Recently I started reading through "Patriarchs and Prophets" again, and what a blessing it has been. My inspiration yesterday was the chapter on Enoch's walk with God. Let me share a few inspiring excerpts:

"Enoch's walk with God was not in a trance or a vision, but in ALL the DUTIES OF HIS DAILY LIFE...In the family, and in his intercourse with men, as a husband and father and citizen, he was the steadfast unwavering servant of the Lord. His heart was in harmony with God's will. And this holy walk was continued for three hundred years. There are few Christians who would not be far more earnest and devoted if they knew that they had but a short time to live, or that the coming of Christ was about to take place. But Enoch's faith waxed stronger, his love became more ardent, with the lapse of the centuries.

The closer the connection with God, the deeper was the sense of his own weakness and imperfection. Distressed by the increasing wickedness of the ungodly, and fearing that their infidelity might lessen his reverence for God (doesn't that happen all the time to us in this day and age?), Enoch avoided constant association with them, and spent much time in solitude, giving himself to meditation and prayer. Thus he waited before the Lord, seeking a clearer knowledge of His will, that he might perform it. To him prayer was as the breath of the soul; he lived in the very atmosphere of heaven!

In the midst of a life of active labor, Enoch steadfastly maintained his communion with God. The greater and more pressing his labors, the more constant and earnest were his prayers. (With us it seems like that the greater and more pressing our labors, the less we take time to connect with God, when actually it should be the opposite! What a wake-up call to our "busy occupied generation" of laborers! Now catch these last couple sobering paragraphs that are written about his life.)

The godly character of this prophet represents the STATE OF HOLINESS which MUST BE ATTAINED by those who shall be redeemed from the earth (Rev 14:3) at the time of Christ's second advent. Then, as in the world before the Flood, iniquity will prevail. Following the promptings of their corrupt hearts and the teachigns of a deceptive philosophy, men will rebel against the authority of Heaven. BUT LIKE ENOCH, GOD's PEOPLE WILL SEEK FOR PURITY OF HEART AND CONFORMITY TO HIS WILL, UNTIL THEY SHALL REFLECT THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST. (Wow - talk about a challenge to embrace!!!)

Like Enoch, they will warn the world of the Lord's second coming and of the judgements to be visited upon transgression, and by their holy conversation and example they will condemn the sins of the ungodly. As Enoch was translated to heaven before the destruction of the world by water, so the living righteous will be translated from the earth before its destruction by fire."

(I don't know about you, but Enoch's walk with God has always been an inspiration to me....and I was encouraged and re-inspired as I read over it again. I pray that God would help me to not be just a "reader of the word, or just a hearer, but a walker as well." James 1:22 - My personal paraphrase!)