Principles & Practice Pt 2: Doing God’s Ways
Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (NKJV). But His ways and thoughts are not unknowable—we can learn them. This learning is the process of getting to know our Love.
But simply knowing His ways isn’t enough. We must do His ways as well!
We connect with God through His Word, through prayer, through worship, and in spending time with Him. As we do so, we begin to learn how He does things. His way of doing things rules and reigns in His Kingdom; we must let them rule and reign in our lives.
The word “kingdom” is made up of two words you already know—“king” and “dominion.” Within a king’s dominion things are done his way. God’s Kingdom is no different; it operates on His principles and follows His divinely established patterns. When we make His ways first, our lives become aligned with His plans and promises for us. Jeremiah 29:11 is a very famous and often-quoted verse: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (NIV). But we rarely consider the context in which this statement was made. The Jewish people were in exile, having disobeyed God for so long that He eventually let them be conquered and led away into captivity. They were there in captivity because they hadn’t let God’s ways become their ways.
We who know Jesus have the Holy Spirit within us to teach us His ways and His Word is full of His principles and methods. He revealed Himself to Israel and instituted feasts and celebrations to teach His people about Him and help them remember what He’d done for them. Together, we will look at how God’s Kingdom operates by learning about the significance of some of these biblical feasts and celebrations. And as we learn this background, we must always remember this: all of God’s covenant promises and privileges are released and received by activating the Word of God in our lives. Isaiah 1:19 tells us, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.”
The feasts are not just about behaviors and commemorative celebrations; they are about the principles of Heaven and a reflection of the ways of God’s Kingdom. The yoke of Jesus is not a burden—the traditions and religions of men are. We embrace the biblical feasts to draw closer to God by spending time with Him.
-Paula White-Cain
