DO YOU EVER FEEL THAT YOU ARE ALIVE, BUT NOT REALLY LIVING?

SCRIPTURE:
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I 
have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”   
(John 10:10).

MEDITATION:
There are lot of extremes in life aren’t there?
Things that are either diametrically opposed to each other 
or things that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. 
There is hot and cold, up and down, bad and good, on and off, etc.

The most important extreme in life is evil and righteousness.
One is facing God and the other is turned away from God.
One has a destiny with pleasure
and the other has a destiny with torment and pain.
One relates to the destructive nature of Satan, 
while the other relates to the hope available from Jesus.

When we look at the current events, we realize that Satan is alive and well.
He is ‘hell-bent’ on luring people away from the Lord.
The sad part is, we can see that he is having success 
as anything righteous is continually under attack.

Christian symbols and the essence of the Christian way of life 
continues to be stripped away from our society.
Churches are dwindling 
as Satan dupes people into believing attendance is unnecessary.
The more Satan can eliminate righteousness, 
the greater success he will have in recruiting people to his evilness.

Christians are also vulnerable 
as his efforts can render them useless to the earthly ministry of God.
Many have already become, or are becoming desensitized to the things that 
violate God’s principles and expectations 
of those who ‘claim’ to belong to Him.

Contrast Satan’s efforts with those of the Lord.
Jesus concentrates all of His efforts to give us life.
Think about that for a moment.
Life is the opposite extreme of death.

Satan wants to steer us into a dying process 
that ends with an ultimate eternal death.
However, Jesus wants to reverse the dying process 
and steer us into a living process that results in eternal life.
The life He wants us to live is one with more abundance. 

The abundant life begins 
when we give up the rights to our lives and ask the Lord to take charge.
When He does, we discover new excitement and joy in things and people 
that have been around us all along, 
but Satan prevented us from observing and enjoying them.

Another part of the abundant life is, we enter into God’s family 
and our membership is confirmed as we become servants to our new Master.
Servanthood might not sound that exciting, 
but it is when the Lord is our Master.
Instead of trying to find the abundant life through everything the world 
has to offer, we merely have to listen to Him and follow His guidance.
Instead of moving from one frustration to another, 
we discover the abundant life means moving from one enjoyment to another.

This happens because 
we have made a conscious decision to allow Jesus to live through us.
As a result, we have a right to the provisions of Heaven 
because we have become joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

ACTION:
You might be thinking, “I’m more on the side of Jesus and righteousness 
than I am on the side of Satan and evilness”.
But that’s not the way to look at your life.
Satan might be happy with a portion of your life 
that he can use to corrupt you even more, 
but Jesus wants all of your life so He can help you to live and enjoy life.

Pretty simple choice, isn’t it? 
A life of corruptness versus a life of purity.
A life of sinfulness versus a life of righteousness.
A life of dying versus a life of abundant living.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus to provide me 
with the abundant life. I can hide things from others, but I cannot hide 
from You my frustrating efforts to achieve joy and happiness. Because of 
Jesus, I no longer have to continue in my old way of life. I can now live 
in peace and happiness as a member of Your family. Help me to give You my 
all so that You can use me as part of your earthly ministry and I can enjoy 
the abundant life. Forgive me for my failures and help me to avoid allowing 
those failures to discourage me so that I fall prey to successive failures. 
Remind me that part of the abundant life is knowing that You are there to 
encourage me and lift my spirits.”