Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I am not the God of the past but of the present and of the things to come that you should keep yourself in bondage to what is behind. The Israelites were always speaking of returning to the slavery of Egypt because they had fear of the future and disdain for the present and did not let themselves see the glory of what they had and were headed for. They were complainers, judgers, blamers, and all they saw was futility. They never got the dream and vision of the land I had promised them into their hearts.
You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:18-21.
Stop looking back and seeing it as chaining you now, it is time to go forward to a future and a hope. Lift up your eyes and see the beauty of what I have for you and who I have made you to be, planned from and for eternity, and to what you have NOW in Christ.
What you have is NOW but each day you are building what will be. You cannot change what is past but you can change what is to come. You have one life to live and you cannot go this way, this day, again. Do it right by walking with Me.
He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahavah) has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient nor did I turn back. Isaiah 50:4-5.
Everyday is an opportunity to walk with Me. And that is what today’s Life Lesson is about. Today I will teach you how to walk with Me. This is the key to how to live the abundant life now and forever for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom will be abundantly supplied to you.
The first man and woman walked with Me in the Garden of Eden, so walking with Me is not new, it was what I desired from the beginning. It was when they stopped walking with Me that death came.
They hid and never came out to walk with Me again. But I kept calling and kept looking for someone who would step out of death into life with Me.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24.
You will gain more insight into this in the fifth chapter of Genesis where I chronicle the descendants of Adam up to Noah. You will note that for everyone except two of those listed I tell you that they had sons and daughters and their life span and finish each one with the words “and he died.” Genesis 5:5;8;11;14;17;20. But then you come to a man named Enoch (which means dedicated). I tell you that he walked with Me for the last 300 years of his 365 years on earth. And then I do not say he died, I took him with Me. He stepped out of death to life by walking with Me. He departed hundreds of years younger than all the others on that list.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.
And when every thought of man became evil and I decided to cleanse the world, there was only one man I found that saved the human race from eternal death unto eternal life. Why? He walked with Me.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9.
Everyone but Noah and his family perished. I kept him. And so it is with those who walk with Me.
Let us begin to look at how you walk with Me. It is not hard, it is a delight for those who walk that way for you are with the only one who knows all and can do all things. The one who can teach you to profit and the way you should go. And when you walk with Me I share My secrets with you and reveal to you My Covenant.
The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward the LORD, for He will pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:14-15.
If you are mindful (a mind full) of Me in all your ways, I will direct your steps. You do this by directing your attention to My Word and walking in accord with it. For how can two walk together unless they agree?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Psalm 101:2-4.
You walk with Me by walking in My Will for your life. A life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you might walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. I, however, am very explicit about what My Will for you is in Christ Jesus and it is three things that you must do to walk with Me. Faith, hope, and love in action in your everyday life:
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
And My servant Paul tells you what to rejoice in, “Rejoice in the Lord!” In My presence is fullness of joy. Come share My joy and your joy will be full. My joy is your strength. When sickness tries to take hold you of you, then you rejoice in that I am the LORD YOUR healer and you tell that unclean spirit “Oh no you don’t! By His stripes I am healed. The LORD forgives all my sins and heals all my ills in Jesus!” You rebuke it and rejoice at so great a salvation! And it will have to flee for you have submitted to Me by agreeing I am your healer and that you are healed already by all the spiritual blessings I put in your heavenly account from Jesus’ finished work already that are there for you to come confidently to My throne of grace and receive.
That is faith. Faith rejoices because it knows Me. How? By walking with Me by agreeing with My Word. Jesus is the High Priest of your confession (homologia in the original Greek the New Testament was written in, which means speaking the same word in complete agreement) and I watch over My Word to perform it. Rejoice in that.
Pray without ceasing. That is constant fellowship and I call you to fellowship with Me in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:9. He takes all your sins from you and reconciles you to perfect fellowship with Me. Constant communication, revelation, and impartation with direction, correction, and protection in walking with Me. And that is hope—prayer has hope for when you abide in My Word and My Word abides in you, you ask whatever you wish and I will do it. Why? You ask according to what your heart is full of and if it is full of My Word you are asking according to My Will, which means I hear you and you know what you have asked for is yours as we walk together in agreement of heart. 1 John 5:14-15.
Give constant thanks. That is the catalyst to wonders. For that is love. Love notices all the good things that others do not even notice. But when you are mindful of your beloved you notice all the loving and lovely things in your life each day. The Israelites disdained My gifts of Manna, quail, water out of rocks, freedom from labor and toil, riches untold handed to them as they exited Egypt, healed bodies so not even one stumbled or was feeble, and the giving of My Word, written by My own finger on tablets of stone. None of this meant anything to them. They never even noticed it in a thankful way but constantly complained. Why? No love for Me. Without love life means nothing.
To walk with Me you are willing to listen and obey. That you watch your heart and your words so that you are speaking what gives grace to you and the others who hear your words. No corrupt communication should come out of your mouth because you do not permit it in your heart if you are walking with Me. It has no place to abide when you are filled with My Spirit inside.
Above all walking with Me means fellowship and discipleship.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32.
David walked with Me and this is what he sang:
I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have silenced all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahavah) my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. Psalm 73:23-28.
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who is My Word, and never quit going forward. He is in you and greater is He that is in you than he that is the “god” of this world.
Now I have saved the best of how to walk with Me till now. Jesus walked perfectly with Me. There was not one moment in His life as one of you on earth that He was not walking with Me. And you who believe are in Him!
Jesus is the perfect example and teacher of walking with me. Before it was the appointed time for Him to take all your sins on Himself and pay your judgment and satisfy your sentence, they could not kill or harm Him. It was Psalm 91 in action. They tried to stone Him, hurl Him over cliffs, and get Him out of the way numerous times, not to mention the storms the devil stirred up and the possessed people that He came in contact with, but Jesus walked right through their midst and the evil one could not touch Him. There is no snatching out of My hand. And when it looked like evil had won in the death of My Son, I raised Him right out of the grave and took Him up to My right hand to sit down at My side. And in the Spirit I raised up all you who believe in Him and have confessed Him as Lord and seated you there with Him. And you are a joint heir with Him as My child and you receive the reward of walking with Me—like Enoch but better, like Jesus, I take you with Me. Absent from the body you are present with Me. Death has no power over you who believe in My Son and walk in Him as you walk with Me. Resurrection power is in you! In Christ you have what Enoch had but you have a greater than Enoch here.
So how does this affect your walk? Through and through. And here is what you can do now from your position in Christ.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4.
And that is a very good description of walking with Me in Christ. And let us go further to the application of it in your daily life:
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:5-17.
I love you. Where are you? If your answer was “In Christ,” then you are walking with Me because where the head goes so goes the body. Resurrection joy awaits you.
If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. John 12:26.