Walking with Jesus

 

My hubby goes to a men’s prayer group each week. Last night, those men and their wives met at the leader’s home for fellowship and dessert. The fellowship topped the ‘sweet’ list. One of the wives was the person who made a wreath of pink tulips for me (because of this post). We’d only met once before yet our conversation was as if we had been sisters forever. Why? Because our desire to live for Christ was identical.

Today’s example is Enoch from the OT. He lived as many years as our calendar has days. It was said: “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:23–24) The NT put it this way:

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:5–6)

Enoch did not win God’s favor by something he did. Instead, God was pleased with him because he believed what God said, the same as Abel did before him and Noah after him, even the same faith of the thief who died beside Jesus and the faith of those who are in God's family today.

As for the walking part, the only way anyone can do this is by faith. I began my journey with the Lord by faith and cannot perfect or complete that journey by my own efforts in the flesh to do the good attitudes and actions as God commands.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6–7)

But how do I know what that looks like? The next chapter in Colossians describes a walk of faith. It is about priorities, attitude, hope, self-denial, and willingly allowing Christ to use me as a display of His goodness. That includes forgiving others and loving His family as my own with peace and thankfulness ruling my heart. It is also being in His Word and letting all He says affect all I think, say, and do.

If I have been raised with Christ… set my mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. I have died, and my life is hidden with Christ in God… I must put to death what is earthly in you… all evil desires and idolatry… putting them away, also anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk and lies. I’m to put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and… forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven me. Putting on love as it binds everything together in perfect harmony, letting the peace of Christ rule in my heart… being thankful, all because the Scriptures richly dwell in me. I’m to teach, admonish in wisdom, sing praise and thanksgiving in my heart, and do all to glorify the Father God in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Colossians 3:1–17 personalized and paraphrased)

PRAY: Jesus, You are teaching me more often to pray Your words and as I do, the sense of You hearing and responding keeps increasing. Walking with You is not about me being sinless, but about knowing Your perfections are mine by faith, and as I keep my heart and mind on You, You are transforming me to be more like You. The more I see my weaknesses and failures, the more You remind me of Your goodness and grace. Walking with You is an incredible wonder!

Eternal means eternal, forever, always…

When my husband became a Christian, a godly man explained to him how he would now live as a believer. He put a cup on the table right side up and said that God wants us to be filled with His Spirit so He fills us. However, if we sin, we tip over and like this full cup, we are not able to hold that fullness of the Spirit. How true. The Holy Spirit does not cause, initiate or tolerate sin.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)

Then this man explained that the way to become upright again is to confess our sin and ask God to fill us. He tipped the cup back up, then added, “You will go through life like this” and tipped it, stood it upright, tipped it, and kept repeating those actions. He said, “As you mature and become more like Jesus, you will learn to quickly be aware of sin and quickly confess it, and stay upright longer.” In other words, eternal life has its ups and downs, but it is still eternal, forever, life always with Jesus.

This illustration has changed lives. It is true to Scripture and to experience. It is impossible to avoid temptation; everyone experiences it. Learning to recognize it and say no to it is vital. Yet it is also important to learn how to get back in our spiritual groove. Otherwise growth is hindered, even stops. God is faithful to convict and teach His children.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

Like a hand in a glove, the mind of Christ works in my heart to want His will and function accordingly. He saved me from sin’s penalty and enables me to learn the way to be saved from sin’s power.

I once attended a church where a man said he no longer sinned. He claimed that to sin was a disgrace to God’s saving power. But the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Another person in that congregation told me that she believed in Jesus, but if she decided she didn’t want eternal life with Him, she could back out of being saved. Even as a new Christian, I wondered how eternal life could be lost if it was eternal.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That life is in Christ who promised to never leave us. How can we lose it if we did nothing to gain it? Those who presume they are saved because they did the ‘right’ thing also presume they can lose it if they do the wrong things. So sad. The loss when we sin is fellowship and the ability to walk in the Spirit, but that is restored as soon as sin is confessed and turned away from.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so joyful that You are my Savior. Yes, You want obedience, but not that it saves or keeps me, but because Your will is good for me. It also glorifies You when this limp and useless glove allows Your hand to move it. If I’m trying to do anything without You, that work is totally useless. I might boast of my goodness or in the temporary results, but none of what I do when tipped over is good for me in the long run, and brings no glory to You. Besides all that, You keep Your promises and know how to work in me to desire Your will and do what You ask. I’m so glad that You saved me, are saving me, and eternal life lasts for eternity!

Secured and kept by grace

 

When a person is drafted or enlisted into the army, at that moment he (or she) is a soldier. Then comes boot camp and many other experiences that teach that person how to be what they already are, living and acting as a soldier should act.

In Scripture, the gospel includes a similar idea. When Jesus took me into His forever family, I became a Christian, but I certainly didn’t know how to act like one apart from His enlightenment and training that came with this new identity. It is described here:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)

The Bible calls this sanctification or consecration. When Christ saved me, I was set apart by Him and for Him, a new creation but one that had a lot of learning to do so I would live like that new person should live. Every Christian knows the fight to keep that old nature from ruining our efforts.

