Walking in Faith...

May 3, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalm 1:6.

When you strongly start to walk out your faith in God, trusting in Him with every thing, expect those twists and turns to jolt you. But when you are walking in God, you are pursuing righteousness, and that is where you are the most protected from anything the world can throw at you.

He will always restore you because you are pursuing righteousness for His glory. “he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” Psalm 23:3. It is His name sake you are walking in.

And He will protect you when you are on that path. You trust Him with every thing in your life, so He will make sure that as many times as you fall, you will get back up stronger than before. “for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” Proverbs 24:16.

When you are walking with your eyes fixed upon Him, walking out His word, and casting your burdens upon Him, He will prevent you from falling to the point where you cannot get back up. “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22.

In your walk, you are to have a quiet spirit, always looking to Him for guidance and comfort. On Earth we are quick to react, and usually react loudly. Instead, we are to focus on Him, and ask for His deliverance through something. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” Isaiah 32:17. You have no need to react quickly to anything because you have confidence in Him, and you know that He will handle it.

Chances are that our own reaction will not take the form of the righteous behavior God wants us to display to others. That is why we look to Him because He is perfect, and we are humans prone to sin. “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19-20.

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. This will give you peace and allow you to walk with God knowing that everything is going to be okay because you do not depend on things or people for your happiness, but you depend on Him, the One who always wants what is best for you with a pure heart. That peace is the reward for all the falls that He lifts you back up from. “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:6

And when you maintain that quiet, peaceful spirit, always looking to Him, He can hear you and give you what you need. “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3: 12.

When we ask God for something and He gives it to us, He does it in a way to let us know that it is Him, and not us, doing it. He wants you to "Be still, and know that I am God;” Psalm 46:10. If you aren’t maintaining a quiet spirit but are constantly reacting, and trying to fix everything yourself, He cannot do anything for you that will show you it is Him and not you because you are so self-absorbed into thinking you can fix it. So if you are trying to fix it and succeed, God knows that you will take the credit. But He wants you to know He is there beside you and heard your prayer, and He wants you to know that it was He who fixed it for you so that you might understand His love. And He knows that you can’t fix everything even if you manage to one time, so He doesn’t want you to have false hope. He wants you to come to Him because He can fix everything 100% of the time.

“Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…” 2 Corinthians 1:9-10. Sometimes bad things happen so we will stop relying on ourselves and turn to God. It is not God causing them necessarily, but He steps back to show you that you need to come to Him, and not to rely on yourself. He knows that when you rely on yourself you will cause yourself pain, and that is not what He wants for a child that He loves.

And if you hold to His path, He is with you, guiding and protecting you through the storms. And you will come through them with flying colors. “My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.” Psalm 17:5.