Principles to Live an Abundant Life, Part 3
I began sharing two weeks ago about how to live the abundant life Jesus promised. In part three, I will continue our discussion on this important topic.
For Jesus, living an abundant life was not just a future goal. Instead, it was the essence of our new life and relationship with Him.
After explaining to His audience how they can recognize His voice and trust Him (John 10:1-21), and that He is the door or entrance for the sheep, He makes a profound statement about abundant life:
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:9-10 NKJV
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, or good king, unlike those who only seek power and control over others. Additionally, He is the gate or door. In many Eastern sheepfolds, the shepherd lies down at night in the gateway to prevent the sheep from escaping and to keep predators out.
From this perspective, Jesus is stating (my paraphrase), “I came to give my sheep a protected, fulfilled, and abundant life, like a good shepherd or king, to My people. I will keep them safe from going out when they shouldn’t and from enemies coming in.”
Abundantly used in John 10:10 translates from the Greek word perissos which means, exceeding (the usual number or the usual measure). In John 10:10 perissos could be translated “have in superabundance.” 1
Reflect on the contrast: the enemy aims to steal and destroy, while God wants you to be blessed with abundance. God desires for you to overflow with His love, grace, and provision! The favor in your life depends on the inheritance you have in Christ. God grants favor to those who actively seek His purpose and calling.
Let’s quickly review principles one and two from the initial parts of this series.
Principle #1: Let Jesus be Your Shepherd, the Lord of your life!
Abundant living begins with accepting Jesus as Lord of your life and is maintained through a daily pursuit of Him. A relationship with Christ is the foundation of abundant living.
When we surrender our hearts to Jesus and begin to follow Him, we start recognizing His voice, and our trust deepens. Sheep are naturally nervous; they need a shepherd to calm, guide, and protect them. Jesus promises that we will hear His voice, receive His guidance, enjoy His peace, and be protected as we let Him be our shepherd.
Twentieth-century pastor and author Norman Vincent Peale said that trusting God and avoiding worry depend on this principle: “The basic secret of overcoming worry is the substitution of faith for fear as your dominant mental attitude.”
Fear is the opposite of faith. Let faith-filled thinking control your thoughts. Faith confronts challenges with the belief that “God has this!”
Those who don’t know Christ don’t understand this simple truth—sheep recognize their shepherd’s voice, and the shepherd knows His sheep and cares for them!
We are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We love Him because He first loved us. Jesus is our Rock, our foundation for a life of abundance.
Principle #2: Understand that God’s Covenant Offers Abundant Life
God’s covenant with us includes abundant life (John 10:10). Your born-again experience marks the beginning of new and abundant living in Christ. Growing in biblical understanding of abundant life and true prosperity strengthens faith for the “more of God” He longs to reveal in your life.
An essential step toward experiencing complete biblical prosperity—spirit, soul, and body—is to believe this is God’s greatest desire for you.
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2 NKJV
“The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” Prov. 10:22 NKJV
Walking with Jesus brings true fullness of life and real riches, and His blessings come without sorrow.
Moses issues a command and a promise in Deuteronomy.
And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish (confirm) His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deut. 8:18 NKJV
Power comes from the Hebrew kōaḥ, which means divine strength and ability. In this verse, we could say, “God gives us divine strength, power, and ability to create wealth.”
For believers, wealth creation is a supernatural act. It is God who grants the ability to generate wealth, not solely our wisdom, strength, or efforts. While we collaborate with God, a Christian understands that it is ultimately God who provides the growth.
God has given each of us divine power to earn a living and create wealth. We should expect our work to lead to material gains.
Expect creativity, insight, and even strength to do your work—the greater one lives in you! He can do exceedingly and abundantly above all!!
Principle #3: To Know God Intimately is Abundant Life
Eternal life is about knowing God through Jesus on a deeply personal level. This signifies the beginning of a fulfilled life.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3 NKJV
Psalm 46:1 tells us to be still and “know” that I am God… “Know” comes from the Hebrew yada, meaning an intimate understanding.
Last week, the Lord reminded me of a verse that most of us know by heart.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matt. 5:8 NKJV
You might be wondering, “How does this connect to living an abundant life?” Let me explain by taking a closer look at the words pure and see in this verse.
Pure comes from the Greek katharós and means, sincere, single-hearted, upright. 2 We could say of this verse, “blessed or happy are those who are upright, sincere, and have a single focus on God.”
When we stand upright with God and focus on Him, our motives and actions become pure. Purity then serves as a pathway to abundant life.
See is from the Greek horáō and means, to see, perceive with the eyes, discern, trans. implying not merely the act of seeing, but also the actual perception of some object,… In a wider sense, to see God means to be admitted to his presence and special favor (Matt. 5:8) 3.
We could say then that those who are upright, sincere, and single-hearted toward God, they will be admitted into His presence with special favor! They will perceive God with their eyes and discern His presence and ways.
To perceive God, to know God intimately, this is abundant life!
Our ability to perceive God’s truth and presence is essential for living a fulfilled, confident, and abundant life.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8 NKJV) Those who are fully focused on the Lord and possess a pure heart will see and understand God and His ways.
In Exodus 33, Moses was promised to “see” God as He passed by. In Exod. 33:11, Moses saw Him “face to face,” a Hebrew idiom indicating relational communication with God. In verses 22-23, He saw or perceived part of God’s glory and presence, but did not see the fullness of His glory, for no one can (vs. 20; 1 Tim. 6:16; John 1:18).
Jesus is the light of the world.
Jesus, light, and life permeate everyone. To those who believe, His light brings them out of darkness into life and freedom from condemnation. This is step one to living the abundant life He promised (John 10:10). Those who ignore His light and message remain in condemnation and darkness (See John 3:16-21).
Through Jesus, we can glimpse the fullness of God’s glory. He is the perfect image of the Father and acts as the mediator between God and humans.
George Fox, the seventeenth-century founder of the Quakers, had frequent encounters with the Lord. On one occasion, God gave him understanding of the light of Jesus,
“Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible power how that everyman was enlightened by the divine light of Christ; I saw it shine through all, and that they that believed in it came out of condemnation and came into the light of life and became the children of it, but they that hated it, and did not believe in it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ.”
Those who genuinely follow Jesus can be assured of remaining in His presence and confident that God will reveal His secrets and strategies to them.
Consider God’s promise in Jeremiah:
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jer. 33:3 NKJV.
Next week, I’ll explore how to be content in God while still asking for more! These two truths are in tension as we live in His abundant life.
Footnotes
1. Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990–), 77.
2. S. T. Bloomfield, A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament (London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1840), 192.
3. Ibid., 302.
