The tribes of Israel had been immature in the wilderness. God did it all for them but in the Promised Land they had to grow up. (Joshua 5:10 -12).No more manna; they had to plant their own gardens, till their land and draw their own water. They had to take responsibility. We are responsible for the condition of our life and heart. If our soul is negative, we are responsible. If we are bound up in poverty thinking we are responsible. We cannot blame our father, our wife or husband or the government. You and I are responsible and accountable for our own condition and debts. Mature people who souls are prospering, take responsibility for their lives. Till they do they will be stuck for ever. While their life is someone else fault, they are stuck thinking they can never change till that other person changes.

 God wants us to grow up. Children may need someone to care for them, but mature people can not only look after the selves but others as well.  Derek Prince said, “Maturity is measured by how much of others weaknesses’ you can bear.”  If you can’t read your own bible, pray you own prayers, spend time with God and encourage yourself in the Lord when you are down, you’re still living in the wilderness.

Friend, we are not made for wilderness living. Some believers make a career out of being wilderness believers, spending their whole life on crutches instead of getting healthy. But healthy people take responsibility for themselves and even for others.

It had been a good year. “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). Israel had inherited the land, but it had required warfare and conflict. God was faithful to His promise, but He asked for their involvement. . They had to do some fighting too. They had to face many battles but that is what enabled their success.

In life we face troubles, trials, temptations difficulties and may be even some afflictions, but it's still a great life. A year overseen by the Father. We only get the trials that we need. We only get the temptations that God knows we can handle. And we only get responsibilities God knows we can be faithful in.  Our times are never filtered from trouble, but they are filtered by the Father. It is not a good year when everything goes well and there's no challenges or difficulties to face. To grow in faith there has to be a challenge. To grow at love there has to be people difficult to love. To grow in generosity, there has to be needs presented that we can respond to. We become faithful when remain diligent in our responsibilities without supervision nor encouragement. What makes for a good year is when we face challenges and overcome them; when we fall but rise up again and when we have grown closer to our spouse or friend, because of a trial we faced together.  It has been a good year when we lived for a great cause, when our hearts were stretched, and we cried out to know God more. When we had to give something up in sacrifice. A great year is about knowing Him and growing up. It’s about leaving the place you were. It’s about being a wayfarer; it's about passing through the wilderness and arriving at our promised land in Christ.

Friend, I trust this has been a great year and journey for you. Stay on your pilgrimage to ward Him, find the blessing in your valleys; You will enter more of your inheritance and He will crown your year with His goodness, and His mercy.

The people of Israel had been at the base of My Sinai for almost a year. They were gathering material for the tabernacle for the moment they could begin to offer worship to God. The first instance of worship in the Bible was an animal slaughtered and sacrificed upon an altar. (Genesis 4.4). There was no music, no choir and no shouts of praise, just shaky blood-stained hands, and a carcass dead on an altar.  The worshipper was saying to God, “I offer this as a substitute for myself.”

The Hebrew word for sacrifice is “Holo” (from where we get the word Holocaust) and literally means slaughter; something that has been killed and offered to God.  A sacrifice couldn’t be used for anything but had to be consumed in the crackling fire.  Moses’ tabernacle contained some horrible sights; blood, knives, searing meat, smoke and cattle standing around to be killed, but later on King David changed all that.  David about 400 years later realised God would rather have the whole heart of a living man offered to Him (a living sacrifice) than the lifeless carcass of a bull or a goat. (Psalms 51:15-16).  As we worship, we place ourselves “upon the altar” as a willing offering to God; it is the sacrificing of our lives to the one who is worthy (Romans 12.1).  It is not necessarily musical in anyway.  Unlike praise you can’t see or hear worship. Worship is an attitude toward God, in the heart and spirit of a person.

We can come to church, sing, and shout praise to God but if there is no complete surrender, we haven’t worshipped. Only God can see worship and it is our worship that ratifies our praise.

