REQUIREMENTS OF WALKING WITH AND IN GOD

GENESIS 1:27-28
Some suffering is given in order to chastise and correct a person for wrongful patterns of life (as in the case of Jonah imperiled by the storm), some suffering is given not to correct past wrongs but to prevent future ones (as in the case of Joseph sold into slavery), and some suffering has no purpose other than to lead a person to love God more ardently for himself alone and so discover the ultimate peace and freedom.” (47)
“Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.” (58)

Genesis 1:27-28

New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Most of us don not trip over mountains, but amazingly we easily trip over mats.

Walking with God is a daily requirement.

It is a primary expectation of God from us

From the outset the Living God expected man to be just like Him. Unlike men God in his great wisdom created man in his own image and likeness. In your enclosure lock your self up and look at yourself properly. You will discover that you are exactly as God made you and intended you to thrive and blossom that way. There is no reason for me to compare and contrast with any one. In the same breath I owe nobody any apologies about my look. David puts it succinctly that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”

God stooped down to work and created man. He formed man in his own image. In Verse 27 alone the word “created is repeated three times”

The Meaning of Numbers: The Number 3

The number 3 is used 467 times in the Bible. It pictures completeness, though to a lesser degree than 7. The meaning of this number derives from the fact that it is the first of four spiritually perfect numerals (the others being 7, 10 and 12). The 3 righteous patriarchs before the flood were Abel, Enoch and Noah. After the deluge there was the righteous "fathers" Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later renamed Israel)

There are 27 books in the New Testament, which is 3x3x3, or completeness to the third power.

Man (male and female) alike, they bear the image of God and together they share in divine benediction that follows.  After such smart work from God, the least expected of us is to walk with God. Pursuing his ways PASSIONATELY, OBEDIENTLY, LOVINGLY and FAITHFULLY

1.       OBEDIENCE

Definition:-

Compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority:

Towing the line and not breaking the rule. Pursuing the straight and narrow path. Obedience is walking according to the laid down rules. When walking in obedience God promises to walk with us.

[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

Obedience in itself attracts other things

Leviticus 26:1-4

 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit

There will be rain in season and the ground will yield its crops. Rain here is used to mean blessings, acceptance and the very presence of God.

Deuteronomy 28:12

 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

Whatever you do will come out profoundly dazzling! You will be blessed but take note that the blessing will only be as a result of walking in obedience.

That in obedience you will excel in blessings to the point of lending to many nations. The bible does not mention you lending to some people but actually to nations

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

As if that is not all these shall be your reward:-

i)                    You will always be at the top and not tail

ii)                   You will be called by the name of the Lord and the people will fear you .There will be no need to threaten people. Your walk with God will make people fear you. Deuteronomy 28:9-10. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.

iii)                You will enjoy peace in the land. You will lie down and no one will make you afraid. Leviticus 26:6-9, ⁶ “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

iv)                 You will attract favour from God, increase and fruitfulness.

⁹ “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.
Favor [N]
Finding favor means gaining approval, acceptance, or special benefits or blessings. There is also a close association among favor, grace, and mercy, which are sometimes used to translate the same Hebrew and Greek words (such as hen [ej] and charis [cavri"]). The favor that human beings receive from God depends on his good pleasure and is often extended in response to prayer or righteous living. Those whose walk is blameless, such as Noah or Moses ( Gen 6:8 ; Exod 33:12-13 ), receive favor and honor from the Lord ( Psalm 84:11 ). In Moses' blessing on the twelve tribes he speaks of Joseph's prosperity and fruitfulness as the one who enjoyed God's favor ( Deut 33:16 ). Gabriel told Mary ( Luke 1:30 ) that she had "found favor with God" and would bear the Christ-child. When Christ was born the angelic host announced to the shepherds that God would send "peace to men on whom his favor rests" ( Luke 2:14 ). At age twelve Jesus enjoyed the favor of God and men as he "grew in wisdom and stature" ( Luke 2:52 ), a description similar to the one about the boy Samuel ( 1 Sam 2:26 ).
Favor [N]
Finding favor means gaining approval, acceptance, or special benefits or blessings. There is also a close association among favor, grace, and mercy, which are sometimes used to translate the same Hebrew and Greek words (such as hen [ej] and charis [cavri"]). The favor that human beings receive from God depends on his good pleasure and is often extended in response to prayer or righteous living. Those whose walk is blameless, such as Noah or Moses ( Gen 6:8 ; Exod 33:12-13 ), receive favor and honor from the Lord ( Psalm 84:11 ). In Moses' blessing on the twelve tribes he speaks of Joseph's prosperity and fruitfulness as the one who enjoyed God's favor ( Deut 33:16 ). Gabriel told Mary ( Luke 1:30 ) that she had "found favor with God" and would bear the Christ-child. When Christ was born the angelic host announced to the shepherds that God would send "peace to men on whom his favor rests" ( Luke 2:14 ). At age twelve Jesus enjoyed the favor of God and men as he "grew in wisdom and stature" ( Luke 2:52 ), a description similar to the one about the boy Samuel ( 1 Sam 2:26 ).

v)                  God’s dwelling will be amidst you.

