Secrets

of The

Abundant Life

Seven Keys to Living the Life God Intended

By Craig Harris

Secrets of the Abundant Life

All rights reserved.© 2013 Craig Harris

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. Living the Life that God Intended

2. Living with One Foot in Heaven

3. Living in a Circle of Love

4. Living Safely in God’s Hand

5. Living in Spiritual Victory

6. Living like Christ on Earth

7. Living our Dreams, One Day at a Time

Introduction

You can live a full, abundant life!

You were not created to just exist, you were created to live a life full of meaning, joy and satisfaction. You were created to have an eternal friendship with God Himself. No matter who you are, what you have done or what has been done to you, God has a plan for you and that plan includes eternity in paradise and abundance on earth. The same God who created the entire universe and keeps it in motion is in love with you and wants to be your friend. This may sound too good to be true, but it is absolutely true as we will see in this book. No matter what you have been taught to the contrary, God wants you to be beyond joyful.

Even better, God does not intend for you to wait until you die to experience heaven, he wants to give you a sample of it today. The Bible says God gives us the Holy Spirit as a down payment on heaven when we believe in Christ (Ephesians 1: 13 - 14). The Holy Spirit is God Himself. God comes into our world - into our hearts - and lives with us, giving us a sample of heaven right here on earth. Right there in your town. Right there in your life. The abundant life begins the moment we believe in Jesus for salvation.

This doesn’t mean God desires for us to be spoiled, lazy or undisciplined. In fact, he knows that we need challenge and perhaps even some heartache to truly experience the abundant life, but he uses every single event in our lives for our good. Some events are so painful we will never understand how they could be for our good, but we will see that God really is in control of his universe and really is infinitely wiser than we are. He uses every circumstance, good and bad, for our best. God is always up to something good! The God who spoke the universe into existence (that’s power!) is at work in your life and he is always up to something good. He is a perfect father and he longs for us to be contented, loving children. The real mystery is why more people don’t take advantage of his love, sonship and friendship.

Why don’t we live the abundant life Jesus offers? Are we so stressed, worried or spoiled we cannot enjoy our existence? Let’s change that starting this very day. Let’s slow down and simplify our lives so we can enjoy each moment; let’s learn that we do not have to worry; let’s stop being so spoiled that we can only be happy if everything is going our way. Let me show you that you do not have to live a life full of worry, stress and depression. You can live the abundant life and I will prove it to you using God’s Word.

The abundant life God offers is so priceless, none of us could ever afford it. It is completely out of our price range. But the incredible news is that God purchased it for us himself. Only God could afford it, but it did not come cheaply, it cost him dearly. The price God paid shows us how valuable we are to him and how much he truly loves us. It also shows us how valuable the abundant life really is.

He purchased all of us an everlasting, fulfilling, joyful life and what a sad and terrible waste that most people don’t take advantage of it!

Just one warning before we proceed: Even though God purchased us the right to live the abundant life, we have to do our part to experience it in its fullness. If living the abundant life were easy, everyone would do it, but like anything of value, the abundant life has its price tag and not everyone is willing to pay it. What we will see is that you can pay the price and it is worth every ounce of effort. Friendship with God is worth everything! It is the most precious commodity human beings will ever encounter. Are you ready?

Yes, we can live an abundant life. God is not a God of mediocrity, he is a God of more than enough and wants us to live fully in his love and abundance. He is disappointed if we don’t. Let’s not let him down!

You can live a full, abundant life full of meaning, purpose and joy. We will begin our journey by seeing that God is infinitely interested in every aspect of our lives, and that life in this body is only a small part of our total existence. This is wonderful news and it puts everything in its proper perspective.

Chapter One

Living the Life that God Intended

God says he will lavish his grace, mercy and love on us if we let him. He created us to enjoy this life and to enjoy heaven forever. Human beings are the only species on our planet who can see beyond our own existence. We are self-aware and we can imagine eternity, and we are the only species who can appreciate art and pleasure like we do.

Our entire universe was custom designed just for us. Change the tilt of the earth by one degree, or change gravity by one ounce, or move the earth closer or farther away from the sun and we don’t exist. It makes no sense that some people trudge through their lives, devoid of fulfillment or meaning. The secret that few find is that walking with God gives true joy, purpose and even adventure that we never thought possible.

Jesus said that he came to earth to give us an abundant life. (John 10:10) This means we can live life to its fullest extent. We can and should enjoy every aspect of our existence.

Remember, God didn’t just tell us we could live an abundant, joyful, meaningful life, he purchased it for us. And what an incredibly valuable life he bought for us. He paid with the very life of his only Son. Jesus was whipped, beaten and crucified for me and for you. He purchased an eternal existence for us and that existence begins the moment we believe in him. Heaven awaits us for sure, but eternal life with him begins at the moment that we accept his gift of grace.

God did not create us to remain caterpillars, he designed us to metamorph into butterflies. This is a wonderful example from nature of the kind of God we have. He starts us out with a rather ordinary life, like that of a caterpillar, but intends for us to become so much more. He paid the price for us to become our fullest potential. A caterpillar crawls on the ground, in the dirt, eating bitter leaves and damaging crops. But a butterfly flies in the air and eats sweet nectar from flowers. A butterfly is beautiful and helps nature while a caterpillar is generally ugly in comparison and is often harmful to his environment.

This is what Jesus meant in John 3 when he told us to be born again. A caterpillar is born, then born again as a butterfly at the appointed time. When we are born the second time, we are new and different. Paul said we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

For understanding, let’s say our caterpillar’s name is Charlie. When Charlie becomes a butterfly, he is still Charlie, but with a new body. Now he is flies and eats nectar. When we believe in Jesus and accept his gift of grace, we are still in essence the same person, but with a new spirit, new power, new potential and the freedom to experience life to its fullest and most abundant potential.

The difficulty, I suppose, is that many of us want to tuck our wings for whatever reason and keep acting like caterpillars, even though we are now butterflies. This is one of the temptations that comes from having one foot in heaven and one on the earth.

One day we will truly reach our full potential, but for now we must live by faith. One day we will enter our permanent home in paradise, basking in God’s presence. The good news, though, is that we can bathe in God’s friendship right now, too.

How sad to have wings and not use them! How sad to eat bitter leaves when we were designed for nectar! How sad to keep acting like we did before we met Christ.

I want you to consider how much of an insult it is to God to hand him back the abundant life and say, “no thank you,” when he paid such a terrible price for us to have it. This would a slap in God’s face. This is saying, in effect, that we do not believe Jesus’ life was very valuable. This would mean the Passion Jesus went through for you and me would have been for nothing.

I want to live a life worthy of the price Jesus paid!

God has logical reasons for wanting us to live abundant lives. First of all, we might never share our faith with others, including our children, if we didn’t receive pleasure from it. Instead, the more excited we are about our friendship with God, the more we will tell other people about it. The best witness we Christians can be to the world is to show them that we enjoy our lives. When we show the world that we find comfort in God’s presence and joy in his fellowship, the world will want what we have.

It goes deeper than this, though. God wants us to live abundant lives the same reason I want my children to be happy: it makes me happy to see them happy. It was the Bible itself that explained that it is more blessed to give than to receive. God wants us to be happy because this gives him joy and pleasure.

Oh, we will have bad days and we will have troubles and trials, but these are part of God’s wonderful, mysterious plan. Let me tell you right now, before we go any further, that this author has his share of difficulties, including having a wife with a chronic illness and more bills than paycheck because of it, but I don’t let my circumstances keep me from living the full life and I don’t want you to let anything stop you, either. Please do not think that one word in this book does not apply to you. I assure you every word applies in your life, no matter what your circumstances. Trite or shallow answers and religious platitudes do little to comfort us in times of trouble and sorrow, but solid, thoughtful reasoning gives us courage and peace.

I am fully aware that pain and suffering are a reality in our world. I share these, too. But our incredible, loving, powerful God really is in control and truly does want what is absolutely best for us.

Many people do not view God this way. They have come to believe that God desires to keep us from having any fun; to keep us from living a pleasant life. Other people think the way to a relationship with God is by following innumerable rules and regulations and making sure we never slip up. The reality is God is much more interested in our love than he is our sacrifices or behavior. God does have rules for us, but they are always for our own good, much like a father telling his children not to play in the street. God’s rules prove his enormous love for us and will not keep us from the abundant life no matter what you have been taught to the contrary.

Here is the real truth about who wants to steal our fun. The real thief’s name is Satan and he is out to steal our joy and abundance. He is smarter and stronger than we are and he will ruin our lives if we let him, but the very good news is he is not smarter or stronger than God and, with God’s help, we can defeat him. We will tackle this issue in more detail a little later.

Many people believe they can defeat Satan by their own power or cleverness. How scary! That would be like a Little League football team taking on the Dallas Cowboys and seriously thinking they would win. (Okay, no jokes about the Cowboys, here.)

Satan is not some fictional character in a red suit invented by modern preachers to scare people into living right. Satan is a real being. He was created by God, just like everything else, but he fell from heaven and now works against us. None of this was a surprise to God, it was all part of his plan. We will not fully understand every thing about good and evil until we get to heaven, but we can know for sure that God is ultimately in control. One day, he will punish Satan and all sin, but for now he is using him for his ultimate purposes, namely God is using Satan to push us into a deeper need for Himself.

You see, God wants us to need him. He wants us to depend on him to live the abundant life. He wants us to call out to him for our needs and for the power to live our lives. This way, we will necessarily maintain a friendship with him. We would likely ignore God if we didn't need him and he fully knows this, so he created our world in such a way that we would have to depend upon him.

I can’t ignore God and live an abundant life. Instead, I must seek him daily for help, strength, wisdom, love and power and this is just how God likes it. Why? Any good father will tell you that he wants to be loved and needed by his children.

There is a school of thought that says since God created the universe, there is no way any of us could ever say or do anything to impress or excite him. He is eternally content and joyful and doesn't need us at all. He can’t be bothered by our little earthly trials, requests and problems, but instead spends his existence concentrating on himself. The reasoning is that God cannot look at sin since he is holy, so he cannot look at us or he would pollute himself. This seems to make sense at first, but it falls short because it is simply not what the Bible teaches. Instead, the Bible teaches that:

God sings over us like a loving mother with a baby. (Zephaniah 3: 17)

God has engraved us on the palms of his hands. (Isaiah 49: 16)

God knows how many hairs we have on our heads. (Luke 12: 7)

God knew us and loved us before we were born. (Psalm 139: 13 - 16)

God gives us the desires of our hearts if we will delight in him. (Psalm 37:4)

God will accept us even if our mother or father abandon us. (Psalm 27: 10)

God wants us to love him more than anyone or anything else on earth. (Deut. 6:5)

God will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

God sees what is done in secret and knows our thoughts. (Matthew 6: 6)

God lavishes his love on us and calls us his children. (1 John 3:1)

God tells us to cast all of our cares upon him. (I Peter 5:7)

God loves us so much he sent his only son to die for us. (John 3: 16)

It is a mystery, but God sees our every action and hears our every thought and, further, is infinitely interested in every aspect of our lives, big and small. God is holy, but seeing sin on earth does not corrupt or pollute him like it does us. He is so much higher than we are, our thoughts and actions may make him weep, but they do not jade him in the least.

I remember changing my kid’s diapers when they were small. It never once tempted me to soil my own pants! In the same way, God is not stained or corrupted by the sin of the world. He takes sin very seriously, don’t get me wrong, but he paid the ransom for it and offers complete forgiveness. He has the scars of our sin on his body and paid the ultimate price to make us clean, but our human sins do not tempt God and they do not tarnish his holiness.

As for as our being interesting to God, I can assure you that God is completely interested in everything we do and say. When my children were infants, they could never say anything compelling or interesting to me. They couldn’t speak at all! But I was madly in love with them so I was enthralled by every move they made and every utterance they babbled. Even today, my children watch painfully campy cartoons and TV shows, but I find myself watching their shows and discussing their heroes with them because I love my kids. I will sit with them and absolutely delight -- not in their shows -- but in my children’s reaction to them. Anything that interests or amuses my kids is important to me because of my love for them. Our God feels the same way about us, only he loves us more than we can even imagine.

Paul had this to say about it in Romans 8: 31 - 39: “If God is for us, who can be against us? Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? ...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death or life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If we are going to live the abundant life, it will begin by understanding how much God loves us and how much he wants us to live fully and contentedly. God did not create us to destroy us or to enslave us, he created us to be blissfully happy with him forever in paradise. It just so happens that paradise begins the moment we become God’s children.

Chapter 1 Review Questions:

1. Why do you think some people do not live an abundant life?

2. Why would God want us to live an abundant life?

3. What does the price Jesus paid for us to live an abundant life tell us about:

a. How much God loves us?

b. How valuable the abundant life is?

4. Do you think God really is interested in every aspect of our lives?

Chapter Two

Living with One Foot in Heaven

This world is not our true home.

We’re here and we should enjoy our existence on earth, but we should also realize that this is not our permanent home. When we get this into our heads, we can start really living. It is easier said than done, but we must if we are going to experience the abundant life.

When we truly understand this concept, everything starts to make more sense. All of the injustices we see begin to soften significantly. I have a friend who was working on his mother’s home one day. Suddenly, the roof collapsed and fell on him, permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. He was young and vital, in his early thirties, with two small children. Now, he must spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, never to feel any sensations below his rib cage again. That’s not fair. What an awful fate for such a nice guy.

