Are You Walking With God?

When the Lord calls you home, will it be said of you that you walked with God—as Enoch walked with Him? Dr. Stanley discusses how to fellowship with God like Enoch did—daily, faithfully, and obediently.

In touch with Dr. Charles Stanley celebrating 45 years of God’s faithfulness and sharing the gospel worldwide. Next on in touch.
Are you walking with God when you come to the end of life, what do you want to be remembered for your kindness, your love, your generosity, your knowledge, your wisdom, your abilities and skills that you knew how to relate to other people, or would they remember you for your stinginess, your pride, your antagonistic attitude, your dishonesty, you didn’t love anybody.
You were just an angry person. What, what are people gonna say about you when you’re gone?
Well, you may be the kind of person who says, well, I hope they don’t remember anything about me.
Well, they will not much maybe but they will.
So will anybody say, I don’t know a lot of things about Him or about her?
But this, I do know He walked with God. She walked with God that much.
I know about Him and about her.
How could you have anything more uplifting and Christ like than that to say that somebody walked with God?
So let me ask you this. How does a person walk with God?
How do you know when you’re walking with God or not?
So, what I’d like to do is to give you a brief statement to just to define what it means to walk with God, to walk with God means to keep him at the center of our thinking in everything we do, everything we say, everything we think in our relationships and our finances, our plans and in every area of our life.
That’s what it means to walk with God. It’s the wisest way to walk.
So I want you to turn for just a moment and look if you will in Genesis chapter five and here is Enoch about which the Bible says that he walked with God and then he was no longer there.
God took him. So look in the fifth chapter, if you will verse 21 Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah.
Then enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah.
And he had other sons and daughters remember that his son would live the longest of anybody in the Bible.
So all the days of enoch were 365 years.
Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.
So if somebody says, are you walking with God? I wonder what you would say?
Would you say? Yes, I am.

And then if they said, well, what are you doing in order to walk with God, could you even answer that?
So I want to give you an answer and I want to give you a list of things absolutely essential to walking with God, to walking after God and to walking in a way that pleases an honest God and brings you the best life that you could possibly have.
So the first thing is this and that is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
That’s the beginning. In other words, if I want to walk with God, I can’t even get to God except through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
No man comes to the father. He said, except by me.
You want to walk with God, come to Jesus faced across the resurrection. That’s where walking with God begins.
Anybody who tells you they’re living a good life and everything is fine and they rejected Jesus Christ as their savior are either ignorant or living in sin and totally blinded by it.
So, first of all, you have to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as you say, that’s where we get to God.
So if I’m gonna walk with Him, I’ve got to be with Him.
How do I get to be with Him by receiving his son, forgives my sin.
Makes it possible for me to have a personal intimate relationship with him. First step.
Secondly, that is I must learn to listen to Him.
If I don’t listen to God, I’m not gonna follow him if you don’t learn to pray and to listen to God, you’re not going to follow and you’re not gonna walk with Him.
And prayer is absolutely essential. And this is why I say so often that is our prayer and meditation.
The time we spend alone with him is absolutely essential because when you’re reading the word and, and talking to him and listening to him, he’s gonna be showing you things.
Listen, you’re not gonna find that any other way. Thirdly, you’ve got to trust him.
If you don’t trust him, you’re not gonna follow him.
And oftentimes I’ll be talking to somebody and say, well, just trust the Lord. I am trusting him.
Well, show me how you’re trusting him.
And when they get through telling me they’re not trusting God at all, they’re just hoping and wishing and bedding and this and the other things are gonna turn out right?
And, and most of the time they have, they say, but they’re not walking with God to walk with God.
I’ve got to listen to him and I have to trust him.
If I don’t trust him, I’m not gonna walk with him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not to your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path.
So he’s not gonna lead me to walk without following him because that’s what that passage is all about.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean to your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge Him.
He will make your path straight.
And so if you’re gonna follow Him, if you’re gonna walk with Him, if you’re gonna be the person God wants you to be, then you gotta decide at some point, I’m going to trust him.
Now watch this. Why do I put that emphasis on trust?
Because sometimes, in fact, many times God will require something of us that makes no sense. Doesn’t fit.
Don’t be the timing’s not right. Couldn’t be Him, couldn’t be her. Couldn’t be that. No, no, no, no, no.
But God says that’s what I want you to do nowhere. Does He promise us that we will understand?
But listen, if I’m gonna walk with Him, I’m gonna do what he says, whether I understand it or not.
And so you have to decide whether you’re gonna trust Him or not.
And then of course, if you’re gonna walk with him, you’ve got to agree with Him.
If you don’t agree with him, you’re, you’re not gonna walk with him.
So let me ask you this. Have you ever disagreed with God?
