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What Is Your Definition of
Abundance? If you're like most people, your
definition of abundance is to have more money, a better car,
a bigger house, money in the bank—things having to do with
material possessions. A sort of having the world and all
that is in it. But how about this?—Abundance
is being able to receive all you need when you need it.
And this: "My God shall supply all your need according
to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Or as some Bible
versions put it, . . . according to His glorious riches in
Christ Jesus."
How many "glorious riches" do you think God has stored up
for you "in Christ Jesus"? More than you could ever need in
a dozen lifetimes—His supply will far and forever exceed
your needs. Consider this: "God . . . has blessed us with
EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."
It's out of those blessings in the heavenly places that God
supplies our needs—yours and mine. All we have to do is learn how to get them from there to here. So we can say that
abundance is the spiritual ability
to receive from the heavenly places whatever you need when
you need it, for yourself and for others. It's
receiving from God the things He already has stored up for
you in His glorious riches in Christ.
Supply Comes Before
Need
An important principle to remember is that God's supply
is like His prevenient grace, it comes before your need
does. In other words, His supply is there long before you
have a need; indeed, your need is an indication that His
supply is already there. It's like the Promised Land. God
readied it long before He brought His people out of Egypt.
He did not bring them out and then look for some place to
put them. As Moses said to the Israelites, "God . . .
brought us out from there, that He might bring us in." He
brought them out to take them in. Same with your need and
His supply.
That being so, why don't we receive God's supply every
time we have a need? Stinking
thinking! We think like the world does, and
80% of its thinking is negative. We acquired the habit of
thinking that way when we were in the world and we brought
the habit with us into the kingdom of God.
We are what we think, and we get what
we think, so the first thing we've got to do is change our
thinking. That's why Roman 12:2 tells us, "do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." Don't let your thoughts continue to
conform to the world's thoughts, stop thinking like they do.
Transform yourself by renewing your mind, by changing your
thoughts—start thinking like God thinks.
Change Your Thinking,
Change Your Life
It all starts with the way you think. If you keep
thinking the way you're been thinking, you'll keep doing
the things you've been doing, and keep getting the things you've
been getting. If you want to change your future, you've got to
change your habits, and to change your habits you've got to
change your beliefs, and to change your beliefs you've got
to change your thoughts. Look:
- Change your thoughts and you'll change your beliefs,
- change your beliefs and you'll change your habits,
- change your habits and you'll change your future.
There are two kinds of people in
the world, those who believe they can and those who believe
they can't—and they're both right. The same is
true for those who believe they'll receive all they need
from God and those who believe they won't.
Which kind are you? If you're the wrong kind, the world's
kind, then it's time for you to cross over the road to
God's side where you belong.
We'll continue
this next week. |
Albert Einstein
Try not to become a person of success, but a person of
value.Unknown
It's a mistake to be afraid to make mistakes.
Just published -
read about it
The LORD
"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, . . . shall
not cease. (Genesis 8:22)
Carl W. Buechner
People may forget who you are, but they will never forget
how you made them feel.
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Many years ago, when
Christianity was Christ and Him crucified, a home
was not considered to be Christian if it did not have a
Bible,
Pilgrim's Progress, and
Foxes Book of
Martyrs. |
