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Sunday, April 17, 2016

THE FAITH WALKER

"But I say, walk (ing") by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk (ing) in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called", Gal 5:16, Ehp 4:1

Walk or more literally walking by the Spirit is the safeguard of the believers life in Christ. It is a moment by moment dependence upon the Holy Spirit to help us keep our feet on stable ground.

It assures us that we are protected from life's temptations. The author of Hebrews tells us - "Without FAITH it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him (God)…" The act of walking is an absolute faith process. The apostle Paul, I believe used the term "walking" to express the kind of faith that is needed to please the Lord. When you think about the process of "Walking" it's really not that eloquent. It is actually a series of falls. Every step we take must first drop or fall to the ground before being caught by our muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. In order for us to get up and walk, we must first put our full trust in our extremities to catch us every single time we take a step. The interesting side of this is that The Lord has built a faith mechanism in us that causes us to trust our feet to do what they were meant to do- walk, otherwise we would always be too afraid to ever take a step or put our bodies into motion.

It's All About Perspective- 

 According to a survey that had been conducted, the average man is said to take 7192 steps per day and an average woman takes 5210 steps per day. That equates to 7192 times a day that a man demonstrates faith and the woman steps out in faith 5210 times a day! This works out to be approximately 2,625,080 times a year for the average man and 1,901,650 for the average woman. This is something that we do constantly without really ever thinking about it.

How about sitting in a chair? Do we stress out? Or get anxious about sitting down in a chair? No, we don't stop to think about whether or not the chair is going to hold up our weight or break apart and fall to the ground.  Now occasionally this may happen, but even though it does we move on and continue to trust that the next chair will catch our body weight and prevent us from falling to the ground.. We just simply trust that it is going to hold us! Maybe the trust and faith part with the chair comes from believing that the manufacturers built it strong or correctly. But the fact is you believe in something or someone! Our daily circumstances are no different. Our belief should be strongly rooted in God to meet that need to keep us from falling.

Maybe you remember the "trust me" game many of us played as kids. One person stood stiff with their arms to their sides and fell straight back while trusting that their friend would catch their fall. Should we then doubt God to catch us when we are feeling a bit unstable? The way we keep our feet on sure ground is to keep our armor on and stand firm. Eph. 6:13

I heard a story along time ago, about a young boy who got trapped inside a burning building. As the fires were rising and the smoke began to thicken the young boy was forced to climb out onto the ledge in an effort to avoid the heat. The smoke was pouring out of the windows so much that it made seeing impossible. The boy was so frightened that he began to cry and screaming help me, help me- And suddenly he heard a voice out of the smoke saying, trust me! Jump and I will catch you! But the young boy just screamed I can't, I can't! A second time the voice said, trust me and jump! But the boy was still too fearful. He just screamed out in horror again saying, I can't, I can't, I'm afraid! A few seconds later another voice called out, Jump son! trust me and I will catch you... And at that moment the young boy jumped to safety. Why did the young boy jump the third time, but would not jump the other two? Because the voice of the second man was the voice of His father!!! In that voice he found trust and comfort.

God's word is His voice to us and as His children we should never be afraid to trust in what He says! He always knows what is best for us, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to us at the time.

 “For My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine For just as the heavens are higher than the earth so my ways are higher than your way and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isa. 55:8-9

The Lord used this "walking" metaphor to demonstrate what a believers life should be like. Our faith steps should be shrouded with trust in our spiritual muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. In other words, we need to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit who is there to help us on a moment by moment basis from falling from our steadfastness in Christ, so that we will not give in to the desires of our flesh (Gal. 5:17).

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the ROCK". Matt.7:25 This is our sure footing, to build our trust and faith in the One who helps us walk in His light!

To truly walk in the Spirit we must believe that the Lord is our solid ground so that each step we take in a moment by moment trust will secure our landing. It is taking each step with the belief that God is able to plant our foot on solid ground. This will assure us that we will not stumble and fall (give in) to the temptations of every day life. The walk of faith is seeing God's promises as more real then our circumstances! It is the moment by moment trust with the eyes of faith (and not by what we see with our eyes) that gets us to the next moment (step) of trusting God beyond our circumstance.

Oh what a solid Rock we have in Jesus!

Be highly Blessed Today!
Rev Deb

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