For fourteen years I did prison ministry and then God called me out to start writing. I went from serving Him in front of others to serving others in front of Him. I have been in an intense season of getting dangerously close to God, yet once there finding it to be the safest place anywhere that someone could be.
I never imagined that someone like me could get anywhere so close to our Mighty God. I have discovered that our nearness to Him is never by our qualifications, but only by our desire to be near Him. He wants us close, but will we dare draw near to Him?
Below are some things I have written on this topic. My prayer is that you would dare to draw ever nearer to Him and experience the adventure of life lived near our Mighty God.
Drawing near to the Lord is an act of the heart and not of the mind, because intimacy is founded on love. “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find Me” (Jeremiah 29:13 NLT).
The only qualification to be near God is a willing heart.
We can go boldly before God, not by our goodness, but because of His abundant grace. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
If you really want to be closer to God, then do it. It is not in your effort, but by your submission.
The greatest barrier between you and God is yourself. You even think it will be by your efforts that will draw you closer to God. Drawing near to God is not by sweat but by tears.
We can never do the work to be near God because Jesus alone could do this work for us. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
We think we must do something grand to be nearer to Him. But the grandest truth in all of eternity is that He loves us just as we are.
The goal of drawing near to Jesus is not so He will hear you better, but that you will hear Him better. Your prayer life is your life with Jesus. “Make your life a prayer” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 TPT).
The path to God is on the wings of a prayer. The measure by which God moves in your life is the measure to which your life is devoted to Him in prayer.
We are meant to be near to the Lord, and prayer is the means in which we get there. “Adonai is close to all who call on him, to all who sincerely call on him.” (Psalm 145:18 CJB).
You are nearest to God when you are on your knees. If you want to grow more in your faith, pray more.
You wouldn’t have to keep returning to Him if you would just stay with Him. The Lord Jesus taught us, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Never be so focused on what you are doing for the Lord that you do not draw near to the Lord. “But it is good for me to draw near to God…” (Psalm 73:28).
There is nothing you cannot take to the Lord Jesus. It is those things you will not take to Him that stand between you and Him. Whether it is a secret sin or a secret shame, take it to the Lord in prayer. Be as honest to Him as you want to be near to Him.
To get close to God you must become further from man. Jesus taught us, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).
If you want to get closer to Christ, you must get further away from everything that is not of Christ.
People say that they want to be close to God. No, they don’t. Their lives prove it. You can be as near to God as you want.
Until you realize your great distance from God, you will not even know to draw nearer to Him.
If you are not near to God, know it is you that needs to move. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
To the degree you want to be near the Lord, you will be. It is not the Lord that resists man, but man who resists the Lord.
If you want to be nearer to God, you must become further from the world.
Anyone can be near to God, but only a few will. Be one of the few.
Blessings to you,
Paul
All Scripture is in red and uses the NKJV (New King James Version) translation unless otherwise noted.