- Download the “Pathways to a Joyful Walk” study guide.
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This is blog #2 in the “Pathways to a Joyful Walk” series that covers what a faith walk is and the different pathways you can take to having a joyful walk with the Lord every day of your life. We have been going on several walks together.
Picture in your mind an enjoyable walk that you took with someone you love. Who was that someone? Why do you love that person? What made walking with that person enjoyable?
In the first blog, we talked about our life with God being called a faith walk. Just like physical walking is a process of movement in a specific direction using our legs, a faith walk is also a process of moving toward trusting and relying on God more. It is dependent on open communication between what you know about God in your head and what you believe about Him in your heart. And, your faith walk is determined by daily choices of where you will go. Those choices determine whether your faith walk will be a joyful one or not.
We talked about how our God offers us something more lasting than the world’s idea of happiness. Biblical joy is a deep inner gladness, regardless of the circumstances going on around you. It’s supernatural, bringing to you a deep abiding peace and sense of contentment and strength. This kind of joy only comes to you through knowing Jesus Christ.
Christianity is Christ.
Christianity is Christ! It is not a lifestyle. It’s not rules of conduct. It’s not a society of people who have joined together by the sprinkling or covering of water. Christianity is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
He invites every man, woman, and child into a close relationship with Himself as brothers, sisters, and friends. Just like He invited those who knew Him 2000 years ago.
Jesus is fully God.
But, who is Jesus? The New Testament teaches that He is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again so that we could have eternal life just by believing in Him as the Savior. You can know all that Jesus Christ is and claimed to be.
Jesus claimed to be God.
I’m sure you have heard people say, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” But, is that true? When you look at the text of the first four books of the New Testament which tell of Jesus’ life, you see that not only did Jesus claim to be God, but He also claimed to be the answer to the needs of the human heart.
Jesus consistently called God His father. He declared His right to judge and said that He deserves the honor that belongs to God. Those are pretty radical statements. The works He was doing could only be done by God.
Even in His trials before the Jewish and Roman leaders, Jesus did not defend Himself against the accusations being made against Him. But, He did speak about something especially. He clearly and boldly claimed His identity as the promised anointed one of God. He claimed to be the Son of Man who was also the Son of God.
Jesus is both God and Lord.
All God’s powers and attributes are in Jesus. There is nothing missing. There is nothing more of God that we can get apart from Jesus. (Colossians 1:19)
Jesus Christ is fully God and is Lord over all. In the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is His title. It comes from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew title “Messiah” meaning “anointed one.” According to Psalm 110 verse 1, the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God and be called Lord.
Jesus not only claimed this for Himself but also demonstrated that He was the Son of God who sits at God’s right hand. Jesus is the Christ. He is also the Lord. Lord means master.
Jesus is not just a good teacher. He claimed and demonstrated that He is fully God in human flesh.
Jesus is fully human.
Jesus is fully human. We have a harder time wrapping our brains around that fact than we do believing He was God. Yet, Jesus experienced the normal process of body development from a child to an adult man. He obeyed His parents and learned to live with at least 4 brothers and 2 sisters.
In His human body, Jesus felt hunger and thirst. Tears fell down His cheeks when His friends were hurting. He had the normal human emotional response of anger against the stubborn hearts of the religious people who opposed Him and were not teachable.
During the last hours before His death, He experienced distress and pain just as you and I would. He was completely human while being completely God. None of us can really understand how this is, but we must accept it as truth.
Jesus understands human needs.
And, because Jesus was fully human, He understands every single one of your heartaches and my heartaches. He experienced human life for more than 30 years. He gets your physical pain, your feelings of rejection, and your strained relationships. He gets your abuse, your grief, and your impatience because those were part of His life as well.
Jesus met human needs.
Jesus interacted with men and women everywhere He went. And, there were so many who had heartaches and pain, filled with uncertainty about their future. Jesus looked upon the crowds of people with compassion. He not only felt their need but also wanted to do something about it. And, He did something to help them. He also wanted them to know Him, too.
Jesus lived as a human but did not sin.
Jesus was fully human, but He did not sin. Why is that? He lived in perfect love for God the Father, His Father. Because He loved God perfectly, He lived in perfect dependence on God the Father and perfect obedience. And, He gave us a pattern to follow so that we can learn to love God and to depend upon Him by faith, too.
Jesus demonstrated how much He loved and valued women.
The Lord Jesus also demonstrated in His life on earth how much He loved and valued women. He taught them truth about God, forgave them for their sins, accepted them in His circle of followers, and gave new life to them after His resurrection.
His care for them was so counter-cultural to what they had previously known. Women recognized that and responded with love for Him and a desire to serve him. Jesus Christ entered into the midst of their lives, visibly representing God to them, loving them dearly, and changing their lives forever! He does the same for you and me today. See this in the “Live Out His Love” Bible Study and “Satisfied by His Love” Bible Study.
As fully God and fully man, you can be confident that Jesus as human understands how you feel and is powerful enough as God to take care of your every need. When you go to Him in prayer, you can trust that He understands, that He knows how you are feeling and what your needs are at that moment. You can trust His compassion toward you to meet your needs. Are you confident of that?
Our Heartbreak to Hope Bible Study will teach you more about who Jesus is and why you can trust Him.
Knowing Jesus is the first pathway to a joyful walk.
Jesus promised to give His joy to everyone who believes in Him. Not just a little bit but fullness of joy. Lots of it.
Jesus gives us His joy.
I love what the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to write:
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy… (1 Peter 1:8)
“Though you have not seen Him.” That’s us today. You and I have not seen Him physically on this earth. But, the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. And, He gives you God’s glorious, uncontainable joy.
Jesus took hold of me when I was 19, and I’ve been on this great adventure ever since. My life is a gift of God, full of blessings in the midst of difficult challenges. The more I’ve learned and experienced God’s absolutely amazing grace, the more I’ve discovered my faith walk to be a joyful walk. I have been stepping through life satisfied by Jesus every day.
Jesus invites you to come to Him and receive His joy.
My joyful walk began when I put my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior by trusting in what He said about Himself and believing that He died on the cross for me. Have you done that? If you aren’t sure, I invite you to do so today, right now.
Please consider praying this prayer:
Thank you, God, for loving me and for sending Your Son Jesus to die for my sins. I trust in Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior and turn my entire life over to You. Amen.
If you did that, tell someone.
As soon as you trust in Christ to be your Savior, you begin a loving relationship with Him. Your faith walk. You receive complete love and acceptance by God as your Father. You receive treasure that is yours to know and experience for the rest of your earthly life. When you trust in Christ, He is in your life forever. You will never be without him. Ever.
Pathway #1 is Knowing Jesus Christ. What happens after you know Jesus and trust in Him? The answer to that question leads us to Pathway #2: Know Who You Are. That’s the next blog.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with joy so that your daily walk with Him will be a joyful one. Choose to step through life satisfied by Him.
Pathways to a Joyful Walk