Abundant Life

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”-

Satan, the thief who is out to destroy our lives will go to any extent to get us from seeking God. He will accuse God before us and tell us that God does not care. If He cared, we would not be suffering the things we are going through. Satan is not only a thief, but he is a lair, and the father of lies. He can sound very persuasive and make it seem so “right”. His goal is to damn our souls and draw us away from God. Jesus, came to this world to dispel the darkness of Satan, to defeat his plan. On the cross, He gave His life that we who were dead in our trespasses and sins may live a new life. Not only escape from death and Satan’s hold, but be able to live a victorious life, victory over sin and Satan. A life that is more abundant, a life totally surrendered to Jesus and His way. 

The Way of Life

Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath beforehand ordained, that we should walk in them.”-

The way of life for a Christian is to live to follow Christ. Follow Him in the way He lived. He came to earth not only that He may save us from our sins, but also came to show us how to live. We who are now born again, made new through redemption, His workmanship to fulfill His will and desire. We now walk the path that He walks, the path of love, doing good works, helping others in need, giving of ourselves willing, serving others as Christ came to serve. It has always been God’s plan that we live life in harmony with each other, that we show forth His love by loving those around us. There are those in the world that we find it hard to love. Their life is full of selfish living and they care not who they hurt as they seek to please themselves. Satan has blinded their eyes to what is right and holy. We are His feet, we are His arms and hands. We are His workmanship, created to glorify Him and do the work that will bring others to Him. 

Pleasing Self

2 Corinth 5:15 “and that He died for all, that those who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.”-

Living to please self is an indication that one has not come face to face with the One who died for sin. Weather we realize it or not, we were all born into this world as sinners. We inherited the fallen nature of Adam, and the seed of sin is within us. The accountability of this sin nature is revealed to all men at some point in their lives. The law of God reveals to man the thing that are sinful and break the heart of God. Living life to satisfy the desires of the flesh and thinking only of oneself is at the root of sin. Unbelief in the One who died for sin is manifest in the way one lives their lives. When we come to Christ for forgiveness of sin, He takes our sin, they are nailed to the cross, and cast into the sea of forgetfulness. He begins to change the desire in our heart. We start to focus on the needs of others because that is what Christ did when He died for us. He died that man may live. God wants us to live a life of loving and giving. For those in live in Christ will no longer live unto themselves, but live to please the One who died for them. 

Drifting Away

Heb. 2:1 “Therefore we ought to give even more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”-

Drifting away from God happens so gradually. Letting those things that are important to our spiritual life slip away often happens when we become too careless and allow the things of this world to distract us. Legit as they may seem, they are insignificant when it comes to having our soul slip away from the Haven of Rest. The Anchor that holds us in place when the storms of life hit us. It is essential that we give heed to what God’s Word has to say and what it teaches us about living holy and right before Him. Staying anchored to the Rock and leaning strong on Him is our hope and salvation from drifting and finding ourselves shipwreck in life’s sea. “Dear Lord, help me to live in your Word and take heed to your commandments. Help me to stay focus on the things that really matter, keep me from drifting away from You”

He Brought Me Up

Psalm 40:2 “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.”

The pit and the clay that the psalmist speaks of can be symbolic of sin, or it can be seen has a desperate place in life. Either way, it is God that brings us out. He reaches down to where we live and with an out stretched hand He lifts us out of our hopeless situation. Weather lost in sin, or between a rock and a hard place, God provides a way of escape. There are times in life we feel that we are sinking and there is nothing to grab on to. We look around in hopes of a branch to hold on and try and pull ourselves out, but the miry of our problems just keeps pulling us down. Then Jesus passes by and sees and hears our cry. What a Savior! He stops and with love and grace, He pulls us out and puts us on a solid rock. A rock that is firm and stable. With Him, we can live knowing that He is our stability and we can walk with Him without fear of falling or sinking. Thank God! He brought me out, and gave me a life worth living.

Real Life

1 John 5:12 “ He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.”-

To have, or not to have is the question. This is the most important question in life. There are so many things that we do not know and so many things we will never know, but one thing that we can know and must know is “Does the Son of God, Jesus abides in our heart?” If Jesus lives in our heart, it will be known of men by the fruit we bare. It is self evident, he that has Jesus will show forth the life of Christ. Accepting Jesus into your life is life changing. We live and learn the lessons of what it means to have the Son of God in our life. We daily face challenges in our life that bring doubt and confusing, but knowing that Christ lives within us, He is able to give us the victory. 

Understanding God's Word

Nehemiah 8:8 “So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.”-

Understanding the Word of God. When I 1st got saved at the age of 15, I was told to start reading the Bible. I was given a New Testament and started to read the book of John. I began to soak in the Word. God began to open His word to my heart and I began to understand what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. There were many times I would read without understanding, but in due time God would reveal His Word to me and show me what it meant to be a Christian. That was over 42 years ago, and still today His Word is renewed day by day in my life. As I read selected portions of the Bible, I ask God to show me something new that will help me draw closer to Him. I have obtained a lot of head knowledge over the years reading His Word, but I long for more than just head knowledge, I long to live in His Word, to be graphed in and become one with Him. Understanding the Word of God is more than memorizing, knowing all the stories and what will happen in the end times. It is about knowing Him, understanding the mind of Christ, living out my faith and loving His Word, for He is the Word.