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The Christian Walk
Many, falsely believe that following Jesus is easy.
The Christian walk will never be easy; in fact, it will become increasingly difficult as the day of judgment approaches. None of us wants to face conflict in our lives, but sometimes the choice is not ours. We tend to focus on wars around the world, but there is a war going on in every part of our country. It is a war between good and evil.
This war is both spiritual and physical.
We face the age-old spiritual battle against our sinful nature and we also face the physical threat from Muslim and other false religions. Many Muslim leaders have called for a jihad against all who will not convert to Islam.
As a Christian we are sent out to win souls by our testimony of faith in Jesus, Muslims believe in conquering by force and killing all who will not submit.
Christianity Today reports that in 2024, the Muslims murdered 4,100 Christians in Nigeria alone. A Washington Stand article tells us that by August 2025, more than 7,000 Christians were killed. This count only covers a half year and does not include the tens of thousands who suffer attacks that do not result in death.
Our faith in Jesus is the only thing that will give us the strength to face the attacks of the satanic forces arrayed against us.
If we fail to take a stand for Jesus daily, we will fail when life-threatening events happen.
Jesus said in Luke 9:23 NKJV, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” He was speaking to you and me and all Christians.
The cross Jesus carried was not easy, and ours will not be if we are following Him.
If you find your life as a Christian easy, you need to look closer at what you are doing in His Kingdom.
We will be attacked in this country. The same forces of evil are at work all around us and throughout the world.
Unless we are hiding we will be attacked.
Jesus did not promise the Christian walk would be easy!
Jesus tells us in John 15:18 NKJV, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”
Our Lord Jesus came preaching God’s truth, healing the sick, and raising the dead, yet He was hated. We can expect no less from a sin-filled world.
As the End Times come closer, Satan will attack us from within the Church and as well as in the world.
Our Christian walk will be under unrelenting attack. Satan will use worldly temptations and Muslims will threaten your life to turn you from Jesus. You cannot ignore what is happening around you.
The enemies of God use hate and force to convert others to their way.
Jesus has taught us to love others, even those who would harm us.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48 NKJV, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. …
This is so different from the world’s view. Satan and the world teach to kill and destroy all who oppose them and their false teachings.
The Christian Walk requires us to stand against sin.
We are not to hate the sinner, but the sin. God’s love is made clear in John 3:16 NKJV. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We should all preach this basic truth. It is the beginning of our hope and the hope of the world.
Many Christians fail to take a stand against evil. We want everything to be easy and to require little effort from us. Some Ministers abandon the simple truths of the Bible and try to preach a message that offends no one. It is much easier to please people by preaching only the love of God without mentioning the effects of sin.
God’s love is evident. He gave His only Son to die for you, but God has not changed; he still requires obedience.
God wants what is best for you. He wants you to understand that living a life committed to Him is the only path to happiness.
Following the world and its short-term pleasures leads to destruction.
Let’s look at what the Bible tells us.
We need to understand where we were, where we are, and where we need to go.
Where we were is lost in a world of sin. Almighty God is righteous, but we are not. We have all broken God’s laws. Look at Romans 3:23 NKJV, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God’s standards are far higher than those of the world.
The world may call you good. You may have attended church, gone through all the motions of obeying God. It is possible that you even taught Sunday School or served as a Minister and yet have not done the one thing that would save your soul.
We have all sinned, and Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 NKJV, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, we have sinned, and the wage of sin is death.
That is where we were!
You were and are a sinner, that’s a Bible fact.
So, the question is, where are we now?
Notice Romans 6:23, not only tells us the wages of sin is death, but also that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We don’t want the wages, but we sure want the gift. So how do we get it?
You remember that wonderful scripture, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God knew that you couldn’t pay the price for your sin, so He offered His Son to pay the price for you.
The key to your salvation is accepting Jesus as the Son of God, and your Savior. You can not save yourself!
Paul says in Galatians 2:16 NKJV, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Obeying the Law can not save us, only our faith in Jesus Christ.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to a group that referred to itself as the chosen people of God. Just a few days before, they had demanded that Jesus be crucified. They had watched Him being nailed to the cross.
When they heard Peter and the other Apostles proclaim Jesus as the Christ, they realized their guilt. They were at the same place we are before we accepted Jesus as our Savior.
Peter’s message to them is also to each of us. In Acts 2:38 NKJV it says, 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
After we accept that we are sinners, we need to repent of our sins.
God only provided one way to defeat sin.
