Draw Closer to God

Forwarded by Treva

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you...” (James 4:8, NLT)
TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

God promises that He will draw close to you when you draw close to Him. How do we draw close to Him? First of all, this verse goes on to say that we must turn away from sin because sin separates us from God. When we turn away from the things that displease Him, we are turning toward Him. That’s the first step.

Then, the Bible tells us to come into His presence with thanksgiving in our hearts and give Him praise. When you have a thankful heart, you are drawing closer to Him. Thirdly, scripture tells us that God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. When you live with an attitude of humility, you are drawing closer to Him.
Friend, there’s nothing more important in life than drawing close to God the Father. Seek Him with your whole heart, and you will find Him. Let Him speak to your heart by reading your Bible, praying and meditating on His promises every single day.

Worship Him with a humble and open heart because when you seek Him, you will find Him, and He will fill you with His peace, comfort and joy all the days of your life!

Pray and Trust

How do you come to prayer?

 

When we are in between flights, what do we do?  Read a magazine, read a book, make a couple of calls, text away... but do we pray? When we have a whole evening without any concrete plans, what do we do?  Watch TV, go to a movie, read another chapter in that book, check your personal emails, make more phone calls, text some more....but do we pray?

 

Realistically, there appears to be empty hours in our lives to pray, so there must be something else getting in the way of prayer than just being too busy!

 

Our ambivalence about prayer reveals to us what kind of God our God is.  God is not someone who just seeks our occasional attention, and waits for our occassional prayers.  He is not someone who can easily do without us and will be quite content when we are willing to spend a couple hours of our weekend talking to Him. If God were that kind of God, then we wouldn't experience so much tension when we enter into His presence to pray.  Those tensions come from the awareness that God is a jealous lover.

 

Deutoronomy 4:24 (The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God). Moses said this to the people of Israel and Paul said to his brothers and sisters in 2 Corinthians 11:2, that he loved them with the jealous love of God.  God is asking for our total, undivided attention. Not only is He asking for our undivided attention, He is also asking us to trust Him whether things are going well or going against us. 

A great quote I read goes like this "The root of all sin is the suspicion that God isn't good or isn't good enough" (revised). In the times of pain, questioning, anger and frustration, you need to say to God, "I'm not going to stop believing in your goodness, but I've got to know you better. I'm not demanding that you do anything for me.  I'm coming to you just for you."

That, ladies, is an appetite for God.  That's seeking Him with all of your heart.

Prayer and Trust Builders:

• How have you learned to fit times of prayer and focusing on God into spare moments of your day?
• What troubling question do you wish God would answer for you?
• How can you practice coming to God just for Him, without demands?

Practice the Presence

Genesis 28:16 - When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

We need to give God a time slot in our lives every day, but even more than that, God needs to be a presence in our lives all day long, every day. I have decided to establish a habit of practicing the presence of God; and I pray you will too. If it helps to set a timer/watch to remind you every 10-15 minutes, then do so. When your timer goes off, stop and think on God. I heard of a lady who wrote "Jesus" in huge print on a piece of paper and put it on the floor beside her bed, so that when she swung her feet out of the bed in the morning, she'd be reminded to turn her attention to Him. I'm beginning to be more aware of God. I talk to Him about my tensions, and my intentions. I desire to move from knowing theoretically that Christ is in my heart, to desiring intensely a conscious awareness of His nearness. I was like Jacob in Genesis 28:16 who said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." I still fall on my face. At times, my busyness and all my distractions take me far off. In that place, away from His presence, I get uptight, upset and totally ungodly. But by a deliberate act of my will, I submit, re-direct my thoughts and return to His presence and think upon His Word. Self Builders:

• Why is it that a sense of God's nearness is so difficult to keep foremost in our minds?
• What steps can we take to remind ourselves to rejoice in God's presence all day long?

Full Passage: Genesis 28:10-17