Today’s Thought : I guess this is all there is

With Bishop Ronald K. Powell

Today, we are fasting from the thought that says: “I guess this is all there is. I’ll just have to settle with what I have.” To “settle” means to accept something that is not ideal or desirable, because you don’t believe it could be better.

Many people settle for less than God’s best in their life, not because it can’t get better, but because they don’t THINK it can.

This mindset is destructive because it accepts life the way it is rather than making it the way you want it to be.

For 38 years, the lame man settled by the pool of Bethesda accepting that he would never get better; that he would never get the help he needed to be healed. (John 5:1-10)

He was discouraged and beaten UNTIL Jesus showed up in his life and showed him — he didn’t have to settle. And neither do you!

What does it take to change our wrong thinking here?

1. Desire — Jesus said in essence, “you have to want it!” Get desire back in your life. Desire to improve. Desire to get better. Desire to make something great of your life.

• Eliminate “excuse making.” “No one helps me; no one understands; no one gives me a break.” “I was just meant to suffer in this way.” Shut those thoughts up! The lame man said, “I have no man to help me.” (John 5:7) Stop making excuses.

• Do something now to make things better. Improve yourself. Learn something new. Take a class. Learn a language or an instrument. Don’t let life dictate to you that “this is all there is.”

• Believe in the God who is able “to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

• Don’t settle for less than God’s best. Don’t settle for that sickness. Don’t settle for just getting by. Don’t settle for the way things are. In Mark 10:46-52 blind Bartimaeus would not settle for his current condition. He cried out to Jesus and was healed.

THINK IT & SAY IT:

I will never again settle for a mediocre, average existence.

I will not settle for things the way they are. There is more to this life that God has for me, and I expect Him to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that I can ask or think.

I will think big, and ask big. Then I will experience BIG.

I desire to improve, to get better and to make something great of my life. I am NOT an excuse maker. I am always improving; always adding value to my life and the lives of others.

Jesus came to give me life — abundant in quantity and superior in quality; life to the full; life that overflows.