But when you look at life in its proper prospective and realize that this is only a short journey in our ultimate existence, it becomes much easier to comprehend.

Why do some of my friends never struggle with finances, but I can’t seem to make ends meet, much less get ahead? Why does my wife have to have a debilitating illness when so many women live their lives in good health? Why do so many children go to bed hungry, or in situations where they are not loved? Why do some families lose a loved one to a drunk driver or murderer during the holidays? War, social inequality, prejudice, disease, natural disasters, poverty... our world is full of such things and we are all touched by them in some way.

If this lifetime were our only one, I might have to agree with those who say God is either powerless or just doesn’t care what happens to us. But this lifetime is not the end, it is only a tiny part of our total existence. Life is but a dream, the rhyme says, and it is right. The Bible says our lives are like a mist in the morning that is gone by afternoon. Seen in proper perspective, life is like a finger-snap compared to eternity. Our minds cannot even comprehend eternity, how it goes on and on forever without end, but God created us as immortal creatures who will never see our lives cease. This is either very good or very bad news, depending on our relationship with God.

Do you realize how much better heaven will be than life on this earth? There is an illustration of the rich man who, on his deathbed, asks God if he can bring some of his riches with him to heaven. God tries to explain to him that he would not need it there, but the man insists. God, in his wisdom, relents and tells him he can bring one suitcase of gold. Soon, the man dies and stands at the Pearly Gate with his heavy luggage, laden with five million dollar’s worth of gold. Saint Peter looks at him and asks him to open the suitcase. Peter looks surprised and says, “Pavement? Why did you bring pavement with you?” The man looks down and realizes that the streets in heaven are made out of what he brought with him.

The things in this life that we think are so precious will be completely worthless in our true home. The secret to living in abundance, then, is to begin thinking this way now. Jesus said to store away treasures in heaven, where it will be safe for all eternity.

You see, when we die, we will not leave home, we will go to our true, permanent home! This life is like a mission trip. God has a wonderful, exciting, meaningful trip planned for each of us. God has made the plans and purchased every supply we might ever need; it is ours for the taking. The writer of Hebrews compares life to a race that God has marked out for us. Hebrews 12: 1-2 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” God has marked a course for each of us. If we will keep our eyes on Jesus, avoid sin that trips us up, and throw aside anything, good or bad, that comes between us and God, we can win the race God has placed before us. We just need to train and keep going and not give up. This passage in Hebrews goes on to say that God disciplines us to train us so we can win the race. He uses hardship to discipline us – not because he is mad at us or displeased with us, but because he loves us and wants us to be our best self. He wants us, ultimately, to be like Christ.

Knowing this gives us a tremendous sense of purpose and meaning.

Yes, this life is a trip – a race -- and not a final destination. Now that I understand this, things that used to upset me, that used to seem so large in my life, look smaller and less significant. Daily trials and disappointments no longer have the same effect on me. Now I know that they are all part of the ride and are taking me just where God wants me to go. This is a huge secret of the abundant life. It took me many years to finally see this, but now that I do, it has made all the difference.

Whatever trials I face today are not permanent. All of them will fade, and soon. We are just camping out here for a while.

As a minister, I have been on several mission trips. I remember being on one when the church van broke down. We scrambled to find a repair man and the money to pay him. It amounted to almost entire day of frustration. Well, that was several years ago and we obviously made it home safely. We took on the challenge and conquered it. It was a chance for me to show my students how Christians should handle adversity and trust in God.

In the short run, it cost us a little sweat and a few hours off of our schedule, but in the long run, it was soon over and nearly forgotten, just another event on an otherwise pleasurable journey. I think when we look back on our lives, we will see adversity the same way -- merely events that mean absolutely nothing anymore.

Please notice that it took me only a couple of paragraphs to talk about an event that took several days to play out (the van’s breaking down on the mission trip). In the same way, God is outside our time. C. S. Lewis explains in his book Mere Christianity that God is like an author who is writing a book (in this case, History). It may take an author only a few minutes to describe an event in his book that takes days or even years to happen. God is outside of history, writing it. He sees all of the universe’s history at one time. This is important to understand so we can comprehend how God is ageless and how he sees future events. God is in your future right now and he sees you in your fullest potential. He sees what you will ultimately become.

Early last century, a missionary was returning home to America from overseas, where he had devoted his life to God’s work. It just so happened, he came home on the same ocean liner as the president of the United States. The president disembarked with much fanfare and celebration. Later, the missionary walked down the gangway without even a soul to meet him. He felt bitter and disappointed since he had been working for God all of his life and no one seemed to appreciate him, but God gently reminded him, “My child, you are not home yet.”

There is a veil of faith that we must pass through to see this, though. A leap of faith, if you will. We must suspend some of our natural instincts. We must believe that something - Someone - is there, even though our eyes cannot see him.

There is a battle waging for our minds every day. Some days, we may feel in perfect harmony with God and nature. Other days, we give in to our natural thinking, temptations and doubts. Paul discussed this dual citizenship in his letter to the Romans. He said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do... for I desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out... So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Paul said he wanted to do good and live a godly life, but he didn’t have the power to do so. In the next verse, he gave away the secret, “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

Paul knew the only way he could defeat his sinful desires and doubts was to crucify them and live by faith in Christ. Paul said he had died to his old self and now allowed Jesus to live through his body.

This, I think, is why so few embrace God: nearly everyone believes in him, but few are willing to let God actually take control of their lives. Ultimately, we want to be in control of our own actions and destinies, but we cannot do this and live the abundant life.

Because of our dual citizenship, some of us separate our lives into compartments, secular and sacred. At this point, the two aspects of our lives battle for dominance. We tend to place everything into one of the two categories. Then, we feel guilty about everything we do that is not “sacred”. We may think that we live secular lives all week long, giving God a nod for an hour on Sunday. We have secular friends and sacred friends; watch and read the secular media and then read from our Bibles; play sports and then go to church. Everything fits into either religious or worldly compartments.

The secret is to see everything in light of our being a new creation. God’s Spirit and goodness should permeate every aspect of our lives making everything sacred. If we work at “secular” jobs, we should labor as though we were working for God himself by doing our best in an honest fashion. The author of Ecclesiastes said there is nothing better for a man to do than just that. Almost everything we do, in fact, can be an act of worship. This knowledge rids us of unnecessary guilt because we realize we don’t leave God at the door of our jobs or recreation; we take him with us everywhere we go.

There will always be tension between our dual citizenships while we live on earth, but we must walk in step with the Spirit if we are going to live the abundant life.

Trying to please both God and ourselves is like putting only one foot on the seat of a roller coaster and expecting a ride. If you try that, the train will leave you hopping on the platform as it rolls away without you. You must strap in your whole self to experience the thrill.

When you do strap yourself into the seat of the ride, you put your faith in the mechanism to work properly. You have faith the structure will not collapse during your ride and you have faith the train will not fly off the rails, even though it feels like it just might. Faith is the same way: you trust in something you can’t see and hope for what you believe is true. We cannot live the abundant life without faith and we must completely sell out to God to experience the full life he offers.

A person who has no faith never experiences the spiritual thrill ride God has designed for us to enjoy.

It is helpful to remember that life itself, in fact, is only a ride; it is a journey and not a destination. It is only a small part of our existence. Moses understood this four thousand years ago. Hebrews 11:25 says, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” Moses experienced 80 years of mostly hardship but he has been in paradise ever since. Seeing the big picture, we understand that our next breath is in God’s hands. He holds all things together and he knows the day our life will come to an end. We really are living on borrowed time and every day truly is a gift.

Understanding that our lives are short should not be bad news, though, it should thrill us that our lives are going to be so much better some day. What wonderful hope this gives. Now we realize that all of our trials are only temporary, even “permanent” disabilities, illnesses and difficulties.

Realizing that this life is only a short ride and only a small part of our total existence also helps us put materialism in its proper perspective.

Jesus explained this in his Sermon on the Mount. He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Listen to Paul’s words to the young preacher Timothy: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Notice Paul’s verbiage here: pierced themselves; many griefs; ruin and destruction; a trap; wandered from the faith. It sounds like Paul knew of people who had ruined their lives in the pursuit of riches. You and I surely know of people who have done this.

But we know of people who have found riches and have not come to ruin. Television, magazines and movies show us rich and famous people all the time and it is a temptation to covet their lifestyles. The question, then, is do riches really make people happy?

Author Gregg Easterbrook wrote a remarkable book called The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. In it, he describes how much better off we are in America, financially, but most Americans actually enjoy life less than their parents did. We live longer, he says, and make much more money, but we are actually enjoying our materialism less and less, not more and more, as you might think.

He explores several theories on why this might be, but concludes his book by stating the problem seems to be we are trying to become happy with more money and possessions but less meaning and purpose. “This is a conundrum,” he says, “as the sense of meaning is much more difficult to acquire than material possessions.”

Meaning and purpose come from a friendship with God. Anything short of that leaves us ultimately empty. We all have an itch for more money because of the freedom, power and options we are convinced it will give us, but America has discovered that no amount of money will ever provide a satisfying scratch. It has been said that we all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts and only God himself can fill it. When we try to fill that need for him with his creation, we come up unsatisfied. One of the richest men who ever lived was asked how much money would be enough. The billionaire replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Meaning then, comes from understanding that we were created for God’s pleasure, then getting in the game and doing something to better our world and God’s Kingdom. Something unselfish. Perhaps something that involves sacrifice.

I will never forget the day I interviewed a woman who lived in a beautiful house that had a lovely, sloping yard down to a peer and boat house on a beautiful lake. I was working as a photographer for a TV station that summer day and was there for a news story. This place was beautiful. The huge house had a balcony that overlooked the estate. The lake was no small pond, either, it was one of the biggest fishing lakes in East Texas. Even the boat was new and shiny. I had to remind myself of the Tenth Commandment as I looked around with my mouth agape. I was living in a one-room apartment at the time. I asked the lady, “I bet you like living here on this lake, don’t you?” She looked right at me and without hesitating said, “Yes, it’s nice, but I would rather live by the ocean.”

Now we know the secret about money: It is a carrot on a stick that we can never grasp. And if, somehow, we manage to clutch it, we find in the end that it is only “pavement”.

Am I saying money is evil? Not at all and neither does the Bible. In the passage we just referred to, Paul said the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Paul told Timothy just a few sentences later that rich people should not put their hope in their wealth, but should let God provide their enjoyment instead. He told the church in Corinth, “you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.” Paul says in both passages that God may bless us financially so that we can be generous in helping others.

The problem comes when we look to possessions for our joy and not to God. He knew all along we would have difficulty with this. He said he is a jealous God and wants us to love him more than anything on this earth. He wants us to receive our abundance from a friendship with him and not from what he has blessed us with. He commands us to worship the creator and not his creation.

The path to abundance is in finding meaning in our relationship with the maker, not materialism. We crave meaning in our lives, but it will never come from possessions. It only comes from a friendship with God.

I have seen televangelists bragging that God will bless us with his money if we will bless him with ours. The problem with this is it misses the whole point. Our focus should never be on gaining wealth, but on gaining a deeper friendship with God. Any book or preaching that teaches that we can become wealthy by trusting God is missing the point of the abundant life. Riches will never satisfy us and should never be our focus. I will admit that material possessions may bring a measure of happiness, but only for a short while. Materialism is like a drug that gives diminishing returns.

G. K. Chesterton said, “There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more, the other is to desire less.”

I have learned how to truly enjoy the possessions God blesses me with because I get my joy from Him, not the possessions. I can enjoy money and material things because I know they came from God’s hand. In a sense, I am enjoying God through the finances and possessions with which he blesses me.

When we learn this secret, we can be happy with less. We can live the abundant life even though, from the world’s view, we do not possess an abundance of riches!

Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money. He said, in essence, that if we will love and serve God, he will allow us to enjoy both himself and our possessions, but if we love and serve money, we will never be fully satisfied with either one.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God,” Jesus said, “and all these things will be added to you as well.” C. S. Lewis said it like this: “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

Further, Jesus said, “What good is it, if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul?”

The Apostle Paul was undoubtedly rich as he grew up. We know this because of the education he was afforded. But he says he counts wealth as rubbish when compared to knowing Christ. He wrote from a prison cell that he had learned to be satisfied in whatever circumstance he found himself. He said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

Now, let us recall the beginning of this chapter; that life is only a short journey. When we understand and believe this, we can begin to understand that no material possession we own will be ours forever. Then we can begin to view material things in a different and truer light. We will see our possessions as temporary tools for the Kingdom and we will turn our hearts toward our richest and lasting treasure in heaven - life with God.

Life on earth is only a journey, a mission. It is a mist and a dream that will soon be over and when it ends, we will begin life in our permanent home. Knowing this allows us to see both our trials and our material blessings in their proper perspectives. Seeing the big picture is one of the secrets of the abundant life.

Chapter 2 Review Questions:

1. Is the shortness of life good or bad news to you?

2. How does knowing that this life is only a small part of our total existence:

a. put our trials in proper perspective?

b. put our material possessions in their proper perspective?

3. How can we manage a dual citizenship and stay true to our faith?

4. Why doesn’t wealth and fame make us happy, even if we think it will?

Chapter Three

Living in a Circle of Love

We were created to live in an unbroken circle of love. God loves us and wants us to love him back. Further, God wants us to love each other. Living in this circle of love takes us to abundance.

