In the book of James, chapter 4 verse 8, James simply says – “draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. It is a simple but profound sentence. But for God by His Spirit to draw ‘near to you’ – it requires an action from us, namely, to draw near to God! Do we want to know and spend time with Jesus? As Christians we should desire to seek Him, know Him, follow Him and LOVE HIM! It is impossible to know Jesus without ‘drawing close to Him’. There are many who are not hungry and thirsty for Jesus and actually doing life without Jesus. And they can be the first to ask, “but i don’t feel God is near”. Well, no He is not, because you are not pursuing Him! Would he ‘take you’ if you are not looking for Him? Would he want to ‘take’ someone NOT wanting Him!? I don’t know of a groom wanting to marry a half-hearted bride on their wedding day so why would Jesus? In psalm 89:7 King David writes – “God is greatly to be feared on the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him”. This is what Jesus is looking for in His church – His bride. To be held in ‘awe’, ‘wonder’, ‘desired’ – and then He would draw near to them and manifest himself to them! (John 14:21) It means to bring out of the unseen into the seen, the Spiritual glory of God. A church manifesting the visible presence of God, is a church deliberately drawing close to the Lord in spirit and Truth! Let us be a church of Impact drawing closer to Him more and more!
