When we first got our dog, Buddy (a Schnoodle), we also had another dog named Duncan, who was a black lab and was in his final year of life. It was interesting to note the differences between Buddy and Duncan when they were given food to eat. Duncan, who seemed to have a poverty/lack mindset, would quickly consume his food and eat every last bit. Buddy, who has an abundance mindset, would be in no hurry to eat his food but would wait until a later time to eat because he seemed to believe there was an abundance of food for him that would keep on coming. Duncan was rescued from a shelter and, as a result, lived with an orphan mindset. Buddy was picked as a puppy to join our family and knew he belonged from day one. This blog is to inspire us to be like Buddy and believe there is always more available to us. We belong!

As I share this, I am reminded of my grandson Caden. When he was about three, I asked him, “Caden, how come you have so many good ideas?” He said, “Well, when I run out of good ideas, God gives me more.” I thought, “Wow, when I grow up, I want to be like Caden. He thinks there is a non-ending flow of ideas coming to him that will cause him to continually make great decisions in his life. I want to think like that.”

I have battled survivalist and fatalistic thinking like most of you. I have had times of being plagued by the “Duncan syndrome” of focusing primarily on getting my needs met in the moment rather than pursuing big dreams for my future. Certainly, there are seasons and situations where this is necessary, but many, like Duncan, stay in that mindset when it is totally unnecessary. God has put a desire to experience big and great things for our lives inside each of us. 

As I think of this, I am struck by this thought: If God wanted us to think small and with limitations, he sure did a bad job in telling us so. Consider these verses: 

• John 10:10 - “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
• Mark 9:23 - “All things are possible to him who believes.”
• Luke 1:37 - “For with God nothing will be impossible.”
• Ephesians 3:20 - “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.”
• Mark 11:24 - “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
• Philippians 4:13 - “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
• Psalm 91:17 - “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”
• Psalm 1:2-3 - “And in His law he meditates day and night . . . and whatever he does shall prosper.”
• John 14:12 - “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
• Matthew 14:29 - “Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.”
• Romans 6:11 - “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
• Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
• Galatians 3:13 - “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.”

These and many other Bible verses invite us to think big and dream big about what is possible in life. They are an invitation for us to decide to become spiritual explorers and spiritual experimenters to find the unchartered territories of the abundant life that Jesus promised us in John 10:10. Just as Christopher Columbus set sail to find lands that the experts of the day were not even sure existed, we too can “set sail” for a type of living that no one has experienced before. “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). 

Our belief that there is more to be experienced causes hunger in our hearts and creates a massive upgrade in our decision-making. It causes us to: 

• be dissatisfied with the status-quo
• take greater risks
• be future-focused instead of past-focused

I believe that right now God is releasing to you a massive increase in having an abundance mindset. You, like Buddy and Caden, are not small thinkers but are the dreamers who are receiving and releasing heaven’s provision, miracles, solutions, and power for the world today.