I love being a Christian. I am so thankful that I know Jesus is my personal Savior and that I have a home in Heaven awaiting me when my life is over. But maybe you feel like I do sometimes. Satan sits on my shoulder and points out all of the areas where I’m not succeeding. I look at my life and just like you do, I know my failings. I see where I need to improve and do better. To be honest with you, sometimes I even want to quit because Satan whispers, “You’ll never succeed…why even try?” Have you ever felt like that? I think we probably all have.
The book of Micah is one of the books of the prophets. Micah was a preacher around the time of Isaiah and this prophetic book was warning the people about God’s judgment on sin, but in chapter 6 verse 8 this prophet outlined what God expects from us as we walk through this life.
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8
This verse has helped me so much in my daily Christian life. Micah shows here in a rendered down 3 point outline what God expects from us. THIS VERSE IS GOD’S DEFINITION OF A TRULY SUCCESSFUL LIFE!
First, that we “do justly” which means to do what’s right. Second, that we love mercy and treat each other right. But thirdly, and the one that we often forget to do is to walk humbly with our God.
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “walk with God” but weren’t quite sure what it means. If you were to do a Bible study on this topic, it’s referred to from Genesis to the Revelation.
The word “walk” customarily means “to move from one place to another,” but “Walking with God” is used in the Bible to signify our conduct, behavior, or manner of everyday living as we live with the awareness of the presence of God in our daily lives.
In this sense, it is mentioned again and again in the Bible.
Yet, I believe that the reason we feel defeated and are tempted to quit is because we try to walk the daily Christian life in our own strength and by ourselves.
Can I ask…is this the case in your life or are you learning to walk by faith???
Our life begins the moment we are conceived. As God molds and creates each detail of our frame and gives life to our soul, we begin our journey in this world. We’re born, but we’re on our own on the journey. As we grow, we physically mature and learn new things each day. Someone cares for us and in about a year we learn to walk and our journey as individuals begins. But just as each baby in life has to learn to walk to succeed, we must…begin our walk by faith.
Walking By Faith
To Walk by Faith…
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You Must Begin Your Walk With God.
You cannot walk with God each day until your walk has started.
Your Walk begins when you are Born Again.
May I ask you dear friend, have you been Born Again? Are you saved? Over the years in our ministries, I have spoken to many women who say, “Oh, I’ve been a Christian all my life. I’ve been in church since birth. I was baptized as a little girl. I do my best to live for the Lord and serve Him.”
Dear friend, no one is born a Christian. We aren’t believers because our parents are. Attending a church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore that being in a garage makes you a car! Baptism doesn’t save you. Doing good deeds cannot save you.
We become Born Again when…
- First, we realize we are sinners.
- Second, we understand that because we are sinners, we are separated from God and cannot walk with Him.
- Third, we believe that Jesus Christ as God came to earth, a perfect, sinless man; died on the cross and rose again to pay the debt of our sins and be the Savior.
- Fourth, we must call out to God and ask Him to forgive our sins and accept Him as our Personal Savior, trusting in Him alone for salvation.
- When we do this we are reconciled to God and our walk with God through this life as our Father, our Savior, our Friend begins.
May I encourage each one to look into their own lives and be sure you can clearly remember a specific time when you called on the name of the Lord and asked Him to be your Savior! (Not just know that He is the Savior, but accepted Him and asked Him to you YOUR Savior!)
Once we are truly Born Again and know Christ as our Savior, our Walk With God begins.
Do you remember when you accepted the Lord?
Do you remember that burning desire to live for Him after you were saved?
Do you remember the longing to live a life that pleased Him?
Do you remember how you wanted to do what was right?
Yet somewhere on the journey after salvation you began to realize that you weren’t always doing right. You started sinning quite a bit and maybe even felt in bondage to sin just you as you had been before salvation. Sometimes you even felt like every time you wanted to stand up for Him, you failed. Has anyone else felt like that before other than me???
One of the mistakes we make as Christians is trying to live the Christian life in our own power.
We trust God completely for our salvation. We realized there was nothing we could do to obtain for ourselves and so we came to Him and wholly trusted on Him to save us. But then we try to walk alone through this life. We think that obeying the Word of God and doing what right is completely a matter of will power. We can do it! And yet time and time again we find ourselves falling down on the pathway and sometimes even lying in the ditch!
Often this is because our faith is weak! Why? Because we’re not feeding it the promises of God’s Word! You can’t walk without the strength of the Bible running through your thoughts and guiding your steps. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing and taking in the truths of Scripture.
