The Path of God

What is the Path of God? It's the right path, the mindset, the attitude, the choices and actions you take that put you in line with God, and on the road-to-Heaven, moving you towards Him, and not away from Him. It's also the path that brings you closer to yourself, brings you home to who you really always were meant to be.

The Path of God is often misunderstood by people. Especially Christians. Sadly, the fact that many Christians don’t understand the Path of God causes division and arguments among Christians. It also causes Christians to push away those people that don't yet believe in Christ.

And that's why it's important to talk about it.

In this piece of writing I’ll try to explain what God has made me understand about the Path of God. He started showing me things about it very early on, when I was still a child, starting with a dream:

Dream about the Path of God

In the dream I was either floating or flying above a giant Road or Way. It opened up underneath me much like a huge movie screen. Somehow in the dream I knew this was not just a dream. This was a reality and a truth that was being communicated to me.

In the dream I knew that the massive Road I saw underneath me was EVERYTHING that had ever existed. Everything that was now and everything that would ever be. This Road was TRUTH and LIFE and GOD. Somehow I knew that I was also part of this Road. I didn’t know where the Road ended and where I began, I was simply part of it. I knew there was no existence apart from this Road.

I was very young at the time I saw this dream, maybe 3 years old. This was before the word “God” had even become a familiar concept to me. When God communicated this to me, I simply felt His presence, and understood His message in my being. The message was beyond words, it simply WAS. I understood it perfectly without words.

Years later, at age 22, I started putting words to the the significance of the dream, although I had already intuitively understood it as a child, without words. But at age 22 I had recently had a very deep, spiritual experience that had caused me to make the decision to give my life to Christ. That’s when I read these words in the Bible:

Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6-7)

I understood then that the Way in my childhood dream was Jesus Christ.

But there was much more to it than that. There were many more things I needed to learn about the Way, and I've learned and keep learning still. These additional lessons have come to me in bits and pieces throughout the course of my life. I know this learning process will continue to the end of my life.

Now I know that Christians know that Jesus Christ is the Way to the Father, because they've read it in their Bibles and been taught that in churches by pastors and other Christians. But what does this scripture really mean? 

My observation is that there are *many Christians who hold their knowledge about this scripture (as well as other scriptures) on a more intellectual level, and the belief is often not experienced on a deeper, emotional level. And when the information is on an intellectual level it exists in a Christians' mind more like a famous quote would. It is a piece of information that is tied into a belief system, a world view or ideology. It's almost like a political view, if not exactly like a political view.

(*side note: I'm just generally talking about a certain kind of Christian mindset and not trying to blame anyone with this type of mindset or say that they are in any way less than anyone else as human beings. I'm simply assessing a condition that I believe holds a person from fully experiencing God's deeper truths in their lives. And that is all.)

Yes, the fact that the Christian has acquired this belief in the first place is often caused by some deep, emotionally felt spiritual experience that they've had. Something they've experienced in all their fullness, in their spirit, an experience that have shown them the truth. Usually there's something like that in the background. But that initial experience can often dry up into a taught human ideology that exists more on an intellectual level than on a fully lived experience level that involves the whole person. 

In other words, the scripture is only read, and not lived.

And it's important that the scripture is lived, not just read and memorized on a superficial, intellectual level, because when it's lived, it starts expanding in you, and showing you it's secrets. That's how scriptures work, when you live them. They start expanding along with your mind and God starts showing you His secrets. 

What I personally have learned about the WAY is that not only does it show that Jesus Christ is the one who takes us to the Father, but it also represents the steps that we as individuals must take in our daily lives in order to learn to know Him in His fullness. The Path is the Journey we take to learn to walk in His perfection as He is perfect. Not that the Path is about the need to make you perfect, because you'll never be perfect! But what it's about, it's about the path you need to walk to become whole in Him.

And here’s my main point:

The Path of God is Different for Everyone

This is so important for Christians especially to understand. Not just superficially. It must be completely understood that the way each of us find our way to God looks different for each of us. And it MUST be so. Why? Because we are individuals. We have different strengths and weaknesses. Our pasts are different, and so are our futures, our experiences, surroundings, upbringings, needs, temperaments, talents, languages, future jobs and missions, spiritual gifts, what we see and hear in a particular situation, our focus, our memory, our intellect, our personality, and our assumptions. All of it, different.

