SOUNDING OUT:
Walking Involves A Learning Process

No one ever gets mad at a child learning to walk. We coax and cajole; we do everything we can to encourage them to walk knowing full well that as soon as they do we wish we wouldn't have pushed them. Walking is a simple skill that can be acquired. It's not difficult. God didn't call it mountain climbing by the spirit or tightrope walking by the spirit. It's just walking.

This was a bad winter in Tipp City. Ice on the blacktop gave occasions to plenty of spills. After the first time however, we learned to pay attention and walk more carefully. Of course sometimes as adults we may trip over things (even our own feet at times) causing us to fall. Drunkenness also makes walking a lost art at times. However, for the most part, we grow up and master walking physically. Why would it be any more difficult, spiritually. God uses the word "walk" for a reason.

Our liberty gives us the freedom to make decisions for our lives. Maintaining our liberty requires a balanced walk between legalism and license. A balanced walk doesn't mean swinging from one extreme to the other. Rather, it means staying in the middle enjoying our liberty. Making proper choices and staying put in our liberty shows maturity in our walk.

Many of those proper choices are to obey God, rather than men. Obedience to the written Word facilitates obedience to those specific words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and discernings of spirits that will come. Once we are moving on the Word the fine-tuning of the manifestations will seem almost effortless.

We will be tempted to go to the extremes. Legalism and license both will tug at us to join them in their activities. It is so easy for us to do what we want to do instead of obediently walking by the spirit. The more we mature in our Christian walk, the more we will see that we don't turn God on and off in our lives at our pleasure or whim. Walking by the spirit isn't doing what you want until you get in a jam. God forbid that we become "crisis Christians," where the only time we think about God and the things of God are in emergencies.

We are going to make mistakes (I John 1:10), but that doesn't keep us from walking by the spirit. When we stumble, we pick ourselves up and start walking again. Walking involves a learning process. That learning process is maturation. We want to go from babies to children; we want to go from milk to meat; we want to grow up into the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 3:15).

No matter how old one is when he gets born-again, he enters the family of God as a baby. Proper nourishment and training promote healthy growth. Developing the habit patterns of meekness to God and His Word, speaking in tongues much, and spending time with our Heavenly Father in His Word will certainly help in our growth.

Hebrews 5:11-14:
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

What the King James Version calls "the first principles" the New International Version calls "the elementary truths;" The New Revised Version calls "the basic elements;" The New Living Translation calls "the basic things a beginner must learn." These all come from the Greek word, stoicheion, which Thayer says means "any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise." In the alphabet it would be A,B,C. With numbers it would be 1,2,3. Every one has to start somewhere, and go on to more advanced items.

Everyone in God's family needs to know the ABC's of Acceptance, Belonging, and Competence. We have been accepted by God because we have confessed Jesus as Lord believing God raised him from the dead. We belong to the family of God, God is our Father and we are members one of another. We have been enabled by holy spirit and are competent to operate the manifestations of the spirit. These are among the first principle we all need. This is the milk that nurses the newborn.

I'm not an architect, but I know that no great edifice or superstructure can be built without a proper foundation.

Matthew 7:24-27:
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Doing the Word is building upon a good foundation. Not doing the Word is building upon sand that washes away. Those that do are wise, and those that do not are foolish. As well as anything, that determines our maturity. When we act on the Word we encourage growth, and when we do not we stifle it. The choice is always ours to make.

As in any family the older more mature believers are to help the new ones. We want to come of full-age which is accomplished by exercising our spiritual abilities. We must take responsibility for our growth. Sure there should be elders in the family who can help us, but as we grow up we become those mature ones who are to help others.

This growth is rooted and grounded in God's grace.

Colossians 2:6:
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Even people who know they are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-10) think that they must walk by works. No, it is grace from start to finish. The good works are just a natural outgrowth of living in God's grace. Sure, we want to produce fruit, but that isn't accomplished by the works of the flesh. It is accomplished as we renew our minds to operate the manifestations and walk by the spirit. All we can do is walk and when we stumble get up. We just do the best we can, and we make a difference where we can.

There is a little story that comes from a book called the Star Fisher:

Picture if you will an early morning along a California beach. An elderly man is walking along the edge of the water and stops occasionally, picks up something, and then tosses it into the ocean. He then walks a few steps more, picks up something, and tosses it into the ocean. A young jogger is running along and has been watching the man. Finally his curiosity gets the best of him and he stops and goes over to the old gentleman and asks: "Excuse me, what are you doing?"

The man answered: "Well, I am saving the life of these star fish. The storm washed them ashore last night, the sun will be up in thirty minutes, and then they will all die. I am throwing them back into the water to save their lives."

The jogger was a bit astounded. "Old man," he said, "Don't you know that you have thirty miles of beach ahead of you and that millions of those star fish were washed ashore last night. What possible difference do you think that you are going to make." The old man took another step picked up a star fish, and with all his might hurled it into the ocean, then he turned to the jogger and said: "Well, son, I guess I made a difference in that one's life."

We do not need to change the entire world. Let's just make that portion where we live a better place.