How to Walk with God

If you are just beginning your walk with God and would like some background on what this is all about, read on.

Long before humanity was created in the earth, God desired to have a family of children who would share in His nature and who would express the glory of His character. He began this process by creating Adam and Eve and placing them in a beautiful garden where they would be given the opportunity to live peaceably while learning responsibility. And each day, God came to them and would walk with them and talk with them in the cool of the day. His desire was for Adam and Eve to get to know Him as their Creator, their God and their Friend.

As we are so painfully aware, the disobedience of Adam and Eve brought sin into the world. With sin came death, suffering, violence and a thousand other woes. All seemed at a loss. But God, in His wisdom, had already prepared a plan to buy back the loss of our relationship with the sacrifice of His own Son. It took thousands of years and a long process of gradual revelation as He prepared the world to receive the truth of His love for us, but at just the right time, Jesus came into the world.

The kind of life that Jesus lived while here on this earth is an example to each of us as to just what God is looking for. Jesus lived a life of peace. He loved and blessed others, even those who hated Him. He did good, healing the sick miraculously and driving demons from the minds and bodies of those who were tormented by them. Most of all, He lived in perfect harmony with God the Father. He prayed to God. He talked about God’s Word with others. He listened to God speak back to Him.

Finally, in perfect obedience, Jesus was willing to lay down His life in behalf of everyone else to pay the price of death for our disobedience. His death and resurrection bring us forgiveness and allow us to participate in the life that He now offers all who are willing to receive, a life that is just what God had planned from the beginning: being His children and walking daily in fellowship with Him.

Throughout history there have been numerous people who have walked with God. One of the first recorded stories is about a man named Enoch (Genesis 5). There is very little said about Enoch in the Bible, but what is said is significant. He had his first child, Methuselah, when he was sixty five years old. And after the birth of his son, he walked with God three hundred years, having other children along the way. Then one day, God simply took Enoch from this life and from this world — he could not be found because God took him away.

Some of the encouraging aspects of the life of Enoch are that he was a man of responsibilities, just like we are, yet he managed those responsibilities without losing sight of his spiritual need for God. He was a father of at least four children (sons and daughters imply at least two of each), but he did not let family demands pull him away from serving God. And he served God without a Bible. He did not have a full printed revelation to guide his daily steps. Still he lived in such a way that God was very pleased with his life.

Another man who walked with God early on was Noah (Genesis 6). Noah lived in a generation in which it seemed that everything had gone downhill — and it had. Violence had increased to the point that it filled the earth. Sexual promiscuity was rampant. But Noah did not allow the wickedness of those around him to distract him from serving God. He was not a follower of God in name only. Rather, Noah walked with God and God walked with him. They had a relationship that was so important to God that He refused to destroy the whole earth without giving Noah a chance to save his family by building an ark. Noah’s obedience did save not only his life and the lives of his family members but also the hope of future generations.

Finally, a third example of someone who had a relationship with God was David (1 Samuel 16 and following). It is important to realize that long before the prophet Samuel poured the oil over David’s heads to anoint him as king, God had already referred to David as someone who was a man after God’s own heart (13:4). There was something about David, even as a very young man, that God liked. David possessed qualities of honesty, diligence and a heart that loved to worship God. The many songs that he wrote are an evidence of this, and his willingness to let God be the one that fought his battles evidenced David’s faith that God really was his Shepherd. Even after David sinned with Uriah’s wife, his cry of repentance was that God would not take His Holy Spirit from David and that God would restore the joy of salvation back into David’s life. His walk with God was more important than the kingdom.

There are many other examples of people who have walked with God. They are found not only in the Bible but in the many books and biographies of church history. But it is not enough for us to simply look in awe at the wonderful relationship someone else had with God. We must pursue God for ourselves. We must walk with God daily, or we have missed the message each of these people would try to tell us.

Questions that might run through your mind are, “What are some of the components of walking with God? How do I get started in my walk with God? How do I grow in my walk with God?” Let’s begin answering these questions with the very basics.

Step One
Before beginning a walk with God, you must get to know Him. There is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ the Son of God. God set it up this way, and nothing you or I can do will change it. Jesus is our Savior, and He is also our example. As such, we must repent of our sins, telling God we are not only sorry for breaking His laws but also that we wish to turn away from the life we have lived. Then, we ask God to forgive us of all the things we have ever done which have been contrary to His way of living. After we ask forgiveness, we simply believe that He is Truthful when He says that He will forgive us (1 John 1:9). Then, we confess that we believe that He is the Son of God, that God raised Him from the dead, and that He is now the King of our lives.

Step Two
After you have come to know God through Jesus, you must realize that this is the beginning of a new relationship in your life. Like any relationship, there is much to learn about this new Person. At first you may be a bit hesitant to open up and share freely because of a fear of being rejected. That’s ok. God made you, and He understands how you feel. He is committed to a long term relationship with you. Let us look at how God views you before going any further.

1. First of all, you are forgiven. God does not keep looking at you remembering what you did to Him. He will not bring up your past to accuse you or make you feel guilty. You really are forgiven, and the sins you committed are forgotten.

