How To Walk Wisely

Once you have come to accept Christ as your personal savior, and you are seriously wanted to let Him give you victory from your "strongholds", there are seven elements to a consistent Christ-cenetered lifestyle.

Determination: Walking in wisdom is not something that happens automatically. We must decide ahead of time to pursue godly living wholeheartedly.

Focus; To stay on the path of God's will in our lives, we must fix our attention on His Word. As we mediate on Scripture and let it's truth be absorbed into our minds, we will align ourselves with Christ, and our choices will be in tune with biblical principles.

Spirit Sensitivity: As we develop a determination to live a holy life style and as we pay close attention to the Scriptures, we become more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and He will show us direction that we are to take in our daily walk with Him.

Trust: There are times that in our thinking, the Lord's choices for us are not sensible; in other words, they may seem foolish or require a sacrifice. trusting in His perfect wisdom is necessary if we are to walk according to His divine plan for our lives.

Courage: Sometimes, the things that God requires of us may make us fearful. But, as our faith and trust in Him grows and deepens, our courage will grow also, and we will discover the wonderful joy of embracing His choice for us.

Perseverance: It is one thing to start out on the right path, but maintaining the course is a different matter. We can only choose and stay constant over a long period of time by depending on God, and God alone. Nothing else will work.

Wisdom: Walking with God requires that we constantly practice a few basics:

• know God,
• trust Him,
• listen to Him.
• and obey Him.

Is this your desire and pattern for your life?

REMEMBER, a lifetime of godliness develops one choice at a time.

A Way That Seems Right

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death.—Proverbs 16:25

Things are not always what they seem. Proverbs warns that we can be deceived into believing we are going down the right path and yet be heading toward death, the opposite direction from God's will. People do not naturally seek God or pursue righteousness (Rom. 3:10–18). Only as the Spirit awakens our hearts to the Person of Christ are we able to desire God's will. If we make decisions apart from the guidance of the Spirit of God, we will be like a ship trying to sail without a compass. We will do what makes the most sense, based on our own wisdom. But what looks attractive may actually lead to sin, ultimately destroying what is precious to us, for our most profound human thinking is mere foolishness to God (1 Cor. 1:18–20). Only God knows the way that leads to life, and He wants to lead us to walk in it (Matt. 7:13–14).

Don't assume every opportunity that arises is from God. Satan will disguise himself as an “angel of light,” and his invitations will seem to be in your best interest (2 Cor. 11:14). Yet his way leads only to death (John 8:44). The word of God will be like a light to your path, guiding you in the ways of righteousness (Ps. 119:105).

It can be perilous to follow a path that seems right without first consulting the Holy Spirit for guidance (John 16:13). Take time to seek the Holy Spirit's direction when you face decisions. He knows the full ramifications of your choices. The Holy Spirit will assist you to understand truth and to experience abundant life. Trust Him as He leads you.

Spiritual Strongholds

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV) 

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 

The word “strongholds” is found only once in the New Testament, and is used metaphorically by Paul to give us a description of the Christian’s spiritual battle. This passage gives us several facts about our warfare:

• Our battle is not planned according to the way this world fights.
• Our weapons are not physical, for our warfare is spiritual in nature. 
• Our power comes from God alone.
• God’s plan is to demolish spiritual strongholds.

Spiritual warfare means that we have a spiritual enemy, and a spiritual enemy requires spiritual weapons. We are told that we have some weapons and they are mighty. They are effective. 

Our first weapon is the Word of God. We need to have confidence in the Word of God. It is the sword of the Spirit. Paul could come to Corinth, that citadel of philosophy and religion, with the weapon of the Word of God. That is exactly the weapon that he used. Paul writes in Ephesians:

• "And take the helmet of salvation;
• and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17). Paul drew his trusty sword, and he depended upon the naked blade of it. He wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).

The second weapon is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul recognized his own human weakness. He knew that he was sealed by the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Another weapon of our warfare is prayer. Now it is true that there is very little about prayer in either of the Corinthian epistles. However, Paul certainly believed in prayer. In the Book of Ephesians he lists this as one of the offensive weapons. "... Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6:17-18).

What are these “strongholds” or “fortifications” we face? In verse 5, Paul interprets the metaphor: 

• Casting down imaginations (arguments), and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

 The “arguments” are the philosophies, reasonings, and schemes of the world. The “pretensions” have to do with anything proud, man-centered, and self-confident.

