Are You Walking with God

There's a story about the Lewis revival in Scotland which has always gripped me. Duncan Campbell was invited to the island to preach and his preaching engagement was for 10 days. While he was there, revival broke out and he stayed there for the next three years experiencing scenes of glory and seeing hundreds of souls saved.

But the incident which I'm referring to occurred as Duncan Campbell first stepped onto the island as he was greeted by one of the elders of the church who asked, Mr. Campbell are you walking with God? And Duncan Campbell replied, I can say that I fear God and I want to ask that question to us today friends. Are you walking with God? Because when the people of God walk with God, then they will have the reality of God in their lives. How can I explain this? I believe we can see two instances of this in our Bibles in the ministry of the prophet Elijah.

The first is found in 2nd Kings chapter 4 and verse 9 which tells of the Shunammite woman's description of Elijah. It reads, and she said unto her husband, behold now I perceive that this is a holy man of God which passes us by continually. This woman could sense the reality of God in the prophet's life as he passed by their house each day.

We must be honest with ourselves. Can that be said of us? Can our teenagers see the reality of God in our lives? If they could, how would that impact them? If our teenagers could find the reality of God in our churches today, what would that do to them? I've had the privilege of knowing a lot of pastors from my years at Oldford Ministries where Stephen Oldford trained thousands of men from all over the world. Some of these men were joke-telling, back-slapping good old boys who liked to laugh and have a good time.

Some were very proud men who were full of themselves, but the pastors who most reflected the reality of God were the pastors from Africa, especially the Nigerian pastors who faced persecution on a daily basis. Just talking to them you could sense the reality of God in their lives. They lived very near to God.

Theirs was not a comfortable Christianity like we have here in America. Amos 3-3 declares, Can two walk together except they be agreed? I think that it is the dividing line here. If there's something amiss in our personal lives that hinders the Spirit of God through us, then the rivers of blessings cannot flow freely as a means of grace to others.

The Shunammite woman could sense something different about Elijah. She could tell that this man wasn't like the strutting Pharisees. There was the reality of God in him.

The other incident in the ministry of Elijah did not occur during his life, but yet demonstrated the reality of God in his life. It is found in the 13th chapter of 2 Kings in verses 20 and 21. Let me read this startling passage of scripture to us now, friends.

He revived and stood up on his feet. I sensed this very thing as I stood at the grave of David Brainerd in Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, Massachusetts. And as I stood at Brainerd's grave, I sensed the awful reality of a holy God.

Andrew Bonar stood at Brainerd's grave 130 years before, and he wrote in his diary, My heart was stirred within me. When others leave our company, are their hearts stirred as well? Do we make others more thirsty for Christ? Does our personal witness for Christ have such power from above that the dead are raised to life? Brother Pastor, is your preaching so full of the reality of God that your hearers no longer see you standing before them, but instead they sense a holy God emerge and eternity open? Oh, dear friends, what are we missing by our mediocrity in ministry? God will give you as much of an experience of him as you desire. But what cost counts, and what counts costs? Are we willing to pay the price? Are we expandable? Are we willing to lose our reputations if necessary to have a deeper experience of God? I was at the local AT&T store this week to see about getting Wi-Fi put in the place where I live.

The young sales clerk tried to sell me a direct TV package, and he went on and on about all the different cable channels I could watch. I interrupted him and told him I didn't watch TV. I hadn't watched it for years.

That television was something I did not want. You could see the look in his eyes as he realized he was talking to a crazy person, and he got rid of me as quickly as he could. To him, I was insane because I had no TV.

Well, I got rid of my TV years ago, and I spent the time I used to waste watching that idiot box to be given to Bible study and prayer. I'm not saying that you have to give up your TV friend to have the reality of God in your life, but if your TV watching is keeping you from experiencing the reality of God, then what will you do about it? Some preachers at I know who lack authority and power in the pulpit love to sit for hours in front of their TV watching their favorite ball game. But I know this for a fact, friends.

God gets serious with those who are willing to get serious with him. Are you walking with God? Is the reality of God in your life, friend? How bad do you want it? Let us pray.