Drawing Near to God

James 4:8 “draw near to God and HE WILL draw near to you”

Key ingredients for drawing near

1. Submission – surrender to God’s will [FAITH]
2. Humility – daily walking in this surrendered attitude [OBEDIENCE]

Seek God for who He is and not for what He does only. (compare Moses vs Israelites)

Jesus esteems us highly for He paid the ultimate price for us.

We will hunger for what we feed on.

- let us guard/protect our hunger for God by feeding on more of the things of God such as reading and obeying the Word of God, praying in the Spirit, listening to songs of praise and worship etc.

Two presences of God

- His omnipresence

- His manifest presence (we need to seek God so that His manifest presence is evident) Note: His manifest presence can be His still small voice

Hindrances to true intimacy

- Wrong view of God

- No fear of God

- A religious spirit (one who uses God’s Word to execute his own will)

- Being used of God in service does not guarantee knowing Him intimately (Luke 13:25-27, Matt 7:21-23)

True Worship

- Is to obey God

- Worship is a life of obedience every day to His heart’s desires

True Humility requires

- Obedience to God

- Total dependence on Him

- Proper view of ourselves

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit (Communion means)

- Fellowship (companionship)

- Sharing together thoughts and feelings

- Partnership

- Close Mutual Association

- Spiritual intimacy (the deepest level of relationship)

Tongues – language of intimacy for

- Personal edification

- Intercessory prayer

Building our inner man through

- the Written Word (logos)

- obedience to His Spoken Word (rhema)

- praying in tongues

God does not respond to our need, He responds to our faith!

How to get FAITH

- Faith comes by hearing (& obeying) the Word

How to grow FAITH

- Faith like a seed, sown and expected to yield a harvest, grows from faithful obedience

Intimacy with God is directly proportional to our faith which in turn is directly proportional to our obedience.

Hope is a blueprint ( a vision) or a divine picture given by God and needs to be seen supernaturally. (eg. The stars of Abraham)

Faith gives substance to the hope (promises) of God (Heb 10:22-23, 6:19)

(eg. we see a chair, a blueprint (hope), but we need to sit on the chair, substance (faith))

Conclusion: the 2-sided key to draw near to God is Faith and Obedience (Trust & Obey)

LET US DRAW NEAR TO GOD DAILY.