Living Extraordinary

What if I told you that you had the power to live an extraordinary life? I life filled with peace, prosperity, joy that transends circumstances, with blessings abounding. Would you be interested? It's within your reach and even more empowering than that is the fact that if you are a born again believer and have entered God's family then living an extraordinary life is your birth right! God is standing with arms extended offering it to you and all you have to do is stand up and claim it!

How does one go about claiming an extraordinary life? God asks one thing of you in return for a life above anything you could even think to ask for. He wants your obedience.

He promises that if you make Him first in your life then He will pour out his blessings among not only you, but among all those who are in your sphere of influence - family, friends, co-workers. But you have to be sincere. God could care less about your actions. It's your heart He's concerned with. Actions impress the world. You heart is what will cause God to move mountains to bless you.

Yes, I know. I can hear the responses already. "I try to read the Bible, but it just doesn't make sense to me." "I go to church every Sunday and I'm a good person. That's enough." "I say prayers every time I eat and when someone needs help I pray for them, but I just don't have time to sit down every day and do a Bible study. I'm too busy!"

Shall we tackle these responses one by one? For those that think the Bible is just too hard and can't possibly make any sense to them. Here's what God would like to tell you -

""The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." -1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

In layman's terms - people without the Holy Spirit indwelling them cannot understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit to interpret it for them. They read the Bible and it sounds like foolishness to them. They can't understand it. So if you can't read the Bible and make sense of it I would urge you to do a spirit check and humble yourself before the Lord and really analyze whether you really have given your life over to God and allowed Him to come and live within you.

For those who think it's enough to go to church and just be a good person. I will use Christ's example so you don't think I'm just being harsh here. The saduccees and pharacees in Jesus' day were the men who were the priests and teachers of religious law. Essentially you can liken them to priests today. They were by all accounts the most moral and decent men in Jesus' day. They were "good people"....in fact, they were set apart because they were considered elite in how moral and upright they were. Taking their lifestyle into account Jesus informed them where they would be spending eternity.....in hell. And shall we not forget that murderer and thief that was hanging on the cross beside Jesus? For those that think we have to be a good person to earn our way into heaven and that "bad people" don't go to heaven....this man on the cross was by all accounts a horrible person. He was a thief and a murderer and had had a lifestyle of sin. However, he chose to believe in Christ as the Son of God and Christ's response to his "deathbed conversion"?

Luke 23:42-43 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

For those that like to spout of memorized prayers at meal time and send up a quick prayer-o-gram whenever they are in need or are thankful there is a term for that - lukewarm Christian. It's someone who, while they are a believer and do have faith, they couldn't be bothered to exercise that faith and make it the center of their life.

God's response to lukewarm believers can be found in Revelation 3:16 - "But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!"

God has a definite desire for His children. He desires them to be on fire for Him! To give Him their first and their best and He promises to bless them ten fold for everything they lay at His feet. If you are not seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life, if you are living a life that can only be described as ordinary then you are missing out on the extraordinary life that God has waiting for you! He wants every part of your life to be on fire! He wants your marriage to be a marriage that makes you giddy every morning and sends you peacefully to sleep every night. He wants your children to bless you and uplift you. He longs to bless you financially! The Lord wants nothing but blessings for you, but He will not be second. You cannot and will not claim the blessings you have waiting for you if you put anything or anyone as Lord over your life.

Challenge yourself to live for God. God humbled himself, took on a human body, spent his life in service to others without thought to his own need, suffered, and died simply to have a relationship with you and so that you could have all the bounty He desires to give you. Put this God who loves you enough to die for you as Lord of your life (your actions, your words, your thoughts) and He will pour out treasures to you that He says you can't even imagine. He says that if we asked for the best thing we could think of it would pale in comparison to what He longs to give us! You can't out give God. Make Him Lord of your life today and see how your life can change overnight!