HOW TO WALK WITH GOD . . . HIS WAY By Bern Zumpano, MD
Jesus stands at the door of the heart of every man, woman, and child ever created, to invite them into a heart-to-heart relationship with Him. This invitation to Christ to come into our heart must, like all prayer, be spoken aloud (Mk. 11:23,24). It is founded on His unconditional love not based on our performance.
In Revelation 3:20, The Lord Jesus Christ said “ Behold, I stand at the door ( of the heart) and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup (fellowship) with him and He with me.” (parentheses mine) Notice the promise: “I will come into him.” The purpose is fellowship and covenant. Then Jesus gives another promise in John 14:21- “ He that has my commandments (teachings) and keeps them, he it is that loves Me; and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” Christ entering us by invitation, then, is Divine Possession by God’s Spirit. This is what Scripture calls the born-again experience or being “begotten from above” (John 3:3,5) This manifestation is personal and occurs regardless of whether one is Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or non-denominational.
His manifesting Himself to us then follows as Lord, The One who leads us through life, and Savior, The One who saves us from sin, self, and the consequences of sin: space and time in the physical world. We know the latter to be true because Revelations tells us that the wicked who are judged in the Lake of Fire are tested “day and night” ……for “ages and ages”. These descriptives speak of space and time, and the Lake of Fire being a place of judgment somewhere in space and time, or the physical universe.
Once we are possessed by God’s Spirit, Scripture calls us a “new creature” or “new creation” and states that “old things are passed away and that all things are made new” by Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17) This Divine Possession was eloquently expressed by the Holy Spirit through Paul in Galatians 2:20 when he said “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He continues in 2 Cor. 4:10 to say that we are “ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” So in these two verses the Holy Spirit through Paul says “Christ lives in me” and “His Life……my body.” This is Divine Possession. The carnal, earthly church often speaks of demonic possession and rarely of Divine Possession, yet demonic possession is nothing more than the counterfeit of the Real. And the evidence that the experience of Christ is real is the evidence of changed lives by the millions, worldwide.
When you have invited Christ into your heart, being willing to turn from your sins, His Divine Possession of you begins to forge the changes needed for newness of life. God’s Divine plan for your life begins, and Satan’s plans for your life are cut off. This relationship with Christ is forged and furthered by “faith” which is trust on Christ alone. Trust on Christ alone brings transformation. The Lord says in the Scripture “ I share my Glory with no one.”
Now here are some “rules of the road” in understanding your walk of faith on Him:
1. Salvation is a free gift, it is not earned or deserved. It is not through self-effort that you make yourself acceptable to God. Scripture says you are "accepted in the beloved". You cannot be any more "accepted" than "accepted". So stop trying to please God. God became pleased when you got born-again and accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior, and now the Bible says “Cease striving”.
2. When you accept Jesus as Savior, you ask Him to save you from your sins. When you have Him as Lord, you transfer your trust from your own self-effort to change, to Him, to let Him change you over time and to lead you through life. . So Psalm 46:10 says "Cease striving and know that I am God." Stop the self-effort to try to please God and make yourself acceptable to Him. “Cease striving….”, the Bible says.
3. When you trust God to do it all, to transform you, transformation begins from the inside outward. Self-effort to go to God is religion, trying to transform yourself from the outside inward to try to please God. That doesn't work. If it did, you and I would not need a Savior. In Isaiah 64:6 the Holy Spirit said through the prophet: “ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” This Scripture tells us that it is impossible for man to clean himself up to make himself presentable to God or to go to God to be received and accepted by Him. God saves us not because of who we are or what we do; He saves us because of Who He is.
4. "Savior" means "The One who Saves". Jesus not only saves from sin, but He also saves us from “self”. So Galatians 2:20 says "Christ in you, the hope of Glory"; and in 2 Cor. 4:10, Paul says "His Life.......my body". Now watch these verses so that you can see the pattern in the Bible of Who changes whom:
a. " After you have suffered a while, the God of all grace, He will establish, settle, strengthen, and perfect you." ( I Peter 5:10). WHO will do it? He will do it. The word "perfect" here means to "make spiritually mature".
b. "He who has begun a good work in you is able to bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6) WHO will do it? He will do it.
c." It is God who is at work in you to do His Will and good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13) WHO will do it? He will do it.
d. " He will perfect all things concerning me." ( Ps. 138:8) WHO will do it? He will do it.
e. "I will cry out to God most high; unto God that performs all things for me." (Ps. 57:2) WHO will do it? He will do it.
f. “Faithful is He that called you, Who also will do it.” WHO will do it? He will do it.
g. “ Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” WHO will do it? He will do it.
5.. Scripture says "Enter His rest." How do you do that? By trusting on Christ through faith (trust) on Him alone, not on man. He will do the rest. Relax. You are being taken to where you need to be , by Him. Enjoy the journey and stop trying to perform for God. Now that does not mean that God’s Grace is a license to sin. No it is not. Grace is God’s favor, love, mercy, power, and victory to you and me, which we cannot earn or deserve. However, once God extends Grace, Grace demands a response. That response is trust and obedience to what God is telling us or showing us by the direct witness of His Holy Spirit, or through His Word.
