Walking with God

Introduction—

1. Relationship with God not a sprint but a marathon.

   1. Maybe not a marathon as much as a walk.

2. Talk about biblical figures who walked with God.

   1. Enoch—Genesis 5:22-24

   2. Noah—Genesis 6:9

3. I'm going to read The Greatest Commandment in Deuteronomy 10:12, which is reiterated in many places, And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

4. Godly men and women aspire to having a great walk with God.

5. Psalm 84:11 (is inspiring) For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

6. The following will be some important principles to strengthen your walk with God.

Main Points—

1. Prayer Life

   1. Approach God with confidence

      1. Think of someone in your life whom you can go to with confidence in any type of situation. How does that make you feel?

      2. Let's see how two verses use the word confidence: Ephesians 3:10-12 and Hebrews 4:14-16

         1. Both these passages use the word "confidence" for how we approach God

         2. What does this mean to you?

   2. Learning process

      1. Luke 11:1-4 shows us that prayer had to be learned by Jesus' apostles

         1. It is not a natural thing you just innately do

         2. Like any other training, you need to develop a structure that helps grow

   3. Hindrances to our prayer life

      1. Lack of concentration—1Peter 4:7

      2. Lack of personal righteousness—Psalms 66:18  18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
                the Lord would not have listened;

      3. Lack of persistence—Luke 18:1-8 persistent widow—many times God is testing us to go the extra bit in our hearts

      4. Praying contrary to God's will—1John 5:14 according to His will He hears us

      5. Lack of faith—Mark 11:24 NEED I GIVE A VERSE

      6. Other verses on prayer look on these notes on our biblestudy blog: Matthew 6:5; John 9:31; 14:13-14; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2-4; James 5:16-17.

   4. Have a goal to spend time with God before you start every day

1. Read Psalms 5:1-3

2. Example of Jesus—Luke 5:15-16; 6:12-13; 9:18; 11:1; Mark 1:32-36; and Hebrews 5:7-10 -- "Prayer was the atmosphere in which he lived. It was the air he breathed" (G.S. Thomas).

3. How does Jesus' example of prayer inspire you?

1. Rely on God throughout your day

   1. Like Paul praying for the Philippians in chapter one, our prayer life should bring us joy

   2. Philippians 4 prayer melts worries away

   3. 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 "16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1. Fasting—Matthew 6:17-18 when you fast

1. Studying God's Word

   1. Ephesians 6:18 – strengthening your sword is a key way to fight spiritually

   2. Matthew 4:4 importance of staying in the word—like food, if you don't stay in it you won't stay spiritually nourished + you could die spiritually

   3. We know 2Timothy 3:16-17 and Hebrews 4:12-13 (quote them)--can you make a list of all the areas God's word equips you?

   4. James 1:22-25 shows us that it is not only important to know God's word, but it is important to do what it says

      1. What happens to the man who does not put God's word into practice?

      2. Write down some things you know that are right and that you intend on putting consistently into practice

      3. We know holding to the truth is how you know the truth and be set free (John 8:31-32)

      4. Further convicting Scripture: Ezekiel 33:30-33

   5. So the charge to Timothy is also to all of us: 2Timothy 2:15

      1. 1Peter 3:15 ...be prepared to give an answer to everyone for the hope you profess...

         1. The urgency of knowing your bible is our lost world

   6. Main motivation for deepening our knowledge of God's word...

      1. Is deepening our knowledge of God

         1. God is eager to be known by us, but how eager are we to get to know God?

      2. Psalms 1:1-3 delightful to a man or women of God

2. Dependence on God

   1. Effectiveness for life--

      1. Business principles and humanism will teach you that becoming independent is most effective.

      2. Humanism will also teach you interdependence—working effectively with people is most effective.

      3. Really, dependence on God is the most effective life—the one Jesus lived.

   2. Balance of faith, works, and grace

      1. Faith

         1. Hebrews 11:6 says we need faith to please God

         2. James 2:14-16 and John 8:30-32 show that faith is more than intellectual belief, but also about your actions.

            • Thus, we'll understand the importance of works of faith.

      2. Works

         1. Ephesians 2:8-10 our salvation is not by our doing—WE MESSED IT UP!

            • That does not mean what we do is unimportant!

            • It also doesn't mean that God doesn't expect anything from us!

            • Like Naaman healed of leprosy in 2Kings 5, salvation is an unearned gift conditioned on our obedience.

            • We need to understand the balance of faith and works—understanding grace is the connector

      3. Grace

         1. Titus 3:5

         2. Jude 4

         3. 1Corinthians 15:10 getting grace will have its effect

         4. Titus 2:11-14

            • Walking with God is about growing in that grace

            • God has provided ample grace for the biggest sinner to grow

              • Net illustration

            • Likewise, 2Timothy 2:1 charge to Timothy is also for us: be strong in the grace

         5. We don't confess our sins to get God's grace, but we confess our sins because we already have it and we love it!

            • As we confess our sins...(we can be sure, have confidence)...God is faithful and just, and will forgive us from all unrighteousness" (1John 1:9).

Applications—

Different things will go on this Summer, but know that your walk with God is always the constant—"Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

Taking our walk with God to different places, heights, strength, succinctness, will be the main challenge of us all. Above any goal of mine, I want to be more faithful and courageous in my walk with God.

Close with the promise in Jeremiah 7:23 ...that it may go well with you

God wants it to go well with us, so let's trust more fully in Him by growing in these key areas:

1. Prayer life—pray continually

2. God's word—learn new things this Summer

3. Depend on God—strike the balance in your life-style