During LENT we have the opportunity as Christians to take extra time in our personal walks with Christ.  The Bible tells us that God desires close fellowship with every single human being. It began with Adam and then Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. When we think of close walks of faith, Enoch is a good example. “In the Garden” is one of the perennial favorite songs of the Christian faith. I believe this is because of the intimacy between the Christian singing the song and his/her Savior!  “He walks with me and He talks with me…”  When we think of men and women who have walked closely with the Lord we normally think of Moses, Elijah, Daniel and Solomon. Then in the New Testament we especially think of Mary and Joseph, or Anna and John the Baptist. We may think of the faithful prophets in the Bible.  There is one person we don’t readily think of and that is a man who is mentioned in only three verses (Genesis 5:21-24) in the Bible.  His name was Enoch and he walked so closely with God that he did not die – “One day Enoch could not be found because God took him.”  And even though he is not mentioned very much, we know he was VERY close to God!

 We may also think of our own mothers and fathers and or other family members, friends, or mentors whose walks with the Lord was a great example for us.  And watching and thinking on these examples from the Bible and from our own lives always makes me desire even more of that intimacy with my Heavenly Father! 

I want to look at ten ways to better help us walk closer and achieve greater intimacy with God.

1) Walking with God means to live in God’s presence, surrendering ourselves to Him. The Biblical examples I mentioned above were men and women who lived lives of self-surrender.

2) To walk with God means to walk in unbroken fellowship. In Amos 3:3 we read “Two people will not walk together unless they have agreed to do so.” (NCV).

3) The walk must be continual. Examine your own life and see how many gaps there are in your walk with the Lord. Unconfessed sin will cause a gap in your walk.

4) We need to walk in the light. John writes in his first Epistle that if we walk in the light then we have continuous fellowship with God. Walking in the light means that staying in God’s Word and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is our protection against anything that would lead us into darkness or away from the will of God.

5) Walking with God means having an unfailing life of perseverance. There are times when we need to live a life like Paul, who persevered through even the hard times of life, realizing that the Christian life is not always to be comfortable and cozy or even without pain or grief.

6) Walking with God means to walk with God consistently as we relate - especially with our families and then with our neighbors. We have an opportunity to allow God’s love to flow freely through us to everyone we come in contact with if we stay connected to the source of love which is God. 

7) It helps us to walk closely with God if we can cut loose from the things of this world and desire God first and foremost.

8) Walking with God is easier if we have a fearless confidence, i.e. trusting enough to put our lives and our well being in God’s hands. The Bible says that “perfect love casts out all fear” – this means that being in love with God better enables us to not fear because “if God be with us, who can be against us?”

10) Walking with God means seeing a future blessing.   When we sing the last verse of Amazing Grace, it should excite us that even after ten thousand years “we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise” in heaven!    

      Take time to walk closer to God this month!  If you are sacrificing something for LENT – use the time that would have used on that food, that habit, or that TV show that you gave up to spend with God – walk closer with Him – be closer to Him – through prayer, reading His Word, and gathering in Christian fellowship with others walking in the Light.  Draw closer to Him – He will draw closer to you.  Psalm 16 says that in “His presence is fullness of joy.” – what more could we want?

                    In His Love,  Pastor Rob