Greater Things
God has a great plan for your life. In fact, God’s plan for your life is even greater than you could imagine for yourself. We serve a great God who desires to do greater things in us and through us.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” – John 10:10 (Amplified Bible)
Jesus is saying that he came so people could have life and enjoy life. Sadly many people are not enjoying life. They have moments of happiness, but there is no lasting joy. They are just surviving. Jesus came so that you could experience a greater life than that.
Often times when something goes wrong or things don’t turn out the way you want them to, it’s common to say, “That’s life.”
Many people have accepted less than what Jesus went to the cross to pay for you to have. A life of significance, a life of meaning, a life of purpose.
This does not mean the abundant life is void of struggles and hardships. In fact, if you want to experience the greater things, the abundant life, you are going to have to fight for it.
Numbers chapter 13-14 tells the account of 12 spies being sent to evaluate the land God had promised to the Isaelites. 10 of the spies came back saying they could not take the land because they were afraid of a fight with the inhabitants. 2 of the spies (Caleb and Joshua) saw the same circumstances but had faith in God and know they would win any fight.
If you are going to step into the greater things God has for your life, you are going to have to take a stand and fight. Refuse to accept an average marriage, mediocre finances, or a strained relationship with your family. Don’t accept that as the way things will always be forever.
Sure, life is going to throw you some curve balls. There will be times you fall flat on your face. Don’t just stay down there thinking that is all life will ever be. When you fall down, the most natural thing to do is get back up.
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; – Micah 7:8
Get back up, dust yourself off and start believing God for greater things in your life.
Room For God
Everything in life is clamoring for your attention. Work, kids, school, friends, family…when we should be sitting at Jesus’ feet listening, we are distracted by all the busyness of life. We have no spiritual margin, we have no room in our lives for God.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:17, 20 (New International Version)
They thought that they were complete, full and didn’t need anything. They were wrong.
We have to make room for God. We have to create room/space in our lives where we allow God to move in.
How do you give God more room in your life?
This is deep…You can’t create spiritual margin by devoting yourself to nonspiritual things.
The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:63 (New Living Translation)
Luke, Chapter 10, is a great story about two different women; Martha was distracted by the busyness of life, while Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His words.
Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better.” The choice is yours! You can choose to live in a way that will lead to an overloaded, stressed-out life, or you can make a better choice and set everything else aside and make room for God.
Why Cats Are Evil
What was Noah thinking bringing cats? Maybe he was drunk while he was loading them two by two.
Unstoppable Passion
Passion is a powerful force. When someone is passionate about achieving something, they will not take no for an answer. When you are passionate, you understand failure is not final, and you will not allow any obstacle to keep you from the object of your passion.
As Christians, we are called to live a life of Unstoppable Passion!
Passion is spelled A L L.
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ Matthew 22:36-37 (New Living Translation)
That is someone who is passionate about God. You can’t halfheartedly be passionate about anything. Halfway, mediocre, so/so doesn’t cut it for someone who is passionate.
If you live halfhearted and only give a mediocre effort, you will never live the abundant life God designed you for or accomplish the call He has for you.
There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. – Nelson Mandela
Many people miss out on what God has for them because they don’t invest the passion necessary to experience it.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6:7 (New International Version)
You will only get out of life in proportion to how passionate you are about life.
Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Luke 6:38 (New Living Translation)
This is true for every area of life. You are going to receive a harvest in your relationships in proportion to the passion you put into relationships. If you are not passionate about having a great marriage and being a great spouse, you will not receive a harvest of a great marriage.
I am passionate about being Cole and Addison’s daddy. Why? Because I want Cole to be passionate about being my son. I want Addison to be passionate about being my little girl.
When we approach life this way, when we live life with passion, it will lead us to the abundant life God designed for us.
Righteousness
Righteous isn’t really a word that we hear talked about very often. When it is used, it’s brought up in a negative sense – that person is so self-righteous.
The word righteous really means to be approved. To have a deep sense of approval. Almost like having a verdict being rendered about you that you are worthy, you are approved.
Think about this – God will never love you any more or any less than He does right now.
This truth could scare you – You may think, “That stinks cause I really need Him to love me more.” Or you think it’s not fair because He should love you more than He did because you are “better” you were before.
If anyone ever asks:
Does God love me? The answer is always “Yes.”
Does God approve of me? The answer is “It depends.”
This might mess you up: God’s love is unconditional. His approval and acceptance are not.
If everyone was already approved and accepted by God, there would have been no need for Jesus to pay the price for our sin.
Romans 15:16 (New Living Translation)
I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.
Paul recognized that they were UNACCEPABLE to God and his goal was to present to them the Good News (Savior, Christ the Lord) so that they could be acceptable.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (New International Version)
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Turning Setbacks Into Comebacks
Growing up here in North Texas, every few years my parents would drive me and my brothers and sisters to Michigan to visit our grandparents. All of us would be crammed in our van for the 18 hour one-way road trip. It actually made for some great memories.
There were some not-so-fun occasions when we would have car trouble though. Sometimes it was a quick fix, other times we had to wait for hours before getting back on the road. But no matter how small or how big the setbacks to our trip were, we never gave up on getting to our destination.
Sadly, when it comes to setbacks in life, too many people allow them to change the entire course of their life in a negative, harmful way. The truth is, regardless of how many setbacks you may have faced, God still loves you and has a great plan for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. (Amplified Bible)
Life is a journey. You are going to have some ups and downs, but God has a final outcome, a destination, already designed for you. And it’s a destination of victory. If your outcome right now isn’t the one with you as the victor, it’s not the FINAL outcome. It isn’t over until you’re the overcomer. God is still behind the scenes working on your behalf.
Maybe you think you’re disqualified from the original dream God put in your heart. You feel like you’ve made too many mistakes, too many wrong turns. Well I have good news for you; God has mercy for every mistake and forgiveness for every failure. When you turn to God, He is not holding anything from your past against you. He will bring you back to the final destination he has always had destined you for.
Don’t settle for average or second best in your life. Refuse to accept anything less than the great life God has in mind when He thinks about you. Romans 8:28 tells us that if we love God, He causes everything to work together for our good. That means what Satan meant as a setback, God will use to setup your comeback.
Thankable
I say thank you a lot. Every time I’m in a checkout line I purposely look at the person’s name so that when they hand me my receipt I can say “thank you, Gertrude.”
About two weeks ago Angela and I went to Chili’s and I must have said thank you to the waitress no less than 15 times in the 35min we were there. I even say thank you when I get pulled over by the police and given a ticket.
While being polite is great, Jesus tells us that real thankfulness should be in response to something extraordinary.
Luke 17:9 (The Message) Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him?
Luke 17:9 (New Living Translation) And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.
To receive a “Thank you”, you must do something Thankable!
When was the last time you did something thankable? Jesus tells us that we need to do more than what is required of us.
Matthew 5:40-41 (New Living Translation) If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.
When we live a life of doing more than is required, when we act out of kindness and not obligation, people will respond with thankfulness and gratitude.
Are you a thankful person? Do you recognize those times in your life when someone gave more or did more than was required? Did you thank them?