Steps to Intimacy With God预览

OBEY

Respond in faith to God’s specific direction.

Faith is our response to God’s Word to us. Like Abraham, we demonstrate our faith every time we obey God. Faith is far more than willpower, however. It is a direct result of intimacy with God. The closer we walk with Him, the greater our faith will grow. Knowing God better leads to trusting Him. If we find ourselves lacking faith, the answer is not to try harder—it is to draw closer to God and know Him better.

As we give our heart over to His leading, we hear His voice more and more clearly. Learn to listen for the prompting of God and respond with faith. As we come to know God better, our desire to please Him grows. We long for a lifestyle characterized by purity and holiness. But the reality is that we still have sinful tendencies, and we often find ourselves doing the opposite of what we want. The answer to living in purity and holiness is not trying harder. That only produces self-righteousness and pride at first, and ultimately condemnation and guilt when we realize we can’t measure up.

The best way to pursue holiness is to focus on following God, not on defeating sin. Through Jesus, God already provided us with freedom from both the penalty and the power of sin. Purity and righteousness will be a natural result of a life lived with God. We don’t have to force anything—we simply respond to God’s leading each moment of the day.

The Bible sometimes uses the phrase “walking in the Spirit” to refer to a lifestyle of obedience. The beautiful thing about this phrase is how it communicates the need for relationship. Obedience is not “walking in law” or “walking in willpower” or “walking in good deeds.” It is walking in the Spirit. It is an ongoing, personal, intimate, and growing relationship with God through the Spirit. God will direct us as we daily surrender our lives to Him and develop an intimate knowledge of His will for our life.

God leads, and we follow. God initiates, and we respond. We don’t have life all figured out and we never will. God does, though, and He is faithful to lead us every step of the way. One day we will look back and see His hand at work in each milestone and turning point in our life. You are about to enter a new era in your walk with God. The rest of your life is an adventure waiting to happen.