As we celebrate Christmas, let us reflect on all Christ has given us. Apart from Christ, we would be destined for a hopeless existence. His gifts to us are limitless…His love, peace, joy, faith, and the never-ending list of heavenly treasures are the greatest blessings of life.
I can imagine the perfect Christmas gift for us to give Christ would be to continually allow His Spirit to produce abundant fruit in each one of our hearts. In the coming year, let’s pray without ceasing and give Christ every part of our lives.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank You for the gift of Christ. Thank You for sending Your son to save the world from darkness and to give us eternal life. Thank You for all that You give us and thank You for enabling us to live with an abundance of hope, joy, peace, and love. Let us live a life led by Your Holy Spirit and take hold of every gift You have given us through Jesus Christ. Let us celebrate our amazing Savior and share Christ’s love with the hurting people in the world. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Many years ago during one of the hardest seasons of my life, I learned the most about abundant living. While battling hardships and trials, I sought the Lord for the answers to my problems, and He diligently answered me. He led me to a Scripture in the Bible that jumped off the pages when I read it.
In these verses, I found the answer to what my heart longed to know. The word ‘circumcise’ is derived from a Latin word meaning, to cut. In the midst of excruciating trials, it felt like my heart was being circumcised. God was cutting away the idols in my heart that were hindering me from fully loving Him and fully living life. The process was painful, but ultimately it led me to the abundance my soul was longing for.
Everyone wants to live abundantly. The Bible says that Jesus came to give us life, and to give it more abundantly (John 10:10). Yet, how many people truly tap into the abundant life that Christ offers? Could it be the way we view our lives or what we equate happiness with?
For a season in my youthful years, I was seeking abundance in the wrong places, which led to disappointment. In God’s infinite grace, He took me through a season of testing, so that I would come forth as pure gold (Job 23:10). Through the stretching and tests, He led me to the true source of abundance.
The things in my past, that were the hardest to endure, are what led me to the abundant life in Christ—a life of genuine joy and peace—that is not determined by things or circumstances. Through the hardships, God gave me a new heart—a heart that rejoices because of His love.
Are you in the midst of being pulled and stretched? Do you feel as though life is caving in around you?
To be rebuilt, a house needs to be torn down first. It can be an excruciating process. Do not lose heart. God is building a beautiful spiritual house out of your life. He uses every loss and every struggle to bring good in the lives of those who love Him and live according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Nothing He allows in our lives is in vain. He uses it all.
For a child of God, it is pure joy to face trials because we know that no matter what is happening, Jesus is walking along beside us and carrying us through all of life’s hard situations.
Christ wants for us to love Him with all of our hearts, so that we can truly live abundantly and bask in His great love. In loving Jesus Christ more than anything or anyone, we can’t be shaken. When our lives are built upon Christ, we can’t lose our foundation and nothing or nobody can steal our joy.
Countless people in the world have been duped into believing that abundant living is found in wealth and material riches. The true abundant life is found in knowing Christ deeply. Jesus is everything—when we know this, then we know that any other good thing we have in life is only the icing on the cake.
May you enjoy Jesus this Christmas season and find hope through Him in the weariness of life.
Lord, I thank You for the abundance of joy and peace that You give to us in all seasons of life. Help us to continually look to You as our only source. Let us keep our eyes fixed upon You and enjoy You every day. Let us be content in all circumstances and know You are all we really need to live abundantly. We pray in Your name, Christ. Amen.
It was a clear, February day and I was making valentine cards. As a young girl, I didn’t have a care in the world. I was safe in the comfort of my home with my mom close by in the kitchen.
That’s the last thing I remember before I heard my mother’s panicked voice hollering out: “It’s a fire!”
I looked up and saw the kitchen curtains engulfed in flames. My mom tried putting the fire out, but her main concern was my safety. We ran outside to get away from the smoke. A gentleman who had seen the smoke from the Post Office next door ran over to our house, grabbed a hose, busted a window, and extinguished the fire.
Later that day, we went back inside to assess the damage. In a matter of minutes, the flames had completely destroyed our kitchen and the smoke had damaged most of our house.
We never stayed in that house another day. We packed up our salvageable items and moved in with my grandparents. During the next few months, we waited for a beautiful, new home to be built.
My life had been turned upside down by the rampant flames that raged through my house on that winter day. It was difficult to have my life so shaken up, but knowing a beautiful home was being built for us helped to ease the difficulties. I remember visiting the new home and seeing the progress that was being made.
I was elated the day I first saw my completed bedroom with brand new carpet I picked out myself. It was breathtaking—nothing like my young heart had ever experienced. After losing my old home and the things I had been attached to, the new home was sweetness to my soul. It was amazing.
The new life offered by Christ reminds me of the new home I moved into after the fire. Before I fully surrendered myself to Christ’s plans for me, fiery trials swept through my life and destroyed many things that were important to me.
