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"For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all His ways, and holding fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations mightier and greater than yourselves."
Deuteronomy 11:22-23
Dear Sisters in Christ,
In part one, we learned what it means to truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might. Today, in part two, we are going to learn what it look like when we walk.


What does it mean to walk in all God's ways?
Walking inherently implies some characteristics that often aren't thought about.


Walking: is it really that important?
I have to admit, in and of itself, walking seems very ordinary, almost thoughtless. But, we do this "unimportant" task quite a bit! Walking is one, if not the, main way that humans naturally go places. In order for me to leave this computer screen to go get a drink of water, I must stand up and walk the entire way to the refrigerator. In fact, every single time I stand up, I am faced with a choice: to walk and actually go somewhere, or to stay rooted in the same spot and not accomplish anything! Similarly, in our spiritual journey, we all are faced with a choice every morning we wake up. We can either a) choose to walk in obedience to God's will and to grab hold of His promises -or- b) choose to stubbornly stand, refusing to surrender our heart and day to God's will. Each choice has natural consequences and benefits, and the choice is solely up to us. . .

Walking is also a slow and steady process.
Let's face it, although we walk a ton, it is not running! Walking a mile takes much more time than running a mile and can seem very tedious and boring. (Who has ever heard of the world's fastest mile walked??) But, I believe that the sometimes the slowness of walking can represent our faithful commitment to God.  It represents our following Him every day, even in the seemingly small things, the things that don't seem to make flashy, huge differences. Even if it takes all day to walk that mile, we can choose to faithfully do it, following every word He says. Looking back, each step of that journey made a big difference because all of those small, slow steps added up to create the journey!  And, if we wouldn't have walked steadily all throughout that mile, we wouldn't have completed it. If the first time we became tired or became more interested in something else, we stopped and just stood simply because we felt like it, we wouldn't have made it through the mile that God willed for us to walk that day. Every step that we take beyond our comfort zone is a reminder that we are the humble servant and He is the Almighty Master. Our deliberate, committed walking (despite the pace!) is an expression of our founded trust in Him over our own convoluted desires.

While you are walking, never lose sight of your destination.
Never losing sight of the destination is twofold and has a warning. Our twofold aim consists of our daily goals and our eternal home. Each day, God has a plan, His will, for our day. This will always includes us putting our hand in His and listening for His whisper through the shouts of the world. His whisper will reassure us of His promises and will direct our footsteps throughout our day, telling us who to talk to and where to offer the helping hand. But always, even on the days when our walking seems extra slow and painful, we must never forget your bigger destination, our eternal home. Knowing that we are daughters of the Most High King grants us assurance even on the hardest days. Yet, while we are walking listening to Him and remembering our destination, we must be careful so that we don't stray from our target. When we know what God has asked us to do through His word and direct speech, we must not stop walking a stubbornly stand, for it is our duty to obey.

Finally, while you are walking, never forget who is with you.
We are not alone! During each slow, steady step that we take in order to reach our destination, the Lord goes before us and is with us. Again, He is there, holding us up and granting us strength to take each step through faith in Him. No matter how long the path looks in front of us, we have no need to fear for our ever present help in times of trouble is with us.

In conclusion, walking in all God's ways is more complex that initial thought might render.  But we are never alone in this faithful journey with Him because He is with us and goes before us!

Tidbits for thought:
  • Are you choosing to walk in obedience to God's will and to grab hold of His promises, or are you stubbornly standing, refusing to surrender our heart and day to God's will?
  • Are you steadily following God all the way through the slow process of your mile?
  • Are you listening for God's whisper through the shouts of the world and choosing to keep your eyes on your goals: daily and eternal?
  • Are you forgetting who goes before you and is with you?
Next time, in the conclusion of this series, we will learn what it means to honestly hold fast to God.
Keep walking,
Deborah



 © 2012 Deborah Hope Shining

"For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all His ways, and holding fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations mightier and greater than yourselves."
Deuteronomy 11:22-23

