Coming near to God

On a daily basis, I want to be close to God. I want to wake up and spend time feeling His presence and drawing near to him. Yesterday was quite the day for me, kinda hectic. Van broke just shut down in the road while I was driving brake quit working, gas, steering wheel, it was all locked up. (Praise God no one got hurt and we were fine) So I was stuck in the middle of the road, not able to get ahold of my husband with two little ones. Then it started pouring! I believe that, just one of those things could have recked my day. When we draw close to God, those things that could reck our day just don't. Instead of feeling the disappointment and frustration as my top emotion, I feel God's presence. His presence over shadows all the other emotions that are not from him.

James 4:7-10
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

God gives us 5 ways in this verse to come close to him:

1-Submit to God
    This means to yield to Gods plans and authority over your own. Submitting God shows him your commitment and faithfulness to him.

2-Resist the devil
   When you resist the devil, you are standing firm and not letting temptation or earthly desires get the best of you. When you heard a voice in your head that is messing with you, you shut it down and speak the truth of God.

3-Wash your hands and purify your hearts
    This represents cleansing yourself of sin, repenting and turning away from evil. We purify ourselves by letting God cleanse us of our past and give us a new future that puts him at the head of our life.

4-Grieve and cry
    No this doesn't mean God wants us to be sad to get closer to him. I feel close to him when I experience HIS JOY! But to get to that place we need to be delivered. He wants us to let our emotions go, and show grate remorse for our sinful ways. When we release all this emotion and sorrow for our past, it opens up the door for Holy Spirit to fill you up. I see it as getting the nasty out to let the amazing in. Release to Receive.

5-Humble yourselves before the Lord
   When we are humble we see that our worth comes from God. Our importance comes from God. Show God you are humble and submissive to him, this allows him to lift you up.


Let God know you are serious about him and serving him, and that you want to feel his presence everyday!!!

prayer:
God, I know that on a daily basis I experience situations that could wreck my day. But I want to feel close to you. I want to feel your presence over all the other emotions I have. Help me to go through these steps to draw close to you. Let my will go, and let yours be done.
Amen.