Tag Archives: Ephesians

Pathways of life: the easy ones aren’t always the best

pathways

© Meryll | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Pathways help us to know where to walk. Whether it is the city park, the sidewalk in the yard, or even the sidewalks downtown, pathways are always there, helping to direct the way for those who use them. It’s easy to see which pathways, like the ones in the John James Audubon Park, are the most often used. These are the ones that are wide, well maintained, and are fairly easy to follow. There are other paths that offer an even better view of some of the park’s scenery. But because they have steep hills and are a bit loner, they are less maintained. They simply are not paths that are as popular as the others.

A popular path isn’t always what it seems

This morning I shared a Dr. James Dobson webcast on The Daily Walk Facebook page about cohabitation. Unfortunately, I am one of those who believed what I was told about the supposed benefits of cohabitation before marriage. Why? To be completely honest, during the mid 1980s and into the 1990s even the sitcoms and music I listened to promoted the message that there was nothing wrong with it. In fact, I even had good friends and family members that promoted it as a sort of trial marriage – to make sure you’re compatible before you make the commitment of marriage. I think of the teachings of Jesus: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat (Matthew 7:13).

At that time in my life, with family members and friends who claimed to be Christians, I wasn’t given any advice or information to counterbalance what I was being taught about cohabitation and marriage. My mother even provided the advice to my sister and myself of if your marriage doesn’t work out, there’s nothing wrong with divorce. For two marriages and nearly thirteen years, I had a very unbiblical view of marriage. My idea of marriage was based on advice offered that was the opposite of what God had designed marriage to be. As I listened to both yesterday’s and today’s webcast it hit me how often we are led astray by advice that originates on the wide path.

Placing the Lord as the focal point of your life’s pathways

As I often share, I did not come to receive Jesus as my only Lord and Savior until I was 36 years old. I had to reach the point where I was ready to completely surrender to His will. It also meant I had to unlearn everything I had come to understand about life. David wrote, Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalms 16:11). Since I’ve given my life to the Lord there’s been a great transformation that’s happened. Intentionally I have tried to make everything in my life Christ-centered. The way I had previously chosen left me with a lot of regrets and uncertainty.

I wanted to put what Paul wrote into practice, And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24). The rest of the passage quickly became the rallying cry needed to turn away from my old ways: Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:  Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers (Ephesians 4:25-29).

Learning a new way pathway takes time and commitment

There’s a verse in Psalms that I’d like to share: Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies (Psalms 27:11). As I have shared before, in 2006 I committed to study the Bible the way I was studying for my graduate coursework. I wanted to learn, genuinely learn, everything I could about my Lord and Saviour and my newfound faith. What I discovered is the Bible just is not some ancient and irrelevant book. It is a book that is extremely relevant in today’s world. Not only was I amazed at God’s plan for marriage but how misunderstood God’s plan is by the world. I was also amazed at the simplicity that the Lord had placed on ethics. It is never right to do wrong, no matter what outcome you are trying to create.

David also shared in Psalms how exactly he planned to learn about the pathways God had for him: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalms 119:11). Anyone that has read David’s story as contained in the Bible knows he was far from a sinless and perfect man. He often made decisions that were far from perfect or being scriptural. But David did understand he was accountable to God for his actions and tried to make sure he honored God in all that he did. He also learned from his mistakes, asked forgiveness, and tried to be a better man each time he stood back up. For these reasons, I believe God called David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, (Acts 13:22b).

The broad pathways cause confusion, God’s plan is simpler

With the so-called ethical values of today’s society, we have created ethical dilemmas for many people. While the Bible teaches you are accountable for all you do, human society has adopted it really isn’t your fault mentality. The plain path David is asking the Lord to give him is one relatively free of confusion. It doesn’t have any gray areas that cause us to wonder about the best way to handle situations. The Lord has provided a life philosophy that is fairly cut-and-dried. If we come to something that causes us to act contrary to the word of God, then we simply don’t do it. We don’t take part in it.  As a matter of Biblical principle, it is never acceptable to do wrong to do something good or right.

