WALK AFTER THE LORD
Deuteronomy 13:4 You shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and cleave unto Him.
In order to really walk after the Lord, there are things we must do. First, we have to fear Him. We must honor and reverence Him. What does it mean to reverence God? We are to have a holy fear of Him, an honor, a respect, and we are to be in awe of Him. I think in today’s church in the USA, God is reminding us He is to be reverenced and honored. When we do that, we will be able to walk away from evil according to Proverbs 16:6–7. Godly fear is also the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), and we have never needed more wisdom to navigate this world than we do right now.
Second, in order to walk after and with the Lord, we need to keep His commandments. The Word of God is the commandments of God to us. To walk in the light of the Word of God is to walk in His commandments. To be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only is someone who is walking in His commandments. When doing the Word of God ceases to be an option to you, then you are walking in His commandments. When you read the Word and whatever He says, you do it, you do not take it as a suggestion but the command that it is, then you will be walking in His commandments.
Third, in order to walk after the Lord, you and I must obey His voice. God is speaking to you all day long, every day. God doesn’t always speak to His children with a loud booming voice, a dream, or a prophecy, or an angel appearing. Those are all possible but not probable. What is definite is that every day He speaks to your heart by the witness or having a knowing, which is a perception. You have them all day; you just need to identify them and obey those leadings and promptings. You are His sheep, and you know His voice. His Spirit is bearing witness with your spirit all the time. Believe it, hear it, and walk in it. Don’t ignore that still small voice. If you do, then you are ignoring or disobeying the voice of God.
Fourth, you must serve Him in order to walk with Him. What does that mean, to serve Him? It is vast. To serve is an action. How do you serve Him? You must do your part in the body of Christ. Attending church is not serving Him; that is being taught. You serve Him by doing things that promote His name and His character so people can see by your actions Christ in you. If you really walk with Him, you will find your place in the body of Christ and serve. We must get out of the mindset of what I need, what I want, and what is best for me. What is best for us is to obey the Word of God, and in order for God to consider that you walk with Him, you must serve Him!
Last, you must cleave to Him. When I think of cleaving to the Lord, I think of being so close to Him and holding on so tight to Him that no one can pull me away from Him or from His things. I want to be so tight with Him that there is no daylight between me and Him. I want to hold on to Him and the Word of God so tight that no one can take it from me. If we will do these five things, we will truly be walking after God. Let’s continue this life walk with the Father, and that begins with fearing Him, honoring Him, and reverencing Him.