An Abundant Life

abundant  1. present in great quantity; more than adequate; over-sufficient: an abundant supply of water.

By a matchless parable our Lord there taught us that all believers are branches of the Living Vine, and that, apart from Him we are nothing and can do nothing because we have in us no life.  A.T. Pierson

What do you consider an abundant life?  Do you have or live one? 

When I looked up the definition of abundant the phrase that struck me was “over-sufficient”.  If you look at that from a worldly perspective, most of us have an over-sufficient life.  We have a home, plenty of food to eat, cars to drive and sometimes we have multiples of some things in our life. 

If we look at it from Jesus’ perspective we have an over-sufficient life in things that are not important.  Jesus came so that we would have an abundant life but His coming wasn’t so that we could have more stuff.  Isaiah 55:1-3 offers a definition of what an abundant life means from a heavenly perspective. 

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear, and come to Me.  Isaiah 55:1-3

If I am living my life from a worldly perspective instead of a heavenly perspective, I will never see the abundant life Jesus offers. 

        

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You promise that I can have an abundant life, yet too many times my idea of an abundant life is very different from what you intended. I thirst for You and You promise Living Waters.  Thank You for Your Son who died so that I may live abundantly, not with the satisfaction of life here on earth, but the satisfaction of a life with You in Heaven.   

   

Scripture:  Jesus the Good Shepherd

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.  I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  John 10:7-10

77 Percent

There will be no "knights in shining armor" in God's kingdom; our armor will have many dings and dents. No, no perfect Hollywood heroes will ride in to save the day; just wearied saints who look to God and, in weakness, find Christ's strength. This, indeed, is the essence of God's kingdom: divine greatness manifest in common people.  Francis Frangipane

A new poll finds that 77 percent of Americans think religion is losing influence on everyday life.  This was on the news this morning as I was getting ready for work.  The report stated that this is the highest rate since the late 1960’s.

This is not hard to believe when you watch the news daily and see the atrocities that humans commit against each other.  When we begin to accept that it is ok to remove “In God We Trust” from the very foundation of what makes this country, we are increasing that percentage each day.

I often ask myself why we turn to God during terrible circumstances but not when things are good in our lives.  Many times I think it is because we become complacent.  When terrorists bombed the Twin Towers in New York the majority of the country turned to God to ask why and in the next instant we asked Him for help.  Why do we stop praising Him when things get better and then blame Him when the tragedy comes? 

If only 23% of the American population thinks that God has influence on their lives then we are in trouble.  If I don’t believe in Him, the One who created me, at all times then what hope do I have in this world or the next.  When I think of the enormity of where many people of this world will spend eternity it scares me.  This is an enormous task we are faced with and it does become a daunting task if we are trying to do it without God. 

We can bring others to Christ with God’s strength or our own.  It would be like fighting a giant with a sling-shot and a rock and not winning. Maybe we could do it by building a boat where a body of water doesn’t exist.  How about feeding four thousand with a loaf of bread and a few fish? Jesus came to earth in human form to save us.  I don’t want my life to be wasted.  I believe there is much more work to be done and we are the only chance some people will have to reach heaven.  

   

We must first understand our weakness without Him.  If we want to bring others to Christ, we must first “believe” that God can do it through us and then we must “pursue” it with everything in us.    

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I know that through Your strength I can do things that I never dreamed.  Your ways are not ours and I need to be reminded daily of Your Greatness.  Help me to pursue others for You.  I understand I can’t do it on my own.  You are my strength and my salvation.   

                    

Scripture: Job: God’s Final Judgment and Glory

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12

Be All You Can Be

Any time we open ourselves up to fear, we fall prey to his deceptions and intimidations. Yet, if we submit our hearts to God and stand in faith, we can resist those first fearful thoughts. As we yield to God we can master our reactions to fear and the enemy will soon flee.  Francis Frangipane

My middle sister and I went to high school together.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school with my oldest sister as she had graduated before I started, and I graduated before my younger brother started. 

Anyway, when I was a sophomore my sister was a junior.  We joined our marching group and at the time my sister was a Junior Co-Captain.  I decided to try to follow in her footsteps.  You had to try out for the various captain positions and to this day I don’t know how I was able to get through the try-outs.  I was extremely shy, (you can’t say that about me today), and there were several things you had to do in try-outs.  You had to make up a hand-routine, (this was kind of like a mime with gloves on), give a speech, do a marching routine and blow all the whistle commands. 

Here is this skinny, extremely shy teenager who is going to get up in front of 150 girls and sponsors and give a speech, do routines and not pass out from sheer terror.  This is the thing.  In my freshman year I tried out for Junior Co-Captain and I didn’t make it.  You would have thought I would have stopped there.  I didn’t.  The next year when my sister was a Senior Co-Captain I was determined to try out again.  I guess failure didn’t sit well with me, so that year I tried out again. 

