8 Signs that you are walking on the path God created.

First, here is a little preaching on Psalm 101…. King David is giving instructions on how to live a holy life. It is his promise to God that he will live a holy life and conduct the government accordingly. However today we would not necessarily call it a holy life, but we would call it a Christ like life. A Christlike life isProbably the term, in the new covenant, that we are most used to.

Today we can choose to live a holy life or we can choose to live a life absent from God. God seems to put the road in front of us and expects us to choose the right road. He gives us everything that we need in order to live this holy life, but it seems the latter choice is running society today. Yet, it is the great commission that we follow. When we choose to follow Christ, we choose to be his witnesses; in order, to get more people saved.

Paul tells us to work it out with fear and trembling. This means to walk it out for today live by it. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). So,This does not mean that we work for our salvation, but we walk it out Daily. He is simply explaining that the wonderful gift they freely received from God is inside of them. We bring out those beautiful attributes and character traits by faith. Faith is a rest, but it is faith that works, not us. So working out what is on the inside of us happens by faith. This is what Paul is referring to when he mentions “fear and trembling.” He isn’t talking about being afraid of God. Rather, he is helping the new believer to know that in the beginning, it will seem scary to walk by faith. However, it is the only way to see our inner salvation manifest on the outside through our character. change your character and lifestyle without your own efforts can be daunting. It is a challenge to believe you can change without a self-help or sin management program. Notice that Paul emphasises this point in the very next verse.

David is making us aware of the fact; that, living a Christlike life it’s just attending church a couple times a week. Walking it out, living by faith, also doesn’t happen just because you pray occasionally or make an effort to read your Bible a couple times per month.

David has blurted out and recorded a very good description of what walking it out or living by faith -would look like. This is informing us that a Christ centered life is one that is totally focused on God. One that chooses to follow God every day and with every choice. Within this Psalm we find that David’s heart is in the right place. How often, have you told God the following: Lord, I want to live for you.”?

Well, let’s look at some scriptures and receive those 8 signs. First, let’s go to Psalm 101 and read it! David loved God and he often told him so in songs and hymns. Here we see David telling God his intentions.

Psalm 101 (New King James Version) “I will sing of mercy and justice;

To You, O Lord, I will sing praises. 2 I will behave wisely in a [a]perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will (A)walk within my house with a perfect heart.3 I will set nothing [b]wicked before my eyes;

(B)I hate the work of those (C)who fall away; It shall not cling to me.

4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not (D)know wickedness. 5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; (E)The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a [c]perfect way, He shall serve me. 7 He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not [d]continue in my presence. 8 (F)Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,That I may cut off all the evildoers (G)from the city of the Lord.

Let’s begin with verse one: I love the way King David expresses his love for God. Here, He serenades God with his music. No Wonder God loves him so much. He could not love someone that is very sweet and loving to you. Usually when you give love love is directed back toward you. So our first son, that we are on the right path with God, is that we see ourselves meditating, pondering, or thinking about the word of God throughout the day, because David says that he will ponder on the things of righteousness. However, most people or doing other things. Our sin nature, causes a gradual pull, for the things of this world. As we know, this world is all of wickedness and sin! So, to counteract this cardinal thinking, we must promise two to fill our days with prayerful activities.

First, verse two says, the following: “2 I will behave wisely in a [a]perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will (A)walk within my house with a perfect heart.” So, in other words, I will walk with integrity. Next few verses here in this passage speaks to a Christian‘s integrity. Integrity cannot be bought or sold, because it is something that is proven over time. This is a sign that you are on the right path, because you are walking in and with integrity. This type of integrity can be seen from others; Therefore it is recognized and spoken about. Moreover, if you are a Christian with integrity you are willing to walk in the ways that will lead you to holiness. Finally, integrity is earned and preserved.

The second sign that God gives us to know that we are on the right path with him has to do with our attitude. There are certain times in our life, that we feel our spirit is restless. Our spirit is not operating under peace. Perhaps, you feel like you’re cluttered and disorganized. Sometimes, we feel like we just want to be left alone in our thoughts and in our deeds. This means, that the spirit is showing you a son that you are not on the right path. This type of activity proves that you need to change your attitude and your thoughts.

Verse three brings up the third sign that God has given us to ensure that we are on the right path and it says the following: “3 I will set nothing [b]wicked before my eyes; (B)I hate the work of those (C)who fall away;” This means that evil shall not cling to you or absorb your thoughts. You will sustain from evil acts. You will not allow yourself to be a witness to evil acts. My, my, my, this includes the television. Some of the things on the television shouldn’t be uttered and it should not be watched. We should be focused on the word of God and singing spiritual hymns and songs to our self. In other words, we should be in worship all day long. We should be walking and the Spirit and not in our own flesh. In addition, we should not be consuming our thoughts with wicked activities that we see travel along. For example, I see and hear a whole lot of things during the day. One being gossip about what has happened in our community and in our nation. We need to guard our hearts and our thoughts. We need to simply pray for the situation and blue. When we start to dwell upon them we lose our focus and walk after the flesh and not the spirit.

