Here is the revelation shaping my life today:
I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.
Observation
Oh how I want this training! I hate that so much of life is shaped by the circumstances of the day. I was not designed for the waves of circumstances, I was designed to overcome circumstance. Lack or abundance, fullness or hunger, whatever – I will live in joy, in gratitude, in love, in assurance, in peace, in hope. This is the training of overcoming, this is what the “strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer.”
Consumerism deceives me into a life of lack. I must always have, and I never have enough, so I never overcome. I feel disappointment, lack of joy, hopelessness. My culture dangles life in front me, always out of reach – “If only I could get ahead, if only I could do that, if only I could find that ‘happy place”’- its a search for mythical holy grail that promises so much but does not exist. We are so deceived – I live at times like a small boat tossed about helplessly in the sea of FOMO (fear of missing out). This is not life, we need to be retrained.
If the whole of Jesus’ teaching is geared to confront and rearrange a persons thinking about identity and core truth, here is an identity and core truth issue: knowing how to live as a blessed man and live from the story of blessed in all circumstances. To know how to live as an overcomer, “whether in fullness or in hunger.” I shape the circumstances of the day based on Christ in me, not based on the presenting issue/s. Why do I empower and give such authority to fleeting circumstances when the always present intimate explosive power of Jesus resides within me?
Application
I will continue to learn to live from my spirits communion with God. I will shape my day on His presence with me not on the presenting issue of the day. The reality of my spiritual life will shape my earthly life. I will not get this around the wrong way. My communion with God will shape my core truth and my identity, it will shape how I see the presenting day and how I understand me within its engagement. I will appreciate the explosive power of Christ and understand myself as a conqueror in him.
Response
Thanks for training me to live in your explosive presence and power, this is life. Thank you that I live always as an overcomer, nothing can conquer me. Thank you that it’s you, not me, that conquers. You do not leave me to my own devices, you are my life. How blessed is a man that overcomes and lives blessed in all circumstances? I am that man! Or at least the training and invitation to be that man is at my disposal.
Meditation
Spend some time in meditation.
JOURNEY DEEPER
