You’re struggling. You’re miserable. You’re sick and tired of simply surviving in this life on earth. You hope to thrive, as Jesus desires you to, but you don’t know how.
Sam Rodriguez, senior pastor of New Season Church in Sacramento, California, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, wants you to know the secret of how you can make life better for yourself and thrive in a time when many, including Christians, are living in fear of what the future holds.
“Every single person on the planet is either failing, surviving or thriving. Everyone falls into one of these three categories,” Rodriguez, the author of From Survive to Thrive, tells Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “But here’s the deal. Let me use a biblical metaphor. Every single person on the planet is either in Egypt, the desert or the promised land.
“The majority of the people, I would argue, do not necessarily die in Egypt,” Rodriguez says. “They die in the desert. They don’t die in failure mode. Very few people stay stuck in failure. The vast majority never make it out of the proverbial desert. The vast majority die in survival mode eating manna and drinking from the rock, again, speaking metaphorically.
“But what if we stopped accepting survival as the end game and stop perpetual survival mode?” he asks. “We all have to survive and we all have to go to the desert, but we’re not supposed to stay there. What if we lived according to Jesus’ outline at the latter part of John 10:10? The enemy came to rob, kill and destroy, but the latter part is that Jesus says, ‘I came to give you live abundantly.’ It’s not just for heaven and eternity. That abundant life is applicable here on earth. From the moment Christ enters your life, not just after life, but now, you can live abundantly. That’s what we call thriving.
Many Christians are intimidated by thriving and want to say in their own wilderness, Rodriguez adds. They want to stay complacent. But he urges believers to rise above that.
“God has an amazing purpose for each and every one of us,” Rodriguez says. “Vertically, we have a promised land that is called Christ eternal. Horizontally, I truly believe we have a promised land here. And by that I don’t mean a piece of land, but a destiny, a purpose and assignment that will truly exalt Christ in a way where we will magnify and exalt His name in a bridal manner. That’s why it is critical for us to go beyond survival mode and start thriving.
“There are differences between survivors and thrivers. Survivors pray, ‘Lord, bless me.’ Thrivers pray, ‘Lord, make me a blessing. Thrivers pray, ‘Lord, make me the answer to someone else’s prayer.’ There is a difference between surviving and thriving. It is so powerful, and it is transformative. The moment we embrace it, we will never be the same again.”
Click here to listen to the rest of his powerful episode of Greenelines with Pastor Sam Rodriguez. You’ll be glad you did. Subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform for more inspiring stories like this one, and find Survive to Thrive wherever fine books are sold. {eoa}
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