The Bible says, “For God so loved the world...” and that’s where it all begins. This familiar passage lets us know how God really feels about us. It doesn't say, “for God so loved the good people of the world,” it simply says “the world” and that means everyone. It means you and it means me. This is important to know. If you think God is mad at you, disappointed in you, or that he doesn’t like you, you are going to have a hard time living the full life.

Yes, we all have days when we think God has forgotten us or that he is mad at us, but the Bible teaches that this is simply not true. No matter who we are, what we have done, or what has been done to us, God still loves us. We don’t earn his love. His love is not conditional at all. He is the source of love and he loves us all, no matter what.

Have you made mistakes? Of course you have! So has everyone else, and in fact, God says we have all sinned and fallen short of his glory, but he says he loves us anyway, and has provided a way for us to have a friendship with him even though we are not perfect. This is what salvation is, being saved from God’s wrath and punishment. What he did was pay for our sin himself. With our sin paid for, we can approach him like a child approaches his father.

So, it doesn’t matter how many mistakes you have made or how bad they are, what matters is that you allow Jesus to forgive you. He paid for our sins big and small on the cross. There is no sin too big for his forgiveness. You may not feel loved by the world; you may not feel worthy of God’s love, but it doesn't matter, he loves you anyway and wants you to come to him. We do this by crying out to him in prayer and asking him to forgive us of our sins and to save us. The Bible promises that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.

Do this right now if you haven’t already done so. This is the only way to have a friendship with God and the only way to live the abundant life. Jesus said the only way to the Father is through him. If you haven’t received Jesus as your Savior (asked him to save you), you are not God’s child, but merely his creation. Your sins must be paid for before you can call him Father. Yes, God loves you even if you have not asked Jesus to save you, but he hates sin and your sin separates you from him and keeps you from having a friendship with him. We can only call him Father and be his friend after we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. Nothing in this book applies before this happens. Please get this straight before you proceed.

If you just became a Christian or already know that you are one, it is important that you remember that your sins were all forgiven and that God loves you no matter what. He is not mad at you and he has not forgotten you. He wants what is absolutely best for you every day of your life. Knowing that you are forgiven is the first step toward that. Knowing that God loves you takes you half way. It’s what you do with that knowledge that takes you to abundance.

First, then, we realize that God loves us unconditionally. This frees us to love ourselves and to love others. We cannot separate love from living abundantly. We were created to be connected to each other. We were created to connect to God, first, and then to each other. Jesus explains this in Matthew 22:36 - 39, when he said the most important law is that we love God with all of our being. Then, Jesus said we are to love others as we love ourselves.

One of the most wonderful things about our Christian faith is that God tells us he loves us and desires that we love him back. Other world religions do not teach this. Their religious teachings are all about behavior and earning a spot in heaven. Our God wants us to have a love affair with himself and freely gives us salvation and everything else we need. Religion may be about governing human behavior, but Christianity is about having a relationship with almighty God. It really is a wonderful faith and realizing this is the beginning of our path to the full life.

A lot of people know in their heads that God loves them, but they don’t truly believe it in their hearts. Don’t read another sentence until you get it in your head and your heart that God is in love with you. His love truly is unconditional. You can’t earn it and you can’t stop it. I can’t do anything to make God love me any more or less than he already does. I do try, though, to live my life so that he is proud of me and proud to be called my God. I want God to be pleased with me so I try to walk by faith, but his love for me is unconditional. This is important to know because it frees us to approach God even when we fail. Think about it: A good father still loves his children, even when they disappoint him. God is the same way, he loves us like a father loves his children because that is exactly what we are! He said we are his children and his friends. Notice the relationship significance in those terms. He doesn’t just refer to himself as our creator, but as our father. We become part of his family. And Jesus said we are his friends if we obey him. I love the idea of being able to call Jesus my friend.

Just how much does God love us? It is a love we have trouble understanding. I can’t fathom letting my son die for someone else, but that’s just what God did. That is an awful lot of love! Why does God love us that much? I honestly don’t know, we didn't earn it and we don’t deserve it. A good father would probably die for his children, but that is different than sacrificing an only son for a stranger. Soldiers are known to die for their buddies in a battle situation, but most of them would never sacrifice a child for those same buddies. It is difficult for us to fully understand that kind of love.

When we realize how much God loves us, this gives us proper self worth. I am not an accident and I am not a piece of junk. I am not a mistake. I am deeply, deeply loved by the creator of the universe. He created me for a reason and he wants to be my father and friend. That makes me feel very good about myself. Now we are getting somewhere. Now we are seeing why it is important to understand how much God loves us. If God loves me that much, I must be pretty special. I must be lovable and lovely. I must have worth. Well, he does and I do. And so do you.

Knowing how valuable I am as a person sets me free to love myself. True, there are some things about myself I don’t particularly like. Yes, there are some things about myself I might like to change, but God likes me just like I am. In fact, he loves me just like I am and is working in my life to make me even better. He made me this way and he is crazy about me, so there is no reason or excuse for me to think I have no worth or value. In fact, it is an insult to God for a person to feel he is no good or useless because God created us just like we are and loves us just like we are.

Talk to people in prison and you will find that many of them loathe themselves. They have been taught that they are worthless or even evil. When a person feels this way about himself, he doesn't care who he hurts. Some criminals feel no sorrow or remorse for their victims. This is because they have no self-worth, no self-esteem. This is a terribly sad state in which to find yourself and one that God desperately wants you to avoid. He wants you to love him, love yourself and love others so you can live a full, meaningful life.

He makes it clear, over and over in the Bible, that we are to treat others like we want to be treated and love others as ourselves. He demands that we visit sick and incarcerated people and help the poor and downtrodden. Why? Have you ever made a hospital visit or helped out in a soup kitchen? It makes you feel good to help others. It makes you feel good about yourself. It also helps the people you are aiding. If you want to live the abundant life, you will find yourself helping others. There is no way around this and no shortcut. The abundant life is not selfish or self-centered. It is Christ-centered and he directs us to help those around us. We are Jesus “in the skin” today. The Holy Spirit lives in us and if God wants to give someone a hug, he uses our arms to do it; if he wants to give a homeless person a warm meal, he does so through us. He deliberately designed society so that we must connect with each other and we must care about each other.

Here, then, is the formula: When we realize that God loves us, this allows us to love ourselves, then we can love others as we love ourselves.

These are all links in a chain that cannot be broken to have the abundant life. It takes each step to get there. We were created to be in meaningful relationships. We were created to love God and to love each other. Make no mistake about it, the abundant life does not happen short of this.

You will never be in healthy relationships if you don’t feel good about yourself and the secret to feeling good about yourself is in realizing how much God loves you. We cannot disconnect these elements.

In fact, how can you truly love God if you do not love yourself? We cannot give what we do not have. God knows you must love and respect yourself in order to love others and also to love him.

As you know, how you feel about yourself is called your self-esteem. It is critical that you have a healthy self-esteem if you are going to have healthy relationships with others.

Some people have low self-esteems because they have been told they are ugly, worthless or no good. Others have low self-esteems for some other reason, perhaps because they were abused as a child or laughed at as a student. Perhaps they have made mistakes and now feel they are no longer valuable.

It is terribly important that we feel good about ourselves. You can never have healthy, intimate relationships if you have a low self-esteem. If your self-esteem is low, it is important to identify the cause so you can correct this wrong thinking.

It might be that you were put down as a child. If this is the case, it is important to forgive and move on with your life. Realize that what was said to you is not true. You are a valuable, worthwhile person with a lot to offer. It takes effort to forgive people who have hurt you and to correct your thinking about yourself but you can do it. Get in a support group or, at least, make sure your current friends are loving and supporting you. Life is too short to hang out with people who put you down and don’t support you. Yes, everyone makes mistakes and, no, not everyone looks like a movie star, but our value goes much deeper than that. Our true value is based on our character and you and you alone are in control of that.

If you were abused as a child, you may need to seek counseling. Pastors and professional counselors are willing and able to help you work through some of this anger. It is important to get help in this area so that the scars do not keep you from the happy life and relationships you deserve. There is a danger of getting into abusive relationships and you must avoid this trap.

Don’t set your standards by media stars. Some people look at movie and TV stars and feel inadequate based on what they see. We must realize that stars look that good because of rehearsed lines, professional lighting, makeup, and even costume artists. No one looks that good all the time and we shouldn’t hold ourselves to those unrealistic standards. Besides, our physical appearance is only a part of who we are. Celebrities are living proof that looks and wealth do not make us happy and do not always provide for healthy, intimate, long-lasting relationships.

Yes, we should try to look our best each day. This is important for our own self-concept as well as how attractive we are to others. First impressions are important, but we should only fret over what we can do something about. Look and act your best, then hold your head up high and see what happens. My wife will tell you she didn't think I was the best looking person she had ever seen when she fell in love with me, but she liked me for the other qualities I offered. Practice good hygiene. There is no question that a person interested in healthy relationships needs to practice good hygiene and grooming, but when we have done our best, we need to respect and accept who we are.

Do your friends support you? It is critical that you surround yourself with people who love you unconditionally and support you. If your friends are hurting your self-esteem instead of helping it, you may want to find some new friends. Find a supportive church home where you can meet positive friends who encourage you. If you are not finding that in your church, seek another one.

Find a job or hobby that supports your self-esteem. It is important to find a job or hobby that builds your self-esteem. If you must move to another city or go back to school to find a more rewarding career, then do what it takes. We must surround ourselves each day with people who make us feel good about ourselves. Men get their self-esteems in large part from their jobs. So men, it is important that you feel good about your job. It doesn't matter how high the profile of your job is, but how well and faithfully you perform it each day. Success is much more than how much money you make, it is also how you impact your coworkers and community each day. If your job doesn't give you satisfaction, perhaps a hobby or interest can help fulfill that need.

Do you respect yourself? It is difficult to expect others to respect you if you do not respect yourself. Know that you are a person of value. You are a unique individual and you have a lot to offer. Past mistakes are just that: past. You and you alone can fulfill your purpose in life. If you have trouble respecting yourself, work on this right now; start today!

As we can see, it is important that we have a healthy self-esteem.

Of course, to be healthy, our self-esteems must not go too far the other direction either. Paul said we should not feel more highly about ourselves than we ought. He goes on to say that we are all in this together and everyone has worth and purpose. A selfish, self-centered, prideful or arrogant person is not in position to love and sacrifice for others. Life is about balance and the way we view ourselves needs to be in balance to live the abundant life.

Once this issue is settled, we can love other people. The Biblical word for love in Matthew 22: 36 - 39 does not mean having warm, fuzzy feelings for someone. It doesn't even mean you like to be around someone. It means you are willing to do something to help him. This kind of love is a verb, an action word. It means you seek what is best for those around you. A wise business person once said that the key to success is to help others succeed. This is true for our purposes, too. The way to love is simply to treat everyone like we want to be treated. This may mean saying a kind word, giving a cup of water, visiting a sick friend, helping with a Christmas offering at your church or forgiving someone who has wronged you. As you can see, it means you are a giving person. You are willing to sacrifice for others. You don’t let your pride stop you from sharing the blessings you have been given. This is what true love is and it is this love that takes us to the abundant life. This is how God loves us and how he wants us to love others and when we do, we are on tract to live the life God intended for us to live.

We were created to be in relationships. We were designed to be in a relationship with God and relationships with friends and family members. I can’t imagine having an abundant life without my parents, wife, children, family members and friends. The first conflict in the Bible was when God said that man should not be alone. Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18) In response, God gave Adam a wife. I’m so thrilled that God did that. My wife gives me such joy, pleasure and love. She has given me wonderful children and a happy home and I don’t see how I could make it without her. We've been on a honeymoon for more than twelve years now and I’m looking forward to many, many more. Isn't it interesting that God knew that even He was not enough to give Adam an abundant life? God did not make us to live solitary lives, he made us to connect with others and we do so in our relationships. We are emotional, sexual creatures and God made us this way. He did so for a reason. He created the family and he showed us what true friendship is. He wants us to enjoy life on this earth and it is impossible to do so without connecting to others. God is giving me an abundant life in part, through my family and friends.

I’m thankful for my wife and children, but I know many single people who live full, satisfying lives, too. They find love and connection in their families, work places and friendships.

When Senator John McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, he says the worst suffering he faced was his years in solitary confinement. He says it was like heaven when he was finally placed in a large cell with more than twenty other men. We were made for friendship and companionship.

It is true that the devil has distorted many of God’s gifts. When we take our eyes off of God and put them on his creation, we miss out on the abundance he offers. Sex, for instance, is a wonderful gift from God and certainly a part of the abundant life. Only human beings experience the pleasure that we do in the act of procreation. But if we use this gift in any way other than God’s design, we do so at our peril.

When we love God first, he gives us the love and ability to love ourselves and others. Then, we can live life to the full. It begins with love. First, God loved us, then he gives us the ability to love others. We can’t do it without God; we can’t do it without a healthy self-esteem; and we can’t do it without each other. The Apostle John says we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love each other, whom we have seen. He goes on to say that if we say we love God but hate our neighbor, we are liars. We cannot separate loving God from loving each other.

