Week Three: How to Live Your Best Life

Synopsis of Bible study 09/26/18

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, D.Min.

Psalm 23:5-6, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

I.          Introduction

1. Life is full of struggles, but it shouldn’t have a starring role in your life. At some point, your struggles should be over.
2. Some people are always going through something. These people constantly complain, because they want to know that people care about them. The problem with this is, if you are always going through something, then people begin to wonder how long the tunnel is? Why is it taking so long for you to get your breakthrough? Are you sitting on the side of the road in park?
3. You have the ability to move from a place of struggle to a place of overflow and ease. Your worst days can turn into your best days if you walk in wisdom headed to your end.
4. The force that has come against you has taken too much of your life. God is a God of restoration. He wants you to be restored. Joel 2:25-26 (NKJV) says 25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming [a]locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. -When the fight has depleted you, God will send resources your way to restore what you have lost. He will direct things into your path.
5. Many of you have been in the fight of your life for so long, it is time that you to encounter some sweat -less victories. Put down your fighting gear. You have got to learn to live your best life.
6. Many of us have different ideas of what our best life is. If we were to pass the mic around, everyone would have d different description of a best life from their perspective.
7. Living your best life is about being in the right positon. Blessings come to a position and not necessarily to the individual. This is why it is important for you to be in proper position. Ex-For those of you that know about football, you know that a quarterback may try and move the ball down the field is by throwing to the spot that the receiver is supposed to run to. For this reason, it is important for the receiver to get to that spot in the time he is supposed to. If he doesn’t, then the receiver cannot catch the ball and advance down the field.
   1. It is important for us to know that the blessing is in the air, but God needs you to get to the spot that you are supposed to be in. There is power in positioning! You need to understand the power of positioning. Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) says 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.- God is not trying to hurt you. God needs you to make conscious decision to live your best life.
8. How to live your best life:
   1. Live every day with a fresh Know that the present is the present. You can’t bring yesterday’s stuff into today. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV) says 22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. – God wants you to have a fresh start today. Don’t let stuff pile up on you. You have to learn to release your issues and realize that today is a new day.
      1. If you want to know if tomorrow is a new day, realize that if you wake up and open your eyes, you have reached a new day.
   2. Live more consciously each day. We wake up every day naïve, not realizing what is around us. 1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) 8 Be [a]sober, be [b]vigilant; [c]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.- The enemy is looking for a weak mind every day.
      1. You must realize that life is not to be lived on autopilot. It is to be lived in real time.
      2. When you encounter people, then follow your spirit. Our mentor says I don’t want you paranoid, but treat everything like a setup. People are your friend until they are not. The devil is slick and sly. Don’t go through life naive.
   3. Create your own opportunities. You have to be proactive. You got to be in position when it time for your gifts to be used.
      1. Learn to be an answer to the problems around you. You are pregnant with promise and it doesn’t just involve one thing. There is more inside of you than what you think. Invent a system that bring resources to you verses chasing systems and begging for resources.
      2. Look at the aunt. Proverbs 6:6-8 (NKJV) says 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no [a]captain, Overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her [b]supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.- What is the ants’ system? Simply they have decided that they will bring food from one place to another and they won’t allow anything in their path to deter them from completing their mission.

• Let’s examine the enemy that is watching a person who is determined like the ant. The snake wants to cross the ants’ path, but it knows better than to try, because the snake knows the ants have a system in place that will prove fatal to the snake, if he tries to cross their path. The snake is not scared of the ant, but he is afraid of their system. If you work your system, then the enemy knows not to cross your system. If your system has you bored, then you need to change your system.

1. Be authentically you. Stop measuring yourself to the standards of others. Galatians 6:4 (NKJV) says 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.-You are unique. Psalm 139:14 (NKJV) says 14 I will praise You, for [a]I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. – There is a time that the mentee has to find its own way. God anoints things that are authentic not When you are authentic, the people who really love you, want you to be authentic.

II.          The Prepared Table

A. You have reservations at the table God prepared for you

1. So often, we try to gain access to tables that God didn’t prepare for us. Sometimes you are on the uninvited list, because you want to eat off of the wrong menu.
2. Your diet determines your destiny. Ex – Daniel was invited to eat at the kings table. They had access to all that they could have dreamed of in the place. What was being served was considered forbidden food, according to their religious beliefs. As a result, Daniel and his men requested other food. Daniel 1:8-17 (NKJV) says 8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and [a]goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. 10 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.” 11 So Daniel said to [b]the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” 14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 16 Thus [c]the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. 17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.- God had brought Daniel into favor with the Chief Eunuch. After being urged by the Eunuch to eat the food that the King assigned them to eat, Daniel prayed for stuff that they could eat without going against their beliefs.
   1. The Chief Eunuch was concerned if Daniel and his men didn’t eat of the king’s food, they would look poorly compared to the other men and it would anger the King. Daniel asked the Chief Eunuch to allow them to eat just vegetables for 10 days and then compare their look with the others. After the 10 days was up, Daniel and his men looked better than the men that had eaten the king’s food. Daniel would not eat the forbidden food, because he had made a decision to eat of the Lord’s Table.
   2. 5 yrs ago, you were comfortable saying “Let’s turn up!”, but now, like Daniels and his men, your diet has changed. You are trying to eat from the Lord’s Table now. God will do the same for you as he did Daniel, if you wait for him to prepare the table. The word given to you by your Bishop or your Pastor is a diet for the people that want to eat from the Lord’s Table.

B. God invites your enemies to provide them with evidence of your elevation

1. When God prepares the table for you, He will invite your enemies to prove that you have been elevated.
2. Proverbs 25:21-22 (NKJV) says 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you.- God’s ways outweighs your ways.
3. Romans 12:19 (NKJV) 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

III.          The Provision at the Top

A. The oil of the anointing flows down, not up

1. The anointing doesn’t flow without order. Psalm 133:1-2 (NKJV) says 133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.
2. When Samuel was looking for the next king, no one passed the test. He then inquired for somebody else and it turned out to be David who had been serving out in the fields. This is proof that you can’t be salty about serving in the background. Don’t leave your post too early!
   1. How to Remain in Position While in Pursuit of Your Best Life:
3. Stay where God sent you.
4. Submit to those where God sent you to serve.

• Serve with faithfulness and skill.

3. When you are in the right position, you will live in overflow. You’ve got to learn to embrace overflow.
   1. 3:20 Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV) says 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,- God can only bless you with overflow equal to the sustainability in your life.
4. God don’t want you to have a seasonal blessing. I pray that you never become a once was.
5. God will protect you. He we rebuke the devourer for your sake.

IV.          The Protection in the Temple

A. Goodness and mercy are a benefit of being covered

1. Psalm 91:1-2 (NKJV) 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”- When you are covered by God, He will make sure you’re insured. God is just like the State Farm commercial. He shows up on the scene, just when a crisis occurs.
   1. Sometimes God will show up before the crisis occurs.
2. Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV) 6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
   1. You are guaranteed an all access pass to the best life.
   2. Every day you wake up, a fresh start begins.

B. You are guaranteed an all access pass to the best life

1. John 10:10 (NKJV) says 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. – God is waiting on you. The devil tries to still your joy every day. In doing this, he wants to destroy your name.
2. It does no good to come to church and shout and not live the life you shout about. You have to have a prayer life that moves you to the next dimension. God wants you to live your best life. Everything you touch, God will bless.

V.          Conclusion

This will be a season for abundance! Start making room! I declare over your life that God is going to open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings, more than you have room enough to receive.

That next thing you do that’s Big, make sure you share your testimony with us!