Successful Living >The Quest > Promises For The Journey

Promises for the Journey

A magnificent journey lies ahead of you!

On your Quest, the discoveries that you will make concerning your capabilities and gifts will boggle your mind. The stupendous glory of all creation that you will learn to enjoy and utilize will be awe-inspiring. The opportunities you will find to make a positive difference in the lives of others will continually humble you. And what about the promises of God that you will experience? No words can begin to describe the wonder of them all.

My experience with people over the years has brought me to this conclusion: So many live such small lives. Their goals are small, their visions are small, and their capacity for enjoying life is small. If only such people would simply choose to step out on the path and begin their Quests, their hearts and minds would immediately begin to expand, and their lives would take on incredible depths of significance. (You know this fact because you have-at the very least-already begun to take those first steps.)

You may come upon people who tell you that your hopes for life are too high or that seeking to live a heroic life is an unrealistic ideal spawned by writers of fantasies or Hollywood producers. Don't listen to them. Simply because they have not chosen a Quest like yours doesn't mean such a Quest doesn't exist. And if they have yet to meet a hero, perhaps it's because they don't wish to believe, for to believe that notion would mean they were capable of more, too.

Jesus said that whatever you desire when you pray, and believe you have received, you shall receive. (Mark 11:24). Does this sound like Christ wishes to keep you down, that life isn't meant for the realization of grand dreams? Is this not a mind-boggling promise that sounds too good to be true? But it's a promise from the Son of God to all those who follow after Him, so we can stake our lives on its truth.

Notice Jesus' instructions about how you should hold the request in your mind and heart: It's something you already have received. For some people, this discipline of mind and heart takes some time to learn. We hope, we worry, we think it may come to pass-but the Lord of the promise said to "believe you have received." Have faith that it's a "done deal." And go ahead and thank Him, now.

Let's look at another promise found in Psalms: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). Oh my, this just has to be a misprint, doesn't it? Remembering that the promise is only for those who are enjoying God; it appears quite clear that God takes our desires seriously. Given how few followers of Christ actually experience their desires being satisfied, one has to wonder whether the problem is with their lack of enjoying God, or with their failure to ask Him for what they desire!

Think about this: Look at all the people who have trivial goals, no great visions, or have no missions or Quests in life. Now, compare them to those people with huge goals, awesome vision, and whose Quests give them incredible motivation for living life. What do you notice that they have in common? They both are experiencing life as they believe it's supposed to be lived.

Jesus promised that if you abide in Him and He abides in you, you can ask anything of Him you wish and He'll do it for you (John 15:7). Now, this isn't like asking for three wishes from a genie in a bottle. Clearly, the realization of this promise is predicated on your relationship with Christ. However, the truth of the promise remains: As you walk in and with God, you can ask for what you want and He will give it to you.

Somewhere along the line, early Christianity (influenced by Gnostic dualism and neo-Platonism) began to be defined solely in terms of deprivation, poverty and suffering. What had occurred in unique historical circumstances was held up as a norm for all Christians. Thus, many Christians began to believe that life is meant to be painful and filled with suffering. Life is about not having enough, so much so that when a Christian prospers, he or she is viewed with suspicion: have they sold out somewhere? But do the above promises sound as if Jesus intends for the norm to be a life lived in poverty and suffering?

Jesus came so that we could have abundant life (John 10:10), not a trickle of life or a sprinkle here and there. No, He came so that we may be bathed in life, overwhelmed with life, baptized in life.

Remaining True