“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
(John 10:9-10)
Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly! That means in our health, relationships, finances, and every area of our lives.
So, let’s examine this declaration from God in the flesh.
There is one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. The evil one! The one who led the first two humans into sin. The one who rebelled against God and caused God’s people to be banished from the Garden of Eden, which was God’s encampment on earth. The one who led God’s people to abandon Him in favor of lesser pagan gods. The father of all lies.
The blood of Jesus has defeated the evil one:
“And He said to them, I saw satan falling like a lightning bolt from Heaven. Pay attention, I give you (all who believe and believe in Jesus) authority and power to trample upon serpents (the evil one and his minions) and scorpions and over all the power that the enemy possesses, and nothing shall in any way harm you.”
(Luke 10:18:19)
The power that Jesus gave us is the same power that raised Him from the dead, BELIEF.
To overcome the stench in God’s nostrils, we believe in Jesus, believe Him, and reject the lies of the evil one. Those lies are the only power he has left.
satan has been sentenced to a life of eternal agony and separation from God. He will suffer from every disease known and unknown to man, including mental illness, for all time. He will scream and beg for mercy, hope, and escape, but his cries of anguish will be unheard.
Until that sentence is executed, he will fight God with his only remaining power: to lie. The evil one can not kill or destroy without lying. He causes death and destruction by lying to anyone who will listen. His lies are about how powerful he is. He lies about God. He lies about everything. Almost every evil thing happens because someone listens to the banter of the burned-up cankerworm.
If you hear a positive thought, it’s from Jesus. If you hear a negative thought, it is from the serpent of old.
The evil one manipulates his victims with God’s decision before time began to give us free will. Disease, death, theft, wars, and destruction come from men using their free will to do evil.
FREE WILL
Here, God directs His children to use that free will to choose life:
“I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land, which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19:20)
Jesus reiterated our free will frequently. The disciple John wrote about the free will choice to accept or reject eternal life:
“There it was–the true Light coming into the world that illuminates every person. He came into the world, and though he made the world, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which belonged to Him, and they who were His own did not receive Him or welcome Him.
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in His name–who owe their birth neither to blood nor to the will of the flesh nor the will of man but to God.”
(John 1:10-13)
Please believe this: GOD IS NOT IN CONTROL! If God were in control, earth would be Heaven. Every living thing would accept, receive, submit to, and obey His will, not their own.
God could have chosen to make His creation subservient to Him, and there would be no sin, death, disease, crime, unbelief, doubt, or lesser gods. But, they would not love and serve Him freely and by their own choice.
Here is the deal: GOD DOES NOT DO OR ALLOW EVIL! HE DOES NOT KILL, STEAL, DESTROY OR TAKE AWAY. HE DID NOT TAKE YOUR LOVED ONE. THOSE THINGS ARE OF THE EVIL ONE. BLAME HIM, NOT GOD!
Instead, as James wrote:
“Do not be misled, my beloved brothers. Every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all Light, in Whom there can be no variation or shadow cast by His turning.”
(James 1:16-17)
“I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.”
(John 10:10)
That is God the Father, God Jesus, and God Holy Spirit’s will for all His creation.
The Word abundantly was translated from Greek and Hebrew words. The Hebrew basis for the Word is rab or rob. It means vast, enormous, multiplied, beyond measure, increase, enough and more to spare, and excessive.
The Greek root is Perissos, meaning to superabound, enough to spare, beyond measure, exceedingly above.
Read the teaching from Peter, one of the eye and ear witnesses to the works and teachings of Jesus:
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle (special messenger with a special message) of Jesus to those who HAVE (past, present tense meaning already) received like precious faith (when we believe and believe in Jesus we receive His faith with ourselves in and through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus
May grace (God’s willingness, ability, and power that have done those things for us that we can not or will not do for ourselves.) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in the full, personal, precise, and correct knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; Because His divine power HAS (past, present tense meaning already.) bestowed upon us ALL THINGS that are necessary for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence.
By means of these, He HAS bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises so that through them, you may escape the moral decay in the world because of lust and greed and become partakers of the divine nature. (There is no need for “believers” to lust for anything since Jesus gave us everything.)
(2Peter1:1-4)
You can’t have more abundance than that!
Jesus not only taught us that we have abundance, but He also taught us how to multiply our blessings.
“Give, and it will (not might) be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, will be put into your lap (your personal finances). With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
(Luke 6:38)
It’s all about giving. If we give love, it will be multiplied back to us with the same measure we give it. If we give money, it will be multiplied back to us with the same measure that is in our hearts when we give. If we give kindness, it will be multiplied back to us. OVERFLOWING!
THE POINT IS:
Jesus loves us so much that He paid the price for all of our past, present, and future sins, took them away, and chose never to remember or speak of them. He forgave us once and for all. All He asks in return is that we believe and believe in Him.
(John 6:28-29,Psalm 103:1-3 and 12, Isaiah 53:4-5, John 1:29, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:10-18, Revelations 1:5)
He took our sins and gave us abundant life. To quote the late great theologian Loyd Skidmore, “Believe and Receive, Doubt and Do without.”
END OF TEACHING
