Yes, if you take a step in the right direction, Jesus can change your situation and replace it with a Testimony. You must be decided, when you look to The Lord for Answered Prayers – no looking back. Don’t settle for the status quo in life – when He called you to an Abundant Life. Forget the televangelists money-schemes and their emphasis on being rich. They have the emphasis all wrong. There’s nothing wrong with money, if you’re not bound by the love of it, but Jesus calls us as His Children, to be Rich in Blessings…..and…..to carry His Blessings to those around us. That is Abundant Life (a fuller life). If you need healing or restoration, for instance, money and riches would not be abundant life for you, but healing and restoration would be, would’nt it?
I THINK THE TELEVANGELIST’S GET RICH SCHEMES SERVE AS A MAJOR DISTRACTION (for many) FROM SEEKING AND LIVING IN THE PLANS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER HAS FOR US.
That is the way of the world – it is heavily promoted. Unbelievers seek after those things and have all that imposed on them. It is the Spirit of The World that is binding men and women to be lovers of self and lovers of money, saying “Look after Number One” etc
This should not be the Church – we are called out of all that stress and tension, to live an Abundant Life in the true sense. The other is a shabby counterfeit.
We do not need to be rich. Leave that for some who can handle it if they are called to bless others in a mighty way, but The Lord can certainly give us more than enough. He does not want you to lack any good thing. Most of His children have not entered into the abundant life Jesus planned for us. We are best at doing this when we understand The Lord’s Good Will towards us and how we respond to Him.
The reason why The Lord does not change all our circumstances automatically when we are Saved is so we have things to seek Him for and exercise our God given Faith (a faculty of our spirit). “Faith comes by hearing His Living Words”…….Yes Jesus said to us “The Words I speak to you are Spirit and Life”………He is a Faith God and you are His child. Scriptures are meant to mix with Faith in your spirit. So the Faith that Comes, when He speaks to you Comes Up from your spirit really because “He has given to all of us a measure of Faith”. So miracles etc are not automatic, they are a product of His Word and Your Faith. Our Creator God likes material to work with.
I would like to share a young man’s Testimony I discovered on the Net today that will help you.
I promote someone’s writings sparingly on my websites and choose the best when I do. So be blessed. I will share some thoughts afterwards.
CHOOSE GOD’S POSSIBILITIES OVER YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
by Roy Remy
The reason why we are oftentimes disheartened is because we allow the circumstances and the situation determine our joy when it should be vise-versa, our joy determines our circumstances and situation. Yes, I understand, hard times and difficult circumstances happen in our lives. I’ve had my big share in the past of how it is to have difficult times. I have experienced how it is to be at rock-bottom.
– I have experienced having to sleep in a bus terminal because I was a vagabond;
– I have experienced to be in the streets, drunk and broken;
– I have experienced to be in bad places and lived with no direction.
But I finally realized just like what a certain writer said, “No one cares if you are being miserable, so rather, be happy.” And freedom and blessings came into my soul when I fully embraced that in all these difficult situations, there is a gracious God who loves me and planned my life to be abundant and victorious. When I started to shift my sight from the circumstances to the possibilities, from crisis to where Christ is and from defeat to triumph, my life also started to shift towards fullness.
This is what I have learned-
Circumstances and situations should not break me but mold me.
Circumstances and situations are but platforms where God will bless me.
Circumstances and situations are but a stage where God will show His power in my behalf.
There is a verse in Isaiah which said –
“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” – Isaiah 35:1
The circumstance and the place was unlikely and difficult – wilderness, solitary place and a desert. But what God was implying here was this –
When you choose to embrace God’s possibilities and power, and you choose to be a winner no matter how your hard your circumstances are, time will come that even these circumstances will be glad and will rejoice for you.
Yes, God’s grace picked me up and I chose to be victorious. Since then, I’ve lived a forgiven, fulfilled, happy life with love and direction from God. I have experienced now the upward way of life. I have discovered my potentials and purpose. I have renewed relationships. I have found fullness in using my talents, time and potentials to help many people. Yes, I am living now a victorious life.
And you know what? One time I visited those places where I used to squander my life, and somehow I felt the truth of the verse. The circumstances and the situations where you were once in will be glad and rejoice for you because they were not victorious over you, as if –
– the bus terminal is telling me, “You won. We didn’t have you.”
– the dirty streets are telling me, “You won. We didn’t have you.”
– the bad places are telling me, “You won. We didn’t have you.”
You know what got me?
God’s Grace!
You may have bad times, but the bad times ought not to have you.
You may have failures, but failures ought not to have you.
You may have tough situations, but tough situations ought not to have you.
And what the next verse has said was true to me –
“they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” – Isaiah 35: 2
http://applyradicaltruths.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/choose-gods-possibilities-over-your.html
………The Upward Way. My friends, that is one example of Abundant Life.
Don’t tell me our Savior can’t turn ashes to beauty after reading this story!!!
I think there are great possibilities for everyone if He raised this young man up, to a good life.
Think about it, he became an incubator for the Promises of God. The Lord somehow brought thoughts to his mind that he pondered in his heart.
When he got tired of all the negativity that permeated his heart and mind – he decided that is not for him – he got up and walked away from where he was to something better. How amazing is that? He did something about it, he changed his outlook and looked to God and that released His ability.
He actually walked away! Decisions to look Godward and think well of Him – that He is able, He is willing – brings about the Handiwork of God in our lives. He knows when you’re resolute (not wishy-washy) and He responds to that with His wonderful Acts of Virtue and Loving-kindness.
There’s something that touches the Heart of God deeply, when you act on your decision to step towards Him – you do something in simple faith. By putting legs to your faith like Roy or spiritually with Audible Praise or a Sacrifice of Praise (if nothing comes to mind you should do that’s appropriate) God moves in your moving. So often Christians are stationary (with their thoughts, their faith, their outlook) and expecting Him to Move.
It does’nt work that way, it really does’nt.
He wants to get you moving! Out from where you are.
Many of God’s kids are tired of things the way they are or have been but they don’t want to do anything about it. What is faith without corresponding action? Well it’s not really faith, is it?”
It’s as if we have some false sense of security or something. Sometimes we’re plain lethargic spiritually. But look at this young man Roy – he left that false sense of security (the place he was accustomed to) and he left all the lethargy behind him and went after God – He is just eager for us to search Him out. Let Him arrive at your point of need, but you must go to Him first in faith – He will meet you there!
The lepers got up from where they sat and went to Jesus, Nicodemus went to Him and the Centurian went to Him. That is always God’s Way. Except for His “Random Acts of Kindness” so to speak, but He does nothing without purpose – He has a reason for the unexplainable Good things He does, to turn men and women’s hearts to Him. But we know better, He wants us to step out like Roy, the Bible characters I mentioned and countless others, who now have testimonies.
WHEN YOU TAKE A STEP OF FAITH, DO NOT ALLOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND WORDS TO CONFLICT.
LET HIS WORD STAY ALIVE IN YOUR SPIRIT UNTIL YOU SEE IT MANIFEST
THEN PLAN YOUR NEXT STEP OF FAITH AND GROW IN JESUS!
I will hear your testimony in Heaven one day, aye? I have placed a link here, so you can see before and after photos on his website. The Lord can change your shame to praise, weakness to strength, sickness to health or sorrow to Joy. He Loves us with an everlasting Love and for some reason responds to Faith. Probably because He likes to be trusted. Let’s activate our trust and venture with Him. Cheers!