Recently, I experienced an adventure that was one of the most exciting and beautiful of my life. I was invited on a ride-along with a hunting outfitter up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Although I had no idea how rugged it was going to be, the sunshine was smiling as it beckoned me into the crisp mountain air. We rode through evergreens and aspens, enjoying all the beauty of the forest. The sure-footed horses trekked over treacherous rockslides where the trail was no more than a small, indiscernible pause on the steep downhill slope of tumbling rocks. I’m not gonna lie, the 300-foot sheer drop to the river below was more than a little frightening! We rode across miles of undulating, blonde meadows of grass, crisscrossed by a creek—full of large hidden bogs. But, despite the apparent danger…
…I was never afraid to go on.
This trip reminded me of the great adventure of my life with Christ.
I was not afraid to continue on my mountain adventure for two reasons: I was following a man with a great depth of experience in the mountains—one of the toughest and yet—most gentle—men I’ve ever met. He knows the trails like the back of his hand. He has a special relationship with his sure-footed, athletic horses. The other reason I wasn’t afraid was because I was riding in the bright sunlight. Thus, I was able to simply enjoy both the beauty and the adventure of 20 miles on horseback. (Well, there was the sore bum 😉.) But, my friend, this would have been a much different experience if I had attempted to ride in the dark of night—without a guide. That would have been a terrifying experience, likely ending in disaster.
This trip was a blessed reminder of the great adventures God has taken me on when—I’ve stayed close to Him!
Remarkably, Jesus is BOTH our guide AND our light.
This world is dominated by darkness; however, living in the light of Jesus illuminates the things we fear. He gives us His perspective. When we have been born again and are daily surrendering ourselves to Jesus, we are walking in HIS light. To walk in God’s light means to live following Jesus. To be a Jesus-follower is to live by His commandments—BUT—it’s not just about rule-following. It’s about love and trust. When we follow Him because the relationship is so important we’ll do anything to stay close to Him—that’s when we’ll follow Him over the treacherous, impassable-looking rock slides.
With or without God—life is hard; but God does NOT intend for us to walk WITHOUT the light of His presence.
Jesus said:
I am the light of the world. He who FOLLOWS Me shall NOT walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
John 8:12 NKJV
When we are born again and our spirit has been given the genetics of Christ, we have “the light of life.” If a blizzard had started in the middle of my ride—you can bet that I’d be sticking even closer to the man leading me! He would be my life-line and I would do EXACTLY what he said.
My friend, we live on a spiritual battlefield which is much more treacherous than we can see or imagine.
Our enemies want to crush us. It’s worse than a blizzard in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains! We NEED to stay close to Jesus. We walk close to Him by staying away from darkness. The Bible says,
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:8-11 NKJV
The sunlight exposed many of the dangers on the trail; but my guide led me on the safe path—even through the boggy dangers I could not see amidst the beauty of the golden meadow. This is what God does when we follow Him.
We learn to live fearlessly because we trust God and—find ourselves on the greatest adventures of our lifetime!
If you feel like your life is characterized by fear, please know—you do NOT have to live this way! When we live by what GOD says is “right and true,” we don’t just SAY “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me; ” rather, we LIVE it. (Philippians 4:13) We live without fear of anything–EXCEPT being without the light of the presence of Christ.
In the presence of Christ, we can enjoy the beauty even while walking through the danger.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
To learn more about Kimberly Faith and the mission of Faith Strong, click HERE.
Out Now – Essential Faith, Volume II. Find it on Amazon by clicking HERE.
To learn more about Kimberly Faith’s ministry Fostering By Faith, click HERE.
