God keeps showing me two words in various forms, stewardship and survival, or survivor. I asked the Lord if it was just for me or for the people of God as a whole. He is saying it is for all of us. It was confirmed when Wendi Bangerd taught on “The Seed” in June, with the seed representing the Word of God. She stated that God’s Word “has great power when His children steward it well.”
Stewardship is often used to refer to how we manage our money. The word survivor is used commonly when referring to surviving cancer or domestic abuse. These two words can represent many different things.
Stewardship means caring for something that has been entrusted to us. The dictionary defines survival as continuing to live or exist, typically despite an accident, ordeal, or challenging circumstances.
In these times, everything feels uncertain, scary, and chaotic. Sometimes it looks like evil is winning, even though we know it’s not. We know the God we serve is still in control, and we already have the victory through Jesus Christ.
The world has always emphasized the “survival of the fittest.” However, as followers of Christ, we survive the evil of the world by putting our trust in the One Who holds the whole world in His hands, the One Who knows the end from the beginning, the One Who has chosen us, redeemed us, and set us apart, in the world but not of the world.
Are we called just to survive? No, we are called to thrive. John 10:10 says:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Some versions say, more abundantly. The NLT says: My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
AMEN to that!
How do we have that rich and satisfying life? We choose to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, to follow Him and to trust and obey Him. Then we must also love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We steward this gift of life, the gift of salvation, by representing Christ well on earth and being His ambassadors, which means we do not act as the world does. We push back darkness with the light that dwells within us. We take back territory for the Kingdom by walking boldly and courageously in the victory already won for us on the cross through Jesus Christ. We stand firm in our faith, without wavering or being tossed to and fro by the ever-changing waves of culture. As we mature in our faith, we should not be easily swayed by the lure of worldly traps. We read the Word. We study the Word, and as Wendi said, we hide it in our hearts.
Ephesians 4:14-15 says:
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
We steward the Word of God. His Word guides us and keeps us on the narrow path of righteousness and holiness. It is the truth that sets us free. We are free from being held captive to fear, sin, shame, worry, and anxiety. It sets us free from the bondage of the enemy’s lies.
John 8:31 & 32 says: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We hold on to the truth of God’s Word, cherish it, and stand firm on it. We always speak the truth in love, but we speak it. We don’t sugarcoat it. We don’t water it down. We don’t compromise. We steward the truth of God’s Word with His power and strength. We survive the chaos and wickedness of the world by not allowing the enemy to gain any ground. We combat every lie, every plot of deception with the truth of God’s unfailing Word! It never returns void! We thrive because we are citizens of heaven, bought with a price, standing on the Word, walking in complete victory! We don’t just survive! We THRIVE!
(John 10:10, NLT) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
