by Francis Pavlas
One must walk with God in order to reach heaven. Walking with God or reaching heaven is not an easy thing, because first we must know the necessary ways and the conditions to get closer to God, before reaching heaven. It is very clear that one must first walk with God in order to reach heaven, without walking with God it is impossible for any person to reach heaven.
Today many people are thinking that becoming a Christian is very easy, but they must realize that living as a Christian is not so easy. Because God had given a book to LEARN IT AND TO OBSERVE IT AND OBEY IT, before we start to walk with God. That book is the BIBLE.
The Bible very clearly tells us the history of the greatest people, who had walked with God and reached heaven. For example in Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis we can study about ENOCH, who had walked with God and God took him up and he did not see death like us.
Chapter 6 of the book of Genesis tells us about NOAH. In the time of Noah "The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord... Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God." (Gen. 6:5-9 RSV)
Here we can see that Enoch had observed and obeyed God in order to walk with God and Naoh observed and obeyed God and he was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. If Enoch and Noah fail to observe the things commanded by God, can they walk with God? Certainly not.
The same way when God asked Abraham to go to another place, he went without asking any questions and he obeyed God fully. So he was called Friend of God and Father of Faith. If he had failed to obey or walk with God, can he be called Friend of God and Father of Faith? Of course not. He was called such because he obeyed and observed every instruction of God.
Walking after God - God leads us, so we must not have any doubt in God's command. The 10th chapter of the book of Jeremiah tells us that "...the Lord is the TRUE GOD; HE IS THE LIVING GOD AND THE EVERLASTING KING" and He is the one who directs man, therefore, whatever things God said is very TRUE and no WRONG.
We should not have any doubts in the WORD OF GOD. The Bible says "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17 RSV).
In the 23rd Psalm, David says "Walking with God is a companionship" and also he tells us about his confidence in God's grace. And the 119th Psalm verse 130 says "the unfolding of the word gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple."
In the book of Matthew chapter 28 verse 20, Jesus says "...to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." (KJV). From this verse it is very clear that we must observe all things, not to observe one thing and leave out 99 or observe 99 and leave out one.
Therefore let us ask ourselves whether we are observing all the things as commanded by God. Of course we cannot say "Yes", because in many ways we are failing to observe all things, since some of us never realize that walking with God is walking before Him. Even we forget that God can see us daily and He knows what we are doing daily and keeps an account thereof.
Today many of us fail to walk with God, because we neglect to obey God fully. We will talk about personal work but very few will turn up for the task. We will discuss about the methods hourly but fail to preach the message of Jesus. We preach about love but never show love practically. We study to share one another's burden but never put it into action. We talk about worship services but very few attend the Sunday service. So if we keep on doing things like these, how can we walk with God and reach heaven. We observe 50 percent and leave out 50 percent. And how can we please God.
Finally brothers and sisters, please try our best to obey all the necessary things which God had commanded us in order to walk with God and reach heaven.
