August 2000

Christian Chronicles, August 2000 - Volume 3, Issue 57

The Editor's Pen

Last month we dealt with the related doctrines of Eternal Security and Assurance. This month we wish to cover another doctrine that is often misunderstood in relation to the security of the believer. That is, we wish to discuss the doctrine of the Christian Walk and Responsibility. Many people confuse this doctrine with the doctrine of salvation, supposing erroneously that one must walk properly in this life if he is to be saved. Still others believe that a morally correct walk is essential if one is to keep his salvation. While it is true that we are responsible to order our lives in accordance with Scriptural principles, neither our salvation nor our security is dependent upon our walk or service.

However, a proper walk is absolutely essential to blessing in this life and reward in the next. Having said that, it should also be here noted that what many consider a proper walk has nothing whatever to do with what the Bible demands of God’s children. Let us grow together.

Perspectives: Life Through Eternal Eyes

Salvation is a free gift. There is no work that is either necessary or possible that will gain heaven for anyone. If what Jesus did on the cross was insufficient, then no one has any hope at all of ever getting to heaven. We are neither saved nor kept by any works of our own, but everyone who is saved is saved by the grace of God without reference to any personal morality or merit (Eph 2:8-9).

Salvation, however, is wholly unrelated to the doctrine of the Christian’s walk and responsibility. The former has to do with salvation, whereas the latter has to do with both blessing and reward (see the article below for a fuller exposition of this distinction).

The walk of the believer is not found in a code of law or any set of hard and fast rules. Rather, we walk a spiritual walk that proves to be somewhat nebulous when one sets out to define it on paper. Indeed, there are many admonitions and instructions given in both the gospels and the epistles. These, coupled with the promises to the believer and the declarations concerning his status in “the heavenlies,” paint a picture of one who, more than anything else, fits that description given by our Lord Himself in the gospel of John, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn 3:8).

For the average Christian, the proper walk is one that is concerned only with moral dictates. The rule seems to be, “Be good and go to church and everything will be all right.” They rock along in their lives neither fruitful nor spiritually fulfilled. And they do not even know it. It is sad but true that many if not most Christians have no idea of the power of the Godhead that dwells in them, nor of the spiritual strength that is available to them if they would but tap into it. Prayer, for the average Christian, is a matter of petition, an exposition of his fears and desires. Prophecy is an arcane field of little or no interest, and church is the place to go for that nap before the afternoon sporting event on Sunday.

The real problem with the Christian walk and responsibility is that it isn’t often even considered relevant to our temporal lives. Instead, a weak Christianity that involves little effort and even less thought characterizes the vast body of professing Christendom. We don’t mind being Christians as long as we don’t have to get too carried away with it. It is Ok as long as it is convenient.

It truly is a matter of perspective. Christians are not earthly creatures. If E.T. was an alien, we are more so. Memory fails as to what part of the galaxy E.T. was supposedly from, but every Christian who has ever lived has been from outside the universe altogether. We are each and every one eternal creatures, not made of stardust, as New Age humanists love to proclaim, but we are made of stouter stuff than that, born of the very seed of God Himself (see 1 Jn 3:9). The humanists see themselves very much as temporal creatures, born only to die. Christians should view their lives as extending beyond the grave, on into the footless realms of eternity. We should view our lives today as a time of service, preparatory to that blissful eternal state which is to follow this time of toil and travail.

Most of us live our lives as if the only things that matter at all are our earthly successes, our familial attachments, our possessions, and maybe among the affluent, the destination of our next vacation. We pay lip service to God, not realizing what a great God we serve so poorly.

The spiritually mature Christian is one who has begun to view his life from an eternal perspective, placing less emphasis upon his earthly circumstances and more upon his heavenly destination. It was precisely this that caused Jesus to declare that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21).

The Christian walk and responsibility does not spring from any lists of do’s and don’ts, but those whose perspective is eternal will more consistently walk as they ought, in the hope of being found doing what they should be doing when Jesus calls His bride out of the world at the rapture of the Church.

