James 4:8
8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. NIV
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded. KJV
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you: The call to draw near to God is both an invitation and a promise. It is no good to submit to God"s authority and to resist the devil"s attack and then fail to draw near to God. We have it as a promise: God will draw near to us as we draw near to Him.
i. If we are far from God, He hasn"t distanced Himself from us. We have distanced ourselves from Him.
An elderly couple drove down the road in their car with a front bench seat. As they drove, the wife noticed that in many of the other cars with couples in the front seat, the woman sat close to the man as he drove. She aksed her husband, "Why is it that we don"t sit that close anymore?" He simply answered, "It wasn"t me who moved." If we are far from God, He hasn"t moved.
As I have been reading James, I got to verse 4:8 as I thought about it all that kept coming to mind was the parable of the Lost Son.....Mark 15:11-32 But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion: The father had a love that waited, and never forgot the one who was loved, even when he was away. and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.HOW Great The Love Of God is. When I think about it I just want to Praise Him!!!!
I don't know if these two topics are of the same contexts but this is how the Word spoke to me.
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"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the ONE I can change, and the wisdmon to know that it's ME"
RE: Come near to God and he will come near to you.
It is no good to submit to God"s authority and to resist the devil"s attack and then fail to draw near to God.
Is it truly possible to SUBMIT to God's authority, without drawing nigh unto him? IMO failing to draw nigh unto God would be a sure sign of rebellion rather than submission.
RE: Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Quote:
ORIGINAL: Snooky
It is no good to submit to God"s authority and to resist the devil"s attack and then fail to draw near to God.
Is it truly possible to SUBMIT to God's authority, without drawing nigh unto him? IMO failing to draw nigh unto God would be a sure sign of rebellion rather than submission.
Snooky when I read that I think of the Pharisees,, or people like them,,they appeard too submit and they appear too resist the devil but they fail to draw near to God...IMO
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"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the ONE I can change, and the wisdmon to know that it's ME"
RE: Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Snooky when I read that I think of the Pharisees,, or people like them,,they appeard too submit and they appear too resist the devil but they fail to draw near to God...IMO Okie;
I think the key is in that they "appeared" to submit, but Jesus exposed their true intent. They had no intention of submitting to God, their only purpose was to be seen of men.
I wonder if some are not called to be spiritual musicians. They are always tooting their horn.
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