I can truly enjoy the romance with my wife and my friendships with others because I love God the most. This is the way we were designed and a secret of the abundant life. We must not worship any other person, but God alone, and when we do love God the most, he enables us to love each other like we never dreamed possible.

Further, God left us with the job of sharing the good news about him, taking care of people in need, and every other function that requires physical contact. In other words, if God wants to give me a hug, he must use someone to do it. If he has a message of hope to share, he depends on us to be his mouthpiece to share it. If a child needs food or clothing, it is up to us to provide it. This is the responsibility and blessing with which he has entrusted us. There is no plan B.

Chapter 3 Review Questions:

1. How can a Holy God love us unconditionally?

2. Why must we love ourselves before we can love other people?

3. Why is having a healthy self-esteem important to living in abundance?

4. What does it mean to be “Jesus in the skin” today?

a. How does knowing that change our attitudes towards others?

b. How does knowing that make us want to help people in need?

Chapter Four

Living Safely in God’s Hand

There are a lot of things to worry about in this life, but we don’t have to waste a single moment doing it. There is no way, in fact, that we can live the abundant life if we spend our days in worry.

Instead, we should live our lives knowing that we are safely in God’s hand (John 10:29) and that we belong to him. God loves us and only allows what is best for us. This is not always easy to believe; some days it takes all of the faith we can muster, but it is true

Is God really powerful enough to be in control of his world? Let’s consider the evidence:

Psalm 115: 3 says, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”

Colossians 1:16 - 17 says, “All things were created by him and for him ... and in him all things hold together.”

Isaiah 48:13 says, “My own right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.”

The disciples said of Jesus in Matthew 8:27, “Even the winds and waves obey him.”

Jesus said in Matthew 28: 18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

We can know for sure that God has all power and all authority in our universe.

It boils down to this: either God is in control of everything or he is not in control at all. If God is in control, then we can rest in his promises and know that nothing will ever happen to us without his permission.

If, however, we do not believe God is in complete control, we are forced to believe that any number of awful, random events can happen to us at any time. We are forced to worry about any and everything. Many people live their lives in fear that their luck is about to run out. This is a terrible way to live. We can have incredible peace in the middle of the storms of this life knowing that we are safe in God’s hand and that nothing happens to us without his permission. He will never allow anything to happen to us that is not what is absolutely best for us. This is how we live the abundant life.

Jesus said a sparrow does not fall that God does not know about and that we are much more valuable to him than handfuls of sparrows. He told us not to worry, but to seek after God and he will take care of us. That is tremendously comforting to me. I think some Christians believe that God is only interested in how they act, but this is simply not true. God is interested in everything about us and wants to lavish us with goodness and provide for our desires and needs.

You may have read the last two paragraphs and thought, “But bad things do happen to good people all the time. How can I know something bad won’t happen to me or someone I love?”

This very real concern. Bad things do happen. But this should not lesson our faith because Jesus never promised that no bad thing would ever happen to us; what he promised is that he would never leave or abandon us if it does. He will walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death or through any other crisis we face.

We don’t fully know God’s power and grace until we are put in a situation where that is all we have. I remember when our daughter needed heart surgery. She was only seven months old and I can assure you it was terrifying experience. I’ll never forget the day the surgeon called me at my office at the church where I worked. He told me there was a chance she would be paralyzed by the surgery or that she might not make it at all. He assured me the odds were in my favor, but it was still very frightening to hear the words. I went to the youth room where I had taught so many lessons about God’s provision and power. I sat and cried and prayed. And then, I felt a peace come over me that is hard to explain. I knew that God was going to go through the experience with me and that he was in control. If our daughter was paralyzed or worse, I knew that it would not catch God off guard.

When the day of the surgery came, I felt a peace that I had never felt before. Several friends and family members surrounded my wife and me, and God used them to hold us tight. In the end, everything came out perfectly, but I knew I had changed. I knew I had been through a crisis and had felt God’s comfort. I knew that God did answer prayers and that I could go through something like that. My faith was strengthened and that increased my joy. The Prince of Peace had come through for us.

One of my favorite evangelists, Scott Crenshaw, said one time that God takes care of his stuff and when we belong to him, we are his stuff. There have been many days that I reminded myself that I belong to God and he has the power and every intention of taking care of his possessions, including me and my family.

The day my wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis may be the darkest day of my life. I truly thought I would never be happy again. I’m not going to pretend it has been a picnic, because it has been difficult, but God has walked with us through this every step of the way. He comforts her and he comforts me. God has shown his power, grace, mercy and presence over and over since that day and has used this maddening illness for our good and his glory. My faith allows me to deal with this better than I ever imagined I could. How is my wife doing? Some days are better than others, but she has learned that the secret to the abundant life is not in perfect health or in any other circumstance; it is in a friendship with God.

Another terrible, dark day in our lives was the day, two weeks before Christmas, when my wife’s best friend’s son was hit and killed by a car. They were at church and the kindergartner had just sung in the children’s Christmas program. After church, little John Mark ran into the street and was instantly killed. We stood in the emergency room with his mother, Angie, and watched her stroke his hair. A couple of days later, we stood beside Angie and her husband at the funeral home as hundreds of visitors filed past to offer support and compassion. I will never forget the heartache. I had a front-row seat to the most awful thing that can happen to a person: the death of a young child.

That was more than six years ago and the family is doing much better. Birthdays and Decembers are still tough, but much of the pain has given way to the sweet memories. God designed us to go through stages of grief and then gradually recover from emotional pain with each passing day. It is one of life’s mysteries, but pain does not stop us from living the abundant life.

Was this God’s will? Yes, we must believe it was because if it wasn’t, then it was a random, evil event that caught God off-guard or that he couldn’t prevent. The Bible teaches that each of us has a set amount of days. John Mark lived all of his days just like you and I will. No one is promised a hundred years and no one is even promised twenty.

Angie could have chosen to hate God because he allowed this tragedy, but, instead, she chose to lean on God and allow him to gradually heal her broken heart.

This tragedy might have made her view God as a heartless ogre who hurts little children, but, instead, she has learned to accept that God is in control and truly knows what he is doing, even if we don’t understand it.

In the Bible, Job lost his children, too. But he recognized that he would have never had his children to begin with, if God hadn’t given them (Job 1:21): “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Life belongs to God and he knows what is best for us even if it doesn’t make sense to us.

God did not kill John Mark, but he allowed his death because it was the proper time. (Nothing happens to us that doesn’t pass through the filter of God’s sovereignty, love and power.) Why did God ordain such a short life for such a sweet little boy? We will probably never know in this life, but one day we will. I do know this: the death of a young person is a reminder that we all must be ready because long life is not guaranteed to any of us.

And there is something else. I also had a front row seat to witness God comfort a family in a supernatural way. I thought before I witnessed John Mark’s death that I could not go through something like that. Now I know that I could. It would be horribly painful, but I know God would walk with me through it.

So, God never promised a life without pain. What he did promise was that all things would be for our own good. (Romans 8:28) Yes, all things - we must believe this. It says, in essence, that whatever happens to us is what is best for us. This takes faith to believe when bad things happen, but it is true. God’s plan is to shape us to look like Jesus, humble and obedient. Jesus was meek - and meek is an equestrian term that means a horse has been broken. Yes, broken. God has to break us so that we will obey him. This is one reason he allows bad things to happen to us: they break us into Jesus’ image, just as a potter uses force to break clay into the pot he wants to make.

A broken horse has all of its beauty, power and personality; only now he can be controlled by his master.

God wants us to be mature, with plenty of faith, and he knows the only route to this is through the fires of trial. Jesus had to suffer in order to do his Father’s will and so do we. Remember, though, he will walk with us through anything he allows us to go through.

You may have heard that God will never place anything upon you that you cannot handle. This is not true and is not found in the Scripture. God will place burdens and trials upon us that we cannot handle so we will have to lean on his power to make it. If we never faced a trial that we could not handle on our own, how would our faith ever grow? How would we know that God was with us and is sustaining us?

When we realize that God is going to let some unpleasant things happen, but he is going to walk with us through whatever happens, we don’t have to worry.

The most frequent command from God in the Bible is to have courage. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church members in Philippi and told them to have courage and not to worry. In The Living Bible, it says, “Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything, tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can even understand.”

Paul knew the secret. He knew that we can never enjoy the full life Jesus promised if we spent our days in worry. His solution was prayer. Don’t worry, he said, instead, pray.

Remember how we discussed that God created us to have a friendship with him? The way we do this is through prayer. In general, we speak to him in prayer and he speaks to us through his Word.

So we must have a dynamic, active prayer life in order to live the full life. Not having this is one shortcut that we cannot take. Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6: 9 - 13: He instructed us to first praise God the Father. This means we acknowledge that God is the Lord and King of the Universe.  This is separate from thanking God for what he has done for us, this is praising him for who he is. This is getting to know him, to seek his face. We also acknowledge that he is our Lord and King. How can we have faith and live the abundant life if we don’t believe in God? It can’t happen.

Next, Jesus said our prayers should ask for God’s will on earth, just like it is done in heaven. This means we are asking him what we need to do to fulfill his will. In other words, we are reporting for duty. Some people only want to pray to God as an advisor – telling him what is best, but instead we should pray believing that he knows what is best instead. When we do we are asking God how we can advance his Kingdom on earth. In short, we are telling God that we are ready and willing to obey him. Faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other and you cannot have the abundant life without this two-sided coin.

Then, Jesus said to ask God to take care of our needs. We have already discussed that God already knows what we need. Here, though, Jesus tells us to ask God anyway. When the blind man, Bartimaeus, cried out to Jesus for mercy, Jesus asked him what he wanted. That may seem like a silly question at first, but Jesus was teaching us that we must tell God our specific needs. Bartimaeus, a beggar, could have asked Jesus for money, which would have only helped one day. Instead, Bartimaeus wisely went for broke and asked Jesus for sight. Jesus immediately gave him his wish. So long as there are trials, there will be prayers and that is precisely God’s plan. At least this is true for many of us. Some people view trials as evidence that God either doesn't exist or doesn't care about us. Trials can either drive us toward or away from God               and the choice is ours. It is interesting to me that some people ignore God for years and then wonder why he “allowed this to happen” when something bad does. Some people’s sense of fairness and friendship is a mystery to me.

Next, Jesus taught us to ask God for forgiveness for our sins, while we forgive those who have sinned against us. This is interesting because the Bible teaches that our sins are already forgiven once and for all when we accept Christ (Hebrews 10:10). But this part of our prayer life is important because by confessing our sins to God, we are agreeing with him that we have let him down. We ask for forgiveness to make sure our daily sins and mistakes do not come between ourselves and God. Sin does not affect our relationship with God because that is set in stone, but it breaks our fellowship with God. Not forgiving others also hurts our fellowship with God. Jesus was clear in his teaching that we must forgive others in order to have a dynamic, effective prayer life.

Finally, Jesus taught that we should ask God for help in dealing with evil and temptation. God will never “lead us into temptation”, but Jesus is teaching us to ask that he not put us in a situation where we might be overcome with it. The Bible teaches that God will always give us a way to escape situations that tempt us. (1 Corinthians 10:13) This is what Jesus is referring to. And he said we should ask God for help in our daily battle with evil. We will discuss this battle and how to win it in chapter five.

A note about worrying: We shouldn’t worry, but that doesn’t mean we should not be careful. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he challenged Jesus to jump off of the top of the temple so God would send his angels to save him (Matthew 4: 5). Jesus answered that we are not to put God to a foolish test (Vs. 7).

Not wearing a seat belt; driving over the speed limit; walking alone at night in a dangerous area; not taking care of ourselves -- these are putting God to a foolish test and Jesus said not to do this. No, we should not worry, we should pray, but yes, we should be careful and take care of ourselves. I lock the doors at night then ask God to protect my family. I try to keep my children from playing in the street then ask God to protect them from harm. I try to eat right and exercise then ask God to bless my health. We must use reasonable caution, maturity and wisdom, then live our lives secure in God’s peace.

I’m glad God protects the simple and protects us even when we make mistakes or let our guards down, but we should never live recklessly and then ask God to bless that behavior. Where is the fairness in that? We don’t do God’s job for him and should not try, but we must do our part within a good, healthy, balanced reason.

When we learn to pray instead of worry, we will begin to live comfortably in God’s peace. When we realize that God truly is in control of his universe and will use all things for our good, then we can begin to live abundantly. The secret is in realizing how big and powerful our God is and bask in the knowledge that we are safely in his hand. This knowledge gives us joy and hope.

Joy takes us beyond our everyday existence. Happy moments come and go, but joy stays with us. Joy is the constant knowledge that God is with us and that, eventually, everything is going to work out okay. A joyful person is appreciative of his world; he understands that he has much to be thankful for; he sees beauty all around. He knows that he has been created by God and is also loved by him. He realizes that his life has meaning and purpose and that he is only a visitor on this earth. A joyful person can see beyond the veil of our fallen world and realize that heaven is waiting just beyond.

The mystery, however, is that we want to think of joy as the absence of trials, but this is not so; the Bible teaches that the opposite is true. Trials, it says, strengthen us and in doing so, increase our joy. Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God.

As with everything associated with God, having joy takes a leap of faith in our fallen world. There are so many obstacles in our path, so many sad and bad occurrences that cloud the light of day. God knows this, of course, but his Word helps us understand that this is part of his plan. James 1:2 says to consider it pure joy when trials come our way because those events make our faith stronger. Stronger faith, James says, takes us to maturity and completeness.

