Part One: Taking a Walk

Taking a Walk

The Good Life Series
by: Gavin Adams
Watermarke Church
The Good Life Series, Watermarke Church

Next FunLovingJen posts:
"The Good Life Series"- Part 2: Maintaining Your Pace
"The Good Life Series"- Part 3: Whatever Your Do
"The Good Life Series" Part 4: On Purpose and for a Purpose

First, let's talk about God's Providential Will.

Jesus followers many times will pray, "God I just want to know where you want me to go," in regards to the direction to go with their life.

We think there is a Good God with a Good plan. When he won't tell us what the plan is it can sometimes erode our faith. Is God being distant? Is God not good at revealing the plan for your life?

We have to know deep in our hearts that God's personal plan for our lives is a unique plan meant especially for us. Importantly also, God's will is way bigger than ours.

God has 3 different types of will:
Providential Will- the directions your life will go in that God has decided for you without your permission

Part two of this series covers:
Moral Will- God wants us to live according to His word

Part three of this series covers:
Personal Will- what he will do in our lives

We have to remember that God's Grace is in all three and they are connected.

Then we think about Abraham. Many religions will agree, Abraham is the Father of Faith and just look at his life!

"The Lord had said to Abraham, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you." (Genesis 12:1 NIV)

Maybe Abraham said, "Where?" God would have replied, "I'll show you. Don't worry. I'll show you." This would frustrate some people, to not know where God wanted us to go.

"So Abraham went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there." (Genesis 12:4-5 NIV)

When the Bible references the possessions someone had it meant someone had a Good Life. So Abraham was very well off. He stopped at many places including at the great tree of Moreh at Shechem.

"Abraham traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him." (Genesis 12:6-7 NIV)

In those days, people created an alter as a reminder of God's provision with stones. It was a way of remembering that God showed up promised

Is there a reason for God to not tell people the plan for their lives?  Why doesn't God just tell them the plan to at least have clarity. That is what we want. Just knowing the plan is helpful.

Can't God just tell us, "Go toward the west." But, God is strategic. He is the definition of love, so why is He so vague? But there is a bigger question besides where or why...

Maybe God needed to just take a walk with Abraham.

What if God's personal plan begins with a Providential Walk? Where we don't know where we are going, we are just trusting God that He is with us.

Then we think about how Abraham's lineage leads to Jesus!!! But, before God could do something through Abraham, had to do something in Abraham. At every alter, at every step, His relationship with God grew.

God's personal direction always requires a personal connection and Sometimes we need to just take a walk with God.

Some people may be sitting with their arms crossed, looking at God waving to come to follow Him have their doubts.  A connection with God always precedes God revealing His direction for your life.

So the first part is to take a step towards God, to start to follow.  This is a starting point.

If you are not sure and have doubts, that is ok, pick up your doubts and take a step. Faith actually requires doubt. If we knew everything we wouldn't have faith. So doubts are ok, because we are not going to have all the answers.

The next steps is to trust God. Try to have less things around you that may distract you from your relationship with God.
For every obstacle we need to step over each obstacle. Are you scared? That is ok. Do you have curiosity? You must figure it out your obstacles or they will hinder you. Stepping is walking, and walking is growing.

Just remember: Life lived in the centered of God's plan is the best plan!

How God Parents Us

(Notes by Sharon Turner from Danny Silk's book "Loving our Kids on Purpose")

Is. 59:21  “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,” says the LORD.

The heart of The Father towards you, your children, grandchildren, etc. is based on Covenant.  We want to build lasting relationship by teaching, training, and building momentum from generation to generation.

Our job as parents is to have a heart that trains them up in the way they have been created by God.  They have a natural bent, a calling and destiny because of how He created them.  We want to protect that relational covenant that we have with them so that as they grow into who they are, not who we want them to be.

When we introduce fear, intimidation, and punishment we open up the door of their souls to go on a quest to go look for a better covenant relationship.

