A person’s morale, confidence, courage, self-esteem, and public acceptance can be boosted or damaged by whom they are walking with.
It, therefore, follows that if one walks with someone who is powerful, your safety and security will be somehow enhanced or assured. The opposite is also correct if the person is a weak fellow, your safety and security will be under threat.
If you walk with someone who is financially buoyant, your provision will be enhanced or assured.
If you walk with someone who is intelligent, your knowledge will be somehow enhanced or assured.
If you walk with someone who is highly placed in the society, your connection will be enhanced or assured.
Proverbs 13:20 AMP “He who walks [as a companion] with wise men will be wise, But the companions of [conceited, dull-witted] fools [are fools themselves and] will experience harm.”
In 2 Kings 3:1-27, Jehoram solicited the help of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and the king of Edom to follow him in battle against Mesha the king of Moab. As they advanced to war, their water ran out. Jehoshaphat at that point said they needed to seek Divine counsel. They came to Prophet Elisha.
Elisha was very reluctant to speak to king Ahab, talkless of helping them out, if not for Jehoshaphat who was with them. Jehoshaphat presence brought safety to the lives of all the men.
2 Kings 3:14 AMP “Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts (armies) lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you [king of Israel].”
This shows that person that one is walking with is very crucial in either making or destroying one’s destiny.
The Bible also make us to know that Samson was created by God as a very powerful person. Thousands of soldiers could not withstand him. Lions could not. Gates of big cities could not stand in his way; but the kind of women he chose to be walking with led to his downfall.
Judges 14:1-3 AMP “Samson went down to Timnah and at Timnah he saw a woman, one of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went back and told his father and his mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as a wife.” But his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised (pagan) Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she lookspleasing to me.””
In I Sam. 22: 1-2, David’s brothers, including certain people who were debtors and distressed in the society gathered unto him in the wilderness having ran away from King Saul. Not long afterward, because they have walked with David the brave, they soon became mighty men of war (2 Sam. 23:8-23). They were commanders of thousands.
1 Samuel 22:1-2 AMP “So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard about it, they went down there to him. Everyone who was suffering hardship, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. There were about four hundred men with him.”
Also, in Judges 11:1-3, we read how vain men and vagabonds of a society gathered to Jephthar having been chased out of home by his father’s sons, because his own mother was a harlot. These vain men later became captains and commanders of the national army because they had walked with the fearless Jephthar.
Judges 11:1-3 AMP “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”
Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless and unprincipled men gathered around Jephthah, and went out [on raids] with him.”
We can see that a man’s life can be changed or transformed by whom they are walking with or have walked with.
Today, it is the Almighty God Himself that has asked me to tell you that He will walk with you this year. If you receive that promise, shout Amen!
Examples of people who God walked with, or we might say who walked with God.
If they did, we certainly can do it as well.
- Enoch walked with God
Genesis 5:22 AMP “Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters.”
- Noah walked with God
Genesis 6:9c AMP
“These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God.”
- Abraham walked with God
Genesis 18:16-17 AMP “Then the men got up from there, and looked toward Sodom; and Abraham walked with them to send them on the way. The Lord said, “Shall I keep secret from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do,”
- Isaac walked with God
Genesis 48:15 AMP “Then Jacob (Israel) blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked [in faithful obedience], The God who has been my Shepherd [leading and caring for me] all my life to this day,”
- Jacob walked with God
Genesis 28:15-16 AMP “Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, “Without any doubt the Lord is in this place, and I did not realize it.””
Benefits of walking with God – using the people above as case study
These men lived good and encouraging lives. We too will be able to live good…
They lived righteous lives. God being righteous. His personality will rub on us.
They lived wealthy lives. God owns the universe. He can bless man as He likes.
They lived long lives, especially Enoch.
They lived influential lives. Today, we say God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
They lived victorious lives. None was a victim of life. We too will not be victims…
What are the Prerequisites to walk with God
- Must remain righteous. We are made righteous by God by grace, but we must remain so.
Genesis 6:9b AMP “These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God.”
- Must be determined to walk with God. Must have had an encounter with God when he turned 65yrs.
Genesis 5:21-23 AMP “When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.”
- Must believe in God’s words and that you can walk with Him, even though we can’t see Him physically.
Genesis 15:6 AMP “Then Abram believed in (affirmed, trusted in, relied on, remained steadfast to) the Lord; and He counted (credited) it to him as righteousness (doing right in regard to God and man).”
- Must be willing to obey God’s instructions and commandments
Genesis 26:1-4, 6 AMP “Now there was a famine in the land [of Canaan], besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I will tell you. Live temporarily [as a resident] in this land and I will be with you and will bless and favor you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will establish and carry out the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, So Isaac stayed in Gerar.”
- Must engage in prevailing prayers. Even though God has promised. We must not fold your hands. Intense prayers are necessary to bring the promises to pass. Example:
Genesis 31:3 AMP “Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.””
Genesis 32:6-8 AMP “The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps; and he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape.””
Genesis 32:26-28 AMP – receive his breakthrough “Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.””
Genesis 33:4, 16-17 AMP “But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].
So Esau turned back [toward the south] that day on his way to Seir.
But Jacob journeyed [north] to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).”
This is what God has asked me to tell us as individuals, as families and as a church today.
He says He will walk with us this year.
I trust wholly in the Lord that He will walk with me this year.
I trust wholly in the Lord that He will walk with our Assembly this year.
Do you trust that He will walk with you? He will do so if you believe His word and follow the above advice.
Let us pray
Prayers
Father, walk me me this year.
Father, let Your presence go with me this year.
Father, see me through this year gloriously.
– Sermon preached by Pastor Sam Obafaiye on Thanksgiving Sunday 01/01/2023