The stronger our faith is, the more we will live the abundant life.

This is because God cannot bless us without faith. He cannot give us his salvation and he cannot give us anything else if we don t have faith. Faith is the vehicle God uses to deliver his goodness to us. We can’t experience his grace without it, not for salvation and not for daily living. It really makes sense when you think about it: How can God bless us if we don’t believe in him? How can he provide for our needs when we don’t have any trust in him? Jesus said we must have faith “of a mustard seed”, which is very, very small. Faith is a lot like being pregnant. You can’t be sort of pregnant. Either you are or you are not! Faith is the same way - either you have it or you don’t. God will bless even the smallest amount of faith if we will just have some.

We must believe in him and trust him. Then, he lavishes the abundant life on us.

Many people are happy so long as everything is going okay in their lives, but honestly, how often is that? It seems there is always something to ruin a good day. Debts, stress, traffic, health issues, relationship problems and even natural disasters surround us and choke out our joy.

Some people look at these events and declare that there must not be a God, but the fact that you can see that something is wrong with our world shows us that there must be more. We know in our hearts that we were created for life and not just existence. We have an innate sense that things should be better and we have a natural longing for a peaceful, joyful existence. God gave us that longing and will one day give us the desires of our hearts. We can have a taste of paradise today, but will not enjoy the fullness of it until we reach heaven. Just that taste of heaven, though, provides us with hope, joy and the abundant life.

When John the Baptist was sitting in prison for calling out Herod for stealing his brother’s wife, he began to doubt that Jesus really was the Messiah. He undoubtedly thought that Jesus was going to be a political Messiah. But Jesus wasn’t overtaking Rome and rescuing him from prison, so he began to doubt. This story is found in Matthew 11. Jesus didn’t reassure him based on his feelings, but on the evidence. Jesus gave him solid evidence to prove he was the Messiah. We have this same evidence today, told to us by eyewitnesses, just as John the Baptist received. So, don’t base your faith on your feelings, but on the evidence. We have solid evidence that our faith is true and that God exists and loves us. Your feelings will let you down, but the evidence is solid and will never go away.

Tragedies and trials are a bit like going to the dentist. It may be painful at the time, but in the end, we are better off going. Trials make us stronger because they make us depend on God for strength.

As a father, it hurts me to sit in the dentist office and watch gentle Doctor Herrington give my children shots in the soft flesh inside their little cheeks. I’ve had enough shots there myself to know that this is not the most pleasant of experiences. But I also realize what the alternative is. What good father does not take his children to the dentist or doctor knowing full well there is some pain involved?

Our heavenly father is a loving father who wants what is best for us and he fully understands that some of what’s best for us is painful at the time. Doctors have found that people who cannot feel the sensation of pain rarely live into their thirties. Pain is a gift from God that we must have to survive.

Joy comes when we accept this and put our trust in Him. Then we can rejoice in all circumstances; we can keep our measure of joy even in pain.

When we have been through some trials, our faith is strengthened and our joy increases. Trials, then are the payments that we must make to get the reward of fullness. Nothing worth having is free and the full life has its payments.

I know that a loving God is in control of my life and no matter what happens, it is part of his ultimate plan. Not everything that has happened in my life has been pleasant, as we have discussed, but I know God is going to make everything right one day. And I also know that God is using every good or bad thing in my life to make me what he created me to be.

Some days, when my faith is weak, I wonder if God has forgotten me. But curiously, those very trials are making me stronger. They are maturing me, making me wiser and increasing my overall joy. I wish I knew all the answers, but I have to trust God and realize that I may have to wait for heaven to fully understand. When I pass through the fire of a trial, I come out stronger and the next trial is not so bad. I still have bad days, just like everyone else, but I bounce back with God’s help and that’s what joy is all about.

You have heard the clichés by now about oysters making pearls because a piece of sand gets into their shells and agitates them. The oysters secrete a liquid that hardens and becomes the pearl. Maybe God allows things to come into our lives that agitate us because he wants us to make a pearl. Another illustration is how a lump of coal, after being put under tremendous stress will turn into a diamond. Even the part of the washing machine that causes our clothes to get clean is called an agitator. Sometimes agitation and stress can be good for us. I don’t mean to trivialize suffering in any way, but the fact remains that painful events seem awful at the time, but with God, turn out to be the best thing in the long run.

This knowledge gives us hope. We cannot be truly happy unless we have hope. Hope for a better tomorrow allows us to live through difficult times today. It has been said that without hope our hearts would break.

As Christians, we always have hope. We have hope so long as our loved ones are alive – and we continue to have hope when life is over! Paul says we do not have to grieve at the loss of a loved one like those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We know we will see our loved ones again if they believed in Christ. For believers, hope never ends. No matter what you are facing today, you can have hope that you will be happy and healthy one day. No matter what difficulty we could ever face, it will not separate us from God’s love, and it will come to an end one day.

Joni Eareckson Tada dove into a shallow area of Chesapeake Bay when she was a popular, vivacious 17-year-old. She hit the bottom and broke her neck. She has lived ever since that day in 1967 in a wheelchair, completely paralyzed, not even able to feed herself. This seems like such a terribly cruel and unfair fate for such a beautiful woman.

But I had the privilege of hearing Joni speak a couple of years ago. She was incredibly encouraging. She has found meaning and purpose for her life despite -- or even because of -- her circumstances. She told us that in heaven, God is creating a beautiful tapestry. “It looks ragged, ugly and confusing to us now,” she said, “but that is because here on earth we can only see the underside. One day, though we will see the tapestry from above and will realize its full beauty.”

Joni has learned the secret of the abundant life. She knows that God will walk beside her every day of her life on earth and she has the hope that one day, she will walk beside him on streets of gold in a city so beautiful we cannot even comprehend it now. She has hope.

Psychiatrist Joel Dimsdale studied survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. What kept them going? He said the one human quality that kept all of them alive was “blind, naked hope.” Professor John Gardner, in The Recovery of Confidence says, “It is hope that pours people back into life. Losing hope can have a deadly effect.” Further, he says, “There is a resilience of the human spirit. We were designed for struggle.” It seems hope pushes us to persevere. Astonishingly, researchers are proving that hardships are good for us. They are discovering that our spirit needs challenge and stretching. Author Peter L. Steinke says, “The body flourishes with activity and exercise and would not the same hold true for the human spirit?”

When engineers first completed the United States Interstate Highway system, it was a beautiful sight. The roads were smooth and straight. But soon they noticed a problem: drivers were lulled to sleep by the monotony. This remains one of the worst dangers of traversing the interstate system to this day. Now, when engineers build roads, they deliberately put in a few curves and bumps. They scrape lines in the pavement and place “sound bumps” on the shoulders of existing highways to wake up sleepy drivers. Our minds were made to be challenged, not to live in monotony, even if the monotony is smooth and straight.

Essayist Norman Cousins surveyed more than six hundred cancer doctors. When he asked them what factors in their patients were most important, ninety percent replied the supreme attitude was hope. There is a direct correlation between surviving cancer and having hope.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The most important word in the English language is hope.” She should know, her husband was president during the Great Depression. Sociologists say the most important value of the work programs Franklin Delano Roosevelt began was the hope they gave. It was intangible, but very real.

Our bookshelves are full of stories of people who have overcome every imaginable obstacle. Most of them conclude that God allows challenges to come into our lives because he knows we need them. What we do with those challenges often dictates whether we live depressed, defeated lives or abundant lives. It may even factor in our very survival.

The strongest enemy of joy and hope for many people is depression. Depression is not fully understood, but it plagues millions of us. Scientists say genetics seems to play a major role in who will suffer from this ailment. I myself have had to deal with this awful malady. It seems to be genetic in my family.

It is important that we realize that depression is a physical disease, like the flu or pneumonia. In fact, some doctors think it may even be caused or triggered by a virus. The good news about depression is that it is often treatable. If you suffer from chronic depression, please let your doctor know. He may be able to help you.

I have heard that human beings are not so much like machines are we are like gardens. We have seasons of the body and seasons of the soul. Sometimes, we go through dry, arid times that are not pleasant. But it is during those times that our roots go down deeper. Sometimes we may feel cold and depressed. But even though spring may feel more pleasant, winter is also important to a healthy plant’s life. God created us to go through cycles. A plant cannot live a full life without cycles and neither can we.

When you feel down, know that all emotions are part of the full life. If, however, you feel an ongoing depression that is keeping you from functioning, see your doctor. You may have a physical problem that he can help. Your brain continually secretes hormones and if something is out of balance, depression can result. There are medicines that can help get you back in balance. Further, as we discussed earlier, issues from your past can haunt you now. If so, prayerfully seek a counselor who can help you work through this. Life on earth is too short to carry a burden that is too heavy to bear by yourself.

I am convinced that many people bring depression on themselves because of their lifestyles. It has been proven that a good diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle can help keep most people from being depressed. If you sit on the couch all day eating potato chips, drinking sugary soft drinks or alcohol and watching soap operas, you are probably going to get depressed.

Another plague of our modern times is stress. We are all running around as hard and fast as we can with little relenting. We are busier than a bear in a bee hive. This causes stress, which causes depression and a host of other physical maladies. Simplifying our lives and reducing stress is essential to living in abundance. We must be wise about these issues. God created us to need down time to rest and recharge our batteries.

Here is one of the secrets of the abundant life: when you feel down or depressed, do something good for someone else. For many people, this is an instant remedy for the blues. The old cliché that says JOY is putting Jesus first, others second and yourself last really does work. When we become self-consumed, we begin to think about how bad our lives are. We sit around and mope about how poor, ill or unsuccessful we are. It is a downward spiral that takes us further and further down.

Happiness often comes when we stop thinking of ourselves and our own needs and begin to think about how we can help someone else. People have found through the ages that volunteering in a soup kitchen, collecting coats for poor children, writing an encouraging letter to an old friend, or teaching a Bible study class at church can lift the spirits like nothing else. A lifestyle of giving and sacrificing may seem to you like it would be a boring, even depressing one, but you will have to try it for yourself to see that it actually gives joy, purpose and fulfillment.

Are you a thankful person? This may not sound so important at first, but it turns out a lifestyle of gratitude is essential to the abundant life. In Gregg Easterbrook’s book The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, he talks about this phenomenon. He cites psychologist Robert Emmons, a professor at The University of California. Emmons says, “Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress, and to achieve a positive sense of self. Easterbrook concludes that people who have a sense of gratitude or thankfulness tend to have higher vitality and more optimism, suffer less stress, and experience fewer episodes of clinical depression than the population as a whole.”

Paul knew this all along. He said when we pray believing, with a thankful heart, we will experience “God’s peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can even understand.”

When we are thankful, it will show up in not only our attitudes, but in our actions. We will set ourselves free to live life to the full. Being thankful has an element of being humble because we realize that our blessings are a gift -- and not something we deserve. Humility is the path to friendship with God and that is the path to the abundant life.

Is it always easy to find joy in painful situations? Of course not, but it is helpful to understand that God is in control and that he knows what he is doing. He has wonderful plans for us, but sometimes we must experience trials to get there. No matter what happens, though, we know we are safely in his hand and he cares deeply for us.

Chapter 4 Review Questions:

1. Why do we tend to worry so much?

2. How does worry keep us from living the abundant life?

3. How does a poor prayer life keep us from living the abundant life?

4. Why do you think hope is so important to living the abundant life?

Chapter Five

Living In Spiritual Victory

I am convinced that many people do not live the abundant life because they are losing on the spiritual battlefield. If we think there are no spiritual forces waging war against us, we have not read enough of the Bible. The Bible makes it clear that everyone is involved in a cosmic, spiritual war whether or not we choose to be.

Consider these verses as evidence that war is raging in the spiritual realm:

Daniel prayed to God in Daniel 10: 1 - 13, but the messenger angel told him that it took him three weeks to bring him God’s answer because a “prince of the Persian kingdom” resisted him and would not let him through. Finally, he had to enlist the archangel Michael for help.

God allowed Satan to take Job’s family, wealth and finally health from him in the book of Job. Satan went into God’s presence and God gave him permission to carry out his evil deeds.

Jesus cast numerous demons out of people who were possessed by them.

The disciples also cast out demons in the Gospels and in Acts.

Jesus himself was confronted by Satan in Matthew 4 after he had fasted in the desert.

Jesus said when a demon is cast from a man, it goes into arid places where it finds no rest. If it comes back and finds its old home clean and swept, it will come back in and bring seven of its friends with it, more evil than itself. (God never intended for us to live clean but empty lives, he wants us to fill our hearts with Him.)

Make no mistake about it, Satan is alive and well and the Bible teaches that he is out to steal our joy, peace, happiness and abundance. He is crafty and wise and does not fight fairly. Peter says Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I have seen lions hunt on nature shows. It is the animals who are separated from the herd that get attacked. It is important that we stay close to God’s people to keep from getting defeated by the devil.

Paul, in Ephesians 6, says Satan is unseen, but is actively after us. He fires fiery arrows, Paul says, so we must wear our spiritual armor to protect ourselves against him.

