Walking with God

Day seventy-one

I went to the temple yesterday and was touched by the prayer given.  I included some of the elements of that prayer in my own prayer this morning; Gratitude for all our blessings, for this earth, for the servants of the Lord, and a request to bless the youth, the sick and the afflicted, the missionaries, the Church leaders, and all those that are in our lives.   

I read through Genesis Ch 16 learning more about Sarai, Hagar, Abram and Ishmael. I don't completely understand the customs of the time or for that matter the laws of the time, but I do know I would have a difficult time handling the situation like they did, the whole multiple wives thing is not for me.

The focus of my blog today is inspired by Genesis 17:1:

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."

The phrase 'walk before me' got my attention. Footnote d for the verse states TG Walking with God. What would it be like to walk with God?

We know Adam (Gen. 3:8), Enoch (Gen 5:24), Noah (Gen 6:9), and now Abraham have all walked with God. I wanted to know what I would have to do to qualify to walk with God.  Here's what I found:

Obey the Lord's law (Ex.16:4).

Keep mine ordinances (Lev. 18:4; Ezek. 11:20; D&C 136:4)

Teach the ordinances and laws, show others the way, and the work that they must do (Ex. 18:20).

Keep my commandments (Lev. 26:3; Ezek. 11:20,  Ezek 20:19; Ezek. 37:24).

Love the Lord your God (Deut. 11:22)

Do righteous works (Ps 15:2)

Blessed are the undefiled (Ps 119:11)

Have integrity (Prov. 20:7)

Live righteously, and speaketh uprightly (Isa. 33:15)

Be humble (Micah 6"8; D&C 11:12).

Have faith(Rom 4:12)

Be honest (Rom 13:13)

Wow that is quite a list, a little overwhelming at first glance, but doable with effort.  I found it interesting that not only do we have to be these things, but we are to teach them in order to walk with God.  He is definitely a God of action, never letting us be too idle! 

This lead me to these thoughts:  Am I living a life that would allow God to visit me?   If I knew that God was going to visit me would I change something I am doing now? 

So let's say that you are able to live such a life that you could walk with God, what would you say to God?  The visits in the scriptures don't appear to be for long periods of time, but moments with just the right amount of time for teaching, giving answers to questions, and receiving guidance and instructions.  There's no small talk, each encounter has a purpose and the Lord usually gets right to the point.  Something to think about, I would need to choose my words wisely, this would require some forethought and preparation.

I don't know that I will ever have a face to face conversation with God while on this earth. However,  I need to prepare and live my life with the thought that if it is His will, I would be worthy of such a visit.  For now I have the Spirit to be with me, to teach me and prepare me.  This is the closest that most of us will ever come to a visit from God, but the ultimate goal is to once again stand in His presence and be able to say, "Thank you and I love you," to Him.