If God promises that He will turn the bad into good, our pain into power, and apparent defeat into victory why do so many people still live beneath their potential? Why do they dwell on the past, speak negatively, and continue to sabotage relationships? I believe they do this because they have never fully understood the sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary that gives us the opportunity to live an abundant life on this earth.
At Calvary Christ took on all of the sins, pain, suffering, injustice, malice, and trauma of this world. Before He was arrested Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Luke 22:39 – 44 NKJV says, “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Sometimes I think we take the sacrifice that Christ made on the Cross too lightly and because of that we don’t experience the full impact of that sacrifice in our daily lives. The pain and trauma Jesus was about to experience at the point of impact when the nails pierced His hands was going to be so great that even He didn’t want to go through it. Do you realize how much effort it takes to sweat blood? Have you ever considered this? He cried out to God to take the cup from Him! We always think of Christ being God’s Son and being able to do anything, but this Scripture proves different. He was fully man and the pain He knew He was about to experience was going to hurt incredibly!
“nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” This is one of the most powerful verses to understand if we are going to learn how to own our lives and live on purpose! We have to come to the place where we are willing to let go of our past trauma or our fear of an uncertain future, so that God’s will can be done in our lives! The woman I spoke about in the previous blog came to understand this and as a result she is becoming a woman living life on purpose! Believing the truth of God’s Word over the lies of the enemy is difficult. Satan has a plan to destroy our faith and oftentimes he uses our memories of past hurts to get us side tracked!
Christ knows your pain intimately and He understands the trauma it caused your heart and mind. I want to encourage you today to study exactly what Christ suffered on the Cross for you so that you will be able to take back what the enemy has stolen from you. This is the first step to owning your life and living on purpose. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Our souls are made up of our mind, will, and emotions and this is where our battle is when it comes to overcoming our past. God has a purpose for every one of your lives and when you can understand this and learn from Christ’s death and resurrection as it pertains to your life, you will begin to live life on purpose. This is when God turns the bad into good, the pain into power, and apparent defeat into victory. In the next blog I am going to write out the details of what Christ did for us at the Cross.
To be continued………..
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Own Your Life, Live Your Purpose
I was talking with a woman the other day who was telling me the reasons why she couldn't move forward in her life. She gave me a detailed list of reasons. She said she was abused when she was a young and she was raised in a religion where the people were mean and abusive. She told me story after story of her painful experiences and as I sat there listening I tried to stay focused on her words but I found myself praying more than I was listening. I knew her pain was real and the trauma had obviously left some deep seeded wounds that had never healed, but it just seemed like something was wrong with our conversation. I didn’t know what it was and so I continued to pray. I was compassionate towards her but at the same time I began to get annoyed as I listened. I wasn’t annoyed at her, I was annoyed and angry at the enemy of our souls.
As I prayed the verse that kept coming to mind was John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Here I was, sitting with a woman who had been a Christian for decades, who had never found her purpose for living because of her past trauma and she felt helpless. The enemy came in through these traumas to steal, kill, and destroy her life and render her ineffective for the kingdom of God by getting her to focus on her pain more than God’s purpose for her life. He was able to get her to turn her eyes inward to the reality of her pain which blinded her from seeing Christ in the midst of it and the truth of Romans 8:28 in operation in her life. That verse says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
I see this scenario play out in the lives of people ever day and it frustrates me. If Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full why are so many Christians living half empty lives? I believe the answer is that they have never realized the need to own their lives by taking a stand against the enemy who has tried to destroy them. They haven't discovered their purpose and they feel like they are wandering aimlessly through life. They have believed satan’s lies over the truth of God’s Word and it has crippled them and kept them from being effective for the kingdom of God. What we believe and act upon we become. If we believe the enemy's lies and walk in defeat we become paralyzed. If we believe in God’s promises and act on them we become conquers who live abundant lives of victory.
