How not to walk in the Christian life.

Walking in the Christian life is very important to those of us who want to walk worthy of what Christ has done for us.  There are two verses that I have put on my blog before that gives me so much encouragement and I am going to use them today too.  Hoping that by multiple use it will stick in our minds.  So many of us try our hardest and I have tried hard too, but there is a better way and the first two verses I present are promises that are amazing, please try to remember them and you will find the Christian walk so much easier.  God bless you as you go through this.

1 Thessalonians 5:22-24  "Abstain from every form of evil.  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely: and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."  Did you get that.  Christ is telling us to abstain from every form of evil and He will sanctify us completely, our spirit, soul and body and preserve us blameless at Christ's second coming. And the best part is He that calls us is faithful, who also will do it.  I love the fact that He is willing to do it for us when we are surrendered to Him.

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  He will complete His work in us until the end.  We don't really have to worry about it except that we need to surrender out lives to Him to do His will in us.  And according to these two verses He is very willing to abide in us and complete His work in us.  I am so grateful for His work in me.  I know I have a long way to go but I trust His promises that He will do it for me and complete it.

Now for how not to walk in the Christian life, Trust in God and remember these two verses above.

John 8:12  "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Romans 8:1,4  "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.  That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according, to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Ephesians 4:17  "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind."

2 Corinthians 4:2  "But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness not handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

You see no matter what God commands us to do, He gives us the power to do it through His Spirit.  We do not have to worry about the doing, because He does the doing.  We must make choices to follow Him and surrender to Him and sometimes this is not easy, but He will help us with that too, just ask Him to take over your life.  You will not be sorry one bit, it's easier to be saved then to fight with the devil and do his bidding and be lost.  Won't you join me in complete surrender and enjoy His companionship the rest of our lives?  I know you won't be sorry.  Grandma Joan

The Christian Walk, cont'

We have covered quite a bit of what God would be pleased with in our Christian Walk.  There is more though and I hope you are ready for some.  I am, it all means so much to me, as I hope it does to you.  Here goes-----

1 Thessalonians 2:12  "That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."  If that isn't something to look forward to, I don't know what is.
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Ephesians 5:15  "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise."

Colossians 4:5  "Walk in wisdom towards those who are outside, redeeming the time."

1 Thessalonians 4:1  "Finally brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God."

There is so much in these four verses, it is so important to walk worthy of God because He calls us into His own kingdom and glory.  What a promise!!  Are you looking forward to that as much as I am?  It's a wonderful promise.  Then we are to walk circumspectly, walk without bringing reproach upon God with what we do and say, these things are so important.  Not being foolish but being wise.  Walk in wisdom, remember we get wisdom when we study God's word and making up for the time we were not walking with Him by doing as He did and does.  We are being urged and taught that we will grow more and more just as we receive from the word how we ought to walk to please God.  When God's word comes into our lives by studying it and applying it or allowing God to apply it to our lives we will receive the promises that He has promised in His word.  We are not earning anything but we are spending time with Him each day and that's what He wants us to do and then He can do anything through us and with us.  The more I study, the better it sounds.  I am enjoying this so much.  I am praying that these posts will not have been in vain but will help you on your journey to God's kingdom.  Grandma Joan

The Christian Walk, continued.

Yesterday we learned that we need to walk in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (sin) in our lives.  A great promise and the only thing that is required from us is to study His word and walk in it.  He does the rest, He even gives us the power to walk in the Spirit and then cleanses us from all sin. He even gives us the power to walk in the Spirit if we want to and show our earnestness in doing it.  Here are some more instructions in walking or living our lives.

Ephesians 5:2  "And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us."

Ephesians 5:8  "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light."

1 John 2:6  "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."

2 John 6  "This is love, that we walk according to His commandments."

2 Corinthians 5:7  "For we walk by faith, not by sight,"

Ephesians 4:1  "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called."

Colossians 1:10  "That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Let's recap a little bit.  Walk in love, it's easy to love those who love us but what about the others, even those who have done us wrong.  Now we have the light, are we going to walk in it?  We need to walk like Jesus walked.  Loving others and doing good to them as much as we are able.  Also to walk according to His commandments.  We need to study them in Exodus 20 and walk worthy of His calling with which we were called.  We also need to please God and be fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  And how do we increase in the knowledge of God?  By studying His word and really when you try to study every day you discover the joy that it brings and it makes your day so much brighter and for me it also takes away my loneliness. I love what studying His word has done for me and I sincerely hope that it has done the same for you.  I love to share with you what God is doing for me, may you be abundantly blessed.  Grandma Joan

The Christian Walk.

In other words 'The Christian way to live".  We have learned from the last few posts that we need to keep in His word and all the blessings that follow when we do.  I felt like I needed to study what the Christian walk was all about, or how we should live.  It is very interesting and I know for those of you who are just starting the Christian life, this may be a little hard to understand but remember if we study His word, He will give us understanding, which we all need as we study.  So pray and follow on to know how God wants us to live.

1 John 1:5  "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare unto you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all."

1 John 1:7  "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

1 John 1:6  "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

3 John 4  "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Colossians 2:6  "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him."

Galatians 5:16  "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Galatians 5:25  "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

My experience with these verses, lest you become discouraged by reading them.

It is good to know that in God there is no darkness at all, if there was, how would we know truth when we read it. I have found that when I am following closely to God I know that He is cleansing me from sin as I study His word, I see what sin is or what the lust of the flesh is and I am convicted to give it up to Him and He takes care of it.  Another benefit of studying His word.

