How
to Get Closer to God
by Wayne Dailey
Senior
Pastor,
Are you desiring to draw nearer to God?
How close do you really want to get to Him?
These questions are worthy of your
consideration.
When I speak about drawing nearer to God,
about going all the way with Him - understand one thing: a closer walk must
begin with a preparation of the heart.
Jeremiah 4:3
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
The Lord is speaking about breaking up the
hard ground in your heart, that part where the Word of God isn’t finding root
and lodging, where it isn’t flourishing and growing, where it isn’t bearing
fruit.
And sow not among the thorns. If there is a patch
in your heart that is hard or thorny, that area has to be plowed up before
planting. Get rid of those things in your heart which are contrary to the
Word of God.
Yes, you can try to sow the seed of God’s Word
among thorns, but it won’t grow - instead, the Word will soon be choked out
by the thorns.
Hosea 10:12
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow
ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness
upon you.
In the spring the farmer plows up the hard,
fallow ground in his fields; then he discs it up, making the soil suitable
for planting.
This is the way it is with our hearts. Something
has to happen deep within if we are going to draw closer to God.
There may be things in our heart which could
prevent us from drawing closer to God.
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye
double minded.
Let this verse sink down into your heart, and
apply it to your life. You have the responsibility of taking the first
step. When you begin to draw near to God, He will automatically draw near
to you.
Cleanse your hands; and purify your hearts: single up your mind. Start to seek the Lord. Come out from the world,
separating yourself from the things of the world, and fixing your heart and
mind on things above.
James 4:9
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
In taking steps to draw nearer to God,
instead of having a good time laughing and fooling around, let your laughter be
turned to mourning over the fact that you aren’t closer to God.
Begin to seek the Lord. Pour out your heart
to Him with weeping. Let your joy be turned to heaviness for a season, that
you might really give yourself unto seeking Him.
God tells us to humble ourselves. If we do
this, He will lift us up. He will come close, and we will find our experience
getting richer and fuller each day.
One way is for us to draw apart and get alone
with Him, putting away some of those things that take so much of our time
- and spending more time with Him.
Now, besides spending time in prayer, we
need to also spend time in the Word: If we take time to read the Bible and to
study it, we will find that, all at once, it becomes alive unto us. There will
be something about it that draws us, something that enriches our heart.
One way to draw closer to God is to enlarge
our understanding of Him and of His ways. This is very important - so that we
won’t try to bring Him to terms with our ways, but will go all out in going HIS
way.
Isaiah 55:6,7
Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let Him return unto the Lord,
and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Here God shows you His way: Seek Him while He may be found. When you
feel His nearness, draw near and call upon Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way. Forget your ways,
and begin to seek out the Lord’s ways.
Isaiah 55:8
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,
saith the Lord.
Open up your understanding to see God and His
ways. He said His thoughts were not your thoughts: He thinks differently about
things than you do.
Neither are your ways My ways. I’m not like you. I don’t act like you
act. I don’t respond to situations in the way you respond to them.
In fact, My ways are altogether different from your ways.
Understand that if our ways were God’s ways
we wouldn’t need to draw near to Him. We wouldn’t have to change - But, since
His ways are far from being our ways, we must seek His ways out.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
There is a way which seems right unto a man. Man looks at it and sizes it up, saying, I believe this way is good for me: But God is telling us not to look at our ways - for many of those ways are actually the ways of death.
What does God do with His free time? Does He
sit in front of the TV hour after hour?
You’ll find yourself enjoying life a lot
more if you pull apart from the things of this world, and really give yourself
over to God.
I don’t see anything wrong with watching TV! There’s nothing wrong with
all those stories - after all! they’re not true!
All the more reason to stay away from them.
They will only cause lust and greed and foolishness to settle in your heart.
When people say they don’t see anything
wrong with TV, they’re saying exactly what the Bible tells us: there is a way which seems right . . . but!
Romans 8:6
For to be carnally minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
When you sit for hours in front of the TV,
letting your carnal mind run away with itself, you will only find death.
Let me ask you another question: What do you
read? what kind of books? what kind of magazines?
Just the fact that God gave us the Bible
stands to show us our need of reading it, of digging deep into its pages.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Yes, there is a way which seems right unto
man - and one of those ways is to read everything - but the Bible.
You need to get into the Bible for yourself - every day! It is food for your soul.
Now, what about your conversation? What do
you talk about all the time? Do you talk about the things of God?
When you visit someone, do you center your
conversation on the Lord?
But I only tell those things because I want them to pray for that person.
Oh, no, you don’t! You tell those things because
you want to gossip. If you really wanted prayer to go up for those people,
you’d seek God for them - yourself. The matter would be taken care of in your
own private prayer closet.
If you have anything to say about anybody,
say something good. If you take note of someone’s life, look at what Jesus has
already done for them - not at what He is still working on.
How good it is for Christians to get together
and talk about the things of God. It is encouraging to all. After an evening
like that, your soul feels refreshed and edified.
There is another area that can hinder you from
drawing closer to God: your theology could be keeping you back
Many seem to have patented answers for every
question and for every issue. It’s almost like having computerized religion,
where you push a button, and certain things happen in a certain way.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross, and rose from the dead. I believe
He is the Son of God. Yes, I believe all of those facts about Him . . .
