Abundant: plentiful, sufficiently enough, overflowing

I have been on a journey with Jesus, on this journey there have been times when I have wanted to quit, thinking I could not go on, things never appear to get any better. Knowing that the enemy is always attempting to tempt me to give up, and in doing that I would become useless to the kingdom of God. Yet, each time the enemy would strike the Holy Spirit would rise up within me to remind me of all His many promises, and encourage me to keep moving forward. Well lately I have said "Lord I don't see the abundant life in me!" So we went on a journey to allow His word to once more reveal Himself to me and allow His word to show me who I am in Him. Not who I think I am, not who the enemy says I am, and not who others say I am. I am a child of the King, I am more than a conqueror, I am a branch attached to the vine and abiding in Him, therefore my life is not based on anything other than Him. So here is the journey we took together, as He enlightened me through His word. May it help one of you.

John 10:10 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 might have it more abundantly.

Who is the thief? The devil, he desires that we remain dead, empty, of no kingdom use. For the unbeliever he spreads his lies, "you have time", "it is not real", "you are good enough".

For the believer he speaks deception: "it is impossible", "no one really cares","you are not good enough","give up, quit, where is God?"

The enemy brings in fear which is the strangler of faith, he will attempt to kill the anointing God has placed in us by speaking doubt, which is unbelief, he will attempt to destroy our ministry by causing us to give up and quit.

I see that, I understand that,  yet right now I cry out "where is this abundant life?" each day, each week I struggle just to keep my head above the persistent waves.

So I must look at what is this life we have been promised. Our eternal life is not somewhere far in the future it is right now, the very moment we accepted the invitation of Jesus Christ for salvation my eternal life began. I like the NLT version it says "a rich and satisfying life". Too many thing "Money" when they think "Abundant"  yet I learned years ago, that has nothing to do with "Money". So I asked "Lord what does the abundant life look like? The scripture below was the first one to come to my mind:

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Right now I am seeing John 10:10 in the spiritual with kingdom purpose. Though the enemy can attack us physically, and at times he will, his goal is to affect our inner man. Remember in the book of Job; the devil attacked Job in every area for one purpose to get Job to "curse God". He continues to do that today. Yet Christ Jesus our Lord came to bring life, to free us from the yoke of bondage to sin, to reconcile us to God the Father.

Life is the opposite of something that is dead.

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins

Though our bodies were alive, before Christ we were spiritually dead His Holy Spirit brought life to our dead spirit, regenerating us. Now what was once dead to the things of God are made alive.

At times in my inner man I can say "My cup runneth over" I am so full of God's word, of God's presence and of God's blessings I don't know how I could take in anymore. Then He empties me and once more I become hungry for His word, for His presence and for His blessings. Yet whether I am full or empty I must be as Paul and be content. How can I be content when I am empty, you may ask? I can be content because I know that He is filling me again, that more of self will be gone, and I will be used by Him for His kingdom purposes.

Still asking the Lord, but Lord what does a person walking in the abundant life look like? Immediately His Holy Spirit brought a post my friend made this morning on Facebook.

John 15:5,8 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 8. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples. 

So here is what I have found: No matter what the circumstances of life might bring my way. My life in Christ Jesus my Lord is greater and more abundant than what may be happening around me. Contentment is not found in my circumstances it is found in His presence. Remaining in (abiding in) Jesus Christ keeps me attached to the Vine and in the care and presence of the watchful eye of the Vinedresser, God the Father. Our abundant life becomes visible to all around us by His fruit that we bear. And He desires we bear much fruit.

The end!!

WE MUST EXAMINE OUR HEARTS TO SEE WHERE WE STAND WITH JESUS

Sometimes as I read news articles and read comments other people write and some posts people place on Facebook. I think Lord can they not see You? So many people all around the world say "I am a Christian, I believe", yet do they live it, are they sold out to Jesus. I remember when I first became a Christian, I thought I was sold out to Jesus yet when the trials of life came I learned I wasn't. So I began my journey of running as far from God as I could get, yet I could not hide. He kept pursuing me until I turned from the direction I was running and ran back to Him, and because of knowing what I ran to (the world) I can now say NEVER AGAIN! So I understand Christians can get caught up with the world, it takes time to mature in the Lord and I still have not reached maturity. How do I know you ask? Because life and people can still upset me, but I am still growing even in these areas (smiling).