Leviticus 26:11.  I will put my dwelling place^[a] among you, and I will not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

David was good at this, no wonder God calls him “A man after my own heart”1 Samuel 13:14

2.      PLEASE GOD

Hebrews 11:5

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”^[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

The lord is pleased with righteous walk. Isaiah 42:21

To please means:

1.  To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy

2.  To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will

3.  To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; -- used impersonally

4.  To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions

5.  To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent

1Samuel 12:22, For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.

Pleasing God involves sacrifices. Hebrew 13:16, And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

There have to be things to forfeit as people go about them. By the way watching and praying over night is a sacrifice. It is not that easy. It is the opportunity cost over your sleep.

This is what Enoch did until he was no more. 300 years walking with God. What did he do right to please God? Walking involves spoken and unspoken words, body language, accepting others and making peace where necessary.

Kindness has to be practiced in its entirety. There was a man called Rehoboam. He sought advice from the elders on how to rule his subjects but could not follow it because he thought the young men had a better idea than the elders.

2Chronicles 10.7. They replied, If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favourable answer, they will always be your servants.

Forgiveness is part of the package of pleasing God

I can promise you that there will so may hurts, inconsistencies, heart brakes, accusations and counter accusations, name calling and cold shoulders. But the encouragement is you are not after all pleasing man. Your life is tuned heavenward. You are geared towards your maker. It is with this hope and assurance that you live every day. You can comfortably stand with Paul as he exhorts us that in everything you do. Do it as if it is unto the lord. Totally divorce and delete the interest of man from your mind.

Knowing the hope that you have been called heavenward it will call for forgiveness in order to have a clean heart that will in turn please the lord. It is not your hard work that will yield this. No! What will count is the yielding of yourself to god that will turn out as pleasing to the living God.

1 Thessalonians 4.1

4 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

Do not be a people pleaser

Stop doing things with an eye to comments, appraisals and commendations from people

Also understand that hostility to people displeases God

Corruption, taking of bribes or giving them, hate, envy and strive are some of the great bottlenecks to living a life worth walking with God. You cannot expect to displease the people God created and in turn claim that you are alright. This kingdom is not about rights. It is about walking with God. He is the one who calls the shorts and expects me and you to walk in obedience. Halleluyah!

As earlier said, to please God you have to close your ears to idle talk, separate yourself from wicked counsel and pursue righteous sacrifices. These sacrifices will come at and with a price.

Psalm 51:19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

3.      REVERENCE

Noah            Genesis 6

Deep respect for someone or something

Noah was a righteous man

If Noah was a righteous man, then what does it entail to be righteous?

Noah's Strengths:

Noah was a righteous man. He was blameless among the people of his time. This does not mean Noah was perfect or sinless, but he loved God with his whole heart and was fully committed to obedience. Noah's life revealed qualities of patience and persistence, and his faithfulness to God did not depend on anyone else. His faith was singular and unshakable in a completely faithless society.

Noah's Weaknesses:

Noah had a weakness for wine. In Genesis 9, the Bible tells of Noah's only recorded sin. He became drunk and passed out in his tent, making himself an embarrassment to his sons.

Noah lived a godly life. His life was the exact opposite of the wickedness of the people of his times.

Not quite different from our times.

The thing is you and I are the ones that need to separate from the world and not vice versa.

Noah had to align his life towards his calling not feelings what he saw or desired. It was upon him to choose how to live irrespective of his surroundings. Beloved this is the monster in the room. Choose to walk with God. Jesus asked what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loose his soul? It does not mean that Noah was a saint, but rather he was quick to mend his ways and align them with God’s requirements to walking with God.

He was blameless among the people he lived with.

J.A.F.N

How do you treat your subjects?

How do you relate with your juniors?

Do you look down upon them and wonder what a hell they are?

Can you count on your subordinates during the hard times of your life or you will be crestfallen due to the way you used to treat them. Jesus looking at you would he be encouraged when you stand up to give a testimony of your walk with him?

Noah was such a man. He lived during times of wickedness yes, but was himself not wicked.

Noah went the whole hodge to follow the Lord’s instruction. Whether good or bad. He was there for God and in turn Jehovah was there for him.

He build the Ark according to divine instruction not bending even a single rule.

Were I the one could I have aced this interview?

