We move now away from the ‘Adams Family,’ Cain, Abel, Seth and Enosh and of course Papa who walked face to face (paw-neem) with God; a deeply spiritual man before the garden incident, who had intimate fellowship with the God of the universe, ‘Spiritual YADA!’  Imagine just you and God all alone, in a garden, on a planet, in His universe, among His entire creation, just you and God! Blows your mind, doesn’t it? Does mine! But listen, you can have that, in your closet, pantry, storehouse of nourishment, in the morning, evening, afternoon or at midnight alone with Him. I love that poem about the garden, I don’t know who wrote it; “In the garden, was a tree; Rich with fruit, a token given; Love’s free choice, so soon abused; Still closer fellowship, refused; In the garden.” (Read it again)

Adam was created in God’s image , after God’s likeness, for God’s glory, to have intimate fellowship with God. Can I get an Amen there? Sweet, intimate, unbroken fellowship with the entire Tri-Unity of the God-Head! Oh, how we lack that today! The only place I know of today where you can find that intimacy, that fellowship, that intercourse, and it can be found my friend, is on your knees, alone with Him, in your ‘Prayer Garden’ or prayer closet. When you pray, you pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. When you say the word God, three people say what? So be specific when you address God.

When we looked at Adam in his ‘Prayer Garden’ we learned four basic ‘Prayer Principles’ too often overlooked or better yet disobeyed. Take a moment right now and go back and read Gen. 3:8-10, go ahead, I’ll wait……..(good less than 20 seconds and I am a slow reader) What’s exciting is God is still seeking people today, to have fellowship with Him, John 4:23. So, they knew His voice, why? Because they were accustomed to the sound of it! Second, they knew where to meet Him, why? Because they were accustomed to meeting Him there! Third, they knew what time to meet Him, why? Because they were accustomed to Him showing up at that time! But the fourth principle is a little tougher; they were naked and ashamed. Why? They were NOT accustomed to it! Gen. 2:25 says, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” This is the way we should come to God, naked, no secrets, no sins, nothing hidden, just naked and unashamed. There are no secrets with God anyway, He knows everything, everywhere, every time, He is omniscient! Jer. 17:10 says, “I the LORD, search the heart, I test the the conscience or reins…” In John 2:24-25 it says, ‘Jesus knows all men and what is in men.’

Now I would like to draw some ‘Prayer Principles’ from the seventh from Adam in Gen. 5:18-24; Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham Japeth. Why do we skip over names so fast in the Bible? We come to I Chronicles and skip nine chapters, 500 names. Names are important, they tell a lot about people. Like little Jabez right in the middle of those names, I have 155 pages of sermon notes on that character from teaching and the prayer of Jabez is not about Jabez. Or take my name, Rev. Roger Theodore Boguski I.  Rev. means a church recognized the call of God in my life, examined my credentials, qualifications, qualities, abilities, gifts, character, commissioned me and sent me out to do the work of the ministry. Roger means warrior, spear man, leader, from the womb to the tomb, marine, police officer, preacher, missionary. Theodore means, God’s gift, lover of God, speaker of God; Boguski is Polish, the ski is a suffix for nobility also it shows a connection to the name preceding it which is Bog-us or God’s gift again in Polish then you have the ‘I’ which means there is a ‘II.’ So a name can tell you a lot about a person.

Like the first ten names you have listed in Genesis 5 all have meanings in Hebrew and they are all very important. Adam – man; Seth – appointed; Enosh – mortal; Kenan – sorrow; Mahalalel – blessed God; Jared – shall come down; Enoch – teach; Methuselah – death shall bring forth; Lamech – despairing; Noah – comfort or rest. Now let’s put all them together from the Hebrew, “Man appointed, mortal, for sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching that His death, whose death, His death, shall bring the despairing, comfort or rest.” That is a summary of the Christian Gospel in the Genesis genealogy. Showing God’s plan of redemption was not some knee jerk reaction to sin but His plan before the creation of the earth.

Enoch (chanak – means dedicated) we get the word (Chanukkah) from its root, “The Feast of Dedication” on the 25th of Kislev or December. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up, (chanak) teach, dedicate, inaugurate, initiate, swear them in” (not swear at them). Enoch is a striking character, one of only two men the Bible says, “Walked with God,” Noah being the other. One of only two men who entered heaven without passing through the portals of death, Elijah being the other. Other than Jesus, Elijah is the only other man the Bible says, “Pleased God!” Six verses, Gen. 5:18-23 and what a biography! In Luke 3:37 he is in Christ’s genealogy through Mary; in Hebrews 11:5-6 he is number two in the “Hall of Faith” after Abel; in Jude vv. 14-15 he is the first prophet to predict the Second Coming and he did it, 1,000 years before the universal flood. But some things seem to stand out in Enoch’s life as a man, ‘Who Pleased God;’ a man whose very breath seemed to be a prayer to God!

“Enoch walked with God for 300 years!” “Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.” Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” You can’t walk with God without talking with Him, without sweet communion, or fellowship. Elijah also walked with God II Kings 2:11 and He took him. Hebrews 11:5-6 says a lot about Enoch, he was a man of faith, “by faith Enoch,” he was a man of prayer, a God please-er, he believed God and diligently sought Him, Enoch maintained unbroken communion and sweet intercourse with God, he had to, to walk with God. The same is true with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Elijah, etc. God did all the talking, these men were progressive saints, they walked with God, this shows spiritual progress. The Hebrew word for walk is, ‘to go on habitually!’ How sweet is that! So progress in holiness was their habit, sanctification not salvation. God please-ers in a corrupt time. Enoch bore Methuselah who died the year of the flood. Could it be that Enoch’s birth initiated God’s discipline on the earth? “Enoch walked with God and God took him,” probably during his ‘Quiet Time!’ That’s what we need today, ‘A habitual progress and process in holiness,’ “to go on habitually,” to walk and talk with God on a regular basis. As Brother Andrew called it, “Practicing The Presence of Christ!” These men knew the ‘Secret of The Inner Chamber’ and we need to find it again; we need to know the voice, the place, the time and we need to come before Him bare naked, no secrets, no hidden agenda, ‘broken and spilled out.’ We will come back to Enoch on Sunday, he has a lot more to share with us about prayer, ‘Come Walk With Me.’         ‘Between The Lines’  “Portraits of Prayer in Genesis” (Enoch – Part #1)