Draw Near to God

James 4:7-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

 

Temptations to Sin

 

In this world of ours we will face temptation to sin against God, temptations to give into the flesh and to resist being led by the Spirit. We will face temptations to be proud, to envy other people, to take credit for what came from God and not from ourselves, to quarrel and to fight, to take matters into our own hands, to be selfish, to operate from the wrong motives, to be pleasure seeking, and to become worldly in order that the world will like us, and the like. And Satan will try to get us to go that way and not God’s way.

 

So, as followers of Christ, we are to submit ourselves to God, and we are to resist the devil. Eventually he will flee from us, but not permanently. He and his servants will try again other times to get us to live for self and not for God. So we must resist the devil every time he tries to get us to go the way of the flesh and not the ways of God (see Ephesians 6:10-20). But this is not something we do once and then we go right back to living however we want to live. Every day we must submit ourselves to God and follow in His ways.

 

Seeking God’s Guidance

 

We must be those who are listening for the Lord every day to give us guidance in what he would have us to do that day. Now I know many people have paid jobs, so, to some degree, their day has already been planned out for them. But that doesn’t mean they should not be seeking the guidance of the Lord and that they should not be listening for His voice throughout the day in directing their paths, in correcting them when they are thinking of giving into temptation to sin, and in guiding them in righteous living.

 

But if we are going to draw near to God, so that He will draw near to us, we cannot be living in deliberate and habitual sin against Him. And this is not saying that we must be absolutely perfect in every way, either. But our lives must be surrendered to doing the will of the Lord, and we must be those who are seeking after the Lord to know His will, who are seeking His guidance and direction so that we might be doing His will. So we must be those who study the Scriptures and who listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice.

 

Repent of Sin

 

But if we are actively sinning against God, resisting the Lord, and not Satan, while we profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, then we need to stop! We must repent of (turn from) all sins and turn and follow Jesus with our lives wherever He leads us. And this should involve grieving over all sins to the point of genuine long-lasting permanent change of heart and mind resulting in a change of behavior. Sin must no longer be what we practice. But we must let God change us to be more like Jesus in surrender to His will.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

Draw Near to God

An Original Work / September 29, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

The Prayer

 

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,

Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

 

I pray you'll be our eyes

And watch us where we go

And help us to be wise

In times when we don't know

 

I pray we'll find your light

And hold it in our hearts

When the stars go out each night

Remind us where you are.

 

Let this be our prayer

When shadows fill our day

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

 

https://youtu.be/iKZn9fzDfr4?si=5bEEhjePwLKROrVU

 

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