INTRODUCTION
“And all this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ thy Son, Our Savior. Amen.” That was the closing words and the first prayer in the Congress of the United States of America.
Communicating with God is a powerful thing … prayer is us saying to God that we “need him.”
When you feel tired … when you feel worn out … and even your faith in the Lord is on a rocky road … you can walk with God again.
John Wesley prayed, “Oh Lord, Take full possession of my heart.”
I want Christ to take FULL POSSESSION of our lives and hearts!
In Matthew 11 we learn that there was a group of cities that he had worked very hard in, but the people refused to listen … in verses 21-24 he speaks very harshly to the people of those cities …
THEN … all of a sudden … Jesus breaks into prayer … his tone changes … he asks these people who have not fully accepted him to ‘COME TO ME’ … ‘WALK WITH ME’ … ‘KEEP COMPANY WITH ME.’
That is Christ’s prayer for all of us … “Come, Walk with Me.’
He wants US more than anything else in life …
What’s your prayer? How badly do you want God to “walk with you?” How hard do you want God to HEAR YOUR CRY?
Jesus says in these verses … ‘Get Away With Me’ – and your life will be full … it will have meaning …
Jesus has it bad for you … to spend time with you … to help you … to love you … that’s HIS CRY FOR YOU!
Martin Luther prayed: “Lord, although I am sure of my position, without your help I cannot maintain it. Help me or I am lost!”
You see, those who have done great things for God have always felt the need to have God “Come, walk with them.”
So often, we get consumed with what we see that we forget to see what we cannot see.
Does that make sense?
It’s the person that we cannot see with our eyes that we must always keep at the forefront of our lives.
Mother Theresa is one of my heroes of life … listen to one of her prayers … “Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine: it will be You shining on others through me. Let me thus praise You in the way You love best: by shining on those around me. Let me preach You without preaching, not by words, but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You. Amen.”
Wow … what a prayer? “Possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours.”
This is someone who wanted to WALK WITH GOD! This is someone who wanted God to HEAR HER CRY!
Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden … they had one of the most unique relationships with God all any created persons … and somewhere in their journey they stopped “walking with God” and started “living for themselves.”
What does it mean to walk with God?
1. It means you are madly in love with God – he has your undivided attention.
Who has your love? Who have you given your heart to?
If you are really walking with God … He is the number one person of your life … and when he no longer is that number one person you are not walking as close to him as you should.
God is looking for your EXTREME LOVE and DEVOTION … what is the reason you get up in the morning? Who are you dreaming of when you go to sleep at night?
Psalm 69:9: “I love you more than I can say. Because I’m madly in love with you…” (MSG).
2. It means you live for Him with your thoughts, words, and actions.
We have to be different!
LIFE PRINCIPLE: Our lifestyle must reflect our Lord.
Leviticus 20:26: “You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own” (NLT).
Man, what do you think about? What are you doing when no one is watching?
God wants to HEAR OUR CRY, but many times our thoughts, words, and actions get in the way!
God has set us apart … the things we say … the things we watch … the things we listen to should make Christ happy!
3. It means that you serve Him selflessly.
Our life should be a life of service to the Lord!
Ministry is not just for the youth pastors! Every person at this retreat is a minister!
Let me ask you: “How is your ministry?”
Ministry? What’s that?
God has a plan and a purpose for YOU … and that is not just to go to school – graduate – get through college – and then work from 9 to 5 … it’s to do something that will last!
And the only thing that will last is what you do for God … that’s ministry!
Joshua 24:14: “So honor the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly …” (NLT).
Give your life to God’s work … serve Him with your whole heart … don’t hold back … don’t get distracted … run after His plan for your life.
Proverbs 19:21: “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
CONCLUSION
Two people that I believe had such a love for God in the OT were Enoch and Noah …
There isn’t much known in the Bible about Enoch, but we know 1 strong fact about his life … in Genesis 5:24 it says, “Enoch walked with God.” What a great HABIT!
Then there was Noah … most of us know him as the “flood guy,” but Noah was so much more than that … listen to Genesis 6:9 … “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”
As we said a few moments ago … Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden … they had probably one of the most unique relationships that anyone could have with God …
However, they stopped walking with God!
Many of you in this room need to have a GARDEN ENCOUNTER … if you need to “walk with God again” … I am going to ask you to meet me in our Garden … in our place where we can WALK WITH GOD AGAIN …