Mid-East Update

The Camp David Summit that closed in July advanced the hopes of all sides for a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement. As expected, the greatest hurdle was the issue of how to “divide” Jerusalem so that all sides could claim some form or measure of sovereignty. That question was left unresolved as of the close of the summit meeting.

A dramatic development has occurred, however, in the inclusion of the Vatican in the discussions concerning Jerusalem since the close of the summit. Madeleine K. Albright, the U.S. Secretary of State, traveled to Rome to meet with the Pope to discuss that issue with him. The pontiff has stated his desire to see Jerusalem declared an “international” city, with equal access being guaranteed to the faithful of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Of course, Christians know that Jerusalem will be the seat of government when Jesus ascends His throne, and that all of Jerusalem, indeed all of Israel, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River will be Jewish, with no divided sovereignty or other allegiances. But we also understand from the prophets that Jerusalem will be the focus of Gentile dominion until the Second Coming of Christ, so it is with expectant eyes that we ought to view the current negotiations concerning Jerusalem, not because we should wish to see the Jews give up a single square inch of Jerusalem, but because we know that they shall, and that whatever comprehensive negotiations they engage in serve only to hasten the day of our departure. For the rapture of the Church will occur prior to Israel’s ratification of a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement.

Ehud Barak faces challenges to his government in Israel but it appears that his regime will survive to continue his efforts to achieve “peace.”

Fruit of the Vine

Christians are, first and foremost, ambassadors, responsible for ministering the word of reconciliation. While prayer and Bible study are essential to any successful ministry, the bottom line of all the responsibilities that accrue to the born-again believer is the winning of lost souls through the spread of the gospel (see 2 Cor 5: 18-21).

Does this mean that every Christian must be a preacher? Not at all. Ministry takes many forms, depending upon the spiritual gifts bestowed upon the individual Christian. However, there is not a Christian anywhere in the world who is not equipped to present the gospel to a lost soul. After all, the only thing involved in such a ministry is explaining to another person what you yourself understood when you were saved. All evangelism begins and ends at the cross. No one has ever been saved without understanding the significance of the shed blood. No one can truly say, “I don’t know how to witness to anyone.” There is no mystery to it, but the simple truth is that we all already know what we must know in order to tell someone about God’s grace. Deeper study serves to make us more versatile ministers, but everyone can serve God from the moment of their own salvation.

Salvation, Blessing and Reward

Salvation is granted during our earthly lives, but not fully realized until we enter our eternal estate. Blessings are showered upon us in our temporal estates, to be enjoyed in the here and now, in response to acts that demonstrate our faith in and dependence upon God. Rewards are reserved for the saved, to be dealt to believers immediately following the rapture, at the judgment seat of Christ.

Salvation is a gift from God to man, granted on the basis of faith in the sufficiency of the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary, without reference to any action on man’s part. Blessing is a state of mind. It reflects a soul at peace, understanding that, whatever one’s circumstances may be, they will all work for that one’s good, according to the purposes of God. Blessing does not necessarily equal material increase, though many people see it that way. Blessing is happiness, and may be achieved without reference to objective circumstance, depending upon one’s faith relationship with God from moment to moment. Reward is earned. We labor for the Lord in this life in order to lay up treasure in heaven for the eternal state.

No lost person can experience the blessing that is readily available to the weakest Christian, nor can any lost person lay up treasure in heaven with which to be rewarded in eternity. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness” (Mt 7:22-23). Conversely, no saved person ought to be any longer concerned with his own salvation, but with his service. Growth toward spiritual maturity involves looking more and more Godward in good times and bad, maintaining an emotional and spiritual equilibrium that is not affected by the vicissitudes of life. Therein is blessing, and therein may rewards be earned. The spiritual walk and responsibility of the Christian is ever Godward, leading not toward carnality, but toward service, blessing and reward, serving God in the salvation of the lost.

The Walk and Responsibility

The question is, Who can be like Mother Teresa? The answer is, nobody. Not even Mother Teresa. In their attempt to canonize Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic Church must show that she lived her life without sinning, and that she performed a number of genuine miracles. She did neither. If she lived without sin, then Paul lied when he wrote that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (see Rom 3:23). Furthermore, David also would have lied when he sang, “There is none who does good, no not one” (Ps 14:3). If being a Christian demanded that one live sinlessly after being saved, then Paul disqualified himself when he wrote, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Rom 7:18-19 — see context). Only God performs miracles. He sometimes uses men and women as His instruments, but even Peter and Paul did not claim to have been the operative force in any of the miracles they were involved in.

Paul was certainly a sinner, and continued to be a sinner even after he became an apostle. While he hated the sin that was in his life, he could not root it out of his life altogether. Yet, he managed to serve God and to become, arguably, the most fruitful minister that the Church has ever had. Being saved neither gives one a license to sin nor frees him from the presence of sin in his life. The walk of the Christian is always toward sinlessness, for it is a walk toward eternity, where we shall have lost these sin natures that so beguile us today. But that walk toward sinlessness does not include any increasing degree of personal sinlessness along the way. Just as Paul never did learn how to do what was good or avoid what was evil, neither do we. Those who would tell you that we can live sinlessly in this life have either an exaggerated view of their own righteousness or a terribly diminished view of what sin is. The Christian walk is not about becoming increasingly sinless at all, though every Christian ought to have an increasing desire to become sinless as he or she becomes spiritually mature, even as he also has an increasing awareness of just how sinful he remains. It is impossible to increase in the knowledge of God (see Col 1:10; 2 Pet 1:2) without also increasing in the awareness of how little we actually resemble Him in our own character in this life. Yet, we grow in grace and in peace through our knowledge of Him, so that we do not focus our thoughts and attentions on the darkness of our own sin, but on Him who is the Light.

We are everywhere exhorted to live righteously. What? Shall God through His prophets and apostles exhort us to sin? No, the righteousness of God is written on our hearts, so that we have a genuine desire to sin less and serve more, and we are constantly admonished to do so. Everyone who is truly born again is keenly aware of his sin, even if his particular brand of sin is private and hidden completely from the eyes of the world. The mature Christian, however, does not dwell upon his sin, knowing that such leads only to more sin. Rather, he dwells upon God’s grace, ministering the word of reconciliation to a lost world. There are but few passages in the New Testament that do not in some way touch upon the need for holiness and growth in personal righteousness. The way to achieve that holiness is not, however, through any reformation of the self, but through an increase in the knowledge of God. It does not happen because we become good, but because we grow increasingly holy. We do not learn to cast off our sin natures, but we certainly must learn to be more closely joined to that which is eternal, and less attached to that which is temporal, so that our attitudes and actions become increasingly set apart to God, which is what the word holy really means. Our sin natures do not become less sinful, but we, by increasing in the knowledge of God, are increasingly drawn toward that which is heavenly and less drawn toward that which is earthly. The thing to remember is that holiness does not come to us through self-reformation, but through knowledge and maturity. It is not sinlessness, per se, but separation; not separation from sin, but separation to God. These may seem like mere semantics, but they are indeed very important distinctions, for one glorifies man and the other glorifies God. If there is to be any reformation of the flesh, it will be the Holy Spirit who accomplishes it in us, not any act of will by which we improve our sinful characters. God does indeed effect changes in every one of His children, but it is generally in spite of our misguided attempts at self-reformation rather than because of them.

So then, having learned that the walk is not about self-reformation, let us turn to what it is about. Primarily, both the walk and the responsibilities of the Christian revolve around the relationship of the person to the God who saved him. Communion and service, fellowship and ministry, privilege and fruitfulness — these are the things that make up the walk of the mature Christian.

One of the great failings of the American government — indeed, any government — is its vast and over-reaching bureaucracy. Civil servants rarely interact more than one or two levels above or below themselves in the chain of command. Instructions come down to them in the form of paper regulations, written in such legalese and infinitesimally fine detail as to render sound sleep to anyone who attempts to master them. Furthermore, if a mid-level bureaucrat were able to go straight to the top with his questions, he would find an executive who did not know the answers, for most policy is formulated at some level far beneath the top. Any President who attempted to keep up with who reports what to whom and in what form would quickly become so overwhelmed in detail that he could no longer function in giving direction to the movement of the government.

