In today’s podcast, we address the question of what it means to walk in a blameless fashion before Almighty God. One gentleman said that it’s better to walk with Almighty God than to talk with kings. Now, it’s obvious why that’s true. He is King of all Kings. When you are talking to God, you are talking to Number 1. There is no higher than He. In a sermon on “Enoch walked with God,” Dr. Campbell Morgan gave the following illustration: A little child gave a most exquisite explanation of walking with God. She went home from Sunday School, and the mother said, “Tell me what you learned at school.” And she said: “Don’t you know, Mother, one day they went for an extra-long walk, and they walked on and on, until God said to Enoch, “You are a long way from home; you had better just come in and stay.” And he went.”1 Walking Blamelessly Before Almighty God: Why It’s Good, that’s what we are talking about in this week’s Light On Life.
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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.
Accept the Challenge
Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This weeks call is:
You’re invited to walk blamelessly with God. Accept the invitation. Your Father God loves you and wants to develop this born-again relationship with you as His child.
Join the Conversation
Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome through it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:
How did life change for you when you decided to walk blamelessly with God? Please leave your testimony in the comments section below.
Episode Resources
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You can find more information on the subject of ‘Kinds of Prayer’ and walking with God by clicking on the links above.
- #S6-003: Why It’s Important to Spend Time Talking to God [Podcast]
- #S6-004: Five More Simple Secrets When Praying to God [Podcast]
- #S6-005: Faith and Prayer: Important Lessons to Know [Podcast]
- #S6-006: Why Praying in Faith Means to Believe You Receive [Podcast]
- #S6-007: How to Build Your Life Praying Bible Prayers[Podcast]
- #S6-008: Prayer of Agreement: the Power of Praying with People [Podcast]
- #S6-009: Why You Need to Tell God You Will Do Anything He Asks [Podcast]
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.
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Podcast Notes
Review: Why Walking Blamelessly with Almighty God is Way More Powerful than Individualism
- The Lord had explicit timing for bringing man on the scene by His creative power.
Genesis 2:5 (ESV) — 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
- There was no bush of the field, right?
- I’m reading from Genesis 2:5.
- There was no small plant in the field, and there was no rain.
- And the reason why those didn’t exist? — because there was no man to till the ground.
- And with that thought, here’s the Illustration of the Day.
The Illustration of the Day
One of Rabbi Ben Jochai’s scholars once asked him, “Why did not the Lord furnish enough manna to Israel for a year, all at one time?”
- Well, that’s a great question.
- We could have made that the Question of the Day.
- Here’s the Rabbi’s answer.
The teacher said, “I will answer you with a parable. Once there was a king who had a son to whom he gave a yearly allowance, paying him the entire sum on the fixed date. It soon happened that the day on which the allowance was due was the only day in the year when the father ever saw his son. So the king changed his plan and gave his son day by day that which sufficed for the day; and then the son visited his father every morning. How he needed his father’s unbroken love, companionship, wisdom and giving! Thus God dealt with Israel and deals with us.”2
Walking Blamelessly with God Forever
- The Almighty God wants you to walk with Him — He wants to walk with you — working together — bringing His Kingdom plan to fruition with you right by His side.
- And, this joint walk doesn’t end with the Rapture of the Church.
- It doesn’t end with you going home to be with Jesus.
- Listen to it here in Revelation.
Revelation 3:4 (ESV) — 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
- Walking with Jesus in white refers to the white ‘Robe of Righteousness’ you will receive in heaven.
- Walking in white is walking in the afterlife.
Revelation 19:8 (ESV) — 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
- So, get used to the concept of doing life together with God.
- That’s His heart’s desire.
- Talk to Him with these thoughts as your background.
Walking Blamelessly with God and Religious Prayer
- Talking to God per His heart’s desire will pull you out of the religiosity of praying.
- Now that takes a little bit of explanation.
- Prayer is a Bible word.
- It is found in the ESV translation of the Bible, 140 times — in the KJV; it’s 138 times.
- Prayer is a Bible word but how we go about it is not always according to the Bible.
- One day the Lord said to me, ‘You’re a little bit religious in your praying.’
