We wear many different hats in our lives. How do we experience this abundant life that Jesus meant for us to have? What does an abundant life look like? These questions come to the surface of our minds every so often but most especially when we witness a failing or shortcoming in our lives.
We look around and see piles of clutter, dirty dishes, dirty clothes, children bickering, husband vegging out in front of the tube, another fast food dinner being served and a less than content family. We know in our hearts that this is supposed to be different. Somehow we just know that things can be better. We know that this is definitely not what Jesus meant. Then we begin to berate ourselves for what we are doing or not doing, going down a path of self-loathing that just takes us further away from abundance.
The time has come to say enough is enough. We are no longer going to put up with this. We are going to experience the abundant life Jesus spoke of. Then we stop. How are we going to do this? It feels so overwhelming. Where do we start? How do we go about cleaning up the mess that is in our lives?
1. We need to first stop , acknowledge we have gone wrong and ask the Lord Jesus to forgive us.
2. Next step is to stop berating ourselves and instead forgive ourselves just as the Lord Jesus forgave us when we asked Him to.
3. Then we need to sit down and take a realistic assessment of the mess we're in. Not in a self-berating way, but objectively look at all the areas of our life that need improvement. Take a pen and a sheet of paper and write down what we see.
4. When we are done we need to take that paper back to the prayer closet, tell the Lord about it and give it to Him. Acknowledge that without Him you cannot get your life in order and you need His help.
5. When you have finished praying take that sheet of paper, crush it up and throw it away. Yep, you heard me right! Crush it up and throw it away. That paper represents all that is wrong and from this time forth we are going to look at what's right as we make baby steps to experience the abundant life we want.
We have been in this vicious cycle for a long time and we can't expect to get out of it in one day, one week or even one month.
6. Pick an area that you would like to start experiencing the abundant life and work on it one babystep at a time with much prayer and when necessary even fasting. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.
The articles on this site and other sites in the Sidebar are meant to help us in our journey. Read them and return to them time and again as a resource. The Abundant Life is yours for the taking. Start now!
Our kids have begun a new school year. We can start a new year too.
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