“Enoch walked with God three hundred years.”  (Gen. 5:22)

A missionary tells the story of the time a native man brought him a gift.  It was not an expensive one, but the man had carefully crafted it to show his love and appreciation for the missionary’s work.  The missionary smiled approvingly and thanked him.  Then, realizing that the poor man had no means of transportation and had had to walk 20 miles one way to bring him the gift, the missionary offered to give him a ride back home so he wouldn’t have to walk all the way back.  Smiling, the man refused, explaining, “The walk is part of the gift!”
  
I want to give a gift to my Lord this year.  That gift I want to give Him is a walk:  I want to walk with God!  I got the inspiration to do this while in preparation for my new Bible reading habits for 2011.  I had already started reading in the book of Genesis and had read again where it says of Enoch, “Enoch walked with God three hundred years.” (Gen. 5:22).  Two verses later, it repeats the report, “Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him.”  Enoch was only one of two men out of the billions through history who entered into eternal life without experiencing death (Elijah was the other one).  Instead of dying, “God took him.” (But note carefully: Enoch had “walked with God” for 300 years before this happened). 

I think we can safely say that the man God “takes” is the man that walks with God; as a long-term way of life.  I want God to take me in 2011: to take me into His presence; to take me into deeper levels of understanding; to take me into a greater measure of His power; and to take me into the “paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.”  Enoch “walked” with God.  Notice it didn’t say, “Enoch talked with God.”  Many, many people talk with God (in prayer).  But, God doesn’t take them.  There must be much, much more than that required.   What about the other man God took directly to heaven? 

Elijah’s own testimony was, “The Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand.” (1 Kings 17:1).   Elijah stood on his feet at attention before God; ready to move at His instructions.  He  did not just “talk” to him.  He walked with him wherever He led Him, and as a result, God took him.   Abraham was another man God “took.”  He was even called “the friend of God.”  But, there was a condition for this:  God instructed him clearly to “Walk before Me and be blameless.” (Gen. 17:1).  And Abraham walked so closely to God that he became His friend.  He walked so obediently, that he didn’t hesitate to obey God when He told him to kill his only son as a sacrifice to God.  Want to walk with God?  Think twice:  God may test you like you have never been tested before!  

David was also a man God “took:”  Ps. 78:70 says, “He also chose David His servant; and took him from the sheepfolds.”  Why did God take David?  David “walked in my integrity.”  (Psalm 26:1).  He walked “before God in the land of the living.”  (Ps. 56:13).  He was even said to be “a man after God’s own heart.”  But, again, he was taken because of his walk!

While walking in the morning sun on New Year’s Eve, I was already endeavoring to “walk with God.”  I looked upward and told the Lord, “Have a Happy New Year this year!”  I then laughed at the thought of a mere mortal telling the Almighty to “Have a good year.”  Then, I realized, I truly could make this year one of the Lord’s best years ever, at least from the perspective of our personal relationship:  I COULD WALK WITH GOD IN 2011!  This would give Him greater Joy with our intimate relationship than I have ever given Him before.  I saw it!   So, my determination (or resolution) for 2011 was not to just (as usual at that time of the year) try to “talk to God” more.  My determination as different this year, yet very simple:  I want to walk with God!  I want to live in the constant awareness of His eye upon me (Ps. 32:8).  I want my every thought to please Him, knowing that God knows “the things that come into your mind, every one of them.” (Ezekiel 11:5).  I want the Lord to communicate with me like He did with Moses:  “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”  (Exodus 33:11).  I want God to know me as a friend, like He did Abraham.  I want to, like David, be a man after God’s own heart.  I want to stand in His presence (Ready to obey at a moment’s notice) like Elijah.  And, like Enoch of old, I want to walk with God so faithfully, that when God looks for a man to “take” (anywhere He wants as long as He “takes” me!)  that He will choose me! 

