Vision for Life - Flourish

Flourish (def) - to achieve success: prosper. Jesus promises the abundant life when we follow Him and He has also said in John 14:¹² “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. ¹³ You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! If we bypass these verses, we have an excuse to not flourish as a born-again believer. But if we believe these verses, we are commissioned to follow Him and do more than Jesus did because His Holy Spirit is working in us. Jesus wants us to allow Him to do great and abundant things through us that cannot be explained except to say "Jesus did it!"

Psalm 100: ¹ Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! ² Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God, He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

The Psalmist realized a great truth about the Lord.  

Truth - God is active on this earth, and He is active through His people, and those who are born again are spiritually renewed and changed. We are in a spiritual battle when we live for Jesus, but that victory has already been won on the cross.  We are to be about claiming more and more territory from the enemy, and the enemy knows this even more than we do.  Jesus likened us to sheep who are protected and guided by a shepherd.  In the following verses, Jesus identifies true sheep, and one characteristic He shares about those sheep is that they are not listening to the ones who share a message different than His.   John 10: ⁷ so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.  They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. ¹⁰ The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Jesus also says He is the gate for the sheep and when He calls to His sheep, they know His voice even in the din of noise in the world they live in.  John 10:¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, ¹⁵ just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.Those who come through Him will be saved. 

            We don’t just come to Him and then stay in the pen, but share His message to other sheep who also need to hear His voice and come through Him to be saved.  The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy, and he does this by confusing the sheep, distracting the sheep, and scaring the sheep. 

Confusion (def) - lack of understanding; uncertainty.  The first place the enemy has been confusing the Lord’s people and the Lord’s church is confusion through the lack of understanding of the truths of God’s Word.  The writer of Proverbs addressed this in Proverbs 29: ¹⁸ When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.  But whoever obeys the law is joyful.  Our divine guidance comes through the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is in us, showing us God’s mysteries as we study the Word.  Without deep study, we become confused and ineffective.

Distraction (def) - a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.  If we want to understand God’s plan for our life, we must read the Book and ask the author of that book to show us the way and keep us focused on Him.  Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJ) - Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  Do not be distracted by the world and all it tries to offer.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, and He will lead you on the straight and narrow path of freedom.  I mention freedom because we live in the freedom of God’s grace so that we can stay focused on Jesus and not our past sins.  Galatians 5: 1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.  In Paul’s day, the law got people distracted, and they ran around trying to enforce the law in their lives when they were supposed to be living in grace.  Traditions that are not Bible-backed can also be distracting and cause us to become religious, and religion only confuses the issue and puts man’s spin on the faith we have in Jesus.  The enemy knows our weaknesses and can even use religion to get our lives running in circles.  DO NOT FALL INTO HIS TRAP!!

Fear (def) - an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. 2 Timothy 1: ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

            We are called to live a life of faith and not a life of fear.  When we live this life of faith, it leads to a deeper prayer life and the power that comes with it.  When the enemy tries to scare us, it should lead us to immediately pray, and God will answer.  James 5: ¹³ Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.  ¹⁵ Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.  When the enemy sees that every time he tries to confuse or distract us, we pray, it will be a testimony to him that God is using the fear He sends our way to give us more power through prayer to defeat him.  Our faith will also be more powerful for the next battle with Satan.  Prayer and not fear is the way to victory!!  Our prayers should always be Holy Spirit-led prayers.  Paul told the church at Ephesus to pray every time in the Spirit, and the words in the following scripture just make so much sense.  Ephesians 6: ¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

            When the enemy is getting too much time in our thinking, we will begin to anticipate bad things happening, and it will cause us to shrink back from trusting God.  This spiritual battle must be fought with faith, total faith in the power of God.  Earlier in Ephesians 6, Paul told this church that they needed to be prepared for battle, spiritual battle. Paul told them what battle gear they needed, and the following is that battle gear.  Ephesians 6: ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Time to Flourish – We get to the end of this journey by having a strong foundation, a fellowship connection, and a forward-moving life of faith.  When we do this, we flourish, and the world will never be the same.  The life of a born-again believer is a life of abundance in every area, and that life begins with a heartfelt commitment to trust Jesus alone.  Now is the time.

The Piigrimage Continues,

David Warren