Is my life making a difference? When my life is over, what will others say of me? This year has forced me to look at my life differently. And I am not happy with what I see. I want to have a life that impacts others, that is spent walking with God so closely that I get a front-row seat to the miraculous. What about you?
What Does a Life Walking with God Look Like?
Usually, I would jump right into walking with God Bible verses, but honestly, another phrase came to mind first.
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the Lord,” (Jeremiah 29:12-14 NASB)
Walking with the Lord is about s near to Him. I love this passage because of the repetition of the phrase, “I will be found.” There is a promise tied up in that phrase. God is near to us. He is able to be found!
What Does It Mean to Walk with God?
Several days a week, I walk with a friend. The time we spend walking is spent talking about all the things, great and small that are happening in our lives. It requires time, commitment, and vulnerability. We talk. We listen. Our friendship deepens.
Walking with God is intimate and personal. God is about growing relationships and connecting with us. Walking together is a way to do that.
All we have to do to see this is look at the first people, Adam and Eve. They walked with God and had the most perfect relationship with Him (Genesis 3:8)
Can you just imagine that? Literally walking through the most perfect garden in the most perfect world with the very creator. Mind-blowing!
How Do I Walk Everyday with God?
In a moment we will look at Scripture on walking with God and see from the examples in them, how to do this well. For now, I can tell you how to NOT walk with God everyday.
- Allowing pride to push you into areas where God said no.
- Prioritize entertainment daily.
- Refuse to forgive others.
- Give in to the need to veg out when there is so much more to be done.
- Stay up late and sleep in late.
- Ignore the Holy Spirit prompting you about sin in your life.
- Taking your feelings and emotions to food instead of God or shopping instead of God or insert your preferred idol.
And this is just part of my own personal list of ways I have not been seeking the Lord or walking with Him every day.
Related Post: How To Let Go and Let God: Surrender Brings Peace
Bible Verses on Walking With God
As I took these questions to Jesus in prayer, I found myself curious about the Bible characters who walked with God by faith. I found 6 stories about walking with God that specifically declare that of their lives. I believe we can learn so much from each of them.
- Enoch
- Noah
- Abraham
- Isaac
- Levi
- Josiah
Enoch
“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24 NASB)
We don’t know much about Enoch, except that He walked with God. What a testimony of his life that this was enough to sum up over 300 years! Something about his life so pleased the Lord, that He spared Enoch the pains of death.
Something we can see from the context is that there had been 5 generations between the first man who walked with the Lord and Enoch. For 5 generations, mankind had chosen to go its own way, becoming more sinful and corrupt. Then Enoch made a choice to live differently.
Will you begin walking with God, meaning living fully surrendered in every area of your life? Share on XNoah
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9 NASB)
Fast forward, 4 more generations and we meet Noah. Righteous. Blameless. A man of integrity. Again, we know very little about his day in day out life, except it starkly contrasted the culture around him. For 10 generations, man had been turning away from the Lord. And then there is Noah.
In Noah, I can imagine the cost of walking with God… but we will talk about that more in-depth in a moment.
Abraham
“Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
“I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1 NASB)
Here is a man who literally walked with the Lord, following a voice into an unknown land, away from his family and comfort. Abraham surrendered his life to the Lord. He obeyed and was all in.
I would say Abraham obeyed irrationally, wouldn’t you? To leave everything you know; following a voice to a promise you then wait decades to begin seeing fulfilled. Crazy. Irrational. Illogical.
Oh, but the benefits of walking with God are so worth the cost and the risk.
Isaac
“And he blessed Joseph, and said,
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,” (Genesis 48:15 NASB)
This testimony about Isaac is one of my favorite of all the walking with God verses because it wasn’t said by him or even during his lifetime. Isaac’s son, Israel (Jacob), declares that his father’s life was spent walking with God by faith.
Isaac lived his life with the example of a father who walked in irrational obedience. Abraham clearly passed on his faith. Isaac clearly overcame nearly being sacrificed. He then went on to talk with the Lord himself, hear HIS voice, and live life openly worshiping God.
What a testimony to know that your own child, on their own deathbed, reflected back on your life and could summarize it by saying, “He walked with God.” I want that. Do you?
Levi
“My covenant with him (Levi) was one of life and peace… so he revered Me and was in awe of My name.
True instruction was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips;
he walked with Me in peace and justice,
and he turned many back from wrongdoing (sin).” (Malachi 2:4-6 NASB (Emphasis mine))
Note that this is the 3rd in a direct family line. What a legacy Abraham left!
Levi feared the LORD. He spoke the truth and pursued justice. The Scripture here says Levi turned many back from sin, but note that he himself would have had to lead by example. That means he turned from sin, then, in turn, helped others turn from sin.
