⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”        -Acts 1:8

I was talking to a Pastor that lives in a small town. This man has been all over the world and done some pretty incredible things. As I was talking to him, he said, “Because of what God has done in this town and through our church, it’s opened up the whole world to me.”

That really got me thinking. I’ve always desired to do so many things – travel all around the world, meet incredible people, and do incredible things. When he said “Because of what God has done” it got me thinking about my life.

I’ve gotten to go to Peru, Africa, a ton of places in the U.S., I’ve met some incredible people, run 3 marathons, and done some pretty awesome things. I would have never done any of these things if I wouldn’t have made a decision in my life to go after God with all of my heart.

Jesus said to go into the entire world and preach the good news. God wants to take us on the adventure of a lifetime through serving Him. An adventure we won’t even believe we get go on. But the adventure has a cost:

Jesus always set a high bar for people who wanted to go on an adventure with Him – Leave everything and FOLLOW ME. The ones who weren’t willing, missed out on the adventure of a lifetime. The ones who did had the entire world open up to them.

Where are the places God wants to take you if you’ll simply follow Him? Who are the people He wants you to meet? What are the things He wants you to do? Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime?

Will you follow Him? If you do, watch as the entire world opens up to you!

³⁴And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].                                            -Mark 8:34

I know we talk a lot about God giving us the desires of our hearts, God having an amazing plan for our lives, and Him causing us to live abundant lives, all of which are true. However, I think in pursuing those things, we often miss out on the avenue God intends us to take to get those things.

When we give our hearts to God, we no longer own our lives, He owns them. It’s not up to us to choose what we want to do and pursue, it’s up for us to discover those things which God has planned for us.

Jesus said in Mark 8:35 that, “Whoever wants to save his life, will lose it, and whoever gives up his life for His sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Every morning we wake up, we have 2 choices: Deny, forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of ourselves and our desires in order to pursue what He would have us pursue or live for ourselves and what we want and think we need.

We all need to be willing to do anything, live anywhere, give everything away, in a moment’s notice for His sake. The real abundant life is living everyday in His presence, doing what He says to do, regardless of the cost.

Everyday we need to say to ourselves, just like John the Baptist did, “HE MUST Increase, and I must decrease.”

Ask God to open up your eyes to things that you’re holding onto that are holding you back from following Him with every fiber in your being. When he reveals them to you, let go and pursue Him with everything you got – you’ll find abundant life in the pursuit.