The measure of Your Walk with God

The Measure of Your Walk

The Measure of Your Walk?

Recently I have watched a couple of teachings that had to do with faith and sin. The teacher was pointing out that people often do not get what they need from God because of sin in their life. Then, while reading my Bible, a thought occurred to me. Perhaps I need to address at what level I am walking with God. As I began to contemplate if sin in my life might be in any way holding me back from a closer walk with God—it was apparent that the question is not if, but that sin is detrimental to my walk with Him.

The thought that dropped into my mind was that I should consider my most difficult relationships and how I was handling them. Then what came to my mind, was that the level of my response to any difficult relationship was indicative of my walk with my Heavenly Father. Ouch!

Isn’t it interesting how we want to measure our walk with God by all the good things we do, and that we like to think that God will be gracious and use the same method as to how He measures our right-standing with Him?

So, we have numerous relationships that may be very difficult for us. Some of them we live with every day and others change from time to time as in our work place. When we change jobs we encounter new challenges with new supervisors and workers.

There is a saying that comes to mind: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” We often have our greatest difficulties with those who are closest to us or those we spend the most time with. When we don’t like dealing with certain people it becomes easy to avoid them—even if they are brothers, sisters, mates or other family members. You can change your job but you can’t change your family!

Now I realize that we are not always willing to be so introspective, and that I had fallen into that category. So these current thoughts about my walk with God, my level of faith, and what areas of sin might be inhibiting my Christian walk have my undivided attention.

I believe that when we get up in the morning we have a new day and a new opportunity to walk out that very day that way God would be pleased with us. So for me, I believe it best to measure my walk with God on the basis of today—and how I am handling it. The maturity of my walk may be more indicative of how well I string numerous or many days together.

What triggered this conversation that I am having in my spirit is that I want to walk in divine health. I want to be able to apply God’s principles in my life so that I can be free from infirmities, sickness and disease. I have a desire to have the God kind of faith that would move me to be able to pray for others that are struggling with health issues. So I want to start with me and become a model of how that kind of faith works.

I realize that at the heart and soul of this issue lies the revelation knowledge about “faith” and “sin”. Why are some healed and others not healed? Nobody seems to have “The Answer” for sure to that question, but it appears to me to likely be found in the realm of the knowledge of “faith” and “sin”.

We know that God never intended for Adam and his descendents to die, but to live forever. We also know that death, sickness, and disease came into the world at the same time that Satan caused “deception” and “disobedience” to enter the heart of Adam and Eve. It therefore follows that deception begets disobedience, and disobedience (sin) begets sickness and disease.

What is sin? Here is just a bit of what the scriptures say:

1. "He that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4: 17).
2. "All unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:17).
3. "Sin is transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).
4. "Every idle word that men shall speak" is sin (Matt. 12:36-37).
5. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" (1 Sam. 15:23).

*Nothing new there, right?

What is faith?

"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).

*Try that on for size!

I have watched and listened to many hours of teaching on healing, deliverance, faith and sin. I believe that I see the interconnection between them. Unbelief is sin! Isn’t that what the above scriptures are saying? So you ask, where am I going with this? Well, here is where I am going—and hope others will go there as well. If I so desire to walk in divine health and want my family, grandchildren and friends to also walk in health—I must address my sin.

Another teaching made it so very clear to me. I must make “walking in faith” a life style. In order to make it a life style, I must become highly conscious of being obedient to the truth (God’s Word) in order to minimize “transgressions” and to be quick to repent when I stumble or get lazy about my “faith” life style.

This brings me back to the difficulty with relationships. My sin is most apparent in my most difficult relationship today! With whom am I struggling today? There are always situations that I struggle with—but invariably that situation leads to a person involved with the situation.

It isn’t the situation that is the problem…my difficulty is with the person involved. So you ask, how is that going? Here is a possible list of things to check myself on: resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc. Am I willing to manipulate, control, beguile, avoid etc.? Am I easily offended, defensive and hurt?

Boy, is it ever easy to sin—and worse yet, not even be conscious of it many times. So if I desire to be used of God in some way on this earth I must address my sin and my faith. I desire to elevate my walk with Him so that he can use me to do His work. He has designated us to accomplish what the scriptures say we can all have on earth “as it is in Heaven”. The Book says that there will be no broken people in Heaven. In faith we can overcome all brokenness on earth as well.