James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
You won't read an article about walking With God like this article, I
guarantee it. I'm going to be honest, practical and tell it like it is. You
may be offended. So be it! I am your friend in the Lord and my only desire
if to help lead you CLOSER to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ye Must Be Born Again
Jesus commanded in John 3:5-7 that everyone become born-again by the Spirit of God. The very first thing you need to know to walk with God is that you must get saved. No unsaved man can fellowship with God. Jesus plainly stated in John 4:24 that God can only be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Mark 7:6-13 warns about following the traditions of man instead of the Commandments of God. Roman Catholicism is composed of a bunch of manmade traditions not taught in the Bible. Catholics may do religion right like Kentucky Fried Chicken does chicken right, but they don't know anything about God or the truth of God's Word.
From the cradle-to-the-casket, Catholicism offers a complete religious package. Unfortunately, it's all false religion and only leads to damnation in the Lake of Fire forever. Catholic priests are arrogant and have placed their opinions above God's Word. Only God can forgive sin, not some Lutheran minister or Catholic priest. 1st Timothy 2:5 teaches that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Mediator between God and men.
I'll get to the point, lest I write a book on false religions here. You are a sinner deserving of Hell forever (and so am I). Romans 3:23 declares all men as sinners. There's a penalty for that sin (Romans 6:23), which is hellfire forever (Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8). The good news (gospel) is that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay the price for our sins. Jesus was born by a miraculous virgin birth (no earthly father). Christ died, He was was buried and then miraculously resurrected after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). If you'll simply receive Christ's sacrifice as payment for your sins, then you'll be saved immediately and forever. Salvation is by grace through faith plus or minus nothing.
A gift is received. There can be
no obligations, nor requirements if it is genuinely a gift. Anyone who adds
forsaking sinful bad habits or making a commitment to serve God is
perverting the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4).
That is the Biblical Gospel. You don't get to Heaven by being good, nor do
you go to Hell for being bad. You go to Heaven because you have Christ's
righteousness, which comes only by faith in the Gospel.
God Is An Authoritative God
It's
important to learn early as a Christian about authority, because the Bible
speaks much about it. Matthew 7:29, “For he taught them as one
having authority, and not as the scribes.”
God is an authoritative God. The Bible is an authoritative Book. God's man
preaches with authority because of the aforementioned two truths. This
weak-kneed, evil, perverted and selfish generation hates authority.
Feminists rebel against the God-ordained masculine authority given to
fathers and husbands. People won't tolerate the masculine King James Bible,
so they've adopted the feminist-lesbian transgendered Bible of the NIV 2011
instead. People hate God's authority. If the Bible is preached properly,
then it will offend people who are not right with God. This wicked
generation has a serious problem with authority.
Many of the big battles of our generation boil down to man's authority verses God's authority. The U.S. Supreme Court says it's legal to murder your own flesh and blood by abortion, but God call it sin (Exodus 20:4-5). The same holds true for same-sex marriage. God calls it an abomination, but the Supreme Court says it is ok. In thousands of ways, our nation's leaders are rebelling against God and the Word of God. The U.S. Supreme Court removed the Bible in 1963 from our nation's classrooms. That was the nails in our coffin as a society. No wonder everything is going to hell.
Hussy women have bad attitudes and absolutely won't tolerate a absolute
preacher who says it like it is, preaching against feminism, same-sex
marriage, abortion and unisex in our sinful culture. So if you want to walk
with God my friend, then you need to “come out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord” (2nd Corinthians 6:17). You cannot walk with
God unless you first become a born-again child of God, and then come away
from the sinful world. You don't have to forsake the world to be saved
(eternal life is a free gift for the taking), but you do need to forsake the
sinful world if you want to walk with God. James 4:4 says that the world is
God's sworn enemy. Very few people consider the sinful world as the enemy of
God, but that's the truth.
