Importance of Walking With God

  My husband and I try to walk each evening when the weather and schedules allow. We can discuss current events, moments from our day, worries and concerns, and share in some laughter. It’s important to make these connections within your relationships.  It also applies to the importance of walking with God.

Enoch and Noah Walked with God

Did you know that of all the great people of faith in the Bible, only two are have said to “walk with God?”
Only Enoch and Noah earned that distinction. Genesis 5:24 and 6:9- “Enoch walked with God” and “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”

Don’t let these two great men discourage you in your own personal walk. We know they are human, and therefore, even they were not without sin.

We can improve our own walk by learning what made them so exceptional.

What Walking with God is Not

Walking with God is not merely following a set of rules. We know we can never live up to that. We fail daily. It is not by putting yourself first. It is not looking at the things of the world around us to give us peace and contentment.

Adam and Eve Walked with God

God shows us what he desires in our walk with him starting with Adam and Eve.  God would walk with them “in the garden in the cool of the day” for the purpose of fellowship and enjoyment. They actually took a physical walk together- they were speaking together and sharing thoughts. I like to daydream about how that would feel. God walking by my side, asking me how my day went, pointing out a gorgeous plant or flower, and encouraging and teaching me.

How can we recreate that personal, active relationship in our lives today?

He desires it for you and me as much as he did for Adam and Eve.

Enoch Walked with God

“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years…” Gen 5:21-22. We’re not sure why Enoch made the decision to devote his life to walking with God. It seems to coincide with the birth of his son. Whatever the reason, it was a decision.

Have you made a conscious decision to devote yourself to daily walking with God?

Hebrews 11:5 says that Enoch “pleased God.” He didn’t do this through works or his preaching but through faith. This wasn’t a shrug of the shoulders, “yes, of course, I believe, kind of faith”, but a complete and total faith and trust in God.  He lived his life obedient to God.   Above all things, he cared most about pleasing God.

How much of your day is devoted to walking with God and living a life pleasing to Him?

How Noah Walked with God

He lived a godly, faith-filled life while being surrounded by a very evil world. Noah showed his complete trust in God’s word to him. In faith, Noah built a gigantic ark in an area that was completely landlocked! He did everything that God asked of him. Noah was obedient and completely faithful even though the circumstances seemed ridiculous to those around him.

How do you show your complete trust in God in your life? How do you answer God when he asks you to do something for him?

God is always trying to draw us closer to him. ♥ He wholeheartedly desires to walk with us daily! He wants your life to be transformed into a joyful relationship with him regardless of the circumstances we live in.

Do you daily (hourly?) tell God your concerns, hopes, dreams, struggles, and thanks? Are you consistently asking for his direction and timing?

Pin me for later!

How Can I Walk with God?

Enoch and Noah pleased God with their absolute and constant faith in him. They had loving, trusting, and humble spirits and lived their lives seeking the will of God.  Likewise, we need to cultivate those same attributes in our everyday lives.

I’m starting out by doing an assessment of the highlighted questions above.  Then I can evaluate the areas that need improvement.  I’ve started with simply asking God each morning to help me remember to walk with him more closely, and ending my day by discussing how the day went.  It’s been very eye-opening!

One last thing about these two men stands out to me. They appeared different from other people around them. We see this aspect of Godly living in the New Testament as well. “When they (the Sanhedrin) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Walking with God means aligning ourselves with his will.

We won’t ever be perfect, but we can work on making our heart’s desire to be pleasing to God. When we walk with him, we can’t drag along our bad life choices and habits. When we are aligned with his will, we don’t want to! God’s ways will be reflected in our thoughts, actions, and choices.

Benefits of Walking with God

If we are daily walking with God in close communion with him, those around us cannot help but see, that even though we are just “unschooled, ordinary” people with flaws and personal issues, we stand out. We should act different and shine brighter.

The longer we walk closely with God, the better we will know him. He will continually open our eyes to his will. We won’t have the hundreds of years that Enoch and Noah had, but His Spirit in us will reveal his wisdom and purpose.

Really, what’s not to love about this walk??! My prayer for myself and for you is that we remember each day to give more moments over to taking His hand, asking Him for wisdom and guidance, pouring out our concerns to Him, and thanking Him for his goodness, love, and mercy.

“…Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God…”  Colossians 1:10

Blessings!

AnnMarie

All Scripture is taken from the NIV unless specified otherwise.

Photo Credit: Canva