The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I never promise you anything less than abundance. I made the heavens and the earth for you. I filled the sky with stars and planets just to shed light on the earth and for signs and seasons. You cannot count the stars and I have them all counted and named. You cannot count the grains of sand or the dust of the earth but I have it all measured out and accounted for so the everything is the right weight and proportions to keep the earth firm. You have not seen its molten core or all that is in its strata. You have not discovered all the gold or all the gems and treasures that I have there. Electricity, radio and air waves, nuclear power, laws of lift and thrust, aerodynamics, physics, chemistry, molecules, atoms, and much smaller particles were all there but it has taken you many years to uncover things I had for you since the start.
I blessed you (empowered you) to bear much fruit from the day I conceived you and I put everything in the earth you would need throughout the ages in the first six days. All the elements were there, the water cycle, and the reserved floodgates of the deep and of the sky. You will never run out. And I gave you seeds in the plants and trees that let you grow harvests and increase the supply. There is nothing too wonderful, too big, too small, or too difficult for Me and the same is true for you if you do everything with, in, and through Me. You are with Me always and all I have is yours. All are alive for Me. I have given you the mind of Christ.
When I called Abraham to follow Me, I promised to bless him and make him a blessing to every family on earth. That is supernatural overflow. And later I swore by Myself because of his faithful love and obedience to increase him and bless him more and more. I promised him that one of his line would take down the gates of the enemy. And Jesus did. The gates of hell will never prevail against the church built on the rock of the revelation of Jesus as My Son, Messiah, and Lord sacrificed for the salvation of all who believe.
And for Abraham to have it all, all he had to do was follow Me. And I made him wealthy, materially and spiritually. I was his shield and very great reward. He loved the life I gave him so much that he decided to lengthen it another 55 years over the limit I put on after the flood of your life span in earth being 120 years. He went to 175 years and died fully satisfied.
These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Genesis 25:7-8.
And I called the paradise where those saved under the old covenant waited for Jesus to open again the gates of Heaven “Abraham’s bosom.” I credited his faith in Me as righteousness to him until Jesus paid the price with His eternal blood and the credit was paid for everyone.
Jesus redeemed all from the curse of the law of sin and death, having become a curse for you—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that you would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14. And this brings us to the promised land of the abundant life that Jesus came to bring you.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10.
What is abundant life and how to you get it? I should think you would be wise to know if you want a life of good days filled with good things.
Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14.
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:8-12.
I describe the kind of life I want for each of you in many places and various ways in the Bible and I am very clear on how you have it and keep it. Jesus spoke that He came to give you that abundant life back that the thief (devil) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, and in what context did He speak it? When He announced Himself as the fulfillment of Psalm 23, the Shepherd psalm that puts you well provided for in My house now and forever. Never ending days with Me.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. John 10:10-11.
Let us look to the life the Shepherd leads you into:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet, healing waters of peace. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23.
From this you see the life your Shepherd is opening for you and leading you to. It is a life of shalom peace—no lack, no torment, no confusion about the way to go. Even if you get off track into a dark valley, there is nothing to fear with your good Shepherd there to protect you and be your guiding light back to green pastures and the table of plenty. And you see the gift that I give you who are born again by receiving Jesus, the anointing of the Spirit, which is the anointing Jesus has which is the anointing with the oil of joy. And I fill you with My Spirit through Jesus and pour My love, My very self, into your heart so that your cup overflows and rivers of living water flow out to the thirsty world and cover the earth with the knowledge of My glory as the waters cover the sea.
And where is He taking you? To dwell in the abundance of My house.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9.
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:12-14.
The abundant life has to do with resting in My loving care for you in the provision and abundance of My house. Jesus told you there are many mansions in My house and He has gone and prepared a place for you there that He may come back and take you there with Him. And when I raised Him from the dead with all you sins gone and justice satisfied, I raised you with Him and in Him and seated you with Him with Me in the Kingdom. In My house forever.
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the delightfulness of the LORD and to inquire in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. Psalm 27:4-6.
A slave has no permanent place in the house but the son has a place there forever. Jesus has made you all sons and daughters to Me and you have a place with Me in My house forever.
For My people Israel that I redeemed from the slavery of Egypt the abundant life that I was leading them to was a nation of their own where I would be their King, lawgiver and judge and supply for all their needs richly. I promised them beautiful cities, furnished houses, vineyards, fruit trees and wells that they had not built, planted or worked for as a gift to them just for following Me. Sounds like the blessing of Abraham, doesn’t it? It is. It was the land I promised Abraham for his possession through his descendants that My eyes are always upon to make it fertile and fruitful to give them abundant harvests as they observed My jubilees and just laws so there would not be a poor one among them and all would be My royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart to show the goodness of living your life according to My Word and bring all the nations to My light of truth.
I describe living the abundant life as an abiding life in the New Testament and I liken it to little children in the protection, care, and provision of a loving father who only gives them good things when they ask, to the branches abiding in a vine and bearing much fruit by drawing all they need from the vine, and as sheep in the care of a good Shepherd being called, led, protected, and fed by the One who lays down His life that they may live.
This should be a great comfort to you, because none of these cared for and fruitful followers of Jesus are required to be producing, protecting, providing, or living on their own without a source of supply, support and power that is always there for them.
What do I require of children? It is a commandment to honor you father and mother that it will go well with you and you may have a long and abundant life.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:1-3.
So you see it has to do with honoring and obeying Me in Jesus. And isn’t that how any child wins the heart of its parent to shower that little one with love and abundance of good gifts? That does not need correction but protection. I honor those who honor Me. 1 Samuel 2:30.
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8.
What is required of a branch on a vine? Stay attached and bear much fruit. Adam cut himself off from the vine and withered, dry and barren, toiling in sweat.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:4-11.
Again, it is honoring and obeying My Word that makes you pure and fruitful.
What is required of the sheep? To follow the Shepherd and to listen to His voice.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:27-30.
Think of this: If you pay too much attention to the flesh, you will never rest. Your flesh will keep you very busy in your mind in the outer court and you will never go deeper.
I love you. The abundant life will only come one way: walking in the spirit and not in your flesh. That is the only way your life can flow with the livestream from Heaven and that is the only way you can abide. And walking in the spirit is living your life in Christ. But that is enough for today’s life lesson. We will talk more in the next day’s Manna.