"Draw near to god"

James 4:8 says “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double- minded. When we make the choice to draw near to the Lord, there is a promise for us that he will draw near to us. But getting closer to God can only happen when we fully surrender and yield to him.”

Drawing closer to God requires that we turn away from sin and repent. The bible says draw near to God and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts. David was a man described as being after God’s own heart.

David desired to get close to God. Psalm 139:23-24 says Search me o God and know my heart; test me and know my anxieties/anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked/offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Pay careful attention to all the requests that the psalmist said to the Lord; he says search me, know my heart, try me, know my anxieties or my thoughts. He says see if there is any wicked or offensive way in me; meaning identify reveal the sin that is in my life and in my heart, and finally lead me, lead me in your way in a way that pleases you in a way that walks in righteousness and purity.

I believe that we should all have this same prayer every day, we should all have this same desire that God would search us. Lord
search my motives search my mind search my entire being and remove all that is not pleasing to you. We should all have this same desire that God would know our hearts and remove all the impurities.

May he cleanse us from all the idols and release us from all the hurt, guilt, and shame from our past. We should pray and say Lord try me, test me because it’s only through the testing of our faith that we can grow stronger, and we develop to become mature Christians and soldiers of Christ.

Perhaps one of the most important requests that we should have is for God to see if there are any wicked ways within us and that he may reveal that hidden sin that we make excuses for. And once he has

revealed it to us, we should pray that the blood of Jesus Christ would cleanse us and that the Lord would lead us to walk in righteousness. It’s only when we yield and totally surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ and we exalt his will above our will can we experience what James 4:8 talks about when it says draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Remember we must ask God to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. And we can only do this through repentance and by surrendering to Jesus Christ and asking for the forgiveness of our sins.