How Do I Get Closer To God?

When I got saved I started going to church consistently, because all new Christians truly need the guidance and regular fellowship of a pastor and congregation. As a babe in Christ, it helped me to become settled in The Lord.  Eventually, I became so enamored with the things of God that I started reading the Bible alone at home. That's when I began to grow up as a Christian and draw closer to God.

The Bible is God's Living Word and through reading it for ourselves we become more like God. When God's words get into us we begin to have victory in all areas of our lives. No matter how good we think we are we need the inner pruning and trimming that God's Word provides. We can't be better people or please God through our own strength. We can't rely upon a pastor, minister, preacher or teacher to please God. We have to seek God daily on our own. Reading His Holy Word is the best way to do that.

Knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and knowing our heavenly Father God should make a discernible difference in our lives. Many Christians never grow, but continue to be deceived that they are alright and that their own efforts make them better people. In reality, they are the same as they always were and control their lives in their usual selfish, self-centered ways.

The Bible says that what pleases God is a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. We can't do that to ourselves. We receive that through the work of God's Word in us and His Holy Spirit comforting and guiding us. The Bible says that The Word of God is quick, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is piercing, even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and the marrow. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Reading the Bible will show us things about ourselves. It will bring out things that God wants to be in the open. It will allow us to grow in The Lord. We can't do any of it on our own.

There is also a big difference between a babe in Christ (or a Christian that is not growing) and an advanced Christian who devotes himself/herself to the study of God's Word. They think differently and act differently, not by choice but because The Word is pruning one of them. The other is blindly living by his/her own attitudes, thoughts and feelings.

It's up to each Christian to decide to read the Bible and grow. It's a personal choice. Life is very different when we put that Word into ourselves everyday. Of course, the Bible is not always an easy book to read, but there are many versions that make it easier. I read it everyday, and have been doing so for years. Sometimes I don't feel like reading it and sometimes I may miss a day or two. Despite that, my mind is always on it and I rush to get back on track reading it. So I never go for long without doing it.

There's a world of difference between someone who reads the Bible regularly and someone who doesn't. They don't even speak the same language. The Bible reader is becoming more and more like God each day. This should be the aspiration of all Christians who proclaim to know Jesus Christ. Sadly, it is not. The Bible, however, is there for anyone who desires to partake of it. It's free in many instances, and it is life-changing!

Learning To Abide Through Psalm 91 Message

Listen to Kim, a crafting Christian friend from east TN, share encouragement for Christians during this trying Corona virus time and for anytime. Drawing upon Psalm 91, she talks about how hard it is sometimes to trust in God like we should. View her candid talk and receive uplifting inspiration for learning how to and committing to abide.

If you comment and request prayer I will forward your request to her.

 

If you are reading this post in your email, please click the blog post link to listen to the video at Draw Nigh To Hope. Video posts do not show in emails. 

 

 

Reach Out & Take Authority Of Your Life

Don't put off doing simple things like this that you think about.

How many times have you said you were going to write someone, send someone a Christmas card, call and say hi? How long ago was that? How many Christmases have passed since you said you would do that? Are they even still alive?

Lonely? Bored? Hate going places alone? Have you tried to invite anyone that you know? That you recently met? Have you tried to meet someone and invite them anywhere? Is it impossible? Can you try to make it un-impossible?

Frustrated that people get the wrong idea about you? Can you explain how you feel, what you think? Can you work on expressing yourself? Do you try and people don't listen? Are you trying to get the wrong people or the wrong type of people to understand you?

Have you really taken time to ask questions about something that is important to you that you don't understand? Do you think you will sound stupid? Do you think that someone may laugh? Should you practice not caring that someone may berate you and practice asking anyway, until you find someone who will answer?

Are you afraid that you'll lose friends if you say that you don't like this, or don't want to do that? Should you try to keep those friends happy or even keep them?

When was the last time that you told someone that you like their personality, what they did or what they said? How often do you say thank you? Have you told people you don't know who service you that you appreciate them?

Disappointed that you're always getting what you don't want, don't need, don't appreciate? Have you explained what would make you happy? Are you angry that people don't know? Should you be angry?

Have you brought a great, big smile to someone's face by telling them that you like them? Have you given any person a warm feeling inside by telling them that you don't know what you'd do without them? Have you made anyone's day by telling them that you love them?

It's as simple as that.

Reach out and bless your life.

Do what is in your heart and you can't go wrong.

Even if you are ridiculed, unappreciated and

ignored, you can't go wrong.

They are wrong.

Just keep doing what is in your heart everyday,

and see what happens.


Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

Mark 9:23


For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'

Isaiah 41:13
NKJV

Image Credit: FBook, Positive Energy

Start Each Day With Thankfulness

I thank God 

For a successful day

Filled with faith, hope and focus

 

 

Matthew 6:22

 

Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body.