6. Paul says of Christ, "His Life......my body." In other words, the true Christian is supposed to walk under Divine Possession, letting Christ live His Life in and through him. So if you are wondering if you are doing the right thing and if you are where you are supposed to be right now, the answer is that you are right where God wants you right now, doing what God wants you to do, right now, because He is doing His work in you and through you. So just trust. Jesus Christ is faithful. Jesus works, and faith never fails. Scripture says "All things follow the counsel of God's WIll." So His Will overrides your will; therefore, He has you where He wants you, right now, doing what He wants you to be doing, right now.
7. Know that God saves you not because of who you are or what you do, but because of Who He Is. I hope these scriptures have proven to you that you are being taken to your destination in Him, by God; you are not going there out of your own self-effort. If you have been taught contrary, you have been taught wrongly by men, because I am telling you the truths of the Bible, citing the verses that say so. So stop trying to perform for God. Let Him live His Life in you and through you. Pray every day:
"Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge you this day and bless your Name, One with Father and The Holy Spirit; I empty myself a vessel for your use and yield now to your Holy Spirit to divinely possess me. I present my body, an acceptable sacrifice of worship, and my members as instruments of righteousness. I call upon your Name and I am helped. I offer you the sacrifice of praise. Walk before me this day in all that I do and say; live Your Life in me and through me; show me points of ministry, what to do, how to do it, what to say, how to say it or if to say it. I empty myself a vessel for your use and trust you for the results. I thank you for the good work that you have begun in me and through me, and that you bring to completion by my trust on you. I give you thanks, praise and glory, that it is all of you and none of me. In Your Name I pray. Amen."
Now here’s one last thought: Deuteronomy 28 tells us that blessings are based on “performance”, stating “…..if you obey, all of these blessings will come upon you… ” The performance which the Scripture speaks of, however, is not that of self-effort to please God, but that of surrender to God’s Spirit to allow Him to live His Life in us and through us so that obedience and trust (“performance”) arises out of faith on Him, and on Him living and doing things in us and through us. Then, the blessings follow because a living faith will automatically give rise to good works which are the evidence and testimony to others that our faith is alive in Christ. (James 2:20,26)
This is a start. I hope this helps you to understand how Christians are to walk the walk of faith according to God’s Sovereign Will and prescription. My prayer for you is that you will reach out to Him directly to receive this wonderful experience. The evidence that Jesus Christ is Real is the evidence of changed lives by the millions of those who have received Him into their hearts, worldwide. The Bible proves itself.
In Revelation 3:20, The Lord Jesus Christ said “ Behold, I stand at the door ( of the heart) and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup (fellowship) with him and He with me.” (parentheses mine) Notice the promise: “I will come into him.” The purpose is fellowship and covenant. Then Jesus gives another promise in John 14:21- “ He that has my commandments (teachings) and keeps them, he it is that loves Me; and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” Christ entering us by invitation, then, is Divine Possession by God’s Spirit. This is what Scripture calls the born-again experience or being “begotten from above” (John 3:3,5) This manifestation is personal and occurs regardless of whether one is Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or non-denominational.
His manifesting Himself to us then follows as Lord, The One who leads us through life, and Savior, The One who saves us from sin, self, and the consequences of sin: space and time in the physical world. We know the latter to be true because Revelations tells us that the wicked who are judged in the Lake of Fire are tested “day and night” ……for “ages and ages”. These descriptives speak of space and time, and the Lake of Fire being a place of judgment somewhere in space and time, or the physical universe.
Once we are possessed by God’s Spirit, Scripture calls us a “new creature” or “new creation” and states that “old things are passed away and that all things are made new” by Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17) This Divine Possession was eloquently expressed by the Holy Spirit through Paul in Galatians 2:20 when he said “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He continues in 2 Cor. 4:10 to say that we are “ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” So in these two verses the Holy Spirit through Paul says “Christ lives in me” and “His Life……my body.” This is Divine Possession. The carnal, earthly church often speaks of demonic possession and rarely of Divine Possession, yet demonic possession is nothing more than the counterfeit of the Real. And the evidence that the experience of Christ is real is the evidence of changed lives by the millions, worldwide.
When you have invited Christ into your heart, being willing to turn from your sins, His Divine Possession of you begins to forge the changes needed for newness of life. God’s Divine plan for your life begins, and Satan’s plans for your life are cut off. This relationship with Christ is forged and furthered by “faith” which is trust on Christ alone. Trust on Christ alone brings transformation. The Lord says in the Scripture “ I share my Glory with no one.”
Now here are some “rules of the road” in understanding your walk of faith on Him:
1. Salvation is a free gift, it is not earned or deserved. It is not through self-effort that you make yourself acceptable to God. Scripture says you are "accepted in the beloved". You cannot be any more "accepted" than "accepted". So stop trying to please God. God became pleased when you got born-again and accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior, and now the Bible says “Cease striving”.
