This morning was my turn to lead at the men’s group, which gathers at Panera’s on Wednesday mornings at 6 AM. I want to share the ideas stirring in me because they are encouraging me to focus on what is most important in my life. The focus began to grow out of a comparison between Joshua going to enter the promised land and Jesus speaking to His disciples immediately following the resurrection.

God had been training the Israelites from their beginning to be His children. He rescued them from a great famine and sent them to Egypt. He rescued them from Egypt by conquering all the Egyptian gods and proving that He was God above all gods. He took them into the wilderness to train the slavery out of them and put Kingdom values into them. (I realize that I am traveling in extreme summary.)

The Israelites often struggled throughout the process as a small child suffers with coming into order with its parents. They generally did well when God moved powerfully but tended to go back to their own ways when He was quiet. (I recognize the extreme generalization here.)

The Israelites challenged God and His representative Moses often, leading them to their own harm. I confess that if I had done all the things my parents told me to do, I would have lived a much easier and less painful life. My parents always warned me and taught me against all the things I chose to do myself, which brought me the most harm and suffering. I really identify with the Israelites.

The Israelites had a trouble I find in myself. I tend to relate to the hand of God (the things He does) more than I relate to the person of God (who He is). This is sort of a works versus faith type of thing. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve caught myself trying to earn God’s forgiveness instead of realizing how much forgiveness I have due to God being God. My thinking often errs on the human side instead of in heavenly understanding and acceptance.

All basic training was accomplished by the time Moses handed the mantle over to Joshua. The slaves had become a nation. The disobedient had died in the desert. Discipline and values had been trained into the people. They were ready.

The promised land was their inheritance, and through God’s promise, they owned it. However, they were not in possession of their inheritance. God spoke to Joshua in Joshua 1:1-9. (Read this passage as though Jesus was speaking it directly to you, and it will encourage you!)

Jesus spoke to His disciples in Luke 24:36-49. It was the same type of encouraging speech. It was also in preparation for them to receive the Holy Spirit because they were going to go out and turn the world upside down for the Kingdom of Heaven. They were on the verge of becoming conquerors through Christ and His work through the Holy Spirit. The parallels are very interesting.

They needed extreme encouragement. They were being taken to the next stage. They were going to take their inheritance by force. They had been trained for the work ahead of them. They had been freed for the work ahead of them. So many comparisons are here to be examined. So how does that work toward focus?

I find that I, and many like me, get so busy or so caught up with what God and life is up to that we forget the most important thing – our relationship with Jesus. Winning the promised land was a given. God had promised it. The most important thing was their relationship with the living God. The miracles were accomplished because God is the rescuer. It is who He is. The most important thing is not the rescue, but the God who rescues.

Same in the New Testament. Miracles, healing, prophecy were all powerful proofs of Jesus. Those things are given. Where Jesus is, those things are available and will happen. Jesus hasn’t changed. The most important thing is not the power and miracles, but the Jesus who does those things for His children and His people.

The focus is Jesus. God is amazing. He walks in power and generosity. Those things are a by product of who He is. Those are the things He does. Jesus is more than the things He does. He is God. Having a personal relationship with Him is actually more powerful and more important than any of the miracles you may have experienced or heard about. The focus for me is learning to walk in the intimacy of relationship with the Living Lord Jesus. I’m in way beyond my depth.