Abundant Life

Chapter 1

Abundant Life!

What is the meaning of life? This pertinent question has been asked for generations with so many options for possible answers. Why are we here on earth, and what is the point of living? What is the point of our existence?

I did a Google search on the meaning of life, and the list is endless, but one hit that caught my attention for the wrong reasons says that the meaning of life is just “to be alive.” As if being alive is all that we must do. That is fine if you are an animal, but we are not, so life has so much more to offer than just being alive. To learn about life, we must go to the source of life. We must go to the life giver: Jehovah God! God created man, breathed into him, and gave him a mandate to be fruitful and multiply. When Jesus walked upon the earth, he reiterated his mission statement in John 10:10. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Abundantly here can also mean “life to the overflow.” The only way to have and live an abundant life is to know Jesus.

From an early age, I frequently asked myself, “Am I existing or living?” Existing and living are two different things. Existing means to be in operation. To be breathing. And that is good, but living takes it a step further as a way of life. I imagine you may have asked yourself sometimes if you are walking in purpose and not just following the mundane routine of life. The old adage is both familiar and true that “all men die but not all men live.”

So are you ready to live? God can abundantly exceed all you may ask or think. Don’t limit yourself to the ordinary day at work punching the clock. There is so much more God desires for you. When David realized abundant life, he penned the most famous psalm and said, “My cup runs over” (Psalm 23:5). The original Greek word for cup is life. So in essence, David said, “My life runs over.” That is how God wants us to live. Where our lives are running over with love, peace, joy, and everything that we need. Before you say this sounds too good to be true, let me say that living abundantly is not absent of opposition and challenges. Living abundantly recognizes that no matter what comes your way, you will overcome. In the middle of problems and opposition, you know you are guaranteed the victory.

John 16:33 says, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

If Jesus has overcome the world, then you have too. With God, we are fighting from victory and not for victory. Live knowing that anything and everything is possible with God. Do not let society, family, or culture stop what God wants to do with you.

In my experience as a pastor, I typically run into two types of people in this journey of life: people who ask, “Can God?” and people who say, “God can.” What kind of person are you?

Have you been asking, “Can God do it?” for too long? Have you been doubting? Have you settled, accepting that this is all there is to your life? Have you not heard that with God nothing is impossible? It only seems impossible until someone does it. It’s time for you to switch and say, “God can!” I am writing this book to the company of “God canners” who dare to believe God for the impossible, who dare to believe God for greater and manifest Christ daily, and who walk in abundant life—life to the overflow. I like to think of abundant life like how the English Reformed Baptist minister and missionary William Carey lived. His motto was “Expect great things from God; do great things for God.” Expecting great things from God and doing great things for God is no ordinary life. As you read, my prayer is that you break up with the past and break through into your abundant life of victory and purpose. Expect great things from God; do great things for God.