Draw near to God

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

This verse lays on my heart...more so lately.  I seek to draw near to Him on a daily basis.  I know when I'm close to Him, because I feel it.  No matter what chaos is in my life, no matter how much I'm hurting, no matter what's on the agenda for the day, I can sense His presence.  I have a peace that surpasses all the "yuck" that I may be feeling and I know that He is with me.

When I'm not letting Him have control, I feel separated.  I feel lonely.  I feel apart from Him.  It's not a great feeling.  There have been seasons in my life where I've said, "Look, God, I'll do this on my own.  I want to seek You, but I'm busy, so I'll work things out with You when I have time."  Ya....not worked so well for me.  Days of trying to do it in my own time turned into weeks, turned into months.  Before I realized, I was so far in my own business and so much in the world, that I was the farthest I'd ever been from God.

Which leads me to the second half of the verse..."Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  Someone once asked me what double-minded meant.  It means divided allegiance.  When you live in the world and try to BE in the world, too, while still having a fruitful relationship with Christ, you divide your time...and it's never an even divide.  Christ tells us to be in the world, but not OF the world.  When we divide our allegiance between God and the world, we're not giving it all to Christ.

I don't want divided allegiance.  I want to live for Him and let Him direct my path.  I don't want to be of the world.  I want to be separate from it.  I want people to see His love shining through me. 

I don't want to just seek Him when I have a spare minute, and I don't want to wait until the last minute to do it either, because I could end up missing out on the greatest blessings He's trying to give me.

If you draw near to Him, He'll ALWAYS draw near to you......and what a great feeling it is!