2. When you accept Jesus as Savior, you ask Him to save you from your sins. When you have Him as Lord, you transfer your trust from your own self-effort to change, to Him, to let Him change you over time and to lead you through life. . So Psalm 46:10 says "Cease striving and know that I am God." Stop the self-effort to try to please God and make yourself acceptable to Him. “Cease striving….”, the Bible says.
3. When you trust God to do it all, to transform you, transformation begins from the inside outward. Self-effort to go to God is religion, trying to transform yourself from the outside inward to try to please God. That doesn't work. If it did, you and I would not need a Savior. In Isaiah 64:6 the Holy Spirit said through the prophet: “ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” This Scripture tells us that it is impossible for man to clean himself up to make himself presentable to God or to go to God to be received and accepted by Him. God saves us not because of who we are or what we do; He saves us because of Who He is.
4. "Savior" means "The One who Saves". Jesus not only saves from sin, but He also saves us from “self”. So Galatians 2:20 says "Christ in you, the hope of Glory"; and in 2 Cor. 4:10, Paul says "His Life.......my body". Now watch these verses so that you can see the pattern in the Bible of Who changes whom:
a. " After you have suffered a while, the God of all grace, He will establish, settle, strengthen, and perfect you." ( I Peter 5:10). WHO will do it? He will do it. The word "perfect" here means to "make spiritually mature".
b. "He who has begun a good work in you is able to bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6) WHO will do it? He will do it.
c." It is God who is at work in you to do His Will and good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13) WHO will do it? He will do it.
d. " He will perfect all things concerning me." ( Ps. 138:8) WHO will do it? He will do it.
e. "I will cry out to God most high; unto God that performs all things for me." (Ps. 57:2) WHO will do it? He will do it.
f. “Faithful is He that called you, Who also will do it.” WHO will do it? He will do it.
g. “ Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” WHO will do it? He will do it.
5.. Scripture says "Enter His rest." How do you do that? By trusting on Christ through faith (trust) on Him alone, not on man. He will do the rest. Relax. You are being taken to where you need to be , by Him. Enjoy the journey and stop trying to perform for God. Now that does not mean that God’s Grace is a license to sin. No it is not. Grace is God’s favor, love, mercy, power, and victory to you and me, which we cannot earn or deserve. However, once God extends Grace, Grace demands a response. That response is trust and obedience to what God is telling us or showing us by the direct witness of His Holy Spirit, or through His Word.
6. Paul says of Christ, "His Life......my body." In other words, the true Christian is supposed to walk under Divine Possession, letting Christ live His Life in and through him. So if you are wondering if you are doing the right thing and if you are where you are supposed to be right now, the answer is that you are right where God wants you right now, doing what God wants you to do, right now, because He is doing His work in you and through you. So just trust. Jesus Christ is faithful. Jesus works, and faith never fails. Scripture says "All things follow the counsel of God's WIll." So His Will overrides your will; therefore, He has you where He wants you, right now, doing what He wants you to be doing, right now.
7. Know that God saves you not because of who you are or what you do, but because of Who He Is. I hope these scriptures have proven to you that you are being taken to your destination in Him, by God; you are not going there out of your own self-effort. If you have been taught contrary, you have been taught wrongly by men, because I am telling you the truths of the Bible, citing the verses that say so. So stop trying to perform for God. Let Him live His Life in you and through you. Pray every day:
"Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge you this day and bless your Name, One with Father and The Holy Spirit; I empty myself a vessel for your use and yield now to your Holy Spirit to divinely possess me. I present my body, an acceptable sacrifice of worship, and my members as instruments of righteousness. I call upon your Name and I am helped. I offer you the sacrifice of praise. Walk before me this day in all that I do and say; live Your Life in me and through me; show me points of ministry, what to do, how to do it, what to say, how to say it or if to say it. I empty myself a vessel for your use and trust you for the results. I thank you for the good work that you have begun in me and through me, and that you bring to completion by my trust on you. I give you thanks, praise and glory, that it is all of you and none of me. In Your Name I pray. Amen."
Now here’s one last thought: Deuteronomy 28 tells us that blessings are based on “performance”, stating “…..if you obey, all of these blessings will come upon you… ” The performance which the Scripture speaks of, however, is not that of self-effort to please God, but that of surrender to God’s Spirit to allow Him to live His Life in us and through us so that obedience and trust (“performance”) arises out of faith on Him, and on Him living and doing things in us and through us. Then, the blessings follow because a living faith will automatically give rise to good works which are the evidence and testimony to others that our faith is alive in Christ. (James 2:20,26)
This is a start. I hope this helps you to understand how Christians are to walk the walk of faith according to God’s Sovereign Will and prescription. My prayer for you is that you will reach out to Him directly to receive this wonderful experience. The evidence that Jesus Christ is Real is the evidence of changed lives by the millions of those who have received Him into their hearts, worldwide. The Bible proves itself.