After surrendering everything to Jesus, He rebuilt my life and turned the pain of my past into a beautiful display of splendor. During the hardships, I remember wondering if I would ever have beauty in my life again. The stress of many problems all seemed impossible to repair.
As I wrestled to believe, my faith won and things began turning around for me. Christ restored all the broken things in my life. His love healed my marriage and turned all the trials into triumphant victories. Most important of all, Christ filled my heart with never-ending peace.
When we believe things are hopeless, then we will have a hopeless life. When we teeter on the fence of disbelief, we miss out on miracles the Bible promises we will see.
Whenever a doubtful thought taunts us, we can meditate on the Scriptures that bring life to a weary soul. Doubt cannot penetrate a heart that is fixated on the truth of God’s Word.
Are you struggling to believe God for good things in your life? Do you believe God can turn things around in America?
Jesus is the Restorer. Just as a builder builds a new house, Christ builds a new life out of broken pieces. He makes beautiful things.
Things begin changing when we step away from fear, leave doubt behind, and begin believing that Christ is the author of beauty.
Choose faith, pray, and watch as He rebuilds and recreates the beautiful life He longs to give all His children.
Father,
Thank You for being the giver of new life and new beginnings. Let all the believers in this nation surrender everything to You. Let us join together and pray until we see change and beauty arise in America. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit every day and let us go out and share the good news of the gospel of grace to a world in need. I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
“We were buried in baptism as Christ was buried in death. As Christ was raised from the dead by the great power of God, so we will have new life also.”
The beauty of the springtime flowers is breathtaking. Every year, as the wintertime barrenness is overtaken by new life, it simply amazes me.
This year in Georgia, it seemed as though the change was instant. I don’t recall another time when the seasons have changed so abruptly.
During my jogs, I noticed the flowers popping up through the dirt and the plants that were lying dormant were showing signs of life even before the weather changed. The plants and flowers were obviously ready and waiting to come alive as soon as the first sign of warmth emerged in the atmosphere.
As I’ve been reflecting on the emerging beauty of the new season, it made me think of the resurrection of Christ and His power to resurrect life out of the barren places in our souls.
As quickly as the seasons change—the condition of our hearts change when we turn away from those things that deaden our spirits (see Ephesians 4: 22-24).
In my past, there were yucky things—bitterness, fear, pride, self-righteousness, and on and on the list goes—embedded in my heart, and they were keeping me from experiencing a beautiful, new life in Christ. The day I realized how simple it is to live fully alive and free in Christ, I received a new heart and never looked back to the past.
Christ died an agonizing death so that we can live abundantly and free from all the things that weigh us down. When we stumble, we can simply pray, Lord, please forgive me for that mistake. Then the Lord embraces us in our brokenness, and His reply is always filled with love…I imagine Him saying, “Yes, beloved one, you are forgiven for every mistake you’ve ever made and every mistake you’ll ever make in the future. Rise up and live with no regrets, and let Me help you walk in the Spirit, free from the grips of sin and shame and doubt and all things that burden your soul.”
Jesus said, “It is finished.” We do not ever have to agonize over our failures or mistakes again.
Are you living in the finished work of the cross? Are you living abundantly in Christ?
My prayer this Easter week is that you will breathe in the loveliness of the springtime flowers and revel in the beauty of Christ’s magnificent gift to mankind.
I had heard people proclaim, “I’m mad at God!.” But I had never experienced it myself until one summer evening. I had felt abandoned by the Lord at times, but this was different. I laid my head on my pillow one night and said, “Jesus, I’m mad at You.”
There was a breakthrough I needed in my life and it just wasn’t happening on my time table. So I blamed it on God. After several minutes, I fell asleep.
I woke up eight hours later thinking, “How ridiculous for me to be mad at Jesus. He’s the only One who can truly rescue me. Being mad at Him won’t help anything.” Within minutes of waking, I prayed, “Lord, forgive me for my silliness. Please forgive me for being mad at You.”
Right there, while lying in my bed, I said, “Lord, I surrender everything to You.”
Previously, I had surrendered parts of my life to Him and had been following Him for years and years. This was different though. It was a defining moment for me. It was the last time I ever tried to do things without His help and guidance.
And guess what? I received the breakthrough I was waiting on within weeks. At last, my life was permanently on the course that leads to abundance and beauty, leaving disappointment behind forever. I realized the day I surrendered everything to my Creator that I am free at last to live in His abundant peace forever until Christ returns.
“The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 (NASB)
I’m linking up for Five Minute Fridaywhere Lisa Jo Baker and other awesome people write for five minutes flat with no self critiquing or no striving for perfection. This week’s prompt is: “Last.” Today, I wrote for about nine minutes, trying to find a good stopping point.