False Religion And The World Are God's Enemy
How many people do you know who consider the Roman Catholic Church as God's enemy? They are because they teach that the sacraments of the Catholic Church are mandatory to get to Heaven; whereas the Bible doesn't teach that. I knew a married couple years ago. The wife was staunch Catholic. The man used to be Baptist, but told everyone that he converted to be a Catholic for his wife. Neither of them were saved the last time I saw them and I doubt if they ever will be. I had witnessed to them both on numerous occasions, and prayed for them often, but they were set in their wicked ways.
I am amazed how you can share the plain and simple Gospel with someone, and yet they still don't want to get saved. The truth is that they don't see the problem. They don't understand why keeping the seven sacraments and adding good works to faith to be saved is a deadly thing to do.
Greedy men and women have discovered that the fastest way to grow a church and get rich is to bring the world into the church. Most churches today are as worldly as can be. Entertainment has replaced le
Most people quote this precious Scriptures by itself without ever reading the surrounding passage of Scriptures. This passage of Scriptures is truly precious, for it promises us that if we'll draw near to God, then HE WILL draw near unto us. What a wonderful truth. We can draw near to the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God of the universe. The Bible tells us how to walk with God. More than we could ever grasp, God wants to share close fellowship with us.
If you have never told Jesus (Who is God) that you love Him, then tell Him right now. Jesus, I love you! And make sure that you tell God you love Him every day for the rest of your life. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. You make sure that you thank Him for all that you have with at least a couple of those seconds every day. The tragic fact is that most people in this world stuff their face with delicious food and never thank God even once for it. Many people, like Shakira (singer) and Sarah Silverman (comedian) blaspheme God instead of glorifying Him. George Carlin blasphemed God and made a career out of it. Sadly, Carlin is now burning in Hell, having died in his horrible sin of unbelief. Jesus warned that every man must be born again to see the kingdom of God (John 3:5-7).
James 4:1, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Let's begin at James 4:1-3, which warns the believer against covetousness. Perhaps more than any other sin, the desire to have things has ruined America's families and churches. Nothing will hinder a believer's walk with God quicker than lust, covetousness and greedy. Of the 3-enemies that the Christian battles: the world, the Devil and the flesh; the flesh is our biggest enemy as Christians, because we live with the flesh 24/7. We can turn off the TV and shut out the sinful world, and we can resist the Devil as James 4:7 commands us; but the flesh is always with us, like a ball and chain to the work of God (Romans 7:24-25).
James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
I've started out this article by letting you know that you'll never have a close walk with God if you are a friend of this wicked world. You're not going to attend drinking parties with all the booze, sensual dancing and worldliness and be able to walk with God the way you want. The Bible says to choose sides. Whose side are you on? God hates it when people attempt to straddle-the-fence and play both sides of the table (Revelation 3:15-16).
James 4:4 warns believers that friendship with the world makes a person God's enemy. This truth is straightforward and simple, not difficult to grasp. A person who befriends the world by assisting them in their wicked agendas, false religions and sinful activities is God's enemy. God has MANY enemies today! Very few people are saved and love Jesus Christ enough, fearing God, to depart from evil (Proverb 3:7).
The most abused verse in the Bible is perhaps Matthew 11:19, where Jesus is called “a friend of publicans and sinners” for eating and speaking with them. May I say, Jesus did not march in any homosexual parades, nor did Jesus befriend anyone who was actively committing wickedness, nor did He establish close relations with people who were involved in evil. Jesus spent most of His time with the Apostles and disciples. Jesus had His own ministry and spent His time preaching the Gospel, helping the misfortunate and needy. Jesus simply befriended all people with the Gospel, and He was kind toward humble sinners.
Most of the professed Christians in the world today aren't even saved, because they are following a false religion; such as Catholicism, Mormonism or the Seventh-Day Adventism cult. Of the remainder of professed Christians in the world who are truly saved, nearly all of them don't walk with God as they should. They are worldly, immature or in some cases backslidden into sin.