2. Second, you are clean. As 1 John says, you have been cleansed from all of your unrighteousness. Picture yourself as someone wearing a very dirty, filthy and smelly robe. God not only comes to you and says, “I forgive you for getting yourself dirty,” but He also says, “Let me change your garment!” He takes off your old dirty robe and puts on you a brand new (still has the tag on it) white robe. You are clean again!

3. Third, you are righteous. You are not just made clean from the bad, but God actually makes you righteous. He does not leave you with an empty gaping hole where He took out the sin. He fills you with His love, His peace, His goodness. You are a different person than before you knew God.

4. Next, you are accepted. No one else may know how much rejection you have faced in your own life. Rejection is very, very painful. Sometimes the people closest to us hurt us the most with cutting words or even physical abuse. God will never do that to you in this relationship. He has made a one hundred percent commitment to you. He opens His arms wide to embrace you. The proof of His acceptance of you is the great price He paid to win you back — the death of His Son Jesus. You never need fear rejection from God because of that price.

5. Fifth, you are free. God does not forgive you and clean you up only to leave you bound in chains that would keep you captive to sin. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus liberate us from sin. You have a new power working within you that will prompt you not only to want good things but also give you the strength, courage and willpower to do them.

6. Sixth, the life that is ahead of you is filled with purpose, because God views you as a partner in the great work He is doing in the universe. He does not merely point you to the bleachers to watch the game, He intends for you to put on your uniform and get involved. He has a key play with your name on it.

7. Finally, God views you ultimately as His child. Romans 8:14-17 describe you as being a joint heir with Jesus Christ in God’s family. All that God has to offer is yours as His child. He wants you to believe that. He wants you to experience that. This is what walking with God is all about.

Step Three
Knowing how God views you will help you in your willingness to open up to God with your own heart and life. It’s always easier to be open with someone whom you know really, truly loves you. But commitment in any relationship is a two way street. If you want to walk with God, you must be committed to Him. The way you express your love for God is by obeying Him. Jesus said, “The one who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).

Since we show our love for God by obeying Him, we have to learn what His commands are. This is really very simple to do. Start by reading the Bible, especially the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), in a translation that you can clearly understand. As you read, you will be able to learn firsthand what Jesus said to His followers two thousand years ago. Jesus’ main concern was not to teach people how to make money or how to amass material wealth. He came, in His own words, to give us life, abundant life (John 10:10). This abundant life is one in which love governs our actions and thoughts. We learn to forgive instead of strike back. We learn to care for the needs of others instead of being selfish. Jesus even teaches us how to communicate with God.

Sometimes you may be faced with a choice, and you may not understand exactly what it is that God wants you to do in the situation. In such times, we have to learn to listen to the voice of God as He speaks to us inwardly by the Holy Spirit. Now everyone has a lot of thoughts and ideas that go through our head on any given day. How do you tell which is God’s Spirit? The more you read God’s Word, the more you will be able to distinguish His voice when He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit. If you hear a voice telling you to retaliate in anger at someone who is hurting you, but you have just read Jesus’ words when he said to love you enemies and do good to those who hurt you, you can quickly realize that the voice you hear is not God’s Spirit. If in the same situation you hear a voice saying that you should pray for the person, you can realize that this is God’s Spirit speaking to you a specific direction for you to obey right then.

Obedience is really the central part of our walk with God. Without obedience, we cannot walk with Him at all. When we do obey His commands, His richest blessings become a natural part of our lives. His life becomes our life, and the peace, joy, love, exuberance and hope which only Jesus can give will fill our lives.

Step Four
One of the first things you will naturally want to do after you begin walking with God is to share the joy of your experiences with others. You do this mainly in two ways. The first way is to tell those who have not yet met Jesus. Many people in the world have been approached by others who are offering them some type of religion, even religion in the name of Jesus. What is often misunderstood is that following Jesus is not a dead religion. He is alive! If you can convey to others the hope, joy and peace you have found by showing them love and kindness, you will be sowing seeds of righteousness that God can bring to fulfillment. Don’t worry if people who have not yet met Jesus do not understand your excitement. Just focus on being consistent and faithful in your walk with God, and the life you have within you will be clear to them.

The second way of sharing your joy is to meet regularly with others who also are walking with God. The camaraderie and fellowship that comes from sitting down with another believer or a group of believers and talking about God, His Word and what He is doing in our lives is unmatched. When you do this, you have an opportunity to see how other believers handle problems. You can learn from the more mature believers. You can be an encouragement to the younger believers. And best of all, you can worship God together freely. Jesus Himself made this statement about how special it is for more than one person to be in His presence: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there with them” (Matthew 18:20). If there are no other believers in your city, then use the telephone, the Internet or pen and paper to communicate with another Christian. Remember that a stream that is dammed up becomes stagnant over time. We want our walk with God to be fresh, real and living.

By following these simple steps, you will be on your way to a lifelong walk with God. I speak a blessing upon you in your walk, that you will be encouraged, that you will know the right paths and that you will remain devoted to Jesus, the One who loves you most.

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