So why this blog on this subject? Because I believe we are living in the latter days, and I see the falling away of the church, the deceptions of the enemy that come to distract the true believer and to convince those who think they are saved, yet not, that they are okay.

This blog is not to point out all that is going on around us but to ask and examine what is going on in us.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

When we pray this verse over our lives we are asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of who we are to us. To convict us of our sins.

Talking about taking the communion meal Paul writes: 1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Galatians 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone,  and not in another

It is a good thing for us to ask the Lord to examine our heart intent and to reveal our heart intent to us and at the same time it is a hard thing. We are in that moment laying ourselves before the Lord removing our masks, that we may put on before family and friends. We are placing ourselves on His altar and asking the Lord consume what is not of You and purify what is of You.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Reading God's word is a mirror that God uses to show both who He is and who we are. Sometimes we may say "Lord I need a revelation." Yet what we actually need is a fresh revelation and a greater revelation of Him and of His word. What I mean by these two things is at times when life is coming at us we will forget in the dark what we learned in the light and we need to be reminded again of the revelation we already had. A greater revelation will bring a complete revelation. Example: when Lazarus died his sisters had a revelation of one day their brother would be resurrected from the dead and when Jesus raised Lazarus that day they had a greater revelation of Jesus when He said "I am the resurrection and the life". At times I will be reading the scriptures of something I thought I knew and then suddenly as if a light bulb went on, I had a greater revelation of what that scripture meant.

Then there is prayer. How would describe your prayer life? Prayers are not just for certain people in the church, but are for everyone. Our Lord doesn't just want to hear from us when we are desperate and He is our last resort. He wants to spend time with us, listening to us as we pour out our heart, as we seek Him for direction. Too often we pray and then jump up and start doing whatever, yet God still wants more of our time He wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit. But one thing we must guard against is hearing something said that does not line up with His word and believing we got a word from God. If you believe God has given you a word and it lines up with His written word then write it down, for God will keep His word, His promise to you, in His timing not ours.

Oh and fellowship, so many lack fellowship. To understand biblical fellowship we must first understand what it is not.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God....

God and believers can not align themselves with religions that do not believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We can not come into agreement with them because they worship a false god and the scriptures show us over and over again that the children of God can become caught in the snare of the devil through these cult religions. The scriptures teach us that our God is a jealous God He will not share the worship that belongs only to Him with any other god.  In the eyes of God there is no "coexist".We cannot have biblical fellowship with unbelievers, yes we are to love them and always be kind to them desiring they come to Jesus. But they cannot be our best friends and our constant companions.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived" Evil company corrupts good habits."

So what is fellowship? It is the assembling together of believers who believe who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us. We have a common goal lead the lost to Jesus Christ, serve with Him in His kingdom encouraging and inspiring one another in our Christian walk. We may differ on many other things but believing and walking in the love of God transcends the denomination barriers. Many who proclaim to be a Christian yet do not go to church nor appear to have any desire to go to church. Oh I have heard it said, "I have nothing to wear, it is my only day off, there are hypocrites in the church, I don't like the music too old or too new,  don't like the preaching too much about sin or too little about sin, and some don't go because they have a religious spirit and think they know more than the pastors and are more knowledgeable than the other members of the body, so they sit in their comfortable chairs and thank God they are not like the others." Hogwash!! People just plain do not have a desire to go and will blame everything and everyone but themselves. A true believer will have a desire to be with other believers to worship together, to pray together and to encourage one another. Even in the years I spent running away from God I would think and even said "Oh to sit in God's house again." But I would not go because I preferred my sin more than I preferred my God.

In Joshua chapter 14 we are given an account of a man named Caleb over and over it says "I have wholly followed the LORD my God". This means he had given all of himself to God. I have had to ask myself "Lord have I given all I have of me to you?" Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength". This means we are to wholly follow the Lord our God.

The bible is His inspired word, written for every believer. I worded it that way because without the help of the Holy Spirit one cannot truly receive an understanding of His word. In fact the scriptures say it is foolishness to the natural man. One can memorize scripture and even acquire head knowledge but that is all it is. His word becomes alive in us when we begin to apply His word into our lives. This word is the standard of God that as a Christian we are to live by and not to deviate from, by compromising His standard with the world's standard. I know from  experience that not compromising my convictions concerning His word will even make other Christians turn against you. So be prepared.

