KNOW YOURSELF

SERIES: 12 SECRETS TO ABUNDANT LIVING.

TEXT: PSALM 139:1-24.

This is the first message in a series of messages on the 12 secrets to abundant living. In John 10:10 Jesus Christ told us, “a thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” These 12 secrets are based on three foundational principles:-

1. God has a plan for your life- Jer. 29:11.

“I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord; plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

2. There is a battle engaged for your life- Jesus said in John 10:10.

“The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy. I have come so that you may have life and have it abundantly.”

3. Too many of God’s people are losing the battle, marriages, children, finances, health and life. Matthew 9:36- “when He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

These three principles must be in place. Each one of us wants to have God’s abundance in our lives, marriages, children and work. In order to know yourself you must answer 4 of life’s most important questions; – Who are you? What are you? Where are you? What do you really want? Let us see:-

WHAT ARE YOU?

• That sounds like an easy question but it is not easy.
• This question is not about your name- that you know but who are you?
• Many people cannot answer this question because they really don’t know who they are.
• In life we wear masks and costumes. What you see in people are masks, walls, fences and protective shells.
• The game of perception- wanting people think we are something or are not something.
• Wanting to be something or not something often we get lost in the masks we wear and the roles we play and don’t really know who we are anymore.
• Life becomes a lot easier when you know who you are and you recognize your good and your bad, you begin to work something with your life.
• In Psalm 139- God knows you- V.1-14.
• Many of us don’t know why we were created and for what.
• For some of us we know what we were created for, but we have not become it- fear, frustrations, bad decisions, laziness, compromise and success have kept you from being what God made you for.
• Some people dropped out of school, you quit looking, some are afraid to give up who they are now to become what God wants them to be.
• The first step to abundant life is figuring out who you are.
• Ask God to show you who you are.

WHAT ARE YOU?

• Again this seems an easy question but too many people miss it.
• What did God make you to be?
• In Psalm 139:13-16, God tells what we are.

WHERE ARE YOU?

• This is a self- evaluation. In my journey of life, where am I?
• What do I have to work with? What are my responsibilities? What are my resources?
• In this life each one of us goes through “stages and ages.”
• Each one of us has possibilities and opportunities to continue to grow- never stop growing.
• The Apostle Paul said in 1^st 13:11- “When I was a child I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child, when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”
• It is time to put away childish thing and childish excuses and embrace the power of God to be what He made you to be.

WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?

• What is the most demanding question and one that is least answered?
• What do you want your life to look like?
• What do you want your marriage, family, business, children to look like?
• What do you want to do?
• Most people don’t know what they want-They just take what they get.
• “Don’t let life happen to you.” What do you want your marriage, your family, your future to look like?
• What have you done today to make your family look like what you want?
• What do you really want?-Psalm 37:4-8.

CONCLUSION

• These four questions are the heart and soul of find a more abundant life.
• They center on who God made you to be, His plan for your life.
• Abundant life is not found in money or stuff-but in becoming what you are made to be.
• You will never find abundant life, until you become what you were made to be.