How to Walk with God

Last Updated: November 7, 2022 Approved

Walking with God means moving alongside God in unity and faith as you pass through your life's journey. For the most part, focusing on God and following His lead will keep you on the right path.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Understand the Concept

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Think about walking with someone in the physical world. To understand what it means to walk with God on a spiritual level, consider what it means to literally take a walk with a friend or relative. Ask yourself how you interact with that person. What do you expect from that individual, and how to you speak and behave in return?
- When you take a walk with someone, the two of you are traveling in one direction. Your steps move at a similar pace so that neither one of you leaves the other behind. You talk with each other and your attention remains on one another. In short, there is an overall sense of harmony, unity, and community between the two of your during your walk.^{[1]
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2
Look for notable examples of people who walked with God. Scriptures contain a few different examples of men and women who followed God, but to understand what it means to walk with God, look specifically for examples using that exact phrase—“walk with God.”
- Enoch is the first person man in the Bible said to walk with God, and as such, he is possibly the most common example used to illustrate the concept. According the Scripture, "Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:22–24).
- The gist of this passage is that Enoch was in close community with God throughout all the years of his life, so much so that God took him away to Paradise at the end of his days. While this passage does not suggest that anyone who walks with God will be taken to Heaven without seeing death, it does imply that walking with God opens up the pathway there.^{[2]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Focus on God

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Let go of distractions. Before you can focus on God, you need to let go of all the worldly things that distract you from your relationship with God. These distractions may not be “sins,” per se, but they include anything that you intentionally or subconsciously prioritize over God.
- Think again about what it's like to walk with a friend. If your friend spent the entire time on his or her cell phone rather than interacting with you, the walk would not be very enjoyable, and you wouldn't actually be walking "together" on a meaningful level. Similarly, the distractions you focus on instead of focusing on God can prevent you from really walking together with God.
- Sins that you cling to create an obvious distraction, but they are not the only things you need to watch out for. Even things that can be beneficial can become harmful distractions if you are not careful. For instance, working hard and earning money to support your family is a good thing. If you become obsessed with work and money to the point of neglecting your family and neglecting your relationship with God, though, you have then allowed it to become a distraction.
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Read the Scriptures.^{[3]
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Research source} Christianity holds that the Bible is the word of God. It may not give you specific instructions concerning the direction your life has taken, but it does present a good picture of what God wants for and from humanity.
- Since God will never call someone to do something that defies Scripture, having a thorough understanding of what the Bible says can help guide you away from harmful missteps.
3
Pray. Prayer allows the believer to stay in close, personal connection with God. Prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and supplication all have their rightful place. The important thing is to pray what's in your heart.
- Think again about how you behave when walking with a friend. You may walk in silence sometimes, but oftentimes, the two of you talk, laugh, and cry together. Prayer is what allows the believer to talk, laugh, and cry together with God.
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Meditate. Meditation can be a tricky concept, but essentially, it means spending time in God's presence and mulling over God's works.
- Modern day meditation usually involves deep breathing exercises, mantras, and exercises meant to clear the mind. While these practices alone do not quite hold the same meaning as spiritual meditation, many believers still find that they are a good way to clear the mind of distractions so that one can focus more fully on God.
- If standard meditation practices do not work well for you, though, simply do whatever you can to escape from worldly distractions and spend time thinking about God. Listen to music, take a walk in a nearby park, and so on.
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Pay attention to providence. While God may seem distant or silent at times, there are also times when God may interrupt the usual flow of things in a significant enough way to change the path a person is on. These signs of providence can be subtle sometimes, so you will need to keep your eyes and heart open to discern them.
- Consider the story of Isaac and Rebekah. Abraham's servant went to look for a bride among Abraham's relatives in his homeland. God brought Abraham's servant to a well, and while the servant was praying for the right girl to arrive, Rebekah comes and offers him and his camels a drink—a chosen sign. The meeting was too important to merely be a coincidence. Instead, providence brought Rebekah to the well at just the right time and guided her to perform just the right actions. (Genesis 24:15-20)

