“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD; and he delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37.23).

First, let us establish who the “good man” is.  Jesus said no one was good but the Father.  That might sound a bit negative, but it expresses a truth that within ourselves we cannot be ‘good’ according to God’s standard; so we must be born again so that we are pure in God’s sight due to our cleansing by the blood of Jesus.  Now when God sees us, He only sees Jesus in us; He can see the traces of the blood that made us ‘good’ and the robe of righteousness which we received in exchange for our filthy rags.

We are “qualified” now to have our steps ordered by the Lord, and they consist of periods of acceleration and braking.

For safety and control, our governments have installed traffic devices which we must obey: One says--Go; One says--Stop; One says--Yield and Proceed with caution.  To fail to go, use caution, yield and stop at the appropriate time can be calamitous.

“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way…” (Psalm 37:34).

There are times to go; there are times to stop; there are times to pause and yield.  To know when to apply the correct choice we must have our eyes open and trained to obey.  When we have the Word implanted in our hearts, we have the promptings of the Holy Spirit to advise us.  Jeremiah heard the Lord say His Word was like a hammer:  “Is not my word like as a fire? [to purify] saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock [hard heart] in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29).  We have been purified by the fire of God, and He has broken our hard hearts and stubborn wills so that His Word will penetrate and saturate our being.

At God’s Word, Joshua hammered down the walls of Jericho without lifting a tool or a weapon.  The inhabitants felt secure within their strong walls.  Some sources say the outer wall was six feet thick and the inner wall was twelve feet.  The walls stood fifteen feet apart and rose 30 feet above ground, making this a major fortress which gave those who lived there confidence that they were safely guarded from their enemies.  They thought the walls were a brake to the Israelites whom they feared.  What a surprise when their fortress fell flat giving the Israelites the acceleration to overcome and conquer Jericho.  I recall a minister saying that the ground must have opened up and swallowed the wall for it to be flat enough to allow Joshua’s troops to just walk in.  If not, imagine all the debris they would have had to climb over.  (Sounds reasonable to me).

God’s Word breaks our hearts over sin as we brake at the Cross.  From there, we accelerate toward eternal life.

Jeremiah’s heart was broken over the sins of his people.

“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1).  They knew what God expected of them, but they were bent on breaking themselves over the “Hammer.”  Jeremiah felt God’s broken heart and lamented that the “harvest is past and summer is ended and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20).

Can we feel God’s broken heart over those who reject Jesus and weep with Him?  Can we brake at the feet of Jesus and intercede for those for whom Christ died?  He brakes and listens to our heart’s cry and tears.  God is not avoiding the lost; it is they who reject His wooing and are avoiding Him.  It should break our hearts to know that God isn’t welcome in government offices, schools, the market place and many homes; because He isn’t welcome in the hearts of those who occupy those places.  When He abides in our hearts, He is always welcome with us wherever we accelerate to.

Sadly, the conscience of society is being trained to accelerate past the cross and commitment to the Lord.  It is being trained to brake at fleshly desires and ignore any reference to their spiritual needs.  Some pacify their conscience by braking at good deeds, expecting God to wink at their unchanged personal lives.  A conscience that has been misinformed is not a safe guide.  No matter what it tells us, if it is not truth, it is a lie.  We need a standard higher than our own to improve our lives, one that exceeds our own to aim toward.  We must not accelerate past the cross; it is our standard and only means of salvation!  Any other standard is a dead end with no return.

Though our hearts may desire one thing, our flesh pursues another.

“Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps” Psalm 85:13).

Our conscience must be trained by the Holy Spirit to honor God and obey His Word.  The Holy Spirit is our trainer, comforter and guide to keep us accelerating toward Heavenly goals.  He is also our brake to aid us in obeying God’s traffic controls to stop, pause, yield or go.  We are to check the transmission and brake fluid level of the Spirit in our lives so we will always be prepared to accelerate or stop as God directs. 

If you made a bad choice, brake now and accelerate toward the cross.  Stop trying to ‘fix’ yourself; you can’t!  Someone has said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.  Take your brokenness to Jesus, and you will find that the mended results will be blessedness and eternal life.

Accelerate toward the Light.  Jesus said He was the Light of the World.

“The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts…” (Proverbs 20:27).

The born-again spirit is enlightened to God’s Word; without the new birth, we live in darkness and are subject to deceit and will brake at the wrong places, accelerate toward a wrong destructive destination.  The Word is our light to guide us and alert us to brake at temptations.  A door to fleshly desires left open deliberately is an invitation to accelerate toward the temptation.  If we are being led toward temptation to sin, we need to apply the brakes immediately.   God does not tempt us with sin!  Accelerate toward a safe haven, Jesus.  Making the rounds of E-mails is the saying, “The Spirit will not lead us where God’s Grace will not keep us.”  The Spirit will never lead us toward temptation to sin, but toward a godly life in Christ Jesus without compromise.

Church history bears out that when brakes were applied at the start of persecution, the power left the church because compromise stepped in.  We can stop persecution with compromise, but we will be left with emptiness and no power to properly brake or accelerate or even know the difference. 

The battle isn’t over; the race is still on, so check your brake and acceleration fluid (Holy Spirit).  Keep it filled to a safe level so you will always be prepared to stop, pause, yield or go as God Directs.

Go in Freedom:  “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).  Though man may attempt to, God doesn’t restrict our Freedom in Christ; we are “Free indeed!”

~~Delores~~

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