11/05/12 - "HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT"

Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart  And do not lean on your own understanding.
Prov. 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,  And He will make your paths straight.

I am sure you have heard the old saying, “The quickest path between two points is a straight line”. God wants us to get where we need to go in life. Whether that is building a godly marriage, raising godly kids, growing up spiritually, or obtaining what God has for us, the Lord wants to get us there. Just like any trip you take the quickest way to get to your destination is to find the most direct path from point A to point B. So it is with our life as well. A crooked path is one filled with twist and turns that if we are not careful can cause us to end up in a ditch. If that should happen I am glad that God is there to help pull us out if we are ready to turn things back around. But the best route is to stay in the middle of the road and therefore on course with God.

Prov. 4:27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

In our foundation text this week of Proverbs 3:5-6, we have some very powerful insights on how to get the Lord involved in straightening out our path. Don’t forget this old saying as well, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”. We are living amongst the trees of life, things that continually work to distract our view from what is really known. God has a great vantage point over our life as one that is all knowing, and if we will get God involved in straightening out our path we are going to reach our destination in the things of God much quicker. Realize as He straightens out your path that does not mean it will always go the way you thought it would. As a matter of fact, God usually takes you through life on a route you have never been before. But that is what walking by faith is all about.

As the Lord straightens out our path, one of the benefits is that He helps to keep us from being led astray into that which is evil. Realize that includes being deceived or seduced by the enemy, not just us by ourselves getting into sin. Something that I will address next week is what it means to sin according to God’s Word and how we can address that in our lives. To sin means to miss the mark, and just like a sharp shooters goal is to hit the center of a target, when he does not do so he misses the mark. If his desire is to hit the center of the target and that is his goal, when he misses he will make adjustments until he hits the mark, or his target. When we sin we miss the mark, but more on that subject next week.

One powerful thing about God helping straighten out our path is that He truly is the one who will help empower us to keep our foot from evil. This of course will only result in good things for us. Evil is lurking all around us in these last days, but thank the Lord He is there for us to help direct our path straight to where we need to go keeping us from the land minds that liter the world around us.

So the first key in having God direct your steps begins with the first part of verse 5 in Proverbs 3. We are told to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. This is where it all begins. Many people I have met over the years say they are “trusting God” for different things in their life. But yet when you talk to them further you find out this is not so. The word “trust” here in the Hebrew language means to be without a care. This is an indicator of how much we are actually trusting in the Lord. The less care, worry, anxiety, etc, that one has, the more they are trusting God with all their heart.

The use of the word for “heart” here does not actually refer to our spirit man. It refers to our mind, will, and emotions, or what scripture reveals as the soul. We are not a soul, we are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. Just remember you are going to get a new glorified body one day, hallelujah! But our soul is made up of our mind (what we think), our will (what we want or desire), and our emotions (how we feel). We are to trust in the Lord with all, not some, but all of our mind, will, and emotions. How do you do that? Well it begins with a very important truth that will completely change how you think, change what you want, and change how you feel.

Is. 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!

This is how one learns to trust in the Lord with all their mind, will, and emotions. When you fix your thoughts up the Lord you are going to see yourself through Him. You are going to find your worth and value in Him as you learn who you are in Christ Jesus. When we lack understanding of who we are in Christ we are going to see life through the same view as fallen man. We don’t see ourselves as more than conquerors, we only see ourselves as a human with only human ability. But the Word of God reveals that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Scripture declares in Galatians 2:20 that for those like Paul who are born again, we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live. Christ now lives in us, and the life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us.

One of the biggest weaknesses in the body of Christ is not knowing who we are in Christ. When we lack such understanding this will cause us to continue receiving our identity in life through other things or people rather than Jesus Christ. In doing so we are only seeing things from a human perspective when God is trying to get us to see what He sees and knows. Every believer should take time to go through the New Testament and make note of every verse of scripture that reveals who they are in Christ Jesus. This is getting our mind (our thoughts) fixed on Him, not on us. God will be able to keep those people in perfect peace because they have their trust in Him; they are not living in worry or anxiety about anything.

This leads us to the second thing found in Proverbs 3:5, which is not leaning on our own understanding. When you only look at life through what you think about it, or what you see in the natural, you are not seeing the whole picture. We have been given a Helper from God whom we need to lean on for understanding and wisdom, which will help us to look beyond what is seen in the natural.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We have a great Helper whom we have been given to lean on for understanding who is here to teach us all things, guide us in the ways of truth (God’s ways), and will therefore help us to walk with the peace of God in our life everyday, not care, not worry, nor anxiety. Our hearts will not be troubled nor afraid when we follow the leading of this great Helper the Holy Spirit. For that to happen we need to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

I hear a lot about relationship with God and rightly so. I hear a lot about relationship with Jesus and that to is rightly so, but what happened to our relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the One, who will take what Jesus has declared, which He received from the Father, and He will make it known to us. If we are walking in close fellowship with the Holy Spirit it is certain we are on the right road to having our path being straight. The Holy Spirit is always going to lead us in the direction God has for our life, which results in those straight paths.

Unfortunately in many churches and in many believers’ lives He is not allowed to manifest which results in us missing out on much of what God has for our life. If Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper wouldn’t it stand to reason that we should get to know Him in an intimate way? Through Him we will get to know the Father and Jesus even better for it is He who is living within the heart of every believer. Romans 8:14 reveals that those who are led by the Spirit, these are those who are being fathered by God (sons of God). So to not lean on our own understanding means we should never just reason things out in our minds only, we should subject everything in our life to the leading of the Holy Spirit as well.

Last but not least in all our ways we are to acknowledge God. The word acknowledge here simply means to know or understand. Simply put the final key to this puzzle is we should also look to God’s Word for insight on how God does things. To acknowledge God in all our ways means we should learn in everything we do in this life to line up how we do things with God and His ways. God’s ways are perfect, and His Word is proven. You won’t find anyone with a better track record than God.

So to have God make straight paths for your feet in whatever you do take time to learn who you are in Christ. Get completely focused on Him and who He has made you to be. Continue to develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, and look to God’s Word to walk in His ways in all you do. You will be on the right path, the straight path God has for you.

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker