ARE YOU MISSING OUT ON ENJOYING THE ABUNDANT LIFE?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different
kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working,
but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the
manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

MEDITATION:
The abundant life seems to be eluding many Christians in our world today.
The Lord has blessings for His people, but sin can prevent us from enjoying
them. Since Satan hates anything Godly, he will use his tactics and schemes
in his effort to prevent believers from enjoying the blessings from God.

Wouldn’t it be great if after we become Christians, we would no longer have
to deal with sin? That would be nice, but that’s just not the way it is, is it?
Before we are saved, Satan doesn’t have to do anything to corrupt our lives
because we already belong to him.

However, after we are saved, he unleashes everything he can to create problems
for us. Before sin, he will try to persuade us that it’s no big deal, but after sin, he
will try to convince us that we have exceeded God’s mercy and we cannot receive
His forgiveness. It is a war, and we can either ‘wave the white flag’ of surrender  
or we can enlist the Holy Spirit, who will lead us to victory.

There are also at least two areas where our actions (or inactions) can prevent
us from enjoying the abundant life. The first is relinquishing total control of
our lives to the Holy Spirit. When we give the Holy Spirit control, our ability
to avoid the wrong things and embrace the right things improve considerably.

God wants us to be dependent on Him for the words we speak, how we spend
our time, and the decisions we make. It doesn’t mean we become weak, but we
become stronger when we exchange our self-reliant dependency, for a new and
secure dependency on God.

We need the Holy Spirit to create that dependency in us. God doesn’t want
or need us to be independent from Him and His power. Think about this:
    When serving the Lord, we might receive little or no
    encouragement from others, but we know how we can
    depend on His encouragement when we are doing what
    expects of us (using what He has equipped us with).

The second area that might be causing us to miss out on His blessings
is our failure to use the spiritual gift (or gifts) He has given us. When we
receive salvation from God, every believer is given at least one spiritual
gift and we are expected to actively use it. As the scriptures say, it is given
to us for the “common good”.

This means it is for the common good of all believers (including ourselves),
and it is good for non-believers as well. Why? Because God can use us as
His venue for speaking to those who are not part of His family. He might
speak to them through the life they see in us (without our saying a word).

We may discover that our gift is not one we feel comfortable using, however
the Lord would not give us a gift that we could not use; or one that He would
not help us use; or one that would not be for our good and the good of others.
This gift is like any other gift – it is not something we earned; it is something
given to us by our Creator and it should bring joy into our lives as we discover
a new purpose for living.

ACTION:
Questions to consider:
    – How much am I enjoying the abundant life?
    – Are there any areas of my life that are
       preventing me from enjoying God’s blessings?
    – Have I turned my life over to the Holy Spirit
       and developed a dependency on the Lord.
    – What are my spiritual gifts, and am I using them to serve the Lord?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I am tired of trying to enjoy the abundant life on my
own. I realize that I am missing out on Your blessings due to the selfish
choices I have made on my own. Lord, I ask You to take full control of
my life so I will make good choices and avoid making bad ones. Show
me what my spiritual gift is and create in me a desire to use Your gift
from this day forward. I know that when I actively use Your gift, not
only will it benefit me and my family, but it will benefit others as well.
Thank You for valuing me and trusting me enough to give me a spiritual
gift designed specifically for me. Help me to use it to point others to Jesus.”

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