Draw Near to God

I've just finished reading James and started not to write anything because Perry had some really good stuff to say yesterday from James and I could just take his insights as my own. But that is not what God expects me to do. I learn a lot from Perry and Steven Furtick and others...God uses them to propel me along on my journey with Him. However, I am to search the scriptures for myself and allow God to speak to me Himself. That brings me to James 4:8.

I pass a church near my home with a marquee sign out front. They currently have James 4:7 out there..."Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." To me this verse always seems incomplete with verse 8, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

So how do I draw near to God? By reading my Bible and by prayer and by submitting to God as verse 7 says but also having a life of active faith that lives out the command to "love your neighbor as yourself."

The hard part of these verses for me, though, is not so much resisting the devil as drawing near to God. The even harder part can be living it out in my day to day life. Without drawing near to God, I can not live out the life of love He expects of me because I have no strength or ability without the power of God coursing through my veins and impacting my heart.

The Bible is such a precious gift, such a letter of love. God WANTS me to know Him and to know who I am because of His great love for me and what His expectations are for me as His child. My relationship with God should overshadow all other relationships and activities so that I look forward with anticipation to my time to "draw near" each day.