Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

wisdom

What Should We Say?

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What should we say to people in conversation? There is no end to words (Ecclesiastes 6:11), and few seem hesitant to share their opinions on any matter. We all know at least a little about a vast range of topics. Very few know enough about a topic to speak with any authority on it at all, although most will proclaim authority despite their ignorance. That’s all of us, isn’t it?

We love to talk, and we long to be seen as an authoritative voice. It feeds our egos and bolsters our self-worth. That should be our first clue about the dangers of pontification. Anything that builds us up inside is pride in disguise. Since God creates each of us in His image, there is nothing any human could say or do to make us more honored or valuable than we already are.

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Walking in God’s Will, Part 2 – Know God’s Will

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We’re continuing to look at what it means to know God’s will. In part one, we established that God’s will is knowable and not specific to each individual. We also began looking at some questions we can ask when facing a decision and seeking God’s will in it. The first two questions are, “Will this violate God’s Law?” and “Will this draw me closer to God or hinder my walk with Him?”

Young man thoughfully seeking discernment and wisdom to understand what it means to be walking in God's will

Of course, most of us won’t stop and take the time to ask those questions when facing a decision. We’d rather spend hours wringing our hands wondering what we should do. We’re putting all the emphasis on us rather than on God’s Word. Only God’s Word has the answers, so wasting time anywhere else is foolish (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

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False Teachers

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Each of us bears the responsibility of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet (Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 10:14). Today, there is no shortage of voices claiming to speak the truth of God’s Word. On the surface, that is wonderful news. The more voices, the more the message spreads. The frightening truth is many of those voices are not teaching the gospel we find in scripture.

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For every faithful adherent to God’s Word, it seems there are ten who are twisting, distorting, and abusing the simple truth of the Bible. Given the warnings in scripture against such things (2 Peter 2:1-3; Galatians 1:8-9), it amazes me how many will eschew the commands of God and dare to live in the path of His holy and consuming wrath (Hebrews 10:26-27; Romans 1:18-19). False teachers flaunt their arrogance and will reap their just reward (Jude 12-13; Matthew 7:21-23).

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Outside Influences

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When monitoring the outside influences in your life, it’s easy to concentrate so much on things like entertainment and secular activities that we forget one of the most common avenues Satan uses to trip us up comes from within the church. When I was growing up, the list of preachers with world-wide recognition was short. It began and ended with Billy Graham. There were traveling evangelists that were well known in certain regions and countries, but on a global scale, there wasn’t a long list.

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Today, we have a phenomenon known as the celebrity pastor. These are pastors of large churches who have leveraged social media, the internet, and books to build a platform for themselves. Notice the platform they are building is amplifying their name, and that doesn’t always translate into glorifying God’s name. The result is we now have many preachers who are world famous.

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Violating God’s Will

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A couple of different thoughts have been fighting for attention in my mind for the past several days. One was sparked by reading Job 28:28, where God said, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” We’ve talked about what it means to fear the Lord before (see “The Fear of The Lord”), but this verse is so clear.

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We could take it to mean that it is wise to fear God, which is true, and we can also understand it to be a succinct definition of what fear of God looks like: to be wise. Wisdom will keep us from violating God’s will. Which brings me to the other topic that’s been on my mind: finding God’s will for your life. I’ve also written on that topic before, and if you want a deeper dive, see, “Explaining God’s Will for Your Life.” I submit you will never understand God’s will until you develop a proper fear of His holiness.

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