Would you like to be chosen of the Lord also in 2011?  Then, first give him the “gift that keeps on giving:’  Walk with Him all year long!  Like that native who walked 20 miles to give a gift to a missionary, your “walk (too) is part of the gift.”  So, as you consider ways of giving your body a living sacrifice to Him this year (Rom. 12:1, 1) why not make your walk the biggest part of your gift?  Join me in surely the most exciting adventure of our lifetime.  Let’s walk with God for the next 300 days!  (After all, that’s not much compared to Enoch’s walk of 300 years!).    “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”   Let’s take that first step towards a 20 mile, 365 day journey.   Walk with God in 2011 as your personal gift to Him.

Prepare an ark of safety for your family!  

“Noah . . . prepared an ark for the saving of his household.”  (Heb. 11:7)  

Genesis 6:9 says that, “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.  Noah WALKED WITH GOD.”  His faithful walk paid off too, for when God was preparing to destroy all life on the planet, Gen. 6:8 says, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”   Think of it, out of all the people on earth, only Noah (and his family) found grace to avoid judgment.  Do you think the fact that Noah was the only one who “walked with God” had anything to do with it?  I’m sure it did!   Noah lived in the final years leading up to the judgment of God on earth.  I believe we too live in the years leading up to the book of Revelation judgment of God (and certainly judgment on America if it doesn’t repent).  If walking with God made the difference in the Genesis judgment, then I suggest that it will make the difference in the coming judgment.

For the last few months of 2010, I had been hearing the word “Preparation” in my spirit.  I believe, in fact, that the year 2011 is the year of preparation for God’s people.  Preparation for what?  Preparation for two things: 

1)  Great judgments coming to America;  2/  The Greatest outpouring of God’s Spirit since the very  beginning of time.   
I have believed for many years that God has called me for a last day’s ministry and that He would use me in those last days to help God’s people reap the final harvest.  I believe that more now than ever!  Jan. 1, I asked the Lord if He had a Word for me concerning 2011.  I opened the Bible (believing Him to guide my hands and eyes) and He led me to Deut. 10:11, 12:  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.  And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”  I am convinced that this is indeed the Word of the Lord for my ministry this year.

Consider several phrases in the above verses with me:  “Arise, begin your journey before the people that they may go in and possess the land.”  I believe that the Lord spoke to my heart 2 years ago to begin daily studies on the internet as a way to “begin my journey before the people.”  I am to be an example to God’s people of how to enter in to His best plan for their lives this year: “that they may go in and possess the land.”    You have had many hopes, dreams, visions and desires.  You have had promises you were claiming.  You have had unanswered prayers that you all but gave up on!  DON’T GIVE UP NOW!  THIS IS A YEAR OF ENTERING IN!  And, I believe that God is calling me to be a part of that.   Through the invention of the internet, you can have teaching and prophetic counsel in your home every morning at the touch of a button.  You can print it up.  You can read and re-read it.  You can forward it on to others.  And it is free!  Surely this is fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the last days that “knowledge shall increase.” (Dan. 12:4).  (If you aren’t already receiving them, sign up from the home page of this website).   So, for what it is worth, a relatively unknown evangelist, Dea Warford, is here to serve; to be a blessing; to “help you possess your promised land.”  Then, notice an important phrase in v. 12:  “Walk in all his ways.”  Hallelujah, what a witness that the Lord is saying to me and to all His children to Walk with God this year!  I was planning on teaching more on what it means to walk with God but I was amazed to discover that v. 12 actually itself gives a pretty good description of what it means to walk with God:

“What does the Lord your God require of you, but:
1) to fear the lord your God;  2) to walk in all His ways and;   3) to love Him;  4) to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” 

There it is: all spread out for you in one verse.  If you’ll but walk with God this year, He’ll guide you and help you build an ark: an ark to the saving of your family.  In the days ahead I am from time to time going to show you scripturally how to prepare an ark: how to get your loved ones ready for eternity; and how to get yourself and your family ready for both the goriest of times and the most glorious of times.  Be praying about preparing an ark!  What would you do if you knew that next week there would be no food left at the local supermarket?  What would you do if you knew that next month there would be a great earthquake in your city: which would destroy the infrastructure and you could not rely on services such as police, firemen, the gas or electric company, etc.?  What would you do if you knew the Lord was coming Dec. 31, 2011? These or many other things may be happening in many of our communities around America, if not in 2011, in 2012.  But, don’t fear: prepare!  

