We have the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21. That is our unchangeable standing. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6. There is a work of righteousness ~ laying down righteous pavers ~ to walk upright before the Lord in our changeable state.

Isaiah 32:17 says, ‘The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” I think of the word ‘work’ here as a potter with clay. The potter has to work in water, so the clay can be molded.

Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.” He always goes before us to prepare the way. No trial is happenstance ~ rather divinely orchestrated to mold us into His character.

As a potter centers the worked clay, so the Lord uses the pressures, hardships, trials, adversities to center us on Him. Our pathways were preordained. I believe everything we go through was set into the seed of our conception.

I have continued to meditate on Psalm 119:30. It is a template for decisiveness and implementation. I have chosen. I have laid. The decision to do something proactive was made. Then the steps to succeed were set in place.

Here is an example. During the pandemic tempers flared. It was easy to get caught up in fleshly reactions. However, when we lay God’s word as pavers before us, we have a clear path to walk in His righteousness.

James 1:20 clearly states, “For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Proverbs 29:11 Amplified says, “A (self-confident) fool utters all his anger, but a wise man holds it back and stills it.”

Ephesians 4:26-27 is an essential paver. It says, “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” The enemy of our soul loves to stir up strife, quarrels, harsh words, and spewed angry threats. When we have our ‘pavers’ laid down in front of us, we will not allow any opportunity for fleshly retaliations.

Psalm 119:30 says, “I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me.” As I was meditating on this verse, I thought back to when I watched my friend lay bricks. He had to first level the ground. Then he put down sand to keep the bricks from shifting when I walked on it.

We make the choice to walk in the way of truth. However, we have to level the ground by removing the debris of hidden lies, doubts, fears, and unbelief. They are squatters, but the truth is absolute. Remember that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” John 14:6. 

Jesus reveals the hidden truths of His word as we bring them into our hearts. Each brick of truth is carefully laid so that we have a firm foundation to walk on. Our progressive sanctification is step by step. As Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept…line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

I am so grateful for Isaiah 55:8-9. It says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

I love Psalm 18:30 which 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.” God’s way is perfect, and so much higher that it is beyond us.

Catch and observe Psalm 18:32. It says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.” Wow what a gift! All our fiery trials, hardships, adversities, and persecutions are His tools to perfect our way. He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Psalm 23:3. Righteousness is His work of conforming our thoughts, purpose, and actions to His will and ways.

I was meditating on Psalm 119:27. It says, “Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.” I was wondering what the Hebrew word for way was. Then my eyes glanced to the left in my Amplified Bible. Verse 15 says, “…have respect to Your ways (the paths of life marked out by Your law).”

His paths of life are clearly written down for us to follow as we read and observe God’s word. Verse 17 in the Amplified says, “…I will observe Your word (hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it).”

One of my mentees asked some serious questions yesterday about her life. I answered them with the gospel. Then I asked if she wanted to receive Jesus as her Savior. She said “sure” and so I reiterated it in another way. Then wrote out a prayer she could put into her own words. Her reply was “but I have done bad things ~ He won’t want me.”

The Pharisee’s perused the Scriptures, but they did not know the Lord through personal experience. John 5:39-40 says, “You search the Scriptures…But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” 

Authentic Jesus’ followers enter into an experiential knowledge of His truths. Reading God’s word, applying it to our lives, allows it to become our testimony. In Acts 4:13 Peter and John’s testimony was evident ~ they had been with Jesus.

I want Ephesians 3:19 to be my testimony. In the Amplified it says, “…that you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fullness of God (may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself)!”

Salvation brings us into the experiential knowledge of the Holy One. Proverbs 9:10. 2 Peter 1:4 says that we become experiential partakers of His divine nature through His eternal promises.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…” We become as the One we behold. 2 Peter 1:4 says that we become partakers of His nature.

Here are some phrases from a new song. I lift my unveiled face to gaze into Your face. Face to face I behold You as You behold me…With joy I lift my heart in song. A song that flows through me like a river. A song that cascades and rushes to be expressed. In pure worship knowing Your joy as You behold me.

James 1:22 charges us to be doers of the word and not just hearers. He likened it to a man who looks into a mirror and promptly forgets “…what kind of man he was.” Doers fix their eyes on truth and live it out in their lives.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus endured because His eyes were fixed on His inheritance ~ us. His words, “It is finished” echo in the hearts of those who have received His gift of eternal life. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” He is right now praying for us!

Jesus is our example of endurance. Hebrews 10:36 is our reminder. It says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise.”

Emotional ruts are old thought patterns that cause us to fall into futile activity. We can liken it to a hamster in a wheel. Oh it is really active, but it is going nowhere other than in endless circles.

We are called to worship our Creator. Isaiah 43:7 says, “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Jeremiah 1:5 says that He knew us before He formed us in the womb.

Psalm 46:1 says that the Lord is ever present in our times of trouble. His Presence is present. Our faith is now faith. Note that the Lord’s help in our past, will not be duplicated in the present. Every circumstance is unique. He desires to reveal Himself to us according to our present need. Let’s not miss what the Lord is doing in our present.

I love 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Why do we hang out with thoughts from our past that can never be changed? It is not only futile, but it causes our body to stress.

Let me give you Strong’s definition of futile: fruitless, empty, hollow, unreal, unproductive, lacking substance, ineffectual, void of results, worthless. Paul encouraged Timothy to, “…pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

To pursue righteousness means to conform our thoughts, purpose, and actions to God’s will and ways. When our mind wanders back to dwell in our past, we bring that thought captive. How? Simply by training our next thought to be a righteous one. What does Scripture say is God’s will? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is to give thanks.