Draw Close to God

I picked this name because my name, Michelle, means Woman of God. I found another meaning of my name, which means close to God.

James 4:8 says, "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you." (New Living Translation).

What I like about this verse is that it is a promise. Notice the action first must come from you. Sometimes we expect God just to hang out. But it says here that we need to draw close to him first, then he will draw near to us. We miss that sometimes. It's like a friend. When I invest time in my friendship and call them and want to be with them, hopefully, they will want to be near me and will reciprocate the actions. However, unlike our friendships, who may fail us or let us down, God is not like that. The promise here is that he will draw to close to you.

But notice the verses prior to this promise. It says to "Humble" ourselves. Before we can enter into God's presence, we must humble ourselves. What that means to me is to come before God genuine and transparent. The next verse says to resist the Devil and He will flee from you. I know this verse all too well. But once again, before we can draw close to God, we must resist the Devil's temptations in our lives. If we are living in sin, God cannot draw near to us. Therefore, the second step is to confess our sins and resist what Satan puts before us. Finally, as we take action to draw near to Him, then he will draw near to us.