WORDS

Words are amazing. One word can have a myriad of meanings, whether implied or understood by those who speak it and those who hear it. Different cultures and languages have countless ways of expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas. For example, it is well known that Eskimos have about fifty words to articulate their understanding of snow. I live in upstate New York where it surely snows often and a lot, and yet we still have just one word...snow.  

When I was younger, I would practice saying a word over and over until suddenly it sounded foreign to me and lost all of its meaning in my head. Have you ever tried that before? And of course we know we can change the way a word is said by inflection or tone, and convey an opposite meaning with sarcasm. Marketing experts understand the importance of the meaning of words and how to use them wisely to promote the sales of their products. Just watch a few television commercials and pay attention to the words and phrases that come at you. Just do it! 

Words are amazing. I love words. I’m a wordy girl. Books are words. I’ve been cooking up a book inside my heart and mind for a while. I want it to be about relating to Jesus in a real way. A real way, ya know? My gut notion is to put on paper the words that will divide heart motive from duty; cut off pretense and peel back the veneer that can come with religion in order to inspire passion and an authentic accord with the lover of our souls. He has done so much to make real relationships between man and Himself possible…He loves us so.

As I have mulled the subject matter over with so many thoughts and convictions as to what I would say and how I would say it, it occurred to me, finally, that another book on this subject may not be what the world needs. Maybe a different approach to the matter should be considered. How about something that digs into the meaning of a word, just one word at a time, and examines what God may really be trying to convey to us when He said them. A cutting down of the verbal foliage of our human interpretations to get to His heart. Kind of like a devotional dictionary. 

Words are amazing and dictionaries are books full of words! Noah Webster was a pretty cool dude to devote his entire life to lexicography, the theory and practice of writing dictionaries. I can go on record as saying, I am not that cool. I do love words but I do not want to write a dictionary. But I can write. So today I start what I hope will become a resource to you each week. An examination of words that will help you understand God’s heart for you and encourage a real, back and forth, conversational, love-relationship with God. Like Enoch had!

Word 1. WALKED. 

The Bible says, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24 NKJV). In the Strong’s Concordance, that word, ‘walked’ has a great variety of applications, both literally and figuratively. One of them is: to be continually conversant. In other words, Enoch and God went everywhere together and couldn’t stop talking! They were friends and hung out all the time and talked all the time. So much that God finally took Enoch and he was no more! 

A relationship with God is that easy. He can go everywhere with you. You can have a no filter conversation with Him. He knows your thoughts afar off, before you think them (Psalm 139:2). So you can’t hide them from Him anyway, right? God doesn’t want a filter because He wants to be in a real relationship with you. He will laugh with you, cry with you, stay up all night with you if you’re hurting and help you heal. He will help you move forward when you’re stuck, always reaching out to lift you up! I even tell Him when I’m mad at someone or when I don’t really feel like doing what I should do. It is so freeing to be so real. And because we’re close, I know that He will help me to change my heart in those places. Holding back from Him only keeps me stuck but keeping it real moves me forward. 

And do you know what else? God is excited about seeing you crush life! Can we rip off the religiosity cloak please?  A laid down and surrendered life, a dead-to-self life, a sacrificial life, IS a life of greatness, a life of power, a life of abundance, a found life, a more than you can ask, believe or think life! This life- that Jesus paid for us to have- happens here on earth amidst difficulties as well as in good times. It’s not dependent on circumstances or a posture of piety. You can have it when things are hard and you can have it when things are easy breezy.

There is a lie going around these days. People are taught that serving God cannot look like our success because it takes away from His success somehow. They are missing the whole point. First of all, we cannot take anything away from God. OMG that is ridiculous. He stands alone and doesn’t need us to make Him look good in any way shape or form. Yet- He invites to walk with Him! To be in a relationship with Him! And in walking with Him, we are empowered to glorify Him! And in glorifying Him, we have something to offer the lost world! The answer! That they can walk with God! They can have a relationship with Jesus and that opens the door for them to crush life too! 

Those who are stuck in their wrong thinking just may not have a full understanding of that word. Here are some synonyms of walked (thesaurus.com) that help to make the meaning that God intended clear. When you said yes to Jesus, you walked on your past and all the lies that you have believed. You walked into a relationship with God and now you are special.

If you walked with God, you are now exempt, immune, absolved, cleared, discharged. So get rid of the false mindset that says you have to feel guilty to be sorry. You don’t have to wallow in shame or somehow make it up to God. You really really don’t. Period. End. 

If you walked with God, you are now favored, free, liberated, privileged, unbound. And if that be true, then the mindset that says you have to live a low and moderate, modest or depleted life in order to lift up Jesus- that’s a BIG. FAT. LIE. 

If you walked with God, you are now able to let go of limited thinking! You now live outside of the norm, beyond balance, set apart into passionate purpose! Unchecked. Unrestrained. Unrestricted. Unshackled. 

Why do you think Enoch was taken up? Even gravity couldn’t restrain him from living in the dimension that God lives in! And let’s get the full picture- he didn’t have to physically die to get there folks. Neither do we! When we walk with God, we are released from our old life and it is NO MORE. No more guilt. No more shame. No more lack. No more doubt. No more undervaluing ourselves. No more false humility. No more ___________… you fill in the blank. Anything is possible!

You are God’s friend. Converse with Him. Relate to Him.

 And God’s friends walked with God and were no more…