"Because all that has received the new Life from God conquers the world. And this is the power that has conquered the world, our faith!"
                                                           I John 5:4 Twentieth Century Translation

 

      One of the most revealing statements Jesus ever made is found in the gospel of John. He told us: "The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The very fact that Jesus tells us that we can have a more abundant life means that life is measurable. In fact, several other translations point this out. Beck says, "That they will have life and have it overflowing in them..." Williams says, "For people to have life and have it till it overflows..." Translator New Testament says, "That they may have life and have it in overflowing measure..." Basic English says, "That they may have life and have it in greater measure..."

      One of the things we have to be careful not to assume is that the life Jesus is speaking of merely deals with our natural human life. In other words, to think of us living a more abundant life would somehow mean with have more as far as natural things go: a better home, a better car, a better bank account, better surroundings, etc. However, if you pay close attention to the Greek then you will discover that the word for life is not BIOS, which has to do with our means of living, but rather ZOE, which is the life of God.

      When we gave our hearts to Jesus we entered into a new life. I like to use the example of a power plant. Before Adam sinned his spirit was alive with the life of God. It would be like a fully operational power plant with all the necessary equipment for mass production. The moment he sinned it was as if the source to running this plant was shut down. Imagine if you would, the lights being turned off and all activities being halted. To look at it from a heavenly perspective man's spirit was inoperative because that life within was snatched out of him. What was meant to be highly productive became like a ghost town. Man became incapable of any spiritual activity for good.

      When Jesus came to undo what Satan had done in Adam he reversed the curse. He restored to us eternal life. In other words, he turned the lights back on and we were back in business! Now that life resides within us we can bring our spiritual production level back to where God intended it to be by focusing our attention on living this life to its fullest.

      Paul said, "If by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17). There is a place where we can rise to the level of life where we begin to reign. That means we begin to rule over our circumstances instead of allowing them to rule over us. There is a power to this life that puts us into an overcomer's class of being, taking us out the loser's bracket and putting us in the winner's circle.

      I like one of the definitions for reigning. It describes it as the ability to function at the highest level of influence. In other words, not only are we to be under the influence of life, highly intoxicated by the life of God, but we are to live so as to carry and exhibit the weight of God's influential power and victory over everything that confronts us. This is exactly how Jesus lived his life, and it is the same life we now have living in us. We simply need to learn how to draw from that inward supply until it saturates our entire being and we live life in its full measure.*