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”.