Feed your faith and remember to lean on the Lord as you walk!
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Be Aware of God’s Presence on the Journey
HE’S WITH YOU! At the moment of salvation, the precious Holy Spirit comes to indwell you and be with you always!
As you live your life – He’s always there. The moment you accept Christ you get all of the Holy Spirit with you.
The question is not how much of Him do you get, but rather how much of you does He get? The more aware of Him you are the more influence and control He will have over your journey!
I think that as we walk through our Christian life we tend to look at the path before us and we act as through it all depends upon us.
YOU LIVE YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE THE SAME WAY YOU WERE SAVED – BY COMPLETELY LEANING ON AND TRUSTING IN JESUS! Just as when we came to Christ and said, “Lord, I cannot save myself. There is nothing I can do in my own power to save myself from my sin.”
In the same way we must come to God and admit, “Lord, I cannot walk through this life’s journey without your help. I need you each and every second. Please help me to be aware of your presence and depend on you.”
It’s at that moment that we begin to succeed on our journey!
The Bible says in Galatians 5:16-17, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
When we try to walk on our journey in the flesh, we will fail! You will never have success on your life’s journey without a total dependence upon God and a constant awareness of His presence each and every moment of the trip!
In Galatians 5:25 it says it again, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
So how do we do this?
– Constantly acknowledge God’s presence in your life. Talk to Him, include Him in everything.
– This begins the moment you open your eyes to begin your day!
Pray to Him –
“Good morning, dear Lord!
I yield myself to you today, please control me and all I do. Help me to be constantly aware of your presence.
I yield to you my mind…please control my thoughts today…
I yield to you my eyes…please control what I look at today…
I yield to you my ears…please control what I listen to today…
I yield to you my mouth…please control what I say today…
I yield to you my heart…please control what I desire and feel today…
I yield to you my hands…control what I do today…
I yield to you my feet…please control where I go today. Lord, I give myself to you today.
May I be aware of Your presence. God use my life today.”
– Then throughout your day, be aware that He is with you!
Talk to Him. This is what the Bible means when it says “Pray without ceasing.” We should be in a state of constant communication with Him.
We often try to live our lives running from responsibility to responsibility. We try to do all we need to do and be all that we are supposed to be without leaning wholly on the Lord as we journey. Then we wonder why we’re failing and falling apart at every turn in the road. All the while, He’s right there…longing to help…longing to be included in your plans, your struggles, your burdens. Yet we ignore Him and act like He really does live in a church house and not in us!
We can’t walk successfully with God when we aren’t constantly aware of His presence!!!
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Remember to Walk Humbly
Micah 6:8 tells us to walk with God, but there is a very important adverb included! We are to walk humbly!!!
When a baby learns to walk, at first they are timid. They will put the death grip on your hand because they don’t want to let go. They instinctively know they can’t do it on their own or they’ll fall.
As we start off on our Christian walk with God we know we can’t do it on our own, but after we’ve walked for awhile the temptation is there to let go of the Lord’s Hand and try to make it on our own.
We learn the words we’re supposed to say. We learn the actions we’re supposed to do. We learn the way we’re supposed to look and we get prideful!
We begin to think we can handle it and we start taking steps alone. We think that in our own strength and by our own power we can have a successful walk.
But we must remember what our Lord Jesus said in John 15 when He said, “Without me ye can do nothing!”
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Just Keep Walking Faithfully
I think a lot of people start going to church and seeking the Lord when they have problems in their life. They come looking for answers. And Jesus, our faithful Lord, has them.
We accept Him as our Savior and we do change and life is different, yet somehow we get a little cold or indifferent. Or perhaps they thought God was going to do something or fix something that they wanted and He didn’t – maybe we get a little disillusioned with other Christians or we even get hurt by them.
The temptation for all of us when these situations arise is to go back to what we were before. But God says we are to just keep walking with Him and stay faithful!
The Bible says in Galatians 6:9,
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
So, my friend, may I ask you…how is your life’s walk going?
1 – Have you begun your walk? Have you been Born Again?
2 – Are you walking each moment constantly aware of His presence and in communication with Him on the journey?
3 – Or did you begin your journey with Him, but somehow you’ve started to walk on your own? Have you let go of His Hand?
4 – Are you going to keep walking? Won’t you decide that this will be your year to be faithful to the Lord Jesus?
Are you tired of walking by sight??? WALK BY FAITH!!!