My college days in retrospect had a lot of highs and lows . But this week I was reminded of my walks with my friends round my campus and outside campus. These walks were amongst my highs for me while I was there.
I remember waking up so early to make it for 7:00 am classes which was pretty much a struggle for me as I am a nocturnal human being. But there was something about walking with my friends to class that made it feel like less of a struggle. Because we had engaging conversations and good laughs here & there and so on
Walking back to our rooms after long days could pretty much be a struggle for me sometimes too but walking with my friends made it worth it. I remember how hard we’d laugh on the “streets”of our college not minding who was watching. We were always in our own bubble everytime we took our walks together to wherever we chose to go.
Moreso, everybody in class knew my friends and I because we walked together almost every time.
Now let us examine these verses from the bible:
Enoch walked faithfully with God, then He was no more. Because God took him- Genesis 5:24
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God – Genesis 6:9
Pondering and wondering what it was like for Enoch and Noah to walk with God and what it would be like to walk with God in this time and age.
The Holy Spirit reminded me of my walks with my friends and how I can walk with God faithfully as my friend. Walking with God is pretty much similar to walking with my close friend.
God pretty much appreciated and loved the ways Enoch and Noah walked with Him and I believe God is telling us very much that such a walk with Him is possible even now as the world evolves constantly.
This world is full of so much darkness and it pretty much is hard on it’s on but walking through this world with Jesus makes it all worth it.
How can we walk with this big God whose throne is in heaven?
We must first see God as Our Friend: God more than anything would love to be friends with each and every one of us. That is the sole reason for our creation. He created us so that we can constantly have fellowship with Him, have amazing conversations with Him. In Genesis 3:8, the bible tells us that God left His throne in heaven in the cool of the evening to come fellowship with Adam and Eve but they hid themselves from Him because they had allowed sin into their lives. It is safe to say that this was something God did daily with Adam and Eve until they disobeyed Him.
Sin is really the enemy which tends to break the seamless communication between us and God.
But Enoch and Noah did not allow this thing called sin to stop them from walking with God. They knew what they were here for and how amazing a walking friendship with God was and they went for it. And they stood out for it in their generation.
A man can not walk with God and not stand out!
Now we have Jesus who came to bridge this gap caused by sin. He makes it even better and easier to commune with God because through Him we can access the father freely. John 14:6
Engage God in Conversations: I mentioned earlier how I had questions about how I could walk with God just as Enoch and Noah and the Holy Spirit did bring to my memory my walks with my friends. God is a living God, unlike other gods- He listens, and He speaks. There are so many examples of men and women that had conversations with God in the Bible from Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, Prophetess Deborah,Gideon and so on.
Jeremiah 33:3 tells us to call to God whenever we are clueless and He would answer us, revealing to us deep and secret things we never imagined or thought.
Let us make it a habit to always ask Him questions whenever we have them The same way you’d engage your friends in conversations to hear what they think or to answer your questions. Do the same with God and make sure you wait, pay attention to when He gives you the answer to what you asked for.
Walk Humbly with God : As we walk with our Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, let us do so in all humility. Let us do so with the knowledge that He made us, He gave us everything that we have, He knows everything hidden or exposed. He can decide to take back His breath resident in us or the blessings He has given to us at any time.
Therefore whenever we approach Him, we should do so in all humility because God resists the proud. James 4:6-7
May the Lord give us the grace to be humble, and to stay humble in Jesus name.
Walk Closely with God: To walk closely with anyone is to have an active channel of communication with that person. The same goes for walking closely with God. We can start by telling Him everything about ourselves, He delights in the intricacies of our lives and It would please Him to hear you share every bit of yourself with Him. You can do so as you walk to catch your bus, or as you drive to work or school. You can do so just before you go to bed, you just go ahead and pick a time that walks best for you. A time to express yourself to the Lord and allow Him to respond to us as well.
And whenever you need to confess your sins or things you struggle with, please go ahead! Like I said earlier, sin is the thing that keeps digging deep and wide gaps between us and God. But when we do confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, God gives us a clean slate and we can continue with our walk with Him.
I pray the Lord helps us to not keep falling into the same sin again and again in Jesus name.
Walk with God Openly: I told you how everybody in my class knew my clique of friends because we went everywhere together and were not ashamed to show our friendship to the whole of Babcock University.
I believe our friendship with God should be made public, it should be something you allow the world to see. I remember lessons from my foundation class, my teacher pointed out that some of the signs of a rejuvenated life is that family and friends can see a difference in the ways we do things.
We also should not be ashamed to share our friendship with Jesus with the world. The same way you show to the world how much you love your friend, let the world see your thriving relationship with Jesus.
Nonetheless, you’d never know who you’d be encouraging by doing so.
We are able to read and be encouraged in faith and our walk with God now because men and women in the past had been open about their friendship and walk with God.
Walk Faithfully with God: The last on my list but not the least. You know how spouses promise to stay together in sickness or health, wealth or poverty, good times or bad times ? That is a pledge of faithfulness to each other. The same should be applied to our relationship with God. We should make up our minds to walk with Him during good times and bad times. Let us walk with Him with the knowledge that He is with us all through it all – good times and bad times.
And it is worth it, it will be worth it !