Christian Living

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The Straight and Narrow Way

By: Rick L. King
October 3, 2008

For years I have wondered what this scripture really meant, but I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me what is meant by it. I always wondered why few found the straight and narrow way.

Mt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The scripture doesn’t say that it is impossible to find, but yet few do find. Why is this? I believe now that it is in the area of our focus and the distractions that we allow to take our minds off God’s thoughts.

In 2 Cor 10:4 we are told to cast down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. I believe that when our thoughts are exalted, then we are not allowing God’s thoughts to rule our lives. It is so easy to start thinking on things that really do not matter as they are usually out of our ability and control anyway. When we do this we are actually trusting in our ability and wisdom rather than in God’s. We are told in Pr 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee”. We then can be whatever we think. We can be what we think, or we can be what God thinks depending on whose mind that we allow to rule us. We are told in Php 2:5 to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. If we “let” God’s mind be in us then we become what God thinks. So often though we find ourselves in this scripture: “Mr 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful”. In other words we allow thoughts concerning the cares of this world or various problems to rule our thoughts. When we do this we are on a lateral plane rather than a vertical one. Our unity with the Holy Spirit and what He says is hindered because we have exalted other things and choked out God’s words to us.

I really believe that to walk the straight and narrow means that we do not allow distractions to take our minds away from listening and following the Holy Spirit. We become single-minded. Jesus was our example. He laid down his will to do the will of the Father alone. He acted and spoke only as the Holy Spirit revealed to him his Father’s will. The word says that he was tempted just as we are, but he did not sin. He learned to keep his focus on only the Father and his will alone. We are bombarded with distractions of many kinds. They are designed to do one main thing; take our focus off of the straight and narrow way. We get offended at someone and our focus then becomes about what a person is doing or has done wrong. We become hurt and now are unable to pray in love for the person. We get our focus on finances and worry and fret over how we are going to do this or that that we think we should do. We get our focus on what the enemy is doing and get worried or fearful. There are so many opportunities that we all deal with to distract us. Everything is designed to do one main thing; to get us out of communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit so we’ll not have God’s knowledge and power. Somehow the revelation must come to all of us. It is only about him and his will not ours. We so often ask God to come into agreement with us, instead of our coming into agreement with him. If we can only train our self on what to think on, we can become what God desires us to become. The straight and narrow to me means that we are walking with the mind of Christ alone. This is why so few find it. Most people I know allow so many things to rule their thoughts, that they do not have an intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Their mind is working overtime on things that are led by flesh and not by the Holy Spirit. I like what Pat Robertson said in a teaching he once had, “No mind of your own in the matter”. If we could just learn to do that, we would find that we can walk the straight and narrow way and be one of the few that find it.

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us……

Need to contact me? Email Rick @ [email protected]…thanks!

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