Also, what a blessing this testimony is as Levi was the head of the priestly line. This is everything we would ask for in a leader of God’s people!
Josiah
“And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His provisions, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.” (2 Kings 23:3 NASB)
King Josiah is a special king. We see him publicly make a covenant to walk after the Lord. This promise led the entire nation also enter the covenant. What a legacy! Then we see that the king followed through well.
“Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, in conformity to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.” (2 Kings 23:25 NASB)
We see in these Bible verses on walking with God, that King Josiah followed hard after the Lord. He obeyed with all his heart, soul ad might just as the Shema declares (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). How many people could say they kept such a weighty covenant and led an entire nation to do the same? Amazing!
What Are The Ways of Walking With God?
From these Bible verses, walking with God seems to be tied to 5 key characteristics. The 5 characteristics of walking with God that I see are:
- Put God first.
- Love HIM with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
- Turn from sin.
- It is important to note here, that these were not sinless men. They were, instead, repentant men.
- Worship the Lord openly.
- Live a lifestyle of worship.
- Surrender all.
- Fear God more than men.
- Obey the Lord irrationally.
- The ways of the Lord are higher than we can understand and sometimes He asks us to do some crazy things. In the end, if we are walking with Him, the joy and blessing that follows are worth a bit of crazy.
Importance of Walking with God
The importance of walking humbly with God can not be overstated. Think about how each story we saw laid a foundation for the Bigger Story of God.
- Enoch
- Without Enoch, passing on his faith, and leaving a legacy where his children watched him walk with the Lord, Noah might not have known how to follow.
- Noah
- Without Noah, walking in confidence with God amid a culture that was so wicked God chose to destroy it, there would be no one left.
- Abraham
- Then we see Abraham, the father of our faith. From Abraham came the nation of Israel, the line of Jesus, and salvation for all!
What if any one of these men had decided that walking in alignment with God was just too hard, too crazy, and gone another way?
Maybe the LORD would have chosen someone else… but I think those who have a desire to walk with God are few and far between…
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What are the Benefits in Walking With God?
Okay so the importance of walking with Jesus is clear, and that alone would be enough for me. BUT, there are also mad crazy blessings of walking with God! Benefits I long to live in. Benefits that have fueled my faith walk for almost 2 decades!
- These men, they heard the voice of the LORD!
- I mean, Y’all, can you just imagine how beautiful and terrifying it would be to hear the audible voice of God? It brings tears to my eyes how much I long for that day!
- Their prayers made things happen!
- People were blessed.
- People were cursed.
- God answered directly! Directly!!!!!!
- They were on the front lines, seeing God move in miraculous ways!
These are benefits that you don’t get any other way. Walking with HIM, drawing near to HIM, brings such joy.
Joy When You Walk With Jesus
I’d love to list the joy of walking with God as a benefit or blessing, but His joy is a gift we get with the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation. And no matter if you get saved to stay out of Hell, or you dig deeper in your faith to walk with Him, you have His joy ALWAYS at your disposal!
But… when you decide to walk with God, the joy that comes is deeper than any other you will know!
LOL! I just noticed how many exclamation points are in this section. It is that exciting!!!!!
Related Post: 40 Encouraging Bible Verses About Choices and Making Wise Decisions
The Cost of Walking With God
Oh, how I wanted to start here because the cost is heavy to walk with The Lord this way. However, the blessings and importance of walking with HIM far outweigh the cost if you can keep your eyes on Jesus.
Many people see the cost as a consequence of walking with God, but that word sounds so negative, almost like punishment. It is the farthest thing from the truth.
The truth is, we have a real enemy whose entire desire in life is to keep us away from the LORD. When you choose to walk with HIM, the enemy makes sure your life is far from comfortable. Cost. Consequences.
From Adam to Enoch are 5 generations of men who didn’t walk with the Lord. Enoch’s life looked different. We can only assume he suffered and sacrificed much to live in full surrender.
Counter-Cultural
“Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:5-8 NASB)
Noah’s life would have been a constant uphill battle. In a world filled with people, so wicked that the LORD was going to destroy them, Noah was blameless.
Think about that for a moment. As sinful and far from God as our culture is today with abortion, human sex trafficking, pornography, bestiality and so many other sins being glorified and called right and normal… God has not yet said we have gone far enough to wipe off the face of the earth.
How much more sinful, wicked and depraved must the people of Noah’s day been?
Think about the persecution we face, even from those in the faith, if we take a stand for anything counter-cultural. And there Noah was, the ONLY person walking with the LORD, in the face of such sin.
We are not told how his family felt or lived, but it is not said of them that they walked with God. It is safe to assume Noah faced persecution from all sides.
Irrational Obedience
Can I just ask you to imagine God asking you to leave your family and land and go sight unseen to a new land? No directions. No details given.
