I recently read a blog from Pastor Henry Fernandez, that talks about how the enemy sees us as the “The Living Dead.” Fernandez said, when talking about the enemy, “He knows you’re a Christian, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to get you over into his dominion of darkness. In fact, for him, it’s an incentive. He looks at your life, determines the level of your faith, and then attacks at your weakest point. His purpose is to make sure you never live in the abundance, fullness, and prosperity Jesus spoke of in John 10:10.” That instantly grabbed ahold of me. It caused me to examine my heart, and to ask myself these questions: How do I live an abundant life? How do I change my mindset in order to have an abundance mentality? Can I truly proclaim that I have let go of the past? Have I completely forgiven and chosen to love those who have persecuted me and sinned against me? Have I fully allowed the Lord to heal my heart, or am I holding back in certain areas? Are my scars reminding me of the One who rescued me or the one who persecuted me?
To me, living an abundant life is not about what we have. It’s not even about what we get, seemingly on our own, nor about what we claim. Ultimately, abundant life is about what we receive as a gift from the Lord and to live knowing we are stewards of the blessings of God. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the Bible talks about this life when it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away and new things have come.” I have learned that stewardship is not measured by what we have received, but by what we have given. I think Ed Stetzer summed it up nicely when he said, “At the end of the day, perhaps that is how we know we have an abundant life—when we have shared our life with others. When we have enough of the blessings of God (mercy, peace, love, grace, wisdom, etc.) to share with our others, and then actually do it; that’s when we truly have abundant life.”
When viewing abundance mentality via Wikipedia, we find the following. “Covey coined the term “abundance mentality” or “abundance mindset,” meaning a business concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and success to share with others, when looking at optimistic people. We can start by counting our blessings, being grateful for what we already have; identify our strengths, develop new skills and talents, be creative, be productive, enjoy our lives, and make the most out of every opportunity. One of the most important elements is gratefulness. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is. No matter how many pleasant things you do, if you don’t learn to be grateful, you will always see things negatively.
We are all presented with a choice: we can either press on in our relationships with Christ, or we can turn back, providing an opening for the old victim mentality of living hopelessly, and without truly knowing our Savior. As a personal testament, now, I can look at my scars differently. I can focus all of my attention on the One who rescued me and not the ones that prosecuted me. When I think about the goodness of God and all He’s done for me, then I can rejoice and feel good about who I am, and Whose I am. Our dreams can have a beautiful ending. We can end up making the right choices. It gives us hope that we really can stand up and proclaim, “I shall Live and Not Die. I will not be “the living dead.” And those choices must happen every single day that God breathes life into our lungs.
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