Walk with Him

But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. (Psalms 19:12-13 NIV)

Once we return home, we don't want to keep making the same mistakes we made that removed us from The Father in the first place.  God gives us what we need to help us enjoy all the blessings that come from being home.  He gives us a special gift.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 NIV)

Remember what we were promised when we repent and are baptized?  We can be sure that The Father forgives us.  We can also be sure we received His Gift: the Holy Spirit.  This is God's down payment of the new life to come.  His Spirit reminds us that God is with us and lives with us.  He will guide us into all truth.  He will strengthen us to fight off temptations to leave home again.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. (Galatians 5:16-17 NIV)

Inside us, we battle for our minds and hearts.  The Spirit is there to back us up in battle.  We need to fight spiritual battles, so it makes sense that we need a Spirit to help us in battle.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV)

Notice the ways we suffer when we lose, or don't even fight, the battle.  Sex becomes our god and then lets us down.  Hatred, arguments, jealousy, anger, and selfish ambition fills our days and more than a few of our nights.  We try to drown these sorrows in drunkenness or parties, but the next morning always comes too early and we wonder what we are doing again.  The life of "fun" really isn't.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

God's Spirit leads us toward and empowers us to live a life of love.  We enjoy people and circumstances that would have never brought us joy before.  We sleep well at night.  All that is good in life becomes a part of our life.  It's a whole different path.  It's a whole different kind of walk.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:24-25 NIV)

God revealed Himself through creation.  He speaks to us through His words.  Now, he walks with us through His Spirit.  Now we can walk with him personally.  It's a great walk.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14 NIV)

How about you?  Have you received His Spirit to empower you?  Are you ready to walk together with God?

Join Him

So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:20-24 NIV)

Returning home to be with The Father really is as easy as the younger son coming home to his father.  Because Jesus paved the way, we simply need to decide, like the young son, to come home...then do it.

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10 NIV)

Professing our faith in Jesus is as simple as it sounds.  We simply need to trust that he did everything necessary to prepare our path to The Father.  When Jesus died on the cross, he took any punishment we may deserve from The Father.  When he rose from the dead, that was his "sign" that served as proof that his death took our place.  When we say that Jesus is the Christ, Messiah, or our Savior, we are saying the same thing: Jesus paved the way for me to come home to The Father.  Letting Jesus be Lord simply means you will follow him home.

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39 NIV)

Repent means "turn around."  It means we need to turn away from our old life, much like the younger son left his life with the pigs, and turn back home.  When the prodigal son got up and went home, he repented.

Baptism was the sign Jesus gave his disciples to declare ourselves as his followers.  When we decide to go down into the waters of baptism, we are buried with Christ and raised with him again.Our sins are washed away.  We die to ourselves and are raised to a new life.  We are promised forgiveness when we do this.  We are also promised the gift of God's Spirit.  Then, like the son returning home, receiving forgiveness and great gifts, we can celebrate as well.  There's a great party going on with God.

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10 NIV)

How about you?  Do you believe Jesus paved the way for you to return home to The Father?  Have you confessed Jesus as your Lord?  Have you turned around and returned home?  Have you let God wash your sins away in baptism?  Are you home?

Return to Him

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. (Luke 15:11-16 NIV)

There is a reason the Israelites wanted Moses to be the mouthpiece for God:  They didn't want to face Him.  God was large and in charge.  They really didn't want to draw near to a God that was so big and so powerful...especially if they had done something wrong.

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

When God gives us words to live by, they often contain the "flip side" of the coin: the word to die by.  God gives us good gifts, God teaches us, and God warns us.  Each of these are helpful and important.  The warnings, in particular, are there to keep us safe.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:1-7 NIV)

The prodigal son had a much better life staying at home with his father.  Adam and Eve had a much better life staying in the Garden with The Father.  When they left home, they also left many blessings behind as well.  There was a moment when they realized that they blew it.  The prodigal son "came to his senses."  Adam and Eve's "eyes were opened."  They were no longer walking together with God.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23 NIV)

They aren't the only ones.  We run away from home, too.  We eat the forbidden fruit.  We turn away from God and removes ourselves from His protective care.  We squander His blessings.  We are no longer walking together with God.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' (Luke 15:17-19 NIV)

It is in that moment of realization that we need to make a decision.  We look up and realize that we are not home anymore.  We realize that we are not near The Father.  We also realize that life was much better together with Father than it ever was away from Him.  It is in that moment that we are faced with the question:  "Can I go back?"

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:6-7 NIV)

Father says, "Yes. Come home."  Jesus paved the way.

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

How about you?  Have you run away from "home?"  Have you reached the moment when you realize that life with God is far better than life without God?  Have you decided to return home?

Hear Him

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. (Genesis 1:28-30 NIV)

We can gain great insight into the Designer by looking at the design.  Adam and Eve, however, wasn't limited to studying God's Design and Creation.  God spoke with them as well.

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Sometimes when God spoke to them, the instructions were enjoyable to live out.  Eating, for example, satisfies a craving we have.  That craving keeps us from starving to death.  It's a God-given reminder that our bodies are fueled by food.  