That was the year I came out of my shell.  I was no longer this shy introverted person.  I overcame my fear of rejection.  I had already lost the previous year so what made me think I would win the next one.  I like to think that was God working in me.  The coolest thing about this whole thing was when I tried out the second time I received enough votes to become Senior Co-Captain and the even cooler thing was I took my sister’s place when she graduated.  They had a ceremony that took place when the votes were counted and my sister symbolically passed her whistle on to me.  That is one of the best memories I have of high school.  Not only had I accomplished something I never thought I could do, but I had a special memory with my sister. 

God created us to become more than we ever think is possible.  The moment of try outs for me was filled with fear.  My fear was so great that I thought when I stepped out in front of the crowd that I would freeze, pass out or hyperventilate and not be able to say a word.  The weird thing is I don’t remember the faces of everyone looking on.  I had practiced so long and hard that it just came to me without thinking about it.  Isn’t that the very thing God wants from us.  He wants us to meditate on His word every day so that when we are called to step out in faith, we will not hesitate.  Don’t let fear interfere with God’s purpose in your life.

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, what better way to praise You than to live my life for You.  The memories of years gone by have taught me that You created each of us with a purpose in mind.  Your purpose can only be fulfilled if we step out in faith.  This faith will only come if I am willing to set aside my fear and walk toward You.  Thank you for helping me to be all that I can be for You.

Scripture:   Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:17-19

Do Not Be Anxious   

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. ~Corrie Ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook

I have a tendency to become anxious about things and often the very things I become anxious about never happen.  I wonder how much time I have wasted in my lifetime worrying about things that didn’t matter or never happened. 

If I decide to hold fast to Christ when anxiety overtakes me in effect I replay Christ’s victory on the cross and therefore I defeat the evil forces of Satan.  Peter said it best this way, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.  Instead, be very glad—because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory when it is displayed to all the world.”  (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Of course this is easier said than done.  It is easy to say, give it over to the Lord but then we have all these worldly influences that allow anxiety to creep back in.  It would be great if we had a Satan filter.  Kind of like a coffee filter that you wear on our head that keeps the Satan stuff from getting in and then you replace the filter every day with a new one. 

The thing is we have an excellent filter available to us at any time.  God is our filter.  He is the one who can filter out the worldly garbage that can come in the form of the things people say and do to us.  The difficult part is determining what is good and what is bad and sometimes what we think is bad, (as in trials), really are for our benefit.  God sometimes intends for us to benefit from the difficult things in life.  But He tells us not to be anxious.  He tells us in “everything”, not just the big things but the minor things as well, through supplication and thanksgiving, give your requests to Him.  It doesn’t say he will take away all the bad things it says “peace” will guard our hearts and minds through Jesus.  This means God will be with us through it.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often become anxious over things that never happen.  That is when Satan wins.  Help me to rely on You alone for my comfort and peace.  I also praise you for the trials in my life because I am a better person for having survived the trials of life.  Please give me Your peace.

Scripture:  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.  Philippians 4:6-9

Cash Back

Thank God for the battle verses in the Bible. We go into the unknown every day of our lives, and especially every Monday morning, for the week is sure to be a battlefield, outwardly and inwardly in the unseen life of the spirit, which is often by far the sternest battlefield for souls. Either way, the Lord your God goes before you, He shall fight for you!  Amy Carmichael

Have you ever really thought about cash back?  You know the commercials that advertise you can get cash back on tires, gas, groceries etc….   The commercial is intended to make you spend more but they make it sound so enticing.  It is kind of ironic don’t you think that they sell us on buying more so you can get something back that is less than what you spent.

In reality they are trying to convince us that the more you spend the more you save.  What kind of thinking is that?  I am currently reading a book about business.  In the book it talks about how every transaction that we do in business should be a win-win-win for everyone involved.  What does that mean?  It means that the business owner is not in it just to make money.  If you run your business with a win-win-win theory, it means that the business owner wins, the supplier for the business wins and the customer wins.  What a concept. 

What normally happens is companies are greedy so they do whatever it takes to win.  This means they will cheat the customer, charge outrageous prices or take advantage of their suppliers.  In this case with credit cards they will charge extremely high interest rates so that they can offer cash back.  They want you to think you are making money by using your credit card. 

Let’s take furniture for an example.  Most furniture stores mark up an item by at least 80% or more.  So here is where it gets interesting.  They will run a promotion and mark the item back down to give the illusion that the consumer is getting a great deal when in reality they are just reducing the amount of profit they will make on the item.  How about this trick?  Most retailers put the sales items at the back of the store so that there is a good chance of you making an impulse buy before you ever get to the sale items.  Retailers in furniture will often use a maze layout to increase the chances that as you wander through the maze you will see something you can’t live without and impulsively buy.  There is even a retailer that sets up their store so you have to walk all the way through the entire store before you reach the check-out line.  What they don’t advertise is that there are various shortcuts throughout the building but you will probably miss those because they are hidden.

