Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Psalm 31:19 KJV

We may come to see His goodness in our lives and say this is as good as it get. But really, is that all there is to it? Can we come to a place where we exhaust God's goodness and expect to go down the hill from there?

God's goodness stored up for those who fear Him is infinite. We never deplete it in our short life span. Even eternity will never exhaust His goodness.  For a Christian, today is  better than yesterday; and tomorrow is better than today. Every morning brings with itself brand new mercy, grace and blessings. When we say as good as it gets, God says: you have not seen yet!

The greatest blessing is knowing God and His love. That by itself is a never ending journey into eternity.  God's glory is new every morning. It is a glorious journey wherein God keeps revealing Himself more and more and we keep falling down in awe of Him.

Behold, I will do a new thing (Isaiah 43:19a KJV)

We are taught to be content with what we have (Phil 4:11,12).  However, we are instructed to never be content with who we are (Phil 3:14).  Having a heart that is not stuck in the familiarity but strives to stretch into a new dimension is what makes deeper walk with God exciting and adventurous.

Deeper walk with God is a journey where camping at a place for good is unthinkable. It is a journey always on the move.  Any stage short of the likeness of His Son is unacceptable.  Therefore, the journey is a non-stop change of a lifetime.

Having such a heart delights the Lord for He is into the business of doing new things all the days of our lives.  May God give us a heart that hungers and thirsts after Him on constant basis so that we become filled and satisfied in Him  (Matthew 5:6).

Whether of them twain did the will of his father? Matthew 21:31

This is a story told by Jesus about two sons: one who said no but did what the father wanted and the other who said yes but failed to do the will of the father (Matthew 21:28-31). How many times we say yes to the word of God; however, fail to take heed and change as a result of it?

We are good in AGREEING with God whenever we hear God speak but are slow to ACT on it too often.  We appreciate and are touched by sermons after sermons; we can even be inspired and stirred up by them.  It is useless though unless we allow it to bear fruits in our lives. Agreeing with the Word profits us nothing.

That is where deeper walk with God makes a difference.  The voice of the Lord changes us from the inside out.  The Word goes deeper than our mind; it trickles down into our heart and makes room there.  It takes root and grows bearing fruits that signify our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives (Luke 8:4-15).

Father, help us mirror Your Word back to You with ACTIONS; not just simple empty words of appreciation for what you say.  Your Word has creative power for you created the whole world with Your Word. May Your grace abound that we wake up from our sleep and let Your Word manifest heaven in our lives. Amen.

and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Hebrews 12:1c

Deeper walk with God ushers us into practicing a steady persistence in our purpose or action in spite of obstacles, failures and discouragements.  That is to never give up until we get where God wants us to be. Such a life style is possible, not by our strength, but by His grace.  It necessitates getting our eyes off ourselves and continuing to remain in a state of His grace for the course of our journey with Him to the end.

A great lesson can be gleaned from a look at the growth of Chinese bamboo.  A Chinese bamboo takes 5 years for developing its roots and afterwards takes only 6 weeks to shoot up over 90 feet above the ground.  It takes perseverance to stick to the task for five long years where there appears to be no activity at least to our eyes. The long and arduous part of the walk is to be aware of what is happening with such an unseen one that is discouraging unless we have His eyes.

In the like manner we are commanded to walk in Him, as we have received Christ, rooted and built up in Him and established in faith (Colossians 2:6,7).  The task at hand always has eternal purpose to it.  That purpose has to do with the unseen part that pertains to the roots.  And God’s priority lies in there, doing character formations in us. The rest is not the main point but serve as motions through which God’s eternal purpose gets accomplished.

Therefore, we need to understand the Divine order and put our priorities in line with the priorities of heaven.  When we do that, we shift the focus from what is happening on the surface to what is being accomplished by His grace within us thereby having an appreciation for the unseen ones.  This brings the meaning of walking by faith and not by sight alive and vibrant in our lives. That truly is what it means to live out a deeper walk with God.

The art of living a deeper walk with God demands that we operate at a higher ground, nothing less than heaven itself.  It is heaven’s perspective that gives us the courage and energy to go on in spite of what appears to be insurmountable difficulties at times.  As we look inside and notice the root growth, we can have the joy of the Lord that equips us to face the circumstantial discouragements with more determination and persistence to make it through no matter what.

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him Ps. 37:7a

We have a tendency to charge ahead and plunge into action when we have something in mind.  It is like we are independent, forcefully taking care of business as soon as possible on our own as much as possible. With deeper walk with God, all that would change for the better – and we choose to wait on the Lord instead. 

