HOW TO WALK WITH GOD

The message opens with a mandate and a warning and a pictorial analogy. The Mandate: Shut away the things of the World and you will Step into the Presence of God. He is waiting for you. The Warning: Nothing comes with out a Price! To walk with God you will have to let go of yourself. The Analogy: We, God’s people, are like a hangings on the hangar of God. (Lou, I am not sure I caught the full meaning of this in my notes….may need some fill-in). Every thing we are is In Him; we are nothing without Him.

To walk with God the way that Adam and Eve walked with God something is required of us.  The specifications of those requirements are defined in the following Scripture:

MICHAH 6:8

He has shown thee, O man, what is good’ and what doth the Lord require of thee.

Ø  But to do Justly

(We are required to walk with Integrity and Strong Moral Character)

Ø  And to Love Mercy

(This is an Attitude issue that determines how we relate to others. Love and Mercy should always be the filter that we employ in relationship)

Ø  And to walk Humbly with thy God.

(Seek Him humbly knowing that all that you are and do comes from and depends on Him)

These requirements are given to us to enable us to Walk with God in Paradise as the Triumphant Church on the Earth. Paradise is lost when we lose contact with God. When we lose that contact with Him and find ourselves on the other side of Paradise, we have to make our own way on the earth without Him. God in His love, has a Quest to bring us back to Him and to Paradise. His Way to achieve that Quest is Jesus.

We need to know that Paradise is promised in Heaven. We need to realize that, because of the price that Jesus paid on Calvary, we can live in Paradise right here on Earth. As we do what is required of us and appropriate the Victory that Christ won for us, when we walk with Him, even when we stumble, we don’t fall. He is there to catch us.

The Intimacy that Adam and Eve shared with God in Paradise is possible and available to ordinary believers. We first must decide that we want it and then do what is required to obtain it. We must set our hearts and minds like a flint that we are going to Walk with God. And we must understand that the issue is not how much of God that you have. The issue is how much of you does He have? How much of your old nature and your worldly passions and desires have you yielded to Him and allowed him to possess? The more of you that he has, the closer you can move towards His heart. The more you will hear Him and discern His presence.

Do you know the sound of the Lord? Can you discern His presence as Abraham did with the three visitors? The moment that He discerned the presence of the Lord, he ran to his wife and exhorted her to prepare the best food that they had in the pantry. He served the Lord with the best that they had. When the Lord started to leave, Abraham begged Him, “Lord please don’t go! Stay so that I can serve You.” The deepest desire of Abraham’s heart was to remain in the presence of the Lord and serve Him. Is this your desire. To abide in the presence of the Lord and to serve Him with the Best that you have? Do you find yourself begging Him to stay and abide with you for a time? Do you have this kind of relationship with the Lord?

Many confuse the Gifts of the Spirit, i.e. manifestations of the Lords presence in their lives, with a relationship with God. Be careful not walk in that confusion. The Lord said that the Gifts are without repentance; they are in you and they will operate because He gifted you with them. However the operation of the gifts in your life is no evidence that you are walking with God. The question is, are you walking with God in intimacy and are you thus developing a relationship with Him?  Have you set your heart, your mind, and your affections on developing this kind of relationship with Him?

Adam and Eve walked with God in Paradise. Moses and Abraham had such a relationship with God. Saints throughout the ages have cultivated intimacy with God and God has always responded, because He is on a Quest to restore the Paradise that has been lost. Always know that He is no respecter of persons. He has spoken to others, He will speak to you. But remember, there are requirements. We must walk in integrity and we must relate to others with Love and Mercy. Humility before God is also required.

If you feel that you are meeting the requirements of the Lord, but you still do mot hear the Lord like you desire, you could have a Spirit of Deafness that Jesus rebuked in Mark 9:25. He also speaks of the deaf ears in Matthew 13:15, “For this people’s heart has waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted and I should come and heal them. The keys to our conversion and healing are hidden within our ability to see, hear, and understand/discern the Word of the Lord.

The Lord says in John 12:40 that He blinds eyes and hardens hearts. Why would He do that? The Spirit of Deafness that the Lord spoke of in the above referenced Scriptures comes upon people when they hear God but they continually refuse to obey Him. Another hindrance to hearing is defined in Ezekiel 14:3-4. Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired at all by them?...I the Lord will answer them that cometh according to the multitudes of their idols. 1Kings 19:20-23 also warns that the Lord answers a man in accordance with the idols that he holds in his heart.

Ultimately we need to have the heart of Abraham; we exist to live in the presence of God and to serve Him. We are not only called to just be Servant;, we are called to be Bond Servants of the Lord. A Servant is someone who has been sold into or hired into slavery or servitude. Exodus 21:2 and 5 speaks of what a bond servant is. The Lord says, “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve and the seventh he shall go out free for nothing…But…if he shall plainly say, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free.”  When such a declaration is made his master brings him before the judges, to the door and the door post and his master shall bore a hole his ear through with an awl and he shall be a servant forever. The piercing in his ear signifies that he belongs to one Master.

The difference between a servant and a bond servant is that a servant got wages and he had the option to quit or to get fired. A bond servant got no wages and no days off. He was a servant forever; he did not have the option to quit. He was under a mandate to obey without question.

The privileges of a bond servant are that His master pledged to take care of him for the rest of his life. He pledges to protect him with His life. The Bond Servant is given great authority and responsibility. The Bond Servant exists for the purposes of his Master.

The Lord is looking for Bond Servants today. He wants those who will say, “I love my Master and I will not go out free.”  He looks for those who will serve One Master. He desires those who are willing to turn their backs on their idols and their faces towards Him. He will always take care of His Bond Servants and protect them with His life. To those who exist for the Master alone, He will give them great responsibility and authority. He looks for those that He can set apart from the world for Himself. To become one that the Lord will honor this way…Walk Justly; Love Mercy; Walk Humbly before your God.