The Promise of a Joyful Walk-6 pathways to joy

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What is the most enjoyable walk you have ever taken? Why was it so enjoyable? Was it the place where you were walking? Was it the weather or time of day that made it delightful? Was it the person who was walking with you? The Bible calls your whole like a “walk” of faith. A faith walk is moving forward with Jesus Christ by your side, learning to trust His strength to support you, and being rewarded with His joy. You must choose the right pathways to have a joyful faith walk. This is post #1 in our “Joyful Walk” series. In this series, we will learn how to recognize and choose the pathways that lead to a rewarding spiritual life. We will be going on several walks together. Are you ready to go walking with me?

Listen to this post as a podcast from our Pathways to a Joyful Walk Bible Study:

I asked you earlier to picture in your mind one of the most enjoyable walks you have taken. I remember when my husband Ron and I walked through a forest of redwood trees in a California state park. Redwood trees are huge and awe-inspiring. Breath-taking. The pathway was wide. It was a week day so there were few other people in the park. It was so peaceful. We both enjoyed our time walking through that forest of magnificent trees that made me grateful to God once again for His splendid creation.

Throughout the Bible, our lives are referred to as a “walk” although some days you may feel like yours is a sprint. Am I right? Though you may feel like you are sprinting, your whole life experience is considered a walk.

How the word “walk” is used in the Bible

That word “walk” is used more than 300 times in the English Bible. It generally translates two words.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word most often translated walk is halak. It means to come and go, to proceed, to live life as well as just plain old walking with your legs.
In the New Testament, the Greek word most often used is peripateo. Besides walking with your legs, it also means to make one’s way, to progress, to conduct one’s self, to pass one’s life.

So both refer to more than just walking on your two legs. It is living life, coming and going, conducting every day activities.

God started calling it a walk.

Who started calling it a walk of faith? Well, God did. In Genesis, God said this to Abraham,

“I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1)

God said “Walk before me.” That phrase, “before me,” refers to being in God’s presence, acknowledging Him, and doing life with Him. That is a life based on trusting God and having faith in Him. That is a faith walk. From the very beginning, we find references to such faith walks. The book of Genesis describes Enoch, Noah, and Abraham as walking with God. They each had a faith walk.

Every believer is on a faith walk.

The truth is everyone who puts their trust in God for salvation and life is on a faith walk. It is a walk based on faith. What is faith? Simply put, faith is a full commitment to Christ. God acted. We are to respond to His action by saying yes to faith in Jesus Christ and jumping into the new life God has for us. Instead of believing in your own ability to earn God’s favor, you now trust in what Christ has done for you. That’s biblical faith. You can read my blog, “The Gospel: God’s Cure for Our Fatal Sin Disease,” to gain more understanding about faith.

Putting your trust in God puts you on a faith walk. What makes it a walk?

What makes the Christian life a walk?*

Think about the process of walking. When we look at what it takes to physically walk, we can draw some parallels to a faith walk.

Walking is a process.

It requires putting one foot in front of the other. Spiritual life is also a process of trusting God with one thing after another. Although the moment of our salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is an instantaneous event, how we learn to live out that wonderful salvation in the light of God’s grace takes the rest of our lives.

Walking requires gaining confidence and trust.

Babies learning to walk struggle with the balance they need to stay upright. As they get stronger and have more confidence, they are able to walk upright and even run with ease depending on their bodies to hold them upright. New Christians need to learn how to trust God and to learn from His Word how to proceed with their new life. Older Christians still need to learn how to trust God and to rely on Him more than on themselves.

Walking requires communication between the head and the body.

Our brains control how our bodies function, relaying messages to our legs that are received by our legs and acted upon. Healthy legs don’t refuse the message from the brain. If they do, something is wrong. You as a believer must trust your Head, Jesus Christ, and let Him lead you, teach you, and enable you to live a life that pleases Him and brings joy to you. That requires communication.

Walking is repeated.

I cannot sit down today and watch myself on video walking yesterday and claim that I have already walked in the same way today. Every day is a new day. My legs must walk from the bedroom to the kitchen every morning in order to make breakfast. My legs must walk every afternoon to the mailbox to get the mail.

