How Close A Walk

Well praise the Lord, you have accepted Jesus into your life.  He came believing it would be the beginning of a life long relationship.  Some born again Christians are glad to be saved but they don’t want to be bothered with maintaining a personal relationship with their Savior.  As long as these folks continue to believe He died for them, they will remain saved.  There are other Christians that won’t settle for a casual, lukewarm relationship.  They continually seek for the presence of the Lord and they are rewarded with manifestations of His glory. 
 
1Thessalonians 4:1 We exhort you brethren that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so then you would abound (be better off) more and more and more.
 
Those who will walk with the Lord, play by His rules, will know the fullness of His goodness.  Why wouldn’t a man want to please God?  He is enjoying fulfilling the lusts of his flesh.  He doesn’t hate his Savior, he just prefers a lifestyle that God does not care for.
 
Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.
 
I think some Christians believe that you taste the goodness of God once and then live off the memory of it.  If God is good all the time, then you can taste of Him all the time.  Who put the limits of how many times you can experience the presence of God?  I walk with God every day, so I know His presence a lot of those days.  There is nothing in this world that can compare to the presence of the Lord.  Some folks are so attached to their creature comforts they have no interest in walking with their Savior.
 
 
Colossians 2:6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. 
 
How did you receive Jesus? By faith, so we walk with Him by faith.  We believe His Word whether we see anything or not.  A lot of folks begin by faith but then go back to what is most familiar to them, living in the flesh.  For most of these folks the next time they will know the presence of God is when they reach Heaven.  For some, they don’t want to wait until they reach Heaven, they want His presence and glory in this life.  The folks who walk in the presence of the Lord have an upbeat victorious attitude.
 
Galatians 5:16 Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
 
When we walk in the Spirit, we are walking in the presence of the Lord.  When we get close to God, the temptation to sin becomes very weak.  The level of our relationship with the Lord in this life will have rewards in the next.  I believe there will be people in Heaven forever who live with regret.  They will regret not doing more for Jesus in this life.  I am not suggesting that this will diminish their external experience, they will just wish they were more obedient.  Our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants to be near us, but it’s our move, it’s our call.  When the Apostle Paul reached the end of his life, his greatest desire to the end was to know Jesus more and more every day.