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Maintaining a Healthy Spiritual Walk Part 3
Maintaining a Healthy Spiritual Walk Part 3
What would happen if you decided to stop using your legs; if you decided to stop walking. Maybe you buy one of those Hoveround motorized chairs and decide you are going to get around by cruising around in style. Well, as you could imagine it would not take too long before the muscles in your legs would turn to jello. They would grow weaker and weaker as the months go by where eventually you would have a difficult time standing not to mention the fact that you would no longer be able to run, or even walk.
The saying would come true, ‘If you don’t use it, you’ll loose it.’
If you want a healthy body so that you can keep on functioning properly, we need to maintain a certain level of physical activity. (This is of course assuming you are physically handicapped) Likewise, if you want to remain spiritually healthy, we need to maintain a certain level of spiritual activity to maintain a healthy spiritual walk.
Walk and its various forms, (walking, walked, walks, etc)…appears 252 times throughout Scripture… It appears as early as Genesis 3:8 when Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden…
it occurs close to 50 times in the Wisdom Literature like Psalms and Proverbs…
It occurs 47 in the Old Testament Prophets…
It occurs 49 times in the Gospels and Act, and it occurs 15 times in the Epistles. And the last occurrence is in Revelation chapter 21…
So you can see that this word is found scattered liberally throughout every kind of literature that makes up the Bible…
it occurs close to 50 times in the Wisdom Literature like Psalms and Proverbs…
It occurs 47 in the Old Testament Prophets…
It occurs 49 times in the Gospels and Act, and it occurs 15 times in the Epistles. And the last occurrence is in Revelation chapter 21…
So you can see that this word is found scattered liberally throughout every kind of literature that makes up the Bible…
In particular I like the scriptures that make reference to ways that will improve, maintain, or tune up our spiritual lives as we walk. For Example scripture make reference to:
#1 Walking with God. When I take a hike it’s especially nice when I go with my wife or one of my kids. On those hikes or mountain climbs, it’s not only a time to exercise the legs, but more importantly it’s a great time to fellowship, enjoy the other person’s company, and share and talk with my love one. Sometimes you talk about things you otherwise would not make the time for. We talk about our worries, concerns, our ambitions, or our dreams; whatever is important.
Likewise it’s important to take time to walk with God like this. I thinks it’s important to learn how to enjoy His company and spend time listening to His voice as you meditate on, or read His Word. It can also be a time to express hopes and dreams with Him as well as our fears and concerns as we pray and talk to Him. Or it may simply be a time to relish His presence as we go thru the day..
Taking time to walk with God in this manner is an important part of maintaining an over-all healthy spiritual walk each day. It is like stretching or preparing your legs before you climb a mountain or hike a trail.
#2. In other places Scripture talks about Walking BEFORE GodA. To me, there is a difference between, “walking WITH God” and “walking BEFORE God”.
Walking WITH God implies close communion and fellowship like we just talked about
But walking BEFORE God seems to imply obedience and faithfulness.
But walking BEFORE God seems to imply obedience and faithfulness.
B. In Genesis 17:1, God tells Abraham, “I am God Almighty ; walk before me and be blameless.”God was establishing His covenant with Abraham. God was telling Abraham that He would bless him with many descendants, that they would have their own land, and God would guide and protect them. That’s what God would do.
But as far as Abraham’s part, he was to walk in obedience to the Lord, to serve Him and Him alone, and not just Abraham, but all his descendants as well. They were to live their lives in obedience to God, Holy, Righteous, and blameless.
One phrase that is found over and over in scripture is a reference to “walk in God’s ways.” Walking in God’s ways implies an obedience to the will of God.
Deuteronomy 5:33 says, “ Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. “
Deuteronomy 26:16-17 “The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him”
In the NT we also have many verses that have been written instructing us how to walk. In Galatians 5 Paul writes, 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
The Bible encourages those who have been born again to walk in a new way of life. To keep in step with what the Spirit of Christ desires.. verse 25
This isn’t something that is forced upon us, rather, it is a walk we choose when we accepted Jesus as the new Lord of our life.
Just as we should choose to change some habits and choose to feed our body what it needs to keep it healthy, the same is true for our spiritual life. To maintain a healthy spiritual walk we need a good spiritual diet of God’s word, good Christian fellowship, heartfelt prayer. And just like we may need to cut out some bad habits and stop consuming things that are bad for us for our physical health, we are told to stop doing certain things and stop consuming things that will hurt us spiritually.
And the result will be the fruit of the Spirit mentioned: “ love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.”
