The Abundant Life

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."- John 10:10

A Roman soldier came to Julius Caesar to request permission to commit suicide. He was a dispirited human,a man with no hope left and no reason to carry on. Caesar looked at him. “Man,” he said, “were you ever really alive?”

That man is reflection of some of us Christians today. We've accepted Jesus and gained new eternal life through his victorious death, but still- examine yourself.

Are you even alive? REALLY alive?

I've been taking a look at John 10:10 for the past few months, I'm intrigued by it. In this verse, Jesus is talking with his disciples when he tells them “The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy but I have come so you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

Life abundantly. The word “abundant” in Greek is perisson, meaning exceedingly full, beyond measure, a quantity so abundant that is considerably much more than what one would expect or anticipate. In short, Jesus promises us a life far better than anything we could could ever create for ourselves. “No mind has concieved what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Corinthians 2:9) Anything our own minds could create, the best life we could imagine still doesnt compare to the life he has offered us. He didn't come so that we could have normal, mediocre, everyday life, he came so that we may have it to the full! “I have come so that you may have life exceedingly full. I have come so that you may have life beyond measure. I have come so that you may have life so abundant that it is considerably much more than what you could anticipate or expect.”

The problem today however, is that we don't take a hold of this life. Because we've settled with being “okay”, we refuse to go after this life. We're too nestled in between our lives of comfort and complacency that we're scared. We're scared that the things He could call us to do will pull us out of that. We're unhappy with our spiritual lives, yet we refuse to change the way we live. If we keep living our lives the same way, we are going to keep getting the same results. We then turn to God and ask “Why don't you change me?” He looks back on us and says “When are you going to let me?”

We're scared of the adventure He holds out before us, forgetting that we do not venture off alone. If you see what Jesus tells his disciples, you see that he does not offer them an extension of physical life or an increase in materialistic things, but instead he offers the possibility of a life at a higher level, something beyond themselves. A life in obedience to Gods will, will lead and build this abundant life, creating a life nothing short of the full glory of God.

AND IT'S OURS! THIS LIFE IS CREATED AND SET OUT BEFORE US, FOR US!

Achieving the abundant life is not a a matter of once and for all, no, it's a continual process of learning, practicing, & maturing as well as failing, recovering, adjusting, enduring, & overcoming.  

We are CONSTANTLY undergoing this pruning. It is all a matter of being transformed from our likeness, into the likeness of Christ.

Paul calls it walking in the Spirit, Jesus calls it abiding in the vine.

With this joyful hope, we receive a warning: the enemy has come to kill steal and destroy. Let me tell you something: 

the moment we awaken to this abundant life and REALLY go after the full potential we are capable of through Jesus, the enemy is done for. If he can keep you blind to that truth completely, good. If He can keep you from reaching that potential-even better. Which is why he will do ANYTHING to hold you back from it. He fears you. This is why he attacks us and we see sin come to seduce us, hardships and suffering stumble in to destroy us...for good. So do not be surprised when he comes in for the attack, on the contrary, stand your ground. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy. So my question is, WHY WOULD WE ASSUME THAT HE WANTS TO DO ANYTING OTHER THAN THAT? Why do we minimize his intentions? You've been equiped with the proper equipment to ward him off, to defeat him. You have a battle to fight and a victory to claim.

It is when we tap into this fount of abundant life when we ourselves are changed that our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces are transformed and the hearts of our friends and family that we've so desperately fought for, begin to melt. When we are in obedience with his will, we are in his will. This is the difference of being not just a student of the word but rather a DOER of the Word. This is when love, joy, peace, patience and all the other fruits of the Spirit are produced.

That is when the stuff that we read about in the Bible is no different than what is seen in our lives.

