And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:22)
The Lord Jesus said that eternal life is to know the Father and the Son.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
If you do not know God, you have not yet received eternal life. If you do, you have. The logic here is simple and clear. But what does it mean to know God? If eternal life means to know God, then what could be more important than first understanding what it means to know God and then coming to that point?
John taught that those who know God keep his commandments:
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2)
He equated keeping his commandments to being sinless:
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:6)
Book 1 describes the process of becoming sinless. While this is a prerequisite for knowing God, it is not a good descriptor for what it actually means to know him. Reconciling yourself to God through repentance makes it possible for us to begin the process of coming to know God.
To know God, you must have met him. You cannot say you know someone if you have never met them.
To know God, you must have met him many times. You can’t say you know someone who you have only met once. Knowing someone means you know what they look like, what their voice sounds like, you’ve spent a great deal of time with them, and you know what pleases them and puts them off.
To know God, you must not only have seen him multiple times, but you must spend quite a bit of time with him. No matter how far this may seem from your reality, it is essential to describe in order for you to grasp the magnitude of the journey you are about to begin.
Is it possible to know God in this life? There are many people who believe it is not possible to see God. There are many others who think it is a very rare experience, or perhaps an experience reserved only for a select few. They are all wrong. You can see God, you can talk with him face to face, and you can spend enough time with him that your relationship with him becomes the cornerstone of your life. You can do this no matter who you are, what your past is, or how spiritual you are, because his supernal privilege is ours not because of who we are, but because of who he is. He is that good. He is that powerful. He is mighty to save all his children if they will but believe in him.
It should not be surprising that almost all deny the possibility of such a relationship with God. After all, since the Lord said there would only be a few who would figure out the path to him (see Matthew 7:14), a majority opinion should put us off rather than attract our attention. If you peel away the hearts of those who claim that such experiences are not possible, you will find that the key reason most say it is not possible to know God in the normal sense of the word is because their efforts to do so have not proved successful. As with becoming sinless, where similar arguments exist, the only thing their failure proves is that their tactics do not work, not that the outcome is impossible. One thing you can be sure of: if you follow the doctrines of those who claim it is not possible, you will surely prove them right!
It is possible to be sinless in this life, and it is possible to know God in this life. Beyond being possible, achieving these two states is actually the purpose of this life.
While the scriptures give volumes of evidence that God was right when he said that few find the path to eternal life, they also provide examples of several people who were successful in their quest. We need not imagine what it means to know God. We find the condition explained through the lives of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, and many others. What did their collective experience entail? They saw God face to face and were conversant with him: God spoke with them, and they spoke with God. Their prayers were answered. They had great internal peace. They had a passionate love for God, and a consummate trust in God. They were taught great mysteries. They communed with angels. They worked mighty miracles. They were given specific missions from God. They knew God well and were known by God.
We are too quick to dismiss these men as the exception rather than the rule. The only thing exceptional about them was their desire toward the Lord. Desire toward God is not a fixed property. It is a characteristic that is developed commensurate with the heed and diligence we choose to exert. Since God is good, those who seek him will learn of his goodness, causing them to want to seek him even more. We choose, through how much heed and diligence we exert, how much desire we have towards God. The only thing keeping you from the lives these men lived is your choices.
These men were not blessed with special circumstances. Enoch had a young family when he began walking with the Lord. Peter was a successful businessman when he began walking with God. David was a lowly shepherd. Abraham was the son of an idol maker. You and I possess every opportunity to mimic their actions, and because God is no respecter of persons, if we do, we will receive the same results.
The lives of these men were full of the outcomes of successful gospel living. But what was the process? Christianity is meant to be the process of achieving these outcomes—of coming to know and commune with God—yet almost everyone fails to achieve these outcomes. We can hardly blame unbelievers for failing to embrace Christianity. As Paul said of the Jews, our failure to obtain the fruits of the gospel turns away those who might otherwise believe (see Romans 2:21-24).
Christianity is meant to bring an individual up to the point where they walk with God. Modern Christianity has almost entirely failed to do that. It has lost the root process that makes it possible. It was not always this way. The scriptures are full of people who managed to attain experiences with God beyond our collective imagination. What happened? Christianity has systematically eroded from a relationship to a religion. Core, efficacious principles have been replaced with traditions that fail to produce the fruits described in the scriptures. A relationship with God has been replaced with to do lists of rules and works.
Walking with God comes as a result of learning efficacious versions of what most Christians think they already know: repentance (covered in Book 1), prayer, and worship (covered here). Please do not assume that your familiarity with these words indicates your familiarity with their meaning. As you will see by reading this book, the devil has gained a great victory by hijacking and neutering the original meanings of prayer and worship. By practicing these elements in the form of the ancients, anyone can achieve the same kind of relationship they had with God—not through some sort of conjuring, but as the natural consequence of divinely appointed law.
The Lord’s return to hostile Bethany after the death of Lazarus is a type of his coming to us:
1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. (John 11)
His life was in such danger there that the apostles believe that if he returned he will be killed (verses 8 and 16). The Lord replies with verses 9-10. The twelve hours of the day are the twelve apostles. They were always in the light, or the presence of the Lord, because they accompanied him wherever he went. Because they were always with him, they had him to protect them from danger. Lazarus, on the other hand, was not accompanying the Lord. These three "walked in the night" because they did not physically accompany Jesus, despite being his disciples. Why they did not accompany him I do not know, however it seems Jesus approved of it through his visits to them.
