Links for Walking with God

As we walk with God, it is helpful to glean what others have learned along their walk with God. May these links bless you in your walk with God.

Promises of God

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4

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God promises. We walk. God delivers

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… Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. Joshua 1:2-3

Moses was dead. About one million Israelites were at the Jordan River looking at the land God had promised them.

Continue reading God promises. We walk. God delivers

5 Prayer Points to Live By

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When the temple was completed, all the elders and Levites brought the ark of the covenant, the tent of meeting, and the holy vessels before King Solomon and the assembly of Israel. They sacrificed sheep and oxen–too many to number–before the ark. Then the priests placed the ark in the Holy Place.

When they came out of the Holy Place, all the Levitical singers, arrayed with fine linen and carrying harps, cymbals, and lyres praised the Lord in unison with 120 trumpeters.

“For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14

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Will You Receive the Promised Gift?

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In the beginning, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. They enjoyed the intimate presence of God until one day, they chose to eat the fruit of one forbidden tree. After they ate the fruit, they heard God walking in the Garden and calling them. They hid from God’s presence. They were ashamed of their nakedness.

I’ve been ashamed … words I wish I could take back, thoughts I shouldn’t have entertained, actions I took that hurt others. I’ve wanted to withdraw and hide.

Yet, God did not want Adam and Eve to hide from Him. He caused them to confess what they did. Then He explained the consequences of their actions: cursed ground, hard labor, pain in childbirth, discord between themselves, dismissal from the Garden of Eden, eventual death, and separation from the presence of God.

But God was gracious. God covered their guilt with animal skins, the first sacrifice, but it only covered the sin.

Hope Given

There was hope that day. God told Satan that there would be hatred between Satan and the woman and her seed (a reference to the virgin birth, since the man fertilizes the egg with his seed) and Satan’s seed. The Messiah would bruise Satan’s head (Satan’s power), and Satan would bruise Jesus’ heel (the cross). Genesis 3:15

Prophecy Given

Centuries later, God revealed His promise of the Messiah again, but with more information.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel [God with us]. Isaiah 7:14

At a time when Ahaz, king of Judah, feared that Syria and the Northern Kingdom would attack, God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to give him a wonderful promise of hope – hope for the nation in the near future; in 12-13 years, the two kings of Syria and the Northern Kingdom would be conquered. The coming Messiah is the far future prophecy.

The promise of hope remains true today. In the midst of trials or danger, God is with us, and He is in control.

Promise Given

In the fullness of time, God gave the world “His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Almighty God shed His glory in heaven to enter the womb of a young virgin. God became flesh and lived among the Israelites. Jesus taught in the synagogues, in the homes of tax collectors, on mountainsides, on boats, and down the streets as people followed Him. He healed the sick, touched the lepers, gave sight to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, raised the dead, calmed the sea, fed the 5,000, and much more.

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. John 1:4

Jesus became flesh to live the perfect life, to reflect the Father in Heaven, to show the Way, and to become the perfect Sacrifice. Jesus came to take your sins and my sins upon Himself and pay the price for those sins … death. Jesus was nailed to the cross as payment for our sins … death. The price for your sins is paid in full. Jesus paid it all.

Why? Jesus will clothe you in garments of salvation, so that you can live with Him forever … God with us.

Gift of Christmas

This is the gift of Christmas. This is the gift of God … God with us forever through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Will you receive this gift?

It’s free, and, yet, it costs you everything. Surrender your life to Jesus, and He will be with you, and you will be in Him, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27b

My prayer

Father, thank You for loving the world so much that You gave Your only begotten Son to live and die as the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins, so that we could live with Him forever. We surrender our lives to You. What hope we have in You! Immanuel, thank You! Amen.

Please share what Christmas means to  you in the Comment Section.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas filled with joy.

Never Forget the Lesson of Auschwitz

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The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

 Auschwitz is the story of evil, the story of endurance and strength, and the story of good in the midst of unthinkable evil.

Bart, our guide at Auschwitz, shared his family’s stories of survival and those of other survivors. I asked him how he “did this every day,” and he said that he could not “do it” every day. He had to take a day off after telling of the horrors of Auschwitz.   Continue reading Never Forget the Lesson of Auschwitz

Abundance in the Authentic Christian Walk

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Ein Geddi in Israel

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
“Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David. Isaiah 55:1-3

Every week, Keith and I go to the grocery store and spend hard-earned money on food. We eat a meal, and a few hours later, we’re hungry again. The next week, we repeat the trip to the store.

We fill our tanks with gas.  We purchase clothes that represent our professions. We put on the lifestyle that our families, friends, neighbors and coworkers expect of us.

We show our happy lives on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Some of us even blog about it.

Does anyone post a photo on Facebook that shows our sinful nature? What about our unhappy times? I tend to post things that demonstrate that I have it all together.

Seems empty.

What if God provided all that we need to be satisfied, or as our Italian landlord once said, “Molto content”?

God has provided more than satisfaction. He has provided a promise to wipe away all our sins. The promise includes living with Him forever. The promise includes an abundant life now. The promise includes satisfaction.

This promise is a free gift, but there is a cost: you must step out in authenticity.

5 Steps to Authentic Satisfaction

  1. Come. God beckons us to come to Him in our hunger and thirst. We can only come to the Father through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.’” John 14:6
  2. Buy. We have nothing to offer Him except our broken lives. He takes those lives and nourishes them with Living Water and the Bread of Life, Jesus. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” Revelation 22:17
  3. Listen. We are commanded to listen attentively to Him, to listen with the intention of acting and obeying Him “Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!’” Luke 9:35
  4. Eat. As we read God’s Word and abide in Jesus, we are nourished by the Bread of Life and the Living Water. “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’” John 6:35
  5. Delight. When I take pleasure in the things of God, He will give me the desires of my heart. This verse can also be read that God gives me the desires that conform to His will. Either way, I delight in that! “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

3 Steps to Authentic Restoration

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7

In our hunger, we seek satisfaction; we come; we seek God; we call upon Him; we buy with our brokenness, and we listen. He tells us our next steps:

  1. Forsake your way. Remember that you are a new creation in Jesus, turn from the inauthentic life, and do the things you did when you were a new Christian. Did you fellowship with other believers, study the Bible, and pray? Do it again. “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” Revelation 2:5
  2. Forsake your thoughts. Take your thoughts captive. Meditate on the Bread of Life and His words. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8
  3. Return. Return to Jesus. He has paid the price of your sins, my sins, and the world’s sins. In Him, we can rest. “Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.“ Psalm 116:7

Abundant spiritual provision and abundant pardon.

That is the way of a satisfied life, an all-together life. 

That is the way of the authentic Christian life. 

My prayer:

Father, You have provided all that we need or could ever want. You have given us the desires of our hearts. You know us better than we know ourselves. Search our ways and our thoughts, renew our minds and transform our ways to Your ways, our thoughts to be more like Your thoughts. We hunger and thirst for the Bread of Life, the Living Water. We long for more awareness of Jesus living in us and the freedom that this knowledge brings us. You have dealt bountifully with us. We come to You. Lead us by the right hand in an authentic walk with You and with our brothers and sisters. Amen

Please share the steps you are taking to ensure your walk with Jesus is authentic.