I Walk with The King

To Heavenly Land; the Kingdom of Right–the Pathway of Light…

Monthly Archives: January 2013


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Suit Up, Roll Out

Several months ago my brother in Christ, Frankie Masters, presented a great sermon about the Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-17. Many of us have heard explanations of all these pieces, and some principles for how they might work in our lives. We also learn about how we should have this armor in our life, and the benefits of using it. However, all my weaponry is totally worthless if I fail to don it before battle. How foolish of me to charge into the ranks of hostile soldiers, naked and empty-handed! What Frankie said that is often missing from such lessons is the practical application of Paul’s teaching here. He advised me to make actual use of the Armor of God every day by mentally and spiritually gearing up before I leave my home. Your routine may vary, but mine goes something like this, and it’s in the form of a prayer:

Father God, as I begin my day, please help me to put on the whole Armor of God that You provide Your children. Please help me put on the Breastplate of Righteousness to protect my heart where the Enemy wants to strike me. Please help me put on the Helmet of Salvation, to protect my mind from false thoughts and the Devil’s deceits. Help it to guard my eyes from things they shouldn’t see and help it protect those I meet from the words of my own mouth (Note: my set of armor needs the optional full-face mask! Ask for that feature if you need it, too). Lord please help me to place upon my feet the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, so that I can bear the saving message of Jesus Christ to all who need it. Father, please bind up this armor with the Belt of Truth, so that I can base all my actions on what is real. Please give my left hand the Shield of Faith, to stop any lie the Enemy hurls at me and place in my right hand the Sword of the Holy Spirit, Your Word, that being so armed I may go out and do battle for the purposes of Your eternal Kingdom. Please help me endure difficulty as a good soldier of Christ, and my I bring glory to your mighty name. I ask this in the name of Jesus your Son and my Captain. Amen.

Let me tell you something–this works. You are really gearing up in the spiritual realm. Just imagine how you must appear to Satan and his hosts! Visualize it. This is also a focus tool to remind you that, prepared or not, you are walking onto the field of battle. Your enemy never forgets it, takes a day off or gives an inch. When I enter battle naked and weaponless, I lose. When I purposefully join battle thus protected and armed, I win. As Frankie urged me, I also urge you… Suit up before you roll out.


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One Foot In Front Of The Other

I have a confession:  I don’t know how to blog.  I never have blogged in my life.  (And now you have so much reason to read on, don’t you?)

When Christopher asked me to blog periodically on I Walk with The King I was immediately enthusiastic to participate, even with absolutely no experience.  I figured blogging could be as simple as putting one sentence in front of the other.  Kind of like walking.  Doesn’t the song go, “Put one foot in front of the other”?

Often I need to tell myself simply to put one foot in front of the other.  Long range goals and plans are good, and sometimes they are necessary.  Yet grand plans and where-I-want-to-be-in-ten-years-from-now-thinking can swallow me alive sometimes!  What about you?  It can be overwhelming.

I don’t want a life of “overwhelmed.”  I need simple and uncomplicated.  But this idea of walking with the King, with Jesus Christ…that is DAUNTING!  We are to look unto Jesus and make Him our focus.  We are to make heaven our goal.  This does not necessarily sound simple.  How does one do something so massive?

Then I am reminded of what Jesus said in Luke 9:23:  If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Today I desire to go after Christ.  Today I need to deny myself.  Today I must take up my cross.  Today I choose to follow my Savior.  Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Craig.  Make today count most of all.

What will you do to walk with the King?  Start today by simply putting one foot in front of the other.


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Playing With Fire

I’ve been studying in the book of Leviticus lately, and spent some time thinking about the story of Nadab and Abihu. If you don’t know this story, they were two sons of Aaron, who was the first High Priest under the Law of Moses. In Leviticus chapter 10, shortly after being consecrated as priests, Nadab and Abihu offer a sacrifice to God using fire that He had not authorized. Because of this, the bible tells us that, “…fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” -Leviticus 10:2

We live in a culture that increasingly pressures us to become tolerant of sinful behavior. Maybe we even become desensitized to the point that we begin to give in to this pressure. It has reached the point in this nation that standing in the truth of God’s word regarding sinful behavior has become tantamount to burning a cross in someone’s front yard.

We serve a loving and compassionate God, but He is the same God that destroyed Nadab and Abihu thousands of years ago. After this incident, God’s message to Aaron was this:

“By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.” -Leviticus 10:3

God’s message to us is clear. We can either do it the easy way, or the hard way. But He WILL be regarded as holy, and He WILL be glorified. The details matter. The punishment for sin may not be immediate in this day, as it was for Nadab and Abihu, but that is only because:

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” – II Peter 3:9

When we start to ignore the truth of God’s word, and assume that He will overlook sinful behavior, we become like Nadab and Abihu and are just playing with fire.


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Are you my BFF?

Late one night recently, I began clicking through my Facebook friend list. I unfriended about a dozen people. If you saw this post on my page–congratulations–you made the cut. It wasn’t mean-spirited or anything, but if I (a) didn’t immediately recognize you, (b) didn’t talk to you much in high school or (c) don’t like your feed, I checked the box and cut you loose.

I also organized some of you into new categories (which you really should consider if you are an FB user). You can now have Acquaintances, Friends and Close Friends. This will help me enjoy my News Feed more, but it was more beneficial on a personal and introspective level. It made me think about what a friend really is and who my “friends” are. What does Jesus offer us on the topic of friendship?

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  John 15:12-15 NKJV

In this touching discourse during the Last Supper, Jesus talks to the apostles–His friends. True friendship according to Jesus involves love, sacrifice, respect and open communication. If these characteristics are missing from a relationship, it’s probably not really a friendship, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s good to have layer of people in our lives that we like and get along with but we are not close to. The word for this is an Acquaintance, and it’s from this pool that we generally develop great Friends.

So, Facebook has helped me better define the relationships in my life, and allowed me to identify some room for personal growth, too. Just don’t be offended if I refer to you as “my acquaintance.” Consider yourself a pre-friend, and I’ll do the same.


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Why I Walk with The King

“I Walk with The King” is a Gospel hymn written by Alton H. Howard that I’ve known all my life. For a long time, I’ve considered it our “family song” for two reasons. First, we sang it a lot, (albeit faster than in the link) and have for decades. Second, all the values I’ve been taught by my family over those decades have revolved around the central core of following Jesus Christ, The King. It just seems to fit.

I follow Jesus because I want to go where He went, where He goes and where He is going. All of those paths lead to a deeper relationship with Jehovah, who is the God of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Father of Jesus Christ:

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”  John 13:36

Peter didn’t comprehend Jesus’ saying, but we, through study of the Scriptures, can. Jesus calls us to follow Him today, just as He called Peter and the rest of His disciples to. Learning this challenging endeavor is a process that lasts the entire life of a Christian, and is one that the authors of this site and I are still practicing. We all bring a very different set of experiences, perspectives, beliefs and strengths and weaknesses to the table. We are not perfect. Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we fail. In every case, we experience, reflect, learn and keep moving.

We hope you will join us in our endeavor to follow Jesus Christ, The King. Please subscribe to www.iwalkwiththeking.com be involved in future posts from our authors, and feel free to share, comment and check out the Author’s section to read about the people who will be sharing here.