. . . BUT, I also believe that’s as far as I have to go!
Is that what you think?
All of that head knowledge doesn’t promote
action. It doesn’t cause you to really come forth and give yourself over to
God.
But, if you have a true basic faith in Jesus
Christ, to where you personally know Him - and not just know some facts about
Him - it will move you to action.
When you believe with your heart, and not
just your head, it is going to cause you to draw nearer and closer to the Lord.
Down deep inside you want to seek Him because you want to draw closer.
Others say,
In it’s proper context that is a true
saying: When Christ died on the Cross, the work was finished; the way unto
salvation was provided for us; nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be
taken from it.
But, when some say that it is finished, what
they are really saying is . . .
I believe in Jesus, and now I can just settle down and live any way I
want to live. After all, it doesn’t really matter how I live since it’s a
finished work.
They’ll settle down all right! They’ll sit right there and rot!! Their
theology will keep them from having a deeper, closer walk with the Lord.
Did you know that some things aren’t finished
yet? and they won’t be finished for a long time.
He wants to take you on to perfection. He
wants to clean you up and perfect holiness in your life.
Oh, that’s not necessary. God doesn’t expect us to go that far. The very attitude tells me how far someone wants to go with God. It tells
me how deep they really want to get into spiritual things, or how deep they
want to get into worldly things.
They say, God doesn’t expect me to humble myself - like that! He doesn’t expect
me to give this up, or to give that up. God doesn’t expect me to come out from
the world, and separate myself unto Him.
But God says,
And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)
Anything you find written in the Bible is
necessary - that’s why it’s there! That’s why God anoints those who preach and
minister His Word - so that you will hear and take it to heart, realizing it is
necessary.
When you say that something in God’s Word
isn’t necessary, you step out on a limb. Your attitude causes you to react that
way. You need to repent, and let the Lord change your heart.
But God doesn’t look on the outward appearance!
Yes, that’s true - and that’s right
where your bad attitudes are - in your heart!
Does this mean that God doesn’t look on the
outward appearance? No, there is much in God’s Word that speaks of cleaning up
both the inside and the outside.
Many say that it doesn’t matter how one dresses.
What they are trying to do is to justify themselves, so they can dress the
way they want to, without regarding what God’s Word has to say to them.
If you want to see for yourself where the Bible
shows that God does care about the outward appearance just look in I Timothy 2, I Peter 3, and Isaiah 3.
All this preaching about clothes, TV, and this and that, do this and
don’t do that - it’s all negative. There’s nothing positive about it. It’s not
a message that will get anybody saved!
Listen, when we preach and teach about these
things, we’re teaching those who already profess salvation - teaching them
how to live soberly and godly in this present world.
Such messages are just as positive as the
message of salvation. God said that we ought to separate our lives from the
world - and we have to preach what God has said.
He also told us to love not the world, nor the things which are in the world (I John 2:15,16);
and He warns that in the last days men would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (II Timothy
3:4).
We’ve got to emphasize these points as much
as anything else that is found in God’s Word.
Many of these teachings are neglected
because of fear - afraid to speak up because it might cause someone to leave
the church.
Believe me, if we’re ashamed to speak up
now, Jesus will be ashamed of us in the day of His return. We must blow the
trumpet now, letting God’s children know that He expects them to live holy.
Many are guilty of bringing a burlesque show
into God’s house - a regular lust fest. This ought
not to be, for the house of God is a holy place, and we ought to come before
God in holiness - both inward and outward holiness.
Romans 12:1,2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Give thought to this text. It shows how to
prepare your heart. It shows just what God would expect of believers. If you
have been expressing that it is not necessary to go that far, take this
Scripture and meditate on your reasonable service.
I firmly believe that the Bible has all the
answers we need. It has the answers to everything pertaining to life and
godliness. If we really want to draw closer to God, all we need do is follow
what the Bible has to tell us.
He tells us to present ourselves holy and acceptable
unto Him. Now, what is acceptable unto you may be totally unacceptable unto
God.
If you want to draw closer to God, you are
going to have to do so on His terms - not on your terms.
Now, you’re not going to get holy overnight.
You have to be transformed by the Word of God. The Word has to take hold upon
you, shaping you and molding you into a holy vessel.
You’re not perfect the day you receive salvation.
But you are perfect when you are living in what light and knowledge you have
at the time.
God has made no unreasonable demands upon you.
He expects you to present yourselves unto Him. It is the normal course of
duty for the child of God.
And be not conformed unto this world:
Now, how can you tell if you’re conformed?
Just try and break away from doing what the
world is doing. See if it is hard for you to keep from doing the very same
things.
The Word of God tells you not to allow the
world to mold you. Don't be afraid to stand out in the crowd as the odd one,
the one whose heart and mind are set on the things of God.
So what does it matter if our standards are
different than the standards of this present world!
Look at the conformity in this world.
Tonight, after supper, almost everybody will do the same thing: They’ll go and
sit down before the TV and soak up three or four hours of programs.
But what are you going to do tonight? You
can either be conformed to this world, and go along with the normal routine of
everyone else - or, you can be different.
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
This is what takes the place of conformity. Let your
mind be renewed by drawing nigh to God and to His Word.