When you walk with someone obviously you won’t be going in opposite directions. If so, you can’t listen to them, enjoy them, share things with them, much less understand them. So it is with God. Walking with God is not just an hour on Sunday morning, it’s a lifestyle. In this evil generation it’s not hard to notice a man or woman of God whose heart is aligned with God’s heart. Why? Because their light shines so bright given their walk with God that it sets them apart from the world. What does the Bible say about our walk with God? Twenty-one clarifying verses:
God has defined for us what it is to walk with Him:
1. Deuteronomy 8:6: “Observe the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.”
2. Micah 6:8: “He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you— to act with justice, to treasure the LORD’s gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.”
3. Romans 13:13: “Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy.”
4. Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
5. Colossians 1:10-11: “…so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full knowledge of God. You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy.”
When we walk with the Lord we draw closer to Him with all our heart. He becomes our focus. Our hearts long for Him. We seek His presence. Our desire to have fellowship with Christ and be like Him will grow while our worldly desires will decrease:
6. 1 John 2:6: “The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.”
7. Luke 10:27: “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
8. Hebrews 10:22: “…let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
When walking with God we desire to please God and allow Him to work in our lives to make us into the image of His Son:
9. Romans 8:29: “…because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
10. Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
When walking with the Lord we will grow in awareness of sin in our lives and our need for a Savior. More and more we will grow in hatred of our sins and want to rid our lives of them. Therefore, more and more we will confess and forsake our sins:
11. Luke 18:13: “But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven. Instead, he continued to beat his chest and said, ‘O God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am!’”
12. 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
When we are walking with God we don’t let other things distract us from Christ.
13. Luke 10:40-42: “But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”
We will walk by faith:
14. 2 Corinthians 5:7: “Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight.”
15. Romans 1:17: “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
We can’t walk with the Lord if we’re living in darkness. We can’t have God but do evil.
16. 1 John 1:6-7: “If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
17. Galatians 5:16: “I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
A genuine walk with God aligns with God’s will:
18. Amos 3:3: “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”
19. Genesis 6:8-9: “Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the LORD. These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.”
Our walk with God is one of assurance:
20. John 8:12: “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’”
21. 2 Peter 1:10, 11: “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”