You and I need a Savior. Why, you ask? You may see yourself as a good person; however, God sees the real you. Perhaps you are living as “good” as you believe possible. I have met individuals who told me how good they were and that they did not need a Savior. They were good by all worldly standards, but not sinless, and there is a penalty for sin, all sin.
We must always return to what Paul said in Romans, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Our first step toward salvation is to accept our guilt.
If you accept that you are a sinner and know that the wages of sin are death, what are you to do?
God gives you the choice. God allows you to choose how to respond to your sinful life. You can continue in sin and pay the price, or you can choose to believe in and follow Jesus. God gave you Free Will, so it is up to you to make the choice.
You can accept God’s way, or you can go your own way. But understand that the choice is between Heaven and hell. There are no other choices.
God offers you the gift of eternal life with Him in Heaven.
To accept this gift, you must also accept the fact of your sinful nature.
Once we accept our guilt and that our wage is death, our next step is to accept God’s plan.
He sent His Son into a wicked world and opened the door to all who will believe in Jesus. It may be hard to accept Him as the Son of God. However, God gave us a mountain of evidence about the coming Savior. He has also given us many witnesses who knew Him and recorded all He did. We even have Jesus’ own testimony in the Scripture below.
The Apostle John tells us in John 14:6 NKJV that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus is the only way back to the Father.
Peter tells us in Acts 4:12 NKJV, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus is the only plan God has for our salvation.
First, you must believe.
To believe you must hear about Jesus from someone who knows Him as their personal Savior.
Remember what we read in John 3:16 NKJV. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
You must believe what God did for you. The Holy Spirit will help you believe if you will ask Jesus to come into your heart.
Second, you must confess.
Scripture tells you that God loves you and wants to save you. It reveals that God sent His Son to pay the price for your sins.
So, what is your next step? Paul says in Romans 10:9-10 NKJV, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Third, you must repent of your sin.
Luke tells us in Acts 2:38 NKJV, “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Once you have repented amd been baptized you will receive the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you.
Finally, you must follow Jesus.
There is no waiting in our Christian walk. God did not plan for us to sit around and wait for Jesus return. He has called us to His service and wants to use us to do the work He planned for us from the beganing of creation.
When Jesus called the Apostles He put them to work from day one. The early Church conquered the world by sharing its testimony.
Listen to Jesus’ words in JOHN 14:12-13 NKJV, 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He was caught up into heaven. His ministry did not stop. He continued through the Apostles and their early converts all the way to our present time.
Think about it!
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do many of the works He did.
Sharing how Jesus saved us and changed our lives will help others accept Jesus. People will see the change Jesus made in our lives, and they will want the same joy. Broken lives will be mended, and those who are sick will be healed.
LOVE & OBEDIENCE
In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Jesus tells us to keep His commandments if we genuinely love Him. Our love for Jesus will force us to speak out when we would rather be silent. We will tell people when we see them sinning how Jesus came to set them free from sin.
Our lives will be an example of what God wants on this earth. We will show love and kindness in all we do. Hate will not be a part of our lives.
Today we are seeing the horrors of hate on our streets. It starts in the hearts of men and women who do not know the love of Jesus. Satan builds upon that hate to cause people to harm each other or support those who kill and destroy.
INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus told His disciples to wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them. Our Lord, Jesus, saved thousands through the preaching.
When we accept Jesus, we also receive the Holy Spirit, which empowers us to work effectively in God’s great plan. He promises to continue and complete all of the good works that He has started in each of us.
His good works can be physical things as well as spiritual. God wants our hearts and we show our commitment by the things we do and say.
God has work that He wants to do in us for His glory and our good. When we accept the Holy Spirit, this is part of the promise that comes with that acceptance.
JESUS’S LOVE TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM
Jesus shows His love for believers in so many ways.
- He went to the cross for our sins. He paid a debt we could not pay.
- Jesus opened His arms to accept all who would come to Him.
- When we follow and obey His commands, He promises to always be with us.
- He opens the minds and hearts of those who accept Him.
- Friendship with the God who created us and all we know.
Jesus told His apostles that they were not His servants but His friends.
Friendship with God is what Jesus has promised us if we follow His commands.
Joy is another promise to us if we continue to follow Jesus’s command because doing so will result in being in God’s love and that alone brings much joy.
God promises that we will have trials and tribulations in this life just for believing in Him and not denying Him.
This promise, we already see coming true today. Do you have friends who have stepped away from you since you became a Christian? I know I have.
The loss of friends is only part of the persecution we have waiting for us. Many are paying with their lives but will reap their rewards from God.