When a person ceases to listen to those around him they become independent. Thinking they know best they begin to tread a dangerous path which has a downward spiral. Their pride elevates them to a height where they experience a dizziness likened to height vertigo, from which they eventually fall! Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”.
There are two wills in my life for consideration, my will and God’s. My life will only demonstrate the savour and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when I surrender my will to His perfect one. As I walk in humility I access and abide in His perfect will for me. When I choose my will in independence and pride, I walk in the permissive will of God but find God stands against me. In this position I find I have forfeited God’s peace. This wilderness is a dismal place! Repentance is vital to get back on track.
Do I walk WITH God, or ask Him to walk with me, bless me? These are different gears. Consider the lives of the following three men in the scriptures record of them. Enoch and Noah were in a higher gear than Jacob.
Enoch walked WITH God, and he was not.
Noah walked WITH God and found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Jacob was altogether different. He was a twister until God changed him. He WRESTLED with God. His prayer was for blessings for himself and requested God to walk WITH him!
When I walk WITH God I get into step with Him and see things from His perspective, not mine. I discover His thoughts and plans are so much higher, and greater than mine. In this position my prayer life changes. I do not have to ask God to bless me because His blessings are showered upon my life as a consequence of walking WITH Him. It is His will to bless, He keeps His promises.
As I walk WITH Him, I make Him number 1 in my life, His final purpose, and I become number 2. When I disrupt that order and allow my self will to dominate, chaos results.
Conviction of the Holy Spirit is a vital part of a Christian’s walk, but too much introspection is a deadly thing to be obsessed with. Fretting regarding whether I am in God’s will, or not, brings confusion. Confusion is not of God. The peace of God is a hallmark of a person carrying His presence and an evidence of being in His will. The absence of God’s peace is an indicator for us to wait on the Lord and find out what direction He requires us to choose. God is always present in our lives but He allows us to have our own thoughts and make our own choices. As we walk WITH Him making right choices, we become the will of God unconsciously. As we walk WITH Him, His thoughts and ways become ours and we find the delight of walking in His ways. Incrementally we become what He intends us to be in His divine purpose, being conformed to the image of His Son, (Ephesians 4), carriers of His peace.
Photo by Paul Pastourmatzis on Unsplash