I know a sincere man who attends the Catholic Church because his wife is a devout Catholic. He used to be a Baptist, but tells others that he converted over to Catholicism for his wife. The man professes faith in Christ and has denounced the Catholic religion to me in private. Yet, he regularly attends Catholic Mass, bows to their statues at the front of the Church, chants their vain repetitions, and supports the biggest demonic cult in the world. I do not condemn the man, for we are all guilty sinners deserving of Hell fire; but he is a friend of the world and God's enemy. Only God knows if he is a genuine born-again believer. I do not judge.
James 4:5: “Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”
James 4:5 refers back to the lusts and covetousness of verses 1:3, and the love for the sinful world in verse 4. If you want to walk with God, then you have to depart from the sinful world. I don't need to explain what this means, because you know. Everyone knows what the sinful world is, and their wicked establishments. If booze is served, and women are not clothed properly, and Rock music is played; then it is a house of sin.
Jas:4:6-8: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
God resists arrogant and sinfully proud people. We are commanded to SUBMIT to God before any mention is made of resisting the Devil. As a born-again believer, if you don't submit yourself to God by searching the Scriptures (John 5:39), then you won't grow in the Lord (1st Peter 2:2) and you won't feel the presence of God in your life (John 15:1-7).
When your walk with God is what it ought to be, you'll have a burning desire in your heart to go soulwinning and share the Gospel with others (Proverb 11:30; Romans 10:15). You know that your walk with God is right when you have no evil desire toward your neighbor. It's interesting that commandments 1-5 of the Ten Commandments deal with man's relationship to God; and commandments 6:-10 of the Ten Commandments deal with man's relationship to man. This is why Galatians 5:14 states, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Mark 12:30-31, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” All of the Law and Commandments of God can be fulfilled in simply loving God and man. You don't need a doctorate's degree in divinity to know that. Any child can please God by loving God and man. This is the heart of walking with God. Drawing near to God is not a theological road into the so-called “deeper-life.” I always hated that term. You can keep your deeper-life, I'll just love God and my neighbor, and keep winning souls to Jesus, while helping the misfortunate.
James 4:9: “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
Sharing God's Broken Heart Over Sin And The Unsaved
If you want to walk with God, then you need to develop a broken heart, because God lives with a broken heart (2nd Peter 3:9). God doesn't rejoice in the death of the wicked. God hates the way of the wicked; but He does not hate people. So many people blame God for the wickedness in the world, but man chooses to sin, which brings pain and suffering. Most of the poverty, affliction and death in the world today is caused by wicked men who play God. Afghanistan is just one example. There is no legitimate government. The evil globalists took over the nation in early 2002 after the 911 attacks. The 9-11 Trade Tower attack was their pretext to invade and conquer the country (as well as Iraq). Today, 90% of the world's heroine is supplied from Afghanistan and all that money goes to the globalists, more specifically the Communist, Marxist, Zionists gang. Uncovering The Pedophile World Of “Bacha Bazi” (the sexual trade of Afghan's boys). Heroin Afghan Drug Wars 1 of 4 (global elite use troops to support pedophilia and heroine)
Jas:4:10: “Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.as:4:11: “Speak not evil one
of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his
brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge
the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jas:4:12: There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art
thou that judgest another?”
Jas:4:13: “Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas:4:14: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away.
Jas:4:15: For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do
this, or that.”
The very divine being Who spoke
the universe into existence with the Words of His mouth (2nd Peter 3:5),
wants to fellowship with (James 4:8)
The Promise Of Eternal Life
The Bible tells us that salvation comes only to those who enter through the DOOR into Heaven. John 10:1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” This door is the STRAIGHT GATE which leadeth unto life...
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Christ died, He was was buried and then miraculously resurrected after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). If you'll simply receive Christ's sacrifice as payment for your sins, then you'll be saved immediately and forever. Salvation is by grace through faith plus or minus nothing. God is an awesome God...
