Walking By Faith

The day to day doing the will of God is the exciting part. Once you have prepared your heart and mouth, realized the opposition, and planned out what it is you want to do to glorify God, the exiting part is actually doing it! Make sure you have prepared before you attempt. There is a greater chance you will be successful if you do.

This walk of Faith is basically time management. Proper time management is “walking by faith”. How do you spend the time that God has graciously given you? Please review the lessons on time management for the maintenance tech. The Bible expression of time management is given in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”

This idea of visualizing to achieve your goal is a half-truth. It is important to look to the future, but you can only control the present. You do this by walking by faith, not by sight. Faith is built upon the past. What we know about God is what is revealed in the Bible which is past. We also know God and about Him by His actions in our Life. God speaks to us directly! How? Well, He knows your language and has a way to get your attention and let you know. That will be between you and God. Once you are sure you know what it is you are supposed to be doing, incorporate these steps of faith to fulfill the will that God has for you! They will lead to your success and bring glory to the one that deserves it all – God!

Proverbs 16:16 “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

The first step of faith is to gain wisdom. Where do you get wisdom? Can it be bought or learned? Real wisdom can only be given by God. There is a great question given in Job 28:20 that asks this very same question. It also asks about understanding.

Job 28:20 “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?”

One of the great advantages of how the Bible is laid out, is that when It asks a question, it gives the answer. Notice the answer is later on in Job 28!

Job 28:28 “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

See that! Wisdom is fearing God. Fearing what will happen if you go against what God says and wants you to do is a great step in walking by faith. Please see the section in “Four-letter words for the maintenance tech” to get a better understanding about this subject of fearing God.

 

As you ponder Proverbs 16:16 notice the difference between wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is knowing what to do but understanding is knowing when to do it. Also, notice carefully how it is written. Wisdom can be gotten, but understanding is chosen. God will give you wisdom, but you must choose when to use it. That is what walking by faith is all about! It is using the wisdom that God has given you and applying it for His glory!

Don’t just look for a career that pays well. You will not be satisfied with money and wealth. Money is only a tool to be used for God’s glory or misused for man’s misery! In America, the land of opportunity, making money is simple. If you apply hard work, knowledge, and the little brains that you have been given you can make money. If you save the little that you get, stay away from waste and addictions, you will not lack. Wages are not the key. Training and follow-up is the key to success. It is not based on pay grade. Work above your pay grade. Use the saying, “It is not my job!” not as an excuse but to find the solution. It may not be your job, but it is somebody’s job. Find the somebody and encourage them to do the job!

Proverbs 16:17 “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”

Evil must be departed from. Stay away from evil. It doesn’t have to be experience to know it is bad. You can tell a trash can has trash in it by looking at it and smelling it. You don’t have to climb in to experience the stink! Never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right. Fighting personal sin is a lifelong character trait. One of the ways to fight sin is to keep on the right way. Continuing walking by faith will preserve and refresh your soul! There is no substitute for the joy that is experienced when you are in the perfect will of God!

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

As you walk by faith, you will start experiencing the results. It is important to cherish these fruits but realize it is the result of God’s goodness and not your effort, intelligence, or good decisions. Pride is a killer to time management. Winging it because you have done it before is dangerous. Always seek God’s guidance and assistance. Never let success lead to pride. Remember it is God that gets the glory and not you! Not doing right because it might make you look bad is pride. You must make decisions based upon what God is trying to do.  Pride won’t knock you out but will severely hinder your usefulness to God.

Proverbs 16:19 “Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

This is the Tech’s attitude. My favorite people and some of the most necessary are happy housekeepers! There is no substitute for a clean bathroom. This is the key to fighting pride. Please review the section on reputation in How to fix anything. As God blesses your walking by faith, don’t get off the path or stumble on the path by allowing pride to take over and using it to make decisions. Notice that pride and humbleness are spiritual. That means that they become part of your personality and can be developed, nurtured, and are a part of who you are. Pride is not only a killer to time management, but it leads most certainly to judgement!

Proverbs 16:20 “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.”

Results of good time management and walking by faith are being happy and good! Isn’t that what you want out of life? These things can’t be bought. Furthermore, they can only be obtained by taking steps of faith. Notice that good comes before happiness. Good can only be found by handling a matter wisely! Do you see how these steps of faith build upon one another? Here it is important to understand that these are steps of faith. It is walking by faith! There is a progression of movement or growth. It is not something that happens all at once. It is daily applying these principles and then reaping the results over time. It is doing the will of God every day!

Proverbs 16:21 “The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.”

The results of good time management and walking by faith are prudence and people wanting to learn from you and work with you. Talk to people. What you say is important. Notice the connection to Proverbs 16:1! How you say something is important. A step of faith is controlling and using your tongue. Being right is not the main thing. Being right, passing it on, out of love, is the main thing. Prudence is the Bible word for “common sense”! Here prudence is the result of a wise heart. Can you learn common sense? Present your heart to God and asks God to give you prudence. It is very valuable.

Once you know what it is that God wants you to do, then do it! If you will use these steps of faith you will find what it is that makes life worthwhile.

 

Keep reading to get the results, and one more warning of the opposition.