Since this series has gotten rather long I thought that taking a few minutes to re-cap might be helpful.  Well, I know it will be helpful for me anyway.  I don’t want the major ideas to be lost over time.

I began this series the day after Resurrection Sunday asking, from the perspective of believers in Christ, what it looks like to live abundant life and to reign in life.  I then started out with a few things that are what I have come to refer to as abundance-drainers and tiara-tilters:

• TRYING HARDER  – my coping mechanism of choice (*one subsequent insight I have had about TRYING HARDER is that when we “try” something it is different from simply doing it.  Trying implies that we’re not sure of the outcome…that one’s free, so just chew on it for a while.)
• Fear
• Self-sufficiency (*another freebie – anything including the words “self” or “I” are probably going to work against you in terms of abundant living.  Abundant living is all about Jesus.)

Since there are so many abundance-drainers and tiara tilters I thought a very scientific assessment would be in order to help you if you were struggling to identify with any I had presented so far.

We then paused for a message of love from the heart of our Father, Love Himself:  there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ (absolutely NONE); our identity is not in our flesh patterns (coping mechanisms); and our flesh was NEVER designed to work in the first place – it was in fact designed to fail us (isn’t that comforting?).

At that point I began talking about things that DO characterize abundant living and reigning in life:

• Honesty (speaking the truth and not trying to control outcomes)
• Expecting God’s goodness regardless of circumstances and outcomes
• Following God’s voice versus being driven by our own expectations and agendas (*freebie alert – this can include even being driven by our own expectations and agendas in ministry.  Just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean it’s a “God” idea.)
• Living guilt free and enjoying the good things God brings into our lives
• Being in CONSTANT COMMUNICATION with the only ONE who can see everything at once
• Receiving God’s love and then living well-loved (ELF YOURSELF)
• Allowing Love to transform us from the inside out and giving up the laws, rules and formulas (even the “good” ones) that conform us from the outside in.  In other words, LIVING FREE

This is where we are so far.  Any questions or thoughts, friends?  Maybe you have something to add or maybe you have a different perspective, would love to hear it.

Stay tuned, more to come…