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Follow God's Lead

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Analyze your steps. Consider the way you currently live your life. Ask yourself which components of your life follow God and which stray away from that path.
- Take the time to sit down and reflect on your walk thus far. Think about times in your life when you felt “in harmony” with God. Those days were likely days on which you were walking with God. Then, think about times when you felt lost, directionless, or distant from God. Ask yourself if you were doing things that pushed God away during that time, even if those things were as simple as not making time for prayer, church, or meditation. Those days may have been days on which you paused or took a wrong turn in your walk.
- Seek to model the behaviors you followed during the times you've walked with God in the past, and actively try to avoid the behaviors that previously led you astray.
2
Obey God's commands. To walk with God, you must keep in step with Him. To keep in step with Him, you need to model your actions after His and follow the instructions God has already provided all of humankind with.
- Part of this process means obeying God's commandments regarding moral behavior. While some view these instructions as being restrictive, ultimately, they are meant to keep humanity safe and spiritually connected to God.
- The other significant aspect of following God's commands involves following God's command to love—to love God, to love one's neighbors, and even to love oneself. Model your life after the love God has shown and continues to show for humanity.
3
Seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. While some steps can be determined via Scriptures and church tradition, other steps on your walk with God are more personal. To take those steps, you will need to pray to God and ask to obtain an understanding of what those steps are.
- Children rely on their caretakers to guide them along safe, positive paths. They may think they know all the answers, but inevitably, the time will come when they realize that they should have listened to guidance offered by their parents, grandparents, etc., instead of stubbornly getting themselves into trouble or danger.
- In the same way, believers ultimately rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them along paths that are spiritually positive.
4
Have patience. The answer to a prayer or the solution to a difficult circumstance may not arrive as promptly as you would like. In order to walk alongside God, though, there are times when you must slow down your own pace and walk at God's pace.
- Ultimately, God will guide you to the place you are supposed to be at the time you are supposed to arrive. You might be in a rush to get there, but if you want to walk with God, you must trust that God's chosen time of arrival is better than yours when the two disagree.
5
Walk with others on the same path. While you can certainly have loved ones outside of the faith, it is important to fellowship with others who share your dedication to God. These people can become your support here on Earth, and you can support them in return.
- Other believers can also help keep you accountable to the commitment you have made to walk with God.
- Keep in mind that God often uses the people in one's life to guide your steps.
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Keep walking. No matter how many times you trip and stumble, you need to dust yourself off and continue walking. God will not turn you away, even if you temporarily lose sight of the road you're supposed to travel on.

Community Q&A

Question

The concepts are very good, but I would like to have scriptures to back them up. Can someone help?

Community Answer

To walk with God is to decide that God will hold your hand at all times. Even when in times of trouble you believe that God is there. In the Bible, from the book of 1Peter4:16, Peter tells us that if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it but instead to thank God that you bear Christ's name. This means that In Him to walk with us we must believe that Jesus came to die for our sins and if we believe, we should not perish but inherit eternal life as John 3;16 explains to us. And to walk with God you have to be honest and call upon Him (Acts2;21) for God desires a pure and honest heart like the story of the prodigal son in the book of Luke 15;11-3.
Question

How do I become a child of God?

Community Answer

In Christianity, everyone is a child of God, but by reading the Bible and praying, you can show your faith in Him. You can go to church if one is nearby, not even for a sermon if you don't want to, churches are very beautiful buildings and it's wonderful to reflect on your religion in one alone sometimes. While reading the Bible, going to church, and prayer are all important, the most important thing of all is to do your best to be a great person. That means forgiving, accepting, and loving people every time you can.
Question

How can I write a drama based on walking with God, showing result of those who walk with Him and those who don't?

Community Answer

You can mention the St. Augustine quote that mentions that God has placed a desire and longing in our hearts for Him. It's a search for happiness; people often turn to superficial, material things, which do not satisfy. This longing for happiness can only be satisfied by Him, and thus material and earthly things will not quench our thirst.