- Another day, He said to me, ‘My people just throw words up at me.’
- When you are walking with your wife or your husband or a close friend when you are doing life with them, how does it turn out when you throw words at them?
- H. Norman Wright, in trying to help people with communication in marriage, gave ten tips when talking.
- Here is a few of them.
Communication Tips When Talking to God: Be a Ready Listener
1. Be a ready listener and do not answer until the other person has finished talking.
- Have you ever cut God off when He was trying to tell you something? I have.
- I didn’t even think that I was doing that.
- Here’s the thing, if you do that in the natural, you will do that with God when you are talking to God.
- Talking is talking.
- If you interrupt people when they are talking, you will carry that tendency into the Throne.
- You don’t, all of a sudden, become a different person just because you say, ‘Father, in the Name of Jesus.’
- If you interrupt your wife, husband, and friends on earth, you will interrupt God in heaven.
- You will do it, but here’s the thing, He knows way more than you do.
- He has the answer.
- We don’t get the answer sometimes because God is a perfect gentleman.
- If you want to talk, He will let you talk.
- But, if you want the answer, you are going to have to be polite and listen.
- Now, that’s a decision you have to make.
Communication Tips When Talking to God: Be Slow to Speak
2. Be slow to speak. Think first. Don’t be hasty in your words. Speak in such a way that the other person can understand and accept what you say. * Does this marriage communication principle work with God?
- Yes!
Ecclesiastes 5:2 (ESV) — 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
- Here is the next one.
Communication Tips When Talking to God: Don’t Exaggerate
3. Speak the truth always, but do it in love. Do not exaggerate.
- An exaggeration is a form of lying.
- It won’t work in the Throne before Him, who knows everything about everyone.
- Speak the truth with God.
Ten Communication Tips When Talking to God: Don’t Give the Silent Treatment
4. Do not use silence to frustrate your spouse. Explain why you are hesitant to talk at this time.
- Do people get mad with one another and don’t speak? All the time.
- What about God?
- Do people get mad with Him and don’t talk to Him?
- Happens all the time.
- He already knows — take the time to tell Him why are you upset with Him — but also be willing to take the time to hear the why of your situation.
- Most people get upset with God because they prayed a prayer that wasn’t answered.
- In some cases, the Lord will answer you; in other cases, He won’t if you ask about something that is really none of your business.
Ten Communication Tips When Talking to God: Don’t Nag God
5. Avoid nagging.3
- We do this with the Lord when we keep asking Him for something that we already asked Him about like He didn’t hear us the first time.
- Now, I didn’t say that you can’t go back and discuss a particular request with Him.
- But, you don’t need to think answered prayer is the accumulation of asking.
- If I ask the Lord for something a hundred times to show that I really mean it or show that I really want it, then when I ask for the 101st time, He will grant it — that’s not prayer.
- According to His will, if you prayed a Bible prayer, His answer to that prayer is Yes — and it is yes the first time.
- What you need to work out with Him is the details — now what I mean by that is not asking Him how He will do it — but what you need to do to make sure you are in a position to receive.
- Some people think that they are ready and they are not.
- They think they have believed that they received and they haven’t.
- But they think they have.
- So pray maybe like this: ‘Lord, I asked you about this, and I know that you heard me because you hear me always. Your Word said this, and I know your Word is true. Is there anything that I need to do to come into line with your laws of receiving?’
- So, don’t nag Him — visit with Him.
- If you understand that God values your friendship as much you value His, that joint knowing will pull you out of traditionally uttering words from a prayer book and instead just expressing your heart to Him.
- That’s what He wants. * The Almighty God doesn’t want your head; he wants your heart.
- So Enoch walked with Almighty God; we looked at that.
- Noah walked with Almighty God; we looked at that also.
- Let’s take a look at Abraham.
Abraham Walked Blamelessly with Almighty God
Genesis 17:1 (ESV) — 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
- Walking with God and walking before God is the same activity.
- It’s the same thing – just different wording.
- The Lord told Abraham, and by telling him, he also tells you that when you walk with me, you have to do that in a certain way.