Growing deeper in God’s love doesn’t make us a more independent person, but a more dependent person on the Lord for everything.  The more we grow in His grace, the more we become aware of our weaknesses and limitations.  In such lifestyle, hesitation to dive into action is a mark of maturity. Each day, we shy from taking the lead and wait for Him to be in charge in everything.

Just because we can do something, it doesn’t mean we have to do it without consulting our beloved Lord.  The goal is not in accomplishing a task, but in seeing it accomplished through His grace.  It is the closeness we treasure that is priceless. We check with the Lord first and walk in step with Him afterwards. It is all about Him from the beginning, through the process, and yes to the end.

We draw satisfaction from being co-workers with God, calling Him a friend.  When we prosper in our efforts, the praise goes to Him that brings glory to the Father and a joy to our soul. 

We learned much from our past when we used to bring self-inflicting pains and disappointments that result from taking charge of the matter at hand, and ignoring the Father in the process.  We realize how far He brought us from self-reliance to total dependence.  A deeper walk with God is the only way to live His abundant life to the fullest.

Waiting on the Lord need to be typified by a calming rest in the Lord.  Fretting and worrying while waiting is not actually waiting on the Lord, it is dreading. With this in mind, we take one day at a time enjoying victory by giving up control and coming under His authority in humility. Wait on the Lord – it does the soul good!

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13

Legalism is a taskmaster that imprisons us in the dungeon of failure and enslaves us to a guilt trip as a result.  It tempts us saying we have the capacity to do the will of God, but in actuality its attempt is to showcase our inability to do the will of God.  Our deeper walk with God begins with the realization and daily practice that legalism is to be done with by the grace of God for good.

When legalism lures us into doing the right thing by appealing to our ability, we need to realize that it is just a deception.  Because, even if we give it all we got, we can only sustain doing the right thing for short period of time and failing is inevitable eventually.  That is when the enemy comes in full vengeance through guilt and attempts to crush our spirit.

We are not meant to live such defeated life in Christ.  Since we are hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3), there must be no direct connection between the things we do and ourselves.  Having such a direct link creates a lose–lose situation. For one, having a temporal success gives us a false confidence in ourselves. On the other hand, repeated unending failures will guarantee guilt and losing hope.

Therefore, deeper walk with God demands a disconnection between the things we do and ourselves.  Instead, it requires a connection between the things we do and the grace of God working through us.  This life style is a win–win situation; because, it alleviates the crushing burden from our shoulder while providing the grace that is sufficient to enable us to do the will of God in sustainable manner.  This undoubtedly produces an authentic praise for the glory of God for there is a clear disconnection between the result and us. 

The question now becomes: are we totally convinced that we can totally abandon the illusive call of legalism and turn our face helplessly heavenward?  Unless we come clean and fall completely on His grace, we continue struggling with our obedience in the particulars of life.

In Christ, we can do all things – things that cannot be done in flesh – thanks to the workings of His grace in and through us.  Embrace that and say that is sufficient to deal with the impossibilities in our lives. Don’t turn back and fall for the trap that some how we can do it alone with sheer determination. Live grace – the only way to live for the one committed to a deeper walk with God.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 KJV

God’s inexhaustible grace is available to us to get us to know and live Christ, which by itself is beyond comprehension. 

We just tasted a little bit of heaven in our walk with God, but there is much more God wants to do with our lives. His intention is not short of changing us into the likeness of His Son. 

We may say how in the world one can be like Jesus?  However, Jesus Himself demands perfection: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Mathew 5:48

Let’s turn our face back to Him to enable us to meet His call on our lives. The growing process in His grace needs to continue at an increasing rate for the glory of the Father. That paves the way for our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to expand in increasing measure with each passing day while being transformed into His image in the process (2 Co 3:18). 

Praise the Lord who has called and empowered us for such a glorious life that is out of this world!

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 1 Co 1:30

Sanctification is not about we being righteous in ourselves. It is about accepting and living out Christ as our sanctification.  It is about letting Christ in us live His life through us.

God doesn’t look at us apart from Christ.  We are crucified with Christ, and raised up with Him (Rom 6:6-8). Our trouble is when we don’t see ourselves as we truly are – in Christ.  We are identified with Him, and thus we can live an exchanged life – His life.

We take Him as our righteousness at the time of salvation and then unfortunately change gear by laboring on our own to workout our sanctification.  It is as if the Lord is not sufficient to be our sanctification.  But the Holy Spirit is here to continue the ministry of Christ by realizing the divine life within us.  Christ dwells in us to shine His life through us – if we let Him.

May the Holy Spirit open up our eyes and help us see Him, as He really is – our sanctification and what not.  Everyday, we have the blessed opportunity to believe and let Christ Jesus use our bodies to shine His life.  In the process we get to be transformed into His likeness through the power of the Holy Spirit.