Keep Walking

I almost don’t know where to start..

This one will be raw and real.

I have a plethora of thoughts racing through my mind tonight. Multiple and various conversations throughout the day have sparked my heart and stirred my conviction. And all I can really think about is how important it is to obey God.

As believers, it is so cliché … “OBEY GOD.” But what does it really mean, how do we really walk it out, and what are the repercussions if we don’t?

I think about all aspects of life - spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, professional, relational … there is an “OBEY GOD” for every single one of them. God has a purpose and a plan for every life on planet earth, and the only thing separating one person from another is whether they obey God.

You will miss it.

I don’t care how long you have been saved, how deep your relationship with God goes, what your title is, or how educated you are on theology … you WILL miss it. You will miss God. You will disobey. You will ignore His voice. You will dismiss the small still whisper. You will choose flesh over Spirit at some point. You will choose what YOU WANT over what GOD SAYS. It happens to all of us. We miss it from time to time … some more often than others.

We get it wrong. We aren’t perfect humans. We try. And we fail. And we try again.

Even the great Apostle Paul said he did the thing he didn’t want to do!

In Romans 7:15, Paul states: "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." He repeats this internal conflict in verse 19, writing, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." He explains this as a struggle against the power of sin living within human nature.

In other words, he admittedly disobeyed God. Because God will never lead us astray or tempt us. He is the One who makes a way out. He is Light and Love and Truth. Only Satan causes us to fall … aka disobey God. Adam? Eve? You get my drift.

But we don’t talk much about that. About the fallen flesh and the sinful human nature. About how, no matter how hard we “try” in our own strength, we still fail. ALL of us.

Yet we are called to obey God.

We have a choice.

You KNOW when you are doing something against God’s will. You KNOW. You were created to KNOW.

I talk with people far too often who acknowledge that they are doing something they KNOW they should not be doing.

• A relationship God said NO to on multiple occasions, but you stay in it because you have soul ties and your flesh is out of control.

• A job or commitment that consumes all of your time and attention to the point of not being able to give yourself to what God is actually asking of you.

• An opportunity or open door you KNOW you are supposed to walk through, but you are afraid you won’t measure up. Your fear of man is greater than your fear of God.

• A mission trip you are supposed to go on, but you aren’t super excited about it because you KNOW it will require less of YOU and more of HIM - so you keep putting it off.

• A sin cycle that keeps you bound and numb, but you KNOW God has a better plan for your life.

• A geographical move that pushes you way out of your comfort zone, and you cannot see what lies ahead, but you KNOW His voice and KNOW it is Him calling you.

I could go on and on. In every situation, we have a choice … to obey or to disobey.

Easier is not better.

Sometimes it is easier to stay in a bad relationsip (or even one that God did not ordain) than to leave it and be single. Sometimes it is easier to stay in what is familiar and comfortable versus stepping out on the water and walking toward Jesus. Sometimes it is easier to continue in sin because it feels good instead of walking away and crucifying the flesh.

I am grieved tonight because so many of us have missed the call of God by simply avoiding the hard things.

Delayed obedience is still disobedience.

KNOWING what God is asking of you, and intentionally choosing NOT to do it is a slap in the face to the Father.

Yes, He is gracious and long-suffering. Yes, He is merciful and kind. Yes, He is forgiving. Yes, He is the Redeemer of Time. But that doesn’t mean that He is pleased when we disobey Him. He is absolutely NOT.

The Bible tells us that without FAITH, it is impossible to please God.

If we are not obeying God, we are not following Him.

If we are not following Him, we are not walking by faith.

If we are not walking by faith, we are not pleasing God.

Obey God.

I challenge you to ask yourself where you need to OBEY GOD.

Stop worrying about what everyone will think of you. Stop living in the fear of the unknown. Stop procrastinating.

There is a price to pay for disobedience. → Ask me how I know.

You do not want to look up ten years from now and wish you had obeyed God. You cannot get that time back. You do not want to stay on a path that feeds your flesh and keeps you comfortable at the cost of losing your soul.

Following Jesus isn’t easy. But it is the most rewarding thing we will ever do.

HE is the Prize.

And once you taste and see that He is GOOD, you will never want it any other way.

Go beyond the point.

I will leave you with this little revelation from my prayer walk a few days ago.

I decided to drive to a part of the island I rarely go to. It is stunningly beautiful and peaceful, and I typically walk along the water’s edge to a certain point then turn around. But on this particular day, I heard the whisper, “Go beyond the point.”

“The point” is where I turn around. For no other reason than it seems like a good place to turn around. Visually, it almost looks like the end of a stretch of beach, but mentally, I know there is much more beyond what I can see … I just can’t access it unless I keep walking.

The Lord began speaking to my heart about going beyond what is familiar. “The Point” represents that place, that thing, that area of your life that you know like the back of your hand. You could do it with your eyes closed. You are comfortable with it. It no longer stretches you. And because of that, it limits your vision.

I am thinking of Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. It wasn’t until his curiosity about what was “out there,” and his determination for “something more,” drove him to keep going that he discovered what was outside of his comfort zone and beyond what his natural eyes could see.

This is faith.

When I reached the point, and all I could see were two more “points” … beachy areas protruding into the water with no idea what was beyond them. But I knew there was more … and I was determined. So I kept walking.

And the Lord continued to speak to my heart, “You have to go beyond what you can see. I have more for you.”

Finally, everything opened up, and I could see the beauty ahead of me - the expanse of sky and water, the fresh dunes and forestry, the beautiful buildings in the distance. It represented a whole new vision and hope for what lies ahead. No more tunnel vision. No more comfort zone. There is a light, a hope, a future, and a vision ahead. There is more.

But you will never get there unless you obey God and go beyond the point.

Identify “the point” in your life that has limited your vision. And choose to go beyond it until everything opens up.

It’s time, Beloved.

Keep walking.