Dear sisters in Christ, 
The Lord Almighty yearns to set you free.  He longs for you to experience Him.  He longs for you to understand His plan and will for your life and live life to its full.  He desires for you to know how precious and beloved you, His daughter, are to Him.  He wants to drive out all your fears and guide you through the problems that you feel are mightier and bigger than yourself.  He is willing and fully able to overcome all obstacles you face.
But He does not want to do this for you as if you are a robot who is incapable of communicating with Him.  No, He wants more than that; He wants a relationship where He's involved in every aspect of your life - from day to day existence to monumental experiences.  He wants your cooperation so that you can learn and get the most out of your life.  He wants this relationship to flourish and wants to expand your heart and mind so that you might taste and see how good He is.

In this relationship we enter into, we need to obey our Master.  In Deuteronomy, the LORD told the Israelites some things to do so that He would drive out the nations before them.  Even though God gave these commands long ago, they are still important today because they still are expressions of God's heart.  The commands He gave are this: to love the Lord your God,  to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him.

What does it mean to love the Lord our God?
In Deuteronomy 6:5 the LORD commands His people to "... love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  I am currently taking a Becoming Women of Excellence class where we talked about what loving God with these means.  

First, loving God with all our heart means loving Him with all our emotions.  
Considering the roller coaster our emotions frequently seem to be on, you might think that sounds quite difficult.  But, loving God with our emotions isn't about feeling like we love Him.  Love is not a feeling, it's a choice.  When we choose to love God with our emotions, we are choosing to surrender to God every emotion: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Instead of dwelling on our sinful, negative emotions, we surrender them and have all aligned with His truth.  Continually choosing to love God by surrendering all of our emotions to Him brings us into deeper fellowship with Him.  In addition, loving God with all your heart means that choosing to put His will above yours.  This means that your dreams, plans, goals, and agenda all become secondary to His will.  You trust Him enough to let Him control each step you take, thereby letting Him control the path of your life.  Loving God with all your heart means that each day, out of loving surrender, you give Him your emotions and put His will above yours.

Next,we need to love the LORD our God with all our soul.  
My Becoming Women of Excellence teacher defined our soul as our personality.  So, we must love God with who we are, our personalities.  He maybe gave you the personality trait of a sweet spirit, natural people skills, or thoughtfulness.  We must use these God created qualities for His glory by unconditionally obeying Him.  No matter what your fleshly desires and selfish ambitions tells you, you must do what God calls you to do.  He may urge you to use your friendliness to reach out to the girl all alone at youth group.  Through your obedience of going and talking to her, you will be showing Him you love Him by using your personality in this way.  Doing this requires you to trust and surrender to God and use all that God created in you not for your glory, but to be a shining example of Christ.

Finally, this verse commands us to love the LORD with all our might.  
An ESV Study Bible note defines might as indicating energy and ability.  In everything that we do with our God given ability and energy, we must honor Him by doing it simply because we love Him.  For Colossians 3:23 tells us: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters ..."  We shouldn't do things to get praise for ourselves but only for our Savior.  Basically, loving God with our might means that all we do must stem from our devoted love of God.  

In conclusion, loving God is an exciting learning experience that is much more than a feeling.  It means surrendering our emotions and aligning them with truth, putting God's will above ours, being faithful to use how God created us for His glory, and doing all out of love for Him.

Tidbits for thought:
  • What emotions do you need to continually surrender to God and have aligned by truth?
  • Are you daily putting His will above your own?
  • Do you each day, out of loving surrender, you give Him your hopes and fears and let His love fill your given-to-Him heart?
  • Are you following God's instructions?
  • Are you doing all out of devoted love to your Savior?
Part 2 will go further into the verse and discuss what it means to walk in all God's ways.
Love Him with your all,
Deborah


 © 2012 Deborah Hope Shining
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About Me

Deborah Spooner is an analytical creative enamored by ideas and addicted to dripping words in candor. Serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Adults Ministry, she loves all things big-dreaming, difference-making, and Jesus-pointing. A pastor’s daughter with a background in communications and theology, you can find her at her local church with her students (and probably way too excited about the color yellow) as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.

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