In the last several months the earth has seen some major examples of the power of nature. There have been earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, volcanoes, and the like. While each of these has been said to be caused by nature, it is really a glaring example of the amount of power God has put into the world He created. God certainly is not and was not surprised by any of these events.
God is sending a wake-up call. Hello? Is anybody home? Where have my children gone? Why do they turn their back on me? Why do they pay more attention to arguing with each other than worshipping me? There are those who will blame global warming, blame Christians and Muslims, blame Republicans and Democrats, will blame the Tea Party. But there is one truth. God does not choose sides. Jesus is coming back to take over God’s creation in His rightful place as King.
Jesus is the King of creation and He comes to give us a message of victory over sin. We will never know this victory until we lay our life at His feet and bow before His throne. Before we can be conquerors, we must be conquered. But how?
“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (James 4:8 NLT)
Do we realize what this says? It says God is willing to meet us first where we are. He will meet us where we are in our life. He will meet us where we are spiritually. He will meet us where we are with our faith, our doubts and our fears.
The feeling of God being distant even affects those who have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Many times we hear people using this line, "I just don’t feel close to God right now." Or, "God doesn’t seem very real to me right now." We all struggle with that sometimes. “Are my prayers just bouncing off the walls?” So, what can we do about it? How can we overcome those feelings? How can we get to the point of experiencing and enjoying God’s presence and power consistently in our daily life?
There are three key words for feeling God’s power in our life: Approach; Submit; and Separate.
Approach - Yeah, right? How? When I don’t know if He’s there, can’t see, smell nor touch Him. If we look to what God says in His Word, it seems to say we can begin to feel God’s power by having a sense of confidence. What God did by sending Jesus to us, is to send out a wake-up call. Jesus made it possible for us to approach God, draw close, to a close personal relationship, to have our prayers heard and answered and based on historically reliable record, on a real person, not just a ghost or an alien.
“And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:5-8 NLT)
Submit – Yeah, right? We must allow God to do His job and what He promised by allowing God’s power present in us to weaken the control of sin. By faith we come to God through Christ and as we come close to God, allow some room for God’s Spirit to maneuver in your lives. This is what James is talking about when he calls his readers to sensitivity about our sin and shortcomings. “Wash your hands, you sinners”
Separate – Yeah, Right? "Purifying your hearts" refers to refining our motives, attitudes, our very thoughts that are against what God wants for us. Sin blinds us. Sin burdens us with worry, guilt, and fear. Sin hardens our hearts. Sin deceives us. Sin separates us from God. It’s not about sin separating us from God. It’s about God separating us from our sin. It’s about us separating ourselves from our sin by faith in Jesus Christ and the power in His Death and Resurrection.
Turning to God and changing from those actions or attitudes that God does not want us to have requires us to allow God to deepen His work in us. By examining thoughts, feelings, and convictions, we allow God to show Himself powerful and mighty through us. We will break down those barriers to feeling God’s presence and power in our life, when we give up and simply admit our hearts are totally evil.
Now, there is an old question that adds an important perspective to this verse. It asks, "If you feel distant from God, who moved?" The answer is "you". You see, God doesn’t move. He doesn’t come and go. He doesn’t show up for a while and then disappear. He doesn’t go on a vacation. He doesn’t take summers off. Scripture says that God never sleeps [Psalm 121:3]
To experience God’s power, claim His promises.
To experience God’s power, operate on faith.
To experience God’s power, repent in faith.
To experience God’s power, pour yourself into service in Jesus’ name.
To experience God’s power, remember everything God has done.
We need to understand it has always been the grace of God, in Jesus’ blood, that God has brought us near to Him. God’s activity in Christ guarantees us purity in the sight of the holy and awesome God. It is in Jesus where we feel more of God’s power in our life. We need every day to remember this. It’s all because of the precious and wonderful favor of God that we can draw near and have Him draw near to us.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
