Access Is Everything

We have access to the greatest power in the universe! God wants to help us, but we can be so stubborn. It’s up to us to believe his promises. Maybe you’re believing lies about God. See, you experience the God you believe in. What God are you believing in? This is worth exploring. Is the God in your mind a big, scary god bent on punishing you for not following rules? Are you imagining a withholding parent who bribes you and punishes you? That will lock you up for sure. That kind of belief leads to a lot of fear and doubt.

In my experience, a woman’s beliefs about God often correlate with her experience with her earthly father or father figure.

Since beliefs drive behavior on a subconscious level, intellectually you can know God is good yet on a subconscious level still believe He’s not.

For instance, my dad wasn’t around much when I was young. I tried to get him to come around by achieving and performing. I was always striving. Even as an adult I sometimes catch myself trying to attract God’s favor with my accomplishments. When that happens, I’m projecting my beliefs about my earthly father onto my view of God. Now that I’m more aware of these unconscious beliefs driving my behavior, I am rewiring my thinking, replacing negative thoughts with the truth.

Take a few minutes to think about how you’d describe your father. Some words I’ve heard from clients include “distant,” “hard to please,” “sarcastic,” “critical,” “funny,” “reckless,” “needy,” “pushy,” “kind,” “forgiving,” “ignorant,” and “well educated.” There are no wrong answers here. But not all these words accurately describe the God of the Bible.

• God is great, magnificent, the Creator, a miracle maker, the beginning and the end — the Alpha and Omega — a loving Father!

God is the author of all, the giver of all, and God is love. God is life. He is the God of abundance. He created this entire universe. God made you in His image.

It is our birthright to walk in abundance. He gives us access to everything that contributes to abundance: well-being, peace, purpose, progress. And abundance is God’s plan for you. Not scarcity. He’s about abundant life, including salvation, nourishment (spiritual food), healing, and quality of life. Anytime you see lack — stealing, killing, and destruction — that’s from the Enemy, not from God.

Begin to see abundance as an inheritance from your Father — not just as a “someday in Heaven” idea but rather as a characteristic of your life right now. Maybe you look at what you have and think, “How can God make abundance out of this?” I have some math for you: 2 loaves + 5 fish = 5,000 people fed. He took two loaves and five fish and fed five thousand people (John 6:5–13).

Again and again during His earthly ministry, Jesus reminded us not to focus on our resources but rather concentrate on making the next right move.

God also loves it when we take the next step in faith. Again and again in Scripture we hear this encouragement:

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see... the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. — Zechariah 4:10 NLT

Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. — Matthew 25:23

• By being faithful in the small things, you participate in abundance.

He will make a way.

He’ll make a way for abundance in your relationships too. So many women struggle with creating true, deep connections. I’m not talking about surface acquaintances that never really get deeper — I’m talking about friends you can count on and depend on and do life with. That’s part of an abundant life. God wants deep, abiding connections for you. He’s wired you to long for that in your relationships. And He’s ready to give you the desires of your heart.

Excerpted with permission from What Do You Really Want? by Cayla Craft, copyright Cayla Craft.

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Your Turn

Ask the Lord today to show you ways in which you’ve correlated your thoughts about Him with the experience you had with your earthly dad. Ask Him to remind you that He is perfectly loving, giving, abundant God! ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full