THE ABUNDANT LIFE - The abundant life is the life that arises out of death to ourselves and not from deeds that we have done. It is an obtainment, not an attainment. It is from above and not from within us. It is from heaven and is revealed on earth. That obtainment is by faith, and not by works.

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Living The Abundant Life By Dying To Self

The Abundant Life Can Be Yours And Mine

The abundant life is the life that arises out of death to ourselves and not from deeds that we have done.

The life that wins is an actuality, not just an inspiration.  Its secret is simple, and yet profound. 

It is plain to the heart filled with faith and obedience, but it is perplexing to self-will and self-effort. 

It is an obtainment, not an attainment.

It is from above and not from within us. 

It is from heaven and is revealed on earth. 

The details in individual experience differ appreciably, and are related to the personality and the circumstances of that life.

Beyond the details, however, the pattern of the exchanged life is quite the same for each one. 

The Exchanged Life

Just as salvation is by faith, so also is the exchanged life.

First, there is an awareness of our need, as expressed by the Lord Jesus “If any man thirst ...“(John 7:37). 

In similar vein the psalmist prayed: “... my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory...“ (Psalm 63:1-2)

Then there is agony of soul because of that awareness. 

One remembers the beatitude: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). 

Hunger and thirst are not happy experiences, but they lead to true happiness. 

Crucifixion is a most painful process and the soul that longs for fullness of life in Christ finds that the doorway to it is death to self. 

The Scriptures declare plainly: “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). 

It may seem that agony of soul is beyond endurance.

But beyond it one comes to the glorious realization as described in Galatians 2:20 - “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Abandonment To The Savior

The experience follows wholehearted, unreserved abandonment to the Savior. 

Sick of self and sin we obey the clear injunction of Romans 6:13: “... yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” 

Thereby Romans 12:1,2 becomes a living word to us: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Life however is not achieved by longing for a better life and lingering at the cross. 

There must be appropriation by faith of the Holy Spirit to fill life with the presence of the Lord Jesus. That obtainment is by faith, and not by works. 

Inquires the Scripture: “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”  (Galatians 3:2). 

Just as we accept the Lord Jesus by faith as Savior, so by simple faith we received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. 

Just as we took the Lord as our sin-bearer, we take the Holy Spirit as our burden-bearer. 

Just as we take the Savior as our penalty for sins that are past, we take the Holy Spirit for power over indwelling sins that are present. 

Jesus is our atonement; the Holy Spirit is our advocate. 

In salvation we receive newness of life; by the Holy Spirit we find life more abundant. 

In each case the appropriation is by faith and, by faith alone, wholly apart from any feeling on our part.

Following appropriation there is abiding by faith in the Savior. 

Did He not say: “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). 

Abiding is obedience to His will. 

Declares 1 John 3:24: “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” 

Abiding is not striving nor struggling, learned Hudson Taylor, but a resting in the Faithful One, and implicit obedience to Him. 

The surrendered life that abides is a life of surrender.

The exchanged life is one of abundance. 

Jesus promised “rivers of living water” to flow from the Spirit-filled life (John 7:38). 

There is provision for life more abundant (John 10:10). 

And that life is indeed one of constant adventure, for it learns the wonderful reality of John 10:4: “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” 

Who knows where He will lead and what He will say? 

Ear is tender to hear His voice, and heart is on tiptoe to see what next the Altogether Lovely One will do.

And that life can be yours and mine!