Walking With God

While reading from II Chronicles 6:14 I stumbled on this phrase "your servants who walk before you with all their heart." The word "walk" means to converse and to follow.

What does it mean to converse with God. I heard the story about a blind lady who used to spend eight hours a day conversing with God. She used that time to plead for her island to be brought to God. She had heard about a mighty preacher named Duncan Campbell being used powerfully of God and she began asking God to bring him to that island. In time Campbell did come and her prayers were answered as God brought a mighty revival to her island off the coast of Scotland.

I also heard the story of a coal miner from Wales who gave his life to conversing with God. The Lord would often wake him up in the middle of the night to pray before going to work. He prayed for thirteen years for God to move mightily in Wales. Eventually God did and Evan Roberts became in many ways the face of the revival though he shunned the spotlight.

The story is told of one revival meeting where he preached. He showed up and prayed for three straight hours on the front pew. The people waited on the Lord and to see what Roberts would do. After three hours of praying he got up and preached for fifteen minutes. He returned to praying and left to pray at home. Over 100,000 people were saved in six months.

A study I read recently cited that the average Christian prays between three to seven minutes a day. Another study cites the sobering statistic that the average pastor prays only about five minutes a day. We need men and women as well as pastors who will be more than average. We need people who walk with God conversing with Him.

Yes, that means that part of that time we pour our hearts out to Him in prayer. That is only a one sided conversation though. To be conversant in our walk with God there must be times we also listen. I have been seeking the Lord on a matter for weeks and weeks lately pleading with God to speak to me. This morning He did. It was really just one word. Yet with that one word God gave me the long needed direction I had been pleading for.

Walking with God means conversing with Him. It also means following Him. When God spoke to me this morning I had a choice to make. I could believe what He said by faith or I could reject His instructions. How many times do people go to the word of God or attend church on a Sunday and hear a Bible message but make no application to their lives. They refuse to follow through on the truth they just heard and be obedient. You cannot walk with God in close communion and rebel against His instructions.

Following is not always easy. There are times when God's instructions are a head scratcher. They are confusing. They do not make sense to the rational mind. There are times when God leads His followers to risky adventures with no guarantees of success. If you are going to walk with God you have to walk with God down those irrational paths and down those risky roads.

The key word not to miss here is you walk WITH God. He does not abandon you on the journey. He is with you every step of the way to provide strength, encouragement, counsel, hope, endurance, and provision. You have to be willing to follow and obey His leadership. Following Him is step after step of faith.

Walking with God involves conversation with Him and following Him. This leads to a life of adventure. This leads to a life of rich experiences with God. This is not a life of dead stale religion. This is the most exciting life imaginable.

Today will you commit to walk with God? To converse with Him? To follow Him? More than that will you commit to a lifetime of walking, conversing, and following God? If you do it will lead down exciting roads you could have never imagined.