Food for thought.

He did it according to God’s specifications. The specifications were God’s and had to taken that way with no alterations what so ever.

Something he never knew about and had no gasp of what it will turn out to be or what was building up in the mind of God. For 210 years he was not bothered with what he heard other people say. Neither was he concerned by the jeers, comments, accusations and whatever insinuation people had about him. Simply Noah was focused.

This is what I call determined walking with God. Knowing that he who begun this good work would bring it to accomplishment in the day of Christ Jesus! Glory to the Most High God.

After all he knew that he was created to worship God with a clean heart which requires righteousness.

TRUSTING AND TOTALLY RELYING ON GOD

Genesis 6.17

God entrusts his people with his secrets. Noah had never known the definition of the FLOOD yet when God tells him “I will wipe out the Earth”

God un- veils his impending judgment to one who daily keeps abreast with him. Who is your closest confidant and or chief advisor when mountains stand before you?

When is the last time you heard from God? If and when you heard what was your reaction?

Do you have a closet that you use to connect with Jehovah? These are some of the secrets Noah used to conquer the criticism from the masses. This is how he could differentiate the voice of God from the voice of the rest. He decided to walk with God regardless of what the outside world thought of him. This was his personal decision. You and I will be required to take similar step if at all we are going to go into the books of history as men and women who walked with the living God.

Noah was trusting, thus he never questioned God of his design for the ARK. If it were you how ready would you be willing, obedient and with what ease would you take up this assignment to walk with your creator? I hear some one saying this is a daunting requirement, I cannot do it. Allow me to challenge you. The word says that the plans He has for us are such that the ear has not heard neither has the eye seen. Nevertheless he asks us to seek him while he may be found. Thus sometimes things will seem un-workable but that God for he is the one who speaks to storms and the same head his voice.

Remember Moses in Exodus 4:1-7

Moses Given Powerful Signs

4 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” ⁶ Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”^[a] And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous^[b] like snow. ⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

i)                    If they do not believe me or listen. Vs. 1

This was Moses’ first excuse and you and I have so many that are similar. I cannot go be part of the leadership because I am not considered when push comes to shove.

God had told Moses to go. The struggle and difficulties of the assignment were not for Moses to handle. God has called you to walk with him the valleys and mountains you will get ahead he knows how to sort them out. Yours is to set off and follow instructions without editing them copy and pasting other believers’ walk will not help either. You have to put you foot down. You are simply a messenger thus do your bidding and walk with God.

ii)                  I have never been eloquent. Vs.10

Many at times we like to under estimate God. We often forget He is our maker, he knows our potential, strengths and weaknesses.

Jehovah has the DNA of who we are in the palms of his hands.

Even some training by God of who we are does not seem to drive sense into our minds.

This is as a result of focusing on our weaknesses. Beloved I challenge us not toot to focus on the problem but rather focus unto Jesus the author and perfector of our faith.

He is the one who is able to melt down the problem and struggle we undergo and then provide equilibrium. Thus making you and I more than conquerors through Christ Jesus!

Trusting people are quick to understanding and lay hands on the foregoing assignment. They do not question the authority of God instead they confirm it is God giving the orders. Judges 13:1-25, emphasis Vs. 8-14 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” ¹³ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

Trust is earned over a period of time. It cannot be bought from the shelf in a super market. Trust is a product of scrutiny under the microscope of the word of God Holy Spirit. It is as a result of serious observation self interrogation and confirmed qualification. For us to be called God trusting, He will subject us to the wilderness test as well as the test of time to see how long we can suffer long to wait on GOD. The lord requires our trust regardless of what, where and when you are going through.

Listen to David speaking in 2Samuel 22:3

    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield^[a] and the horn^[b] of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—
    from violent people you save me.

When you trust God He shields you and also becomes your buckler, 2 Samuel 22:31

“As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields all who take refuge in him.

I say you will confidently walk in his ways without fear, favor or contradiction in Jesus’ name!

Trusting God also brings with it blessings, Psalm 2:12

Kiss his son, or he will be angry
    and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

1Timothy 4:12

¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Trusting God that leads to walking in God with it comes a fair share of the challenges of which the man of God has to be prepared for:-

-          Labour

-          Suffering of reproach

Knowing when you are living to please God, it won’t be difficult taking head of the advice from Paul to his son Timothy and to us living today, the church of Christ. Paul tells Timothy, “these things command and teach”

Finally on trust let us consider Psalm 32:10

Many are the woes of the wicked,
    but the Lord’s unfailing love
    surrounds the one who trusts in him.

Keep your cool as you trust God, the hedge and fence around you is MERCY.

Believe it, Act it and Live it.

May God fire you into greater heights of walking with Him. Amen!