Colossians 2:6 says that as we received Christ, that is the way we are to walk in Him. How did we receive Him? Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved by faith…” 

Ephesians 1:13 says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Therefore, since we received Him, we continue to walk in Him through faith, as we are empowered by grace.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith…” Faith is in the present. At salvation we were all given a measure of faith. Romans 12:3. Colossians 2:7 says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

Jesus was led by the Spirit. Right after He was baptized, Luke 4 says, “…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” What happened next? He was tempted by the devil for forty days! With each temptation, Jesus countered them by quoting His word. 

I have been meditating on Colossians 2:6. It says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” I looked up the Greek for walk. Figuratively it means to live, deport oneself, follow.

Galatians 5:16 says to walk in the Spirit. 1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked.” All three verses have the same Greek word. 

How did Jesus walk? Luke 6:35 says, “…For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.” John 5:19 says, “…the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…” Colossians 1:15 says that He is the exact image of the invisible God.

John 1:14 says that He is full of grace and truth. In many accounts we see that He was given to prayer. Some of His miracles were because He was moved with compassion. He endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. Psalm 45:2 says, “…grace is poured upon Your lips.” He spoke with authority. Matthew 7:29.

Romans 6:17 says, “…yet you obeyed from the heart.” The Greek word for obeyed means to hear as a subordinate, listen attentively, obey as a subject, answer and respond, submit without reservation.”

I started reading through Mark. I always marvel as Jesus called each of His disciples. Jesus saw Simon and Andrew. Mark 1:17-18 says, “Then Jesus said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him.”

Jesus came to James and John. They were in their boat mending their nets. Mark 1:20 says, “…they left their Father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.” They instantly acted without reservation. They did not take time to consider anything. They didn’t dialogue about what to do. These four fishermen left their livelihood without questioning Jesus where they were going.

When we walk in the Spirit, we are in tune to His bidding. We hear and then respond with our heart. In Romans 1:5 Paul wrote, “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith…”

John 8:32 was written about experiential truth. It says, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The Greek word for know means to perceive, understand, recognize, gain knowledge, realize, come to know.

We come across applicable truth as we daily read God’s word. We take it in, apply it to our lives, and make it part of our thought processes. Ephesians 3:19 Amplified says, “(That you may really come) to know (practically, through experience for yourselves) the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience)…”

We do warfare, worship, use it in prayer, and in intimate communion with the Lord. John 15:7 Amplified says, “If you live in Me (abide vitally untied to Me) and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.”

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

When we consistently memorize and hide God’s word in our hearts, we will discern the moment a lie aims for our mind. Hebrews 5:14 says, “…those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

As in the wild, a predator seeks out the weakest in a herd. When we do not attend to unresolved issues in our hearts, they weaken our faith, and undermine our confidence. They also create inner stress that undermines our health.

The next time a negative thought against yourself or another comes up, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the lie that you believed. Negative dialogues are lies. Why? They are based on the past. Our past is over and done with. It only exists in our minds. We cannot change them, but we can change our thoughts through renewing our minds with truth. Metamorphosis. 

We are not caterpillars eating leaves (past). We are new creations designed to exemplify the Lord in every aspect of our lives (present). We have a future and a hope because of the Lord’s thoughts towards us. Jeremiah 29:11.

In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus gave the parable of the wheat and the tares. Verse 25 says, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” That is a perfect description of how a fiery dart lie is sown into our hearts.

When God’s word is planted in our hearts, it becomes a sentinel to warn us to deflect fiery darts. If we are inattentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, they will penetrate and drop into our heart. They then begin to feed the lies into our thought processes. 

In my experience, the lies come in a first person form of “I am not…” They also may come as an accusation against another. “They are so…” The darts are always demeaning, negative, and defeating.

2 Corinthians 10:4 reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle. It says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Verse 5 says to bring every thought captive. Does it mean that we have to carefully examine every thought?

Our heart is the reservoir of what we believe. Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart one believes…” Matthew 12:34 says, “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Matthew 15 is a discourse about inner defilement. Verse 19-20 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…These are the things which defile…” Our thoughts either purify our heart, or they defile them.

Self-condemnation is rooted in enemy planted lies. Watch how the enemy seeks to subvert our relationship with the Lord. 1 John 3:21 says, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” Self-condemnation is a demonic weapon to undermine our confidence.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Verse 34 says, “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Self-condemnation was seeded through a fiery dart lie!

I read “Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II.” Darlene Deibler Rose was a missionary in New Guinea. Soon after Pearl Harbor, she and her husband were placed in separate Japanese prison camps.

I read biographies and autobiographies because they challenge my faith. Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Verse 32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.” He uses the trials of our lives to conform us to His image. As Job said, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Psalm 15 teaches us how to maintain unshakable faith. Each verse highlights a portion of His way. Verse 5 ends with, “…He who does these things shall never be moved.” Psalm 16:8 says, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

I was thinking about the two sons. Their father had ordered each one to go work in the vineyard. The first son refused to go, but then later had a change of heart. The second son said that he would, but didn’t go. He lacked heart integrity. Neither obeyed from the heart. Matthew 21:28-30.

Remember King Saul? He disobeyed through compromise. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 says, “…Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…” Saul’s disobedience cost him his kingship.

The apostles were commanded to not speak the name of Jesus anymore. Acts 5:29 says, “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: We ought to obey God rather than man.” In Acts 1:8, Jesus had told them, “…you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” They were obeying from the heart. We are commanded to carry out the great commission ~ it requires heart obedience.

I camped on ‘obeyed from the heart’ as I meditated on Romans 6:17. It says, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” I like the Amplified in verse 18. It says, “…(of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action).”

Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees about inner defilement. Matthew 15:8 says, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” Paul called it eyeservice.

Ephesians 6:6 says, “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” David wrote Psalm 86. We can echo his prayer in verse 11. It says, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.” 

Jesus had singleness of heart.  Hebrews 7:25 says of Jesus, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”