Will God draw near to you?

James 4:6-8

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 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.

How amazing is this passage of scripture? To know what it takes to make the devil flee from you and the fact that God will draw near to you when you draw near to him! I do have one question for you today. Will God draw near to you if you come to him on terms other than what he has set? For instance, is it possible for me to draw nearer to God with pride in my heart? The answer to that question is stated in the verse above. I have one challenge for you today and that is about Pride. Pride is simply saying that you can succeed on your own terms and your own way without the help of God. The root of pride is selfishness. We are too selfish and to self confident to ever admit that our way is not as good as God’s way. Now I know that you probably think in your mind that God is smarter and is able to do things better than you are but your life does not back that thought up. For instance if you want God to work a situation out on your behalf, why do you still try to fix it your self? We must let go and let God be God. Humility is being in a state of total dependency on God for your strength, decisions, and situations.

I am afraid that so many Christians in our churches today are trying to draw near to God on their terms and not according to his. The Bible clearly says that God will oppose the proud, not draw near but oppose. So what I want us all to do as believers in Christ; is to examine our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the areas in our lives that we have pride. Once we see it then we need to repent and continue to press after God’s heart. I want to know that when I am drawing near to him that he is drawing near to me and is not opposing me. I would rather be a ½ step behind God than one inch in front of him.