That’s why each and everyone’s Path is tailor-made for that individual. God, and only God knows what each of us need in order for us to learn those lessons that move us forward on our Paths toward Him. And people need to learn different lessons about Him. A truth that is second nature to one person can be a complete mystery to another.

For example: The truth of loving oneself and being kind to oneself may be understood by some Christians, but absolutely unknown by others. (Someone may think on a rational level that they understand what it means to love themselves, but in reality, on a deep, subconscious level might not, at all). And if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love God.

Like an abused, Christian wife. She may pray every day for God to help her in her misery. But God’s hands may be tied, because while the woman prays for relief, she may actually all along believe she deserves the abuse, and think God approves of it too. And then subconsciously resent Him for it. This is an example of someone who doesn’t know how to love herself - and God. This truth is completely unknown to her. So in order for God to be able to open the door (inside her heart), and bring her relief from the abuse, she must first learn the meaning of these scriptures (among others):

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

She must learn to love herself and stop thinking she deserves the abuse.

And: “God is love.” (1Jn. 4:16)

She must understand that God’s love does not approve of the abuse.

And once she has let go of that mindset, THEN God can move forward and deal directly with the abuse.

Because every truth is a key that unlocks a door inside the heart. And the heart is a door. Or many doors, because one door will reveal another one.

When God prunes us, He is removing untruths. This unlocks doors inside of us and frees us to walk through them. And as we walk through them, we are moving towards Him.

This is the Path of God.

It doesn’t matter if you are Christian or not. The Path of God is before all of us all the time, every day. Just waiting for us to take the next step toward Him. For an unbeliever the Path of God will lead toward the knowledge of God. For a believer, who has experienced God's salvation - it will still do the same.

Because salvation, being born again, whatever you want to call it (I call it falling into the rabbit hole), is still just a beginning. It's not the end, not the final destination, as some Christians think. It's the rabbit hole, the entrance to Wonderland - the Kingdom of God - and as you stand there, by the entrance, there is a long road opening up before you.

Because you still need to grow toward Him. Being saved does NOT mean a person has become perfect like God is perfect. Being saved just means you have accepted God’s gift of salvation. But your body (flesh) and mind (soul) still need lots of work. There are still lots of untruths in of you, and for some people this will be more than for others. These untruths are what God works on as we walk down The Path of God, following His lead. When we follow God's voice those untruths, or sins, will just fall off, naturally. We don't even need to worry about them. And we should never focus on them! We should focus on God instead, and follow Him on the Path of God.

Here are some Bible scriptures that mention the Path of God (there are other ones too):

He guides me in paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake. (Ps.23:3)

The path of life leads upward for the wise to keep him from going down to the grave. (Pr. 15:23)

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Ps. 25:4-5)

Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die. (Pr. 15:10)

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way; walk in it. (Isa. 30:20-21)

Also, I want to point out that the early Christians did not at first call themselves Christians. At first they were simply followers of “the Way.” This is how Paul defended himself in a trial before the governor and the Jews:

“However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect.” (Act. 24:14)

The name “Christian” was introduced later, according to the book of Acts. 

Which to me serves as more proof of how much people have added of their own human traditions into the faith that's called Christianity today. I don't know if it matters to God what the name is we call ourselves. But what I do know for certain is that He wants us to get in touch with Him and the truth that lives inside of us. He wants us firmly planted on the path of God.

Many, if not all, of the spiritual truths or life lessons we need to learn for our spiritual growth can be found in the Bible, in one way or another. I firmly believe that. I'm not saying they can't be found in other places too, but what I'm saying is, you can't go wrong with the Bible. Many of these life lessons and truths are hidden there in plain sight, and can be found when you go look for them with the help of the Holy Spirit, who's the spirit of Truth. That's when things start clicking in your brain.

The Bible is a reliable guide towards the wholeness God wants us to have. "Be perfect, as I am perfect," He says. The Bible is like a mirror that lets us check ourselves to see what we need to do to adjust ourselves. It pinpoint those areas in us we need to work on. It's a reliable guidebook that gives the principles and laws of the universe. It's the Map on God’s Path, the Map to Heaven, and the Holy Spirit is the Compass.