The giants and the desert brought out what was lurking in their hearts. The people found fault with Moses and God himself.  It is amazing that there are people who think they can teach God something. (Numbers 14:4-9). They complained about their present circumstances and they complained about their future challenges.  The two men who didn’t complain should have gone in but were hindered by the rest for another forty years. (sobering) The point is that your attitude will keep you in the same circumstance you are complaining about, and until our attitude glorifies God, we may not be delivered.

It is not suffering that glorifies God, (anyone can suffer) but suffering with a right attitude does glorify God.  We do not look for suffering as it will come any way. Jesus suffered gloriously without complaint and with trust. God is looking for us to demonstrate our trust in Him. Our ability to trust is shown by our stability in character.  Some people are positive one day, but the next, they are negative, critical, cynical, and flaky.

Know that God is in charge and He has not changed His good plans and purpose for your life since last week or last year.  Let’s match His faithfulness with some of our own.

It was a surprise to all. Nobody knew she had the jar with her. If anyone had noticed they would never have guessed what she was going to do.   Most never even noticed the girl until she broke the alabaster box.  But then everybody knew.  The whole house was filled with the fragrance, and everybody knew what had been inside the box, it could not be hidden. That is the power of the broken vessel! And we have all seen it happen.

Some people share and they are polished, clear and contained. We are impressed by their gift but we know little of their life. But others admit to being nervous, they tell a story of pain and share their struggles.  Somehow, their honesty opens everyone’s hearts. We won’t remember their giftedness but we’ll never forget the feeling of awe as the grace and fragrance of Jesus filled the room.  Actually, it happens every time someone steps out and take a risk for Christ.  Maybe an initial attempt at prophesying or a song. Perhaps it was going over to pray for a new neighbour, or stopping to help someone in trouble when you’re busy. It's breaking your vessel and releasing the fragrance.  And they notice!

Paul said it like this “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.    W e are ..  always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.   2Co 4:7 -10.   Paraphrased:  " The powerful life of Jesus within me will affect and bless lives if I choose to let my vessel be broken."

Friend, we can stay self-contained. You don't have to risk being broken and no one will ever know what or "who" is inside.  But it is only when our vessel is broken, that the fragrance of Christ is fully released.  Breaking the vessel simply means that by taking a risk, we no longer hinder or impair the expression of the Life that is within us. Go ahead and make their day.

In the middle ages, many sons of noblemen were apprenticed to knights. They learned to be knights by wielding weapons and fighting in armour until they were successful in war and were able to guard the house (castle). They became sons of the house through warfare.

Spiritual sons know they are part of an army and they know who their enemy is. Sons understand that, when Jesus defeated the devil, He did it in their name. Jesus never came to earth to prove He was greater than the devil – He’s always been that! He came here to defeat him as a human being on our behalf.  The devil was a strong man who could only keep his goods until a stronger one came upon him. That stronger one is Jesus and His Church!  The enemy is still our foe but now in the presence of the enemy, Jesus provides victory.

King David said “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;” (Psalm 23:5) There are some things God only puts on the table for us in the presence of our enemies. In other words, most of the times we receive something fresh from God are in the midst of a battle.  In an environment where we need nothing, we receive little. The Christian life is a life of being in need. We should get used to it! We need Jesus every day to live as a Christian. We can’t heal the sick or forgive constantly without Jesus; we can’t cast out devils or defeat our enemies each day, except through Him.

Jesus said to one of the churches in Revelation, “…you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. (Revelation 3:17) They had everything they wanted but nothing they truly needed. If we know our true need, God will be our garment, our life, and the anointing we need to see clearly. Sometimes our greatest challenge is to know what we truly need. Like this ancient church group, sometimes we need an enemy to fight!

Friend, to increase in authority there has to be an increase in the challenges we face. God works on the basis that His provision for us is not just sufficient but is more than sufficient for our need and the things we face. If our enemies are a two on the scale, then His grace can be a four. If our troubles are a five, then the strength and more than sufficient anointing that He gives us, will be a seven plus.