17 Candles

Seventeen is a weird age. Well, it is for me so far. However, I may sound a little ridiculous because it's not like seventeen is much different than sixteen..at all. Still, when I woke up this year on my birthday, I got a pang of sadness that hit my stomach hard. I realized one very sad realization. Possibly one of the most awful revelations I've ever had:
I'm growing up.
When I was a little girl, I used to sit in my room holding all of my dolls, crying because I knew that I would eventually I would have to grow up one day and would be unable to play with them. I would cry in bitter frustration too, because I could never escape to Never Neverland because it didn't exist. (Dang Peter Pan gave false dreams)
This birthday was just a very emotional birthday for me. I don't really know why, but as I sat in U.S History, after taking my final, I started to cry.
I think though, that it was after reading all the text messages that flooded my phone inbox that got me. I just felt so...so HAPPY. Beyond happiness really. I saw how much people loved me. I saw how many AMAZING people God had placed in my life. They're the vessels Father placed in my life, that He works through to show me how much He loves me. It was such an overwhelming thought, in a good way, just blown away by how much people really loved me. The coolest most incredible people.
I guess I'm just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm growing up and it's okay. It's going to be an exciting journey, as I walk through this year onto my 18th birthday, and then 19th and then 20th, etc. Because not only am I going to grow as a person, in who I am, but I'm also going to get to walk with God through many more experiences that show me more of who He is. YES! AND, I get to do it with my friends right behind me. This is the life. This is MY life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. C'est la Vie!



Then

Now

New Year Resolutions

Every year I hear about people who make New Year Resolutions and I've realized that I've never actually made any. So, for 2010, I've decided that I'm actually going to sit down and make a list of the goals I want to accomplish this year:

1. Drink No Soda. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. If I mess up, it's okay, but my aim to to drink as little as possible. For some people who take in Coca-Cola like air, its a challenge but I'm pretty certain it won't be that hard, seeing how I don't even really like soda. Water, please.

2. Run 1,500 miles. Yup. You read it right. One thousand five hundred miles. Five miles everyday and eight miles on Saturdays.

3. Take up yoga. You know, learn all those fancy moves and find my inner chai or whatever. Just kidding, I don't even know what inner chai even is. All I know is that yoga gives you abs, and I want abs.

4. Keep up with this thing. By "this thing" I mean my blog. Hopefully it won't be a forgotten fad that I was once intent on keeping up with.

5.Have a picnic. Why is that so hard? You just throw food in a stupid basket and lay on a patch of grass. Yet why haven't I done it? I have noooo idea. 2010 better give me a picnic.

6. Get more involved. With what? Summit Christian Center, the Covenant Community, the Boy with a Ball team here in San Antonio that works with kids to build relationships with them and help prepare them to be the leaders they're called to be, and stuff in school.

7.To have Quiet Times Daily. To every day, discipline myself to read the Word in effort to live according to it. If not reading the Bible, then having worship alone or just sitting there in silence and being in the presence of God.Daily. No matter how tired or busy I seem to kid myself that I am.

8.To call people more. Fact: I'm the worst caller-backer ever. EH-VER! Honestly, people call me all the time and I go "Oh hey I'll call you back in five minutes", which turns into five weeks. and then by that time, they forgot why they even called me. Also, to maintain relationships with people not living where I do.

9.To Document 2010. Do not get mad or upset at me if I have a camera every five seconds shoved in your face while you eat the slice of cheese. I'm planning on capturing as many moments as possible with my handy dandy photo taking machine! (AKA my digital camera) So just go with it and give me a smile okay?

That's about all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll add more later, but for now, I'm gonna see how well I can do with these...

Helloooooo 2010.

With Everything

I was sitting in my bed late at night and since I had no school the next day, I decided to go ahead and just spend time with the Father in exulting Him in worship. So this song came on and as I sang the words, and got lost in worshipping the Father the verse in Psalms that says "Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand days elsewhere." came to my mind and it became the song my heart cried out. I realized that just the little while I was sitting there, gloryfing Him for all that He is,I was in His presence, and that's where I belong. Nothing else satisfies me the way He satisfies me when I'm just praising Him. In all of his ways, in everything He does, in everything He is, He's so glorious! So majestic! So INCREDIBLE! My heart cannot even begin to fathom it! This song is a summary of what I want in my life.

•  I want to love people the way Jesus loved them, with pure and sincere LOVE, and that though the way I live my life and the way I love people, I want them to see Jesus in that.Father, open my eyes that I may see them the way you see them! 
• I want nothing for myself, but everything all for the sake of the Kingdom of God. What does it mean to "lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus" ? It means that what we do now, we do not do it for ourselves. Though we recieve glory here on earth because the Father is at work in us, we give it to Jesus, because HE is the one that deserves that glory. We are NOTHING apart from Him and He chose to use us. What an HONOR! So I can do nothing else, but to give glory to He who deserves the glory, the Glorious One.  
• I want more of HIM and less of ME.  
• To see the day when EVERYONE will see Jesus in His reverance and beauty and their songs will join in mine. FINALLY, the day everyone will see Him, for who He is. What a beautiful day that will be. All will see His glory, all see His majesty,all we see the King come in through the courts and see Him on the throne. Hallelujah for that day. 

