Joseph Prince - The Most Intimate Way of Walking With God
This excerpt is from: Benefits Of Praying In Tongues (05 Dec 2021)
In Genesis 5, we find this word about Enoch. It says that: "Enoch walked with God and he was not". He walked WITH God! Like Adam and Eve, he walked with God. So going back all the way down there, man still walked with God, together with but walking with God is still outward. Okay? It is still something close, yes. But not as close as what I'm gonna share with you. So you still find Enoch walking with God. And then in Genesis 17, you find God talking to Abraham and this is what God said to Abraham: "I am El Shaddai". "When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, ‘I am El Shaddai;’" Literally, "El Shaddai" in Hebrew or "Almighty God". "Walk BEFORE Me and be blameless". So notice now. "Walk BEFORE me". Literally in the Hebrew, "Panim". "Panim" means "face". God is saying: "Walk before My face. Walk before My face. Be conscious I'm looking at you".
Now, this is still a wonderful way of walking with God every day. Being conscious as you walk with God, you are conscious He's looking at you. And we know now that the blessing of the Old Testament: "The Lord make His face to shine on you" should be put in here. That today, because of Christ, God's face is shining on us. He is beaming on you. He is radiant on you. That you through that grace and that light of His revelation will be able to walk with God, walk before God, and yet I'm going to show you right now, the new covenant way of walking with God, which is in Galatians 5:16. "I say then: ‘Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.’" Amen. So here we have a more intimate walk in the Spirit.
Now, how do you walk in the Spirit? You're not walking with the Spirit. You're not walking before the Spirit. That will indicate that the Holy Spirit is outside you. Don't forget that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. Amen. One of the Godhead. Amen. The divine Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. And here it is not talking about you walking with the Holy Spirit or walking before the Holy Spirit, which all indicates it is still outside you, but you're walking in the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. You're walking in the Spirit. That is a very intimate term because the real you is actually a spirit. God made you in His image, God made you a spirit. You are a tripartite being, you are a spirit-being. You have a soul. Amen. Your soul is not the real you, okay? The real you is the spirit and you have a soul, right? I am a spirit. I have a soul. The soul is the mind, the will, the emotions, all that is the soul realm and you live in a body. So there are three parts to you. You are also tripartite. Amen. There are three parts to you. So you are a spirit. You have a soul, and you live in a body.
Guess what? It's a picture of the tabernacle. In the old tabernacle of Moses, you find there are three parts to it. The outer court, which is your body, right? The Holy Place, which is your soul. And then the Holy Of Holies, where the ark of the covenant is. And God's presence and shekinah glory is there. That’s the spirit. Our walk has become more intimate in the new covenant, where your spirit and God's Spirit are in the Holy Of Holies and you sense things. That's why, what you sense deep down is more important than what you hear in your head, than your logic, than your reasoning. Your spirit man is faster than your head. If you listen to it, you will find profit. "I am the Lord thy God who teaches you to profit and leads you by the way you should go".
Profit in every area of your life. Amen. God is saying: "Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh". The Bible doesn't say: "Try not to fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then you will end up walking in the Spirit". It doesn't say that. It says: "Walk in the Spirit"! That's positive. "And you SHALL NOT fulfill the lust of the flesh". Don’t put it the other way around. It is not saying: "Try not to fulfill the lust of the flesh and then you end up in the Spirit". You will never end up in the Spirit. The more you try to not fulfill, you end up fulfilling it. Friend, I'm not telling you to go indulge in the flesh. I'm telling you the opposite. I'm telling you how to get out of it. How not to fulfill it. By being positive, walking in the Spirit. Amen. Allow yourself. And one of the ways that you walk in the Spirit is to pray in tongues. Paul says: "If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays". The most intimate part of me is praying. And that's what the Bible says about praying in the Holy Spirit.
In Jude, he says: "Praying in the Holy Spirit," it goes together with "building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit," Building up yourself on what? Your most holy faith. Why is that most holy? Many years ago, I was meditating on this and the Lord began to show me that when we pray in the Spirit, because the next verse is "praying in the Holy Spirit", When you pray in the Holy Spirit, you are praying from your most holy place, the Holy Of Holies. "Most holy" means Holy Of Holies. You are the temple of God. Which part of you is the Holy Of Holies? Your spirit man.
So when you pray in tongues, that prayer does not come from your head. That's why when you pray in understanding, pray in English or your native language for awhile, you stop because you run out of thoughts, you run out of words, you run out of ideas to talk with God. But when you pray in the Spirit, you can do it all day long, even in undertones. You are praying from your most holy place. That's why it's called: "Building yourselves up on your most holy faith". The Holy of Holies. Most holy. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. And it says: "Keep yourself in the love of God. You'll keep yourself in the place where the love of God and all He provides for you will be there". Praise God. Thank you Jesus.
You keep yourself in the consciousness of the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit. So it's sandwiched by building your most holy faith, keeping yourself in the love of God. And what is in between? Praying in the Holy Spirit, hallelujah. Friend, this is a gift that is one of the least esteemed in the body of Christ. Yet when I study the Scriptures with no prejudice and I just look at the Scriptures as it is, I find that the Bible emphasizes a lot on praying in tongues. Spend some time, at least, at least half an hour to 1 hour. Set aside time, and it doesn't mean that you must observe it legalistically every day, you can choose the time you want, but start praying in tongues. Amen. At least for half an hour to one hour. Okay? Praise the Lord. Every day. Will you do that?