One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever been given is this,

“God wouldn’t ask you to let go unless He had something far better in store.” That simple phrase has entirely changed the way I trust God for the better.

I challenge you to ask yourself these two questions:

1. “Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to miss God’s best because I refused to release what He asked for in exchange?”
2. “Wouldn’t it be heartbreaking to miss the fullness of what God has in store for my life because I settled for my own best?”

I have learned, through His grace alone (often in the midst of my chasing and wandering), that the most challenging yet rewarding decision we will ever make is to let go and trust Jesus wholeheartedly. It’s to give our lives to Him and to ask Him daily to have His way in and through us in all things. Life lived His way, all the way, is the best life we will ever live because it’s what we are made for. We, as creation, were made for our Creator. We are created in His image for His purpose and it’s not until we grab a hold of this truth and live by it that we will be fully satisfied. Fulfillment comes when we live it out.

Jesus shares in John 10:10 that He came that we might have life and life abundantly. Nothing compares to God’s best; for His best is abundance, and it’s found in Him alone.

Abundance defined is this – exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate. 

I’ve found myself praying this prayer often lately, “Jesus, show me what abundance looks like.” His answer is found woven throughout His Word.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

In other words, God’s best is better than anything any of us could ever dream up on our own. If we trust that His Word is true, then this verse alone should move us to letting go of our own idea of satisfaction and adopting His. It should urge us to relinquish our best and grab hold of His.

The reality is, abundant life comes with a cost, the cost of surrender…but it is well worth what it requires of us. You cannot live a life of abundance without continually choosing surrender. Making that choice is worth whatever it may cost you because it means gaining more of Him. Gaining more of Jesus is worth whatever you have to release. Surrender is the choice; abundant living is the result.

Friend, don’t miss the fullness of His plan for you because you don’t want to release control into His hands. In the flesh, we often correlate our peace with knowing what comes next. In the Spirit, peace is simply knowing Him.

If you don’t live a biblical definition of abundant life, culture will try to define it for you.

According to culture, and even our own flesh, we have to have so many things to be fulfilled; money, success, marriage, followers, fame… the list goes on and on. According to God’s Word, we only have to have one thing to be satisfied – Him. He is the treasure. We will either spend our lives chasing fulfillment or we will receive what we can find in Him alone and simply follow His lead. We will spend our lives striving and never being satisfied or resting in Him, and being filled to overflowing. We either spend our time on earth building worldly kingdoms which will fade away, or we will live for an eternal, everlasting Kingdom.

We will never find true joy and fulfillment living for the things that break God’s heart or distract us from what He has called us to. We have to be bold enough to pray, “Lord break my heart for what breaks yours, even if it’s WITHIN ME.” We have to be willing to redefine our idea of fulfillment using the truth of His Word as our guide.

We’re complete when we live for His glory, not our own – or anyone else’s.

Take it from someone who has tried to find her satisfaction from a worldly perspective – Worldly “abundance” will leave you empty again and again, because it’s not true abundance.

You can lose every worldly thing and still be living in abundance. Isn’t that powerful?

Abundance is this – laying down our lives, picking up our cross, and following Jesus. It’s laying down our own plan/agenda in order to step into all that He has for us – for HIS glory.

As we follow Him, we get to experience the incredible joy of introducing others to Him. We get to be the light of the world. We get to represent Him and see lives forever changed, hearts restored, and freedom experienced. We get to see the dead come to life and the ruins redeemed through His power alone.

Abundance is contagious, and He came that we would live it. I pray that we choose to live it!

Let’s be the ones who choose the everlasting.

Let’s be the ones who place our hope in the eternal and not what fades away.

Let’s be the ones who experience the fullness of His goodness.

Let’s be the ones who walk in freedom by choosing surrender & releasing our grip.

Let’s be the ones who invite Him to have His way in us moment by moment.

Let’s be the ones who live for His glory.

Let’s be the ones who see ourselves and others the way He does.

Let’s be the ones who refuse to chase fulfillment and remain empty, but receive Jesus and remain fully satisfied in Him alone.

Let’s be the ones whose lives reflect the overflow of our time spent with Him.

Let’s be the ones who stand on truth.

Let’s be the ones who radiate His love.

Let’s be the ones who make Him the center of it all.

Let’s be the ones who define fulfillment through His Word by recognizing knowing Him and furthering His Kingdom as the ultimate reward.

Let’s be the ones who live with open hands and ready hearts. Let’s be the ones who say yes to Him wherever and whenever He calls us.

We won’t always get it right, and He knows that. His grace is extended through our weakness again and again. And through His grace, His strength is revealed. We will fall short, and He will forgive. He sees our heart’s desire to honor Him, even when we miss it. He is a faithful Father and friend.

Let’s live in the light of His abundance and radiate His love to a hurting world– One step of obedience after another. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to settle for less than the abundance He came that I might have. I want to live my earthly days to the fullest for the Kingdom of Heaven.

THIS is living – all for His glory and I promise you, it is worth whatever the cost.

Amen.

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:7-14‬ /  ‭ESV‬‬

Maddie is a writer, speaker, and young adult ministry leader in St. Louis, MO. Her greatest desire is to point people to Jesus and to see lives transformed by His love and the truth of His word. Some of her favorite things in life are journaling, coffee shops, thrift shopping, rainy days, & championing/celebrating people. She is looking forward to getting married to her fiancé, Isaiah, in October!

You can connect with Maddie on the LO sister app or @maddiee_joy on Instagram