WALK ON

I have been thinking about 'walking' for some months now. In June 2009 my back broke in four places. I have used a 'walker' since that time. I live in a rural area and the last eleven years have enjoyed almost daily 'walks' of over one mile. I miss this so very much.
But I have learned so much about a different use of our word 'walk'. Our 'walk' can refer to our way of living. You may have heard: "A person's walk should match his talk." This means what we say we believe should be demonstrated in how we live. In addition 'walk' can mean 'way' or 'path'. This implies the idea of a destination. A path leads somewhere. Many years ago when I was about age 14 we studied a poem in school changed my life. The poem is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I want to mention only the last stanza.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

I am by no means a Robert Frost fan. He and I are miles apart in our worldview. But God used this poem to give me the power to say 'no' to certain things and to stay focused on what would be His will for my life.. a life wholly given over to walk along the path prepared just for me by the One Who loved me enough to die in my place. But we are getting ahead of our story.
At age 14 I wanted to 'walk' with a sense of purpose and perseverance.

I had a sense that a life that counts must involve a degree of self denial.

I began to think of the deep questions of life:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What should I do with my life?
Where do I look to find these answers?

Following my conversion to Christ Jesus by means of grace through faith in Christ Jesus, my 'guidebook' for living became the Bible.
The Bible gives light or understanding to our walk. Psalm 119:105 says God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. How so? Psalm 119:130 explains further. The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. "Unfolding" here means like a door or entrance.
A casual reading of the Scriptures is not sufficient to find the light or understanding we need to live a life that will count in eternity.
Here are just a few references as to how one should walk, according to the Bible.
1. We are to walk according to God's commandments.
2. We are to walk as Jesus walked. How did Jesus walk? He tells us this in John's Gospel. Jesus always did the will of God, the Father. See John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38-40. Jesus expects us to live the same way!
3. We will walk in humility of mind, considering others as more important than ourselves. [see Philippians 2:3-8].
4. We will walk in love. If you love Me, you will obey My commands. John 14. Not the gushy, sentimental, romantic, sensual type of love. Rather the commands of Christ, which begin with "repent". Continue with "you must be born again". How many of Christ's commands do you know of, let alone keep? Ephesians 5:2 tells us what it looks like to 'walk in love'. A careful reading of all of Ephesians 5 will give you great understanding of what walking in love looks like.
5. We are to walk in faith.. not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7.
6. We will walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Everyone likes the idea of power. But power is about doing what we ought, not what we want. In fact to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit means to walk in the midst of a great war. Not peace. Galatians 5:17 ESV says "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do."

If there is no struggle in our lives to walk the walk that pleases God, then we are most to be pitied and should be careful to see whether we are indeed in the faith.

7. Romans 6:4 says that we are to walk in newness of life. The old life must be crucified with Christ.

8. We are to walk in forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness is NOT saying : I apologize.
Forgiveness is a promise. Forgiveness is choosing not to hold an offense against another. Forgiveness chooses not to remember and not to bring up this issue again with the other person or anyone else including with our selves. Should our mind begin to think again of the offense we must immediately replace that thought with thankfulness to God that He has chosen to not remember our much greater sins against Him.

9. We will walk in God's ways. Many times God asked this of His chosen people. There were promises of blessings for doing this and punishment for failing to do so. What are His ways? His moral ways as made clear in His commands and shown by Who He is. This includes truth, righteousness, light, purity.

How are we NOT to walk? Psalm 1 says NOT in the counsel of the ungodly. Where do you get your guidance? We are NOT to walk in the imagination of our own hearts and after other gods [Jer. 13:10] or walk in lies. We are not to walk in darkness.

But what happens when we feel we simply cannot walk another step? We are weary of body, mind or soul. Downtrodden and despairing. We are to look upward. We are to "walk on." Suffering is a prism through which we see life is quite a different way.

Paul prayed three times for relief from a 'thorn' in the flesh. God's answer:“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV.

I am not yet at the point of 'boasting' about my infirmities. But I am by God's grace moving in that direction.

My goal is to be fully satisfied with God alone. My goal is God Himself. I am asking God to remove any distractions.

Mollie Jo and Caleb Cassidy said so well in their song, "Wait On".. To walk with God, no strength is lost, walk on.

Seasons of Life

I trust your new year is going well. Today marks the seventh anniversary of when my mother died. She left a great legacy for me. I would like to share some memories plus give you a link where you can read the pdf of a little book I wrote after her death. The title is Teaching Observation Skills.. Steps to Servanthood.
Our family is listening to a tape book called The Power of Communication by Kenneth Erickson. This is my husband, son and myself. Of course it was my idea to have each of us listen to the book. Smile. So why a book about communication? Don't we enjoy Google, Facebook, My Space, Twitter, G Mail, Skype, Cell phones, Instant Messenger.. whew, I know I have left some out.
So to clarify, let's define 'communication' as this book does. Communication only occurs when the one attempting to communicate what is in his/her mind is understood by the listener. So this is not the same as transfer of information. Big smile.
I have experienced in my relatively short life time an incredible growth of information technology that has changed the world. I can talk to a man in Algeria who speaks only French and use Google translator tool and have a fairly successful 'conversation'. I speak very little French. He speaks no English.

I can see a video of someone knocking down the Pope.

I can see a satellite picture of the home where I live even showing our old cars parked outside.

But somewhat troubling to me is with this growth in IT, there has been a real decline in the quality and quantity of communication. Dialogue is almost non-existent. Whatever happened to the 'front porch' of the 1950s? Why don't most people read much? 'Think' even less?
With the information glut surrounding each of us, how do we choose who to listen to or watch on you tube or the other myriads of visual and verbal recordings or live broadcasts via internet? Why do so many people continue to forward messages that are not even true and they don't take time to check out the implications of sending on lies?
Whatever happened to 'real' relationships? Or soon will the world be 'virtual'?
So am I saying throw away your computer and veg out in your lawn chair or front porch chaise? No of course not.
But it is time to seriously think about how short life is.. and what we will say to the One who asks for an account of every word we spoke and every deed done in the body.
It is also time to re-evaluate how well we communicate.
What part of 'communication' is not working so well.. I think it is the listening part. We are too busy or too proud to put in the effort to spend enough time or to be honest enough to truly make sure the listener will understand us. Maybe we don't want to be understood. Maybe we are afraid of the growing of a relationship that accompanies open and honest communication. Sharing information isn't safe. Communication can cause us to look deep within and maybe not like what we see.
As to Who is trying to communicate with us and why.. look up! Psalm 19 states that the heavens declare the glory of God; their expanse declares His works. What is God saying? Is nature the ONLY way He communicates?
God has spoken in the last times through His Son, Jesus Christ. You can read this in the New Testament book of Hebrews. This book also tells us it is a good idea to listen to what He says. Reading the Bible is the best way to open up dialogue and communication with God. Here is a great website where you can do all sorts of Bible study, listen on audio, have your own Bible reading schedule. I encourage you to pick a method, commit time to reading the Bible and see what God is saying to YOU this year! You will not be bored or disappointed.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.cfm

Next time we will discuss communication more in detail. Write me back and let me know your thoughts on this subject. I hope you start with listening and dialoguing with the One who Loved you enough to die in your place so you could enjoy communing with Him forever.

http://www.lighthouseenterprises.us/bulbs/TOS.pdf