Jan 24 2009
Abundant Life
Do you recall reading in Exodus the stories of Pharaoh and Moses? On several occasions God used Moses and Aaron to pass on the message to Pharaoh, “Set my people free.” Several times Pharaoh replied defiantly, “No, no, no, I will not let God’s people go.” God sent forth countless plagues upon Pharaoh. The first was using Moses to turn the Nile River to blood.
The second plague that fell upon Pharaoh involved frogs and lots of them. The entire country of Egypt was suddenly infested with frogs. Frogs invaded Pharaoh’s palace and God said that frogs would even be upon his bed!
Moses asked Pharaoh, “Okay, so when would you like the frogs to go away?” Pharaoh looked at him and said one word, “Tomorrow.” Now I like frogs as much as most people but I sure wouldn’t have waited until the next day to have the frogs go away!
Pharaoh endured 10 plagues sent by God and it wasn’t until every firstborn son and cattle in Egypt were killed that he and the people of Egypt finally insisted that the children of Israel leave the country. Let’s examine your life for a second. Have you grown accustomed to the problems that have plagued your life for so long that you have begun to accept them and have come to the conclusion that things will never change? Say it isn’t so! Today, you tell those problems to be gone and you start expecting your life to be blessed.
Jesus gives us a wonderful promise in John 10:10 (Amplified):
“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”
Satan is the thief who diligently tries to take away our joy, peace, happiness, prosperity and everything else that is good. Christ assures us that He sacrificed Himself on the cross so that we may have eternal life. But, Christ also gives us an abundant life here on earth. He loves His children and delights in giving them tremendous blessings, whether it is spiritual, financial, physical, etc. Today, live your life to the fullest as God intended and give Him all the honor and glory for it.
Thank you so much for this message. I heard this on KLOVE radio on February 4, 2009. I almost felt as if someone was eavesdropping on all of the thoughts going through my head. I have had a lot of personal turmoil for about the past nine months with my family and I have tried to be the “savior” of everyone. I have come to expect the problem of the day and have even turned down activities with friends because I think something is going to go wrong. It may take some time and lots of prayer, but I realized today, thanks to this message, that I need to look forward to receiving God’s blessings for me instead of accepting the thief as the status quo.
Brooke,
Thank you for your kind comments and sharing your situation. It’s wonderful how God knows exactly what we need to hear, when we need to hear it. God does have a way of letting us know that our job is to follow Him and be effective witnesses for Him, not to do the work of the Holy Spirit, which is to convict others and set them back on the right path.
I pray that the Lord will continue to encourage you and that you experience a wonderful peace and joy from the Lord. We do not need to adopt other people’s problems and circumstances as our own, for it will rob us of our joy and peace.
Many blessings,
KClack