The same is true about your spiritual life. Trying to live as a Christian based on a few verses you learned as a kid is like standing still. Muscles need to be fed and exercised daily. Likewise, your faith needs to be fed with God’s Word and exercised through trusting God with something every day. You and I must approach Bible study with fresh eyes, looking for the new things the Lord will be teaching us and how we can share that with someone who needs to know it. We must recognize God’s work in our life every day, not just what He did years ago.

As one writer put it,

While we can walk in place, most walking involves moving forward, making steady progress, as we go from one destination to another. Spiritual maturity only happens as we keep growing. To stand still is to become lethargic and sluggish in the Christian life. (MinTools Blog, “It’s a Walk,” posted February 7, 2018)

Walking requires choices.

I must decide whether to turn to the left or to the right out of my driveway when I go on an evening walk. One choice goes to the park. The other choice goes down a street with no sidewalks. Depending on the weather and the amount of traffic, my choice could be good or bad. I need to consider the purpose for my walk and make the right choice to accomplish that purpose. That intentional choice is called a pathway.

By definition, a pathway is a way of achieving a specified result; a course of action.

So a pathway is a way to achieve a desired result. It is not aimlessness, but an intentional course of action.

What is the desired result?

The desired result is a faith walk that is full of joy. Delightful. Gratitude-inspiring. Peace-giving. Joyful. That is the reward. A lifetime faith walk must be walked daily. Choices are made daily, weekly, and yearly to follow pathways that lead you on a joyful walk (the kind I had you picture in your mind). Or you end up on one that is frustrating and disappointing. I prefer the joyful walk. Don’t you?

The rewarding gift of joy

If the desired result is to have a joyful walk, we need to recognize what it means to be joyful or to be full of joy. When you read the word “joy,” what comes to your mind?

Happiness or joy?

Joy is often confused with a feeling of happiness that comes from “good happenings” that are external. Everything is going your way so you are happy. But when things are not going well, happiness often disappears.

For believers in Jesus Christ, we have access to a different kind of joy that is internal. This is a joy that comes from within God Himself as part of His character. God takes great delight in those who trust in Him and even rejoices with singing over them. We get that from the words of Zephaniah.

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

God gives us His joy and uses that to make us strong. Jesus gives us this same joy in such abundance that those who “believe in Him are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” We call that biblical joy, and we will discover those truths in Pathway #1.

Biblical joy

Biblical joy refers to a deep inner gladness, regardless of the circumstances going on around you. That means whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy, successful or struggling, you can still have a feeling of gladness or pleasure deep down inside.

Biblical joy is supernatural. It is inseparable from the character of God and comes only from a relationship with Him.
Biblical joy is a fruit of the Spirit of Jesus living in us. That means joy is available to every Christian. Someone described it as “Juice of the Spirit” because it flows out of us even when we are squeezed.
Biblical joy is a deep abiding peace and sense of contentment and strength. Now, you may not feel like smiling on the outside, but you can still smile on the inside. Have you ever felt that way? Although, you can do both at the same time.

Our Knowing Jesus…Knowing Joy! Bible Study will teach you more about biblical joy.

What would be a joyful walk?

Now that you know the definition of joy and understand how all of life is a walk, what would be a joyful walk? When you are on a joyful walk, you are accessing this deep, inner gladness and peace so that you can rest and rejoice in God no matter what is going on around you. Sounds great, doesn’t it? All of that is yours as you choose the right pathways to take for your faith walk.

Choices are made daily, weekly, and yearly to follow pathways that lead you on a joyful walk. Or you can end up on one that is frustrating and destructive. I prefer the joyful walk. Don’t you? What are the right pathways? We will answer that question in the rest of this series. Start with knowing Jesus Christ. That is Pathway #1. We will cover that in the next blog.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with joy so that your daily walk with Him will be a joyful one.

Learn more about having a rewarding spiritual life through our Pathways to a Joyful Walk Bible Study (6 lessons).

*The process of walking is adapted from “It’s a Walk” accessed at MinTools.com.

Related Resources:

Image credit: photo by John Newton, accessed at flickr.com (8162179887_0c6797557b_o.jpg).