As the Pharisees waited for Jesus' answer of judgment on the adulterous women, Jesus stooped over and wrote with his finger on the ground.“This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground”( John 8:6-8). He did so to separate the sinner from those that would condemn her and to deliver the sinner into freedom. He stilled the voice of her accuser and provided mercy that had the power to change her.The Pharisees brought the women to the right person but for the wrong reason. They brought her to Jesus for judgement for sin, instead of help for her sins. There is nothing wrong with the law in its ability to condemn us but it can’t help us live up to its standard. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The purpose of the law was not meant to bring death to people but death to sin. The purpose of the law is life and righteousness. In His life, Jesus fulfilled the law not destroyed it and through His love, forgiveness and empowering grace, Jesus can fulfill the law in us.The only one without sin, cast no stones but instead said: “Go and sin no more.” Grace doesn't free us to continue sinning but it tells us what type of life, is now possible. Grace releases empowering gratitude and life-changing self-worth and value.

Friend, the best thing that happened to the woman and to us, was that we are caught by the law and brought to Jesus and His powerful grace.

God met Moses in the desert.

The Lord said, “What is that in your hand?" Moses replied, "A rod."  And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand”(Exodus 4:2-4).

Moses looked down at the old shepherds stick he held in his hand and felt a twinge of shame. Moses thought it was only a shepherd’s rod; but worse, he felt it was a symbol of the 40 years spent in the wilderness and all the mistakes he’d made in the past. It reminded him of the time he lost his temper and made some serious mistakes. It represented all his failures and all his worst moments.
When God said to take the rod and cast it away from him onto the ground, God was helping Moses get some perspective. ” Stand back, get some perspective and see it as the serpent that it is. It is not you; it is separate from you. Your past is not you, it just happened to you. Failure is never a person but only an event”
The enemy had spoken lies to Moses for 40 years. “You are useless, you blew it, you're pathetic, your no use to God and no use to the Hebrews” and it had crippled Moses with regret and shame ever since.
It is never the things that happen to us that become the problem but it is always the lies that Satan attaches to those events and failures that affect us most. God wants us to see that the past is not our identity and wants us to be free from every lie of the devil.
Finally, God said, “Take the snake by the tail it will become a sign of your authority from me.” As Moses tentatively picked up the serpent, it became a rod which he took with him on his mission to Egypt.

Friend, our past is not our identity. Once free from our past, it can become a great ministry tool to those you are called to reach. Take up your rod today. God is about to turn the mess of yesterday into your message of freedom tomorrow.

C.T Studd the missionary talked about Chocolate Soldiers in the church.  Those that melt in the heat and who need to be wrapped in foil to survive life.

We all live through the heat of battle at some stage in our lives.   In Gideon’s day, the Midianites always waited till Gods people were about to harvest and then they attacked. They come to steal the harvest and fruit from Gods people. Just when it seemed that God was giving something to Israel, the enemy came to take it away.  They needed a Gideon.  Maybe you were just beginning to prosper in an area of ministry or life and something came along and it brought you back to square one. You were tripped up or did something stupid in your life.  It seems like it has been two steps forward and one step back.

God has a way to defeat your enemy but it will require you. It is never “whatever will be will be”, but whatever you let be will be.  With God, whatever you defy can be defeated but we cannot conquer what we will not confront.   Gideonites beat Midianites.

God calls his Gideon “a mighty man of valour” and God calls you that today. You are what Heaven says you are.  God sees something in you, you can’t see in yourself.  Hell only fights you over what Heaven calls you. The devil didn’t show up until after God said to Jesus “You are my beloved Son.”  The devil only turns up after the Dove.   Father tells us who we are and the devil comes to see if we believe it!

Friend, believe it today. You are not chocolate; you were birthed from above and sent from God. The same heat that softens the chocolate only tempers steel and prepares earthen vessels for Him.  You don’t need to be wrapped in foil because God has promised to be your shield and buckler.  Stand up and drive the devil off your harvest, your family and your finances.