Walking The Line

How to stay on track with God. 

Having made the decision to follow God, and surrendering our lives to Him and His will for our lives,

How do we learn to walk in the Masters Footsteps,  to keep our lives on track for God, and avoid wandering away off the straight path that leads to righteousness and eternal life?

This is the million dollar question for all Christians, regardless of how long we have been walking in the Christian faith.

Why is it so important to remain on course for God?  And, what are the dangers of losing our way and drifting off course into unchartered waters?

The dangers of wandering away from God can be devastating.  I know a great many people who once walked close to the Lord and enjoyed wonderful relationship with Him, and yet today they are out of the church and appear to be far from God.  If we wander off course away from God and lose our spiritual bearings; as time goes by and become distant from God, and there can come a time when we can consciously or unconsciously reject God to such an extent; we can become what is termed apostate Christians.

I believe I am somewhat of an authority on this subject; in part because of my previous failure to stay on track for God; after I had previously walked in close relationship with God, and then later allowed myself to be lured off course and away from God.  And also in part because God in His grace and mercy; gave me a second chance, at which point my conversion experience was 100% complete as I came to God in full repentance. When this occured; I made a 180 degree turn from darkness to light, and resolved to fully live for God and not return to my sin.  

The born again experience.  I remember what it was like as a new born Christian, and to walk with God in that wonderful first love state we experience when we first discover the wonder and joy of getting to know God as a person, as a  Savior, and discovering and experiencing the Father heart of God.  A time in our Christian life where we have come to God just as we are, with warts, baggage from the past, and yet, the love of God so overwhelms us we almost think we can walk on water at that time. 

Then as we start our journey with God; He graciously starts to reveal things in our lives that need work and changing, but at a pace and speed that does not overwhelm us.  If God were to reveal all of our faults to us all at once, we would likely be crushed by the weight of them.  So God grqaciously helps us to deal with our faults and weaknesses one by one, at a pace we can cope with.  It is like pealing away the layers of an onion.  It is a process of years, and for most of us it is the process of a lifetime. 

While I would love to be able to say that once I gave my life to Christ, everything became rosie, and that life was a walk in the park; the reality is that like most people, I struggled for years to rid myself of bad habits and bad attitudes.  As I mentioned above; for a while there I even walked away from God, this at a time when I had allowed myself to be distracted by the cares of the world, by making money, building empires and businesses, and forgetting to do the basics which help us to stay strong, on course in our faith, and in stay love with God.

During these lost years when I sought happiness in money and material things, the reality was that I became increasingly frustrated and disillusioned by life.  I often remembered the wonderful relationship I previously had with my Father creator and Christ my Saviour, as much as I longed to get that experience back, at the time I seemed powerless to come back to God and regain my lost relationship with Him.  I had lost the most precious thing in my life, and found I could not get it back by merely wanting to, or resolving to in my mind.

I later found out why, and the truth so simple it was ridiculous.  All the time it was right in front of me, and yet I didn’t see it.

Thankfully what is impossible with man is easy for God, and by His grace and mercy He had made plans to not only restore me back into full relationship with Him, but to take me to new greater levels of relationship that I had not previously known or experienced.

My journey back to God was sudden and unexpected, and it all started one Easter Good Friday morning.  That Easter I had decided to stay home alone to work on our house, while my wife and sons were away for the weekend, and it was well for me that I did.

The Road To Recovery: My plan was to work on the house all weekend, but as I awoke suddenly that Easter Good Friday morning at around 8.00am, I heard a old and familiar voice speak to me so powerfully, it may as well have been audible and on a loud speaker. The voice clearly said to me; Get out of bed and go to church, and I knew that voice well.  It was the voice of the Holy Spirit as He speaks straight into your heart and mind, and on hearing Him I replied; but which church Lord?  I had not been to church for a while, and was not sure which church to attend.

I said; I don’t want to go back to my old church Lord, I would rather go somewhere smaller and maybe more personal.  By this I really meant, I don’t want to go back to my old church, because they know I had dropped out and what a loser I had become as a Christian. The Holy Spirit gently showed me that this was my pride speaking, and that going back to my old church was exactly where I should go. To swallow my pride, and eat some big chunks of humble pie which I well deserved. 

So; onto the internet I went to check out the start time for the Good Friday Service, and I arrived at church just as worship was about to start.  I started to sing, and the Holy Spirit did the rest.  He moved on me so powerfully that I broke down and wept great tears of repentance.  I was completely overwhelmed by the love and joy that flooded into my soul as I came back to God, unconditionally, with nothing held back.

After this amazing new encounter with God, I did some seriously self analysis and soul searching to find out why and how I had lost my way.  I did this to learn from my past mistakes, and to develop a strategy to ensure I would never wander off course again.   