The enemy has erected strongly fortified garrisons to resist the Truth and attempt to thwart God’s plan of redemption. There is the fortress of human reasoning, reinforced with many subtle arguments and the pretense of logic. There is the castle of passion, with flaming battlements defended by lust, pleasure, and greed. And there is the pinnacle of pride, in which the human heart sits enthroned and revels in thoughts of its own excellence and sufficiency.

The enemy is firmly entrenched; these strongholds have been guarded for thousands of years, presenting a great wall of resistance to the Truth. None of this deters the Christian warrior, however. Using the weapons of God’s choosing, he attacks the strongholds, and by the miraculous power of Christ, the walls are breached, and the bastions of sin and error are battered down. The victorious Christian enters the ruins and leads captive, as it were, every false theory and every human philosophy that had once proudly asserted its independence from God.

Anyone who has fought an addiction, struggled with pride, or had to “flee youthful lusts” knows that sin, a lack of faith, and a worldly outlook on life are indeed “strongholds.”

What we need are Christian soldiers, totally surrendered to the will of the Lord of Hosts, who will use the spiritual weapons He provides. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7).

How should we as Christians view Addictions.

Often, I am asked what is addiction? The more I study this, I am convinced we live in a society that in one way or another is addicted to something, other than God. Follow with me for a moment.

The word addiction has two basic meanings. The first definition, and the one most of us are familiar with is “to cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance.” Those who are addicted or “given to much wine” (Titus 1:7; 2:3), “drunkards” (1 Timothy 3:3) or “heavy drinkers” (1 Timothy 3:8) are disqualified from teaching or holding a position of authority in the church. It’s clear that church leadership needs to be sober and self-controlled so that, by their example, they can teach others to be the same, for we know that “drunkards . . . shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:10). Believers must not be dependent upon alcohol, and it stands to reason that this would also apply to addiction to any other substance, i.e. drugs, pornography, gambling, gluttony, tobacco, etc.

The second definition of addiction is “to occupy (oneself) with or involve (oneself) in something habitually or compulsively.” This speaks of an unnatural (for the Christian, at least) obsession with anything other than God: sports, work, shopping and/or acquiring “stuff,” even family or children. We are to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), which is, according to Jesus, the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38).

When it comes down to it, an addiction to anything other than God Himself is wrong. God is the only thing we can (and should) occupy ourselves with habitually. To do so with anything else draws us away from Him and displeases Him. He alone is worthy of our complete attention, love, and service. To offer these things to anything or anyone else is idolatry.

Putting on the New Man

Ephesians 4:17-24 (KJV)
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. have spent too much time trying to understand why I am the way I am, and not nearly enough time thinking about who God says I am. He tells me that all the old is passed away, and behold, the new is come. 

Turning around a self-image that you have spent years making is perhaps the toughest thing you will ever do. The devil will do his best to tell you it is impossible. But you must do it, and there is grace for it. God does not command what He doesn’t give grace for.

God tells us “put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:24). It is interesting that He does not say He is putting on the new self for us, so that we needn’t bother. No, though He is the giver of our new life, yet He tells us we must put it on. We must take off the old thoughts and actions, like dirty clothes, and put on His new suit and walk around in it. “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

Even though we are encouraged to put off the old man, it cannot be done by self-effort, nor can it be done by striving to imitate Christ's conduct. It has been done for the believing sinner by the death of Christ. We are like babes who cannot dress themselves. I have learned with my little grandson that a child doesn't do very well when he tries to dress himself. As Christians we never reach the place where we can do that, and we don't need to try. It already has been done for us. We are told in the Epistle to the Romans that the old man has already been crucified in the death of Christ. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). In view of the truth that the old man has already been crucified with Christ, we are to put it off in the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that the flesh, the old nature, is ever eliminated in this life. We do not get rid of the old nature, but we are not to live in it; that is, we are not to allow it to control our lives.

But we do have a new nature. as a result of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Any man in Christ is a new creature. We are to live in that new nature, that new man. This is a repetition "Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." This shows that this is the imputed righteousness of Christ, and that all is to be done consistent with the holy character of God. Since we have been declared righteous and we are in Christ seated in the heavenlies, our walk down here should be commensurate with our position.

Wait till you see how challenging this is when you get serious about it. But it is the way to live.