Eternal Walkways – The bible being the word of God was revealed to men of old who were inspired and called by the Almighty God, these are men who through inspiration of the Holy Spirit received the grace of revelation and understanding of God’s divine plan. It’s fascinating to say that the bible is an infallible word of God and can be considered as the manual of all creation, for scripture says that the word of God is life, if His word is life as noted then it is in fact an incorporeal blueprint for all created things.
The bible is a historic account of God’s people, his kindness, love, protection, concern, mercy and will written by prophets and righteous men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. It narrates God’s creation and the emergence of life, the disobedience and fall of man and indeed the wickedness that entered the world which led to man’s misery, hopeless and cry for help. Even though His people rebelled and disobeyed Him, He didn’t give up on them but was patient in seeking their hearts back to Him by forgiving and teaching them His eternal walkways so that they could come back to Him and be happy again.
Walking in the eternal ways of God involves a deep and lasting relationship with Him through faith, obedience, and a commitment to living in His love and truth. This perpetual journey align us with God’s will and character, seeking His wisdom and guidance in all aspects of life. In the most basic sense, to walk in the Spirit means to live a life that depends on the Spirit’s power to grow in godliness, obey God’s commands, and experience increasing intimacy with God.
While each of these three components are inseparably linked, looking at each one individually sheds further light on walking in the Spirit or eternally with God. We are, of course, familiar with the idea of walking. We tend to take it for granted until it becomes difficult or impossible. Some of us even wear devices that track the number of steps taken in a day as a way to encourage a more active lifestyle. How an individual walks is so distinctive that it may be possible for software to identify people based on their walking patterns.
It should not be surprising that the Bible uses walking as a metaphor for a person’s way of life, encompassing beliefs, attitudes, desires, and actions. This metaphor is especially prominent in wisdom contexts, which often present a contrast between two different ways of walking / living (e.g., Ps. 1:1–6), (Prov. 4:10–19). In the genealogy of Genesis 5, what set Enoch apart was that he “walked with God, and he was not, for God took him”. God’s people are called to walk in God’s ways (Ps 119:3) rather than walk in the counsel of the wicked (Ps. 1:1).
The New Testament expands on this walking metaphor. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, believers “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), in the good works that God prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10), and in wisdom (Col 4:5). Christians are called to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. But perhaps the expression that stands above them all in the New Testament is the concept of walking in or by the Spirit that I have already talked about.
Grow In Godliness.
Godliness refers to a life that is single-mindedly oriented toward God and is expressed in one’s thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, and words. Godliness captures the essence of the great commandment to love God with our whole being (Matt. 22:37) citing (Deut. 6:5). Walking in the Spirit means depending on God’s power to orient all the different aspects of one’s life towards God. According to (Rom. 8:5), those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” The Spirit helps us direct our thoughts, emotions, inclinations, and desires in ways that will please God and consistent with his character. As we depend on the Spirit, He transforms the desires of our hearts to align with God’s heart and enables us to resist the sinful desires that we still experience as part of living in this fallen world (Gal. 5:16).
Not only does the Holy Spirit make us spiritually alive, He sustains and empowers us to become more like Christ. That is why Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). “Keep in step with” refers to keeping one’s behavior in line with a person. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as a commanding officer or helper leading God’s people to produce fruit (Gal. 5:22–23), serve one another in love (Gal. 5:13–14), and walk in unison with each other.
Obey God’s Commands.
Walking in the Spirit not only means relying on the Spirit to reorient one’s entire life in a general sense, but also includes depending on the Spirit to obey specific commands of God. Indeed, this was one of the central promises of the new covenant as described in (Ezek. This promise lurks behind a number of New Testament passages, even when different language is used. A good example is in (Rom. 8:3–4), where Paul asserts that those who walk according to the Spirit fulfill the righteous requirement of the law. Those who walk in the Spirit are empowered to obey God’s commands, especially when it comes to the command to love’s one’s neighbor as oneself (Gal 5:13–14), citing in (Lev 19:18).
