The Path Of Life

You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 NKJV

    There is a point in our walk in the Lord to where we leave our path and go over to the path that God has for us. It’s a scary step that has uncertainty, unknowns, and uneasiness down it. We want so bad to just stay on the path that we are on – it’s the easier one of course. We are familiar with it, there are no surprises, and we know where it’s going. Most importantly, we are in control.

   The old path is the one that our old nature (man) is used to, but God doesn’t want us to be content with the old one, and the new man is almost out of character staying on it. We know it’s not going to be easy and we may slip and fall and go through treacherous terrain. But the real fear we face is that we will become stagnant and fall back in our faith if we don’t follow His path. The new man needs the new path to grow. The path might be a job change, friends change, city change. Or it could be something like getting involved with church activities, sharing your faith with someone, scheduled time for praying… the possibilities are endless and God will direct us.

    The biggest breakthrough I have had in my Christian journey is when I fully turned things over to Him. When I stopped depending upon my own limited abilities and turned my full trust to Him. The first path I was on was not a bad path, but He had a much better one for me. I sometimes think about if I would have stayed where I was, but I am in awe of where this path has led me to. He has pushed me to be my best. I have gotten closer to Him in our relationship. I have seen Him move in my prayers and in my life because I let Him be in charge. Charles Stanley said that when he was a boy that his grandfather told him to “obey God and leave the consequences to Him. No matter what He tells you, do it and trust Him for the outcome.” I know that God won’t lead us down a wrong path, but one that benefits us and His Kingdom work. Let’s see where He’s leading us to.

Blessings!
Elder Steve Smith