We want them to grow up knowing God’s covenant relationship with us and being able to discern between fear and love.  We want them to understand the difference between freedom and control.

Jer. 31:33  “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The Law was to be a schoolmaster to drive us to Jesus.  This transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant is we move from an external relationship with God to an internal relationship with God.  Now He lives inside of us and that is a whole different relationship dynamic.  Now there is an internal force inside of me that I relate to from the inside out.

It’s important to understand how important freedom is to God.

There were TWO trees in the garden of Eden.

Gen. 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You can’t have freedom if you don’t have a choice, you cannot have love if you don’t have freedom.  This is the foundation of how our Heavenly Father interacts with us.

The role of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to teach us to manage ourselves in all the freedoms that God has afforded us.  The Holy Spirit’s job is not to control us.

1John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

The New Covenant is all about relationship and love.  The ultimate to strive for is heart to heart connection.  That is what God is after.  The test of love, the test of covenant, the test of relationship is – am I going to adjust how I am behaving based on how it is affecting our relationship?

Marriage Tip #2: Don't ever give up

Marriage is a journey.  There are going to be times of great joy and happiness but there will probably be times of sorrow and difficulty.  Either way you cannot ever give up on each other and your marriage.  Both parties have to be willing to work on the marriage because marriage will never be a one way street.  Sometimes people do terrible things and trust and respect may go out the window.  But I believe if both people are willing to work together you can overcome any obstacle.  Forgiveness is the key to moving on and going forward.

When you think about it, if you are a Christian you should try to forgive people no matter what they did.  The main reason is because Christ forgives us of our daily trespasses.  We can never be “good enough” no matter how hard we try we will always fall short.  This is why grace is so important.  Grace makes up the gap between where we want to be and where we actually are.  Sometimes this can be a difficult concept and expectations definitely factor in here too.

One thing I always try to do is communicate expectations.  Your spouse is never going to be a mind reader and they can only know your desires if you express them clearly.  Communication is the magic.  I say this all the time.  You have to be in constant communication when things don’t go according to plan; you have to talk things through so you can move forward.  Being angry doesn’t help anyone if you can’t communicate the problem, so it is less likely to happen again.

At the very least it can give the spouse the opportunity to apologize.  Then we come back to forgiveness.  I try to be generous with the forgiveness so when I mess up, he will be more likely to forgive me quickly.  I also just try to make my husband happy, doing things to help him out and being part of activities he enjoys.  He does the same thing for me.

But marriage may not be easy all the time and you really do have to work on it daily.  Be in constant communication because communication is the magic.  There also has to be mutual Love & Respect.  There is a really good book I read that transformed the way I viewed marriage called “Love and Respect” by Dr. Emerson Eggrichs.  If you have not read it, I would definitely recommend it.

Who do you say God is?

Sometimes images of God can be skewed from how he really is.  Throughout the Bible everyone has things to say about who "God is". I wanted to share with you some verses I found that describe God. After reading them, who do you say God is?
God is my strong fortress, and he makes my way perfect. (2 Samuel 22:33 NLT)

For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully? (Job 9:4 NLT)

God is my shield, saving those whose hearts are true and right. (Psalms 7:10 NLT)

God is an honest judge. He is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalms 7:11 NLT)

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. (Psalms 46:1 NLT)

But the Lord is my fortress; my God is the mighty rock where I hide. (Psalms 94:22 NLT)

Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:4 NLT)

But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. (Daniel 9:9 NLT)

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24 NLT)

He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. (Romans 4:21 NLT)

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, (Ephesians 2:4 NLT)

Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20 NLT)

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8 NLT)

For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. (1 Peter 2:19 NLT)

The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’ (Deuteronomy 33:27 NLT)

God is awesome in his sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God! (Psalms 68:35 NLT)

And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. (James 1:13 NLT)

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19 NLT)

my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:3 NLT)

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. (Psalms 18:2 NLT)

For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. (Psalms 84:11 NLT)

Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:22 NLT)

Feel free to comment below how you think of God!