It is not that way between God and His children. There are no mid-level bureaucrats standing between even the youngest believer and the very Head of the body, Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus Himself has full access to the Father, so also does every Christian have both the right and the privilege of complete communion with God Himself. And God is not limited in His knowledge by any finite capacity for understanding, but He fully understands every detail of every Christian’s life in every aspect, so that he never becomes overwhelmed by our needs. If every citizen could walk into the President’s office whenever he had some small concern, the President could not possibly serve everyone, or even anyone, but God deals with all His children continuously, and not only invites, but exhorts us to remain in full fellowship with Him at all times.

Yet, when we pray, how do we pray? Do we not mostly send up a grocery list of petitions for things that have to do with ourselves alone? Solve this problem; supply that need. John Hagee once described this attitude as treating God like some “cosmic Bellhop,” there only to do our bidding. We certainly should pray for our needs. It is a great comfort to have such a God as ours, who not only can, but will meet every need, and who instructs us to inform Him of them (as if he did not already know them fully!).

As His children, it is our great privilege to pray to a wise and loving Father. However, as His sons and daughters, we are also responsible to pray for others besides ourselves. For whom then must we pray? For individuals who are near to our hearts, to be sure, but also for the Body of Christ as a whole, persecuted in a God-hating world of darkness. We must pray that God will make the Bride of Christ fruitful, even as He also prepares her for the Day when we shall hear that shout that says to us, “Come up here!” (see Rev 4:1). Shall we not also pray for Israel, adulterous toward her God, yet still chosen by Him and yet to be restored? We should pray that she will be strengthened to stand against the wiles of the devil in a Gentile-dominated world. We must pray that God will glorify Himself in her, that the nations may know that He is indeed God. Must we pray for our own governments? We are instructed to do so.

Communion with God is so very much more than mere petition. Where is praise? Where is intercession? How are our hopes ever going to become heavenly if all our prayers concern earthly things? What is the first petition in that prayer which we call the Lord’s Prayer? Thy kingdom come! Where then ought our hope to be? In earthly concerns? No, in the rapture of the Church. And what is the last petition in that prayer? Deliver us from the evil one. And when does that happen? “...for Thine is the kingdom…” That prayer both begins and ends with thoughts of the end of the Age and the rapture of the Church, which must precede the coming of the kingdom of Christ to the earth.

So many of us repeat that phrase, “In Jesus’ name we pray,” like some magical formula, a mantra that forces God to respond, without ever considering what it really means. We pray in His name because of our position in Him. When we pray in the name of Jesus, we pray with the full authority of Christ Himself, with all the expectations that the Son of God has, for we are His Body, and have the right to pray in His name. Ought we not be very careful of what we pray for, since we pray in His name?

Prayer certainly is important in the Christian walk and responsibility. It is the fuel that energizes the ministry of the believer. We increase in the knowledge of God through Bible study and Christian education at both the local church level and in seminaries. Education without application, however, is little more than entertainment, and is of little value. If we learn all about prayer, but never pray, what good does it do us? None. In similar fashion, if we learn all about Christian service, but never serve, where is our fruit? We have none. As children of God, we have rights and privileges; as sons and daughters of God, we have responsibilities. Chief among those responsibilities is our service in Christian ministry. Oh, no, it is not only the clergy who are responsible to minister. They are responsible to teach everyone else to minister, but we are all servants, charged with personal ministries that we are responsible to fulfill.

And while there are indeed many forms of ministry, depending upon the various spiritual gifts given to each Christian by the Holy Spirit, there is one form of ministry that is imposed upon every believer, without exception or excuse. Let us allow the Bible itself speak to this issue:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5: 17-21).

