Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

I have been seeing and hearing this verse in my head throughout a good part of the past week. It’s in my head when I ride on the train to work and on the way home from work, it’s in my head when I read the Bible and am compelled to turn to it, and it’s in my head so often I cannot but already etch it deep into both consciousness and sub-consciousness.

Now, I don’t know why God is reminding me so strongly of the verse but I know the reasons for it shall be revealed to me one day.

As I ask God for the “why”, I believe He has revealed to me the “how”.

Because the verse that’s been lodging itself into my life is a promise from God in John 10:10.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

– John 10:10 (KJV)

You see that promise? That Jesus Christ said that He came so that we might have life, and not only do we have life, we might have it more abundantly?

Now, of eternal life in Christ Jesus we all have a confirmation and are confident of. Yet I think that most of us do not have abundant lives in Him because we do not claim that promise!

What is an abundant life?

No, it is not owning a fleet of limousines, nor a condominium nor having a personal net worth of a few millions in US dollars or Euros, but having a life that is filled with all that which God promises — peace, joy, a walk with God — and being a blessing and a light unto others

For our God is not a God that desires that we have temporal blessings in the form of material prosperity though He might choose to bless some of us with those, but our God is God of your heart!

When you go through the entire Bible, you shall discover that in everything God speaks to the heart and fills it with every goodness that is His when we become His children. What fills your pockets can be taken away by others, but nothing nor anyone can take away anything that God fills your heart with!

Nobody can take away the joy and peace and the other goodies that God places in your heart. Absolutely nobody. The only time they can do so is if we allow them to — when we allow the cares of this world to overwhelm us, when we stop having God as our first love, when we throw up our hands and surrender and let the devil work his nefarious works in our hearts.

Over the past weekend God has led me to watch and listen to a few sermons online that directly addressed the “how”, and I was so inspired I want to share it with you today.

A speaker, himself a pastor of a church, shared how Christ Jesus is the “desire of all nations” and yet the world does not know where or how to fulfill their desires. Surely, we know that, but how many of us Christians really desire this true desire of our hearts and of all nations?

In our daily lives we desire this and we desire that, and we pray to God “Oh, God, please grant that I get this deal because you promised that you shall bless me” but it is seldom that many of us pray “Oh, God, I pray you teach me to desire you in my heart and to thirst for you”.

And when we pray those prayers that ask God to fulfill our other desires instead of placing Christ Jesus as our first desire above all others, then we quickly lose sight of God’s love and promises. And when God says “no” some do get discouraged and turn away for a while thinking that God doesn’t care.

God is very clear on what we need to truly seek.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

– Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

Christ Jesus says “seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God”! He doesn’t say pray this way, do this or that, but He says to seek the kingdom of God first! What do we seek with? Is it our heads? No.

When we seek for something we seek it in our hearts; we desire it in our hearts. Because you cannot seek for something if you do not desire it. If you can’t find your car keys in the morning and are seeking it, are you not desiring for the keys?

Therefore, an abundant life comes when we seek first the kingdom of God. When God becomes the number one desire of our hearts, we know we shall be filled with abundance, and His goodness overflows!

Another speaker spoke of being excited for the Lord and reaching out to claim His promises. One particular point he mentioned which struck me dead center in the eyes was when he said that if we cannot name how God is working through us as the most exciting thing that has happened to us in our lives, then we know not God truly.

We get excited about many other things in life, and many a times when asked what the most exciting thing in our lives are, most of us answer the question with things like the first bungee jump, or our favorite sports team winning a championship, or the first time we get behind the wheel of a brand new sports car.

There aren’t many who will say that becoming a Christian and living our lives in obedience to God and walking with God as the most exciting thing in our lives.

Isn’t that just so true?

For me, that point hit dead center right into my heart. Because he also said, look, the same Holy Spirit that worked miracles on Pentecost and all the other miraculous things in the Bible resides in us, and yet we go through church services alike “polite heathens” and go out into the world as just another ordinary person on the street.

In other words, there’s no excitement for God and therefore no abundant life as Christ Jesus promises because we do not let the Holy Spirit — the Helper that our Lord Jesus Christ sends us — to work through us.

Just imagine what an exciting and abundant life it is when we learn to let the Holy Spirit work through us, because it is the same Spirit that worked those miracles! Most of us only know of miracles, but we do not know miracles. When you know of something, it just means that you have knowledge of it, just as if I know of John, then I acknowledge that there’s this person called John.

However, to know something or someone is different. It means a first-hand experience of that something or someone. If I say that I know John, it means that I have an understanding of the person of John — what he is like, his dislikes, his preferences, etc. In fact, God uses the word “know” to denote sexual congress between a man and his wife — the most intimate physical expression of love in a marriage — in the Bible.

There needs to be an excitement in us to be excited by the miracles we are capable of doing in the world when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. We need to be excited by the miracle of someone coming to know God and finally finding out that what they have desired all this while was God, the “desire of all nations”! We need to be excited by how that same Spirit that works in miracles resides in us!

I am convinced that it is therefore without any doubt that these two aspects of Christian living go hand in hand in order that we can reach for that abundant life that our Lord Jesus Christ promised — firstly to desire God and make Him our first love, and secondly to truly worship God in spirit and be excited about allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest in us and through us!

And as I write this post, it is plain for you to see that I do realize the reason why God has been reminding me of this verse — because I fall so short of those aspects. As for whether there is another reason as to why God has taught me these lessons in the past week, I pray God that He shall reveal that to me in due time.

In the meantime, it is enough for me, and I thank God for it, that He has led me to learn how to live an abundant life.

Amen.

Photo of Rainbow taken from Missouri Skies.