We Were Not Meant To Merely Exist

I just wanted to take some time to encourage you today. I felt God pressing it on me that as people who claim the name of Jesus....as Christ's followers....we were not meant to merely exist. We claim that we belong to the most powerful name above all names (Philippians 2:9-11) , and yet some days we feel like it was everything in us to just get by. We were meant to live a servants life (Galatians 5:13), just as Jesus did, but we were not meant to live a defeated life. Jesus did not live defeated and even in His death He was not defeated...nothing that was done to Jesus was done without God and Him allowing it.
Many times in life we face very tough situations. And many times those situations almost take us out. But I believe it is because many times we are so focused on the circumstances that we miss God in it. I have talked to people who have been through far worse things than me and they glorified God by showing His strength and His power as He brought them through it. Never once did they boast about how "they" got through it, but more about How God brought them through it. When Jesus was in the boat with the disciples and the storm came, He did not show them how to "buckle down" and hold on as they passed through the storm. He made the storm stop! (Mark 4:35-41) And I'm not saying you can stop every storm (or trial) that comes your way(because we do live in a fallen world), but I am saying that we see a few lessons in the story about Jesus calming the storm that we can walk away with. One is that the storm had no affect on Jesus. It says He was asleep in the midst of it. A physical storm that the bible says was so strong that the waves were crashing over the sides of the boat and it was filling with water, and yet Jesus is at such peace that He is sleeping. That in itself is a lesson on it's own. Are you going to let the storm affect your peace, or are you going to keep your peace through the storm? However, like us, the disciples became fearful and called upon Jesus. Again, a lesson to be learned. They did not say don't bug Him with this, they called upon Him. Something we should do in the midst of the storm rather than try to do it all on our own. And then comes my favorite part of this story....it says Jesus woke up and spoke to the storm and it stopped. Then He turned to them and asked them "Why were you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" See, Jesus didn't tell them they should have just "hunker down" and got through this. It was as if He was saying "I'm with you and you're still scared, why?" They had Jesus...what else did they need? He proved to them yet again that they didn't need anything else, and neither do we.
It is hard to make and impact on those around you if you just are constantly hanging on and merely existing through everything life throws at you. We need to walk in victory because of who we serve, not because of who we are. Circumstances will come and go, they can change day to day, but the constant that we have is that the God we serve does NOT change. I don't want my testimony to be that I made it through, that I survived. I want it to be that I came through something victoriously and God turned me into something better through the process. That I touched lives as the storm went on around me and I have a testimony because of it. I want it to be that the very thing the enemy meant to destroy me with ended up being a time for God to shine even brighter and people to see Him even more alive in me than before. I don't want to merely exist at the end of each day, I want to know that because of who is in me, I made an impact today.
If you have been feeling or living defeated, then today is a good day to turn that around. Tell the enemy that the game is about to change. That you do serve and belong to the most powerful name that ever was and ever will be, and it is time that you move from the defense to the offense! It is because of Jesus that we are anything...but it is IN Jesus that we are everything! Be everything He intended for you to be today!
God, Again I thank You that because of Jesus we do not have to live defeated lives. Not to sin, not to circumstances and not to this world. Help us be bold about our faith, rely on you and not do things in our own power, and not walk in fear when the storms come our way. And then give us the courage to share our stories of victory with others so we can encourage them and glorify your name! Holy Spirit help us to not merely exit, but be BOLD in the Lord. In Jesus name, Amen