When we study the scriptures we should ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the truth of those scriptures that do not yet live in our inner being. The ones we need to learn. God is reliable, He'll teach us. Because He knows us inside and out. And when He teaches, he does one-on-one training, and our training will look different from anyone else’s training, although there are common patterns too. You will see the common patterns if you look beyond the details.

And because our Paths are different the Holy Spirit can illuminate different layers of truth from the scriptures to us. That’s why it’s pointless to argue about who has the correct interpretation of a particular Bible scripture. The Holy Spirit can teach different things to different individuals about the same scripture. And they’ll both be right. That’s why it’s called a living Bible. With the Holy Spirit as our guide the scriptures will speak to our individual lives, our individual circumstances.

This how it works with the Path of God.

It’s important to understand that we should never criticize someone else’s Path. Because we don't know what work God is doing within that person. We should also never assume that what has helped US move forward on our own Paths, is going to automatically move someone else forward. It’s God who makes the individual grow, not us. As much as we may want to help, God has custom-made tools for each individual’s growth. And those tools look different for each and every one. Our job is to simply serve Him and by doing that, plant His seeds. He is the One who makes the seed grow.

So, what works for one person may not work for another at all. And from the outside looking in, someone else’s Path may look spiritually quite questionable in someone else’s eyes. But we can’t judge. Because what they are doing may be the only way God can teach them whatever spiritual truth or law they need to understand.

When we stop staring at the external, at details that may look different or questionable, we’ll see the common patterns all believers share in their lives. Things they go through. We can see these same patterns repeat in the lives of many people from the Bible as well. All the struggles, the victories, the temptations. Didn’t David and Elijah and Moses and Joseph all have an enemy? Didn’t they all have some area of weakness that the enemy targeted again and again? Didn’t they still finally conquer that enemy? Didn’t they all go through a growth process? Didn’t they all fail at times? When we see these patterns behind the seemingly questionable path appear, peace and unity becomes possible. We’ll recognize the common thread. We are all brothers and sisters on a spiritual journey towards our Heavenly Father, through His Son Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Let me give you an example of one Path of God: I read a story somewhere written by a former witch. I don’t know what type of witch she was, but I think Wiccan. She was now a Christian and was writing about her journey to God.

When she first started warming up to the idea of Jesus she got this peculiar idea in her head that Jesus was indeed powerful, but some sort of Main Witch among all other witches. Like the most powerful witch in the universe. Something like that. I don’t know anything about witches and their beliefs, but somehow this woman had made up this fusion of her own beliefs in her head, somehow now involving Jesus in there too. She would operate as a witch, and from time to time call on the power of Jesus, whom she considered the Main Witch, to come to her avail, whenever she needed some “truly powerful” assistance.

This fusion was good development at that time. You question this? I don't. Because it was the first step toward the Father. It was perfect. It was wonderful. It was a stepping stone on the path of God. Because it allowed her to warm up to the idea of Jesus in her current Wiccan mindset. And it was the only way she could warm up to the idea of Jesus at that time. It was her first step towards salvation. Later on though, when she was ready, she was able to let go of her Wiccan life, and little by little open up to the truth of Jesus. But it took time. And she needed to do it step by step.

If someone would have tried to force feed to her Jesus at that time, she would not have been able to accept it.

From the outside looking in it’s easy to judge. I can see many Christians especially do this: “She thought Jesus was the Main Witch of the universe! How could there be anything good with that reasoning?” But looking from the inside out, from God’s perspective, the only thing that matters is the outcome: She found Christ. She found her salvation, in due time. And that’s the only thing that matters.

From outside looking in we judge the steps other people are taking. Because they look peculiar, or questionable, to us. But we don’t know whether or not those steps are necessary for them in order to determine a good outcome for their journey towards the Father. It's just what their Path of God looks like.

So we can’t judge. Another religion or Christian denomination that you are not comfortable with, or sometimes even atheism, can serve as a stepping stone towards the knowledge of God. Because they may provide the tools, or mindset, that that person needs in order to learn what they need to learn at that time. And those tools may not be provided through other, in our eyes “more acceptable avenues” (acceptable avenues from a Christian point of view, whatever that is).

