YOUR EYES ARE ON CANAAN, BUT YOUR MIND IS IN EGYPT!
EXODUS 16:1-3
(ROMANS 8:1-5)
As I continue to grow and mature in life, and in the Lord, I have discovered that in order to achieve success, or attain a goal, you must have a fixed mind... In planning a brighter tomorrow you must anticipate the many pitfalls and potholes that you have to encounter on the road of life... I’ve also learned that anything that is worthwhile is bound to be a bitter battle. The higher the hill upon which you plan to build your castle, the harder the climb is to reach its top... To reach the top, you must have your eyes and your mind focused on the same thing. A focused individual is one who aims well at the target and pulls his bow of opportunity to the final stretch before letting his arrow of destiny fly...
The text informs us that Israel was in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. But they had begun to face some very bitter experiences along the way... The ghosts of hunger and thirst had raised their heads, and frightened them… They were frightened to the extent that they began to think about the times when they use to sit by the flesh pots of Egypt, and sing and eat. They became discouraged before they had hardly gotten started. They had been on the road only a few days, and but a few miles from Sinai. But yet, because they had missed a meal of two, they wanted to go back to the slave camps of Egypt...!
God had broken their chains, pulled a liquid gap out of a belching sea for the right of way, and caused the wind to burn it dry, exchanging slushy mud for drifting dust, protecting their tramping feet. And yet… They wanted to go back to making brick from mud-balls... Just to eat again from flesh pots... They wanted to sell their future for a bite to eat... Seeing that freedom was quite a costly venture, they feared to pay the price.... They had their eyes on Canaan, but their minds were on Egypt...!
They looked one way and thought another.... They talked freedom, but thought slavery.... They started out watching God as He beckoned them through the clouds by day and the fire by night.... But at the same time they held on to Pharaoh’s hand…! Canaan and Egypt were in the same valley but in extreme opposite directions. To reach one, you had to turn your back on the other...
To think about Egypt, their minds would have to trek across the burning desert sands, where the jackals hide and bark, back across the sea, where slime and slavery holds sway. But to think of Canaan, their minds would have to lift amidst the hills, twine and bend.... Among the cedars and the whispering pines... Canaan or Egypt… These were two great places in the affection of these people, one was the cradle of the race, and the other was the hope of their future.... Shackles in one, songs in the other.... Freedom in Canaan, slavery in Egypt...
They were halted between the call of chains and the call of wings... Chains to hold them to their past, but wings to lift them to new heights.... Chains of slavery or wings of freedom...! Both places pointed in different directions, they were at opposite ends of any journey... And when the test came, Israel dared to face it.
She would rather go back into bondage than to pay the price of victory... So many times we act like the children of Israel and we would rather go back into the bondage of the enemy than to fight for the victory… So many times we’d rather settle for the muck and the mire of mediocrity, than to strive for the pursuit and possession of the Promised Land… So many times in the body of Christ we can’t reach Canaan because we’re simply too busy thinking about Egypt…! Yes, our eyes are on Canaan, but our minds are on Egypt…!
As we celebrate yet another year… Another Church Anniversary that the Lord has allowed us to have… The question at hand is how can we break this vicious cycle…? How can one get off the ‘treadmill of life’ and progress in the things of God…? How can we focus our minds as well as our eyes on the ‘Canaan experience of our lives…?’ How do we reach the individual ‘promise lands’ of our lives without being detoured by the enemy…? The text presents to us three issues…
I. CHANGE YOUR FOCUS
The text states that as soon they hit the highway, they began to murmur against the leader, saying “We wish that we would have died by the hand of God in the land of Egypt, at least we would have had our stomachs full...”
Isn’t it funny how we are constantly living in the past...? Isn’t it funny how we concentrate on how things used to be, what we used to have… What we used to do…? Memories are good to have… It’s good to reminisce, but I want to let you know that you can’t progress by living in the past…? We can never move forward, if we keep looking backwards...The Lord has been constantly proving Himself to us, taking us through dangers seen and unseen. Yet every time He tries to take us to the next level, we stand there looking over our shoulder in retrospect, contemplating the past!
How many times has the Lord placed in your spirit to move concerning a job opportunity, a business venture, a new spiritual level…? And as you began to move concerning that specific issue, you encounter roadblocks that the enemy has designed to delay, deter, detain, discourage and derail your progression….
