6 Habits That Will Draw You Nearer to God

Here are six habits that will draw you nearer to God.

Submitting to God

James tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:7-8). Step one is to submit to God and to His Word.  Then resist the temptations cast at you by the enemy, and finally he will flee from you and you won’t be as easily influenced by the demonic habits that so easily beset you.

Being Broken Before God

Want to draw closer to God? Certainly you do. And the psalmist gives us a way to do that by writing, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 43:18). We can’t get any nearer to God than when we are broken the most because God cannot fix what is first not broken. Interestingly, we are nearer to God when we are at our lowest point in life. In an ironic way, the way up is the way down, with humility and brokenness and being crushed in spirit.

Fasting Before God

When we fast we shouldn’t tell anyone because Jesus taught that this can turn into a self-righteous act, even more so if we tell others about it. We should be fasting in private, and it should be between only us and God. Fasting can draw you nearer to God, but check with your doctor first and make sure you don’t have any medical conditions that might cause you harm.

Ministering to Others

When we are helping the least of the world, we are doing it for Christ Himself (Matthew 25:40). This might include visiting the sick or those in prison, helping those who have little or nothing, and being hospitable to strangers (Matthew 25:35-36), for we are also strangers or sojourners on a pilgrimage to the Promised Land. Doing for others is really doing for Christ.

Praying Always

Want to know the will of God? Many people are praying for and seeking to find God’s will for their lives.  Here it is: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). To draw nearer to God, you must be in more communication with Him, which begins and ends with prayer.

Abiding in the Word

Jesus tells us that if we abide in His Word, He will abide in us. Don’t you want that? Jesus told His disciples, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Since we can’t do anything apart from Christ, why not abide in His Word on a daily basis because we can’t live by physical bread alone (Matthew 4:4).

Conclusion

To draw near to God, we must first submit to God, which means submitting to His Word; we must come broken before God in true humility because He’s near the brokenhearted; we can fast to see our utter dependence on Him for everything; we can minister to others since it’s really doing it for Christ; we can be praying at all times; and we must abide in Christ and in His Word because without Him we can do nothing. And nothing is not a little something.

May God richly bless you,

Pastor Jack Wellman

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