The High Calling of God

Finishing up our look into Abundant Life in Christ, (although one can never exhaust this subject), I thought about some of the keys that it takes to live an abundant life in Christ. Remember we aren't talking only about earthly abundance but about spiritual abundance. But when we live in spiritual abundance it always leads to having our needs met through Christ. Sometimes the Lord does bless us with earthly "things" but this is always to lead to a greater good in the lives of others- not to heap up "things" or wealth for ourselves. In Matthew 14:15-21 is the story of Christ multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. Christ used this opportunity to teach His disciples and us a couple of very important lessons. The first lesson I see here and a key to abundant life is to be thankful for what we do have . Many times we spend our time thinking and complaining about all the things that we don't have and we give very little thought to all the thi

Colossians 1:27-" To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are continuing on in our study of the abundant life. It is so much more than what most Christians believe. It isn't in the accumulation of things for our own pleasures, but it is living a life that is full and thriving in the good graces of our Lord. Even if God does bestow on us earthly treasures, He only does it so that we can make deposits in the kingdom by giving to others. In Romans 15:13 Paul made this statement: "Now the God of hope fill  you will all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."   He was trying to make them understand that since God was a God of hope, He would fill them with that same hope THROUGH the Holy Ghost. In Colossians 1:27 Paul was explai

John 10:10 "Jesus said.....'I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly." 1 Thess. 3:9-4:1 In verse 10 Paul mentions that he prays for the Thessalonians that they would  “perfect what is lacking”  in their faith.  He goes on in his prayer that the Lord would make them increase and abound in love to one another and to all. The topic of love is a gigantic topic and one that can never really be exhausted. In a few weeks, we will be celebrating a very popular holiday- Valentine's Day. Many, I think, have the wrong idea of what love is all about. They think it has to do with "them"- how to be satisfied, get their needs met, etc. But the Bible gives us a very different idea of what Godly love is. I f we really want a Biblical definition of the word love, we need to read and put into practice  1 Corinthians 13 , sometimes referred to as the love chapter. Wow! How far short I fall when I really study and try to absorb and

John 10:10 Jesus said “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” In our Adult Sunday School, we have been talking a lot lately about "thriving" in the Lord. We shouldn't just be living a mediocre Christian life, but we should thrive and excel at everything we do. I have really been thinking about that and have made that my prayer for this coming year. I want to thrive, I want to abound in the Lord. Jesus said He came to give us life and that more abundantly. Many Christians think this means accumulation of goods, a goodly name, promotions, fame, recognition,-which leads to exalting self instead of the Lord. But in actuality, Jesus is telling us that our abundant life is to be used for the benefit of others.  It isn’t about us—it’s about Jesus and advancing His kingdom in the earth through His Church. The word "abound" here means to "exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a cer