The day after my last blog entry, God began pressing another
topic into my heart. A scripture
began looping in my head and at one point it became so overwhelming that I knew
I needed to share it.
“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 10:10 (NKJV)
The word “abundantly” also continued to dominate my
thoughts. What does abundantly or
abundance mean? In my opinion, I
would define its meaning as “more than” or “in addition to” or “in excess or
surplus.” Basically, to have
abundance, is to not only have what you need, but to have so much more, even
enough to be a blessing to others.
Think about the time when Jesus fed five thousand people
with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
I just want to stop and marinate on this for a bit.
The disciples only had FIVE loaves of bread and TWO fish.
And after Jesus blessed the food, giving thanks to God, they
were able to feed five THOUSAND people.
Not only that, but they had plenty of food left over. They had a surplus. They had more than they needed. They had abundance!
So they all ate and
were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that
remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women
and children.
~Matthew 14:20-21
Think about the times when we have prayed and asked God for
something. When He blessed us, did
He simply give us the bare minimum?
No!
When God blesses us, He ALWAYS gives us more than what we
can ever ask or think. Just like
Scripture says, God always blesses us in excess:
Now to Him who is
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to
the power that works in us,
~Ephesians 3:20
And so when this topic of
abundance came to mind, one question persisted above any other:
If Jesus lived and died so we
could live more abundantly, why do we continue to enslave ourselves?
God had first posed this question
directly to me in order to challenge my current mindset. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you
know God has been preparing me for my next level of blessings….blessings that
would be more than what I could ever ask or imagine. Blessings that would be in abundance. In this question, God challenged me to
really look at my current level of spiritual maturity. More specifically, He had challenged my
level of trust and faith in Him.
You see, God had shown me a
glimpse of the magnitude of my blessings and unfortunately, I had unconsciously
gravitated back to fear. But God
didn’t want me going backwards, so He quickly posed that very question:
“My daughter, why do you continue
to enslave yourself when I brought you salvation through My Son?”
I had to do some serious
self-reflection:
Why did I doubt myself (when I
have Jesus working in me)?
Why did I revert back to fear
(when God didn’t give me a heart of fear)?
Why did I limit myself (which
consequently would limit God’s powers working in me through Jesus)?
Why did I continue to enslave myself-
remain confined to the limits of this world- when Jesus freed me thousand of
years ago?
SN: God really does know how to
ask some deep questions (in the
most gentle and loving way J)!
Where God is taking me, He
revealed, among other things, I had to also leave fear behind.
Fear is never from God. Enslavement is never from God. He never dwells in places where those
things reside. And so, if I wanted
to dwell where God was… if I wanted to go where God was leading me, I had to
leave behind the very things not of God.
After I resolved to do just that,
He pushed this question even further into my heart.
Why do we continue to enslave
ourselves when Jesus died so that we could live more abundantly?
While this question does apply to
non-believers, I really felt pressured to speak to my brothers and sisters who
are in Christ.
We have this precious gift of
salvation. This gift gives us
freedom. This gift has broken the
very chains the rulers of this world sought to keep us in. So why do we struggle to embrace this
liberty? Why do we struggle to
really live as if we’re free?
In my opinion, Simon, one of the
twelve apostles, provided great examples of living as if he was really free
through Jesus. Simon was bold and courageous. In Matthew 16:13-20, Simon was the first to identify Jesus
as the Son of God, resulting in Jesus shifting his name from simply being
Simon, meaning “he has heard,” to (Simon) Peter, meaning “stone” or
“rock.” Jesus also revealed that
He would build His church upon Peter through Peter’s role in the ministry.
In Matthew 14: 28-29, Peter was
also the only one trusting enough to ask Jesus to command him to walk on water.
How freeing is that???
To do something that earthly had
appeared impossible, such as walking on water. How incredible is that?
After we accepted Jesus into our
lives, God gave us that same power:
I also pray that you
will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe
Him. This is the same mighty power
that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s
right hand in the heavenly realms.
~Ephesians 1:19-20
(NLT)
Here’s the thing, this post isn’t
really for baby Christians either- those new to having a relationship with
Christ. This is for experienced
Christians- those who have seen God move in their lives over and over and over
again. Those who have witnessed
miracles that could only come from God.
If we know the power of God… if
we know we have access to that power source through Jesus Christ, why do we
live our lives that indicate otherwise?
Why do we choose- and yes,
everything is a choice- to live as if we are powerless?
Jesus was an extraordinary man
and His death gave us an extraordinary gift, so why do we choose to live
ordinary lives?
Why do we do let fear restrict us
from enjoying a life filled with fellowship with God? A fellowship- might I add- that connects us to the Entity
that is without restriction.
Why do we limit ourselves when
our Spiritual Father is without limits?
