Watch The Path Of Your Feet

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.  Proverbs 4:23-27 NASB

Trials cause us to despair of ourselves and we realize afresh that we are not in control. We have a choice to make. Do we cleave to God and His promises or do we become doubters, grumblers, anxious, and angry?

Do we despair of life, or do we, with trepidation and through tears, run to  Jesus, meditate on the promise of God…. because He is with us through every thing good and bad-  before bad news you believed in God, before your job became obsolete and the lay off came you believed God was providing - but after He takes us through a testing we can point back to genuine faith expressed in the very fact that we chose to cling to God in difficult circumstance. What an opportunity for joy!

Furthermore, not only is the testing of the faith we profess a fresh opportunity to glorify God and trust in His unfailing commitment to us in Christ Jesus, this is also when God gives us His perfectly timed gifts of pouring out His love through our hearts and into the communities we live.  It’s an experience that cannot be produced with a formula. It is personal, real, and life changing. And it will produce in us persevering Faith and enduring hope.

I read once that ‘If we aren’t in a storm, we have either just come out of one or we are about to go into one.’ 

Not the most encouraging of statements I know but Jesus never said that following Him would be easy. I do believe that we are in a spiritual battle and that we need to fight the good fight of the faith (1 Tim 6:12). We are called to run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1), so whatever lies ahead take hold of Jesus’ outstretched hand and press on…. keep going. 

This journey called life is a good The reason - as if we actually need a reason lol - we are encouraged to soak ourselves in scriptures is so that we can lean on them when the lies of the enemy come our way and the storms of life feel overwhelming. 

Let us keep a firm grip on the promises of God that keep us going. We have listed a few great scriptures and recommend reading them, rereading them, declaring them aloud, putting them on your fridge, or finding ways to learn them so that when you feel weak, distant or where there is no way forward, you will be reminded that God is greater than our situations and is faithful through it all. 

These verses teach us that a person who genuinely believes in Jesus is united to Him and kept forever:

1 Corinthians 15:57 but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;

Deuteronomy 31:6 the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you;

Isaiah 41:10 do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you;

Mark 10:27 With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. 

We can have assurance because Jesus Christ is truth, He is the way. He’s taken upon Himself the project of bringing His sons and daughters to completion. We continue in faith because we are kept by God’s grace. We persevere because God is preserving us. 

We as believers in Christ then simply, though not easily, must not let go of the Gospel. If we continue holding fast to “the faith,” we can rest assured that Christ is ours and we are His. That doesn’t mean we won’t sin, take a detour or wrong turn, or even that our faith is perfect and we never struggle with doubt. But seasons of struggling and having lukewarm faith is set is not the same as willful unrepentance and rejection of Christ’s gospel.

Only those who repent of their sins - seek God, welcome Holy Spirit, trust Jesus - persevere for His kingdom while walking this earthly home — endure in bleak times, and know Jesus Christ as the risen Saviour will enjoy God’s eternal rest. “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples’” (John 8:31). 

Endurance doesn’t save us, but it demonstrates our union with Christ. All those united to Jesus Christ must and will persevere, not because of the power of our might but because of the preserving power and grace of He who is the object of our faith.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 NLT Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.  We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering.

This should encourage us that if we hold fast to Jesus we’re promised salvation, not as something we earn but as the outcome of a faith that unites us to Jesus and receives all the promises in Him. It also warns anyone who has turned away from Jesus or seeks salvation apart from Him that there will be no grounds to think they will be saved. 

There is no disconnect between God’s promise that He preserves and keeps all who are His and the truth that all who are His must persevere.