Manifested part 2
The word "manifested" is used 10 times in the King James Version of the Bible. Half of those are in the book of 1 John. We looked at one of those yesterday (1 John 4:9). Today I want to look at 1 John 1:2, "(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)." What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. When you magnify the life of God in your life, the life of God will manifest in you life. When you magnify the love of God in your life, the love of God will manifest in your life! Here's what the word means, according to Strong's Greek Concordance: It is number 5319, "to render apparent (literally or figuratively) : - appear, manifestly declare, (make) manifest (forth), shew (self)." To render apparent or appear. What you look for is what you will find, if I can say it that way. You focus on God's love and you'll find it everywhere you look. If you set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth... you'll be caught up in those more excellent things. I think we sabotage ourselves so many times. We expect the worst to happen. And sometimes, in expecting the worst, we manifest the worst. We come into a situation ready, willing, and able to fight. To defend ourselves from attacks that aren't there. I always say, "Don't start nothing, won't be nothing." We don't have to be warriors. The only fight the New Testament of the Bible talks about--on this side of the cross, after Jesus fought and won the war to end all wars--is the good fight of faith. Laying hold of the eternal life that we've already been given. Manifesting that life in our lives by magnifying it. By knowing and believing that we already have it. We don't need to get it. We can't earn it. It has already been freely given and all we need to do is receive it with rejoicing. All we have to do is make God--LOVE--the focal point of our lives. Live from the inside out. Live from the heart. Do what we do heartily--to the best of our abilities and because it's in our heart to do it. We don't have to get tripped up and bogged down by every little thing. We don't have to make mountains out of molehills. I know there's a song that says God gives us mountains so we can learn how to climb. But there's a verse in the Bible that says, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain" (Isaiah 40:4). God has already done all of the heavy lifting. He has already taken care of what needed taking care of. We aren't overcomers because we have the ability to overcome. We are overcomers because JESUS already overcame! His life has been manifested. It IS manifested in us, and through us, and as us. We have seen it. Bear witness to it. And experience and enjoy it. By letting Him live His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us. We manifest His life--His love--in our lives... by magnifying it. By focusing on it. By receiving it and releasing it. By giving what we've got because we know it's too good to keep to ourselves!