a wise commitment when you no longer feel like doing it. The episode stresses that discipline does not earn God’s grace; rather, grace enables us to faithfully steward what is already in our hands. Through examples of Nehemiah, Paul, John Wesley, and the parable of the mended net, the episode shows how consistent preparation, boundaries, and small repeated actions can produce lasting results. It also makes an important distinction: discipline is not about shame, exhaustion, or pretending hardship is always our fault. The practical message is to start small, build repeatable habits, make wise choices easier through systems, seek support, and protect your priorities. Ultimately, discipline makes faithfulness dependable, not to prove that we deserve God’s blessing, but to help us use what we have to serve others.

CHAPTER 5 - The Lack of Understanding: Knowing Who You Are

This episode focuses on the lack of understanding: knowing who you are and seeing your situation clearly. Using Mephibosheth, the older brother, Hagar, and Gideon, it shows how a person can have access to God’s grace and provision while still living according to an old, limited picture of themselves. The episode emphasizes that in Christ, believers are God’s children and heirs, and understanding begins with recognizing that identity rather than trying to earn a place that God has already given. A wrong self-image can affect how people ask, receive, lead, negotiate, and respond to opportunities. The practical message is to renew your understanding through Scripture and prayer, stop using limiting statements about yourself, take responsible steps forward, learn to receive appropriately, and refuse to let fear make every decision. Ultimately, knowing who you are in God frees you to live and give beyond mere self-protection.

CHAPTER 4 - The Lack of Wisdom: Knowing What to Do Next

This episode focuses on the lack of wisdom as one of the major barriers to lasting financial progress. Wisdom is defined as knowing how to apply what you already have, not simply having intelligence or information. The episode emphasizes that more money cannot solve poor financial habits if there is no system to manage and sustain it. Through examples such as Joseph, Solomon, and Robert LeTourneau, the episode shows how wisdom, planning, discipline, and stewardship can turn opportunities into lasting results. The central message is that God gives wisdom generously when we ask, but we must also act on it by making practical decisions, creating systems, seeking wise counsel, and preparing for future opportunities.

CHAPTER 3 - The Spirit of Lack Has Six Doors

This episode explains “the spirit of lack” as a mindset of insufficiency that influences how people think, make decisions, and manage what they have. It argues that financial struggles are not necessarily a sign of God’s punishment, and that lasting change requires addressing internal areas rather than simply receiving more money. The episode identifies six doors that can block financial progress: wisdom, understanding, discipline, character, faith, and vision. Each affects how a person receives, manages, and grows what God places in their hands.

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