If You Feel Distant From God....

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

 Has there been a time in your life where God has seemed distant? Reading your Bible isn’t a special time anymore, your prayers feel empty, and church becomes dull, not exciting. Where it feels like God has almost stepped back in your life.

Well I can tell you that I have sure felt that way at times. But what do you do when this happens? In James 4:8, we can find 3 simple steps. And if we follow these 3 steps, the verse tells us God will draw nigh to us. Let’s look at the scripture.

1) Purify your hearts

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

When this verse says purify your hearts, it is talking about the inward sin. Inward sin is a dangerous thing to have in your life because others may not know about it.  Is there anything in your heart today that is sin? Maybe it’s bitterness towards a church member. Maybe you have anxiety and worry from the news. Maybe you struggle with thoughts of lust. Perhaps it’s a big sense of pride. Or maybe an angry temper. Lastly, it could be a complaining spirit.  

There are a lot of inward sin problems we can struggle with. And sadly, unconfessed sin like these, will break your relationship with God, causing Him to feel distant in your life. You can’t have a good relationship with God if you are carrying sin in your heart. Because that sin you're holding onto is the same sin that sent his son Jesus to die on the cross. If you want to be close to God, you have to be far away from sin.

Do you know why David was a man after God’s own heart even though he did terrible things with Bathsheba? It’s because David got things right and asked forgiveness. You see God is looking not for a perfect person but one that will get things right.

2) Cleanse your hands

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

In the next part of the verse we are dealing with cleansing your hands. When God says cleanse your hands, He is talking now about the outward sins. Now I’m not going to list off a bunch of outward sins that you may struggle with, but instead I want you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit about the outward sin that you need to get right.

Have you prayed?

If you did pray, I’m sure the Holy Spirit pointed out something. If He didn’t, pray again. But what do we do to cleanse our hands of outward sin? By confessing to God immediately. 

I heard a preacher once say that sin is only good for two things: confessing and forsaking. And today, if you have an outward sin, there are two things you need to do:

(A) Confess

(B) Forsake

3) Draw nigh to God

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

Once we have purified our hearts and cleansed our hands, we must draw nigh to God. We need to get closer to Jesus. We get closer to God through Bible reading and prayer. That’s how you build a personal relationship with Him. And here is a simple key regarding your relationship with God: "You're as close to God as you want to be."

God in His word has promised that if we draw nigh to Him, He will draw nigh to us. So today, I can be thankful for a God that wants to be close to me!