It does not matter what other ministries we might have, whether teaching or administrations or giving or any other ministry, we are all given the ministry of reconciliation, charged with the task of letting lost souls know of the all-forgiving grace of God whereby they might be saved. The devil will supply a thousand excuses for not fulfilling this most basic of all ministries, but the Bible only imposes it upon us once. Once is enough. Not everyone is called to be Dwight Moody or Billy Sunday, but we are all called to be ambassadors, whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20-21). We are not earthly creatures, but new, heavenly creatures, charged with the responsibilities of ambassadors, pilgrims and strangers in a world with which many of us have become far too familiar. As ambassadors of heaven, sent to earth with the ministry of the word of reconciliation, our responsibilities are the same as any earthly ambassadors sent from one country to another, to represent our homeland’s interests faithfully. The interests of heaven on earth do not involve trade or politics, but reconciliation. Whatever other ministry God may have given each of us, we are all called upon to shed the light of the gospel on sin-darkened souls, illuminating the grace of God in fearful hearts.

While there are indeed many exhortations and admonishments given in the Bible for God’s children, and while the totality of our walk and responsibility is indeed a nebulous thing, difficult to explain in any context, it still becomes a rather simple thing when we break it down into its major elements: fellowship through prayer and praise, intercession for others, and service in a personal ministry. If we attend diligently to these things, we will not cease to be sinners, but we will certainly become fruitful servants of God, able ministers handling the word of reconciliation profitably to God, aware of our heavenly destination, unfettered by our temporal possessions, operating in the realm of time as the eternal creatures that we have become. It is impossible in the context of such limited space and time to list all of the exhortations and instructions given in the Bible to God’s children, but it is entirely possible for every Christian to search those Scriptures himself and to apply to himself those things that speak particularly to his heart. The Christian who prays, studies and serves selflessly, and does these things steadfastly, will find that he or she walks that Christian walk and fulfills the Christian responsibilities with joy of heart and a hopeful soul in the service of God and mankind, with every expectation of both blessing now and reward hereafter.

Walking Properly by Abiding in Christ

“Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being
Made perfect by the flesh?”
(Gal. 3:3)

The Christian’s responsibility is the “what” and the Christian walk is the “how.” Our responsibilities are given to us all throughout the epistles. The things we’re exhorted to do call for supernatural power in order to be accomplished. Commands such as “Pray without ceasing,” are clearly supernatural in character and not something to be accomplished by the flesh.

According to Gal. 3:3, the Christian walk is accomplished by means of the same Spirit that wrought in us all of the riches of divine grace at the moment of salvation. Clearly the Apostle presents here a distinction between the “having begun” and the “now being made.” Sanctification follows justification and the means to accomplish each remains the same, but the two are related only in that sanctification cannot be accomplished or even begun without a person’s having first been justified by faith in the efficacy of the Blood shed at Calvary. That is, a person must be born again of the very seed of God before any true sanctification can be effected in him by the Holy Spirit.

In our walk as members of His glorious body, we must never stray from the Head, who is Jesus. It was Him, and Him alone, to whom we looked and upon whom we trusted in the moment of our salvation, when we received His precious gift of grace. But how often we look away, to walk the road and fight our many battles there alone! And this we do as if His grace has somehow been overextended. But how much more grace is given to those who have already been reconciled! Spiritual growth to maturity is accomplished through the same Spirit that caused our spiritual birth in the first place. The Christian who looks to himself rather than to God for his sanctification will never achieve any measure of sanctification at all, for our sanctification is not effected by ourselves, but by the God who saved us.

No, we’re not called to become holy or to bear fruit in the energy of our own flesh but in the power of His Spirit, and this is accomplished by that same looking unto Jesus in faith during the whole of our Christian walk just as at the moment of our salvation.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him”
(Col. 2:6).”

It is this exhortation to walk in Him by which we shall be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. As we walk in Christ, we are empowered to be and do those works that He has prepared beforehand for us to do, but as we walk in the power of the flesh, we can accomplish nothing for God at all.

Our judgment at the Bema will have nothing to do with our sins – those were paid for (in full!) by our Lord at Calvary. It is clear from Scripture that it is our abiding in the Vine that will be tried with fire for it is that abiding and that abiding alone by which the child of God brings forth fruit! And since it is a matter of abiding to bear fruit and not striving, it is said that we will be judged by the perfect Law of Liberty. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains firmly attached to the vine. We cannot be fruitful in any good or lasting work without letting the Spirit of God flow from the Vine to us, producing fruit for us. Works that we do alone will burn up in the fires of judgment, but works that the Spirit does through us will survive to produce gold, silver and precious stones.

