A Closer Walk with God: From the Book of Genesis

By Gene R. Hogg

How intimate is your walk with God?

Intimacy with God is a term that is often used to describe how close and personal our relationship is with Him. It goes beyond merely knowing about God, but it also involves experiencing Him, talking to Him, and listening to Him. This connection is built on love, trust, and a deep respect for ou

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890419866

Gene R. Hogg

GENE, a student of the Word since his youth, went to Bible College where he received his bachelor's degree in pastoral ministry with a minor in counseling. He has been a preacher of the word and an elder and has been on several mission trips. For twenty-five years he has been an educator of physical things through his job as a critical care nurse. Now he is feeling led to be a teacher of spiritual things.

Book preview

Dedication

To Sid and Beulah Barry

Neighbors who took the initiative to

invite me to church when I was a child.

To Ron McConkey

The minister who took me under his wing

to show me a more excellent way.

Foreword

I first met Gene a few years when I began my ministry at Thayer Christian Church. I was introduced to him as an ICU Nurse, where he had a successful career. In time, I realized this was just scratching the surface. Gene had previously served as an elder in our church, has been in ministry, gone on mission’s trips, and was trained at Nebraska Christian College.

If I could describe Gene to you in one word, it would be faithful. He is a faithful student of the Scriptures. I’ve been in Bible classes and men’s studies with him, and his knowledge of the Scriptures stands out. Gene is a faithful follower of Jesus. He is active in his faith, serves in the church, and is an ambassador for Christ. Gene is faithful in his calling. He felt called to serve God in a new way by writing a book and using his gifts to be an encouragement to others.

In this book, you will be challenged by revisiting the stories of many faithful saints in the Old Testament. As I read A Closer Walk With God, I was surprised at how many great examples in faith there are in Genesis. My encouragement to you is to take your time to read and appreciate the ways Gene highlights these followers who closely walked with their God.

—Pastor Caleb Lyles, Thayer Christian Church

Preface

This topic of having a closer walk with my Lord has always been on my mind. It has been a desire of mine from the time that I accepted Jesus as my Savior, and it has grown over the years. When I was a youth, I went to the adult Bible study and have since been a student of the Word. I have always had a desire to have a more intimate relationship with my Lord. I am grateful for those who have helped me in my walk throughout the years.

You might ask, why start with Genesis? I can’t think of a better place to start than at the beginning. Over the years, I have come to enjoy the characters of Genesis. The more I looked at them, it seemed that this book just came together. In Genesis, we have God revealing to us how we came into existence. Adam had that intimate relationship with Him, but he chose to be more like God in knowing what is good and what is evil. They wanted to know what it was, so they had to experience it, which caused them to fall from God’s grace. In the book, you will be given a few examples of those that walked with God and how they tried to have that closeness with Him. Their attempts are brought before you in this book that I pray will help you with your daily walk with Him.

I have included a hymn before each chapter. This will help us focus more on how we can have that closer walk with Him. It is interesting that each person that I am writing about is different, that each one has something to offer. We, too, are special and can serve Him in a special way, each of us can contribute something different to the Kingdom.

In the following chapters, we are going to look at different areas of our lives so that we can have that closer walk with Him, to have more of an intimate relationship with Him. I have chosen the more important characters in this book to see how they were able to have that personal relationship with their God.

For the scriptures I am using the ESV. I have deliberately avoided quoting other people, but as I have studied these characters and I have put down my thoughts that I have gleaned from my studies. I do use a lot of scripture, for I feel that the Bible will explain itself or expand on it in other areas. This is my prayer that this will help encourage you into a deeper relationship as you continue in your Bible study and have more of an active prayer life as you walk with our Savior.

Table of Contents

I. Adam (Genesis)

🎶 How Great Thou Art 🎶

🎶 In the Garden 🎶

II. Abel (Offering)

🎶 Give of Your Best to the Master 🎶

III. Enoch (Personal Time)

🎶 Just a Closer Walk with Thee 🎶

IV. Noah (Obedience)

🎶 I Have Decided to Follow Jesus 🎶

V. Abraham (Trust)

🎶 Trust & Obey 🎶

VI. Isaac (Provision)

🎶 God Will Take Care of You 🎶

VII. Jacob (Presence, Prayer)

🎶 The Wayfaring Stranger 🎶

VIII. Joseph (Contentment)

🎶 Anywhere with Jesus 🎶

In Retrospect

🎶 How Great

Thou Art 🎶

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy pow’r thro’out the universe displayed.

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great thou art, how great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great thou art, how great thou art!

When thro’ the woods and forest glades I wonder

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountains grandeur,

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art.

🎶 In the Garden 🎶

I come to the garden alone.

While the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear;

The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

He speaks and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that He gave to me,

Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him

Tho’ the night around me be falling,

But He bids me go; thru the voice of woe,

His voice to me is calling.

I. Adam (Genesis)

Genesis

As we look at Genesis, we see the beginning of several things. We see the start of the world coming into existence. We see the emergence of man and his role in the creation. There are numerous origins that will rise, like man falling from God’s grace. We also read about how they started to have dominion over the rest of creation.

As we look at Adam’s walk with God, let us consider the nature of God and how it all started. It is hard to fathom what all that God is capable of, for we just know what has been revealed to us. Our thinking is very limited. We don’t know what transpired before He created our world. Did He have other projects prior to Him creating our world? We could speculate all we want, but this is not going to help us to have a walk closer with Him. What we need to do is to focus on what we know about our God and what He has revealed to us.

As we think about creation and the fact of where did we come from, we have all thought about what it would be like if we weren’t born. We have all thought about the questions, ‘Who am I?’ or ‘How did I get here?’ or ‘Why do I exist?’ Hopefully, as we look at Adam and why he was created, we can find some answers to these questions. For as we look at the reason of why God created the world and man, we can find some answer as to why we exist.

God is very powerful as He has demonstrated in creation. As we consider all the works that He has made, we can’t help but be in awe of it all.

Some love to study the cell. The more that they can look into the cell by a powerful microscope, the more that they find out how complex it is. It is a whole new world that is contained in that cell, who knows how many worlds that are present. They try to understand how it all works for each part has a particular function. The more they understand, the more questions they have as they look deeper within.

Some like to study the stars and investigate the universe and other galaxies. The more they can see with more powerful telescopes, the more they can see how vast our universe is. We are but a speck in our universe. They try to understand it by coming up with theories, but these are only theories and not facts. They develop more questions trying to understand it all. From micro to macro, we are but a speck and yet we are very important to God.

Some are particular to the mountains with such majesty that the view has. Some are more prone to the seas or costal lands. Whatever the case may