Have you ever wondered how great preachers and Christians become great? Some would think that it’s their personality. Other would think it’s because they are great leaders. One might think they were just born for it. Well, some of those things might be true, to a degree. Yet all great preachers and Christians have one thing in common….Their Walk With God.
Every major individual in the Bible had a walk with God. They were known to to know God. Do you walk with God? Do you have a close relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel? Can it be said that the God of the Bible knows you?
The idea of walking with God goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when God came down to Adam and they spent time together in the cool of the day. Later God gave Adam a wife, Eve. Adam had the responsibilities of being a husband, a gardener, and maintaining a walk with God. He did all three in a busy life.
From that day forward, we find people walking with God. A walk with God was an intimate time with the Creator. From Adam To Jesus, and even the last writer of the Bible, John the Beloved, we find people walking with God.
So, how does one walk with God?
You Must Be A Child Of God
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
~ John 1:12
Our relationship with God starts at the moment of being saved. Before a person is saved, the Bible teaches that they are alienated from God. There is no relationship with God outside of coming through Jesus Christ Alone. Just as Adam was separated from God when he sinned in the garden, our sin separated us from God. That is why Jesus came and died in our place on the Cross. It was to make reconciliation between mankind and God the Father.
Religion has never saved anybody, nor will it ever save anybody. Priests, popes, or any other person cannot save you. You can’t even save your self. It is Jesus that died for our sins and rose from the grave. When He died, He paid the debt of sin that we could not pay by ourselves. So, when we come to Him, and trust Him as our only Hope of forgiveness of sin to be made right in the eyes of God, we are born into the family of God.
The moment you trust Christ as you only Savior, renouncing the sin that would send you to hell, you become a child of God. It is here the walk can begin. As a child should be close to their parents, so should the children of God be close to their Heavenly Father. Have you been saved? Have you been born again? When did you completely place you faith in Jesus Christ, the one who died and rose again?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
~ Romans 10:9-10
You Must Get In The Bible
The Bible is the method that God has chosen for mankind to learn about God. There is no need for further revelation. God inspired His Word and preserved His Word. I believe that His inerrant Word is the King James Bible. Time will not permit me to go deep on the subject, but since modern day translations have come on the scene, we have not seen large scale revivals as we saw in years past. There is life in the pure Word of God. And we must get into it, and let it get into us if we are to have a walk with God that leads to revival.
So, do you read the Bible? God promised to bless those who read it, hear it, and keep it. His written Word was worth dying for in years gone by, therefore we should take it seriously. His Word contains His unlimited wisdom and knowledge. It is in His Word that we find the Glorious message of salvation. It is in His Word that a believer find guidance.
Most importantly, it is in His Pure Word that we find God revealing Himself to mankind. To know God better requires that we know His Word. When we open his Word with our hearts open, He speaks to us, leads us, comforts us, convicts us, and teaches us his way. His Word is more powerful than anything on this earth. If we would just tap into His unlimited power, we would have a strong walk and see revival!
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
~ Psalms 1:1-3
You Must Communicate With God
Communication is a two way process. We speak to God and God speaks to our hearts. Is it that simple? Yes, but is it hard? YES! When we communicate with God, we must get to a place where we know that we have entered into His presence.
For me, I normally stay up after everyone in the house has gone to bed. I play a sermon from my computer. I then listen to Christ honoring Gospel music that reflects the message of salvation with strong truth and conviction (not this CCM stuff that is VERY shallow). After calming my spirit, I get in the book of Psalms and reflect on what God has done in years past and look at my life to see how He’s worked in similar manners.
This calming time causes me to reflect on Him, His Grace, and His Goodness to an undeserving sinner like me. This time of humility normally sets the stage for God to work in my life. When I see Him as a Holy God and myself as wicked sinner, I can’t help but humble myself. It is in the state of humility and awe that I make my requests to Almighty Jehovah God.
Having been humbled and made my requests, I find that I know that I have spoken to the Creator of this universe. I then ask Him to speak to me. From that point I get into His Word, and I sense that His Word is working in my heart. I know that when I pillow my head after a few hours of this precious time that I have met with God and He has heard me!
I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
~ Psalms 3:4-5
You Must Be Faithful To The Assembly
As a preacher, I find it hard for me to miss church. If there is a scheduled time, I am there! I don’t understand how people can miss church. The local church is the institute that Jesus started and empowered like no other institution. If it has His blessing with his power, then we must get to the local Bible believing New Testament church. The local church is the place where God has chosen to manifest Himself to masses of saved and unconverted alike. Major things take place when a person is faithful to the local church.
My personal testimony life today is the result of being in a local church with sound doctrine and Bible preaching. For instance, I was saved in a Wednesday night church service at the age of 16. God called me to preach on Monday night youth revival in Church at the age of 16. I got my heart right with God on a Thursday night revival meeting at our church at the age of 18. I was 22 years old on an altar of a church when I got married to the love of my life. It was in a Wednesday night church service when God called my family to go into church planting evangelism.
If you haven’t got the hint…every major life choice I made was in church! What if I was unfaithful? Would I have heard the calling of God?
It’s amazing. As a pastor I find people have struggles. They often come and share their burden with me. I try to help, but one can only help so much. Yet, the thing that gets me more than my limited ability is the fact that most of the needs people have are covered in church during preaching. Yet, the last Sunday they missed had the sermon they needed! What if that sermon was led of God, yet they missed it. Not only did they sin by not being faithful, they missed the message that God knew they needed!
So how faithful are you to the local church? Does the church you go to stand on New Testament Baptist Doctrine (as Jesus Christ Himself submitted to the authority of John the BAPTIST)?
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
~ Hebrews 10:25
Listen, we need to step it up a notch and get into the places where God is if we are to have a strong walk with God. Do you want that type of walk? Can it be said of you, like Enoch, that you walk with God and please Him?
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