Emotional Courtrooms & Mental Poverty

Opening Thought

We often talk about being wronged. We replay what they did, how they lied, how they left, how they took advantage. But how often do we take a pause and look at the things we’ve done? We want grace but still hold grudges. We want release but keep people locked in emotional courtrooms we’ve built in our minds.

What Scripture Says

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” — Proverbs 11:24

Reflection

This week has been a living example of how hoarding bitterness, entitlement, or a grudge leads to poverty—not just in the wallet, but in the soul.

It’s wild how we’ll say, “I paid my dues,” “That’s not my responsibility,” or “They don’t deserve my help,” and yet cry out to God for breakthrough in the same breath. But spiritual laws don’t bend for our feelings. We can’t withhold love, forgiveness, or generosity and still expect to live in overflow.

The thing is, we don’t want to be held hostage by people’s memories of who we used to be. We don’t want anyone replaying our mistakes or holding us captive in their judgment. But how often are we doing that very thing to someone else? We forget our own flaws when it’s time to extend grace. We become amnesiacs with selective memory.

This kind of mental poverty, a mindset that rehearses betrayal more than freedom, that spends more time tallying offenses than sowing mercy, is why so many stay stuck. Spiritually dry. Financially strained. Emotionally guarded.

But healing starts with release.

Closing Thought

God cannot bless closed hands. Whether it’s our money, our time, our love, or our forgiveness, if we withhold, we block the very blessings we claim to be praying for. The courtroom in your mind may feel justified, but it’s costing you peace, power, and provision.

Maybe today is the day to release it all.

Maybe that’s the beginning of real wealth