Here is a synopsis of what he instructed us. He said to wear the belt of truth. He mentioned this first, perhaps, because the other armor pieces attach to this. We can’t have a correct fellowship with God unless we know the truth. No, we don’t have to know all of the secrets of the universe, but we must know the truth about salvation. In other words, we must know that Jesus is the one and only way to heaven.

Then, Paul says we wear a breastplate of righteousness. The Roman armor included this very important piece of equipment in battle. It was a metal plate that covered the vital organs in the chest. In practical terms, Paul is saying we must be righteous to defeat the devil and his demons. It is often our hearts that lead us astray.

It is when we are participating in sin that we are most vulnerable to spiritual attack. I can’t tell you how many people have come to me for counseling who have damaged their lives with unrighteous mistakes. None of us is perfect and none of us can resist all sin all the time. God is fully aware of this, though, and gives us the power and strength to overcome temptation and sin. Christians are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. It is when we quench the Spirit of God by ignoring or disregarding him that we allow acts of unrighteousness to drag us down.

There are those who are so focused on behavior, though, they cannot enjoy the life that God has promised. This is called legalism. Legalism seeks to put a guilt trip on everyone for the least infraction. God is not keeping score of our mistakes, though; he wants to set us free from legalism. If we will just try to live a life pleasing to God, he will give us all the power we need to succeed. His Spirit will teach us what we need to know about righteousness, just as Jesus promised. We do not need help from self-righteous critics, thank you.

The next piece of armor Paul discusses is the shield of faith. As we mentioned earlier, faith is the vehicle that God uses to deliver his goodness to us. Paul is painting a word picture here of holding up -- and hiding behind -- a shield as Satan fires his arrows at us. When we have faith, it stops the enemy in his tracks. He cannot get to us. I would hate to go into battle without a shield to hide behind. Some people look to objects for good luck or protection, but our faith should be in God himself and not any created thing. God provides all the protection we need, but we must trust him to receive it. I’m glad I have my faith between myself and Satan.

Next, Paul talks about shoes of readiness. One of the secrets of the abundant life is that we need to share our faith. Remember, we must be obedient to God to be his friend and he told us to share his love with others. Jesus said to teach the whole world about him. Paul is also saying that, in our sharing, we can defeat Satan. Satan does not want us to share our faith and will try to stop us. He will intimidate us and tell us we will be laughed at. Paul says, though, that we can share if we just will. We need to learn as much about God and the Bible as we can so we can defend the hope that is within us.

Paul’s next piece of spiritual armor is the helmet of salvation. Would you go into battle without a proper helmet? This is a piece of armor that we must have if we are going to defeat the enemy. It may be that Paul makes salvation the helmet because the helmet protects the head - the brain. Paul may be saying that we need to remember that we are already saved. Satan loves to try to make us doubt our salvation. If we can settle this issue and realize that God saved us once and for all, we can grow in our faith and silence Satan and his doubts and discouragements.

If you have difficulty believing that your salvation is secure, please consider:

The Bible teaches that we have eternal life, and eternal life means it cannot be cut short. (John 3:16)

The Bible teaches that we are given the Holy Spirit himself as a down payment on heaven and if we go to hell, God will forfeit himself and go with us! (Ephesians 1:13, 14)

Jesus said no one can snatch us from God s hand -- and that includes us -- we cannot snatch ourselves out of God’s hand. (John 10:29)

Paul says our salvation is a gift from God and not a result of our works. If we cannot earn our salvation by good works, then we also cannot keep it by them. (Ephesians 2:8, 9)

Further, there is only one sin that will keep us from heaven: rejecting the gift of Jesus salvation. There is no other sin that will ever separate us from God. (Romans 8:38, 39)

Yes, there are verses that say or imply, “if you remain to the end you will be saved,” but John teaches that those who do not remain to the end were never saved in the first place. (1 John 2:19) We will remain to the end if we truly belong to God and you can rest easy knowing that God has your salvation safe and secure in his mighty hand.

How difficult to live an abundant life if you live in fear of losing your salvation!

The sword of the Spirit is the next armor piece. This is God’s Word and our only offensive weapon. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4, he fought back with one and only one thing: Scripture. This is why we must know and memorize scripture, because it is our best defense and only offense against the evil powers. The psalmist said, “I will hide your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The more we know about God, the more in love with him we will become and the more abundant our lives will be.

The final piece of armor is prayer. As we have discussed, prayer is extremely important. Prayer changes everything and we must have a dynamic prayer life if we are to live the full life.

Far too many people live a life of defeat because they don’t wear their spiritual armor. Far too many people do not enjoy the abundant life because of that defeat.

Consider something here: Jesus said he was the truth; Paul says our only righteousness comes from Jesus; God himself gives us faith; the Spirit of God enables us to share the Gospel; our salvation belongs to God; the sword of the Spirit is God’s Word and power; and the Spirit intercedes for us in prayer when we do not know what to pray.

The spiritual armor is Jesus himself! We clothe ourselves in Jesus and bathe ourselves in prayer. This is how we wear our spiritual armor and win victories on the spiritual battlefield. This is how we live the abundant life.

You may read the Bible stories and think, “I wish I could be as courageous as those guys!” or “I wish I could be a man of God like the men in the Bible.”

It is good to remember that the men and women in the Bible who showed such courage were ordinary people just like you and me. It’s not that they were “great men and women of God”, they were men and women of a great God. God uses ordinary humans to fulfill his purposes. He likes it that way because he gets the credit when simple people do extraordinary things.

I have heard teenagers say they are too young to do anything special for God. Well, adults are too busy, or too poor, or too weak, or too tall, or too short, or too old. Everyone has some reason why they cannot do great things for the Kingdom of God. But there is one reason why we all can: God’s power. It is God’s power that enables anyone to do anything for his Kingdom. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your weaknesses are, God can and will use you for mighty things if you will let him. He isn’t interested in your ability, he is interested only in your availability. If we are willing to be used by God, he will accomplish great things through us. This is what is so wonderful about our God: he let’s all of us in on the action. He lets all of us in on the work of the Kingdom and the blessings this brings.

Jesus said the first will be last and the last, first in heaven. He meant that those who serve others will be first in heaven. Here on earth, the opposite seems to be true, but not in heaven. When we are serving others, we are acting like Jesus and that pleases the heart of God.

It is important, then, to realize that God allows the spiritual battles we face. He uses them to strengthen us, to discipline us and to conform us into Christ’s image. I want my children to be happy, It’s true, but I don’t want them to be spoiled and therefore, worthless to themselves or society.

If a person never faces any challenges, he might just become spoiled and lazy. God is too smart to allow this. We have seen in this book that God allows trials because they mold us and strengthen our faith. God uses spiritual battles for the same purpose.

Spiritual battles? Sure we will face them and fight them. We will even lose some of them, but, with God’s power, we are more than conquerors! We will win the fight in the end and our foe will be defeated.

Spiritual battles challenge us, make us stronger and ultimately, give us the victory.

Chapter 5 Review Questions:

1. Do you think spiritual activity happens that we cannot see with our eyes?

2. How can we “put on our armor of God” each day?

3. Which armor piece is the only offensive weapon against our spiritual enemies?

4. What does it mean to “clothe ourselves in Jesus and bathe ourselves in prayer?

Chapter Six

Living Like Christ on Earth

God has every intention of transforming his children into Jesus’ image. In other words, he wants us to act like Christ. Since this is God’s will for us, there is no way we can live the abundant life short of it. Jesus was a man acquainted with suffering and sorrow; he was a man of sacrifice; he was humble and obedient - and we must be just like him if we want to live life in abundance.

Be perfect, Jesus told us. Why would Jesus tell us to be perfect when he knows we will never reach perfection? Because Jesus is our one and only standard. We are not to compare ourselves to each other or even how we used to be, we are to aim for standard of Christ himself.

Jesus told us to be perfect this during his Sermon on the Mount. He had been preaching about how we are to live our lives. He told us to be meek, righteous, pure in heart, forgiving, peace makers, salt and light, merciful, giving, and faithful to our word. He told us not to repay evil for evil, not to lust, not to hate, not to murder. He told us to hunger and thirst for righteousness and to be humble. He taught us to pray. He told us not to worry, but to store up treasures in heaven. He told us not to judge each other.

Then Jesus said hearing all of this would do us absolutely no good if we didn't put it into practice in our lives. He said we would build our houses on the sand if we didn't listen to him and take his advice, but we would build our houses on solid footing if we would hear his words and put them into practice. Storms, trials and temptations will come either way, but we can stand strong if we listen to Jesus and do what he tells us. So many people ignore Jesus’ advice and make poor choices that keep them from living the abundant life. How sad! People who disregard Jesus’ advice do fine until the first big storm comes their way, then it all collapses.

The mature person is wise enough to follow the manual of the creator. He builds his house on the rock.

Paul reminds us that we will never quite reach the perfection that Jesus calls us to in this life, but we must not look back, but strain ahead toward the goal. Paul says God is conforming us to the image of Jesus. In other words, God’s goal for us is to look just like Jesus. It is important, then, to study Jesus’ life since he is who we are to emulate.

What are some things we know about Jesus? He was kind and gentle. He was humble and obedient to the Father. He went to church on a regular basis. (Yes, part of living the abundant life is being active in a local church. There is no way we can grow as Christians if we neglect the assembling of other believers.) He ministered to people’s needs. He sacrificed for his friends. He knew the Scripture. He prayed early and often. He stood up for what was right. He turned the other cheek. He shared the gospel.

Perhaps it is ironic, when we think about Jesus’ life, that we don’t see a man living what we would consider an abundant life: He was homeless; he was poor; he was born in a barn; he never married; he never had a family of his own; he wasn't successful in any business; his own people rejected him; he probably had only one or two outfits; he got up early and stayed up late ministering and praying; he was spat upon, whipped and crucified.

The abundant life? Absolutely! Every moment Jesus spent in prayer was heaven on earth for him. Every minute he spent ministering gave him peace and purpose that few of us fully understand. And Jesus knew what we can only dream about: what was waiting for him in heaven. He had been there! He could see the big picture and his faith was complete. For Jesus, it was a privilege to suffer and give his life for others. He most certainly suffered, but he knew the incredible joy it was all leading to.

Here is the reality of it: That humble, obedient, suffering Jesus is gone forever. When we see him again, he will rule the world. All power and authority now belongs to him. The humble Jesus will return as a mighty conqueror with King of Kings and Lord of Lords written on his thigh. Every knee will bow to him in heaven and on earth. He will slay his enemies. He is now and will be worshiped night and day forever.

The amazing good news is that the “new” Jesus, with all of his power, lives in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and we have access to all of his power. That should make us be the most confident people on earth. When we realize that the power that created the universe is living inside of us, we should feel incredible about ourselves and never worry one minute about a single thing!

Our lives should pattern Jesus: humble, obedient and gentle now, but reigning in power with him forever later. Remember, the abundant life is reserved for the friends of God and God’s friends obey him. And yes, obedience to God will involve some suffering and sacrifice.

Few people find the abundant life, though, because they refuse to humble themselves like Jesus did. I believe God has veiled himself so that the proud will not find him, but has revealed himself so that the humble will. People think they can find happiness and success without God’s help. In the short run, they just might. After all, God sends rain to the just and unjust, but what does it profit someone to gain the whole world, but lose his soul? Remember what we said earlier, that life on earth is only a finger snap compared to eternity.

It is hard for many people to see life this way, however. They view this life as our one and only. If you think you only have one life, it is difficult to give it to a God that you cannot see. Pascal was right, life truly is a gamble. Are you comfortable that you have made the right choice?

The fact is, though, many people do not want to obey a higher authority, they want to control their own destinies. Some people don’t want to obey authority here on earth and they certainly don’t want to obey a power that they cannot see. Very few are willing to make that leap of faith.

This is where the rubber meets the road on this whole abundant life issue. I have stated throughout this book that there is a price to be paid to live the abundant life. If you thought you could live the abundant life short of giving your life to God, you will walk away disappointed.

How could there be a shortcut to something so precious?

Life is a mystery. We live with one foot on planet earth, but the other in a kingdom we cannot see. What Jesus promised was abundance in this life and eternity in heaven in the other one, but Jesus’ abundance is not an abundance of possessions, it is the privilege of living all of the elements that make this life, good and bad. Humility, joy, sadness, faith, purpose, meaning and elation add together to make us whole people. They add up to make us mature. They add up to make us Christlike.

C. S. Lewis has this to say about God making us like Christ: He says people go to God because they realize they need help. In the house that is their life, their shutters need repairing and perhaps they need some new paint. They know there are some things about themselves that could be better. So they go to God for their minor repairs and cleaning. At first, Lewis says, God begins the repairs, but then he takes a wrecking ball and painfully smashes the house only to build a new mansion in its place. Lewis says God is not happy just patching up our lives, he wants to make us new creations. He builds a whole new dwelling, clean, Christlike and pristine, then comes to live there himself.

Maturity goes beyond our Spiritual walk, though. As we have seen, we cannot separate our love for God with our love for each other. There is a direct correlation between living the abundant life and how we treat each other.

We will never live the life Jesus offers if we do not treat others like Jesus did. There is simply no shortcut to this. The more Christlike we become, the kinder we will find ourselves. The way we treat our friends and family and the way we treat strangers and coworkers leads us either toward or away from the abundant life.

