Do you want to be closer to God? Do you want to experience the glory of his goodness and presence? It is possible to be close to God on an intimate and personal level. God created us so we can be in a relationship with him.

To discover how to come near to God, we will look at a passage from James and then break apart the passage into 5 key parts.

“SUBMIT yourselves, then, to God. RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. WASH your hands, you sinners, and PURIFY your hearts, you double-minded. GRIEVE, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. HUMBLE yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” – James 4:7-10.

5 Ways to Come Near to God

1. Submit. Make sure that everything you do is all for Jesus. When you follow God, you will experience him. And when you submit your life and obey his plans, he will be near to you. Are you willing to surrender everything to God? All your hopes, dreams, and desires?

Additional scripture about submitting: Luke 22:42, James 1:22, Hebrews 4:16, and Proverbs 3:5-6.

2. Resist. Resist the devil and avoid temptations. Satan will try and take you away from Jesus, but with the Holy Spirit’s power you can resist and flee from Satan’s evil ways. When you are enchained to sin, God will seem far. Pray for the power to break free and experience the freedom that Jesus brings.

Additional scripture about resisting: 2 Timothy 1:7, John 14:15, Romans 12:2, John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 6:18, and 1 Peter 1:9.

3. Wash and purify. These actions lead to a pure life. When you replace your desire to sin with your desire to experience God, you will draw closer to him. Do you lead a pure life? Our God is perfectly pure and through Jesus we can begin to transform into pure humans.

Additional scripture about washing and purifying: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, James 4:8, 2 Corinthians 7:1, and James 5:16.

4. Grieve. Feel the sorrow and burden of your sins. This grief will lead to repentance which is a 180 degree turn away from your sins. When you turn away from your sins, God will be near.

Additional scripture about grieving: 1 John 1:8-9, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Acts 3:19, and Proverbs 28:13.

5. Humble. Humbling yourself before God means understanding that your worth comes from God alone. Your worth does not come from your accomplishments or achievements but from Jesus’ death on the cross.