Yes, we all have at some point foolishly ignorantly.
Maybe, maybe before we really were in touch with God as best we could be.
And so what happens? We think somehow that we, we can make everything work, watch this.
We’re not taught by the scriptures that God is to agree with us.
We talked about the scripture that we are to agree with him. He’s the one who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
Then of course, it’s not enough just to agree with it. You have to obey.
If you’re gonna walk with him, you have to obey him because he’s going to require some things that you’re not gonna like.
Or he’s going to require some things that you don’t fully understand. Obedience to him is absolutely essential.
Disobedience implies that I know better than He does.
Now watch that if I don’t obey God and I’m a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God is my savior.
My father. If I don’t obey him, I’m saying I know better than God who is omniscient.
And so I’m going this way. I know what He says, but this is not too far off.
Listen, one step off is disastrous.
If we are to follow Him, were to walk with Almighty God, obedience is necessary.
Well, you say, well, how much obedience? Well, partial obedience is what disobedience.
So if I’m going to obey Him, I’m gonna do what he says.
Do when he says, do it and the way he says, do it, period.
So are you walking with God? And the word is obedience.
Watch, this is obedience, a lifestyle for you.
When you wake up in the morning, your intention is to obey God today. Almighty.
God is our leader, our guide, our God to guide us every single day.
We’re to walk with him and walking with him means I’ve surrendered my will and I’m willing to obey him because I trust him and because I trust him, I will obey him because I don’t trust him is the reason I disobey him.
So ask yourself the question and I hope you’ll ask it all the way through this message.
Am I walking with God or am I not? It’s easy to say I am.
But there’s some criterion all we’re doing is saying, let’s give it a test and see if you are, if you’re not dangerous to walk in disobedience to God.
But likewise, if I’m walking with Him, I’m gonna walk in the same direction. He walks.
If I’m really and truly walking in his will in his way, I’m obeying him and I am walking in the same direction.
Now, It doesn’t mean that you are like somebody else.
God hasn’t got the same will for two different people. He has a way for you to walk.
And what you and I have to do is to know in our heart as best.
I know my heart, Lord, I’m walking in obedience to you.
I’ll go wherever you want me to go, do whatever you want me to do and watch this.
Somebody says, well, I was saved 40 years ago. What’s it got to do with today?
In other words, listen, every day we have to make a decision.
Am I gonna follow him or am I not? Am I gonna walk with God or am I not?
You say? Well, now you mean to tell me I’m to get up every day and say, am I gonna follow God?
No, you should get up every day and say, thank you Lord.
I’m gonna follow you by the power of the Holy Spirit, walking you away, whatever you want today, we should wake up committed to Him.
We walk with God because that’s who we are. We are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit always leads us to make wise Godly decisions because we’re his Children and we’re walking in his spirit and we’re walking in his path.
And so obedience is absolutely necessary.
Now, some ways may seem to be shorter and faster and cheaper notice I said seem to be because the ways that seem to be that way are not God’s ways.
If I’m gonna walk in his way and in the direction with Him, I’ll have to part ways with a lot of people.
Probably you can’t have the world’s friendship, close friendship and walk in the ways of God, the world.
I didn’t say just anybody in the world because there are people who want you to follow them.
If you have to follow the ways of the world, you’ll have to lay down everything we’re talking about.
You will not walk with God, you’ll not listen to them. You want to obey them.
You find yourself going in the opposite direction? So, ask yourself the question.
Am I really intuitive walking with God or am I just fooling myself?
Well, you’re certainly gonna have to stay in step with Him. If you walk with him.
Think about it. It’s one thing to go in the same direction.
But what about keeping in step? And this is where many people get in trouble.
They may be walking in the right direction but not in step with Him.
Oftentimes we get ahead of Him.
You say, well, how might I know that I’m walking in step compass.
Never fails, never fails.
You listen, you read the word of God and you’re going to know whether you’re walking in the right path or not.
And if you’re in step with God, what does in step mean?
And step means that He and I are together living a Godly life, which is the requirement of God.
The blessing of God. The promise of the help of God is to do exactly what we’re talking about.
Walking in step with Him, walking in the same direction, walking, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so many people wonder why I’m a Christian, a Christian for years.
Why’s God letting all this happen to me?
And I talk to people all the time who are going through difficult problems sometimes they use on the telephone usually, or maybe I meet them and they’ll bring up something and they can’t figure out why this has happened to them.
Well, have you been listening to God? Oh yes.
People are quick to say, I listen to God because watch this, you’re listening to say, then listening to him and thinking about him are not the same.
I can think about him. Doesn’t mean I’m listening to him.
If I’m listening to him, I’m gonna think about him and I am gonna be receptive and sense it to.
What is God saying is he saying slow down is he saying speed it up?
