Walk it Out

The first time I ever received a revelation of how the spirit rules the flesh, and how the words of our mouth dictate what occurs in our lives, I was walking down a road. My girls were very small, and every morning after my husband went to work, I’d put them in the double baby jogger, put our dog on a leash and walk, and praise and pray for two hours. Thank God for the privilege to be able to stay home and raise my little ones, amen?

We had just moved to Missouri. My first year in Missouri was beyond miserable. I had gone to church all my life, but never had true communion with my Father. I had a begging, fearful relationship with Him- but not a loving Father/child relationship like He desires. I gave in to my misery and comforted myself with food. I gained almost 20 pounds in a year. I was lonely for friends, and chocolate became my best friend.

Praise God, we found a church that introduced Jesus to me. Not the man made Jesus…the God made Jesus…the very Blood of Jesus. I finally, really, truly was born again! Prior to that, I got saved almost every time there was an altar call. For twenty years, I got saved and saved and saved because I was so legalistic (and probably a little OCD). I thought I had to say the right things perfectly in order to be saved. One week, I’d repeat the prayer. I’d go out sometime during the week and “lose my religion,” generally, very early on in the week. Sometimes, by noon on Monday!

The next time I was at church…I’d take the teaching, and twist it, and start saying over and over in my head, “I thought I was saved, but I really wasn’t because this time the pastor said something different, or included something that I hadn’t said before. So had I died this week, I would have gone straight to hell thinking I was saved but wasn’t!” I’d repeat the prayer, and the cycle would start all over again.

If this is you, please understand, Romans 10:9 clearly says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Don’t complicate God’s Word, just believe it. “Cleaning up” is a process. You don’t have to be perfect or get perfect. I will take the pressure off you right now, there is only one Perfect One and that’s Jesus. So just be who He created you to be, allow Him to love you, make daily communion with Him a priority and everything falls into place (Matt. 6:33). He meets all of us where we’re at.  He doesn’t have a list of requirements to come to Him. He loves you and wants you (John 3:16). I was finally born again!

On this particular day, my husband had gone to work. I grabbed my girls, dog, iPod full of praise and I headed out for my walk. I am not an exercise buff. I only started going on this walk for a few reasons. First and foremost, I could buckle my girls in the jogger and they couldn’t get out. Secondly, I could turn up my iPod so loud, I couldn’t hear them fight and scream! Also, I had a goal to lose the weight I had gained over the past year. Lastly, it was the only time I could truly get alone with Jesus, and as I continued this walk, He showed me great and mighty things which I did not know (Jer. 33:3).

Please allow me to digress for a moment. Home gets really wild when a young mother has little ones all in diapers, and one or more nursing. Pray for the young families in your church. Pray for these moms who endure screaming for most of the day, and night, during that season. Pat these moms on the back and smile at them. Carry a baby now and again. Take it a step further, go to her house and visit while you help with laundry and read a few stories, rock her baby to sleep, and put together some puzzles.  Plant some seeds into that family. Children are a reward. (Ps. 127:3)  Sometimes, the sin nature that comes along with them, is a struggle.

Now, on this particular day it was hotter than the days before. I hadn’t spent a summer in Missouri up to this point, and I was told “Missouri has mild summers.” This day was not mild. It was hot and humid. My kids were fighting and screaming. The dog (which was a very big dog…what WERE we thinking?!) was yanking on me. About 20 minutes into the walk, I got angry and frustrated and said, “Forget it…it’s too hot, my kids scream too loud, this jogger is too heavy, this dog yanks on me too hard, I’ll never lose this weight, I give up”. I started to turn the jogger around and something from deep within me ROSE UP! My mouth said, “Shut up! You WILL go on this walk! You WILL finish the whole two hours! You WILL not give up!” 

It was as if some force, outside of myself, had taken a hold of everything in me from my waist down. My lower body was literally outrunning my upper body. It was like my being was being controlled by two different forces and my upper half was screaming, “please wait up!” and my half was screaming, “I CANNOT! Get With The Program! Come on, don’t get left behind!” GLORY!  My upper body did catch up with my lower body that day, thankfully.

I finished my walk that day, but something happened on a deeper level than me just putting one foot in front of the other. That walk was part of my building a relationship with Jesus. My walk with Him was deepened that day and since then, I have walked my life out before Him day by day. 

He has given us a “walk”, a plan, He has anointed us for that plan, so it’s time to find your path and start walking it out.

As I walked this path over the next year or so, God revealed many things to me. My children learned how to patiently wait and better work together. God brought amazing friends into my life that are still a part of my life…many of them still correspond with me daily. And as a bonus, I lost the weight I had gained. You know…I never remember the heat being a stumbling block after that, or my kids, or my dog or anything. The walk was a joy!

As I walked this route, God spoke to me one day and said, “This (the area I walked) is your territory, pray for your territory (people).” I started praising God and He said, “...and pray for the territory attached to that and the territory attached to that!” I could envision a map that was stretched out, and the territory that I was responsible for praying over. I prayed for that territory during my walk, and when I drove up and down the road. So if you lived in Osage Beach, Missouri during 2006, and you were really blessed, you’re welcome!

During one of these walks, a big dog was in his yard barking and spinning out on the grass. He wouldn’t walk beyond what he knew were his boundaries. He wasn’t a real threat, he just wanted to look threatening. My dog was barking at him and they were very loud. “BARK! BARK!” on one side...then “BARK! BARK!” on the other side. Then I’d shout to the dog, “Shut up and get out of here!” I’d turn to my dog and say, “Shut up and come on!” As soon as I turned around to yell at my dog, the other dog would start. 

All this time, I’m trying to push my two kids up a hill, and Missouri has big hills.  Kids were screaming and yelling because they thought the dog was going to beat up our dog. I stopped praying and turned my praise off so I could deal with all the chaos.

 In that moment…all the noise was quieted as if someone had turned down the overall volume and God said, “There will be a lot of “dog fights” but you keep your focus on Me.” I regained my focus, started praying again, put my praise back on and walked away from the fight.

Many of you need to walk away from the fight. If the fight doesn’t belong to you, step away from it. Keep your focus on Him and just walk away. There are things that are worth a fight. A marriage, a relationship with your parents, children, friends, etc.; however, don’t take your focus off Him during the fight. Speak to the mountain (Mark 11:23) but don’t stop praying and don’t turn your praise off!