“Come Close to God”
How has Jesus changed your life?
Think about that question. Dwell there, remembering, walking backward in your memory, seeing your life BEFORE JESUS. No one would ever return there, to the exact moment BEFORE JESUS saved your soul. No one!
How has Jesus changed your life since the moment—when He saved your soul?
Think there, on that question. Remain there, recalling, praising as you remember promise after promise God has kept in your life. Think long, reflecting upon the way God works all things in your day-to-day for one solitary purpose: “for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8: 28b NASB)
How has Jesus changed your life since the moment He saved your soul and took up residence within you through the presence of His Holy Spirit?
Think long, staying a long time, and dwell, really dwell on the goodness of God’s abiding presence.
See your life from the moment of salvation. AFTER JESUS!
Awe. . . God’s amazing goodness permeating our entire being.
Filling us.
Flowing into every crevice of our being.
Pause.
Breathe in.
Exhale.
Know the JOY found in BEING “in” the LORD!
Know the JOY found in the LORD DWELLING in you!
How close do you want to be to God?
Really! How close?
Do you say, “really close,” and then turn and walk away from God’s will, disobeying Him as you navigate your day on your own?
Do you say, “Jesus and I are like this (as you physically cross your fingers because you KNOW that you have not spoken to Jesus in a week)?
There are so many Bible verses that speak of a believer’s walk with the Lord; nonetheless, today, James (the earthly brother of Jesus) spoke to me. James knew Jesus as brother, one who may have slept in the bed next to him in their house in Nazareth, and Jesus as the brother who worked next to him in their dad’s carpentry shop. James, the earthly brother of Jesus, is also James, the heir of God because of the work Jesus accomplished on Calvary’s cross. Thus, Jesus set James free to become a brother-in-Christ!
How close do you want to be to God?
James provides the answer to our question. Let’s read the Word of God together as we apply the Holy Scriptures to our relationship to Jesus, to our walk with God, to our obedience to the Holy Spirit.
“Come close to God and He will come close to you.
(James 4: 8 NASB)
Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and
Purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
How has Jesus changed your life?
How has Jesus changed your life since the moment—when He saved your soul?
How has Jesus changed your life since the moment He saved your soul and took up residence within you through the presence of His Holy Spirit?
How close do you want to be to God?
“Submit therefore to God.
(James 4: 7-8a NASB)
But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Come close to God and He will come close to you. . . .”
Did we see it—the way—the answer—the path to God?
Did we notice how it’s a two-step process?
Submission first. Submit to the Holy One—to God!
Then, next, resist the evil one.
Hallelujah! As we “come close to God,” the devil must flee from our presence!
Hallelujah! Are we not gloriously blessed?!
Hallelujah! Are we not so thankful for the presence of God reside inside us?!
Hallelujah! Are we not ever-joyful that there is NO WAY Satan can intimidate us, bother us, persuade us, or direct us—WHEN WE CHOOSE TO “COME CLOSE TO GOD” ?!!!
Hallelujah! There is NO WAY Satan can do anything to us—AS WE “COME CLOSE TO GOD” & “HE COMES CLOSE” [to us] !!!
Let us not ever forget the spiritual battle that ensues for our soul!
Let us never ever forget the spiritual battle that rages for our testimony!
Let us NEVER forget the spiritual battle that God ALWAYS wins as the devil fights to kill our witness!
The beloved Apostle John sat so close to Jesus that John appears to lean on Jesus. We should take a lesson here. Leaning on Jesus is what we are to do. That’s how we “come close to God,” by learning to lean on the Son of God.
There’s a beautiful melody that proclaims this truth. Why don’t we pause in our moment and listen to Matt Maher and Lizzie Morgan sing “Leaning” & as we do, ponder the beautiful promise of God—“Come close to God and He will come close to you. . . .” (James 4: 8a NASB)
- We remain so close that there’s no way Satan can distract our attention.
- We remain so close that there’s no way Satan can win our thoughts.
- We remain so close that there’s no way Satan can cause us to get up and walk away from God.
- We remain so close to God, and praise God, HE PROMISES: “He will come close to you. . . .” (James 4:-8a NASB)
- We “come close to God” in our morning, as we sit in our mid-morning, as we stand and walk to lunch, as we stretch into the late afternoon, as we drive home at dinnertime, as we relax into our evening, and we remain close to God as we place our head upon our pillows, reflecting and praising God for His presence, protection, and guidance throughout our day and even as we prepare to sleep.
John tells us “how” that is possible.
“See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are.
(1 John 3: 1-6 & 9 NASB)
For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
No one who remains in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him. . . .
No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God.”
The practiced and continual sinful nature of a child of God is Serious business!
Oh, brother-in-Christ, Oh sister-in-Christ:
- Let us “examine our hearts” as the Holy Spirit directs us to do!
- Let us “cleanse our hands” as God commands us to do!
- Let us “purify our hearts” and not be “double-minded!”
- Let us “reflect the Light of the world” of the One who lives inside us!
Jesus changed our life when He came into our heart!
Jesus saved our soul as He gave His life upon the cross!
Jesus gave us eternal life when He arose from the dead and walked out of that tomb!
God performed a spiritual miracle when He replaced our sinful heart for a new one!
The Holy Spirit daily guides: our thoughts, our steps, our words, and our actions as we willingly “come close to God.” !!!
Today, may we “come close to God.”
Tomorrow, may we “come close to God.”
Every day, all day, and all night, remaining until the day we arrive home in heaven: May we “come close to God.”