You Were Made For More - Jim Cymbala (3-12-14)
Everyone in life is wondering if there’s more. If you’re yearning for a fuller and richer spiritual life, you aren’t alone. God has plans for us, to give us a future and a hope - He wants us to call on His Name and rely on Him for all our needs. God has a specific and perfect plan for each person’s life. He desires for us to have a deep, personal relationship with Him. The Lord wants more than just one or two days a week, He wants all of us - all the time. God equips those He calls and will provide for us so that we can accomplish His Will.
When we desire to walk in His Will, we need to: look back before we move forward, not move forward in disobedience, and remember that the Blood Sacrifice must always remain the purpose of our mission. These lessons were already learned by the Israelites when they were in Gilgal - so we can learn from them in order to prevent repeating these mistakes. We are powerless to break our chains, only by Christ’s blood can we be set free. God will bless us when we give all the glory to Him instead of taking it for ourselves.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and then comforts us when we repent. He is often overlooked when people think about the Trinity - yet He is the Voice that leads us to repentance. He gives a passion to believers when we allow Him to change our hearts. He challenges us to live a pure life for Christ and gives us the heavenly resources needed to walk worthy of the Gospel we preach.
Why do some believers love the Head (Christ), but don’t respect the Body (Church)? Regardless of age, sex, race, income, or language - Jesus died for everyone. Being discriminatory to certain believers is NOT walking worthy of the Gospel because Jesus desires for ALL to come to know Him. We need to stop treating others badly, and start treating others the way we want to be treated.
When we learn to rely on God to meet all our needs, and are loving everyone with Christ’s love, we also are gaining spiritual discernment. Satan is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He leads blatant attacks at times, but more frequently he is sneaky and crafty. This is why we need to continually renew our minds with the Word and be discerning with everything in our lives - constantly being on alert.
“I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” So often, people remember the first part about themselves, but not the last part about it being only through Christ’s strength. We try to do things by ourselves, instead of relying on God. We can only throw ourselves whole-heartedly into living for God once we’ve surrendered fully to Him, and we can trust Him to take care of us.
When we go through trials and hardships, it’s easy to question God. Hardships produce patience, perseverance, trust and faith in God, and a testimony to God’s power in our lives. I was really touched by the simple account of a man who wanted to be free from his drug addiction. Pastor Cymbala asked for people in the congregation to pray for this man who could attest to Christ’s changing power in their drug addictions. Dozens of men came forward to lay hands on him. Our testimony is what shows the world the power for Christ that saved us from our sin.
Every day, every moment, everyone is tempted with sin by our flesh. There are definitely spiritual attacks from demons, but there are many more attacks from our sinful desires. We always have the choice to either give into our flesh or depend on God to fulfill our needs. As believers, we are no longer enslaved to sin because Christ gives us power over our cravings and lusts, and we can live by the Spirit.
When we feel God calling us to do something, we usually object because of our lack of ability to carry out His plan. This is our flesh and Satan trying to render us useless. We feel unworthy and unprepared, yet it is through our weakness that Christ strengthens us. If we accomplished His Will in our own strength, God wouldn’t get any of the credit. God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. God’s plans are not our plans and He desires for us to be faithful, even in the little things.
God gives a peace to His children - His peace that passes all understanding. His peace gives us protection against the attacks from Satan, gives us love for those who have wronged us, takes away the worry we have about our futures, and renews our mind by taking away the garbage that infiltrates our thoughts. He gives us a calm heart during the storms.
God promises that those who follow Him won’t be put to shame. God made us for more than just being saved and going to Heaven - He wants to us to seek His Will for our lives and then go out there and DO IT.
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