11 So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NLT

Walking in faith is a daily process and just when I seem to have a hold on it my foot slips. A slip of the foot doesn’t have to be backsliding into sin, it can simply be allowing myself to be distracted so I don’t spend as much time with God. I think it’s so imperative to pray for discernment because the motive may not be trying to get us to commit an act of sin but to distract us from fellowship with God and therefore disrupt the flow of His blessings into our lives. Jesus Christ died on Calvary for everyone, He shed His blood so that we may all be redeemed. I admit I am drawn to more realities, I revel in the sovereignty of the Lord because by nature I am a very structured and planned woman. I literally delight in the law of the Lord, I do my best to keep His commands and I know only by His spirit that I thirst so hard to do His will and please Him. The Lord makes Himself known to me via many manifestations so I believe in the Gospel message with every fiber of my being. I wake up in awe of Him and in fear for the world, not fear for my own life but for the short time we all have here to “get it right”. Knowing that “getting it right” means accepting the salvation of Jesus Christ. I find comfort in the Goodness of the Lord, knowing that for His own sake He forgets our sin and therefore we are free from the accusations and condemnation that sin has tried to damn us to.

²¹ Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. ²⁴ Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Ephesians 4: 21-24 NLT

I have compiled three key points that are helping me to stay the course and I believe they can help you as well.

²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27 NLT

1. Demonstrate the faith. Life in Christ does not promise a life without troubles (quite the opposite, Matthew 7:24; Acts 14:22; 2 Thessalonians 1:5) but He promises the overcoming over every obstacle not by our might and ability but by His grace and power. If the world sees Christians being beat down without redemption, how can that appeal to them? The Bible says we are to be a good example so that we may be blameless when people of this world and the accuser raise accusations against us. I believe this includes knowing what the Gospel says about afflictions so we can look past pain to purpose. 
2. Be a light. Like I mentioned in my last article, Sold Out for Jesus, the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to live the life Christ is calling us to in this modern world. I love when my coworkers speak on how positive I am. Even when the whole crew will be frustrated and spewing expletives, they notice I don’t let myself get down and if I do by the Spirit of God I can’t STAY down. Whenever shame, guilt or any thoughts of negativity comes to me I either sing a Gospel song to get me in the right frame of mind or mentally quote scripture to speak to my circumstances. There is power in the Word and in intentionality. God wants us to rely on Him to sustain us and it is His delight to fill us with His joy and peace.
3. Be transformed. People, especially those who have known you before your God encounter, should notice the difference. How can we stay the same claiming to serve a great God who transforms and creates a new man within us? (1 Peter 1:23) It isn’t to say that everyday I wake up completely submerged in the new man, it is a process. I have to intentionally put myself in the mindset to serve God and submit my day to Him. I have to guard my ears because being faith-filled is what manifests the new man and my destiny but the Bible says faith comes by hearing; therefore protecting my ears is protecting my destiny. 

²³ For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

1 Peter 1:23 NLT

By filling my life with the things of God, I find it easier to stay in my faith walk. Minding God and the realm of the Kingdom keeps me swept up in His love and dependent on His Word. Random thoughts arise that question if I would ever get bored in my continual fellowship and seeking of Him but it was instantly answered for me; I could live 1,000 years and not know all of God. There is always more to Him, He is the Alpha and Omega. I was watching a sermon that emphasized our prayer lives can be ahead of us in the natural, God is calling us to live a higher life and we are to chase Him to catch up. The amazing thing about chasing God is that somehow we, the hunter, will become the hunted as God begins to chase after us. It is our job to gain the discipline to live how He has called us (and to remember that it may differ from how others are called to live). I am learning this lesson currently and it sometimes seems unfair that I get convicted on things other Christians seem to indulge in but I am accepting it as apart of my journey, my calling is different than theirs. 

Let’s pray Paul’s prayer for spiritual growth together! May God bless you.

¹⁴ When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
²⁰ Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT