Cultivating the will to live

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Focus: Your amazing future

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man 
the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Can you believe God has wonderful things prepared for you to do? Better things than you’ve seen or heard, so far? Things that have never entered your mind?

What if everything you’ve seen of this life so far was not even a hint of what was God’s true plan for you? What if there were things still to come that were completely new concepts and opportunities you’ve never dreamed of? Wouldn’t that make you want to wake up each day with an awesome sense of wonder about what might happen next?

According to the Bible, ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for’—but 1 Corinthians 2:9 goes off the grid in the area of faith. It goes beyond what you’ve hoped for…to things you haven’t even imagined.

If you’ve had a hard time finding the will to live—it might not take much to surpass your imagination, but what if you just let God surprise you? He likes to do that. This whole planet is proof.

If you’ve done any traveling or seen pictures of the wonders of the world—you have to know God must have had a lot of pleasure creating countless displays of His power and majesty for the eyes of mankind to view. He gave us eyes to see the beauty of His handiwork—yet His Word says, ‘Eye has not seen’ the incredible things He has prepared for the ones who love Him.

You’ve no doubt heard stories of a person who was given a phenomenal inheritance or some other fantastic blessing. You might have thought when you heard about it that nothing like that would ever happen to you. Well, what if something even better than that happened to you?

Maybe you’ve never allowed yourself to believe there was anything good ahead for you at all. In your heart, you might have believed the future would possibly be filled with pain—just like the past has been. Well, we can’t be sure of what is ahead, but if we love God and live a life of faith—believing His plan for us is good—it has to affect our destiny.

In the book of ‘Acts’ in the Bible, there is a story of a man named Saul. This man was against the Christian faith after Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. Saul was very religious, and didn’t believe Jesus was the true Christ. Saul thought the people testifying about the resurrection of Jesus were lying and should be killed. Saul stood by, as a Christian man named Stephen was stoned to death. In Jerusalem and the surrounding area, Saul pulled men and women from their homes and sent them to prison for expressing faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says Saul made havoc of the early church. ‘Havoc’ is defined as ‘widespread destruction’. In other words, Saul was obsessed with wiping out Christianity. He thought he was doing a good thing. Saul thought he was fulfilling his purpose.

But one day when Saul was on a trip to Damascus to look for more Christians to imprison—a flash of light came down from heaven. Saul fell to the ground and he heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. The voice said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were traveling with Saul were speechless. When Saul got up, he was blind. His companions led him by the hand to his destination—where he remained blind for three days, during which time he didn’t eat or drink.

There was a disciple named Ananias, who lived in that area. The Lord told Ananias that Saul was His chosen instrument to proclaim the Name of Jesus to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. According to the Lord’s instructions, Ananias went to Saul and laid his hands on him to restore his sight. Saul became known as ‘Paul’ after this life changing experience. Paul went on to establish many Christian churches. He wrote much of the New Testament. In Paul’s younger days as ‘Saul’, he would have never imagined how God would use someone who did the things he had done. If God can turn around a life like Saul’s, he can certainly turn yours around, too.

Declaration: I will find new strength by opening my mind to the things God has prepared for me. I will not underestimate what He is capable of doing through a life like mine.