Walking with God

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What does it really mean to walk with God? We read in the Bible that Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening (Genesis 3:8).

What does it really mean to walk with God? We read in the Bible that Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening (Genesis 3:8). We also know this to be true with Enoch in Genesis 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.” The Bible tells us in Amos 3:3,

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” So what does it mean to walk with God? Will He actually come down and take a walk with us, and what do we have to do to walk with Him?

Well we see from Amos that we must first agree to walk with God. There is much power in agreeing. We see this in Scripture in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” When you agree to walk with God, you now agree to walk where He walks. We walk together in agreement as one. John 15:5 tells us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Again in John 15:7-8 it says, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” And again in John 15:9-17 He says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

We see that when we agree to walk with God, we abide in Him and remain in His love, agreeing with Him, keeping His commandments as a friend, and as a friend we have agreed to walk together. Where He goes, we go. We serve God out of love for God. So often, we like to say that we are saved by grace and not works, and in so doing we think that we do not need to do what God requires, because that would be works. But Yeshua (Jesus) died for us because of His great love for us, and so in return we agree to walk with Him, and in so doing we serve Him out of love.

We are the Bride of Messiah. The Bible tells us that a husband and wife become one flesh. This is what John 15 is telling us, that we must abide in God and He will abide in us. We become one.

Before the “Vine and Branches” dialogue, Yeshua told His disciples in John 14 that He was going to send the Holy Spirit. In verses 20-21 He says this: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love them and show Myself to them.”

When we walk with God, that does not mean that we walk ahead of Him or behind Him, but we walk together arm-in-arm with Him. Every step He takes, we take. God so loved, and so we too must so love. Yeshua laid down His life and we too must lay down our lives. 1 John 3:16 tells us, “This is how we know what love is: Yeshua Messiah laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Yeshua emptied Himself as it tells us in Philippians 2:6-7, “Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself—taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man.” And He picked up His cross, and so we too must empty ourselves and pick up our cross as it tells us in Matthew 16:24, “Then Yeshua told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Yeshua kept the commands of His Father (John 15:10), and so we too must keep His commands (John 14:15). Yeshua was not of this world, and so we too must not be part of this world. Yeshua showed us what it means to walk with God, and we must follow in His footsteps so that we may abide in Him and He in us and we in the Father. Yeshua’s prayer to the Father in John 17 sums it up best: “I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

Yeshua showed us what it means to walk with God, and we must follow in His footsteps so that we may abide in Him and He in us and we in the Father. Why not go for a great walk today with our heavenly Father? All you have to do is agree to walk together.

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