Sometimes, however, God spoke warnings to them.  They would learn, for example, that fire is good for making popcorn but no so good for their hands.  They learned specifics from God through language.  God spoke to them in words.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:27-28 NIV)

God continued to speak with people throughout history.  Even when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, God continued to speak with them.  God spoke with Cain right after he killed his brother, Abel.  Although, I would guess, Cain probably didn't enjoy that conversation much.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." (Deuteronomy 18:15-16 NIV)

The Israelites were so afraid of God that they didn't want Him to speak with them directly.  They let Moses be the intermediary for them.  Moses functioned as a prophet, a mouthpiece, for God.  Prophecy isn't about doing miracles.  It's about bringing a message from God.  God gave Israel more prophets after Moses died.  They brought new messages to Israel throughout their history.

You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22 NIV)

They knew that prophets would have signs or miracles or short-term predictions that would come true.  This was God's way of confirming that the prophet really spoke for God.  No sign or miracle meant this was not God's prophet.  A wrong short-term prediction meant they weren't speaking for God either.

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. (Deuteronomy 13:1-4 NIV)

Every once in awhile, God would allow a false prophet to have a sign, miracle, or short-term prediction that came true.  God did this with a false prophet to test the people.  A false prophet may have the magic, but would point them away from God.  God said this was a test.  God's word from before this false prophet still stands.  God would never tell us to go against God's instructions from before.  Fire still burns.  Don't stick your hand in it.  It's still true today.

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalms 19:7-11 NIV)

The words God gave to Moses were written down as the Law.  The words God gave to later prophets were written down as the Prophets.  All the way through the Old Testament, God confirmed the messenger and confirmed God's message to the people of that day.  They wrote the messages down.  They wrote the stories down.  They preserved them until today.

...the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. (Romans 3:2 NIV)

They were entrusted with the "very words of God."  They treated these words with the respect only God deserves.  They meticulously copied them down from generation to generation.  They protected God's words.  They read God's words.  They meditated on God's words.  At times, they followed God's words.  We have God's words to learn specifics about God's picture today.

Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16 NIV)

God's words now have special names.  The Greek word for "writings" gets translated as "Scriptures."  These writings were preserved all the way until the days of Jesus.  Jesus also passed the tests of a true prophet.  So did the Apostles.  Their writings became Scripture as well.  We call the whole of Scripture, "The Bible."  We have God's words to teach us today.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV)

How about you?  Have you learned specific parts of God's picture through God's words?  Do you read, meditate on, and follow God's words?  If God spoke directly to you today, would you recognize His words?  Would you hear Him?

See Him

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NIV)

There's no better life than when we are walking together with God.  Walking toward God's picture for your life is walking toward your best possible life here as well as walking toward an eternity that's even better.  Perhaps that's because God designed and created everything (and everyone) seen and unseen.  Who knows better, then, how to get the most out of life?  Only God knows.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. (Genesis 1:2-5 NIV)

Moses is attributed with the writing down of the creation story.  We don't know how long the story was passed down orally from generation to generation.  By the time he wrote it down, though, Egypt had developed belief systems about how everything came into being.  They had a complex system with many "gods."  Shu, for example, was the god of light and air (like the atmosphere).  Shu marked the separation between light and darkness, day and night.

And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8 NIV)

Nut was the goddess of the sky or heavens.  She is often depicted as a woman holding her body up in an arch with her hands and feet touching the ground.  The stars are actually a part of her body.

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. (Genesis 1:9-13 NIV)

There are many fertility gods in ancient Egypt, but probably the most well-known today would be Osiris.  Osiris could make or break the growing season for your crops this year.  You definitely wanted this god on your side.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19 NIV)

Khonsu was considered the god of the moon and measurement of time.  By now I'm guessing you get the idea.  Moses is writing in a time when people believe in many, many gods and goddesses.  The interaction of these deities would challenge the script writers of any soap opera today.  Not only that, the creation of the heavens and the earth is more of an accidental byproduct of their shenanigans rather than the purposeful act of anyone.

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23 NIV)

Moses preserves this creation story because it shows us a completely different picture.  The heavens and the earth were not an accident.  They were purposefully put in place.  There aren't a whole bunch of ridiculous gods arguing and fighting up there and ignoring us.  There is only one God.  That God pays close attention to us.  That God cares about every detail about us.  That God loves us.  That God wants what is best for us.  That God showers us with good gifts and entreats us to stay with Him.  That is the One, the only true God.

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. (Genesis 1:24-31 NIV)

We cannot begin to walk together with God if we cannot see God.  We may not have soap-opera deities vying for our attention today, but we have plenty of gods asking for our loyalty.  We don't revere the gods of Shu, Nut, and Osiris, but we certainly swear allegiance to science, choice, and privacy.  We don't sacrifice to fertility gods, per-se, but we certainly don't trust the Designer of fertility to guide our way.

God's design is beautiful.  God's ways are the best ways.  God's picture for our lives is perfect.  We need to see that.  We need to see God.  Only then can we start walking toward that picture and enjoying the blessings that come with it.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-3 NIV)

Think about this for a minute.  You were probably too busy with important things to rest this past weekend.  You may have had too much going on to take time to gather together with other people and just give your focus to God.  Did your week go any better because you took the time to work or do the other important tasks on your list?  When we walk together with God, we pause each week with God to regain perspective.  We rest.  Do you feel rested?  This is just one of many ways we can see Him in our lives.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth. (Psalms 19:1-6 NIV)

How about you?  Do you look at creation and think of God?  Do you see Him?