Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:8

Often people will say “It feels like God is so far away” or maybe you don’t feel Gods presence in your life. What are you doing to get near God? Often we expect things to happen without us doing anything, as most of us know , this is not how a relationship works

The Bible tells us Draw near to God and he will draw near to you! So the next question would be, how do we draw near to God? Prayer is essential, as Leonard Ravenhill says “If your not praying your straying, and a pastor whos not praying is playing” Prayer should be central to a Christians life. One suggestion I would have is find a closet or place where you can be alone and prayer there. Alone time with God is essential

Another way to get close to God is through his Word (The Bible). God didn’t have his word written by men through inspiration of the Holy Spirit for no reason. This is your letters from God, this is your instructions for life. To neglect daily reading of his word is to spiritually starve. Many phone apps today have free devotional plans to read. Try using one of them to keep you on task.

Next I think an often overlooked practice is Communion. Jesus instituted communion , not to give us another task to do, but to sit at His Table and fellowship with Him. That’s what the word Communion means to Commune with Christ. I personally take Communion every morning to spend time with the Lord and start my day off right

And very importantly we need the Holy Spirit. Without the intercession of the Spirit in our lives its impossible for us to understand God. The Holy Spirit was sent for many reason for our benefit. He is our teacher, convictor, and mediator for us with Christ

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:9-10

Notice James isn’t giving a prosperity gospel here, hes telling people be afflicted, be mourning, remove your joy, what is James talking about here? Hes talking about Godly sorrow of our sins, hes talking about true repentance.

If you really want to draw near to God, repent of your sins. The truth is God doesn’t want fellowship with wicked people. You might say well how do I become saved? Repent and receive Jesus as your Lord and you’ll become Born Again! Amen!

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. James 4:1-2

The American way is I want , I want, I want.. Most of the conflicts and wars in our lives are because of our own lust and greed. We are like human animals that are never satisfied . We want to continually please the lust of the flesh, whatever that may be. However as the Bible tells us “To be carnally minded is death, and to be led by the Spirit is life and peace “ ( Romans 8:6)

This carnally minded life leads us on a very destructive path. We lust over what we don’t have, we war over what we think we can take, and we might even go to the extremes of killing to satisfy the sins. This is why the gospel is centered around repentance, because we need a transformation!

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:3-4

Many people are praying to God like he is their personal genie. God is not going to grant you something that is against His will. Many of us ask for things that are plainly sinful, God is not going to grant you something against his Holy Nature.

Notice the scripture says “A friend with the world is an enemy with God” If your asking God for things so you can “keep up “ with your neighbors, its blasphemy. Instead of telling God what you want for your life, why not ask God what is His Will for your life?

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:5-6

God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble! Are you coming to God with humility or are you coming to God with alternative motives? God will not be mocked, come to him in repentance and he will provide for you in Jesus name Amen!

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. James 3:13

Where does wisdom come from? And what is the results of wisdom? Many people claim to have wisdom today, especially with social media. Everyone claims to be an expert on everything, but don’t have basic common sense. Its almost the same concept of Faith without Works is dead, Wisdom without Smart Living equals stupidity

So where does wisdom come from? Experience, observation, testing, ect. This would explain from a human perspective why our wisdom is so limited. We couldn’t possibly experience everything, observe everything, test everything. However God the creator of all things, who witnessed all things, who knows the beginning from the end, can give you wisdom beyond human comprehension

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.James 3:14-16

The main question about wisdom is do we want truth? Many atheists want to argue truth doesn’t even exist, why? Because if truth exists its not dependent on your personal opinion. When your own personal emotions and agendas influence your wisdom, then its not wisdom from God but your own flesh.

This is why if you want wisdom from God, you must first deny yourself. Pride leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18) God resists the proud (James 4:6) Don’t allow your pride to cloud and confuse Gods wisdom

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:17

The wisdom from God is without hypocrisy. Do you tell people one thing and live another way, your not wise you’re a hypocrite. Having wisdom is not just head knowledge, but demonstrating your understanding also

God is willing to give all of us this wisdom through the Holy Spirit. God documented his wisdom in his written Word. God demonstrated his wisdom through Jesus Christ. Become like a child and allow God to teach you, Amen!

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. James 3:6

Word are very powerful, they either have the power to empower us or condemn us. When we think back through history, some of the greatest moments were speeches. We think about the speech by JFK or the speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Think about the teachings of Jesus Christ, spoken over 2,000 years ago, these teachings still transform us today

Words can also have a negative impact, I’m sure all of us still can remember as child when someone bullied us or said something harsh. Even decades later those words resonant in your mind like it was yesterday. Words have power, that is why we must learn to control our tongue!

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:7-8

Taming the tongue, seems like it would be so easy, yet has become one of the hardest lessons for people to learn. We all have opinions, we all have worldviews, and we can help but tell everyone who disagrees with us. How many times have we gotten ourselves in trouble because we couldn’t hold our peace?

Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. James 3:9-10

The same mouth that you are praising God with, you are cursing people! This is hypocritical, we need to maintain self control of ourselves. We need to learn to keep our peace and control our tongue. In fact your voice can also condemn you. Jesus said we are going to be held accountable for every word we speak,(Matthew 12:36)  Think about that!

So next time we feel like going off on someone because we don’t like what there doing or disagree with their worldview, stop and think for a minute. Is this going to be a fruitful conversation or should you just hold your peace?

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. James 2:19

You here many people say “Just believe in Jesus and you’ll be saved” well what about the demons? They believe Jesus exist also but they are condemned to Hell. Why? Because being a Christian is more than just believing that Jesus exists

The demons have full knowledge about Jesus, think about that. Demons are fallen angels, they were there when God laid the foundations of the world. They knew Christ before humans ever existed, they know his Deity. Yet they rejected God because of their sin. They rather fulfill the temptations of their lust than serve the Living God

And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Matthew 8:29

Every time we see Jesus encounter demons throughout the gospels, they know exactly who He is. They know exactly the power Christ posses, yet they still rejected him. And notice they know their fate, they know the time will come for their eternal judgement into outer darkness.

Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. Luke 4:34

We see over and over, every time the demons come into the presence of Christ, they tremble! Why? Because they know all about Jesus. Don’t be like the demons, theres a difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus

There more about being a follower of Christ than just believing, have a personal relationship with Him. Even Jesus is your Lord (Master) listen to him, obey him, serve him, love him because he loved you first! Amen!