Is he saying this direction, that direction God is so willing?
But when I think about the whole idea of walking and following our Lord, think about this, you can’t improve on his timing.
And here’s the reason why because he’s omniscient. Think about this. He knows all about your future.
He knows all about your opportunities. He lets watch this. He knows every weakness you have.
He knows that things that are most susceptible to you to disobey.
And so God, God has your whole life before him. He knows what’s best.
He doesn’t want you to get ahead of him or to lag behind.
And so you can trust him about everything.
And if you’re gonna walk with God, you have to trust him, follow him as we’ve said about all these other things and you can’t improve on his timing.
And so if you’re going to live a Godly life following him, trusting him, listening to him.
Obey him. Every single step is important.
And then I think one of the things that’s very important here and that is I have to love him.
If I don’t love God, I’m not gonna follow him. Really. If you love him, what will you do?
You want to obey him? If you love him, you’ll wait for his timing.
If you love him, you keep your ear open to his heart.
All the things we’ve said before are involved in expressing your love for God walking in his ways in his step, trusting him listening to him, all of those things are a part of loving Him.
And if I love him, I will obey him.
So ask yourself the question, am I really and truly walking with God or am I not?
And nobody knows the answer to that?
But you then I think about if I’m gonna walk with God, I’m gonna forsake sin.
Now, what does that mean? That means I’m gonna keep my heart clean all the time.
And if something comes up, it causes me to stumble in my thinking or action, I’m gonna deal with it right?
Then doesn’t mean you’re gonna be perfect forsaking sin.
Turning away from it doesn’t fit who we are, doesn’t fit what God has planned for us.
And so if you think about this sin always causes us to stumble in some fashion or the other, are you walking with God?
Ask him? Is there something in your life that, you know, shouldn’t be there.
Is there some sin that just, it’s just attached to you?
You just think, well, well, 11, listen, I can’t be perfect. Doesn’t mean that we’re perfect.
Everybody stumbles along the way. You can walk most anywhere and there’ll be a rock here, a little hole there and you may stumble but you keep going.
You don’t just lie down and say anything. You make changes in your life when you need to make changes.
But if you’re not willing to lay that down, then you’re not gonna walk in obedience to God, you’re not gonna enjoy life’s best.
You’re gonna miss out on God’s best blessings for your life.
You can’t have sin and holiness at the same time, it just doesn’t work.
So if I’m gonna walk with God, I’m gonna pursue a life of holiness.
That what does that mean? Holy Life is not a perfect life, but it is a life committed to surrender to the perfect will of Almighty God.
Does it mean we will always without exception.
Know there are times that’s why He says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our righteousness.
John was writing that for believers. So that, that, that’s, that’s what we do with sin.
We confess that we walk away from it.
So you have to ask yourself the question in light of all of this.
How many of these are true in your life?
If you’re gonna walk with God, all of them, all of them are necessary.
So let’s go back to the first question when God calls you, what will people know you for?
You may be very gifted in some areas and you may be very famous.
You may be very wealthy. You may be one of many things.
But will they be able to say you walked with God only if you do walk with Him?
And if you do follow these simple steps of accepting crisis, your savior listening to him, trusting him, obey him abiding by his will for your life.
All of these issues apart of living in obedience to him and being a part of the kingdom of God and make a difference where you are.
So ask yourself the question and my walking with God and you might conclude at nighttime before you if I should ask you, do you pray right before you go to sleep?
Do you? Well, some of you do the rest of you in trouble.
You listen, the truth is why not go to bed every night talking to God.
Listen, if it only takes you a few moments to look back during the day and say, Lord did I walk with you today?
And when you wake up in the morning, you begin to begin the day of saying, Lord, enable me to follow you today and to walk with you today and to become what you want me to be.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, which is the first step.
You’re not walking with Him. And I want to encourage you to look at your life, ask God to show you what He sees.
And then you’re gonna be confessing and repenting of your sin, asking God to forgive you, which He promised to do if we confess our sins.
He is faithful and just here has the right to forgive us because of the cross.
Get your life straightened up, not about what you do, but about what He’s going to do in you and through you and then start your walk with God.
Look how long you’ve walked without Him.
You may be one of those persons that says, well, I’ve done pretty good without Him.
No, it’s His grace, love and mercy. That’s allowed you to come this far.
He could take you off the scene in a split second.
The issue is, are you willing to walk with God?
And that’s my prayer for you, father, how grateful we are.
But that’s simple verse that says Enoch walked with God and he was not because you took Him.
May it be said of each of us and every one of us, we walked with God do whatever is necessary change, whatever is necessary to get us back in step with you.
Not ahead of you, not behind you just didn’t step with you in Jesus. Name.
Amen.