Depending on the Spirit to obey God includes not only doing what God commands, but also not doing what God forbids. In contrast to unbelievers, whose lives are controlled and directed by the flesh, believers are empowered by the Spirit to “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13). The Spirit gives believers the ability to turn away from the works of the flesh that characterized life before Christ (Gal. 5:19–21) and instead produce the fruit of the Spirit. “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).
Experience Increasing Intimacy.
Given the emphasis on the Spirit’s empowerment to grow in godliness and obey God, it can be easy to overlook how the Spirit intensifies our intimacy with God. At the heart of God’s covenant purposes was the promise “I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people”. In the old covenant, this was accomplished by the Spirit dwelling in either the tabernacle or the temple. In the new covenant, the Spirit dwells inside believers, making them his temple (1 Cor. 3:16). By living inside of us, the Spirit continually reassures us that God has adopted us as his sons and daughters, moving us to cry out “Abba, Father,” and reminding us of the eternal inheritance that awaits us (Rom. 8:15–17).
As we depend on the Spirit to deepen our intimacy with God, he creates in us a growing longing for Christ’s return and the consummation of God’s promises. As Paul succinctly says in Galatians 5:5), “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” The apostle expands on this thought in Romans 8:18–25). After describing how creation longs for the day when it will be set free from the effects of the Fall, Paul adds, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23). As we walk in the Spirit, he intensifies our desire to be with Christ in the glorious new creation, where we will see him face to face (Rev. 22:4) and the promise of God dwelling with his people will be consummated in all its fullness (Rev. 21:3–4).
Scripture points to both internal and external evidence to determine whether we are walking in the Spirit. Internal evidence focuses on the posture of one’s heart, mind, and soul. So if our thoughts and desires are set upon things that are pleasing to God, that is evidence that we are walking in the Spirit. A good checklist to reflect on is (Philippians 4:8), where Paul writes, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. External evidence focuses on the words and actions that flow from the posture of our hearts. Obedience to God’s commands rooted in a delight in who God is and what he has done for us demonstrates that one is walking in the Spirit. Does our life reflect a pattern of growing in godliness and increasing obedience to God? If so, that is a good indicator that we are walking in the Spirit. Expressing gratitude to God and joyful singing are also evidence of walking in the Spirit (Eph 5:18–20), (Col 3:16).
The fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22–23) provides a helpful description of what walking in the Spirit looks like. As we see this fruit produced in both our internal attitudes and external actions, we can be confident that we are walking in the Spirit. A good place to begin is prayer. Specifically, asking God to guide and direct our steps. This prayer is not a magic formula. It simply provides a helpful example of how we can acknowledge our dependence on the Spirit to walk in His ways. A second practical suggestion for walking in the Spirit is to immerse ourselves in the Word. As the one who inspired the biblical authors to write down the words of God (2 Tim. 3:16–17), (2 Pet. 1:19–21), the Spirit uses Scripture to keep us in step with him.
Everything the Spirit leads us to do will be consistent with what God has already revealed in his Word. He still speaks to us today through the words he himself inspired, pointing us to Christ and empowering us to obey what God has said. Finally, spend time with fellow believers. While the Spirit does work in and through us as individuals, we must never forget that he also regularly works in our lives through other believers. Indeed, sometimes, the Spirit works through the words and actions of others to reveal areas where we are not walking in the Spirit. That is one of the many reasons that we must prioritize gathering together each week with God’s people for worship.
