David Bryant Celebrates

His 75th Birthday

With YOU!

Reflections on a 75-year journey with Christ.
Expectations about the adventures that lie ahead.
All of it powerfully relevant for every Jesus follower today!

Thanks to one and all who expressed your loving wishes to me as I reached this landmark day in my life journey: my 75th birthday.

For me, it truly is only that—just a number.

Maybe I should call this instead my benchmark day—another mile marker for my lifetime walk with Christ.

Yes, it is a road that I have traveled for many miles. I see that at this time especially. But I’m certain what stretches out before me has many more twists and turns before the mission is fulfilled—before the race is run, before the finish line is reached, before I see the Church truly awakened to the full extent of the supremacy of Christ as its great reviving reality.

That is what my life is really all about.

In that regard, it was on my birthday just a few days ago—February 10, that’s 2/10—when the Holy Spirit so clearly took me to Ephesians 2:10. From it, I found a fresh perspective that I must carry with me into the adventures that still lie ahead—reflections that have stirred me up again and stoked the fire in my heart.

But all of this is true for you too—and every Jesus follower!

Here’s what it says:

For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus
for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)

I sent an email to my extended family and team at ChristNow with these insights. But I decided I wanted to share with you what the Lord showed me from Ephesians 2:10 the morning of my birthday that is as much about you as it is about me. It is my birthday gift to you!

(1) Created. All that I am and all I have to give simply reveal the superb craftsmanship of the One who began shaping me 75 years ago. And he has never ceased to mold me so as to bring out of me all of the strengths, abilities, capacities, and passions he placed within me from the moment I was conceived.

Even within my mother’s womb, I was never a “potential human being;” I was always a “human being with potential.”Actually, it is HIS potential that’s to be revealed through me.

But all of this is true for you too—and for every Jesus follower!

(2) Re-Created. However, beyond my natal stage, and infinitely more glorious, is what the Father has remade of my life because I am IN CHRIST JESUS.

Even after all the books I’ve written about him, involving thousands of pages focused on what being in Christ Jesus really means for believers, my vocabulary remains totally inadequate to express ALL that my Redeemer, Lord, and Friend means to us and to me. He is so much more than I have yet seen!

Equally impossible is my ability to effectively declare to others the truths of all we have become as those who have been re-created in Christ Jesus. And because we have been born again as a new creation with a brand-new life, and because we are in union with the King of Glory, we have so much to give to the world.

And yet, celebrate and proclaim him I must. I will. For the rest of my life. Forever.

But all of this is true for you too—and for every Jesus follower!

(3) Purpose. Yet this transforming encounter with Christ was never meant to be an end in itself—never for my sake alone. My creation and re-creation took place in order to unleash a river of “good works” through me. Kingdom works. Eternal works. Redemptive works. Life-giving works. Love-spreading works. Christ-exalting works. For the blessing and reclamation of many, many others.

So it has been the past 75 years. So it shall continue to be in the years ahead. From the beginning—before anything ever existed, in the counsels of heaven—my life was destined to be at the center of who Jesus is, where Jesus is headed, what Jesus is doing, and how Jesus gets blessed. God has a wonderful plan for his Son, to sum up everything under him as Lord, and he has given me a place in it.

But all of this is true for you too—and for every Jesus follower!

(4) “Prepared beforehand.” This awesome phrase from Ephesians 2:10 reinforces the depths of my life purpose! My past, my present, my future—all of it has already been wrapped up in the Father’s plan, all of it is meant for the Son’s glory, and all of it is being carried out right now by the Spirit’s power.

Beforehand—before I drew my first breath. Beforehand—before I ever knew about the saving work of the Savior. Beforehand—before I entered into this extraordinary life in Jesus. Beforehand—before today, as I begin my 76th year.

Prepared for me before I even dared to say YES to his call on my life. Prepared for me so that this “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” will be fulfilled.

Prepared beforehand. It cannot fail because it comes from the eternal counsels of the Father, because it focuses on the glories of the Son, and because it is implemented by the power of the Spirit.

But all of this is true for you too—and for every Jesus follower!

(5) Onward. Consequently, my one assignment is to walk out all of these wonderful truths. Daily. Practically. Consistently. Intentionally. Enthusiastically. Expectantly. Joyfully. Unflinchingly. And ultimately, victoriously in Jesus.

One step at a time. One moment at a time. Through every trial. With every tear. Knowing that the best is still ahead. “Those who hope in Christ will not be disappointed.”

Hallelujah! What an extraordinary journey with Jesus this is as it continues to unfold before me with every new birthday. With every new morning. With every new breath.

However, just as I’ve repeated above,
Ephesians 2:10 is not about me only!
It is also about YOU!

These truths are yours to claim too,
no matter which “mile markers” you’ve reached so far.
Today is not the “end.”
The “end” awaits us at Jesus’ feet.

So, come with me.
Together, let’s pursue this unparalleled journey with him.

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About the Author

Over the past 40 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ-awakening movements. Order his widely read books at DavidBryantBooks.com.

 

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