When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 

(NLT)

 The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is sound,

your whole body will be full of light.

  (WEB)

 The light of the body is the eye; if then your eye is true,

all your body will be full of light.

  (BBE)

 The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy,

your whole body will be full of light.

(CEB)

 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,

thy whole body shall be full of light.

  (KJV)

 

Remarkable Faith Before Christ Sacrificed For Us

"Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." Daniel 3:22

What amazes me is the faith of the Believers who lived before Christ. I am reading Daniel, which I haven't been reading in the Old Testament for awhile. It is an amazing book of great faith displayed by young people. I wish I could learn what led these young men (maybe even late teenagers in age because they are fondly called The Hebrew Children) to possess such a strong, sustaining faith in God. I wish I could follow their lives from childhood. Sometimes, the faith of those who lived B.C. seems to be stronger than what we have today, even though we are indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.

I think that the peoples of the ancient Bible Lands saw more miracles than we do today. Miracles were easier to experience back then. Today it is harder to believe in true miracles. Our lives are so complicated with technology, marketing, material possessions and burgeoning societal issues that miracles are hard to experience. It is not that they don't happen, because we have the same God today that Daniel had back then. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is just that the miracles of today get lost in the mix of modern living. 

"Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, anad cast him into the den of lions." Daniel 6:16

The stories of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel always bring tears to my eyes. Why? Because it is very touching to me that anyone's faith would be so great that he/she would profess that God can deliver from a violent, excruciating, prolonged death, and that the person would declare in the same breath that if he doesn't, they will still not turn their back on him. Poignant, profound and powerful (Daniel 3:17-18).

What is even more remarkable is that the king, who stood on his word and enforced the casting of Daniel into the den of lions, would say to him beforehand that Daniel's God would deliver him (Daniel 6:16). Astounding. Many people who did not walk with God in the ancient Middle East believed in his presence and power simply from the witness and experiences of those who did. Oh, what a wonderful life we would live if we walked in that type of faith today. 

Today we have Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who points to God The Father in his admonitions, to thank for restoring our connections to God. As the many great Old Testament stories of faith show though, God is truly the author and finisher of our faith. Without God, we would not have the Blood-bought saving grace of Jesus' sacrifice. Our precious heavenly Father delivered The Hebrew Children, and he is still delivering today. When he doesn't, however, the strong in Christ, though hurting, still do not turn their backs on him, just as those faith-filled children did not.

How To Store Up Faith

You will notice how much more satisfied you are with your responses to challenges, how much better you overcome obstacles.

It is important to store up faith everyday. Read some of the Word each day, according as your schedule allows. Do this as soon as possible when you get up each morning. If you can't do it first thing, be sure to do it later in the morning.

It's best, though, to get up a tad earlier if necessary to do it before you start anything else that day. It doesn't matter how much you read, but I would hope that you'll read more than "Jesus wept". Whenever you can, read more than you normally would.

Pray every morning, in fact, before you get out of bed. Say something to God when you first open your eyes each day. Speak a faith statement, or thank God for something. This is a type of prayer, just as thinking is also.

When you get up to start your day, pray first, just as you determine to read the Bible first. Pray before, or after you read, whatever helps you to feel most comfortable. This is your formal prayer, where you open yourself and your life to God's direction each day. This is when you arm yourself, and set your mind to receive the goodness of God.

Get in the habit of praying throughout the day. These are your informal prayers. They are no more than talking to God, conversing with him about anything and everything. This is praying without ceasing, as the Bible instructs us to do.

As you practice these heart-felt procedures, you will be storing up faith. Often you will not feel any different, though you may feel satisfied that you are doing a very good thing. You may not necessarily feel stronger, or feel the power of God working in you at those moments of study and meditation. You will, however, notice how much better you handle daily occurrences.

You will notice how much more satisfied you are with your responses to challenges, how much better you overcome obstacles. This is because faith is being stored up in you. You are becoming strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, though you may not feel it during your daily practices.  

This is where your own faith comes in, and where you do the work of looking into the perfect law of liberty, of ingesting the Word (James 1:25 NKJV). This is where you get set up to deal with your day in a way that pleases God, and that will ultimately richly bless you. Even when you don't feel like it, even when you're tired, or discouraged, or sad and depressed, make yourself open the Bible and read it, everyday. Don't wait to read it when you feel thrilled. If it seems dry, read it.

Pray, everyday. Get on your knees whenever you can, subject and submit yourself to God, first thing in the morning, and throughout the day, everyday, day in and day out. Be faithful and do it! When happy, when sad, eat and drink the Word of God, and talk to God, always, continuously, everyday, about everything.

You will be amazed at how your barely detected, dormant and stock-piled faith will spring up and conquer like a lion, when needed. 

Trust In God