ICS Daily Devotions
Draw Near to God
James 4:8 (NKJV) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
This is an assurance and promise from the Lord that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. In fact, He longs to have fellowship with us and desires to be connected to us throughout the day just as the branches are connected to the vine. There is a calm in our spirit when we are quiet before the Lord, and a simple awareness of His presence as our hearts seek Him and open to receive His love.
God will meet the real us as we bear our souls to Him.
Contemplative prayer is essentially listening prayer. While we may not hear actual words, it is being aware of God’s presence and His indwelling. Some of us might have difficulty drawing near to God because we perceive Him more as an angry judge than a loving Father, and constantly feel that we are in the courtroom rather than in the living room with the Father. Therefore, we might want to start with words like “My Heavenly Father, I am here to meet you again and am thankful that I have the privilege of seeking your face daily.” When we address God as our Heavenly Father, it immediately creates that closeness and intimacy between the Father and His child. It is a place of comfort, unconditional love, acceptance, grace, mercy and rest. This utterance is just a drawing near and a decision to be in His presence.
We need to train ourselves to listen. Many of us seek to be heard rather than to take time to listen to others, and this is the major cause of relationship breakdowns because we are not listening to the other person. Likewise, we need to take time to listen to God rather than just tell Him what we want from Him.
God spoke to His servants in the Old Testament, such as Moses, Joshua, Abraham, David, Noah…and He will continue to speak to us in the New Testament as His children. In fact, it has been made easier since the veil in the temple has been torn from top to bottom so all of us are able to behold His face and holiness through the blood of Jesus Christ. What we need to remember is that we are approaching Him based on who we are in Christ, and we are positioning ourselves to hear Him, to be led by Him and corrected by Him. What a privilege we have as God’s children to be able to come into His presence any time of the day!
Sermon Series: From the Closet to the Board Room (Part 1) – Listening to God