First John has much to say on the issue of abiding and is not, as many suppose, a book to test whether or not one is a Christian (he assumes his readers are saved, and speaks to them as such throughout – see 1 Jn. 2:12-14) but rather whether one is abiding in the True Vine. Likewise, Jesus’ own call to abide was given to the eleven disciples. It could never be said that the unsaved are to abide in Him, but rather they are everywhere called to believe in Him. Space prevents a fuller exposition of that remarkable book of the Bible, but we would urge a deep study thereof as your time permits, for your own edification and growth.

The Salt of the Earth

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor how will it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt 5:13).

What does it take to walk the way Christ would have us walk? Many believe that you have to go to church on Sundays, memorize Scripture, attend Sunday school, do good deeds. All of these things are desirable but what does Jesus tell us?

First of all we need some background as to what was going on during the time in which Jesus spoke. Many people were fed up with the religious rulers who were running the show. The Scribes and Pharisees had made religion much too hard for a normal person to uphold. They had tacked on 365 prohibitions and 250 more commandments to the original law given by Moses. These were the burdens placed on men’s shoulders that were too much to bear, of which Jesus spoke.

But Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. Not that we could be or that we ought to be but that we are. Salt, back then, was very important. It was the refrigeration of the times, being used as a preservative. One dash of salt on a dish changes the flavor of the food. When the salt was contaminated with dirt or sand, it was “good for nothing.” Another well-known fact about salt is that it makes one thirsty. Speaking with a “salty” Christian makes those around him thirst for the Water of Life. A good word can change a life entirely.

The real walk of the Christian is to act as a preserver of life — eternal life. But really, more as a presenter than a preserver. Salt is the active agent in preserving meats, and God uses His children as His agents in the preservation of both spirit and flesh. Jesus always spoke very carefully and very accurately.

We Ought to Examine Ourselves Daily

The Bible contains many passages around which Christians should seek to mold their lives. When we become children of God, the Seed of God is born in us. We are to nourish that Seed with the Word of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in our day to day walk. We are lights in a dark world, placed here to shine God’s love on the people with whom we come into contact. We are often the only “Jesus” a person will ever see, so that we ought to consider our walk carefully.

Paul offers sage advice in every epistle, but in Romans he touches on some particular points that are helpful in our relationships with both God and men. He writes:

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfast in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men... overcome evil with good. (Rom 12: 10-18, 21)

Paul is not just giving a list of Do’s and Don’ts here but is providing a description of the heart of a Christian. Take that brief passage about being patient in tribulation as an example. If we get all worked up when things don’t go as we think they ought to, then that reaction must be of the flesh and not the Spirit. Patience does not depend upon reason or human desire, but upon trust in God. The soul at peace has patience. We are told to examine ourselves (our walk) to determine if we are walking in faith. When we find ourselves out of sorts over any issue, our walk is fleshly and we cannot then be fruitful or blessed in anything we attempt.

It is impossible for any Christian to be spiritual all the time, for “the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.” We cannot make ourselves be or do anything spiritual, but we must bear in mind always that “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” Let us walk in the Spirit moment by moment, in Christ.

Thy Will Be Done

Christians often have legitimate questions as to the direction that they should take in specific situations in their lives. While it is generally true that the Word is our guide, the Bible does not address every possible option with which we are faced. Sometimes a choice must be made between two equally “proper” directions.

When we do not know what God would have us do, then it is proper to ask that He work His own will in our lives, causing us to do those things that are both pleasing to Him and beneficial to us. Our heavenly Father is not out to “trick” us. When we ask Him to lead us, He always will do so. If we ask Him to move us in accordance with His will, we may rely upon Him to see that our steps are ordered accordingly. However, God does not often let us know today what He will have us doing next year. When we pray, “Thy will be done…” we ought then to wait patiently for the time of decision to arrive before we expect to understand His will.