Episode #58: An Invitation To An Abundant Life

God calls us into an abundant life that satisfies our souls, not a life spent chasing things that never fill us. We open Isaiah 55 and Matthew 11:28-30 to learn how God feeds us through His Word, leads us with His wisdom, and gives us real rest when we surrender our burdens. 
• God’s invitation to the thirsty and unsatisfied in Isaiah 55 
• Eating what is good by meditating on the Word of God 
• Renewing our minds against worldly influences 
• Seeking the Lord and calling on Him for guidance 
• Trusting God when His thoughts and ways feel higher than ours 
• Believing God’s Word accomplishes what He sends it to do 
• Aligning our words with God’s Word for a life that prospers 
• Joy and peace as markers of the abundant life 
• Coming to Jesus for rest and handing Him our burdens 
• Practical homework to meditate on Isaiah 55 and Matthew 11:28-30 

So if this message helped you in any way, share it with a friend or family member. 

Transcript

Welcome And The Abundant Life

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, my name is Stephanie. Welcome to the All Is Well Podcast. My mission is to teach people the Word of God and emphasize its importance in their daily lives. I'm glad you decided to join me today. Let's get started. Hello. Welcome to episode 58. Did you know that God calls Christians to an abundant life with him? Well in today's episode, we are going to learn about that. When we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, we receive the abundant life that He has for us. So let's dive in.

Isaiah 55 Invitation To Abundance

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Let's turn to our Bibles to Isaiah chapter fifty five. And so for this one here, we are going to read the whole chapter of Isaiah fifty five. And the title to this is called An Invitation to Abundant Life. So it starts off in verse one. It reads Ho, everyone who thirst, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. So God here is speaking to someone who does not have the abundant life, who does not have Christ in their life. And so it's saying, Come to me. And why do you spend your money on other things, on things that are not bread? But it says because those other things they don't satisfy, but there's only one thing that can satisfy us, and that is a relationship with Jesus. So he says here, listen carefully, listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. So if we look at that right there, when we're eating what is good, it's going to be for our soul. So what does that mean? What we're eating is the word of God. What we're eating is meditating on the word, like it says in Joshua 1 8, is to meditate on the word of God day and night. When we are doing that, we are eating what is good, we are partaking the word of God, we are diving into the word of God. And it says, when we do this, we will let our soul delight itself in abundance. Your soul will be in abundance. Why? You're feeding your soul with everything that God has to offer. That's why it says in the Bible, to meditate on the Word of God day and night. Our minds, they need renewing. We're out in the world, we go to work, we are on social media, TV, there's many different influences that we have in our lives. So let's go to verse three. Incline your ear and come to me. God is saying, listen to me, hear, and your soul shall live. So it's saying, I want you to listen to the instruction that I've given you. What is God telling you to do? God is always leading us to the abundant life. He always wants to have more for us. And so we always need to make sure to pay attention to the instructions that He has for our lives. What does He want us to do? What direction does He want us to go in? What is an area in our lives that He wants us to perfect? What's an area in our lives that He wants us to tackle? So as we continue to read, it says, And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely you call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God and the holy one of

Seek The Lord And Return

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Israel, for he has glorified you. Verse six. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. So that's another thing. It's not just living our lives by ourselves and figuring it out, but God wants us to seek him and call upon him. When we're seeking him, we're seeking him for guidance, we're seeking him for instruction, we're seeking him for knowledge and wisdom. And God wants us to call upon him whenever we need help, whenever we need assistance, whenever we need to talk to him, whatever it is, God wants us to call upon him. Verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Verse eight, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s Thoughts Higher Than Ours

SPEAKER_00 5:34

So there's things that God reveals to us or things that He's telling us in His Word, but sometimes it can be difficult for people to digest or to understand what He's telling us. But this is something very important to remember here. He's saying that God is saying that His thoughts are not our thoughts, which means that we don't think the same way. God thinks at a higher level than what we think. And then he also says, Nor are your ways my ways. So he's saying our way to do things is different from his way. So he wants us to understand him, come up to him. And yes, it may look different, but he's saying, I want you to come to me. I want you to see. Verse nine, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As we continue here, he begins to explain. So he's saying, Come and listen. And that's why it's very important to read the word of God and to understand it and be a student of the word of God. Because we have our thinking and our mindset, but the word of God teaches us in all things. So if it's wisdom, understanding, patience, faith, whatever it is that we need to study and we need to learn in our walk with God, it takes us to a higher level. Because no longer will our ways be the final authority in our lives, but God, we can let Him instruct us in the way to go. And sometimes it may be difficult to understand the instructions that he's giving us. But if we remember this, is that his ways and his thoughts are much higher than ours. And so he wants the best for us. Verse ten for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there, but they water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

