The Road

The road is before me. It is paved with innocence, washed clean by the blood of Christ that was shed for its creation. That blood was shed for my journey. It was spilled so that I can begin this road. I was on another passage before I arrived on this straight and narrow path. The road of pleasure beckoned me. All the lust of life lived on that road and I was ready to indulge in sin. I was eager to run on the streets of damnation, never realizing that I was surrendering my soul in the process. My thirst was insatiable. No matter how hard I tried, I could not be quenched. My appetite was raging but then I heard God’s voice. God called my name and led me to repentance. The cross confronted me, and I could not ignore its cries. The love and justice of God married each other and gave birth to Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross.  So now I am redeemed, fully alive, and ready to begin this new road. I am guided by the Son. He dwells in my spirit, whispering sweet assurances to me.  I know that I will make it. Christ began this good work in me and he is faithful to bring it into full completion. So here I go.  This is my story. This is my road. My bare feet kiss the ground and I am submerged in the dirt. I am walking slowly, but steadily. He is with me, he will never leave me lost and abandoned. He will never leave me alone.

If anyone comes to Christ, there is immediate transformation. The old is gone and all things become new. God has a plan for all of our lives and each believer has an individual journey that they must take. Each believer has a special road that they must travel. That road is uniquely designed to match our personal strengths and weaknesses. It will get lonely sometimes. Thorns will sprout and pierce the flesh and it will sting. But it is important to remember that we are not alone. God is with us, living inside of us, lifting us up and carrying us through dark and lonely places. The beautiful thing about our journey with Christ is that he is always available for constant communication. He is ready and willing to listen to our cries for help. His character is enveloped in faithfulness and justice and he will always forgive us if we humbly ask him. There will be struggles. We still have our sinful flesh and it will war with us daily. Our old unholy desires will battle against the godly desires of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. But God would never give us more than we can handle and with every struggle, he provides a way of escape. Let us not lose courage. We do not have to fight this battle alone. We should not fight it alone. God is with us and he would never leave us. All we have to do is keep on trusting and obeying him. He will never lead us astray.

On this Christian road, it is so important that we spend time with God daily by reading his Word and praying to him. Prayer is the lifeline of us as believers.  God desires an intimate, personal, deep, relationship with us. The only way to maintain that relationship is by listening to his voice, revealed to us in the Bible, and by pouring out our hearts to him through prayer. How can we get to know someone if we never talk to them? How can we know someone if we never listen to what they have to say? Nothing will be accomplished if we do nothing. Our relationship with God through Christ should be active and real. We must sit at the feet of Jesus, soaking up his warmth and listening to his voice. He is speaking. So many times in this walk we forget to spend time with God. We forget to obey him or we just ignore the gentle tugging of the Holy Spirit on our hearts. That is so dangerous. How can we live if we do not eat? The word of God is spiritual food filled with nourishment for the Spirit. In John 15, Jesus urges us to abide in the vine. “Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me (John 15:4 NLT).” Jesus is the true vine. If we abide in him through the connection of prayer and the Word, we will produce the fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22 NIV). When God’s spirit is activated by prayer and the word of God, he goes to work in us, producing bountiful fruit. He gives us a heart that is filled with his character. By spending time with God, we begin to look like him and his ways become our ways. If we neglect to abide in Jesus, the true vine will grow lukewarm and the result will be death. But God has not called us to die. God has called us to marvelous new life in him. He called us to travel this road with his spirit working within, encouraging us and rebuking us when we go off course. And we will go off course. We will stumble and we will fall, extremely hard. But God is faithful. All we have to do to access his faithfulness is come to him and ask for his forgiveness, and turn away from our sins. That means we stop doing the sin and start doing righteous things, the things that God loves. How do we find out what God loves? By reading and obeying his word. . This road is difficult. At times we will want to give up and resort back to sinful pleasures, but we must not turn back. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. The enemy (the devil) wants us to turn back and plunge deep into the waters of sin. But that will lead to death. Jesus came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He wants us to be completely alive, and taste his glorious freedom. We should not worry or fret because if we truly put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, he will take care of us and he will always lead us on the right path. God is able and he will keep us from falling, and he will be there to catch us when we do fall. He is loving and just. So that means when we do sin, we will face the consequences of that sin. However, we will face it with God’s grace, comforting us and leading us to the right path. But if God is with us, who can be against us? He is our provider. He is our refuge. Jesus is on the right hand of the father making hopeful intercession for us. So let us walk this Christian road with our eyes on the Master. Let us love him passionately, and surrender to him continually. We do not know the people that we may encounter, the lessons that God will teach us, the trials that will befall us. But we do know that whatever the situation God is able and will deliver us. So let us trust him. Let us always be in direct communication with the Creator and let us not fear. Let us walk in confidence as we travel on the road.