So what about those who say "I am a Christian" yet nothing in their lifestyle or words reflect Jesus Christ? Then I say examine your heart, I had to, ask God to show you have you just not grown, have you backslide from Him, has your heart become so hardened that Holy Spirit has quit drawing with conviction, or did you just have an emotional experience with no conversion? That is between you and God I cannot judge your heart nor can I condemn you. I can observe one's life and recognize fruit. Here are two of the saddest scriptures I know:

Matthew 21: 22-23 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I  never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

It is one thing to know of Jesus and quiet another for Him to know us.

In Judges 16:20 the last part records that Samson says this: "But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him."

Every person must examine where they are with the Lord. He is all about relationship not religion, He desires that you walk very close to Him, attached to Him through salvation and abiding in Him every moment every day, that we will bear His fruit that will be seen to all we meet.

Some may say that I am a fanatic about Jesus and a bible thumper  but one thing is for sure they know whom I believe in and where I stand on His word.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Sometimes as I read news articles and read comments other people write and some posts people place on Facebook. I think Lord can they not see You? So many people all around the world say "I am a Christian, I believe", yet do they live it, are they sold out to Jesus. I remember when I first became a Christian, I thought I was sold out to Jesus yet when the trials of life came I learned I wasn't. So I began my journey of running as far from God as I could get, yet I could not hide. He kept pursuing me until I turned from the direction I was running and ran back to Him, and because of knowing what I ran to (the world) I can now say NEVER AGAIN! So I understand Christians can get caught up with the world, it takes time to mature in the Lord and I still have not reached maturity. How do I know you ask? Because life and people can still upset me, but I am still growing even in these areas (smiling).

So why this blog on this subject? Because I believe we are living in the latter days, and I see the falling away of the church, the deceptions of the enemy that come to distract the true believer and to convince those who think the are saved, yet not, that they are okay.

This blog is not to point out all that is going on around us but to ask and examine what is going on in us.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

When we pray this verse over our lives we are asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of who we are to us. To convict us of our sins.

Talking about taking the communion meal Paul writes: 1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Galatians 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone,  and not in another

It is a good thing for us to ask the Lord to examine our heart intent and to reveal our heart intent to us and at the same time it is a hard thing. We are in that moment laying ourselves before the Lord removing our masks, that we may put on before family and friends. We are placing ourselves on His altar and asking the Lord consume what is not of You and purify what is of You.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Reading God's word is a mirror that God uses to show both who He is and who we are. Sometimes we may say "Lord I need a revelation." Yet what we actually need is a fresh revelation and a greater revelation of Him and of His word. What I mean by these two things is at times when life is coming at us we will forget in the dark what we learned in the light and we need to be reminded again of the revelation we already had. A greater revelation will bring a complete revelation. Example: when Lazarus died his sisters had a revelation of one day their brother would be resurrected from the dead and when Jesus raised Lazarus that day they had a greater revelation of Jesus when He said "I am the resurrection and the life". At times I will be reading the scriptures of something I thought I knew and then suddenly as if a light bulb went on, I had a greater revelation of what that scripture meant.

Then there is prayer. How would describe your prayer life? Prayers are not just for certain people in the church, but are for everyone. Our Lord doesn't just want to hear from us when we are desperate and He is our last resort. He wants to spend time with us, listening to us as we pour out our heart, as we seek Him for direction. Too often we pray and then jump up and start doing whatever, yet God still wants more of our time He wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit. But one thing we must guard against is hearing something said that does not line up with His word and believing we got a word from God. If you believe God has given you a word and it lines up with His written word then write it down, for God will keep His word, His promise to you, in His timing not ours.

Oh and fellowship, so many lack fellowship. To understand biblical fellowship we must first understand what is not.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God....

God and believers can not align themselves with religions that do not believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We can not come into agreement with them because they worship a false god and the scriptures show us over and over again that the children of God can become caught in the snare of the devil through these cult religions. The scriptures teach us that our God is a jealous God He will not share the worship that belongs only to Him with any other god.  In the eyes of God there is no "coexist". We cannot have biblical fellowship with unbelievers, yes we are to love them and always kind to them desiring they come to Jesus. But they cannot be our best friends and our constant companions.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived" Evil company corrupts good habits."

