The Best Life

IT’S SO EASY to slip into thinking that we should seek to do well in life because it improves our lifestyle.  While that is true, there is a more profound reason for us to seek to do well in all areas of our life.  It makes God happy.

Psalm 35:27 says, “Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favour my righteous cause; And let them says continuously, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”"

When we are doing well in life – in our relationships, health, mind, finances, family, business – it brings God pleasure.  If there is one thing I take joy in know, it’s knowing that God is happy with my life.

God’s not rejoicing when we’re not prospering.  We should examine our life and do what’s needed to make change in areas that are not prospering, so that we are doing well and making God happy.

According to statistics, 70% of all decisions we make will be wrong.  More important than the mistake itself is the way in which we respond when things go wrong.

Mistakes don’t equal failure, if you learn how to benefit from them and remain positive in the face of adversity.

Here are four things to remember in the midst of a mistake:

BE POSITIVE
Don’t except your mistake as your lot in life, or ’such is life’.  This kind of mentality is negative and breeds victim mentality. Learn to see the good in everything.  Be a positive person with a positive worldview. Don’t look at life as a continuous succession of problems and a process of unfairness and oppression. Remain positive in the face of adversity.

LOOK FOR GOOD
People who do look for the good and possess a positive worldview see the world around them as filled with opportunities and possibilities.  They approach their lives, their work, ministry, relationships etc with optimism, cheerfulness and a general attitude of positive expectations.  They expect a lot and are rarely disappointed.

RECOGNISE OPPORTUNITY
When you know how to use mistakes as stepping stones, you quickly find yourself becoming the kind of person who welcomes obstacles and setbacks as opportunities to grow and move forward in life.  You view problems and mistakes as another lesson learned that will better position you for future influence.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR MISTAKES & LEARN
Mistakes become costly and painful to you and others when you refuse to accept that you have made a bad choice or decision.  As a result the consequences tend to become prolonged and compounded.

Learning from your mistakes is an essential skill that enables you to climb higher and see every mistake as a stepping stone taking you closer to the fulfillment of your dream.  You will become a creator of circumstances, rather than a creature of circumstances.

Joshua chapters three and four.

Take a look at what God instructed the people to do, what will unfold are keys to overcoming obstacles that could prevent you from crossing over to your promised land.

1. THE PRESENCE OF GOD WILL MAKE A WAY

As long as you stay on the riverbank – on the side of the river – you will never receive that which you are believing for.

God had given specific instructions to Joshua – the waters would only part when the feet of those carrying the ark – the presence of God – stepped into the water.

He was telling them, It is my presence that must go ahead of the people, because it is my presence that will make a way.  Don’t send the people in their own strength, I am the one who will part the waters.

God says to you, put my presence in your problem and it will part.

Don’t try and do what God will accomplish for you.  You need to be a carrier of his presence and allow his presence to part the waters for you.

The presence of God tells us that God himself is in our midst.  That is why we must treasure and value God’s presence, that is why we should create an environment that is conducive to his presence.  Because when God shows up, problems disappear.

2. STEP OUT ON GOD’S WORD

God instructed them that as soon as they put their feet in the water the miracle would take place.  And God was true to His word.  But their dilemma is this:

The waters stopped flowing 10 kilometers away, out of their sight. They would not have known what was happening up stream.  It would have taken some time before the water had run dry.  When they first put their feet in the water – bam!  The waters stopped… 10 ks away.

They would have seen nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing, because there was still 10kms of an overflown river that had to run dry before they could pass.

There was only one thing that they could rely on to get them through – that was God’s word.

The Priests are carrying a word from God and the very presence of God; they’ve put their feet to the water with all of Israel watching, and as the sole of their sandal hit the water, they did not see anything, they did not feel anything, they did not hear anything.

But that didn’t stop them.  They kept moving forward step by step, they just trusted God’s word and despite not seeing anything they just kept on going, they kept moving forward until eventually they were in the middle of the riverbed standing on dry ground.

3. CHRIST HAS ALREADY OVERCOME

It is at this point that we begin to see the miraculous work of Jesus Christ emerge in their journey.

The water was stopped about 10 kilometres upstream, out of sight.

