But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Testimony
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Walking
by Gemma Gardner
Galatians 5:16, ESV
I’ve been thinking a lot about walking lately. There are so many scriptures that talk about walking, and they are really about how we live our lives and not about walking in the physical sense of the word.
God appeared to Abraham and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1). God wanted Abraham to live righteously before Him so that he would be blameless.
It’s nearly eight weeks now since I strained my leg muscles by stamping on boxes to flatten them, so that they could be put in a skip. I have been struggling to walk, find my legs tire after a very short time, and I’m dragging myself along at a snail’s pace. It’s a daily struggle to keep on trying to walk, do exercises, and push through the pain, but I get there in the end.
In our walk with the Lord, it’s not about how fast we walk, but that we keep on walking with Him and following His directions. In physical walking we have a choice of going forwards, backwards, left, or right.
We can go backwards spiritually, if we retreat from what we know God wants of us. We can also go from one extreme to the other, veering left or right, or we can walk forwards with the Lord helping and guiding us.
‘He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8)?
I love the reassuring words in Isaiah ‘And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left’ (Isaiah 30:21).
The Lord Jesus is our good Shepherd. He knows the pace we can walk at spiritually, and He is not going to ask anything that is beyond our ability to do.
The physio who assessed me gave me a sheet of three exercises to strengthen my legs. The first one was to walk briskly. I can’t do that one yet. But I still keep walking.
And in the same way, the Lord asks us to keep walking. And if we obey the promptings of His Holy Spirit who lives in us, we will become more like Jesus, and will not be gratifying the desires of our sinful nature. This is because, when we are born again, we have new desires, and we want to please the Lord and not grieve Him by our bad behaviour and choices we make.
So, I encourage you today, keep walking. Physical walking is good, but walking with God is even better.
Gemma Gardner lives in Norfolk with her husband, Dean, who until recently worked at Ellel Grange. They are both part of the Associate Ministry team which Gemma joined after completing the Modular school. Gemma has experienced the Lord`s healing and restoration over many years and longs to see Him healing other broken people. Gemma loves listening to music, cooking, knitting and crochet as well as outdoor exercise. She enjoys playing guitar and singing worship songs.
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