Walk
301. Walk
We cannot stand without the walk. Our enemy will “eat us for lunch.”
2 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV) says, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are
not ignorant of his devices.”
Ephesians 4:27 (KJV) says, “Neither give place to the devil.”
1 Timothy 3:7 says, “Moreover he must have a good testimony among
those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
2 Timothy 2:26 says, “and that they may come to their senses and
escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil walks about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
It is clear from these Scriptures and many others, that even as believers we can become the
victim of Satan, the Devil and his assistants in many different ways. These Scriptures also show that our
conduct and lifestyle have something to do with giving Satan the right to hurt
us.
Our victory over Satan and circumstances can only be successful as a result of our
“walk.” We need the character of
Jesus in our lives to be safe. If
we attempt to make it in life with our old character, then we have already lost
the spiritual war. However, if we
are walking in God’s character, then the enemy only sees Jesus and not us. Remember, the enemy has no place in
Jesus. Jesus already defeated
Satan.
Ephesians 4:1 says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
beseech you to walk
worthy of the calling with which you were called.”
We sought to make it clear in the “Sit” lesson that our self-image determines our
conduct, and that the Christian life does not begin with “walking.” “Walking” means our performance, or
anything that we can do or accomplish.
Grace is what got us in, and grace is what will carry us through!
Everything is
based upon the finished work of Jesus at the Cross of Calvary and what He accomplished there
and who we became as a result of His cross. The Lord has done everything for us. He is seated at the throne and we are
seated with Him. We have been
crucified, we died, were buried, were raised and resurrected with Him and we
have been seated with Him in the heavenlies. Ephesians 2:6 says, “and raised us up together, and made us
sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
However, the Christian life does not end there.
Our Christian walk is a relationship between two persons, God and us. A relationship does not come instantly,
it requires much time. Therein
lies the problem of most Christians. They do not wish to take time, to give
priority to keeping their relationship living and vital with God. Romans 12:1-2 makes it clear that in
view of the wonderful mercies of God we need to respond by offering ourselves as
living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. As we do so, our minds are constantly renewed from the old
way of living and as a result of that we will prove, or walk out, the will of
God for our lives.
To WALK
worthy of the Lord depends upon our cross. Luke 9:23 says, “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”
Remember, our relationship with God is a blood covenant. It takes two parties and two deaths to
make it valid.
There are several types of choices we have to make daily. Depending upon
our choice, we either get closer or further from God.
a. Moral choices. Yes or no to
stealing, lying, cheating, illicit sex, gossip and the list goes on. Are we obeying the Word, or our flesh?
b. Trials and suffering. Yes or no to
trusting in God’s Word more than our circumstances. Are we trusting the Word or our flesh?
c. Authority. Yes or no to
the Lordship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Yes or no to the authorities that God puts over us, like
teachers, pastors, police, parents, etc.
If you cannot obey who is over you, then leave. If they are asking you to sin, then do
not obey them. God will protect
you from even evil authority.
d. The World.
The “world” is a
spiritual kingdom just like the Kingdom of God. 1 John 2:15-16 says that the craving for sensual
gratification, the greedy longings of the mind and the assurance in one’s own
resources are attributes of the “world”
(lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life). Each time we choose one of these
attributes, we move away from God.
We are not perfect, but we can walk and live in repentance.
We will fail from time to time, but God gives us a perfect
forgiveness, just as we had never sinned.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God knows that most of us fail not because we want to, but because
we are victims of something. His
cure is not to slap us around, but to come and let us know who we are in Him,
with the hope that will cause us to be drawn to Him even more.
Don’t be like Esau. He was
Jacob’s twin brother. Esau, on the
surface did not seem any worse than his twin brother Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver, yet God
intervened and supernaturally gave the firstborn birthright to Jacob, even
though Jacob was the last one out of the womb. Esau despised his birthright, thinking that it was not that
big of a deal, and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Yet later in life when he tried to
repent, he could not. We have a
spiritual birthright when we are born of God, and this is a warning to us not
to despise it. We could end up as
Esau, who did not make it (Hebrews 12:16).
Walking in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit.”
Walking in the Spirit is a simple, but different way to live
and the easiest way I know to be right with God on a daily basis.
It is a process that goes like this:
1. You continue to look
into the Word of God
(mirror) and ask God to show you how to live. Ask Him, and seek out what His
standards are for your life. For
instance, it says to not lie, to treat your friends with love, to submit to
your parents and teachers, to treat your brothers and sisters with kindness, to
not get drunk, do not be selfish, don’t be angry, always forgive not matter
what, etc.
2. You determine to
live the way God wants you to, knowing
that only God in you can walk a life worthy of the Lord.
3. When you fail, and
you will, be totally honest with yourself, God and
others around you. Repent (turn)
quickly. The promise is that when
we repent (turn), then the Kingdom of God is at hand, or within our reach.
4. Confess your sin to
God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
5. Confess what the
Word of God says
about your situation in a positive way, i.e., Galatians 2:20 that says, “I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
6. As you continue to
live this way the old habits and old sinful ways begin
to disappear. The grace of God
takes over and gives you the character of God instead of your old character.
7. Grace kicks in for
your sin. You did not get righteous by the things you did, so your
righteousness is still there, it just has some dirt on it.
While you walk in the Spirit, God gives you grace for your
mistakes, and He takes the penalty of the sin that you would normally suffer,
and gives you a blessing that you do not deserve.
8. Not only does grace kick in for your sin, not only does God give you a blessing that you did not
deserve, but the grace you receive is actually the power that gets rid of the
sin (or the problem) you are dealing with in the first place. Look at Zechariah 4:7 (KJV) which says,
“Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [a type of Jesus] thou shalt
become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace,
grace unto it.” God speaks “grace” to your situation,
and the mountain is removed!
The Word judges us.
You need to look into the mirror.
James 1:23-25 says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not
a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he
observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is
not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what
he does.”
The Word of God is our judge just like a mirror is our judge. It looks at us and tells us the truth
of what is right and what is wrong.
But we can look at some dirt on our face, see it, and walk away and
forget it. James says we can do
the same thing when we look at the Word of God. We can see what we are supposed to do, but we can walk away
as if we never saw it. If the man
who obeys is blessed, then the man who does not obey is cursed!
Obedience to the Word is a powerful thing!
1. It “takes up your
cross,” completes the blood covenant and puts you
under the care and protection of God.
2. It totally takes Satan off your case. He will still
attempt to hurt you, bad things may seem to happen, but they cannot hurt
you. Matthew 7:24-27 says, “Therefore
whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise
man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and
the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded
on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do
them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall.”
3. It prepares you for eternity.
The more you obey, the more Jesus gives you His Spirit and makes Himself
real to you. Also, something
happens inside of you over a period of time that separates you from the world
and makes you closer to Jesus.
When you get to Heaven, you will have a position closer to Him forever!
4. There are always
rewards for obedience to His Word. John 14:23 tells us
that our reward is His presence.
Jesus draws us into His presence and we experience eternity, we are
partakers of the Divine Nature!
5. You become a slave
to whom you obey.
Will it be Jesus or someone else? Romans 6:16 says, “Do you not know
that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves
whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to
righteousness?”
Obedience to God is not based upon the fear that He will hurt you if you disobey, but
it is based upon the fact that you love Him and want to please Him. John 14:21 says, “He who has My
commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be
loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
If you want to see who loves God, look around and see who is
going out of their way to obey Him!
Now let’s look at the mirror. Please refer to A Spiritual Check-up in the chapter
“The Flowing River”.