It happened that way because it was by Adam, the father of the human family that sin and death entered the world.  And God was painting a picture that was taking place: Christ stepping in and dying on the cross, putting an end to sin and death and rising from the dead, just as the Israelites rose from the river to the other side – the side of the promised land.

What he did at Calvary reaches all the way forward to us today in 2009 and it reaches all the way back to Adam the beginning of the human family.  The curse is broken.

Christ has stopped the raging waters of sin and death and made a way for you to enter into the promised land.

It was the Ark that opened the way and it was Christ that removed the curse of Adam.

You don’t have work for it, you don’t have to earn it, you just have to step out of your comfort zone and receive what he has already done for you.

Because what God did out of our sight 2000 years ago, still has power today.  But the key to activating this power is the presence of God.  Just as the ark made the way, God’s presence will do it today.  You need to open your life to the presence of God.  It’s his presence that makes the way and his cross that cuts the curse.

Then in chapter 4:1-10 God instructs Joshua to establish a memorial on the other side of the river, to testify of his goodness.

But then something extraordinary happens.  Joshua himself, does something peculiar.  With his own hands he makes another pile of 12 stones.  But he does so in the middle of the riverbed, so that when the waters came rushing through, they would never again be seen.  But they would always be there in the middle of the river, under the water.

God didn’t ask him to, the Bible doesn’t call it a memorial.  He just builds 12 stones in the middle of the river, right where the presence of God opened the waters and allowed the people of Israel to walk from death to life.  From a curse to a promise.  From a burial to a resurrection.

I believe that Joshua, a type of Christ, whose name means Jesus.  Was making a profound statement.  There was something significant about these waters.

Just as the Priests had stepped into the water – the place where the old was left behind and the new was before them – they stepped in with anticipation and great expectation of something miraculous to happen, about 1400 years later John the Baptist  spoke with anticipation and great expectation of something miraculous to happen, he prophesied that there is One coming who is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire.  He was speaking of Jesus Christ and it was Jesus who stepped in to those very same waters and was baptised.

Joshua put together those 12 stones that stayed underwater as a symbol of those who are dead in sin.

Romans 6:4 tells us that we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

Joshua was making a statement that these are the waters of baptism – they are now and they will be then – and the people of Israel had been through a type of baptism, whereby they entered into the riverbank, where at its core the presence of God was found and it was there Joshua lay 12 stones, for all the people of Israel, in the middle of the river,  and then the water came rushing over it it buried the old life.

But Romans 6.4 goes on, it says

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

And so it was that God instructed the people to build 12 stones on up on the river bank on the side of the promised land, where everyone could see.  But they weren’t any old stones, they were specifically taken from the middle of the Jordan river, the waters of baptism, symbolising that they had come up out of the waters of baptism, into their inheritance.

And as Romans 5 tells us that as judgment came through Adam, justification will come through Jesus, and it will be from Jesus’ gift of righteousness that we will reign in life and never be put to shame.

Friend let me encourage you, if you’ve been stopped at the raging river in front of your promise, it’s time to cross over.  You need to immerse yourself in the presence of God and put your feet forward.  It’s time to step out on God’s word.

Christ has put an end to death and destruction its time to cross over to the promised land.  He did it for us that we might receive all that he has done for us.

When you cannot see the waters stopping, don’t you stop.  Hold on to God’s word, remain in his presence and kept moving forward.  You’re not the same anymore, you’ve been buried with Christ and now you’re a new person.

You need to receive what Christ has done for you.

© Mark Sceriha 2009

Exodus 25:8 In God said ⁸ “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. ⁹ You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.

And so it was that the Tabernacle of Moses was built – it was His dwelling place, his throne on earth, it represents the presence of God.

For centuries the entire nation of Israel functioned around the Tabernacle of Moses.  Today many people don’t understand it’s structure, it’s relationship to the New testament or relevance to today.

Tabernacle of Moses was simply a portable tent with various curtains and coverings over a wooden structure.

It had 3 parts:

1. The Outer Court
2. The Holy Place
3. Holiest of All

Each of these sections contained particular pieces of furniture.

Of all the furniture in the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred.  Every other piece of furniture in the Tabernacle was of importance, but it was subordinate to the Ark of the Covenant.

Once a year the high Priest would come and sprinkle blood over the Ark for the atonement of the people.  It was from the Ark that God’s audible voice was heard by Moses and Aaron.