And instead of you trusting in the One who gave you the ability to move in the first place, you suddenly get a case of the “could’ve, should’ve, would’ve’s…!” “ I could’ve… I should’ve… If I only would’ve…”
Israel was so concerned with eating from the flesh pots of Pharaoh, that they were willing to give up an entire land flowing with milk and honey! Likewise, we get so caught up in our yesterday’s that we can never get to our tomorrow’s…! The Lord is offering us eternal happiness, eternal peace, and eternal life, if we would just turn our minds as well as our hearts to Him… If we would just stop allowing the enemy to convince us to return to the things that God has already brought us out of….!
You see beloved that’s the real problem … Although God has delivered us from____ we really haven’t come out of them…! God has brought you out of ___ but you still can’t progress because although He’s brought you out of it, you haven’t brought it out of you!!! (You missed it…!)
God has delivered you from chasing women, but you’re still walking around thinking you’re Mack-Daddy #1… Holding on to your black book…! Although He’s delivered you from gossiping, you’re still trying to get up in everybody else’s business… Stirring up trouble…! Although He’s delivered you from debt, you’re still robbing Peter to pay Paul…
Living from paycheck to paycheck…! Why…? Because your mind has not accepted the fact that God has brought you out… So you continue to long for what you left in Egypt, and until you change your thinking…Until you change your mindset…Until you change your focus… You’ll never be able to enter the Promise Land…!
The Word of God says that we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind…! It’s only by our renewed thinking that we can take on and possess the mindset of success that God has called us to have…! Although they had changed their location physically, it would take a mental relocation of the mind for Israel to grab hold to what God had in store for them…
Not until we start really believing in our deliverance…Start believing in our financial prosperity…Start believing in our success… Good health…Salvation of our loved ones…! And speaking it, are we going to be able to grasp hold to what the Lord has in store for us in Canaan…! ("Change your focus…!")
II. FAITH IN THOSE APPOINTED OVER YOU
God doesn’t just hap-hazzardly appoint leaders without regard to what His people need… For He knows who and what we need! Jeremiah 3:15 lets us know that the Lord will “give us Pastors according to His own heart…!”
Remember, Moses didn’t volunteer for this job, he was appointed, he was chosen, he was called… And whom God calls He also qualifies…! I think I need to stress that because so many people get caught up on how many degrees and suffixes a preacher has behind his or her name.
God didn’t call you to go to school or be a professional student… He called you proclaim His Word and lead His people… Don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with education, I’m all for it, but you can’t allow it stand in the way of what God has called you to do… (That was free…!)
Likewise, we can’t simply judge the one God has called simply by how many letters are behind their name…! Moses couldn’t even speak clear, but God chose him to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt… He wasn’t a geography major or an excursionist… But God chose him to lead His people… So many times, we want to pick our leaders based on their stature, or what we see with the naked eye. But God looks at the heart…! (repeat)
Remember when the Lord sent Samuel to anoint a king after Israel rejected Saul, he looked at all of Jesse’s sons... But it wasn’t until he saw David that the Lord told him which one was to be anointed king…! God looks at what’s on the inside (tell somebody it’s what’s on the inside that counts)…!
When God chooses a leader for his people, we’ve got to not only have enough confidence and trust in him, but we’ve got to be able to trust God enough to follow the one that He has appointed over us…! I have a problem with those who try and overrun and overrule the pastor of the church. The pastor has been placed in that position by God to lead His people in the way that they should go…
It bothers me to see these churches voting to put pastors out… In the "name of the Lord…!" If God has put them there, Who are you to put them out…?!? The Word of God says, that if they’re doing wrong, we are to pray for them, that they would turn from their wrong, repent, and be restored back to the Lord… God put them in the position and He’ll do the moving when it’s time…!
Not only that, but the Bible also cautions us; (1 Chron 16:22) "Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm… " You better watch out when you start messing around with God’s anointed…! We’ve got to learn how to trust God…
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. To acknowledge Him in all our ways and He would direct our path…"
Beloved, if we are to continue on our journey to Canaan, we’ve got to learn how stop thinking about Egypt, take God at His Word, and have faith in those whom He has appointed over us…! (Tell somebody, “Change your focus... Have faith in those appointed over you...!”)
III. MOVE AND OPERATE IN FAVOR OF LORD
To move and operate in the favor of the Lord, literally means three things…To have the Accessibility of His Presence… The Advantage of His Power… And the Availability of His Promise…!
The Accessibility of His Presence… Is having access to the Father at all times… We have access to His Presence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… through His Son, Jesus Christ! John 14:6 says, "I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus is the avenue by which we can enter into the Presence of the Lord…
That’s why everything we do should be in Jesus’ Name, for Paul lets us know in Acts 4:12 "There is no other name by which man can be saved, delivered, and set free…!" Then he further affirms that His Name is above every name, and that at the Name of Jesus… Every knee shall bow… And that every tongue shall confess… That Jesus Christ IS LORD….!