David was a man full of integrity and he hated wickedness. He was not “holier than thou”, but he loved God and he chose to walk in the statutes. The fourths way I want to give you today to stay on God’s path, is that you will do nothing that moves your heart away from God. You know, that you are sold out for Jesus when you do not want to disobey him or disappoint him. You know that you were on the right path when you sustain from evil. Psalm 101: force is stated as follows: “4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not (D)know wickedness” This is when we have reached this point in our Christian walk, when we want to love “up on” God. We want him to be proud of us. We want to be caught being faithful. This is when you ask God what I can do for you; instead, of you asking what God can do for you. When you’re on the Path God wants for you; then, you aim to please God. You make a decision daily to do the right thing.

The fifth and current sign that we know we are walking on the path God has created for us is found in the following verse: “5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; E)The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.” Here, we see that king David is saying to God that he promises to align his self with godly people. People that God has filled with the Holy Ghost are people that we should be around. The words secretly slanders yes gossip; and perhaps a little more than just gossiping. David says that he will have nothing to do with them. These are the people that get together and enjoy talking about other people. We know that gossip is a sin, because of what Proverbs 18:8 states: “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.” Often, they talk so negatively of the other person that it ruins their reputation. No, we don’t cut these people totally out of our life, because we still love them and pray for them, but from a distance. We don’t let their Sin influence how we conduct ourselves.

Scripture tells us that we should not for sake the assembling of ourselves together; perhaps, this is one reason why. -we rub off on others. The wicked are out to steal, kill, and destroy and the Christian is out to love and encourage. Now, which type of people would you want to be around? The ones leading to distraction or the ones rising above distraction? It is the wicked and non-believers who are supposed to slander each other with their mouth, because they don’t have the Holy Spirit to withhold them from it. And the nonbeliever who is also the one who thinks they’re better than everyone else. People who are walking the path that God gave them are not a bunch of proud people. They are a bunch of humble people. We are to put others first, above ourselves, and us last. Society and the world say, but it is me, myself, and I. Their ideas are totally contrary to what scripture tells us to do. Here, we see that David is walking the walk of holiness. I challenge you to also walk holy. And the Holy Ghost challenge me also to do likewise.

The six way that we know we belong to God is if we have a attitude of gratitude. An attitude that we allowto be changed. A Christian will drop old habits bad habit and form new habits that are godly. We will have nothing to do with the days of darkness. (Ephesians 5:11 ) We will shun every form of wickedness. (1 Thessalonians 5:22) We walk daily taking up our cross to follow God. (Matthew 16:24-26)

The Seventh sign that ensures us that we are walking the path God has created for us comes with knowing that we have a burden for the lost. Knowing that we have a burden for the lost, we show, that we love our fellow mankind; which is, a positive a Theme in our life. This is when you want to teach others what God has taught you. You are not stingy, with your a-ha moments. You compassionately look out for others. You are a star witness for God. The company that you keep, does not bring you down to their level, but instead, they prod you to learn more about God. Your influence is Godly and it is so strong that it mentors them; instead, of them mentoring you. For example let’s consider the next verse: 7 “My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,

That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a [c]perfect way, He shall serve me.”

The last sign (8th) that we are on the correct path God has created for is as follows: we do not put up with wickedness within our own family, in our own household, or in our circle of friends. For example, let’s look at the next couple scriptures. For your convenience I’ve included them and they are as follows: “we who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not [d]continue in my presence. 8 Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers (G)from the city of the Lord.” Hi understand that I cannot control what anyone else does in this life. I can only teach, preach, and live bar the statutes written in scripture. David also understood this too, but he promises to do that in his home.

This also means we do not condone the flaunting of sin. This may cause us to lovingly inform others about what scripture says. For example, in my inner circle, I have a niece who is shacked up with a boyfriend and she knows how I feel about it; therefore, she won’t come to church. People that are living in sin seem to run from those who shun their behavior. It’s kind of like the following saying: “misery that loves company.” We travel in circles of like-minded people, because we desire their approval. It’s not fun living in condemnation: day in and day out. A sign that we are living a Christlike life is that we are walking with people who are godly. We are established at a church and “we are in it to win it.” like the game show said. People know that we are Christians. We know that if we died right this second, that “absent from the body is present with the Lord.” (Second Corinthians 5:8)

So, there we have it! Eight signs that you are on the right path! How many can you check off? Are you on the right path with God?