We hear often of people who had good intentions and later find out the results were far from what they desired. Many times, there were compromises made along the way to get things moving in the direction desired. Maybe it’s a small business, a personal relationship, or just about anything else in life. If compromise and going against biblical principles is what it takes to do something, then it is not of God. It will not build anything that will last or bring glory to the Lord. Yes, it really is that simple. There are no grey areas with the Lord!

Understanding the simplicity of God’s plan

I have often told my Sunday school class that our Lord is a common-sense God. If we go back and study history, there are actual reasons why the various Old Testament laws concerning diet were put into place. There were psychological reasons marriage was to be monogamous. There were also reasons why farmers were supposed to let fields go fallow every seven years and to not harvest the corners of their fields. God understands the tendency we have to make things overly complex. Whether it is a favorite recipe, a lawnmower engine, or even relationships, mankind has a tendency to do things in a way that aren’t simple nor understandable from a practical point of view. 

God also understands we have a tendency to over-think things. I know this is one of my personality quirks. I’m always looking for the hidden reasons, the hidden meanings behind things. Once I accepted that God’s word was the final authority, and accepted it with a child-like faith as Jesus tells us to do, then I began to understand my relationship with my Lord and with my young daughter a lot better. It isn’t out of spite or meanness God tells us not to do certain things. It is out of love and a sincere desire not to see us hurt or to face the consequences for doing them. What parent wouldn’t want to spare their children from the agony of mistakes that could impact the rest of their life? Once you understand that, then you can understand why God’s pathway is the simplest one. 

 

 

Be the champion your church needs

championChampion – what does it mean and are you willing to step up to the challenge? Do you have it takes to be a champion for your church and family? A champion is defined in the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary as a militant advocate or defender or one that does battle for another’s rights or honor. Within the King James Bible there are two ways this concept is used. The first is seen in Samuel and references Goliath, the enemy of God. The second concept, God calls more than our modern definition of champion, and this is a man of valor. In our modern usage of the English language, it is the second concept I will be using.

The challenge put forth to me by the Lord

The Daily Walk, for the most part, is the vehicle the Lord has given me to share my faith and my walk with my Lord and Savior. As a part of this ministry, I’ve shared my struggles with my faith and the ministry where the Lord has called me to serve. The week before Christmas (2016), the Lord began working in my heart. At the center of the struggle were two verses. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17). The second verse is found in the Old Testament. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me (Isaiah 6:8). Within the week of Christmas, two more verses were added to what was already going on in my heart.

At the center of my confusion, the two verses the Lord brought into my mind simply brought everything else into focus. The one that stung the most was: And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). I know the specific ministry the Lord has called me to serve. I also have problems with my past; can our Lord forgive completely? Yes. This has never been the problem and I know I have been forgiven. The problem lies in my own frustration and anger in what I was and the time I wasted pursuing things that have no eternal value. 

Becoming the champion that the Lord needs

The last verse the Lord brought into my heart was one penned by the apostle Paul. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9). Throughout 2016 many people tried to share with me the simple wisdom of this message – if the Lord has called you to do something, he will bring you to the place you can do it. Those two weeks before Christmas and the week after, the Lord began to show me something about myself that I didn’t know. I had become so fixated on worrying about things I could not change that I missed opportunities to serve Him. God was calling me to be a man of valour – not in the future, but now.

The concept of a man of valour is found forty-two times within the King James Version of the Bible. Thirty-five times, you’ll find the exact phrase, men of valour and seven times, man of valour. According to Biblical mathematics, the number thirty-five refers to hope and seven refers to completeness and spiritual perfection. Both numbers added together, forty-two, refers to the oppression of Israel and the first and second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What the Lord was working on was my heart and the need for men and women to stand up and become these servants of valour – champions the church needs today.

The men of valour were equipped, willing, and ready for combat

As I began to study what made these men so noteworthy that the Lord inspired them to be recorded as men of valour, several traits became obvious. In 1 Chronicles, the Lord gives us a trait: All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle (1 Chronicles 7:11). These were men who knew, understood, and drilled in the art of war. They knew what it took to win the battle and once committed to battle, would only break off an attack when given orders from their king.

