Draw Close To God

Every born-again believer must have a desire to draw closer to God.  If you are truly a believer through rebirth then the Spirit of God dwells within you and points you to the Lord.  How do you draw close to God?  James helps us in this area.  

In chapter 4 of the book of James, James starts out with prayer and their attitude when they prayed.  He talked about people that lust after things; lust is a strong desire without restraint.  When people get to the point of lusting it will cause all kinds of problems, even murder.  James also tells them this, “Yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”  

Before I go too far let me tell you who he is addressing this letter to. James is writing to the first century Jewish Christians that lived on the outskirts of Palestine and to believers all over the world.  This book was written to teach about unethical practices, to bring these Christians back to right behavior.  Their prayers were nothing but a bunch of wants for themselves, very self-centered.  Prayer needs to go beyond that; they need to be sincere, unselfish with a desire to see God’s will be done.  The believer’s purpose should be to further God’s kingdom in some way, not just to spend money and time on their own pleasures.

James goes on to warn them against friendship with the world.  In verse 4 James says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  Pleasure with the world is seeking pleasure at someone else’s expense.  Pleasure that keeps us from seeking God or draws us away from God is sinful.  God doesn’t want us to be unhappy, no, there is joy in serving the Lord but worldly pleasure can hinder and even harm our relationship with God, in fact many are addicted to some of the things that are called worldly pleasures.

James gives us the answer to this self-destructing attitude of self-centeredness, which is pride, in James 4:5-10, “Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose:  ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?’   But He gives a greater grace.  Therefore it says, ‘GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.’  Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” 

Humbling oneself is great medicine, turning your joy into mourning and your laughter into tears is a sign of repentance and it shows humility.  God seeks the humble and repentant heart; that He will not despise.  So if you find that you are in this condition, do what James says and let the Lord lift you up in His time.  God always resists the proud but He always draws near to the humble.  Something to meditate on, may God bless you and help you do the right thing.  Have a great day!!