Who GOD Is: RELATIONAL

God has ALWAYS wanted to dwell among his people. The word Eden made up of 5 strokes in Hebrew which each represent five things. These are:

•  SPOT

• MOMENT

• PRESENCE

• OPEN DOOR

• DELIGHTFUL

According to Dr. Myles Munroe, the reason EDEN can't today be found was because it wasn't necessarily a place on earth as much as a garden where God allowed his presence to flow freely (as soon as the presence was cut off from us, the garden may have just grown naturally as any garden that is unkept grows. Note here that angels don't just guard physical places but spiritual gateways and knowledge) He intended to dwell among men.

 Later, after the fall and the door becomes closed, Genesis 5:24 says Enoch (grandfather of Noah) "Walked with God", and later in Genesis 6:9, Noah also "walked with God" and so he and his family were spared. Even in a corrupt and sinful world, God WALKED with his people. This can be taken literally or non-literally, but the point is walking WITH someone is a two man job. 

Abraham, a man found to be obedient, though he has some character flaws (i.e. the man lacked a little faith "they are going to kill me for my wife; I'm scared" 2x and "I'm too impatient to wait on God to provide me a son" 1x) is called a friend of God. 

James 2:23 says,

Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.

 God then approaches the *children of Israel after they have been humbled and says in Exodus 29:45,46,

"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.."

 And because the Israelites couldn't keep their hands clean there existed an on-again, off-again relationship with the presence of God being among them. God then focused on Plan B, which in honesty was a plan known even by ENOCH (mentioned above, wrote a whole book about it that was removed in the later versions of the bible that also added the word Jew). That was Jesus. Now we had reconciliation with God and could now be worthy of his presence through grace, however, like the presence of God among the Israelites, it is conditional on OBEDIENCE. So next time you walk into the church and wonder why you don't feel the fire you used to, ask yourself if you are being obedient.

* I won't call them Jews because the original bible NEVER called them Jews; not even the original English translation of the bible. It is a distortion. The proper word is Judeans and only applies to Judah and Benjamin which are the only two tribes that aren't to this day dispersed among the nations