In the following weeks I made an appointment to see our senior pastor, and I shared with him my thoughts on how and why I had wandered off course and lost my way.  I advised him I was not prepared to come back to church and just warm a pew and get entertained, but I wanted to get fully involved in the life of the church, boots and all, right up to my eyes.   

In the years since coming back to God, I have done a great deal of research into how to stay on course for God, and to identify the things that can cause a person to lose the plot and their relationship with God.  Usually there is no single thing that causes us to lose our way, but generally it is caused by a lot of small things, that slowly steal our hearts away from God and render us weak and vulnerable to the enemy.

So:  In the words of Johnny Cash, How do we walk the line?  How do we stay on straight street, and learn to walk in the Masters footsteps until eventually our steps are in perfect sync with His?

Here is what I have learned, and this learning and applying these principles to my life, has been life changing. So much so, that these days I wonder why I struggled so much in previous years, because walking with God has started to become easier and easier as I have continued to apply what I have learned to my daily life.

Howto walk the line for God:

Preparing the ground for seed, the word of God:  Prepare the ground of others to receive it, and prepare your own ground to receive it.

• Repentance: The need for a solid heartfelt repentance; I.e. A 180 degree turn from sin to God.  knowing why we need to repent, how we have sinned against our righteous and holy God and what we have been saved from. 
• Have a desire to please God that is greater than our desire to enjoy the short term pleasures of sin.
• We are what we eat:  If we eat toxic food through the mouth, eyes, ears, thoughts, and what comes out of our mouth, we will get physically and/or spiritually sick.  We must guard ourselves, by being careful about what we allow in to our lives at all costs.
• Eating the word of God:  Reading and feeding on God’s word in a structured and organised way.  Invent interesting ways to study the word.  Get it into your heart and store of there for future use against the enemy when he comes tempting, and/or, to encourage and feed others with when needed.
• When reading the bible: Take notes. Consider writing a book as a project, even if you are the only person who will read it.  Write down your thoughts on scriptures that speak to you.  Make reading the word of God your highest daily priority.  Treasure it and learn to delight in it every day.  The more you read it, the more you learn to love the word of God, and store it in your heart for future recall when needed.   
• Communications: No relationship can stay strong, or last if we don’t communicate.  This applies to the people in our lives including; Wife, children, friends, family, and most important, God.

• Parasites:   Watch out for parasites:

-          A Parasite is anything that latches onto you or your partner that sucks the life out of your marriage.

-          They’re usually in the form of addictions like gambling, drugs or pornography.

-          They promise pleasure, but grow like a disease and consume more and more of your thoughts, time and money.

-          They steal away your loyalty and heart, from those you love.

-          Marriages rarely survive if parasites are present.

-          If you love your wife or husband, you must destroy any addiction that has your heart?  If you don’t, it will destroy you.

• Vision:  We must get a vision from God for our lives, follow it, and not lose it.  Proverbs 29:18.

KJV¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.

NIV ¹⁸ Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.

• Get rid of baggage: Unforgiveness; grudges and past hurts.  Forgive, give it to God, and move on.  If we say we have forgiven someone but keep talking about the thing they did to offend or hurt us, we have not forgiven them.  When God forgives us, He casts our sins into the depths of the ocean, never to be mentioned or held against us again.  A grudge is the heaviest burden we can ever carry, and ultimately it will destroy us if we don’t let it go.
• Die to self:  Always put God first, family and others second; and self last.  Those who exalt themselves will be abased, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 
• Agape Love:  Love (Charity) first, is more important than faith, as much as faith is vitally important, and we cannot please God without Faith.  If we have all faith, and have not love, we are a sounding brass.
• Bare Fruit:  Have a hunger for souls, feeding into the lives of other people, encouraging others.  If we do not bare fruit, we will be cut off from the vine as dead wood and burned.  What use is a tree or vine, if it fails to bare fruit and only exists for itself?  When we bare fruit it is not for us to consume, it is to feed others.  As we bare fruit and feed others, other bare fruit and feed us.
• Develop your talents.  Don’t hide or squander them.  Find out what they are, use them, develop them and bless others with them.  God expects us to use our talents and potential.  Use all of your potential, expend it completely, and die empty having given all we have and can be.
• Be faithful:  To God, family, church, friends and community.  Don’t make promises, then fail to keep them and let people down.  If we make promises and fail to keep them we become liars.
• Be generous:  With time, love, wealth, and all we have.  To God, family, friends, community.

But, better not to give at all than to give with a grudging heart.  Learn to be a cheerful giver.

• Dealing with temptation: Men.  Read and put into practice the principles of; From Good Man To Valiant Man.  This book provides principles, tools and answers for men in the area of achieving sexual purity that are priceless; After the bible, I believe this is the most important book for men of all ages.