I want to reference to my last
blog entry, Part One of “Follow the Yellow Brick Road…” In reference to where I
had discussed possible reasons why God doesn’t say anything, I mentioned one
reason might be because God trusted our judgment in making the right decision.
In these situations where we have
been blessed with peace from God regarding our decision, why do we wait to act
on those decisions?
A follow up question I have to
ask:
What are we waiting for??? Another sign? A burning bush?
A booming voice? The
Rapture???
Seriously, why the hesitation?
Again, although God first
delivered this message to me, I know God put this on my heart to share. Someone reading this entry is
hesitating. You know what you’re
supposed to do. You know the next
step. God has given you the green
light. But you’re waiting.
Is it a business?
A book?
Some type of lifestyle change?
Or maybe it’s about a job or
relocation,
You’re hesitating and
waiting.
Ask yourself, “Why?”
Please know, the longer you wait,
the longer you allow the door to be open, you permit the devil to step in. First, it’s one stinky foot- just a
little doubt. Maybe you’re
questioning if you really heard from God.
If you haven’t already
experienced this, let me tell you- the devil is NEVER satisfied with just one
foot in the door. Next, he sets
another foot in…soon his whole stinky presence, filled with stinky doubt, has
entered. You’re questioning yourself
and your ability. You question
your worthiness. “Is this really
for me?” “Do I deserve this?” “Can
I really do this?” “What if I
fail?” “What will other people
think or say?”
Sounds familiar? Trust me, I know from personal
experience. This has unfortunately been my life for years now. Please don’t let
the enemy get even one foot in.
Don’t give room for doubt or fear.
To whoever this message is for, I
implore you- please trust God.
He’s saying, “Now is the time.”
I’ll say it again: “Now is the
time!”
Jesus died so we could live more
abundantly. Let go of the
shackles. Let go of the
chains. This battle is a mental
one- once we truly embrace our freedom in Christ, once we truly hand over our
weaknesses to God, our lives will reflect that freedom.
I do want to go back and address
the questions I asked above. It is
natural, and I would even say it’s accurate to doubt our own abilities. We know our past. And we know we are limited to do
anything on our own. Please
understand that once you give yourself over to Christ, you stop living within
your own means. You stop living on
your power and strength. While we,
alone, are limited. We have Christ
who dwells in us and He is anything BUT limited!
If God has put something in your
heart, a desire or dream or goal, trust it. Trust Him. He
will not set you up for failure.
Remember: God created you, so if the Creator thinks you’re
worthy, guess what- you’re worthy!
There’s only one “but” though-
and this is a big BUT….
You. Have. To. Step. Out. On. Faith.
Faith without works is dead
(James 2:17).
Although Jesus can command for
the impossible to happen, we have to be like Peter and be willing to step out
of the boat.
*** I do want to take a moment to speak on a different, but equally
important topic that has also been on my heart ***
If you are new to this fellowship
with Christ or if you are contemplating a relationship with Christ, I would
like to first say, “Welcome!” 😀
Earlier, I was spending time with
God and I became so happy because I absolutely love our moments together. All of a sudden, I grew emotional
because I had this sudden urge to share that happiness with others. I wanted to share my Father with you
because He really is that wonderful!
Although I can sit and talk about
how amazing God is until I’m out of breath and energy, I don’t want you to take
my faith and make it yours. My
description of God will never do Him justice, so I encourage
you not to listen to me. Don’t
take my word on how good God is.
Instead, I implore you…I beg you to please just try Him yourself.
The deeper I get into my
relationship with God, the more He reveals Himself to me, and the more I fall
in love with Him.
Through God, I’ve become so full,
so abundantly overwhelmed with joy and I truly want everyone to have that same
joy too. I want everyone to
experience that depth of happiness and love. I truly feel everyone is worthy of having this precious
relationship.
In order to do that, you can’t
take your friend’s or spouse’s or mother’s or father’s faith and make it
yours. You gotta have faith of
your own. You have to have a relationship
with Christ that you can call your own.
Can I share something?
It’s not a coincidence that
you’re reading this blog right now.
It’s not by accident that you’ve been thinking about having a
relationship with Christ either.
God put that desire in your heart.
His children know His voice and follow it (John 10:27).
God wants a relationship with you
because He loves you so much. But
the choice is yours.
I implore you, now is the time.
Please seek Him. It doesn’t matter where you are right
now (God will surely come to you)!
You don’t even have to say it out loud right now. Just in your heart, acknowledge that
you want to have a relationship with God.
Ask Christ Jesus to come into
your heart; embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior and welcome His blessed
salvation.
Jesus died so you can live more
abundantly. What are you waiting
for?
The time is now!
If it is God’s will, I will
conclude by saying, “Until next time!”
God bless!
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