I am not trying to pick on the furniture retailers.  You find the same thing in car showrooms, grocery stores, gas stations and all sorts of businesses.  God never intended for us to use greed as a motivator for business.  God intended us to own businesses but our intent should not be to make the most we can make and cheat others.  God’s perfect plan is for us to charge a reasonable price and in that perfect plan the customer will return because they are not being cheated.  If everything I own is God’s, how can I use it to cheat others to get ahead.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am often guilty of not being prepared.  You give me the best tool, the Bible, to help me in the preparation for the biggest battle of my life.  Help me to use it to overcome Satan when he attacks.  I am fighting for eternity and I want to win.   

Scripture:

“When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.  When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 

And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing. Deuteronomy 24:10-22

So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? 

Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”  Deuteronomy 31:24-29

Make Me Broken

Learn this lesson: not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ to make you repent; not to come to Christ because you have a broken heart, but to come to Him that He may give you a broken heart; not to come to Him because you are fit to come, but to come to Him because you are unfit to come. Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification is your lack of qualification.  Charles Spurgeon

Have you ever prayed to be broken?  Brokenness is not fun and it isn’t meant to be.  Brokenness means we are at the bottom not the top.  In our humanness we want to be unbroken and untouched where tragedy and trouble don’t happen.  The problem is if we remain unbroken we often will never see God as the Redeemer of brokenness.

There have been many times in my life when I was broken and I admit I never prayed for it.  The thing I have since learned is that God loved me enough to allow me to be broken whether I wanted it or not.  One of the definitions I read about the word brokenness is that it means to not function properly or to be out of working order. 

What does brokenness do for us? It helps us to understand that we can’t do it on our own.  Our strength is not enough and never will be enough.  It brings us to the end of ourselves.  When we are at the end of me we are then free to accept that we can’t do it alone and we are then able to look up.  God never intended for us to go on this journey alone.  He wants us to turn to Him but sometimes we won’t do that until we learn that He is the only one that can help us. If we allow pride or selfishness to stand in our way, then we will never see God in the proper light.  

Too many times when we are in the midst of trouble and sorrow, the first thing we do is look for an escape.  How many times have you asked yourself “If I can just escape the pain I will be fine”?  If you have ever done that and then later looked back, you will probably find that you didn’t learn much from the escape.  The times that I learned the most and became the closest to my Creator was when I didn’t escape and went through it.  If your escape includes going around, over or under the obstacle; stop what you are doing and look up.  God will help you through it if you will let Him.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have been broken over and over again in my life.  The one thing I know above everything else is that You held me when I was broken.  You loved me through it all.  If I had never been broken, I would never have seen You as my Savior and Redeemer.  I praise You for my brokenness because it helped me to know what Your love is and if brokenness draws me closer to You, then I am thankful.

Scripture:  The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.  Psalm 147:2-6

Imperfection

Imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.  Philip Yancey

The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is "Christ in you."... Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me.  Oswald Chambers

Do you ever strive for perfection in things that you do?  It might be in your job, your family life or any number of things.  I admit I struggle with this on a daily basis.  I work in a busy environment with a lot of things going on every day.  This alone hinders the chance of ever doing anything perfect by the mere fact that it is busy.  Then I have the outside influences like other people who may thwart my pursuit of perfection. Have you ever worked with someone who you depended on to get you figures for a report or information to complete the report where you have a deadline to meet and they failed to meet the deadline?  It can be frustrating.

One of the things that I see happening more and more is the fact that there are so many different generations working together.  There are all kinds of studies and names assigned to the different generations.  For the purpose of this devotional I will call them by my own made up names, “Advanced in Years” or AIY, “On the Downhill Side” or ODS, and “Not Yet Over the Hill” or NYOH. So when a NYOH starts working with a ODS there are some things that occur due to the age difference.  An NYOH doesn’t like working with a time clock, whereas an ODS only knows how to work with a time clock.  So when you try to get these two to work together there can be problems.  You have an ODS who is always on time and an NYOH who shows up whenever.  The thing is they will both get the job done just not the same way or in the same timeframe. Too many times I expect perfection from the other person and when they aren’t I am disappointed.  Why should I expect perfection from another, when I understand and know that I am not perfect?

One of the things I have learned about perfection is that it has taught me how imperfect I am.  I will say, this is a very humbling experience.  When I begin to see the imperfections in myself, I can then more easily see and accept the imperfections in another. The most important statement I read about myself is the following:

“A person demanding perfect justice and fairness will always feel dissatisfied and will tend to be more preoccupied with getting their just treatment than they are with loving and being loved.” If I give up my right for fairness and justice, I can then begin to live in grace."    

     

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have pursued perfection in my life over and over again. Father, I pray for you to make me weak, because You tell me that in my weakness, I am strong.  Thank you for having patience with me when I fail you over and over again.  I want to be like Jesus, but I know my failings.  Help me to work on the things I can change about me to become more like You.

Scripture: And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:7-10