These Fruit of the Spirit to some degree should be evident and seen in our lives. If you lack of any aspect of these ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ in your life you need to take time and examine your walk with God.
It may be time to give your walk a tune up or some maintenance. You may need to make some changes in your life. Maybe you’ve allowed some old unhealthy habit to creep back into your life. Or maybe you are not consuming enough of the good things that are meant to strengthen and enrich your life and spiritual walk.
God is interested in every part of our lives. So we need to submit every aspect of our live to God. It’s not enough to say we are born again or that we are Christians, we must live the life and keep in step with the Spirit.
If we are saved, we must live like it! The Spirit that raised us from the dead will also lead us into Christ-likeness as we walk in-step with Him; that is if we choose to continue to walk with Him.
In our last lesson we looked at an important verse in Romans 12:1-2 which is also important for this lesson. It says, ““Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
It begins with the mind, making a decision to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, an allow our self to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we will test and know what God’s will is.’
And that should lead to the first part of this verse where we… out of love, we choose to offer our bodies, our whole self as a living sacrifice to our Lord and God for service.
God not only walks with us in the spiritual sense…and not only are we to walk before God in humble obedience… But there is something else I find most encouraging. . Scripture also reveals that…..
#3. God Walks Among UsFrom the very beginning in Genesis 3:8 we read that man was never alone. We read that the LORD God was there with Adam and Eve walking in the garden in the cool of the day, even when they tried hide from Him.
#3. God Walks Among UsFrom the very beginning in Genesis 3:8 we read that man was never alone. We read that the LORD God was there with Adam and Eve walking in the garden in the cool of the day, even when they tried hide from Him.
Even after the fall, all through scripture we can find instances of God being there among His people. In Leviticus 26:12, God told His people, “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people”…and we know that while the Children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness…
There were times when God was real close:
There were times when God was real close:
– The pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day, to lead the way, the Shekinah glory of God above the mercy seat first in the Tabernacle then in the temple.
– In Isaiah 43:2, God says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.“
– In Isaiah 43:2, God says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.“
In the Old Testament we read that God spoke to the people through His prophets. And then the Word of God quite literally became flesh, and for a period of some 33 years He dwelt among us, and He walked and talked to us as a man; and we called Him Jesus. God was with His people then, and He is with us today.
One of the last thing Jesus told His disciple before He ascended into Heaven was, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And this is true. His spirit was poured out and walks with us and lives in us. Jesus said that we would not be left alone. We are never alone!
We are told that His Spirit would come to help teach, and guide us and lead us into greater truth. The promise wasn’t for just a selected few, but all who would accept Jesus as Lord. (John 16:5-15)
Sometimes when we run a race or climb a mountain we may feel like quitting when we get tired or discouraged. The end just seems too far off. It’s great knowing that we are not alone, that there is someone cheering us on, encouraging us not to quit. Don’t ever forget that God is with you and me all the time. He loves us and wants us to become all that we can be, even if we do not believe in our self.
Closing: We see from Scripture that we can walk with God in a spiritual sense and that it can be a blessed sweet communion if we choose.
We also see that we should walk BEFORE God in humility and obedience. This is actually for our benefit and best interest.
And there are those special times when God walks amongst us and is always with us.
And there are those special times when God walks amongst us and is always with us.
And questions naturally arise, like: ‘Well where is He? I can’t see Him?’ God is not a physical being, He is a spiritual being and that’s something hard for us to understand. But that’s where faith comes in. And each of us has to choice to believe or not to believe. How sad it is for those who choose not to believe He is here. How sad, how lonely.
And then there’s the question: ‘How can we walk with Him and before Him? Who am I, I am too weak.’
In Leviticus 26:13 God told the Jews, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”
God told those people long ago, you guys didn’t do anything. It was me who brought you out of Egypt. And likewise it is God who will give us the strength and ENABLES us to walk with Him.
It is by His power and thru Christ that we can live for Him and walk before Him in humble obedience each and every day. We cannot free our self of sin and it’s shackles without Him. His Spirit will give us the power to change, that is if we accept that help.
I like what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:13 He said, “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. “
Walking is certainly good for exercise…it is good for the body…it is good for spending some quality time with someone you love…and that includes our Lord Jesus Christ!!
Today I want to challenge you to:
– Walk with Him!!! Enjoy sweet fellowship with Him…
– And do your best to ‘Walk before Him in obedience to His will. Its for your best interest.
– And finally find comfort in the fact that He walking with you.
(Sermon Based a little on a sermon by Larry Brincefield)
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