Important Abundant Life Principles

There are a number of basic abundant life principles that are actually extremely important for you to know. In this teaching, I am not going to stay with one idea, but I will be moving back and forth to different subjects, ideas, and principles. This teaching is designed to help you to understand and apply very important areas of the Bible. We often misunderstand these areas and it is my goal to help you to clear up any confusion and to add to the benefits of your renewed mind efforts.

The format of this teaching will become obvious to you. My goal is to help you not to misunderstand what God’s Word is teaching you. The best way to approach this teaching is to begin and then you will see God’s purpose for you.

How many times in your life and your walk with God have you condemned yourself? It was a great revelation to me to understand what I’m about to share with you.

THERE is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. -- Romans 8: 1

In the first place and always, we need to rightly divide the Word of God. This verse can easily confuse almost anyone because the verse stops where it is stopped above. The scribes added the words which start with ’who’ by mistake. Take a look at verse four and you will see how this can happen. Now that that’s cleared up, we have the rightly divided Word of God.

Do you know that it is never God’s Will for you to condemn yourself? This was a mind blower for me to learn. For right now take a look at the end of the verse which uses the words ‘in Christ Jesus’. We should know from previous teachings that this is referring to the renewed mind. The word ‘in’ is the key. So we are talking about believers who are renewing their mind to the Word of God. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, condemnation is sin. We sin and get out of fellowship every time we condemn ourselves. That’s how loving our God and Father is toward us. Later on, I will explain to you why God never wants us to condemn ourselves. We may feel bad that we did something that doesn’t line up with the Bible. But there is no profit for you and especially for God if you condemn yourself. Think about it. I sincerely hope that you understand the subject of condemnation as God puts it clearly in His Word. Now you will begin to understand the format of this teaching. I am trying to help you to clear up your mind when it comes to basic principles in the Bible that are often misunderstood. Now, we are going to move to a different subject.

Let all things be done decently and in order. -- I Corinthians 14: 40

Sounds quite simple doesn’t it? This principle is often overlooked by any person who does things in a sloppy and unorganized manner. There should be order in everything that you do, especially as a believer and a Son of God. The Word says that we are ambassadors for Christ. Does an ambassador look and do things in an unorderly manner? Let me get to a very basic and simple example. I am about to do a certain procedure on a Corvette that I own. I watch people on videos and I studied a lot of literature. That eliminates a lot of confusion because it is the first time that I am attempting to repair this on this car. The car is in excellent condition and it is like brand-new. There is no room for error. Because I know the Word of God and God tells me to do this job decently and in order, I study every piece of literature and video that I can get my hands on. I do not rush the job – that is out of order. I prepare for every possible situation that can take place – good or bad. By the time I sit down to actually perform this repair, I will know every possible thing I can about the subject. Do you do this? Or do you just go about things in a haphazard manner? Then you wonder why you screwed up the job and brought to yourself a great expense that could have been avoided. I see and read about people who do not know what they’re doing and don’t study instructions and they don’t study videos. Then they wonder why they have damaged something in their cars. There is another biblical principle that is involved here and it is called ‘preventive believing’. If you prepare for something you are about to do and you are not anxious, but you take your time and you study and learn what you should learn, you are actually putting into operation this principle called preventive believing. Believe me, it works.

I will now go off somewhere else just in case it helps some believers that are in college. Before I had an exam at Penn State, I would study so hard that when I went to take the test, that was the easy part. I prepared for every possibility and I had no problem getting almost all straight A’s throughout my four years at college. What did I do before I took the exam? I did all things decently and in order. I prepared to the hilt and it paid off. No matter what you do in this life you should remember that it should be done decently and in order. That’s what the Word of God says and that’s what the Word of God means.

Now that we have discussed how to go about our lives decently and in order, we need to talk about our minds and what we should be thinking of that is most important. Let’s take a look at the book of Colossians.

[Since] ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right-hand of God. -- Colossians 3: 1

I have used this verse to set the context for verse 2 which is where our next renewed mind principle lies.

Many times we go through our day and our mind just seems to wander wherever it wants to go. But God has an answer for this problem and it is clearly set forth in verse 2. Keep in mind that this is truly a very simple teaching. However to renew your mind to some of these very simple principles, it can be very difficult. In fact, the renewed mind is one of the most difficult exercised principles pertaining to God’s Word. But there is no excuse to fret upon it because the more you make the effort, the easier it becomes. But until Christ comes back, we need to constantly renew our mind to the Word of God. Why? Because before we got born again, we lived only by the five senses and now we need to live by spiritual matters. So if you are wondering what you should be thinking about during a great part of the day, the following Scripture will give you the answer. Then we must apply what the Scripture says.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. -- Colossians 3: 2

This verse sounds so simple but do we really understand it? Combining most of the definitions in a good lexicon, you will be able to see clearly that the word ‘affection means your ‘thinking.’ The word ‘above’ is referring to ‘spiritual matters. ’ The last phrase in the verse is more or less self-explanatory. So now let us do a simple translation of this verse so that it will make more sense to your mind. At this point, I would like to stress the importance of study when it comes to the Word. I have been studying the Word for about 50 years now. I find it most interesting and exciting to learn all the keys that there are so that you can manifest the more than abundant life and always be more than a conqueror. Here is a literal translation of Colossians 3: 2.