When we find ourselves in the Presence of the Lord, we’ll find out that things will begin to move and operate according to God’s plan… Situations will work themselves out… Circumstances will begin to change… Dark nights will turn into bright sun-shinny days… For in His Presence is where you’ll find sweet relief…!
And once you have the Accessibility of His Presence… You’ll be able to grab hold to The Advantage of His Power…
Which means that although it seems like the enemy has the upper hand, we actually have the advantage over him…! Because God is our Father, and we are His children... We have the power to move in His Authority…!
We have the power to cast out demons… We have the power to lay hands on sick and they’ll be healed…We have the power to call things that be not, as though they were…
We have the power to tell the enemy to take his hands off of our families… Off of our finances… Off of anything that belongs to us… That’s the Advantage of His Power…!
And because we have the Accessibility of His Presence and because we have the Advantage of His Power… we will also be able to receive The Availability of His Promise…!
For just as He promised the children of Israel a "land flowing with milk and honey," He promised us a "Life of Eternity…A life more abundantly…A life without sorrow and pain…!" So if you want to move in a forward progression towards the Kingdom... It’s time to "Stop thinking about Egypt… And keep your eyes on Canaan…!" (1) And Change our Focus…
(Rom 12:2) "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God…!" Tell somebody, "Stop thinking about Egypt… And keep your eyes on Canaan…!" By (2) having the faith in those that the Lord has appointed to be over you…(Heb 13:7) "Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct…!"
"Stop thinking about Egypt… And keep your eyes on Canaan…!" (3) And move and operate in the favor of the Lord…! It’s time to move forward in the things of God… It’s time to stop looking one way and thinking another… If we’re going to make it on into Canaan, I hear Paul saying that we’ve got to "Forget those things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are before us and PRESS… Toward the mark of the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus…(Phil 3:13-14)!"
Look at your neighbor and tell them, "GET INTO THE PRESS…" (why?)
Because when you get into the press, you’ll find out that Jesus is in the midst.... If you don’t believe me, just ask the man who was sick with the palsy…The Bible says, “And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay....” Although he was willing to be healed, it was not until he got into the press.... Things concerning you happen quicker when you get into the press.... (Tear the roof off...)
GET INTO THE PRESS (why...?)
Because when you get into the press, you’ll find out that you’ll be able to touch Jesus...! If you don’t believe me, just ask the woman who had the issue of blood... “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had... Yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, ’If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague...
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes...?” When you get into the press concerning God, you’ll not only be able to touch Him, but you’ll get His attention…He’ll stop, turn around and see about you... How many of you need Jesus stop, turn around and see about you....?
GET INTO THE PRESS (why...?)
Because when you press in, God gets stirred up about it; you get His attention and He’ll begin to move on your behalf (move the barriers) and cause you to be blessed.... If you still don’t believe me, just ask Zacchaeus…
“Who was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature....” It does not matter about your stature; as you’re getting into the press, you’ve got to decide if you’re going to overcome the barriers that exist....
GET INTO THE PRESS (why...?)
Because when you get into the press, God has the tendency to call you out by name, and He’ll clear His schedule to have a personal visit with you. (Luke 19:4-5)
“And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way…And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.....” How many need Jesus come by your house....?
We need to climb up in the sycomore tree... climb up in the things of God....! Remember, your attitude determines your altitude…We’ve got to “Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus…”
Just as Michael Johnson ran in the Olympics. We need to take on the same attitude of winning the race!
When you see the mark (which is the will of God being manifested in your life), you want to make sure that you make it to the finish....
Remember, the race is given to the swift or the strong, but to the one who endureth to the end.... But to the ones that press… To the ones that make it to the finish line.... When you feel tired, when feel like giving up.... You’ve got to PRESS!
Tell somebody, "I’m going to PRESS.... Because God has given me the ability to overcome....!
I’m going to PRESS.... Because I know with Jesus I can make it....! I’m going to PRESS....!
Grab somebody by the hand and tell them:
You’ve got to PRESS....
Towards the things of God concerning you...!
You’ve got to PRESS....
No matter what comes your way...!
You’ve got to PRESS....
Keep on striving for the finish...!
You’ve got to PRESS....
Towards the promise of Canaan...!
You’ve got to PRESS....
Keep on running the race that is set before you...!
You’ve got to PRESS....
Because before you lies a Crown of Life....!
