“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (James 4:8, NLT)
We so want for God to be close to us, to feel His Presence with us throughout the day. Jesus, in commissioning His disciples, promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, NASB).
Looking more closely at this Scripture lately, I discovered for God to come close to me is dependent upon my coming close to Him. The verse also gives us insight as to what our actions need to be as we come close.
We need a whole heart, or to be wholehearted, our loyalty undivided. Beginning each day with God on the pages of His Word, reading a devotional, and prayer is one way to align our souls with God. It’s an exercise of faith which says, “I’m drawing close to You, as I desire for You to come close to me.”
Coming close to God also is an expression of childlike faith. Much the way a child draws near to a parent for strength, comfort, and provision, we come close to God, our Father.
I hope you will join me at Woman to Woman Ministries HERE where we will continue to look at what it means to draw close to God.
Photo by marco forno on Unsplash
Today I am joining … Inspire Me Monday and Remember Me Monday .
Good morning, Joanne. I love your post as it is the most wonderful thing to come close to God through prayer and the Word when we wake. Have a blessed day.
This is my favorite verse in the Bible. I try to let it dictate the way I live and hold on to the promise in this verse.
I agree with Nylse–there is a sweet promise embedded in this verse, and I want to live my way into a solid belief in God’s immanence.
How very true that is Ms. Joanne; the closer we lean into God, the more He leans into us. I try to, but don’t always succeed at living a Coram Deo (living before the eyes of God) lifestyle. Part of that, in addition to reminding myself that He is omnipresent and Omniscient (so sees and knows everything about me anyway), is to enter into what I call “Conversational Prayer” with Him throughout the day. In a sense, I try to bring God along with me as I walk through the day. “Did you see that Lord? What a beautiful sunrise this morning. Thank you Abba” or “Can you believe that silly cow did that Father? How come cows are so stupid?” 🙂 In this way, it helps me to stay as close to God as I can throughout the day. Great post ma’am. Thank you!
I’m so thankful that when we draw close to God, He draws near to us, Joanne.
A beautiful message. May we all draw closer to Him in each moment.