The Word Produces Joy And Peace

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So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. So God is saying here, Whenever I speak something, it comes to pass. It's not going to be empty, they mean something, they carry weight. So he's saying, When I speak something, it's going to accomplish whatever I please. And he compares it as the rain. When it rains, it doesn't rain and then have no effect on anything else. When it rains, it waters the earth and it buds, it brings forth fruit, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. And God is saying, That's how my word is. When I speak something from my mouth, it's not going to return to me void. He said, But it's going to accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. So when God speaks and when God wants things in our life to come to pass, it's not going to run dry. It's not going to be unsuccessful. God says here in his word that it shall prosper. So if we line our words and our minds with the word of God and with what God is saying, then our life will prosper. It says it here, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. And let's continue more on what the abundant life is. For you shall go up with joy and be led out with peace. Those two things joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and peace, that everlasting peace from God. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. So as we can see here what the abundant life is, he's telling us here at the beginning and instructing us to eat what is good, which is the word of God, and for our soul. And then he says to hear, and our soul shall live. We need to feed our soul with the word of God, and we also need to hear the word of God as well. Then it also commands us to seek the Lord and call upon him. When we're doing this, we're putting God, He is like the first one in our lives. We're not running to someone else to help us or anything else, but we're running to the Word to be the first person in our life, to be the one that will answer our problems, that will help us with anything that we need help with. And God is saying to seek him, to call upon him. Because when we do that, he's coming to our rescue. We're saying, God, I need your help. I need you to come into my life. I need you to intervene in this situation. I don't know what to do. And that's what God wants. When you say prayers like that, when you're letting him come in, then he's able to come in. And then he's letting you know and letting us know that our thoughts and our ways are completely different. God doesn't think on our level. He thinks at a much higher level than we do. So he wants us to think at a much higher level. And that's why we need to read the Word of God. What does it say for my life? What does it say about healing? What does it say about prosperity? What does it say about blessings? What does it say about salvation? What does it say about Jesus? What is it saying about so many things in the Bible about wisdom, understanding, knowledge, peace, protection? And the list goes on and on. But there's only one way for us to understand and know what that is, and that's if we read the word of God and hear the word of God. Hear the word of God also means to listen to preachers and ministers teach the word of God. You're hearing it from them. God's using those men and women to teach the word of God, and we're hearing it. And then ourselves too, spending time with the word of God. And God is saying, When I speak, my words have power. And ours have power too. So when we line up our words with God's words, then he says, Then it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Then the abundant life also has joy and peace. And he leads us and guides us and protects us. So that is the type of life that a Christian will have. And that life is different from an unbeliever. They don't have the type of joy that God can offer or the peace. They don't think at a high level like God does. They're not feeding themselves with the word of God. So things are different for them than a Christian. So think about it. If God is guiding Christians, if God is guiding you and I and leading us and protecting us, wouldn't you think that our life would be better off than someone who isn't a believer? Because I would think so too.

Jesus Offers Rest For Your Soul

SPEAKER_00 14:00

So let's go to the scripture, Matthew 1128. In Matthew 11, 28, it reads, And Jesus is speaking, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So what that scripture is saying is God saying, Come to me, give me your problems, give me your troubles, give me your doubts, anything that you're trying to figure out on your own, give that to me. Lean on me. Jesus can take care of it. It's not a problem for him whatsoever. That's when we need to surrender those things to him. So he says, Come to me, you who labor, who are tired, come to me. He's saying, Take my yoke, take what he has to offer, and learn for me, learn from him. He's never stressed, he's never complaining, but he's praying. He's about the Father's business. And then he says in the end here, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls. God makes it easy for us. When we could be involved in a situation at work, either a job loss, or maybe you're behind on bills or anything of that nature, and it's just difficult. When you hand that over to the Lord, but yet you're still in that situation, believe it or not, it becomes easy that situation, because he gives us a piece that surpasses all understanding, that it seems like that situation is a piece of cake because God is taking care of it and not you. So that's what it means here when it says, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. God takes care of it. Our mind may think this is crazy. What is happening here? But if we look within our spirit and we surrender that over to Him, He's taking care of it. It's getting fixed, it's getting rearranged in the way that it should. So that's why we need to trust and rely on God and He takes care of those things for us. Because we're not made to do that. He is. He wants to take care of those things for us. But if we're the ones that just want to hold it in, he's going to let us. But then we have that weight on us, and then we're tired and exhausted, and then wondering why things are not going well. Well, you're not asking for God's help. He can do things a whole lot better than what we can. So that's what he says, come. I will give you rest. Rest is not only for the weekends, rest is for any day of the week. No matter what you're facing, no matter what you're going through, God says, I will give you rest. Come to me, let me figure that out for you. That is part of the abundant life. That we don't have to do this on our own, but God is there, taking our hands. We may not know what is going to happen the next day, the next week, the next month, but God does. And when we rely on Him and trust in Him, then He'll take us to places and take care of things in ways that we would have never thought of or imagined.

Practical Next Steps And Closing Prayer

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What I would recommend for you to do today is to meditate on these scriptures. Meditate on Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. And know what Jesus was saying there when he's saying, Take my yoke. I want to give you rest. Give that to me and allow God to take any of the burdens that you're experiencing. And also read Isaiah 55. What does God want you to do? What does the abundant life look like? Because remember, Jesus wants to take it from you. He wants to lead you and guide you, but he'll only do it if you let him. If you want to take all of this on your own, he'll let you. He will let you. But it's up to us to surrender that to him and say, God, I don't know how to do this. I know. Thank you, God, for taking care of this situation, and he'll do it. So let's say a prayer to close out. Thank you, God, for this message. I pray for every listener that is listening right now. Thank you, God, that we will surrender our cares to you, our doubts. Thank you, God, that you're taking care of that for us. And thank you, God, for your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Thank you, God, for all the things that you're doing in our lives. Thank you, God, for the miracles that are coming in our life. Thank you, God, for what you're doing in our life in the name of Jesus. Thank you, God, for the abundant life that you have for us. Amen.

Share The Message And Salvation Prayer

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So if this message helped you in any way, share it with a friend or family member. And thank you for tuning in. If you have not accepted Jesus into your life, say this salvation prayer with me. Heavenly Father, I admit that I have sinned. I repent. I believe in my heart you raised Jesus from the dead. I confess with my mouth, Jesus is Lord and my Savior. Right now, I receive forgiveness by the blood of Jesus. Come into my life. I am saved. In Jesus' name. Amen. I'm glad you pray that salvation prayer. Make sure that you plug yourself into a spirit filled church and read the Word of God. Well, I hope you enjoy the message and thank you for tuning in.