When these individuals have learned their lesson, it frees them to be open to new lessons, on higher spiritual ground.

Next example: A friend of mine converted to Catholicism. She had been part of the Protestant movement for years, but for a long time felt somehow spiritually unsatisfied. She was going nowhere in her relationship with God. Does this mean the Protestant Church is wrong and the Catholic Church is right? Not at all. It just means that for her, at that time the Catholic Church was the Path of God.

When she became Catholic, it freed something in her, her prayer life deepened, she had more peace, she trusted God more. Because her heart is a door and the Catholicism had the key to that door, to unlock it. At that time. The Catholic Church offered her something the Protestant Church was unable to provide. I suspect it had something to do with the seriousness and sense of holiness and respect towards God that sometimes lacks in Protestant circles. But I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was essential for her individual growth. It was part of her path to God. So the Catholic Church was the key and I could see that. Her faith grew.

(Side note: I just wanted to add that I'm neither Catholic nor Protestant. Or I'm both, but neither. I actually don't know what to call myself. A follower of the way? Anyway, I'm fine with both Catholics and Protestants. Individuals from both churches have taught me valuable lessons on my path. I also know that both churches have issues and false teachings, and both sides are blind to their own untruths. So the purpose of this example is not to compare these two churches with each other or advocate on the behalf of either one. It’s simply to show that depending on the individual, either one can provide the Path of God to someone. For my friend the Catholic Church was the next stepping stone towards the Father. It provided her the growing ground she needed for her spiritual development. It was the right way for her at this particular time in her life)

Last example: I read a story about a man who lost his faith. I think he became an atheist as a result of it. What? says the Christian. What could possibly be good about losing your faith? Well, let me tell you what his “faith” looked like. It consisted of nothing more than a taught behavior, an evening routine of saying a nightly prayer. Like a robot, every night. And that was it. The words were a rhyme and meant nothing. He had been taught to do this by his parents. But there was no real, spiritual meaning in this routine. It was an empty evening ritual that was rooted in guilt and fear. He used to think that if he did not go through the motions every evening he might offend God and not go to Heaven. So he kept going through the motions, year after year, in fear. Until one evening he suddenly felt a strong feeling of letting go of this empty procedure, this foolishness. And as he did, he immediately felt a deep sense of truth and peace wash over him.

I believe that this happened, because it was a stepping stone toward the Father. The next step on the Path of God. Because the Father wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth, just like the Bible says. What the man let go of, was really not God or truth at all, but a taught behavior that mimics a relationship with God, but is NOT. So he actually let go of a lie. And because he let go of a lie, he felt such peace when the lie was removed. This was good development. Because it gave room for real faith to have a chance. In order for this truth to move in, the false had to go first. And there was a realization that needed to take place in the man first. This realization was a lesson learned.

A person can’t find a true relationship with the Father, if they don’t let go of the illusion of a relationship that consists of empty rituals. Empty rituals build walls inside the heart. And those walls stand between us and God.

So in this case falling out of faith was good and truth. In this man’s case, letting go of “faith” (or what represented faith to him, but really was not true faith at all) was the only way to go. It was a stepping stone on the Path of God.

I hope these three examples help demonstrate what I mean. I also don’t know the inner details of these three people’s Paths, but I wanted to explain how something seemingly questionable can be Jesus’ Way after all.

When we look from the outside in, we really only see a glimpse. And we are not provided with all the details. Then we go and fill in the blanks with our own limited understanding. And then draw our conclusions about that person. Usually our conclusions are wrong.

I also want to emphasize that each of these paths could also be wrong and not of God. Mixing Wiccan beliefs with Christianity, accepting Catholic doctrines as absolute truths, or losing faith. There's just no formula that you can apply to every situation. It's a case by case thing, and depends entirely on the individual and their particular path.

What I mean to say is: The how doesn’t matter, but the why.

How someone finds God doesn’t matter. There is not just one way how God is found. There is no formula. At least human formula. From the outside looking in the way someone else finds God may look totally odd to you. But you shouldn’t worry about the how.

The only thing that matters is why they did what they did.

The motive of the heart, in other words. If the reason why they did it was that their hearts were running after God, hungering for truth, then that is what matters. Because that was what lead them to Him. Which means they were following the path of God.