Let Us Draw Near To God

[dele4xt]

Let Us Draw Near To God!

Text: Hebrews 4:15-16
Let us draw near with a true heart(Heb 10:22). Prayer goes beyond talking to God. It is primarily a process of developing relationship with Him because relationship is the platform for conversation. You can't talk to a man that you don't relate with. Outside of relationship prayer has no meaning. That is why Jesus taught us to begin prayer on the platform of relationship. He said, when ye pray, say, our Father...Not God!.God is general to all, but Father is specific to the redeemed.



Even in natural family settings, you must have noticed that adults value closeness, they emphasis relationship while children limit their communication to asking and demanding from afar. That was the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees. He always addressed God as My father but they knew Him as God, the Almighty who meets their needs.
There is a difference between having your needs met and meeting God personally. Your needs may be met, but have you met with the master of needs? Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. What that means is, when you meet God, He prepares you to meet your needs. The grace He imparts to you enables you to handle the challenges on your way. So, meeting God is the gateway to meeting your needs.



In Genesis 18:23 we are told, And Abraham drew near In I Kings 18:36, At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice Elijah the prophet came near Meaningful discussion is always done face to face. So when the Bible says in Hebrews 10: 22, Let us draw near it means, let us develop relationship; let us enhance our intimacy with God. The cheapest way to frustrate relationship is to live at a distance, intimacy cannot be developed that way.



Let us draw near. This is an invitation all. And how do we do that? With a true heart in full assurance of faith That means, in sincerity of heart (Psalms 15, 24). The door is open. Let us stop standing afar off, lets draw near to God.

 

[TDS52]

I've always loved the phrase in scripture in James 4:8, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. ..." , by that we are two steps closer to GOD...think about that. I think about this when a sinner comes to Christ. If/When he makes the first step toward GOD, GOD is already coming toward him. The story of the Prodigal in Luke 15, reminds us of this as well. The Father saw the son "...a great way off,...and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."(verse 20) The Father was waiting for him and came to him, before he had time to repent of his going astray. The Prodigal had come to the end of himself, the Father could tell the sincerity with which he returned. GOD knows our hearts, better than we know them ourselves, whether we are sincere or not in our desire to draw near. Jeremiah 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." In drawing near, we must be willing to pray..."Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."(Psalm 139:23-24) We know what is there or what we may be trying to hide, even from ourselves. It is a scary thing to think about what GOD might reveal to us about ourselves for HE knows "...the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) Being open and honest..yes, vulnerable, is the way to develop true intimacy with GOD. The mercy and grace extended to us is better than anything we could ask or hope for.

I have always found the promise of HIS grace to be sufficient in my "time of need." HE is faithful to ALL HIS promises. HE LOVES US, above all HIS creation, and HE desires a relationship with us, as well as our fellowship with HIM through prayer and Bible reading. HE desires and deserves intimacy with/from us. Intimacy in a marriage is not just the words shared, but the coming together in the "one flesh" union as often as desired and possible. This union cannot be as close as ours with GOD, because the presence of the Holy Spirit is in us at all times and forever.

As dele4xt states..."Let us draw near." GOD is waiting to welcome us into HIS HOLY PRESENCE...to share with us all the good things and benefits...they are more bountiful than we desire and/or deserve.

 

[Coconut]

A few thoughts I wrote down awhile back...

God wants us to talk to Him about everything. Of course He does, but let`s consider what that really means. After a little more than 20 years of marriage, its safe to say i`ve reached "comfortable" in our relationship. Theres no emotion, or thought, happy or sad , that I would feel I have to hide from my husband, he knows me completely, and the negative does`nt take away from our relationship, but enhances the intimacy and closeness between us. Why? Simply because its a sign of trust. It`s the same with our children, they trust we will love them unconditionally, no matter how they are expressing themselves.

I once heard my son say "I`m mad at God today..." and I thought, ok but you really should`nt be saying so...which led to God showing me theres is a place of "comfort" that I can reach only when I get comfortable talking to Him openly and honestly. Is there comfort when you sit down with your spuse, and tell them how awful and wretched your day may have been, and how horrid your thoughts or reactions were? Yes, comfort not only because in the telling, you`ve let someone share your load, and comfort because they will help dry your tears, but most of all comfort because you feel that much closer to them.

It has been my longing to grow closer to God, and I believe He has shown me the way. Complete and total honesty about what i`m thinking, and feeling, and desiring...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Seems like that would all be something we would just do, seeing as we know He knows our thoughts anyways, but its not. The natural man is not close to God, the intimacy is not there, it is up to us to create it.
When you are angry with your spouse, do you tell them you think they are wonderful, of course you dont! When we talk to God, do we tell Him we expected something from Him, and He didnt do things the way we thought He should, or do we with our lips praise Him, when within our hearts there is anger or frustration, or a multitude of other emotions we repress, because after all He is God, we should never express negative emotion to Him! But the Word tells us, God desires to be "one" with us.

There are times when we all need to talk about our problems with a close friend to help put them in perspective. This is exactly what David did with God. He was not afraid to express his emotions — fear, sorrow, hope, anxiety, joy, longing and even frustration, impatience and anger.
And God called David His friend, a man with a heart after God.
I am now discovering there`s more depth to be found in our relationship with God then I have ever known. I talk to God thruout the day, amidst everything I`m doing, everywhere I go, telling Him everything. The one thing that has changed, is that everything now involves ALL of me, even the thoughts I wish I had`nt thought, which He knew I thought anyways.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Christ is our Husband, have we as His bride been beguiled into thinking we are married to a God, from whom we must hide part of our natures?

In John 17, Jesus is praying we will be "one" with Him...this is the same greek word (heis) He uses in that same passage when He says He is one with the Father.

Glory to God!