LIFE IN ABUNDANCE
Hello, everyone...
Grace & peace to all of you!
Something I have been recently learning is everyone’s susceptibility to life’s trials, tribulations, and struggles. Do you, like me, have those days when you wake up and for some strange reason, just feel sad and depressed? Those moments when everything seems not to be working out well; you remember all the hurtful things said against you, perhaps the terrible state of affairs that your family is in, that joke that so-and-so made that actually made you feel sad but you masked it by laughing, the deprived state of your relationship with God...all these things flood back into your mind and find you so vulnerable that you experience a sadness that not even words can explain.
It is often said that it be better to cry in a Range Rover, than to cry on the pavement under the rain, but as from the numbers of rich people who commit suicide when they seemed to have had it all, it’s quite evident that amassing wealth isn't the automatic doorway to absolute happiness.
It is about the same week I had started thinking about all this that a friend contacted me and asked me to pray for him. He had been battling depression for a long time and it had pushed him to the point where he had considered relieving his stress in certain ‘unconventional’ ways.
His way may not have been suicide, but the fact is that it is these very thoughts of uncertainty and hopelessness that lead many to wrap nooses around their necks and take their lives, or swallow pills with intention to overdose. Quite often, we hear of others who have been caught up in love triangles and upon realization that their partner had an extramarital affair, they kill both their partner AND themselves. How sad!
Sometimes I think of the troubles that surround me, and after listening to one worship song, singing it on my own musical key and praying, my heart is set at ease and all is well.
However, on other days, despair besieges me and I'm drowned in feelings of fear, doubt, guilt, and hopelessness. Those are the times I don't even seem to remember the very Bible verses I use to encourage others with. I attempt to read the Bible, but brick walls of confusion prevent me from even understanding plain English! The only weapon I have left is prayer, in which I think I can find solace. To worsen matters, even this is met with feelings of doubt!!!
“Look at you talking to yourself...no one is listening to you...remember that prayer request from last week this God of yours hasn’t replied...that sin you committed 3 months ago; God can't forgive you...nobody likes you...you’re so stupid to think there’s a God...”
If you have gone through this at some point in your life, take heart! “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.”
If you have never gone through it, brace yourself! It will be happening soon enough...
We must however, come to realize that these thoughts of worthlessness and hopelessness are not from God; they are from the devil! You see, John 10.10 says... wait!
Perhaps you're surprised that I've quoted from the book that is over 2000 years old! I mean, surely, this book CAN'T still be relevant in our 21st Century modern culture, can it?
Allow me to give an example of why the Bible is perfectly relevant today, before I proceed.
John 8 tells the story of the adulterous woman caught red-handed in the act of adultery. The people take her before Jesus and remind Jesus that the religious law dictated that anyone caught in adultery should be stoned to death. What is however easily noticeable is the fact that there was no man present at this roadside court trial! Isn't this just like today’s culture?!
When word goes round that a certain woman has had numerous sexual relationships, all and sundry warm their gluteal regions by sitting on makeshift judgement seats and calling her a ‘whore’. As for the man who is equally promiscuous, he’s referred to as a ‘player’ and praised for being ‘tha man’. See! Whatever happened in Jesus’ time still happens today!
Now that I've established why the Bible is relevant to us, (getting back to why feelings of worthlessness are not from God), Jesus says in John 10.10:
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly. (NKJV)”
Jesus died on the cross, took up all the suffering and pain on our behalf so that we may have a life of abundance! Jesus died so that we may be freed from sin and we may live a life of abundance! Romans 6.10-11:
“When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. (NLT)”
Jesus didn't die so that you can beat yourself up about that ‘really bad sin’ that you committed 2 years ago at a party; Jesus died so he can set you free from sin and give you a clean slate to start over!! Going back to the woman caught in adultery in John 8, look at what Jesus tells her; “When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’ “
Imagine, the sinless Son of God didn't condemn her either. If such is the case, why then would you allow others to condemn you for actions you have repented for and God has forgiven you? Moreover, why would you continue to condemn yourself; “Why did I do this? What's wrong with me? etc” One of the lies the enemy tells us is that God doesn’t love us because of how much we have strayed from the faith. This is a BIG LIE!!!
God says in his Word; Romans 5.8:
“But God demonstrates his own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
If he died for you when you were still a sinner living a life of sin, what makes you think that he will fail to forgive you because you have fallen? All God desires is this. Psalms 51.17:
“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit, You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
All that God desires is a heart that is truly repentant towards him, and desires to regain true fellowship with Him!
In conclusion, God is faithful to his promises. He promised in Genesis 3.15 that he would send a Saviour to redeem mankind, and throughout the Old Testament, prophecies of this Messiah continue to be told, and true to his word, God sent His own Son Jesus Christ to redeem us!
The same God then promises in Deuteronomy 31.6 to never leave you nor forsake you. & remember, He never goes back against His Word! WHY? Because He is GOD, and He is always in control!! Glory be to His Name!
God bless you, and stay praying!
Soli Deo Gloria!
P/S
Find more of such articles at http://justbeingbrutallyhonest.blogspot.co.ke/
