Welcome to DailyInChrist.org!
Daily In Christ is the teaching ministry of Mark VanOuse, who lives in the beautiful mountains of central Pennsylvania, USA.
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” — Jesus, John 10:10b
LIFE… more abundantly! Is it really possible? The words of Jesus shine with such hope. We know that these words are true, for Jesus Himself spoke them1.
So, why is this “life more abundant” so elusive for so many Christians?
Another wonderful truth is found in Ephesians 1:3:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
This has to be one of the most glorious verses in all the Bible! God has — already — blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Do you realize that this is not a “promise”, but a plain declaration of fact? It says that God already “has blessed us” with every spiritual blessing!
Think about that: God plainly declares that those who are “in Christ”2 lack no spiritual blessing. We have it all because of Jesus!
So why are so many Christians missing out in the enjoyment of those wonderful spiritual blessings? I did so for many years. Here are several reasons:
- Reliance upon the wisdom of man, rather than on the revealed wisdom of God in the Bible. Like the Corinthian church in New Testament times, today’s western church itches for the words of man, rather than the Word of God.
- Lack of knowledge about what the Bible really says about the true Christian life. Perhaps a person doesn’t actually read their Bible. Perhaps they do read the Bible, but somehow miss the the great theme of God’s great grace and the truly blessed life He intends for them.
- Their point of reference is themselves, not the perfect Son of God and Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Man, by default, is born a sinful, self-centered creature, due to the fall of Adam. Even Christians “default” to man-centered, rather than Christ-centered thinking. The result is self being the point of reference for the Christian life, rather God Himself, His infinite strength and His riches.
- Ignorance of the New Covenant. Few really understand the full dimensions of this incredible covenant, ratified by Jesus’ blood. This covenant is a covenant of grace, based upon the perfect person and completed work of Jesus Christ. Grace is about God totally loving us, accepting and blessing us, not on the basis of our “goodness”, but on the sheer goodness of Himself. The New Covenant means that God is relating to us, not based on our performance, pass or fail, but on the basis of Jesus Christ and His perfect performance, already done. Most Christians mix the Old (law) and New (grace) covenants together, creating confusion, failure, sin and fruitlessness. Romans 6:14 is clear, “Sin shall absolutely not3 have dominion over you, for you are absolutely not3 under law but under grace”.
If you’ve been looking at getting out of the “same old, same old” in your Christian life, if you’re tired of a “Christianity” that doesn’t seem to work, if you long to know God more deeply, experiencing Him more richly and seeing your daily life changed dramatically to God’s glory, then you’ve come to the right place!
It is my passion that everyone who comes to this website and receives the teaching will see a revolutionary change in your life, to God’s glory. The Bible, God’s Word, contains riches beyond imagination that speak of the greatness and wonder of God, His loving ways with His people and the incredible blessings He lavishes upon those who are in Christ (Eph 1:7-8).
In John 5:39-40 Jesus was speaking to very religious people and said:
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. (NIV, emphases added)
These religious leaders were right to “diligently study the scriptures” (2 Timothy 2:15), however, they were seeking the wrong thing in the scriptures. They thought that “by them you possess eternal life”. They failed to understand that the scriptures most importantly testify about a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they refused to come to Him to have life.
Many people are out of balance one way or the other. One group is very diligent to study the scriptures, yet they fail to go to Christ and engage Him personally. They may have much “Bible knowledge”, but they know little of relationship with the Savior Himself. Others sincerely try to go to Christ and engage Him personally, but they do not study the scriptures. So, they suffer in their experience for lack of knowledge of the scripture which testifies about Him.
Happy are those who do both: who diligently search the scriptures which testify of Jesus and go to Him for LIFE! That is precisely what this ministry website is all about out.
So, read the articles and listen to the audio messages. Their all free. I don’t want anyone to miss out, simply because they couldn’t afford to pay for a resource.
Now, set your expectations high! Our God is great and awesome and the abundant life He has for you is just as great and awesome as He is! Ephesians 3:20-21 declares:
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
——————————————
Footnotes
[1] Numbers 23:19
[2] The biblical definition of a “Christian” is one who, by the miracle of the new birth is “in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17)
[3] Literal Greek