Taking God for a walk vs Taking a walk with God.
Have you met my dog Ginger before? Well, she has quite the personality and is quite the diva. She reminds me many time of how funny God is and how caring that He put so much creativity into making her, and she's just a dog. Today she took me for a wog (walking jog). And there is where we find our snack of insight for the day.
In your walk with God or lack of walk with God have you ever felt like you were on some religious leash? Like no matter what you do you are constantly reminded of where you can't go and what you can't do, etc. I know that we've all heard that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.."...but why aren't we so free?
While Ginger was walking me I began to realize that the closer she was to me, the shorter the leash, and the less she could feel the leash around her neck holding her back. But as she would wander a little away she would be reminded that I'm still holding onto her. Bam. Insight.
The closer we are to God, the less we feel like prisoner attached to a prison guard. The closer we are to Him, the more we walk at the same pace and in the same path. But when we begin to stray from spending time with Him or wanting to walk with Him, we feel the leash around our neck - to protect us, hold us back from danger, and remind us that He is still with us and holding onto us. Make sense?
As the walk progressed she began to walk more beside me than in front of me. Rarely are we ever behind God, we are more than likely trying to get ahead of Him. But when we are walking closely beside Him we will cross paths in His time. We can walk ahead into seasons without Him or be walking beside Him the whole time and walk ahead together.
Ginger usually walks on my left in the little tiny sidewalk part between driveways and the road. During the end of the walk there was a stretch of path that was muddy and really nasty. I didn't want her walking through all of that so I pulled her closer to me and away from the path she was on. Isn't that what God is constantly doing in our lives? We are happily going along on our safe path and God pulls us away from something that seemed to work. We don't know that He's trying to protect us from walking through something that will stain us, so we complain and try to go back to that path many times. But when He pulls you out of something and you can't understand why, realize that He is pulling you closer to Him to walk in a path for a season - and sometimes after that part of the path (the stained part) is okay again He will return you to it. Sometimes we are not called to be in a certain area for a season, even if the reasoning is only known by God you must trust that if you should return to that area then He will lead you back.
God is loving, relentless, and for you. Trust that if He leads you away from something, even if that something is completely pure, He knows what He is doing. We walk, run, skip, limp, dance, jump, move, kneel, with Him by our side - so if you fell like you are being held on a leash by God, remember that it is all about perspective. Religion will keep you on a leash, but God will walk with you hand-in-hand with Love stretching out to hold onto you when your hand fails to keep you beside Him.
"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. " (Jer. 29:11-14 Message Version)
In your walk with God or lack of walk with God have you ever felt like you were on some religious leash? Like no matter what you do you are constantly reminded of where you can't go and what you can't do, etc. I know that we've all heard that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.."...but why aren't we so free?
While Ginger was walking me I began to realize that the closer she was to me, the shorter the leash, and the less she could feel the leash around her neck holding her back. But as she would wander a little away she would be reminded that I'm still holding onto her. Bam. Insight.
The closer we are to God, the less we feel like prisoner attached to a prison guard. The closer we are to Him, the more we walk at the same pace and in the same path. But when we begin to stray from spending time with Him or wanting to walk with Him, we feel the leash around our neck - to protect us, hold us back from danger, and remind us that He is still with us and holding onto us. Make sense?
As the walk progressed she began to walk more beside me than in front of me. Rarely are we ever behind God, we are more than likely trying to get ahead of Him. But when we are walking closely beside Him we will cross paths in His time. We can walk ahead into seasons without Him or be walking beside Him the whole time and walk ahead together.
Ginger usually walks on my left in the little tiny sidewalk part between driveways and the road. During the end of the walk there was a stretch of path that was muddy and really nasty. I didn't want her walking through all of that so I pulled her closer to me and away from the path she was on. Isn't that what God is constantly doing in our lives? We are happily going along on our safe path and God pulls us away from something that seemed to work. We don't know that He's trying to protect us from walking through something that will stain us, so we complain and try to go back to that path many times. But when He pulls you out of something and you can't understand why, realize that He is pulling you closer to Him to walk in a path for a season - and sometimes after that part of the path (the stained part) is okay again He will return you to it. Sometimes we are not called to be in a certain area for a season, even if the reasoning is only known by God you must trust that if you should return to that area then He will lead you back.
God is loving, relentless, and for you. Trust that if He leads you away from something, even if that something is completely pure, He knows what He is doing. We walk, run, skip, limp, dance, jump, move, kneel, with Him by our side - so if you fell like you are being held on a leash by God, remember that it is all about perspective. Religion will keep you on a leash, but God will walk with you hand-in-hand with Love stretching out to hold onto you when your hand fails to keep you beside Him.
"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. " (Jer. 29:11-14 Message Version)
Really enjoyed the blog . . . and the walk last night. Love you so much!
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