This was no ordinary box.  This was The Ark.

Hebrews 9:4 tells us, “Inside the ark were a gold jar containing some manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant with the Ten Commandments written on them.

So we see three things inside the ark:

1.    The Law
2.    The Manna
3.    Aaron’s Rod

God doesn’t do anything by mistake or coincidence.  Each of these items was placed inside the Ark succinctly yet purposefully.

1. THE LAW

There were 3 aspects to the Law.

Moral Law
This was the Ten commandments, which summarized the whole covenant between God and His people.

3 times God had to give this law to his people.  First it he did so orally then he wrote it on tablets of stone.  But it wasn’t long after first receiving it on a tablet that Moses broke the tablet symbolizing to the people of Israel how they had already broken those commandments by making a golden calf to worship.

Then in Deut 10:1-2 we read “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. Also make a wooden Ark—a sacred chest to store them in. Come up to me on the mountain, ² and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the Ark.’

Civil Law
This is was it commonly referred to the book of the Law – primarily because it was written in a book.  This was very much an amplification of the Moral Law.

Ceremonial Law
This had to do with all the rules and regulations and many of the feats and ceremonies we read in Leviticus.

The Law was unobtainable.  In their own strength the law became too big to obtain.  It was unreachable.

There was no grace, just law.  But all along the law was pointing to something, the law pointed out that there is a way to live, there is a way to obtain life and the law was pointing out that way.

The Law itself was a shadow of something to come.

2. The Manna
The Manna was the bread from heaven that fed Israel for 40 years in the wilderness.

Exodus 16:11

There are some things to note about the bread:

Just a small piece gave great sustenance
You had to gather it for yourself
It was impossible to not get enough – your need was always met, even if you only gathered a small amount.

It was this bread that sustained them and kept them alive.  When they thought that God was going to fail on his promise to take them into the promise land, instead let them die in the desert, the manner reminded them that, what God promised was true and that He is a God of truth.

3. Aaron’s Rod
This was no ordinary rod.  This was a rod that budded, when 11 others did not.

Numbers 17:1-10

Aaron’s rod was the only one to manifest life – having budded with a flower and almond fruit.

The fruitfulness of Aaron’s rod attested that he was the God-chosen, God-anointed, God appointed high Priest of Israel.

It was showing that there is was life in his rod.  When everyone else left behind a dead stick, Aaron left in the presence of God some that was alive. Something that had life.  To everyone else it looked like just another stick, but God knew that this was a something that had life.

So, we have the law that’s pointing to the way. The manna that’s showing the truth, the rod that declares life.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Everything Moses put in the Ark was foretelling and speaking of a life changing message.  Inside that little box was a shadow of the way, the truth and the life.

John the Baptist declared “in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning.  All things were made through Him and without him nothing was made that was made.  In him was life and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

And verse 17 he says For the Law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

All the law was perfectly kept and fulfilled in Christ.  He alone is the one and only person who has kept the law.

He fulfils the moral, civil and ceremonial law and at the cross he abolished the ceremonial law when his body was broken and his blood was shed.  And now he calls us to a higher law.  First he wrote them with his finger in tablets of stone, but now it’s written by the finger of God almighty on the tablet of our heart.

Now we must remain in Him and receive all that he has done for us.  Salvation doesn’t come from the law but by grace, through faith.

He took our history and we took his destiny.  And now we have access to God because we are dressed in His righteousness, not because of anything we have done or any law that we have upheld.

Jesus Christ made simplistic and clear… He says I am the way, I am the truth

People not only want to know the way to go, but they also want the truth.  Humanity is hurting because people have been seeking the way and the life, based on a false truth.

In John 6: 32 Jesus described himself as the True Bread.  He went on in verse 48 to say, “I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Naturally that pot of manna God requested be placed in the ark of the covenant was the bread from heaven that was used to feed the Israelites, but spiritually it symbolised the nature, character and sustaining power of Jesus Christ – the bread of Life.

He is the source of eternal life, the life giver and sustainer for people in the wilderness.

You need to know tonight, that no matter season of life you are in right now, regardless of the hardship you’re facing, Jesus is the answer His word is truth.

He is the embodiment of His Word and when we abide in Him we will know a freedom that is known to no man.  You can be locked in a prison and still be free when you abide in Christ, the Truth.  But you can be a free man and be locked in a prison when you don’t know Jesus Christ the Truth.

Jesus said I am the Way, I am the Truth and I am the Life.

If left uncollected in the morning the Manna would evaporate, but place it in the presence of God and it will last a lifetime.  In him there is no death, only life.

Of the 12 dead sticks that were placed in the presence of the Lord only one manifested life.  Because there is only one Saviour, one Lord. Christ Jesus – in him was life and the life was the light of men.

And as Aaron’s rod was left over night in the presence of the God, and the following morning was seen to have budded, have a flower and a fruit.  It showed that there is only one rod, but a threefold manifestation of fruitfulness.

The Bud being the Father – the Source and the Beginning,
the Flower being the Son – fragrant and crushed.
The Fruit being the Holy Spirit – fruitful and sustaining.

Aaron’s rod came out of the dead.  In the resurrection of Christ, our Great High Priest, the only Mediator between God and Man he rose from the dead.  In Christ we see the manifestation of all life, beauty and fruitfulness.

He is the Life because He is alive.  He is not dead, but is risen and bears fruit.

If you are looking for the best life, the truth is Jesus is the way.  It’s found in him.  He said, I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly”.

He is the way the truth and the life – the law, the manna and the rod

I love what John Maxwell says in his new book Put Your Dream to the Test; “The size of your dream determines the size of people who will be attracted to it.  If you have a very big dream, you have even greater potential for good people to help you.  What you need to do is connect with them invite them in, transfer the vision and turn them lose”.

Many people are afraid to dream big, fearing it will never come to pass. Yet that concept in itself if is one that far from emulates God, the creator of dreams.  When we fail to dream big and, instead keep small what God intended for increase, we actually display a selfish mentality that says my dream is about me, not about God or those whom He wants to bless through the dream He has given me.

When God puts something in our heart or in our hands inevitably it’s not about us.  It’s about His eternal plan and purpose to bring the life changing message of Jesus to our world.

The message that the Church has is just as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago.  So, why isn’t the message being perceived in such a way?  Because the way in which it is delivered hasn’t changed enough to be received as relevant.

As people presenting the life-changing message of the Gospel we must do more than keep up with change – we must anticipate change and embrace it.  The future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious. If you want to enlarge your potential you must change with the times…unless you’re big enough to change the times.

When you realise that life is not about what you can get out of it, but, what you can put into others, you will be fulfilled and motivated to be your best and reach your potential, so that you may be able to have an increased influence in the lives of people around you.

Often people get confused with their responsibility and other people.  Galatians 6: 5 tells us that we are each responsible for our own conduct.   That tells me that we are responsible to people not for them.

Ask yourself this question, “Why do I want to succeed?”  I hope your answer is to benefit other people?

We go where our dreams take us.  And if you don’t have a dream you’re not going anywhere.  A friend of mine, who is a Doctor, tells me that cancer patients who live the longest often spoke of a powerful sense of mission to live.  Many Christian profess that they will die for what they believe in, but I’m determined I’m going to live for what I believe in – it’s not the easy way out.

God has created you to make a difference.  You have been blessed to be a blessing; empowered to empower – now go and fulfill that dream that God has for you.  He has a plan and a purpose for you life.  When you discover it, you will automatically seek to fulfill it and in turn enlarge you potential.

Proverbs 13:20 tells us that the person who walks with wise people will be wise. One of the fundamental keys to enlarging your potential is this: Exposure to bigger thinkers. It can be so easy to become a big fish in a small pond, but the moment you step into a bigger pond, you will find you’re not as big as you thought. When you associate with bigger thinkers you will become a bigger thinker.

If you don’t read: read. If you don’t listen to good preaching: listen to good preaching. If you’re not being mentored: find a mentor bigger than you.

Who are you spending time with? I hope it’s someone who is wise – someone who is challenging you to think big and enlarge your capacity.

When a person feels encouraged he can accomplish the impossible. This is aln essental key to drawing the best out of someone. Show appreciation to them and begin to make them feel like a champion or a princess. (Hopefully the right one for the right sex).

When people feel their best they will do a better job to help you and support you. But the key is to bring the best out of them – encourage them, recognise them, publicly honour them. These little things go a long way to making someone feel great. And all of this will help you immensely.