I’m sorry, did I mention, in your homeland you are wealthy and prosperous? And go…
Talk about consequences. Walk away from comfort and security and familiarity. Cost.
Also, while you are traveling like a nomad, you are waiting for your baren, infertile wife to birth a nation. By the way, you are both OLD; well beyond the age of childbearing.
There was great cost here in the waiting. While waiting they began to doubt and get ahead of God’s plan. Obedience requires a kind of patience that cost you much peace.
Over and over again, however, we see that Abraham obeyed the LORD. We don’t see him rationalizing with this Voice. He doesn’t make demands or ask for signs. Abraham walked by faith.
Not just once did he demonstrate walking with God in faith, but over and over again. Saving his nephew Lot (Gen 18), almost killing the son of promise; Irrational obedience was a hallmark of Abraham’s faith walk. And it cost him greatly along the journey.
Related Post: How To Unleash the Power of Submission in Marriage: A Character Study of Sarah
A Lifestyle of Worship
The life Isaac lived was one that began with struggle. Remember his older brother Ishmael? There was never peace there. Still, to this day these nations war! A reminder that sin reaps consequences far beyond what we ever imagine.
Then, his father nearly killed him irrationally obeying the Voice of the Lord. I imagine Isaac struggled with trusting God and his father for a season.
But then, in his own journey we see Isaac, talk with the Lord, and follow and obey Him. We see the blessing of God follow Isaac as he chooses obedience himself.
“So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.” (Genesis 26:25 NASB)
And we see Isaac openly worship the Lord. This was a lifestyle of worship that came at a cost. Isaac is a beautiful picture of walking with god through pain and suffering. He embraced the Joy of the Lord and came out victorious!
Self-Denial
Living the kind of lives they lived, required great self-denial. They faced temptation. They faced suffering. Loss was a part of their daily lives. Cost. Consequences.
Levi is said to have been a man who led others to turn away from sin. Think about that for a moment. You can’t lead others away from sin if you are caught in a pattern of sin. People can sniff out hypocrisy in a second.
Levi and every other one of these heroes of our faith lived lives of self-denial amidst a world wallowing in sin. The culture around them gave into the temptation to sinful entertainment, gluttony, sexual sin, and gossip. This same culture turned a blind eye to the sin of others.
There would have been a daily struggle to keep their eyes on the LORD and remember why they are swimming against the current. It was not easy.
They did sin which is such a relief as a fellow sinner. Self-denial is not perfection or the complete absence of doubt and sin, but quick and heart-deep repentance. Self-denial does not let sin turn into willful disobedience (transgression) or habitual patterns of unrepentance (iniquity). Cost.
Public Scrutiny
King Josiah specifically lived fully in the public spotlight. However, each of these figures was painfully different from the culture they lived in and so would have been persecuted and ridiculed openly.
When your life is on public display, every detail and choice is debated and criticized. It is exhausting.
Whether you are a public figure or not these days, our lives are on display. Social media shows the world a side of our lives. What are you showing? Are you shining God’s light or blending into the culture around you?
The cost of walking with God is never blending in, even among our believing friends at times.
Will You Begin Walking with God Today?
The question is simple. Will you begin walking with God, meaning living fully surrendered in every area of your life?
Yes, there is a cost to walking with the Lord. And Yes, there are immeasurable blessings that come with walking with Jesus. It is worth it! Will you:
- Put God first.
- Turn from sin.
- Worship the Lord openly.
- Surrender all.
- Obey the Lord irrationally.
Can I just close our time in prayer today?
A Pray to Walk with God Today
Jesus,
Please forgive me for loving you with only part of myself. All too often I allow my mind to roam and only partially be YOURS. Forgive me for loving entertainment and food way more than you at times.
Please forgive me for allowing patterns of sin to creep into my life. Continue to shine YOUR light on every area of my life that is not pleasing to YOU. Soften my heart again to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Let me never get comfortable in sin.
Forgive me for worshiping you openly on Sunday morning but then forgetting to sing praise the rest of the week. Prompt me to praise and gratitude each morning. Remind me of YOUR faithfulness each evening. Let worship flow from my lips continually.
I’m sorry for not living surrendered to YOU. I say that I surrender all, then I pick things back up off YOUR altar and worry over them or plan out ways to deal with them myself. Forgive me and change my heart here Lord.
My heart longs for security and logic. Forgive me for rationalizing with YOU when YOU call me to something crazy. Forgive me for saying no and walking away from things I knew were YOUR voice. Help me listen to YOU, trust YOU, and remember YOU are always faithful. YOUR plan is best. I long to walk in it… help me long to walk in it when it makes no sense.
Teach me how to walk more fully with YOU Lord.
Amen.
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