If we brag about having fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we are a liar and are not practicing the truth that we are reading in His word.  If Paul had no greater joy than to see His children walk in truth, what kind of joy do you think our Father in heaven feels when we turn to Him from darkness?  How do we keep from fulfilling the lust of the flesh?  Walk in the Spirit and we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  A great promise from God Himself.  If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit.  Our lives will reflect whether we are walking in darkness or light.  This has been very enlightening and I have some more for tomorrow, don't miss it. I love to know God's will for my life and you will too as you study His word.  Grandma Joan

God's warnings to us who study His word.

I know that there are hundreds of doctrines out there and it confuses people who are trying to get to the real truth of God's word so I thought it would only be appropriate to study some of the warnings from Scripture itself.  They are very timely for the times we are living in and what is going on in the world today.  I pray that God will do this study for me as He has done in the past, because this one is being ignored by many preachers and members today.

1 Corinthians 2:4  "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."  When we are trying to share with others, we need to do it with God's wisdom and not our own.

2 Corinthians 4:2  "But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness not handling the Word of God deceitfully."  Have you ever listened to someone preach and wonder where in the world he got that from.  So what we do?  We do like the Bible Bereans and study to see if those things are so.  I have heard lots of errors that did not agree with Bible teaching, so beware of what you hear or read.

Revelation 22:18,19  "If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book."  A very fearful and faithful warning to us not to add anything to His word, to take it just as it reads.  Verse 19, "If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book." Another fearful and faithful warning to us not to pretend something says what it doesn't or to add something or take something away that doesn't suit us or our doctrines.  Let's just study the word as it reads and be diligent to apply it to our own lives and we will be ready when Jesus comes.  May God bless you as you have been studying these posts each day and apply them just as they read from His word.  "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."  Grandma Joan

Proper attitude towards God's word, continued

Sometimes we are prone to doubt the word of God, but that is Satan's way of discouraging us, and we don't need his advice on anything, we need to cling to God's word and His word only, not take men's advice either because if it is against God's word it is coming from Satan no matter where or how we become doubtful, it is always Satan's plan to destroy us and discourage us.  So here are some more Counsel from God's word.

Acts 11:1  "Not the Apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God."  That is what we are to do.  To receive the word of God as truth and apply it to our lives day by day.

Acts 13:48 "Now when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of God."  We are to do the same, give God glory when we learn new things that can bring us salvation.

Acts 18:11  "And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them."
When we learn new things, it is a good thing to teach it to others, even in our simple way it brings God glory.

Psalms 119:148  "My eyes are awake through the night watch, that I may meditate on Your word."  When we wake up in the night and can't go back to sleep, this is good advice and also we can spend the time praying for others and for ourselves.

2 Timothy 2:15  "Be diligent to present yourselves approved of God,a worker who does not need to be ashamed rightly diving the word of God."  I pray that I am rightly dividing the word of God to you each day.  I don't want to stand before Him in the judgment ashamed.  I pray and ask His guidance as I study His word and for wisdom to give what I have learned to you in the right way.  I want to be accurate in all that I post.

James 1:22 -24  "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  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"  We must be a doer of His word and not just read and forget what we read or hear and forget what we heard.  We must ask Him to put it in on our hearts to do and not forget to do.

I hope you don't mind if I recap each study, it helps me remember what we went through and not to forget.  So today we learned that we are to receive His word and glorify God when we receive it.  We can teach what we are learning to others, and when we awake in the night, it gives us time to meditate on what we have learned and we can also  pray during that time too.  We need to rightly divide the word to be approved of God. and be doers of that word.  I want to please God by being a doer of His word, don't you?  Tomorrow we will study some warnings given about God's word.  Very important.
Grandma Joan

Proper attitude towards God's word

I have heard various expressions that do not show respect and reverence towards a Holy God, and taking His name upon our lips in swearing is one of the ways, another way is calling Him 'the man upstairs', I have heard that too and it actually pains my heart to hear His name spoken so lightly,  I want to protect His name and what it means to me but people don't even give it a second thought. Today I want to study about our proper attitude towards and Holy God and His Word.

Psalm 119:161  "My heart stands in awe of Your Word."  Awe would be reverence of His word.

Isaiah 66:2  (last part, God speaking)  "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite Spirit.  And trembles at My word."  God's word should be looked upon as something that causes us to tremble when we read things that touch our hearts.  It sometimes brings tears when we feel of unworthy.

Jeremiah 23:28  "Let him speak My word faithfully."  We must be faithful in sharing with others when we have the opportunity.

Acts 17:11  "Search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."  Test what I have written and see if it is true.  If you think it isn't, let me know, I don't want to bring reproach upon God's word.

Acts 8:25  "So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord they returned to Jerusalem."  Those that are able should preach the word of the Lord and help others understand His word.

Acts 4:29  "Now Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word."  We need not worry about what others think when we talk about God's word, but speak with boldness that others my learn to study His word too.

That is probably enough today, it is important that we reverence God and His word and let it affect our lives to the point of trembling at His word, we also need to search His word to make sure what we are reading or hearing is truth and not take someone else's word for truth.  We can always give our testimony even if we cannot preach the word, our testimony will glorify God.  We also need to be faithful in studying His word and sharing it, also be bold, regardless if others threaten us or not.  There may come a time in the near future when we will have to suffer threats.  It seems to me that the world is becoming less and less leaning to Christian standards.  Do you find it like this too.  Let's be faithful to God regardless of what happens, knowing that our security is in Him.  Tomorrow will be a few more on attitude towards God's word.  Until then be faithful.  Grandma Joan