- The word He used to describe that here is the word ‘blameless.’
- And with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
- The Hebrew word ‘blameless’ is an adjective that means free of guilt.
- One sense of the word means to be complete, unscathed, intact.
- Another sense of blameless means to be without fault or free of blemish.
- Yet, one more sense of blameless means to be impeccable – that is honest, devout — you can throw the word integrity in there, and it would fir.
- So, the Lord said, to walk with me be free of guilt.
- You will walk better together if you are not always blaming yourself — if you are not always in a state of self-condemnation.
Acts 24:16 (ESV) — 16 So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.
- Don’t allow yourself to be infected with the would-a, could-a, should-a syndrome.
- Get rid of self-inflicted condemnation and guilt.
- Quit beating yourself up and beating yourself down, and certainly don’t let anyone else do it to you either.
- Walk with Him in blameless fellowship.
- Now, notice that this was Abraham that the Lord was speaking to.
- Abraham was pivotal in God’s plan.
- But, as vital as he was, he was still before Jesus, before Calvary, and before the Blood of Jesus washed away all of our sins.
- If Abraham could walk blamelessly – if he could walk free from guilt and do all of that before Jesus, how much more can we walk that way now that Jesus has come?
- Now, another sense of the word blameless that we saw means to be complete.
Colossians 2:10 (KJV ) — 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
- The word ‘complete’ here in the New Testament’s Greek language means to be filled up.
- In fact, modern translations read this passage that way.
Colossians 2:10 (ESV) — 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
- With that verse, here is the question of the day.
- Here is the question: ‘if you have been filled in Him’ — notice that that’s past tense, — ‘if you have been filled in Him, how could there be room for anything else?’
- If you are filled up in Him, that means there are no empty holes.
- That means there should be no space — no room for anything else.
Walking Blamelessly with Almighty God Means Being Filled
- So, we are complete in Jesus — we are filled with Him.
- But, we are also admonished in the scriptures to be filled with Him continually.
- That is be filled and stay that way.
- Understanding ‘the concept of being filled’ is easy to grasp if you think about filling your glass of water when you go to get a drink.
- So, here it is — you just woke up from a good night’s sleep because you laid down and asked the Lord for it.
- Just a side trip here — here are some verses you can stand on and share with the Lord when your head hits the pillow.
Going to Sleep Before Almighty God
Proverbs 3:24 (ESV) — 24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Psalm 3:5 (ESV) — 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
Psalm 4:8 (ESV) — 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 127:2 (ESV) — 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
- Good restful sleep is essential — it’s vitally necessary to health and well-being.
- Your ‘sleep life’ represents one-third of your day.
- You should never lay down fearful.
- Never lie down in fear.
- And, above all, don’t go to bed angry.
- Get all of this right before you lay down and then when you do.
- Believe in the Lord for sweet sleep.
- Learn to trust your Father in this area.
- When you do, you are covering 33 percent of your life with faith.
Hebrews 10:38 (ESV) — 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- Don’t draw back — draw forward — draw nigh.
- The just shall live by faith.
- They should sleep by it too — that is, sleep by faith.
Walking Blamelessly: What Does Being Filled Look Like?
- Now, let’s get back to the main thought today, walking with Almighty God.
- What does it look like to be filled?
- We’re talking about water, right?
- You woke up from sleep, and you go to the cabinet, get a glass and fill it with water, right?
- But, is the glass technically full of water when you did that?
- No, you may have filled it three-quarters full or seven-eights full – almost full – almost to the brim.
- But, you really can’t fill it to the fullness because, if you do, you risk spilling some of the water on the floor.
- So, you don’t quite fill-up the glass.
- Not quite full is not full.
- The only way to be sure that you are at maximum fill is to put so much water in the glass that it spills out and runs over the side.
- So, fullness means outflow.
- It means liquid leaving the glass.
- You know you are filled when what’s in you to the full is spilling out of you onto others.
#S3-028: Encore Episode: How To Release Your Faith With Words [Podcast]
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References:
- Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1570. ↩
- Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1569–1570. ↩
- Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002). ↩