By your own free will, you should make an effort to set your thinking on spiritual matters, not on things that are on the earth.

Many times when I am on a walk with my dog or when I’m driving my car, the way I think about spiritual matters is by running Scriptures through my mind that I have memorized. Another way that you can think only about spiritual matters is to speak in tongues much in your private prayer life. It may be difficult at first to remember to do this, but in time it gets easier and easier. There are 12 benefits to speaking in tongues. I can be upset or aggravated because some neighbor may be doing something which is off the Word. But if I am in the presence of that type of situation, I noticed that when I pray in the spirit, my peace returns to me. It is an amazing phenomenon and very hard to explain to anyone. But if there are some of you that pray in the spirit, I am sure that you understand.

So now we hit on a new principal and that principle guides us to what we are to be thinking about. God says don’t be thinking about things on the earth. That will only make you feel disgusted or discouraged most of the time. The earth right now, as is stated in I Corinthians 4: 4 is run by the god of this world and that is the devil. At times he may trick you into thinking thoughts that seem to be rewarding, but eventually he will steal, kill, and destroy whatever he can and that includes the good thoughts that you think you had pertaining to the world. The true God will never do this. He will always bless you as you continue to worship Him and continue to study and to endeavor to renew your mind to all of His great principles. I would like to stress the word ‘all’.

It is now time to discuss and study a most important principle pertaining to our everyday lives. The following problem may be one that you deal with every single day. It also happens to me many times. So you’ve got to know Word of God to be able to overcome this trick of the enemy. Let us turn to a Scripture that I have in my memory wherever I go. This is a long Scripture, but you should make every effort to learn it by heart.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. -- I Corinthians 10: 13

So guess what? Every time that you are tempted to do anything, the temptation comes from the god of this world. Knowing and understanding this Scripture will always help you to separate truth from error. This principle may be the most important principle that I can share with you in this teaching.

Now take notice how God said that there is no temptation that can overtake you, but all the temptations are common to man. God says that he is faithful to His children to the point that He will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able to handle. Then God goes on to say that with the temptation, He will make a way for you to escape it, so that you are able not to be defeated and walk away from the temptation.

This principle is so simple to understand, but yet we fall for temptations often in our lifetime. When we are tempted to make a purchase that we really did not need, we have what the world calls ‘buyer’s remorse’. I will give you a real life example of a situation where a person gave in to what was a temptation for him. I did not do anything wrong because I was selling a custom motorcycle. The person was there with his wife and he was all excited. Apparently, he did not need or really want this motorcycle. But he did purchase it and I did nothing wrong. This is a true story. The very next night this person’s wife came to me and pleaded with me to take the motorcycle back. She said her husband made a mistake and he was very sorry he did. The problem was that I took a good part of the money and spent it on something I really wanted. Even if I was willing to give him the money back [unlikely], it was gone. I told her I spent most of the money and I felt bad for her situation. That is why when you think about purchasing something you really should ‘sleep on it’. I’ve tried it and it helps a great deal. This man was extremely tempted to purchase this motorcycle. I could not know this. I just thought he wanted the motorcycle in the worst way. The registration arrangements and everything else was perfectly legal. He actually wanted me to take the motorcycle back after it was registered in his name. I never forgot this story.

Temptation can ruin a man or woman. It is one of Satan’s most subtle tricks and traps. I’ll give you a few examples. Let’s say you go to a department store and you want to buy oil and filter for your car. Or most of you women may want to buy some cosmetic products. When you enter that store, you have one thing on your mind and that should be to follow your first thought. Get your oil and filter and leave the store. To you lovely women, get your cosmetic products and leave the store. But how many times do we walk out of that store with maybe three or four more items than what we intentionally desired to purchase? Simple example. You bet it is.

This is what can happen if you have a serious habit of giving into temptation! You’re greatly tempted to buy a $50,000 car and you give in to the temptation. Then the very next day or maybe a few days later, you seriously regret your decision. You realize that your judgment was irrational. Now what do you do? Will the dealership take back a $50,000 car after you drove it off the lot? I sold cars before I went to Penn State. When you drive a new car off the dealer’s lot, it depreciates $2000 to $4000. Now let’s say that you are becoming desperate at this point in time. So you give back the $50,000 car and you only get back $47,000. You just lost $3000 overnight and you have nothing to show for it. Don’t you ever forget that Satan will rip you off any way he can. First he will deceive you and then he will use this influence called temptation to get you to act.

Overall, this teaching should be a great benefit to you. It should make you feel blessed and set you free in the four areas that we covered. Don’t dwell on the last example, but if it can help you stay out of a serious situation like that, then think about. I’m sure you have heard some of these examples in your own life. I have only hit on four areas that you need to know to live the more than abundant life. If one of these areas really stands out in your life, then study it some more. Remember, you always have free will and the true God will never overstep that free will. But the god of this world will always try to control you and manipulate your life and your actions so that he can do only three things: steal, kill, and destroy. I can only feel in my heart that I would like to end this simple teaching with encouraging and powerful Scriptures from the true God’s Word and Will. I want to show you what God’s purpose is for all men. My note in my Bible says: “We were designed to do this”.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. -- Ecclesiastes 12: 13, 14

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