Daily Devotional
Eternal Walkways of Victory – is a daily devotional guide and prayer manual with a Bible study calendar, this spiritual guidance is the eternal walkways of wisdom, knowledge and understanding for the believers’ daily victory. To walk in faith, truth, power and dominion as a child of God requires intentional and deliberate practices, choices or decisions that are backed by the grace of God. Our gracious Father is always waiting for us to take a stand and persevere in faith, through the justification of our victory in Christ that makes us win daily. As children conformed to the image of Christ, all we need do is to believe, obey and do the will of God. Once we do God’s will and remain in His divine providence and purpose, both physical and spirit realms obeys our commands through Christ who is now enthroned as the Head of all principalities. It’s imperative to know that, the spirit realm is very real and orderly, pre-eminent and permanent than our physical habitation. Activities in the spirit are carried out relatively to the precepts and ordinances established by God Almighty. Both God and the heavenly hosts yield to these eternally established rules, conduct and order, and mankind cannot be excluded from obeying these same divine laws. For us to subdue, conquer and exercise dominion on Earth, we all must adhere to the precepts governing creation to enable us control and command the supposed spiritual world.
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These eternal truths and realities can be seen in (Eph. 6: 10-18) where the Word of God is emphatic and explicitly explained what we must do as bond-servants of Christ to conquer the wiles of the devil, the principalities and powers that are domiciled in heavenly places. The consequences or cost of rejecting godly truths is largely damaging and destructive, therefore, we cannot neglect divine truths and avoid being truthful ourselves or pursuing godly acts that leads to righteousness, by bearing ourselves as instruments of peace, trusting God completely through our faith in Christ, and the daily workings of our salvation and other children of God, growing in the word of God and praying without season even for the saints. These things are indeed our spirituality and they form for us defense in withstanding the spiritual hosts of wickedness or destroying the works of darkness, it makes us prevail against the devil and for the propulsion experience of our victory and excellent life.
The scripture is our Christian guide for the doctrine of pure conduct and matters pertaining to life. This holy, great and inspirational book reveals God’s determination to save His people from the world of affliction and destruction; it also reveals God’s truth and perhaps teaches us the likely consequences of our decisions and actions in spiritual and practical world, for God through His Word set before us the choice of life and good, death and evil as the standards for life whether to live or die. It is through His Word in the bible that we can encounter the living God and undoubtedly come to divine acknowledge and learn about Him or either way the Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who read and hear it, according to the disposition of their hearts; even though the mystery of His Word is beyond our human comprehension God grants us the grace to understand His revelations according to purpose and need, and it’s futile and incorrect for us to question what is not revealed in the bible as Christ has commanded that we shouldn’t bother about anything that is not revealed to us – “And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times and seasons which the Father has put in His own authority”, (Acts 1: 7).
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Furthermore, this exceptional and incomparable book account for the precepts or principles that governs the natural domain and man, it actually teaches us how to please, reverence and obey God as our Creator. The scripture as the Word of God contains the Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in the New Testament Covenant through God’s love and commitment to man, from Genesis to Revelation the bible recorded the inter-connectivity of God’s word, its harmonization and fulfillment. It is on the account of God’s New Covenant that He sent his only begotten Son to come and save the world from sin, the new covenant of faith which we Christians accept as a standard of our doctrine revealed through Jesus Christ. It is in the Old Testament of this great book that the prophecy of Christ was revealed and eventually fulfilled in the same book in New Testament, it’s unimaginable and astonishing how God spoke with those He assigned to carry out His will for thousands of years and in different generation of people.
The New Testament of the bible that we accept as our infallible gift of God was abolished through Christ’s death that was prophesied by the prophets of old precisely more so in Isaiah, for what the blood of animals could not do His precious blood did by setting us free from sin, death and has presented us right before the Father who loves us. “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isa. 9: 1-2), “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider” (Isa. 51: 13-15), “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down it” (Isa. 28: 16-18). We look up to Jesus Christ with complete joy and fulfillment, for we were lost and hopeless but through His love and compassion we are found. The bible says; “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as there were moved by the Holy Spirit”, (2 Pet. 1: 21) and again it says – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, (Jn. 1: 1). Man shall not live on bread alone but on every Word of God, it’s by His Word in the bible that we all can achieve peace and happiness, joy, satisfaction and ultimately be saved.