There is a better way

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is here in John 21, the disciples return to their lives before they met Jesus, they had given up on themselves they failed and had deserted Jesus when He was arrested and crucified.

But Jesus had not given up on them, this is the 3rd time He comes to them after His resurrection, and He wants them to know how much He loves them.

He sees them fishing and says to them , did you catch anything?

For they had not caught anything all night. (Jesus was asking a rhetorical question, He knew the answer)

Then Jesus says cast your net to the other side, what He is saying is hey there guys there is a better way, My way.

They then recognize it is Jesus and come to Him.

Jesus is saying stop doing what your doing it is okay, I can't rely just on you, but you can always rely on me.

How about you, are you still doing things your way?

If so read John 21:1-17 and see that Jesus way is the only way.

When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore. However, the disciples did not know it was Jesus. “Men,”  Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you? ” “No,” they answered. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” He told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish.John 21:4-6 

At that time Jesus said,  “I praise   You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants.  Yes, Father, because this was Your good pleasure.   All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows   the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires   to reveal Him.  “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:25-30

God still dwells amongst His children

The Ark of the Covenant represented God's presence among his people, and His pure holiness. Though the actual ark is lost , today sadly we have lost what it represented as well.

We have lost the sense of God's holy presence among His people. Nothing is sacred anymore. Sexual immortality, and a culture of death rule our airways for ratings, ordinary people, politicians and celebrities mock God openly by words and deeds. We have lost almost all reverence of God that is critical to our very survival.

God dwells within His children, we are to have the same respect and awe of God as Israel had for the Ark of the Covenant, but like Israel we have almost lost it,we need to bring back the awe of God to our land, to recover our sense of the sacred.

We must repent, confessing our sin to the living God who makes ethical requirements of us. When we return to Him with our whole heart, acknowledging His authority over us.

Then we must remove the foreign gods from among us. That's right. "Little-g" deities like the god of comfort, the god of beauty, the god of gain and ease and activity all of these must go if the awe of God is to return. Then we are to serve God only, and God alone. He is not to be just a part of our lives, but our entire lives, He is to be involved in every endeavor, every relationship, every dream and desire.

Romans 14:7-9, 11-12 HCSB For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.