Kindness does not always come naturally to us. We have to work at it. We have to practice being kind to others. This is because it usually comes at a price; our instincts may tell us to step on others to get ahead; our instincts may tell us to hold grudges or to lash back when others hurt us in some way; our instincts may tell us to put our own needs and desires above those of the people around us, but this is not kindness. You see, kindness often requires a measure of sacrifice.

Kindness means you own a sense of justice, but you temper it with mercy. This is how God treats us. We have been found guilty of sin, but God in his mercy, has given us a way to be made right with him and forgiven.

And God does not leave any doubt that since he forgives us, we must forgive one another. Jesus told the parable of a servant who begged for mercy from his master and the master grants it, forgiving a huge debt the man owed him. The master had threatened to throw the man in jail until he paid the debt, but he servant begged for mercy and received it. Then, the twist of the story happens. The servant goes out and runs into a man who owes him a small amount. The man says he cannot pay it, so the servant has him thrown into prison. When others hear about this injustice, they tell the master who, furious, throws the servant whose debt he had forgiven into prison for what was likely the rest of his life since his debt was so large. “This,” Jesus said, “is how my father will treat you if you do not forgive each other from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

Jesus equated kindness and mercy with forgiveness. He knew we would be hurt by others and he made no bones about the fact that we must forgive each other. We must show the same mercy and kindness that God shows to us.

This doesn’t mean we let everyone off of the hook when they wrong us or owe us, but it means we temper our justice with mercy like God does. It means we realize that no one could possibly owe us more than we owe God and he has completely forgiven our debts. This puts our squabbles and disagreements in their proper perspective.

What would the world be like if no one forgave anyone else? History gives us a clue. At the end of World War I, President Wilson wanted to show mercy to Germany when it had lost the war, but the other world leaders wouldn’t have it. They wanted the German people to pay reparations for the war, a debt that totally bankrupted the country and crushed the spirit of the people. Soon, a young man named Adolf Hitler rose to power in this defeated atmosphere. Within twenty years he began to invade his neighbors and World War II resulted. Had the victors shown mercy at the end of the Great War, which killed twenty million people, they could have avoided The Second World War, which cost some fifty million more.

God, in his infinite wisdom sees this. He knows that people in churches would crush each other and so would family members. We would hold grudges that would soon turn into hate and even murder. This would never be the abundant life! Unforgiveness holds us prisoner and ruins relationships. We must forgive; we must show mercy; we must show kindness. The Prophet Micah summarizes what God wants from us by saying God wants us to love justice, show mercy and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). This will almost always mean sacrifice on our part, but it is worth it.

This is one of the ironies of the abundant life: that we must sacrifice for others to live it. The world may teach that the way to pleasure and happiness is to take care of number one first and foremost, but the Word says just the opposite. The Bible says to love others as ourselves, to treat others as we would like to be treated, to forgive others when they wrong us, and to turn the other cheek.

God instructed us to love everyone, even strangers. As a reminder, the word for love here does not mean like. It does not mean you enjoy someone’s company. It is a verb that means you are willing to help or sacrifice for strangers and loved ones.

There is a society called The Random Acts of Kindness Society. They promote simple goodwill toward mankind. The idea is to do nice things for others, even to people that we do not know. The society grew as an answer to the problem of random acts of violence. People have long been fed up with violence toward others.

When describing you, a follower of Christ, the words violence, hatred, bigotry, meanness, prejudice, cruel, nasty, vulgar, bad-tempered or stingy should never be used. No, these words were never used to describe Jesus and they should never be used in the same sentence as your name, either. Mean, nasty, people do not live the abundant life.

People who are full of hatred cannot be full of God. People who are bigoted or prejudiced shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to living in abundance. Random acts of kindness are certainly worthy, but so are purposeful, deliberate acts of kindness. Jesus said we must love one another if we belong to Him. He also said we must forgive those who hurt us. This is not what our instincts tell us. Our natural inclinations tell us to strike back at those who strike us. Jesus said to turn the other cheek and Paul said not to repay evil for evil. Why? Because we cannot live the abundant life if we are violent or vengeful. We must, instead, be humble, kind and Christlike.

Jesus always focused in on our attitudes. He is saying we must have the attitude that, “if you hit me, I am not going to hit you back, and, if you say something bad about me behind my back, I am not going to retaliate.” We must have the attitude that we are going to forgive others and not repay them evil for evil if we are to be like Christ. Yes, there are times when we may even be taken advantage of because of our meek attitude, but that is how we show the world that we are different. The choice we make is between always winning every scrap or living the abundant life.

If someone is threatening your family, I think you should protect them with your very life. I just don’t think this is what Jesus and Paul are referring to. I think both of them realized that we would get into conflicts with other human beings, mostly within our own families. A house full of strife, yelling, fighting and violence is not a home. It is not a place for abundance. It is a place to be avoided. I want my home to be a safe zone of peace and love.

Forgiveness is the first rule of friendship, according to that wise man, Andy Griffith. We must turn the other cheek, forgive and forget and refuse to repay evil for evil in our homes, at church, work and everywhere else we encounter each other. My guess is, not all of the people you work with really live the abundant life. They need to see your example of how to do it.

As we have seen, being under God’s control is a huge secret of the abundant life. In order to live the abundant life, we must be broken first, but being broken by God is the best thing that could ever happen to us! When we submit to his will, we unlock the power to live like we have always dreamed. I want God to guide me and I want to be under his control.

I hope it will inspire you to hear that a simple act of kindness on my part has paid big dividends for me. I write a column for my hometown newspaper on parenting. I call it Apparently So, and write about family issues that everyone faces. I do this for free. The paper runs my column in its Sunday paper each week and I am told it is a very popular column. Because of that column, I was offered the pastor job at my church. What a blessing that has been! Those people would have never thought about me if not for that column. God used the column to put me there and I am thankful he did.

That column gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction, meaning, purpose and even employment. It takes a little sacrifice on my part to write it each week, but it is well worth it. It is helping me enjoy the abundant life.

Greed could have stopped me from writing the free column, but I’m glad I didn't allow it. Greed is a big problem in America. Being greedy is not being controlled by God, but by our own selfish ambitions. People are trying to find fulfillment in wealth and we have already discovered that this is a mirage in the desert.

Those who greedily step on their work mates to climb the ladder will not find the life Jesus promised at the top. Ultimately, they will find disappointment and may lose respect and friendships along the way.

So, do you consider yourself a kind person? Do you care about other people’s feelings? Do you make the effort to help those in need? Are you willing to sacrifice for others? Are you willing to turn the other cheek and forgive others? The abundant life is waiting for your answer.

A lot of people start out strong in their faith, but we must stay with it if we are going to live the abundant life.

Paul was well aware of this when he listed the fruits of the Spirit. He knew that we needed God’s power to remain faithful. We are notorious about making New Year’s resolutions and sticking to them only about two weeks. We Americans are especially soft. We love our convenience; we love our ease. We get fired up and dedicated about something and burn with passion for it - right up to the moment when it costs us, then we tend to back away and go after something else. We vow to, “get more exercise this year,” and even spend our money to join a health club. Gravity has its own agenda, though, and soon we are as scarce as hen’s teeth at the gym.

The Apostle Paul was the picture of sticking with it. He said the Christian walk was like running a race: you train your body to do what you want it to, he said. He knew that we either controlled our bodies or they controlled us.

Many early Christians were tempted to drop out of the Christian walk because of the persecution they faced because of it. The Roman government was taking their property, keeping them from working in better jobs, and even throwing them to lions as a one-sided sporting event for spectators.

In America, we can only imagine that kind of horrific persecution. In other countries, though, they fully understand it. Pastors in China routinely spend time in prison for preaching the gospel. Amazingly, they don’t even complain about it, but accept it as part of the faith. They know that Jesus gave his life for the faith and that Paul spent years in prison for it. Here in America, we expect God to bless us by making our lives more and more leisurely then fall away from the faith when it becomes inconvenient. Paul said he wanted to know Christ in his suffering, but many Americans find out that it is not so easy to keep our vows to God and wimp out. Many of us cannot keep our vows to each other, whom we can see, much less God whom we cannot.

In truth, we need God’s help to remain faithful. God gives us the power to do so when we walk in step with the Spirit. He gives us the power to have integrity. Integrity comes from the mathematical term integer, which means a whole number. A person with integrity is wholly devoted to something or someone. He doesn't waver back and forth. He doesn't chase after the latest fads, trends, or doctrines. He knows who he is and what he believes. He stands firm. He is wholehearted.

We think of a person with integrity to be a person with character. Character means you have the courage to do what is right, no matter the consequences. Character is who you are when no one is looking.

A person with character can stick to it. He has found that there is a price for keeping his vows, but keeps them anyway. He knows that the abundant life does not come cheaply, but is willing to pay the price because he knows the rewards are more than worth it.

A lot of people want to pick and choose what they will follow or believe from the Bible.  They find that a life of sacrifice and holiness is not easy. There are some things they simply do not want to do. They don’t want to turn the other cheek or forgive They don’t want to take time away from their own agenda to minister to those less fortunate, in prison or sick. They have a tendency to concentrate on their own circle of friends and ignore everyone else.

But the Bible says this is not true religion. “True religion,” James 1:27 says, “takes care of orphans and widows and keeps oneself from being stained by the world.”

Oh, we like the idea of being blessed by God. We love to think about how much God loves us. We like the idea of living a full and abundant life, but we get uncomfortable when we realize that there is sacrifice involved.

The abundant life, though, is reserved for the friends of God and God’s friends will share in his suffering and in his sacrifice. God’s friends allow him to use them for his purposes.

So, remaining faithful is not so easy. Paul said we must not tire of doing good. He knew we would struggle with this. It takes integrity and character, and most important, it takes God’s power. The good news is he gives us all the power we need to remain faithful, we simply have to ask God for help.

Keeping our word has great rewards in all areas of our lives, in fact. Marriages and families break apart because of the infidelity of one of the partners. Keeping our word can save us a load of heartbreak, money and reputation.

A man goes to the office each day and sees female coworkers, perhaps even his own secretary, always dressed nicely, with their hair perfect and their behavior sweet, agreeable and professional. Then the man goes home and sees the worst of his wife. The kids have been bad, her hair and makeup are unkempt, she’s wearing an old comfortable sweat suit. She is complaining about the messy house. After a while, he begins to be more attracted to a woman at work.

He drops a subtle hint or two and finds out she is attracted to him, too. It turns out he is kinder toward her than her husband is. “He just doesn't understand me like you do,” she says. You see, she sees him on his best behavior, too, and he is always shaved and nicely dressed.

But it is only a mirage. And costly. A man can lose his wife, his children, even his job for being unfaithful. We must use wisdom and maturity to outsmart the devil’s schemes. We must put on our spiritual armor to defeat him. He is out to get us and is looking for weaknesses in our character. He knows just how to get us to fall. He is fighting hard against us and he defeats most of us. The abundant life is offered to all, but few find it. (Jesus said, in fact, that few find heaven, even though it is available to everyone.)

Being faithful to our word can save us a world of hurt and allow us an abundant life.

I do have some more wonderful news, though. Even if we are faithless, God is still faithful. He is holding our salvation secure, no matter what mistakes we make. He knows full well that we are going to make bad decisions. He knows we are going to sin. Let me remind you that I know that my children are going to make bad choices, but I still love them and they are still my children. It’s just that there are always consequences for mistakes. Some consequences are frankly more serious than others. Play with fire and you will get burned.

But even if I get burned, I can still live the abundant life. This is what is so amazing about God’s grace. He doesn't throw away a life because it has been banged up a bit. He doesn't give up on us when we mess up.

He is not mocked and we will face the full consequences of our actions, but God can and will still use us and we can still live a full, meaningful life.

I know of Christians who no longer walk with God because they have made mistakes. They believe God is eternally mad at them. They believe that they are no longer any good to God. Neither of these is true. God is a loving father who knows everything about his children. He knows our weaknesses and strengths. He sees our mistakes and knows our private thoughts. He even knows things about us that we don’t know, but he loves us unconditionally anyway.

God loves us just like we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay this way. He purposes to make us like Christ. He wants us to aim for perfection and not give up. He wants us to model Christ in the world.

Doing so will take effort and sacrifice, but it will lead us to the abundant life.

Chapter 6 Review Questions:

1. What does the word “meek” really mean in the Bible?

2. Why does impatience keep us from living the abundant life?

3. Do you think Jesus was a humble person? Why or why not.

4. What does it mean to be a person of integrity?

Chapter Seven

Living Our Dreams, One Day at a Time

I frequently drive by a Joe s Crab Shack in Dallas. A big sign on the building brags Free Crab Tomorrow. I think this is genius marketing because it humorously tempts you with free crab legs knowing they will never have to provide them. No matter what day you go in there to eat, it is always today. It is never tomorrow. In a way, tomorrow never comes.

Yet, millions of people live their lives waiting for those illusive crab legs. They get in a trap of looking for tomorrow to begin really living their lives. A wise man once said that life is what happens while you are waiting for it to happen. It’s the ordinary, mundane events that make up the bulk of our existence and we must learn to appreciate and even enjoy them if we are going to live life to the full.

Most people have never learned to do this. Teenagers think they will be happy when they get their driver’s license. When that happens, they think they will really begin living when they get out of high school. Then they think it will all begin after college, then when they get married, then when they get a job, then a better job. Then, they think they will begin living when the kids come along, then when the kids get out of diapers, then when that promotion comes, then when they move into a better home. Then, they think life will begin when the kids leave home and then, perhaps, after retirement, and then?

