I hate cold. I really, really, hate cold. I get so cold. Sometimes at 80 degrees indoors I feel cold. Other times I am cold at about 72 degrees. Sometimes I bear the cold somewhat better. But I’m just a warm weather person. So winter is hard. Fall is hard. Cold is hard. So just minutes ago [AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS MESSAGE] I thought about going on one of my wonderful walks with God in the COLD morning as I so love to walk and praise, pray, worship, seek, hear, and commune with the Lord. I was tempted to stay in the warm hotel room. But the Lord spoke to my heart to simply bundle up and walk. That is when this message came to me.
Though I knew the Lord meant to bundle up in warm clothes to face the cold which is hard and uncomfortable for me, I am reminded we can BUNDLE UP AND WALK spiritually by putting on Christ, by putting on the full armor of God, by putting on the breastplate of faith and love, by asking for and receiving the comfort of God, by putting on the garment of praise, by putting on the new man, by walking in and with the Lord! And walking implies action. Movement. Going forward. And that is exactly what we are to do each and every day – following the lead of the Holy Spirit of God, empowered by His Spirit, walking by faith (2 Cor. 5:7) as we press on following Jesus day by day and forevermore.
Sometimes our flesh might want to stay where it feels warm, safe, secure, easy, comfortable, familiar, etc. In other words, where our flesh wants to be. But when God calls us to bundle up and walk, we need to humble ourselves, move out of our place of comfort and ease, and walk as He leads us forth. Following Him, faithfully loving and serving Him with all our hearts!
Friend, whenever and wherever God so leads you, bundle up and walk!
May you be encouraged and strengthened reading the following Bible verses!
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27 NKJV
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:14 NKJV
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11 NKJV [please go to Ephesians 6 to read about the whole armor!]
“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV
“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”” Isaiah 61:3 NKJV
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” Colossians 2:6 NKJV
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 NKJV