Draw Near to God
AS 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
In the Christian life we have certain promises. We have the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding. We have unconditional love of the Father, and we have the Holy Spirit who is sent to be our comfort and our guide. Yet we have this yearning to be closer to God. We want more of God in our lives. We want to overcome sin, we want to live godly lives, and then we should want an active relationship with the One who calls us His children.
James says we need to “Come near to God and He will come near to us.” We are told to submit ourselves to God. When we become Christians we submit ourselves to God and His Lordship. That is what saying “Jesus is Lord” means. So how do we “Come near to God.”
1. Learn to be Thankful (Expressing thanks builds a relationship with God)
a. Col. 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
b. Col 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
c. Heb 12:8 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
d. No matter what our situation is, no matter what is going on around us, we are commanded to be thankful. Even in our pain? Yes, even though it is hard to do, it is the only way to know this peace that Jesus gives. Phil. 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Therefore we draw close to God by having an attitude of thanksgiving. How? By looking at the glass as half full, by knowing that what we have coming is greater than what we have now, knowing that what we have now is temporary, even the pain, yet what we will have in Heaven is eternal.
2. A heart that Thanks God Thinks God
A mindset that is thankful will think of the things he or she is thankful for and therefore think of God who has blessed us abundantly.
a. 2 Cor 1:3 says he is the God of all compassion and comfort. He knows our pain, he does not take it away, but he provides for us comforters. Our brothers and sisters in Christ and Himself.
b. He is the God of peace and Love 2 Cor 13:11.
c. He will never leave us or abandon us (Matt 28:20 and Phil 4:9)
d. 1 Peter 5:10-11 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
A heart that thanks God, thinks of God and He the God of peace. (Romans 16:20) and he will, when the time is right, crush Satan underneath our feet.
3. Thankfulness is selflessness
Having a heart of thankfulness to God is a heart that focuses on God. Twila Paris has a song that came out years ago “God is in control” no matter what the situation, He is in control. There is another song that we sing “God will make a way where there seems to be no way.” A heart that is thankful to God, focuses on God and sees that God is still in control. Look at the end of Paul’s letters, especially the ones we call the prison epistles. Paul knew his life was coming to an end yet he can say;
2TI 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
4. A thankful heart shows appreciation. We are not just thankful for the day or anything else, we are thankful to someone. We are thankful to God for all the things he has done. There is a song called “My Tribute” and it asks “How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me? Things so undeserved yet you gave to prove your love to me.” We must remember, the hardships we face here are temporary, and they were never a part of the plan, they are the result of sin entering our world. Without sin, there would be no separation from God, and therefore no pain, no suffering, no sorrow. We are thankful for the things He has done
Maybe you are saying why should I be thankful to God, what has He done for me? Maybe you blame God or are angry at God for things that have happened to you in this life. There once was a man who was wandering through the woods. His life had been hard, his wife had left him, his daughter was killed in an accident. He lost his brother to cancer, his parents to a variety of illnesses. And now he got word, he has a terminal disease, a slow killer for which there is no cure nor relief from the pain. As he wandered he thought about his life, and the more he thought about his life the angrier he got with the Lord. He cried out in anger, WHY GOD? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME? IT IS SO UNFAIR! I DID EVERYTHING YOU ASKED OF ME, I GAVE YOU MY LIFE, OF MY FINANCES, MY SERVICES AND THIS IS MY REWARD? IT IS SO UNFAIR. As sat down on a stump he felt something touch his hand, it was a drop of blood. As he looked he saw The Lord as he hung on the Cross. Before the man could speak, the Lord asked, did you ever tell a lie? Yes Lord. Did you ever take something that was not yours? Yes Lord. Did you cheat? Yes Lord. And as the Lord spoke, the man realized more and more of how sinful he was. He realized that Jesus had never done any of these things, yet he hung on the Cross. When the man looked up he saw a look of love from the face of Jesus, I did this for you. I forgive you.
We are to be thankful because of what Jesus did for us.
I have a friend, who in High School we were merely acquaintances, today by finding each other on the internet we have developed a friendship. His name is Walt O’Connor, here is his story.
In the almost 4 years since I returned to Kansas City and God was leading me to the different ministries in my church I realized just recently that He was preparing my support system for a difficult time in my life. On Nov.1st, a Fri. I went into the hospital to have a tumor removed from alongside my lower spine. I saw the surgeon on Sun. and he informed me that they got the entire tumor, that it was completely contained, however, a nerve to my right leg was surrounded by the tumor and had to be removed also.
(With the removal of that nerve came unbelievable pain in the leg that had me near tears at night begging God to take it from me. Through God’s healing and medication the pain is greatly diminished now.) In addition they did not like it’s appearence and suspected cancer but until the biopsy was complete they could not be certain. Late Tues. afternoon I
learned that I had a high grade sarcoma, my birthday was 3 days later. Happy Birthday Walt!! Oh well. By then I was prepared for the news, it knocked everyone for a loop particularly since 3 prior surgeries to remove one of these tumors all turned up benign. Next came appts. with the chemotherapy people and the radiation people and physical therapy. I received 2 rounds of chemo (1 week hospital stay each) in Dec. and I had my 18th radiation treatment today with 14 more to go. In Mar I will go for 2 more rounds of
chemotherapy finishing in time for the Easter Parade. I need to ask one of the women in choir to help me pick out a bonnet. This was a very aggressive cancer and they are using a very aggressive treatment. I’ve been blessed throughout the treatments only experiencing hair loss after the first round (I couldn’t care less about that, last Jan. I had my head shaved as a result of a challenge made to our teens during a fund raiser.) and there was a little queasyness after the 2nd round. Also, all blood counts have been good. I don’t seem to be having any side effects from radiation. I was in twice a week physical
therapy as well as daily exercising at home for 3 months and just last week I was discharged from treatment at their facility (I need to continue on my own for a long long time). I was also given permission to drive again YAHOOOOO!!!! For 3 months I had to rely on someone to drive me everywhere and my church family and friends stepped right up. I still have food in the freezer from all the meals that were made for me and the prayer network between church, friends, relatives is overwhelming. The high spirits and strong faith I’ve exhibited through all this certainly was not from me. Rich Mullins sings "Our God is an awesome God" and at the 2001 National Catholic Youth Conference you often heard God is good...all the time, all the time...God is good. I’m living breathing proof of that. This is what the Family of God is supposed to be about and again I am blessed to be where I am. This might be selfish but I pray that there will be a regeneration of the nerve to my leg and that 2 tumors in my chest will be gone when they take the next CT scan, I imagine sometime after all treatments are done. God is keeping me around for something, there is a plan for me. He goes on to say; I am blessed to be to able to be a part of the journey. I read the Bible everyday, even if only a chapter a day, there are so many treasures there. In my construction work I was surrounded by a lot of nastiness, profanity and vulgarity. The world notices if you take part or not. The cancer and the partial disability in my leg which ended my construction career became a blessing. It has led me to different ministries, I know now I am supposed to be doing something else, what it is God will make plain to me. WE can make a difference, and it starts with God’s Grace.
PRAISE GOD
It is a heart that is thankful, that draws close to God. Today search let us search our hearts for things you are thankful for. As for me and my house, we are thankful to the Lord for each other, Elizabeth, and you. We are thankful that God has brought us to this place, to this congregation, we are thankful for all of you and your love and support you have given us this year, and may He bless us with many more years to come. Let us now draw near to each other as we draw near to God.
If you are not a part of the family of God, we invite you to join us. We invite you today to put yourself in God’s hands, giving yourself to God in obedience to the gospel. Then you too may know this peace and closeness to God that we are talking about.