What are we waiting for? There will always be something that could be better, but we must learn to enjoy this day.

Another wise man, Jesus, said to live one day at a time. “Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow,” he said (Matthew 6:34). Jesus knew the secret. He knew that life is happening right now and it is a gift. Tomorrow is not promised, but we have this moment. Let’s enjoy it to the full.

Of course it is important to plan for tomorrow. We should purchase insurance and make wise decisions that will make the future better for us and our kids, but we mustn't forget to live this day, too.

I love to plan fun events for my family. As I write this, we are planning to go to an amusement park that is decorated to the nines for the holiday season. Millions of lights in the trees and holiday decor to spare. We are planning to go in three days and I am looking forward to it. But I have three days of living to do before we bundle up and jump in the car to go. I plan to enjoy sipping coffee in my favorite chair this afternoon and then maybe riding bikes with the kids after that. I plan to sit and talk with my wife this evening and then snuggle up next to her under the covers tonight. In fact, I am enjoying sitting here writing this right now. Life is a series of moments and events that run together like pearls on a string.

Some moments are better than others, just like some days are, but the point is we cannot wait for life to get perfect before we start living it or we never will.

This is where patience come in. Patience means we can enjoy and appreciate even the ordinary days. It means we are trusting in God for our tomorrows and we are basking in his presence today.

Patience is the ability to wait on God. We live each day, knowing that this day is in his hands and tomorrow is too. The prophet Isaiah said those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary and walk and not faint. Waiting on God means we trust that God will fulfill what he has promised and we will wait for him to do so - and not take matters into our own hands. It is when we lose trust in God and take things into our own hands that we really mess up our lives. A great example of this is Abraham. God had promised him a son, but Abraham and his wife Sarah lost patience with God and tried to accomplish the promise their own way. This resulted a worldwide, bloody conflict between the Arabs and Jews that continues to this very day. Impatience is the beginning of most of our troubles. If we are going to live the abundant life, we must be patient and wait for God to come through.

But you and I know how difficult patience can be and how tempting impatient action is. This is where we need God’s help.

Since patience is the ability to wait when we don’t want to, some think this comes only through frustration, but Paul says patience is a gift from God. God gives us the patience to handle frustrating situations and frustrating people. It may come through years of practice and maturity, but it doesn't have to. I believe that since patience is a fruit of the Spirit of God, God will give it to us as we need it.

I was driving to work the other day and it dawned on me that I should be enjoying the drive, but I generally don’t. After all, driving gives the thrill of speed, right? Didn't I once long for the day when I would get my driver’s license? Doesn't my car provide me freedom of choice - the freedom to come and go as I please? But I’ve had a car and license for years now and whatever happened to all that freedom I longed for? I have to go to my appointed rounds and there isn't much choice to it. Further, I am eternally behind slowpokes and crazy drivers. I seem to get caught at every light and the guy in front of me never wants to go as fast as I do.

It occurred to me that life is like driving to most of us. We have more, but we are actually enjoying it less. As we saw in chapter two, we have more income, better health and even a longer life expectancy than our parents did, but in general, we are actually less happy. This is not what God intended. He wants us to clear out the clutter and stress and enjoy every aspect of our lives (even driving!). Many of us can’t seem to do this, then blame God when our lives are not fulfilling. Where is the fairness in that?

The idea is to take a breath and relax. We have to train ourselves to do this. You see, God deliberately created us to push the envelope. He doesn't want us to ever be completely satisfied with our lives; he wants us to continually push forward. He wants us to push our churches to grow, push to make our world better, and push and our friendship with him ever deeper. There is a restlessness in us that we will never fully satisfy until we reach heaven.

I’m glad God created us this way or we would have never invented the car or washing machine or air conditioning or any other modern convenience that we all enjoy. Medicine would still be barbaric and so would our lifestyles. The trick, then, is to know when to turn this instinct on and off. Yes, we want to better ourselves, our communities and humanity, but that shouldn't drive us to the point of never being able to relax. It’s not only okay to relax, but it may save our health.  God set the example himself in the very first chapters of the Bible when he created the universe, then rested on the seventh day. Further, he commanded us to rest one day per week. The Fourth Commandment demonstrates just how much God loves us. He created us and knows what we need. He knows we need a day to rest. Often, Jesus retreated into private places for moments of relaxation and refreshing.

The psalmist said, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” (Psalm 84:10) He knew that slowing down and enjoying God’s presence was a key to the abundant life.

I remember working hard at my first student minister job. We stayed very busy and active and had a successful ministry for seven years, baptizing more than 130 youth. I’m very proud of what God accomplished through our ministry there. But I was warned by some ministers who had been around awhile not to put the ministry before my family. During that time, my wife and I had two children. Sometimes, I had to make tough decisions, but I’m glad I guarded some down time with my wife and kids.

You see, today I still have that same wife and those same kids, but the folks at that church have moved on without me. To them, I was just one of a string of guys who has come and gone from their church. Oh, I made some lifelong friendships there, don’t get me wrong, but the youth have all graduated from high school now and the new teens don’t even know my name.

No matter what job you are doing; no matter how important it is, there is always someone else who can step in and fill the void if you vacate it. No job, then, is worth your health or your relationships. No amount of money in the world is worth one day in a happy family.

Now that we have discovered the secrets to living the abundant life, it is time to start doing it.

The church father Augustine made an amazing statement. He said to love God and do what we wish. In other words, when we love God with all of our hearts, we will only want to do things that please him. God changes what we want to do. When you love someone, you do not desire to do things that will hurt that person. It does matter what we do, but when we put God first in our lives, we will tend to avoid those things that displease him.

This is the opposite of legalistic thinking. Paul uses nearly the entire letter to the churches in Galatia to combat legalism. He knew that concentrating on following rules takes the joy and abundance out of a person’s life. The key, he said, was dying to Christ and then letting Him live through us. Through Christ’s sacrifice, God has set us free to live fulfilling, joyful lives.

Surrender to God does not enslave us, it sets us free.

This is one of the wonderful mysteries unlocked by scripture.

So, now that you love God, what is it you want to do? What is it your heart desires? Are you looking for meaning, fulfillment, love, importance, success? You can have all of these things, but there is a price to pay.

Success, for instance, does not come easily or cheaply. It must be worked for, and hard. Talk to anyone who is successful in his field and he will tell you that he got there by hard work and dedication. Olympic athletes practice ten or more hours every day for their one shot. Actors rehearse their lines, train their bodies and usually put up with years of rejection before making their break. Writers collect rejection slips. Artists starve for a while.

But those who succeed are the ones who do not give up. This is where self discipline comes in. It is difficult to stay with it; it takes strength and courage that we didn't even know we had.

God offers all of the power we will ever need to live our lives and to do so in success and abundance. He gives us strength and courage. We can do all things through him.

We get into trouble when we think we know what is best. God knows what we really want; we only know what we think we want. He is infinitely wiser than we are and knows perfectly well what is best for us. We must trust him in this matter.

The answer lies in understanding about God’s will. It is God’s will that we act like Jesus; it is God’s will that we love our neighbor; it is God’s will that we put him first in every decision we make; it is God’s will that we love him; it is God’s will that we treat other people with gentleness, justice and respect; it is God’s will that we help the Kingdom of God grow; it is God’s will that we obey him; it is God’s will that we have faith and courage. These are things God tells us in the Bible.

These are referred to as God’s moral will and are not subject to debate. (The Ten Commandments are examples of God’s moral will - or laws. Some Old Testament laws were civil or ceremonial and no longer apply. They were written specifically for the Jewish people to follow until the New Covenant began. When Jesus came, he declared the civil and ceremonial laws’ time had come to an end. But Jesus upheld and even strengthened God’s moral laws.)

If you want to participate in a business that breaks one of the Ten Commandments, like bank robbery, you can know for sure that is not God’s will for your life. That should be easy to figure out, but real life is usually more subtle and difficult to discern. Often, our choices are between good and best, not good and bad.

God says he will give us wisdom if we ask him for it so the journey of our lives must begin and end with prayer. Instead of praying for God’s will for your life, commit to following his moral will and then report for duty each day. I am convinced God will guide you in the paths of righteousness and he will guide you toward the adventure he has planned. Don’t ask him to be your copilot, though, move over and let him do the flying!

Lean on God’s wisdom and understanding, then go for your dreams. You may make your “big break” and you may not. But even if you don’t, you can be satisfied that you tried your best and you can know for sure that God has something even better planned for you. Perhaps some contact you made along the way will lead you to your adventure. God will use all of our efforts to get us where he wants us.

The eleven disciples sat in the boat and watched as Peter got out and walked on water. There comes a time when we have to decide to get out there and take a chance if we are going to see miracles in our lives. The boat may have seemed more safe and secure to the disciples in the storm, but out there with Jesus was where the real adventure was.

Getting out of the boat and living the abundant life takes faith, courage and discipline.

Any good parent disciplines his children. The Bible says a father loves his children if he disciplines them (Hebrews 12:7). This is because discipline makes us better. Discipline enables us to succeed - succeed in our relationships, schooling and jobs. We cannot find success without discipline and we will not find the abundant life without it, either.

Ultimately, though, the goal of parents is to teach their children self discipline. Parents know that the day will come when their influence is no longer as strong as it once was. Every child grows into an adult who must make his own decisions and have his own discipline.

By the same token, God desires that we have self discipline (self-control). He knows we need this to accomplish anything. We need it to get up some mornings and we need it to be Christlike in a lost world today.

Paul taught that one of the results of walking in step with God’s Spirit is having self-control. It is wonderful to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness, but it is the last fruit, self-control, that allows us to keep them.

The power to live the abundant life is not something we conjure up from inside. It is a gift from God. Our only part is accepting the gift and this is where faith comes in.

After we have accepted God’s gift of eternal life, he begins to grant us the power to live in abundance in this life. It doesn't happen overnight, it is a process and the more like Christ we become, the more abundant our lives will be.

In truth, one of the worst examples we Christians can show to the world is being dull and boring. This is exactly what the world does not need to see. The writer of Ecclesiastes said we should enjoy our youth, only we must remember that God will judge us if we act in a way that displeases him. I think most people focus on the last part of this advice and forget the enjoyment part. We forget to have fun.

It is precisely having fun that is one of the best ways to show the world that we are true Christians. If we are the ones living the abundant life, shouldn’t we be the ones having the most of it? Boys will be boys and girls just want to have fun and we were designed this way by a loving God. It just might be that we need to kick up our heels every once in a while. Get out of our shells and live a little. We need to stop worrying about making God mad and start worrying about making his heart merry. We need to get our noses off of the TV screen and start living our own lives. Those people on TV can do what they want to do, but we should show the world what a real, abundant life looks like.

Henry the Eighth is credited with saying, “I don’t care what the people do as long as they don’t do it in the streets and scare the horses.” I say let’s get out there and scare some horses! Let’s make some noise. Let’s live a little.

I discovered a long time ago that my wife is rarely more attracted to me than when I act like I’m alive. She loves it when I joke around and make her laugh. She loves it when I turn up the music and dance with her in the living room. She loves it when I jump on my bike and ride up and down the street with the kids. She loves it when I jump in the pool in the cool of the evening or late at night, after the kids are asleep. She loves it when I buy her something that I can’t really afford just to prove my love. She loves it when I laugh out loud at old reruns on television.

And she loves it when I take a stand for Jesus for the whole world to see. That makes her proud of me and proud of her last name.

I am convinced that God created us to enjoy life on planet earth as his beloved children. He smiles when we smile and laughs when we cackle. He doesn’t think sin is funny; he does not wink at, approve of it or let it slide, but he is pleased when we are living peaceful, joyful, Christlike lives to the full.

I love it when my children laugh - that may just be my favorite sound in the world, in fact. And I wonder if God’s favorite sound is not his children laughing, too. Happy children make happy parents. Happy Christians make a happy God.

Starting this very moment, let’s make God happy. Let’s get out the “good” dishes that are collecting dust in the cabinet and eat with the real silverware because we realize that we are the special guests we have been saving it for. Let’s live the abundant life God purchased for us. God has given us butterfly wings, so let’s not tuck them and crawl in the dust like the caterpillars we once were.

Let us not wait for tomorrow to begin living, let’s live this moment to the full. We know we will have sorrows, trials, and difficulties in this life, but they cannot stop us from living the abundant life. With God’s help, we can live life to the full despite of – and even because of – our trials. The abundant life is priceless and God wants us to live it. He has given us the power to do so; he has purchased it for us and he has given us the hope we so desperately need to live it. Let’s begin this very moment. It is going to take faith and it is going to take effort, but it is so worth it.

And when this life is over, eternity in paradise awaits us.

Chapter 7 Review Questions:

1. How do we live one day at a time?

2. Is there anything wrong with preparing for tomorrow?

3. Why is self discipline so important to being successful?

4. Why is God interested in your plans and dreams?

Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter One Living the Life that God Intended

Chapter Two Living with One Foot in Heaven

Chapter Three Living in a Circle of Love

Chapter Four Living Safely in God’s Hand

Chapter Five Living In Spiritual Victory

Chapter Six Living Like Christ on Earth

Chapter Seven Living Our Dreams, One Day at a Time