Walk By Faith Not By Sight?

Walk By Faith Not By Sight? Pastor Noelle Huether Past couple weeks we have been discussing our New Life In Jesus. One way to describe our new relationship with Jesus is to call it a "Walk" or a "Journey". Each of our relationships with God are different, look different, and they take us different places. God is such a gentleman and so limitless, that He will let you come as close to Him as YOU want. The closer we walk with Jesus, the more of His Goodness we experience. Last week Lila shared about the power of God that is available to us through what we call, The Second Work Of Grace, or the infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. She shared how with the anointing of the Holy Spirit brings Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Fruit, a softening of your heart, power to overcome sin and so much more. Today, is the next step. Walking in the Spirit, or Walking by Faith and not by Sight. Where is the line? How much does God do? How much are we to do? Do we sit and wait for God to do everything for us? What are we responsible for? Some of Jesus' teachings on following Him are really difficult?       Do we have to? Much has happened to our family these past couple years. As I look back, I see where God has been revealing His answer to these questions step by step to us. This last mountain we faced I believe was the defining moment of understanding His Truth. That story of ours is a long one, so I will just cut to the good stuff... How you and I can walk by Faith in this world and Not by Sight. Let's start with Jesus: Matthew 6:31-34 "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Do you see how Jesus just separated God's Kingdom from the world? And then he separates His People from the non-believers? Jesus taught God's Kingdom, His Father's Kingdom was now here on earth, among us, here, now. We may be walking in the flesh in the world, but with Jesus came a greater, more encompassing, more powerful kingdom and all those who profess Jesus as Lord are a part of God's Kingdom. Not only that, but the King, the one who has complete authority and power over this Kingdom, calls us His CHILDREN! And Jesus calls us HIS FRIENDS! Now what about this Provision Jesus is talking about? Jesus is telling us not to worry about food, drink and clothing, all of which represent our daily lives really. Our basic needs. So, back to the questions from earlier? how much are we to do? Do we work? Do we just sit and be served by Him? Where is the line? How do we walk? When I asked God these questions last night, He answer was short and simple and to the point. "Who am I to you?" As tears welled up, I said, "You are my Father in whom all protection, provision and power flows from." And then I instantly understood. You see, in our home, my husband's and mine, we have two teenagers. We provide for them in our home, we protect them in our home, we have rules for them in our home, and even given them privileges. And yes, we have given them authority to teach their friends our rules, share our food, drive our cars and even use our money for certain purchases.  Now, we do have chores for them to do and we do expect them to take baths, go to school, take responsibility for their actions and to feed themselves most of the time. Yes, I did say feed themselves. If you have, or have had, teenagers, you have certainly heard "Mom! There is nothing to eat in the house!" To which we answer, "There is food in the kitchen. Go make yourself something to eat!" We have provided food and methods of preparation as well as training for the young ones to cook their own food, but sometimes they do not either want to DO the work or even try to come up with something to eat. They would rather Mom do the cooking and serve them. Instead, I give them ideas and different options, recipes etc. And many times I just remind them of something they forgot we had. This is a very simplified parable, but I understand much clearer now that God is our Father who Provides for us, Protects us and grants us Power to walk in faith beside Jesus our Lord, with the Holy Spirit within to do great and marvelous work for our King. He even talks to us, teaches us and reminds us of things we may have forgotten.  He will also tell us what He wants us to do, lead us in the path we should go with the talents, skills, spiritual gifts to help us and others along the way. Most importantly, our perspective usually changes when we seek His counsel. What we hold dearly to when walking by sight in this world, many times fade away in importance when we are with God. His truth in every situation we face can transform us. So it really does come down to "Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (or His ways), and all these things will be given to you as well." Ok, let's try this... You have a big decision to make. It will impact the rest of your life and others as well. You are afraid to make the wrong decision and do not know what to do. You become filled with anxiety, strong emotions and worry constantly about the "What Ifs" of either path you choose. Philippians 4:6-8 Do you believe God? Did He really mean for this verse to be in the Bible? This is not an answer for what you are dealing with! Or is it... Read it again. Yes, God meant for that to be in the Bible. I can say that because David wrote about this concept in the Psalms. Seek God and His righteousness, Seek His right way for you, Thank Him for anything that comes to mind, including this decision. Why? Because it is bringing you closer to Your Father in Heaven. Remind God of His Promises, tell Him you want His peace and His wisdom (James said wisdom is the one thing God will not deny you.) Tell Him you love Him and are in eager expectation of His answer. - God may give you an impression, a new idea, a reminder of something important or even something to research further. - He may even speak to you or bring a Scripture to mind. - He may have wise counsel come from a friend or grant you tremendous peace with a certain course of action. - You may just realize how insignificant the decision is in the first place as you rest in God's glory and eternal perspective. - God can change our perspective on the situation The point is, do not trust in your emotions, or let worry control you, Seek God and His Righteousness first in prayer and His Word. How about Fear? Fear hits us in so many ways, from so many directions, and many times from multiple angles. This one I brought to God personally couple weeks ago while facing that mountain I mentioned earlier. I told God about my fear. His response brought within me tremendous hope and joy. "Fear is designed to push you to Me." What that meant to me is God, My Father, the Creator of all that is seen and unseen, desires for me to bring Him my fear and He in return will give me His Goodness, His Protection, His Provision. - Ok, simply put, He will fix it, if I leave it with Him to fix that is. This giving it to Him to fix and then taking it back and doing it our own way does not work. I've tried. To Sum Up: Walking by Sight is living by what we see and feel. All our desires, fears, emotion and anxiety. But when we take all of those things to God, our Father, He transforms us with His Goodness  & Truth so we can walk by faith. So how do we walk with God? How do we walk by faith regardless of what our eyes see in this world? Remember, God is your Father, walking with you in His Kingdom. Seek Him and His righteousness in prayer and in His Word.