You see, that is the beauty of walking with God.  When you walk with the Lord, He will explain to you what you need to do to prepare for whatever He has planned for you.  “Surely the Lord God does nothing, but He reveals His secret to his servants the prophets.”  (Amos 3:7).  God will help you; I will help you; the many prophets speaking to the body of Christ will help you.  Your future is not a mystery to God.  And, He longs to reveal it to you. Noah walked with God.  And, then God told Noah, “Build an ark for your family.”  Let’s get first things first.  The first thing you need to do is not turn on Glen Beck or go to the supermarket.  The first thing you need to do is walk with God!  When you do that, you will know exactly when and how to construct your ark.  God gave Noah clear instructions:  “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood . . . And this is how you shall make it.”  (Genesis 6:14, 15)  God will give you clear instructions too, if you’ll walk with Him.  He may tell you move, sell it, buy it, save it, pay it, toss it.  Instructions may be different for every person.  But, I believe that 2011 is a year of preparation for God’s people!!!  Why?  Likely because by the end of 2012, amazing and terrifying things will have begun happening: signs perhaps even signaling the closing days of time.  

They made a movie in 2009 called “2012.”  In it, terrible catastrophes were about to happen, (one a great flood and tsunami), so arks were prepared to save at least 400,000 from destruction.  (A fascinating metaphorical reference to Noah and the great flood:  more about that in a minute).   The title 2012 was taken from a recently publicized fact that an ancient Mayan calendar lists December, 2012 as the end of a great divisional period of time (perhaps like our dividing time into millennia).   Some have gone so far as to say that the Mayan’s predicted Dec. 21, 2012 as the time of the end of the world.  Also, in the middle ages, Nostradamus, a reputed “Seer” (though not considered so by Christians) apparently prophesied a massive destruction on earth in December 2012, caused by a comet.   Now, I don’t base my prophetic beliefs on heathen prophets or Hollywood movies, but I do believe that the Lord can use things like this as “signs” pointing a certain direction and to capture people’s imaginations, making them more accepting of Christian warnings of how to prepare spiritually for bad times.  I also think that it is no “accident” that Glenn Beck (Fox News Network) has been warning Americans to prepare for very, very difficult times in our nation; and to prepare partly by stockpiling food.  Some Christians scoff at the idea that we should listen at all to a Mormon about such things.  (But, many Christian leaders have been saying similar things for years, and most people seem to be ho-humming their warnings: maybe the Lord is trying a different angle for a while).  

Remember, God used a Persian King named Cyrus to help Israel be restored to their own land (See Ezra).   God also used Persian wise men (instead of Israel priests) to bring gifts to a newborn King, as a further sign that the Christ child had come.  God even once spoke to a prophet through a Jackass!  So, historically we see that God can speak to America through Glenn Beck, if He wants to.  (I am not recommending you become a follower Nostradamus, the Mayans or Glenn Beck:  I am just pointing out that this confluence of secular, earthly voices could be further witness of that is about to happen in America: and especially with Prophets prophesying Great Earthquakes!.).  You likely have read or heard of the prophecies of John Paul Jackson (a true prophet of the Most High God) who released a statement in 2008 called The Coming Perfect Storm. He spoke of a time coming to America and the world where economic, religious, political, military and geophysical happenings will occur in a short period of time to add up to a “perfect storm” of catastrophe. (This statement was made public months before the stock market and banking crisis of 2008.)  He also reported that he kept hearing an angel saying in a deep loud voice, “The woes of 2012. The woes of 2012. The woes of 2012.” (Google “John Paul Jackson Perfect Storm” and/or “Woes of 2012” to read or view videos for yourself).

