What does it mean to Walk By Faith?

Tonight, I decided to cover the topic of Walking by Faith. What does it mean to walk by Faith - does it mean praying about something and waiting for it to happen, is it going through life with no answers? Of course not. Should we pray? Of course we should. But when we pray, we must put our faith and trust in God to help in whatever we need help with. He is a just and true God, he always keeps his promises.

So, what if you are a new believer and do not know what walking by faith means? Or, what if you have been a believer for a long time and still are not sure what it means? 2nd Corinthians 5:7 tells us to "Walk by faith, not by sight." This means that in life, there are times when we do not know which direction to go, where to turn, so we are to ask God to lead us down the right path, to take us where he wants us to go. Ask him to lead us down the paths he wants us to go and to close those he does not want us to go down. When we can no longer carry on, God asks us to ask him for help. A poem I'm sure a lot of us have at least heard or seen once greatly illustrates this. It's called Footprints in the Sand.

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?" The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand, is when I carried you." - By Mary Stevenson, 1937

That is an inspiring poem. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." But walking by faith does not merely mean handing God to wheel and letting him drive. There are certainly times where we need to do things for ourselves. But he will always be there for us and help us. We cannot help him, because there is nothing he needs help with.

Walking by Faith also means obeying his commandments. Not just the Ten Commandments, but also the commandments given by Jesus. Tomorrow night I will list the commandments given to us by Jesus. But for now, here are 5 of them: 1) Love one another as he has loved us. 2) Forgive everybody of their offenses against you. 3) Be Merciful. 4) Have Faith in God for Everything. 5) Do not Judge others.

Walking by Faith would mean following his commandments, reading his word - actually reading it, praying fervently, teaching others about God. A trusted mentor recently brought this to my attention: People always ask why God doesn't just whisk us away after we are saved. So here is the answer. If he did that, how would his kingdom spread? 2nd Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentence." So why doesn't God whisk us away the moment we are saved? It is because he is not willing that any should perish, and our job, regardless of your lifestyle, is to spread the Truth. It is not much to ask for considering Jesus died for us, we cannot repay him, and he knows we can do is this. To further our creator's kingdom.

So, we must obey God. Some have asked me, even today I was asked, why should I honor my parents? They don't honor me, they won't accept God. So, I will touch on this.

Regardless of whether your parents are smokers, heavy alcoholics, don't live with you, or whatever the situation be, you are to "Honor Your Father and Mother" - the fifth commandment. (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) Understand this. God puts several authorities into our lives. We are to obey laws, wives are to submit to their husbands, children are to obey their parents, we are to obey our boss at work, and above all, we are to obey God. But God also knows that these authorities will sometimes conflict - especially conflict with what he has commanded us. Your boss may tell you to go drinking or you will lose your job. Our government may make a law against something that we're supposed to do. Parents may ask us to do something that is wrong. In all of these cases, as well as any other situation, the answer is remains the same: we must obey God before man. If the God and man conflict, we are to follow God first.

The same goes for Bible reading. As I've said before, it is sad that most Christians - I'm not saying you, but most, merely read their Bible for 5 Minutes a year. Worse, they may not read it for 5 minutes 0 they may only think about reading it. We should be reading it everyday. Take Sir Walter Scott as a shining example.

The story is told like this: When Sir Walter Scott lay dying in bed, he asked his son-in-law to bring him "The Book." The young man replied, Father, your library contains thousands of volumes, including your own works. To which book are you referring?" Scott immediately replied, "There is only one book which we call 'The Book.' Bring me the Bible."

We should be like this man. Even in death, he longed to read his Bible. We should hunger for more knowledge, thirst for more wisdom, yearn for more truth. For that is the Goal of this blog - to seek and save the lost as Jesus Christ, the Messiah, did, and do this by presenting people with The Bible: The Truth. Troy Hillman