Drawing Near

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In the new series “How Relationships Grow” we’ve been exploring what it means to have an intimate and thriving relationship with God. I invite you to jump in and join us this Tuesday at either 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. Always feel free to drop in whenever you are able! You may also listen to the series on our website—no password needed.

 

 

DRAWING NEAR

 

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

 

James 4:8

 

 

It seems so obvious that spending focused time together is necessary for any relationship to grow. Why is it that we neglect to do that with the One who is our First Love?

 

I believe that one of the big reasons for our distance from God is that we don’t know Him very well. We don’t understand what it is He wants from us and what it is we really, at the deepest level, desire from Him.

 

God wants the same thing we want—connection! He planted within us an appetite for unity, one of His most essential traits. We are made with an inborn desire to draw near to each other and intertwine our beings. This idea is exhilarating but also terrifying.

 

We need someone who is safe, who can offer us unconditional belonging. We need to be fully known and accepted despite our flaws and failures. God is exclusively able to offer that to us. And He is standing and waiting for us to open the door and fellowship with Him. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. What an amazing opportunity!

 

Give it a try–take God’s promise to heart and reach out to connect with Him. You’re sure to experience His nearness. I can’t think of anyone better than Andrew Murray to guide you in this process. Here is an excerpt from his article ‘The Deeper Christian Life”:

 

The first and chief need of our Christian life is, Fellowship with God.

 

The Divine life within us comes from God, and is entirely dependent upon Him. As I need every moment afresh the air to breathe, as the sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is only in direct living communication with God that my (inmost being) can be strong.

 

The manna of one day was corrupt when the next day came. I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only in direct waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by tarrying before God, and letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.

 

To this end, let your first act in your devotion be a setting yourself still before God. In prayer, or worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place. I must bow quietly before Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: “God is. God is near. God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. God the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work in me, and make Himself known.” Take time, till you know God is very near.

… Sink down before Him in humility, meekness, patience, and surrender to His goodness and mercy. He will exalt you. Oh! take time, to get very low before God.

 

Then accept and value your place in Christ Jesus. God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep into God’s holy presence in the boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ you are most well-pleasing.

 

You have access into the very heart and love of the Father. This is the great object of fellowship with God, that I may have more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. Be silent before God and let Him bless you.

 

This Christ is a living Person. He loves you with a personal love, and He looks every day for the personal response of your love. Look into His face with trust, till His love really shines into your heart. Make His heart glad by telling Him that you do love Him. He offers Himself to you as a personal Savior and Keeper from the power of sin.

 

…Say to God, “Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in me of Christ’s likeness as I can receive.” And wait to hear Him say, “My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy heart is open to receive.” The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh and perfected Him, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him. The Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in thee. Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.

 

All this can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. Count upon Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. As you wait before God to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the things of God. Seek in God’s presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual.

 

As you meditate on this wondrous salvation and seek full fellowship with the great and holy God, and wait on Him to reveal Christ in you, you will feel how needful the giving up of all is to receive Him. Seek grace to know what it means to live as wholly for God as Christ did. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you what an entire yielding of the whole life to God can mean. Wait on God to show you in this what you do not know. Let every approach to God, and every request for fellowship with Him be accompanied by a new, very definite, and entire surrender to Him to work in you.

 

“By faith” must here, as through all Scripture, and all the spiritual life, be the keynote. As you tarry before God, let it be in a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so holy, so mighty, so loving. In a deep, restful faith too, that all the blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you. Just yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever Blessed Holy Trinity to work out all God’s purpose in you. Begin each day thus in fellowship with God, and God will be all in all to you.

 

 

 

 

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