The second trait these men of valour possessed is also found in 1 Chronicles: And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God (1 Chronicles 9:13). The Hebrew word translated here for able men is the same phrase meaning men of valour (חָ֫יִל – Strongs 2428). These men were ready to do the work that the Lord set before them to do. Within our faith as Christians, we have a lot of things in common with the description given of these men. Our Lord and King has left us a specific set of instructions. We know what He’s asked of us, and we know we have all the equipment we need.

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Breakwaters of faith and their role in our life

breakwaters

© Micha Fleuren | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Breakwaters play an important role in modern society but many of us never bother to think about them. Even when I lived on the Gulf Coast  I never really paid much attention to what had become a common item. I watched the television reports of the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew as it churned its way up the East Coast of the United States. One news broadcast contained a weatherman in Charleston after the hurricane had passed that city.  Although he was highlighting the damage to the area near him, the breakwaters did their job. The beach behind him was in better shape than the rest of the area!

What is a breakwater?

As defined in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Online, a breakwater is a wall that is built out into the sea to protect a harbor or beach from the force of waves. For the past few days I’ve been thinking about the breakwaters God intended us to have within our faith. On Wednesday evening of this past week, I was able to attend midweek services with my in-laws. The services yesterday at my local corps (this is what the Salvation Army calls its local congregations), both the morning and the evening services seemed to brush against a similar topic as Wednesday’s service. A part of our growing faith in Jesus creates such a breakwater for us to be able to bear the storms we will face.

Real storms, such as Hurricane Matthew, teaches us about the preparations made by a community for such storms. Right now, even as clean-up continues, many towns, counties, and states are already reviewing what was learned and are making preparations for the next big storm. A spiritual storm can teach us a lot about who we really are, show us where we need improvement, and will allow us to grow in our faith.

We must develop spiritual breakwaters

When I briefly lived in Gulfport, Mississippi, I learned that after Hurricane Camille, nearly every public and private organization studied ways that could have reduced the impact of that storm. By the mid 1970s, breakwaters were added along key areas of the Gulf Coast spanning from Louisiana to Florida. Within our Christian walk, we must prepare for the spiritual storms. I think of the application of what Solomon wrote, The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; (Proverbs 30:25). Already in our house, we see the occasional ant scurrying around, looking for crumbs – in preparation for winter. Solomon is advising us to pay attention to the ant and understand a simple lesson. They prepare for the bad storms now, when things are going well. It would be too late to try to gather food for the colony during the winter.

Since 2006, I have noticed changes in my spiritual walk with the Lord. At first, even the smallest storm would send waves of doubt into my mind. I would doubt my sincerity to Christ, I would doubt His forgiveness being complete, I would doubt that He could love someone as wretched as me. The problem was not Jesus’ love for me at all; the problem was I didn’t have any breakwaters to meet Satan’s spiritual attacks. Satan is not dumb. Too many Christians underestimate his ability to trip up and bring spiritual chaos to even the strongest of Christians. Remember the warning by Peter, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). 

The breakwater of asking forgiveness of our sins

Earlier this morning I was deleting some old photos off my smart phone. I came across a photo I had taken of the weekly question written on a dry erase board we use for our pre-teen Sunday school class. The question was, “Why does it seem that it takes God so long to help me when I’m in trouble?” This is a question that all Christians, at some point in our walk, will ask God. The apostle Paul, when explaining the Lord’s Supper, said: But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup (1 Corinthians 11:28). This examination does not begin with anything other than us examining all we do through the lens of scripture.

This is the first and important breakwater of our faith. Paul tells us why this self-examination is so important: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:31-32). When we examine ourselves honestly through scripture, we have an opportunity to confess our sins, our failures, and shortcomings before God begins to deal with us about them. When we are in the middle of a spiritual storm, there are times when the Lord will not intervene until we confess our sins that separate us from His boundless grace and love.

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