So what is fellowship? It is the assembling together of believers who believe who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us. We have a common goal lead the lost to Jesus Christ, serve with Him in His kingdom encouraging and inspiring one another in our Christian walk. We may differ on many other things but believing and walking in the love of God transcends the denominational barriers and enable us to be in unity one with another. Many who proclaim to be a Christian and yet do not go to church nor appear to have any desire to go to church have a lot of excuses. Oh I have heard it said, "I have nothing to wear, it is my only day off, there are hypocrites in the church, I don't like the music too old or too new,  don't like the preaching too much about sin or too little about sin." Hogwash!! People just plain do not have a desire to go and will blame everything and everyone but themselves. A true believer will have a desire to be with other believers to worship together, to pray together and to encourage one another. Even in the years I spent running away from God I would think and even said "Oh to sit in God's house again." But I would not go because I preferred my sin more than I preferred my God.

In Joshua chapter 14 we are given an account of a man named Caleb over and over it says "I have wholly followed the LORD my God". This means he had given all of himself to God. I have had to ask myself "Lord have I given all I have of me to you?" Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength". This means we are to wholly follow the Lord our God.

The bible is His inspired word, written for every believer. I worded it that way because without the help of the Holy Spirit one cannot truly receive an understanding of His word. In fact the scriptures say it is foolishness to the natural man. One can memorize scripture and even acquire head knowledge but that is all it is. His word becomes alive in us when we begin to apply His word into our lives. This word is the standard of God that as a Christian we are to live by and not to deviate from, by compromising His standard with the world's standard. I know from  experience that not compromising my convictions concerning His word will even make other Christians turn against you. So be prepared.

So what about those who say "I am a Christian" yet nothing in their lifestyle or words reflect Jesus Christ? Then I say examine your heart, I had to, ask God to show you have you just not grown, have you backslide from Him, has your heart become so hardened that Holy Spirit has quit drawing with conviction, or did you just have an emotional experience with no conversion? That is between you and God I cannot judge your heart nor can I condemn you. I can observe one's life and recognize fruit. Here are two of the saddest scriptures I know:

Matthew 21: 22-23 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I  never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

It is one thing to know of Jesus and quiet another for Him to know us.

In Judges 16:20 the last part records that Samson says this: "But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him."

Every person must examine where they are with the Lord. He is all about relationship not religion, He desires that you walk very close to Him, attached to Him through salvation and abiding in Him every moment every day, that you/me will bear His fruit that will be seen to all we meet.

Some may say that I am a fanatic about Jesus and a bible thumper but one thing is for sure they know whom I believe in and where I stand on His word.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

It has been awhile since I have posted on my blog, in fact this is my first post of 2016. As I was approaching the new year I kept hearing within me the words "Keep moving forward". I believe that is a God given word for me as I continue in my daily walk with my Lord Jesus Christ.

Many have labeled the difficult times in our lives with words and phrases like this: storms, valleys, storm is raging, valley is deep, I'm in a dark place, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. But in fact the meaning is the same: life and circumstances have become so difficult we don't think we can bear anymore. For me in these times I find myself saying Jesus get me out of here.

Over the years God has often spoken very clearly to me during these turbulent times; I have heard Him say "I am looking for a people who will worship Me, serve Me, praise Me, give, the same in the valley as they do on the mountain top, You need to see it from My perspective I see the whole picture, here in the storm is where you become closer to Me, seek Me as your Provider, I am your Husband." Each time a word came it would lift me up and He would place me in that moment on the mountain top that I might find rest, be refreshed and comforted so that I could continue Moving Forward on our journey together; always preparing us for the next valley/storm. Will 2016 be different from the other years? There will always be storms and valleys in this life that will never change, but my response in that storm/valley is what God is changing in me. I heard the term recently "Embrace the Suffering with Joy" at the time I really liked the sound of it, (yet wondered if it would be possible) remembering my Joy is in Christ Jesus my Lord not in my circumstances and pain,  everything is only temporary including happiness. That which I hold on to is eternal my hope, my joy, my faith in Christ, my redemption, my heavenly home. Holding on to these keeps me moving forward, enables me to ride out the storm, enjoy the valley, and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Colossians 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, the church. (Paul understood suffering and welcomed it. To suffer as Jesus did for the church Paul was willing to suffer)

James 1:2 My brethren, (that's us) count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Any time we find ourselves in a valley/storm, it is never meant to bring us harm instead it is to strengthen our faith and draw us nearer to Jesus. So hold on to Jesus He will take you to the other side.