Today’s reading says this truth: “The thought of God in the deliverance of Israel was not that they should wander in the wilderness but that they should be brought into the Promised Land, which typifies the life of full consecration.”

However their refusal to enter, and their excuses about the giants in the land, and all their mistakes and disobedience did not mean these people were not His. They had a lot to learn after resisting His leading and teaching and they often went AWOL from bootcamp to do their own thing, but He eventually took them to the place He promised.

At the end of the reading, the writer of the devotion makes a statement that is not biblical: “Entire consecration, therefore, is binding on every Christian, and sooner or later each one must come to know it, for there is no entering heaven without it.”

This statement may be intended to provoke persistence in learning, but it fails to show that consecration is both a reality and a process. If misunderstood, it flies in the face of salvation by grace. The OT saints were not entirely set apart in their behavior even after getting in the promised land. The thief on the cross was told he would be in paradise with Jesus and he missed bootcamp entirely! When Jesus says, “You are mine,” then we move into training to act like it, and our lives change. Some change at different rates, or in varying ways, but Jesus saves — our efforts to behave come from the Holy Spirit who is with us and in us. We are not saved by faith and then kept saved by works as this writer seems to suggest.

The Galatian church had a problem with trying to perfect their Christian lives after they were saved, not realizing that this perfection is in Christ, not our fleshy efforts. Paul wrote this:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:20–21)

Then he added a question that applies to this idea of being perfected before we can get into heaven. Instead, he affirms that growing in grace is part of our new life, not done in self-effort nor  does God turn away believers who fall short of full consecration.

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? (Galatians 3:2–6)

John agrees: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3) 

PRAY: Jesus, consecration happens because You saved me and set me apart. Faith in You is my entrance to heaven, not how pure I am before You will let me in. In You, I am no longer condemned. Romans 8:1. While some may be better soldiers in this life and others not so good at it, You will never kick anyone out of Your army for a lack in their level of commitment for it is grace that got us into this amazing relationship with You in the first place, and grace that keeps us here If my commitment could do it, I would not need You.

Stand and see . . .

 

READ 2 Chronicles 17–20

Most explanations of the phrase “Jumping Jehoshaphat” say it is an expression of surprise and a pseudo-oath or way of blaspheming without actually doing it, like saying “Gosh darn” — however, this man was not known for jumping but rather for standing still . . .

Jehoshaphat was Asa’s son and king in Judah. He strengthened himself against Israel and in the cities his father captured. The Lord was with him because he walked in the ways of king David, not seeking idols as Israel did. His people brought tribute to him, so he was honored and rich. He had courage to obey God and removed the high places and idols out of Judah. He also sent officials throughout the land to instruct the people from the Book of the Law of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 17:1–9)

God put His fear of this king in others living around Judah. Even some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute as did the Arabians. Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater, building fortresses and store cities with large supplies and a large army. He also went to Ahab in Samaria who killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him. Ahab did this because his people were inducing him to fight Ramoth-gilead, a city in Israel’s territory that had been captured by an enemy, and he wanted Jehoshaphat’s help.

Jehoshaphat wanted to know God’s will about this so Ahab gathered several hundred prophets together. They told him to go for it, that God would give him the victory. Jehoshaphat was not convinced and asked for another prophet of the Lord. Ahab said there was one, but he always gave a report that didn’t look good for him. Eventually, this prophet was able to speak. He first told these kings, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’ ” Then revealed that the Lord used the other prophets:

And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another . . . . And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.” (18:18–22)

Ahab didn’t listen. He disguised himself, but told Jehoshaphat to dress normally. When they went to battle, the enemy thought Jehoshaphat was Ahab, but the Lord helped him and drew them away from him. Then a man shot an arrow at random and it “struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate.” Ahab left the battle, stayed propped up watching it, then died at sunset. (18:23–34)

Despite this alliance, Jehoshaphat continued to seek the Lord and was just in his judgments. Later, a huge army came from three other countries to defeat him. He prayed:

O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (20:12)

And God answered:

Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s . . . . You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”  

Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against these invaders. They were routed and even turned against one another to give Judah’s army the victory. It took Jehoshaphat and his people three days to take the spoil, and even then, they could carry no more as it was so much.

The fear of God came on all their neighboring countries and the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet as his God gave him rest. Yet the high places were not taken away and the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers. Sadly, Jehoshaphat again joined with Israel’s king (now Ahaziah) who was wicked. They built ships together, but a prophet said to him, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” And the ships were wrecked and were not able to sail. As with all the kings, Jehoshaphat died and was buried. His son Jehoram reigned in his place.

From this, my application is not to ‘jump’ when events threaten, but to do what Jehoshaphat did: bowing before the Lord, standing firm in trust, worship and songs of praise — then watch Him win the victory