What secular voices may be saying about 2012 is interesting, but what a respected prophetic voice is saying about 2012 is compelling!  Prophet Stevens clarified that he didn’t feel these woes were apocalyptic in nature as the film 2012 suggests.  However, if what John Paul saw were three woes (of any kind!) coming to my city, Corona, California, I certainly want to be prepared for them!  If the woes are coming to your area, don’t you too?   God told Noah to build an ark.  He gave him exact dimensions: 300X50X30 cubits (about 600 by 100 by 60 feet).  He told him what kind of wood to use (Gopher wood).  He even told him to build it with three decks and where to put the door and window.  (Read all about it in Genesis 6:14-22).  Then, especially interesting to me, God told him in v. 21 to “Take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself (v. 21).  It is very important to note that God didn’t say, “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll meet all your needs according to my riches in glory.”  NO!  He carefully instructed him to personally gather ahead of time all the food they would need  on the ark during the flood.Many Christians glibly quote some promise and feel that that promise releases them from any further responsibility in the matter.  Well, Noah was the greatest man of faith on the planet, and yet he had to gather his own food for the difficult journey.  This speaks volumes to me!

I remind you again, that in the book of Acts, a great dearth was prophesied by prophets.  The Apostles didn’t send the Christians living in Judea a list of promises to stand on.  No, rather they took an offering and sent it to help them get food! (See Acts 11:27-30).  Preparing for disaster is very scriptural and is just common sense (like carrying a spare tire and a jack in your car when you’re going on a long trip).  But, in our preparations, we need to be careful that we are moving with the cloud of God’s presence and guidance and NOT moving in fear. Jan 1st, 2000, many predicted a global catastrophe called Y2K or the Millennium Bug.  It involved an expected computer glitch at the turn of the 21st century.  All kinds of possible calamities were suggested.  I must admit, that I went out and bought a bunch of boxes full of gallons of fresh water (I drink a lot of water!) and had some genuine apprehension about the coming date.  Of course, it proved to be a dud.  (A couple of years later, I had to pour out gallons of old water. Ha, ha!)  

I had an aunt who believed that Christians were soon to go through the Great Tribulation.  In preparation she canned and stored hundreds of quart jars of food to help her family through that time.  Well, she died and three decades have come and gone since.  So, it isn’t a matter of preparing for just any old possible scenario.  It’s a matter of walking with God daily, listening for His voice: waiting in faith for him to instruct you as to when and how to build your ark for you and your family.  No wonder Jesus said seven times in the book of Revelation (A book of future judgments on earth), “Let Him who has ears (a hearing ear) hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” (Revelation1, 2).  Hear what the Lord is saying to the church, to your pastor, teachers, and prophets (and maybe this one evangelist):  but, even more important, here what the Lord saying to you! 

Please don’t misunderstand me today and please discern my heart. I am not warning, “The world is coming to an end!  Quick, dig a shelter!  Hoard food!  Woe is us!”  What I am saying however is this:  Are you hearing what the Lord is saying to you personally about preparing your ark for your family for possible coming judgments on earth?  And, is He saying anything to you about preparation in 2011?  I want to encourage you today.  You have been praying for the salvation of many of your family members and loved ones.  God loves you so much and knows how much it means to you that your family gets through this difficult time and ends up in heaven with you. All of Noah’s family were on that ark with him when the blood of judgment came!   Acts 16:31, 1 Cor. 7:14, Proverbs 11:21, and Psalm 112:1-8 are just a few among so many promises that show the connection between believers and the welfare and salvation of their families and loved ones.  Your ark can have room for many: as many as you believe for and prepare ahead of time for!

Finally, the Lord gave Noah quite a lengthy list of things to do about the ark.  And, what did Noah do after the Lord told him all these things?  V. 22 says, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”  Noah obeyed the Lord by building an ark to His specifications: though that project took 120 years!  Are you ready to obey His instructions when He gives them to you, no matter how difficult or long those preparations might be? If so, let’s review how this process as shown in the life of Noah: 
    
1) You walk with God, listening for His instructions;    
2) You find grace in his eyes, even during a time of judgment and so;
3) You are given personal instructions of how to build your ark; 
4)  You obey God in every detail;
5)  You and your family are saved even as others around you are destroyed in a flood of judgment.
  
Do you have your instructions yet?  If not, keep walking as closely as possible with God.  Keep listening for His instructions.  And, when God speaks, get prepared to obey.  Walk with God and Prepare an Ark this year!