Walk Before Him

Genesis 17:1b

walk before me, and be thou perfect.

God was not telling Abram that he needed to be perfect as we understand the word. "Perfect" means upright or sincere. He was telling Abram to walk the best he could. He was to live as God has called him to live.

God desires to walk with us on our journey in life; however, He can't be among a willingly sinful lifestyle. We are to put aside and depart from evil and strive to honor God in all things.

Stand Fast

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 14 Let all your things be done with charity.

I've been studying how to walk, but God led me to these verses in my study time. At first glance, it would seem to not be dealing with how to walk because of the word "stand". However, let's look a little closer.

Watch

This is an action. We must be vigilant of what is going on around us. We are to be paying attention for the signs that God tells us about.

Stand

This means to persevere. We are to keep walking with God. We should not grow weary, but continue to walk in faith.

Quit you like men

This means to be brave. We will encounter much opposition on our walk with the Lord from teh world. We must be brave as we persevere.

Be strong

This is walking with the Lord is not for the faint of heart. It is a battle for souls. We fight a spiritual battle and we need Christ's strength to succeed.

In all these things-watching, standing, being brave, being strong-we must do all with love. Sometimes I think this is the hardest command. Oftentimes what I see as love, others do not. When I warn of dangers, others see it as meddling, complaining, accusing, or condemning.

Lord, help me walk this road with You in love to others. Show me how to reveal Your love to them. Amen.

Fear Not!

13 Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD. . . 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Exodus 14:13b-14 (KJV)

There has been much hype lately about the coronavirus. People are in hysterics about something they can actually do something to prevent. Building immunity systems, proper hygiene, and careful interaction with others are all easy ways to protect yourself.

However, do you realize that even when there is nothing you can do to protect yourself or your family that you still have no need to fear?

The Israelites were in a position where there was absolutely nothing they could do. They had rock mountains on two sides of them, the Red Sea on a third, and the Egyptian army closing in on the fourth-they had no way of escape. Or, that is how they felt anyway.

Moses tells them to relax and to not fear. God was fighting for them. God made a way where they didn't see a way-He opened the Red Sea for them to walk across! Not only could they now escape their enemy, but God destroyed the enemy when He closed the sea back up after the Israelites were safely across!

We can do the same. We don't have to live in fear. We just need to be still and trust God is in control (which He is!)_ and see His deliverance from the craziness around us. This doesn't mean that we don't take care to follow the precautions we can do to the best of our abilities, but we don't stress about how to do that or the outcome.

So, wash hands, strengthen your immunity with vitamins, and be careful, but do all that without fear!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Proverbs 14:1

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

I received a new Bible that has cross references and this verse cross referenced to Ruth 4:11 which caused me to wonder about the meaning of the Hebrew word for "buildeth".

The Hebrew word is banah. It means "to build (literally and figuratively), obtain children, make repair, set.

This got me thinking about family size. It is wise for a woman to "obtain children" while a foolish woman destroys her house by not having children. I think one could easily see that abortion is plucking down a woman's house, but what about choosing not to have children or even not having more children?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Walk Honestly

1 Thessalonians 4:12

That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Romans 13:13

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Here we see we are to walk honestly. What exactly does that mean? At first thought I believe it means to walk in who we are; we must be honest about who we truly are. However, it also means, "decently."

This means we are to treat others well. We are to treat them as we would like to be treated. The Romans passage tells us what it is not. It is not causing problems. It is not walking after fleshly lusts. It is not causing issues being envious.

Do you struggle to walk in who you are? I know this is one area that I struggle to walk.

Walk in Wisdom

Colossians 4:5

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Here we see that we are to "walk in wisdom." But not just to do it, but to walk "toward" others.

We are to live our lives in ways that those who don't know Christ will see Him through us. WE must not give them occasion to increase their negative thoughts of Christians or God. We must not give them influence over us (1 Corinthians 15:33-Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners), but we must be an influence over them. We must redeem the time by sharing Christ with them through our actions and words.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

This verse speaks to the issue of work. We must work at what we desire and when we do, we will be rewarded with success. We can not expect a magic pill or a get rich quick scheme to help us be successful. Hard, diligent, purposeful work will get us where we need.

This speaks to me as I am working on my health. It will take diligent work to improve my health; I can not just hope for it to get better.

Walk in Truth, Light, and Love

2 Corinthians 10:3

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

God created us with bodies/flesh, but that is not who we truly are. We have souls and the Spirit of God dwells in us when we accept Christ's shed blood for our sins. However, we still need to live with our bodies until we are called home.

Just because we must walk in the flesh does not mean we must give in to the flesh. We "war" against fleshly desires with the truth of God. We war to walk in truth, light, and love.

Walk in His Commandments

2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

The Bible is full of information on how we should walk. Here we are told to "walk after his commandments."

What are His commandments? Well, there are the ten commandments, of course.

Exodus 20:1-17 KJV 1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

If you think about it, these all relate to relationship-relationship with God and others.

Christ also tells us in Matthew 22:36-40, the two great commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40 KJV 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Even the Ten Commandments can be summarized in these two.

When we walk in His commandments, we are showing love to Him and others. This is what we should strive for!

Walk in Peace

Ephesians 6:15

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

This verse doesn't say to "walk" a certain way (or not walk), but it does tell us how to prepare our feet. Whatever is on our feet will affect how we walk.

We are to have the gospel of peace on our feet. We are to always be ready to share the gospel of Christ. We are to live peacefully with all men (Romans 12:18, If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men) as much as we are able and still follow God's commands.

Christ spread peace wherever He went and we should strive to do the same. May we walk in peace!