With everything, we will praise and worship the Living God.

The Beauty in Suffering

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring in which case, you were meant to have it. That is a very encouraging thought.



Man, just go back and read what Gandalf tell Frodo one more time...." but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Very often, we expect God to show up in our lives very dramatically like, in the middle of thunderous booming voices, in chaos swirling around us. But most of the time, that's not the way he chooses to show up...at all. In fact, God doesn't always make Himself obvious. Very often He will work in the subtlest of ways and allows us to go on dangerous adventures, not because he couldn't accomplish the task himself, but because he wants US to grow and he wants to use us. It may not be obvious or even what you expect, but God is ALWAYS at work in your life. Whether you realize it or not.
"But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one."
-2 Thessalonians 3:3.
That is the promise we receive once we surrender our lives to him. That even though, in the middle of our suffering and weakness, we receive strength, for HE is our strength and he is our refuge, our fortress when the enemy and his armies come to take us. Death is not taking us, no- LIFE is SWALLOWING us. We really do serve an awesome God. Even when we're surrounded by enemies, betrayed by our friends or overwhelmed by all the brokenness around us, God is that CONSTANT source of good and of love in our lives.
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
-Romans 8:31-32
Do we not realize the POWER in that?! If God is for us, for ME, then who can possibly prevail?! “There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil” God is still at work. He is still on the move. Though we seem like we're being worn down by all the things crashing down on us as we take our stand, we must, must, MUST remember that the “light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) The darkness WILL NOT overcome it. Isn't that the very thing that the blood of Jesus came to accomplish? That through his blood, we would now have power in and through the blood as well? Therefore, we too are now able to cast out the works of the enemy and all the realms of darkness he holds. now that we are co-heirs and conquerors with Christ Jesus, is that not the authority we posses?! We are no longer held in his captivity! We serve an amazing and powerful God, who goes out before us and fights on our behalf and only wants to rescue us.
The legend is true, look around-like in LOTR, evil is real. It is all around us. However,
  hope is not lost. There is good. God is guiding this world and providing a way for you to make it through. He is our path, He is our way, will we follow him? He doesn't promise that we'll be safe in comfortable along the way. In fact, it might seem to only get even harder to follow Jesus. He doesn't promise that our closest friends won't betray us, but we ARE told that we can travel a road that is based on truth, beset by evil, constructed in love and ultimately guided and protected by a good and loving God. Even so He promises to us that if we are faithless, He remains faithful. Meaning-If we choose to wander off and pursue our own desires, he will never leave us, He REFUSES to leave us. If our entire world collapses and shatters to the depths of the ground, we are still the children of a mighty, loving, caring and healing Father who will restore our hearts and bind our wounds back up again. 
THAT, is a very encouraging thought....

Hip, Hip, HOORAY!

I was thinking the other day about how many amazing people are in my life. I kept thinking about how much I really did love all of them, and how incredibly thankful I am to have them a part of my life. I don't really know if my life would be nearly as great as it is now with them a part of it. So I have a new idea.
Everyday this month, I'm gonna post an entire blog about someone that's done something for me to which I am extremely grateful. It's just like a thank you list. Remember how I mentioned I like lists?
These people are all different, from various places I've met along the way in various cities or even right here in good ol' San Antonio. These are people I've met along the way in different moments in my life from my moment of birth, to my first day at school, through my parents' divorce and in my walk with Jesus. Though I've established that they're very different and the roles they've played have all are different as well, one thing remains a common factor:

They have all impacted my life in a way that I will forever grateful and I love them very much.

Kinda Pointless, but I thought I'd Inform

The weather right now is absolutley beautiful. I can't seem to stay inside. The moments when I am inside, my body is practically convulsing to go outside. The days are breezy, but not at all hot. You can tell it's the endings of fall and soon to be winter. If you can't tell by the actual climate, you can just look around and see the leaves on the trees. The colors are so deep and rich, they don't even seem real. It's like someone took a can of paint and poured it over the trees. So now, I'm just sitting inside drinking a cup of hot chocolate because it's been a loooong time since I've had one with a fleece blanket bundling my legs to keep them warm, and I'm sitting next to the open window and inhaling as much as I possibly can of this air.
So I decided to make a list. Of what exactly? Of random things. Things that are important but at the same time, no one really cares about. So much so, that I think I will dedicate an entire section just to lists.
Yup, I think I will.