Abundant Living even in Difficult Times

Written by Jimmie Burroughs

We have never experienced a time like the present. Covid-19 has thrown us a curve, and for many it has brought pain and suffering through sickness, loss of friends and love ones, loss of employment, etc. After several months, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. No one knows where this will lead to. We are living in uncertainty like we have never known before. Nevertheless, there is an unseen hope that many know nothing about or have never experienced. What I’m talking about is not to be seen in the world around us and is not controlled by circumstances regardless of how severe they become. As the quote says, “What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me,” -Helen Keller.

Many go through life searching for that something that will fill the void in their life, substituting money, alcohol, drugs and illicit sex, but never finding it because they are looking in the wrong places. We enter this earth with a vacuum inside that can only be filled by Christ and Him alone. Jesus promised those who trust in Him an extraordinary life. He said, “…I am come that ye may have life and have it more abundantly,” John 10:10b. Those that know Him have that gift, “Abundant Living even in Difficult times,”  if they will receive it, that is. It is right there within; it is the presence of God.

Look within: It is there that you will discover your true needs. Over the years it has become increasingly clear to me that an abundant life doesn’t come from financial wealth, climbing the corporate ladder, fancy titles, or 15 minutes of fame. Neither does it come by the approval of others, especially while doing what you think everyone expects of you. If you want to live an abundant life, you have to identify and appreciate the extraordinary things that are already part of your life. The reason something is extraordinary or remarkable in your life is because you recognize it, believe it and say that it is. It’s that simple.

God expects you and me to be more than merely ordinary. In fact, I believe the Bible teaches that God desires for His people to live an extraordinary life of impact. We are to be light in the darkness, salt of the earth, and ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Understand God’s plan for your life: God has a plan for each person. At the top of God’s plan for you is His abundant life, as stated earlier. All life includes trials. Often, we misunderstand the trials we have in life. It is true, we bring many of them on ourselves by our actions, however, some are unavoidable. Take a new look at your trials. God can bring good out of them. James 1:2-3 says, “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

God promises those who love Him a good outcome in their life. In Romans 8:28, we read, “And we know that in all things God works for good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” God is not saying in this verse all things are good. We know that cancer is not good, nor is the loss of a child or love one. The point is, that in the long run God can, by putting all things together, bring to us a life of abundance and purpose.

It is in the combination of things that God brings about the good in our life. For example, food that is salted tastes much better than unsalted food. Table salt is made of a combination of two bad elements, Chloride and sodium, which by themselves are both poisonous. Combined, they provide a mineral that the body can’t live without. Likewise, God can combine the experiences of our lives, which at the time seem bad to us, and bring about something good, and His promise is, He will do just that.

God not only gives us victory over sin and Satan, but according to His promises, He also gives us victory over circumstances, even the devastating circumstances we face right now, which are beyond our control. God says, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28. Consider some of the ways God works to help us rise above circumstances as pointed out in this promise:

• The certainty of the promise: “We know.” This is not loose talk it is a promise we can rely on. “We know all things work together for good…”  Notice that it is not just some things but all things. I know that is hard to understand when we are in the midst of a serious trial, as we all are at the present, but here it is, God said it, and so we are to believe it. J. Vernon McGee once said about the lung cancer that he survived, “I would never want to experience that again.” but he also said, “I would not take anything for what I learned through the experience.” Understandably, some of our experiences are bad, but do we consider them as a learning experiences that matures us in our spiritual journey? There is no doubt that we learn through affliction, but learn little when all is going well.

Joseph of the Bible is the proof of the promise. Joseph is a good example of a person who experienced much affliction. He was maligned and thrown in a pit by his own brothers and later sold as a slave. He was lied about, wrongly accused, and imprisoned for something he did not do. When Joseph looked back on his life, he summed it up much like that which is stated in Romans 8:28. He said to his brothers who had afflicted him, “As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

• The power that brings about the promise: “We know that all things work for good.” Don’t think that things just automatically work themselves out for good. No, it is God that works all things out for good; it is His power, His omniscience. Paul makes clear this point in his letter to the Ephesians: “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” The God of the universe is the maker of the promise and also the one to carry it out in His own power and in His own time.

• The condition of the promise: It is not something that automatically happens to everyone. There is a condition: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God …” The promise is for those who love God and take Him for His word.

• The purpose of the promise: The promise is given to those who are called according to His purpose. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son.” Contrary to what many think, God’s primary purpose is not to make us happy, healthy, and wealthy; God’s primary purpose for those he calls out is to be like his Son. He wants to conform us to the image of Jesus. Jesus lived an extraordinary life on earth although He suffered more than any of us ever will. The reason his life was extraordinary was because it was centered in the Father’s will. Jesus came to serve the Father and to share Hid glory with others. The lesson on life that many believers are yet to learn is, to fulfil God’s purpose is to be like Jesus and to center our life in His will and share His glory with others. Nothing else in life rises to that lofty position.

Whatever the circumstances of life, we can rely on the promises of God found in Romans 8:28. No one can take it away from us, not Covid-19, not Satan, nor anything else because we serve an omniscient, omnipotent God: “Greater is He that is in us that he that is in the world.”

Get a God Vision for Your Life: John Wesley was one of the great pastors and evangelist of yesteryear. His aim in life was to serve the Lord. In the beginning, Wesley was not respected. He was barred from preaching in many churches. He experienced many a trial but never lost his vision. Wesley wrote in a page of his diary:

• Sunday morning, May 5, preached at St. Ann’s, was asked not to come back anymore.
• Sunday p.m., May 5, preached at St. John’s; the deacon’s said, “Get out and stay out.”
• Sunday a.m., May 12, preached at St.Jude’s, can’t go back there either.
• Sunday p.m., May 12, preached at St. George’s, kicked out again.
• Sunday a.m., May 19, preached at St. somebody else’s, deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return, Sunday p.m.
• May 19, preached on the street, kicked off the street, Sunday a.m.
• May 26, preached in meadow, chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during the services.
• Sunday a.m., June 2, preached out at the edge of town, kicked off the highway.
• Sunday p.m., June 2, afternoon service, preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me.

Sometimes you may feel there is no hope and the vision impossible: Paul experienced many adverse things: He was stoned, and left for dead. At least they thought he was dead. He was Beaten and imprisoned. He was Shipwrecked and left to drift in the water. He was bitten by a deadly snake. Through it all in 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul said, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: Nevertheless, I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Paul never lost his vision regardless of circumstances. Neither should you and I regardless of how bad circumstances become.

There are 3 things that happen to us when there is no vision: We miss God’s blessings; We miss God’s best plan for our life; We miss the influence of Jesus in our life.

Here is something to consider if you are interested in “How to Live an Abundant Life even in Difficult Times: ”Think about what you want for your future? Are you planning today for your future? Paul said in Phil 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul had a purpose to live for – although, he lived in the presence, he was looking to the future. If you haven’t done so already, Take the first step, click HERE to learn how to have a relationship with God.