How does this apply today? How many of us "walk in the day"? Yet all of us can. If the Lord was willing to return to Bethany despite the hazards to his life, he is willing to come to any of us, if we but love him as Lazarus, Mary, and Martha loved him. We choose to walk in the night because we choose to live a lifestyle that does not allow a habitation with God.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that _light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,_ because their deeds were evil.
20 For _every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved._
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3)
Walking with God will occur for you as you move closer and closer to him. I have seen many paintings of the following description in Revelation:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
The door analogy does not tell the whole story. Really, it is more like a ladder. The Lord stands at the top, and calls down to us: “Come up! Come up!” Meanwhile, most Christians are content to completely ignore the ladder. Others venture over to it and earnestly call: “Come down!” “Come down”! The only way we can come closer to God is by climbing up the ladder. We climb the ladder by reaching out to God through first reconciling ourselves to him in repentance, and then through communing with him in prayer and worship.
As you climb the ladder, you will enjoy increased interaction with God. Your experiences with him will grow from feeling impressions to receiving strong, clear information through the Holy Ghost. You will come to hear the Lord’s audible voice. You will interact with angels. You will see the Lord. You will speak with him face to face. These things will happen more frequently.
Eventually, he will introduce you to the Father. Eventually, you will enjoy constant access to God. Your relationship with him will be more real than anything else in your life, and you will comprehend the true meaning of building your life upon the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be an anchor to your soul, a rock solid foundation in your life, and a brilliant source of light that illuminates every aspect of every day of your life.
Though the exact unfolding of these experiences seems custom fit for each individual, the general experience is the same. You progress from one level of experience with God to another. Your relationship with him will develop from being his servant, to his son or daughter, to his friend.
Walking with God refers both to this transitional process and its eventual outcome. Walking with God is very different from the normal Christian life. The normal Christian's interaction with God is limited to a few occasional and brief encounters with his spirit. Even those few who have seen Jesus once cannot say they really know him. To know God, you must acquire a habitation with him. What does this mean?
Consider the Lord’s teachings in John 14. Here, he describes three degrees of relationship with God:
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14)
The first degree of relationship with God is to have the Holy Ghost dwell with you (16-17). The second is to have the Lord manifest himself to you (21). This is a visitation. The third is to have the Lord abide with you (23). This third degree of relationship is a habitation.
While communion through the Holy Ghost is wonderful, it is not the same as a face to face seeing and hearing experience. While a visitation is a once off or occasional event, a habitation is constant. Most Christians recognize that the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion. Few Christians realize that we can also have the Lord himself to be our constant companion. This is what it means to have a habitation with God.
God’s greatest desire is for everyone to have eternal life. You cannot reach that fullness without also receiving a habitation with God. God’s greatest desire, therefore, is for everyone to know him just as well as scriptural personalities did and do. Though it would sooth our conscience to imagine a way for us to know God as well as those in the scriptures without any of their experiences, that is simply not the case. Just as a stick has two ends, you cannot know God as well as those in the scriptures without having the same degree and frequency of experiences they had with God.
Imagine what it would be like to see the Lord Jesus and speak with him every time you pray. This is the relationship that Moses had with God. But he was not the only one. David had a habitation with God. He said "...I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:" (Acts 2:25) What if they were not the only ones? What if the key to understanding why the experiences in the scriptures are so rare in normal life is to realize that the underlying relationship these people had with God was fundamentally different than the relationship you have with God?
It is possible to know God in this life. It is possible to always have interactive prayers, where you have conversations and not one-way dialogues. It is possible to frequently see and talk with God face to face. It is possible to have God frequently reveal to you new mysteries through inspiration, voices, dreams, visions, and visitations. It is possible to be commanded to call down mighty miracles from heaven. It is possible to be a frequent visitor in heaven.
Knowing God shifts the focus of our existence from the physical world to the spiritual world. Elisha had more perception of the spiritual realm than the natural. When surrounded by an army sent to kill him, he saw legions of angels sent to protect him, and did not worry. When Elijah needed guidance, he saw God’s hand causing natural wonders, then heard God’s audible voice bringing him the peace he needed despite those who sought his life. When Stephen was stoned for preaching the gospel, he saw an open vision of the throne of God. Do you live in the spiritual realm? Do you have daily experiences with God? Do you go into his presence often? Do you have communion with angels? Are your spiritual eyes open to see God’s work in your life and in the world?
It is God’s will to abide with all of his children. This is not meant to be an experience for the select few. The Lord’s only condition is that we love him and keep his words. All those who love the Lord and keep his words can have a habitation with God.
Knowing God is not only possible in this life, it is the purpose of this life. We came to this earth to come up to that level of interaction with God. These experiences are not optional fringe benefits of living the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are not rare occurrences reserved for the few or elite. They are always present in the lives of those who are inheritors of eternal life. The absence of this degree of interaction with God indicates that an individual has deviated from the life required of those who will inherit eternal life.
Knowing God means having daily interactions with him. It means being not only as familiar with the spiritual realm as the natural realm, but more familiar with the spiritual realm than the natural realm. If that sounds grandiose, it should. “...Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) Rather than only reading about these things, God is calling you to experience them. He is calling you to claim the inheritance of the saints: a true connection with heaven more real than anything in this fleeting, fallen world. This is the extraordinary blessing available to all Christians: to know God, to commune with angels, to be taken up into heaven, to frequently associate with angels, and to be an integral part of God’s functioning kingdom on earth and in heaven.
This is the inheritance of the servants of God, and yet so very few of us have risen to the mark. For some, it is because they do not believe these blessings are possible. For others, they do not experience these blessings simply because they do not know where to find them. The rest of the chapters in this book address both obstacles by explaining these blessings and describing how they are encountered.