Abundance!
Jesus said, “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10)
What is abundance? Simply understood – abundance is “an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply.”
Jesus came so that your life would be full – lacking nothing. Peter reminds us that His divine power “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
Every morning I read Psalm 23 and consider this beautiful truth: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I have all that I need.” This is truth! It is also reflected in the words of Jacob in Genesis 33:11, “God has been very gracious to me. I have more than enough.”
For years I believed that because I was in “the ministry” – we would never have enough. In fact, for many years, I wore this as a badge of honor. We were sacrificing for the Lord, and somehow that was evidenced by a poverty mindset that led to believing we didn’t deserve more. Scarcity was spiritual. I’ve come to see that this way of thinking is wrong. It reflected my belief about God. I didn’t believe that God really would provide for us. I put God in a box that resulted in viewing our lack as the “price we had to pay” to serve the Lord. How foolish!
I now truly believe that God is generous and provides us with abundance – not merely material needs, but everything we need! Psalm 84 reminds us – “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.” God has not withheld anything from me because I was a minister. John tells us that we have received grace upon grace. That’s abundance! “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” (John 1:16) I agree with David who praised God saying, “Everything comes from you.” (1 Chron 29:14)
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Much fruit! Not just a little bit of fruit. Much fruit – an abundance of fruit.
This is my prayer for 2023 – God, please produce an abundance of lasting fruit in us! Apart from God we can do nothing; yet as we abide in Him and He abides in us – we will bear an abundance of fruit.
Will you join me in praying for much fruit in 2023?
Dave DeVries
Vinia Executive Director
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This blog post is from the January 17, 2023 Vinia Newsletter.
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