We develop certain beliefs systems in life based on what we were taught, the family we were raised in, the church we belonged to, the education we received, and what we have experienced, just to name a few. These belief systems determine how we think, our ability to dream, and how we act and live. A healthy belief system allows us to become everything we were created to be in life. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Before you were born God wrote a book about your life. He designed a perfect plan for you that would give you peace, joy, and fulfillment. In a perfect world this plan would have been executed and you would have fulfilled the perfect plan God designed for you.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were banned from the Garden of Eden everything changed! We would not have the opportunity to live in a perfect world any longer. Every life born after the fall was born into a fallen world that has another plan at work. That plan comes from the enemy of our souls. Satan wants us to give into the pressures of daily life, wrap our minds around our pain, and be controlled by fear.
The Bible plainly teaches us that we were not given a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1:7, but instead we were given a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. That means that fear comes from the enemy and when we are led by fear we give him authority to own our lives and defeat our purpose.
In order to take back what the enemy has stolen, own our lives, and live on purpose we have to stand firm on the Word of God, allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, and allow Christ to live through us. This is the only way to live life on purpose and not succumb to the enemy’s attack of distraction and defeat! We have all suffered in this life but remember what Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
God promises to turn the bad into good, the pain into power, and defeat into victory! What we have to do is give Him the permission to do it by renewing our minds to the truth of His Word and remind ourselves that we fight from a stance of victory! We fight a defeated foe! If you want to own your life and live on purpose begin today to ask God to reveal His plan for you and to give you wisdom and understanding according to His truth so you can become effective for the kingdom of God.
To be continued.............
As I prayed the verse that kept coming to mind was John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Here I was, sitting with a woman who had been a Christian for decades, who had never found her purpose for living because of her past trauma and she felt helpless. The enemy came in through these traumas to steal, kill, and destroy her life and render her ineffective for the kingdom of God by getting her to focus on her pain more than God’s purpose for her life. He was able to get her to turn her eyes inward to the reality of her pain which blinded her from seeing Christ in the midst of it and the truth of Romans 8:28 in operation in her life. That verse says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
I see this scenario play out in the lives of people ever day and it frustrates me. If Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full why are so many Christians living half empty lives? I believe the answer is that they have never realized the need to own their lives by taking a stand against the enemy who has tried to destroy them. They haven't discovered their purpose and they feel like they are wandering aimlessly through life. They have believed satan’s lies over the truth of God’s Word and it has crippled them and kept them from being effective for the kingdom of God. What we believe and act upon we become. If we believe the enemy's lies and walk in defeat we become paralyzed. If we believe in God’s promises and act on them we become conquers who live abundant lives of victory.
We develop certain beliefs systems in life based on what we were taught, the family we were raised in, the church we belonged to, the education we received, and what we have experienced, just to name a few. These belief systems determine how we think, our ability to dream, and how we act and live. A healthy belief system allows us to become everything we were created to be in life. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Before you were born God wrote a book about your life. He designed a perfect plan for you that would give you peace, joy, and fulfillment. In a perfect world this plan would have been executed and you would have fulfilled the perfect plan God designed for you.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were banned from the Garden of Eden everything changed! We would not have the opportunity to live in a perfect world any longer. Every life born after the fall was born into a fallen world that has another plan at work. That plan comes from the enemy of our souls. Satan wants us to give into the pressures of daily life, wrap our minds around our pain, and be controlled by fear.
The Bible plainly teaches us that we were not given a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1:7, but instead we were given a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. That means that fear comes from the enemy and when we are led by fear we give him authority to own our lives and defeat our purpose.
In order to take back what the enemy has stolen, own our lives, and live on purpose we have to stand firm on the Word of God, allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, and allow Christ to live through us. This is the only way to live life on purpose and not succumb to the enemy’s attack of distraction and defeat! We have all suffered in this life but remember what Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
God promises to turn the bad into good, the pain into power, and defeat into victory! What we have to do is give Him the permission to do it by renewing our minds to the truth of His Word and remind ourselves that we fight from a stance of victory! We fight a defeated foe! If you want to own your life and live on purpose begin today to ask God to reveal His plan for you and to give you wisdom and understanding according to His truth so you can become effective for the kingdom of God.
To be continued.............
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