The Importance of Drawing Near
First15 Devotional
First15
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2023
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
The Christmas season is a powerful and unique time of year to remember that Jesus came to make a way for us to be near God. In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus built a bridge between us and God allowing us to have continual, unhindered communion with our Creator. But God can’t force us into nearness with him. Even as believers filled with the Holy Spirit, we can choose to live as if God is still far off. So this Christmas season, may we choose to open our hearts to the living God that we might experience fullness of joy in his loving presence.
Our Scripture for today comes from James 4:8, and today's worship is As The Deer by Shane & Shane
Thank you so much for listening to today’s podcast, the importance of drawing near.
As we begin this week-long focus on what it means to draw near to God in this busy Christmas season, I want to encourage you to create some space today to think about how you can meet with God consistently across the next few weeks. As your schedule inevitably changes some, how can you get ahead of those changes by finding a place and time you can still commune with God, and rest in his presence?
In the midst of the holiday busyness, may we find peace and rest in relationship with our good and near God.
Have a wonderful rest of your day, and may God bless you as you seek him.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Christmas season is a powerful and unique time of year to remember that Jesus came |
| 0:09.6 | to make a way for us to be near God. |
| 0:12.7 | In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus built a bridge between us and God, allowing us to |
| 0:18.0 | have continual, unhindered communion with our Creator. |
| 0:24.0 | But God can't force us and to nearness with Him. |
| 0:30.0 | Even as believers filled with the Holy Spirit, we can choose to live as if God is still far off. |
| 0:34.4 | So this Christmas season, and we choose to open our hearts to the living God that we might experience fullness of joy in his loving presence. |
| 0:38.5 | Welcome to the first 15 podcast. |
| 0:42.2 | James 4-8 contains a profound promise of God. |
| 0:45.7 | Scripture says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. |
| 0:49.6 | For a while, I thought this verse seemed backward. |
| 0:52.6 | Doesn't God do the drawing? |
| 0:55.0 | Isn't God the one who is consistently pursuing us? |
| 0:58.8 | After diving in deeper into the meeting of James 4.8, I discovered an important truth |
| 1:03.7 | that's foundational to living in communion with God. |
| 1:07.6 | The door of God's heart is always open to us. |
| 1:10.6 | His love is always for us. |
| 1:12.5 | His presence is always available. |
| 1:15.1 | The Father turned away from Jesus as our sins rested squarely on his shoulders, ensuring |
| 1:21.2 | he would never have to turn away from us. |
| 1:24.4 | To draw near to God is simply to open our hearts to what was always available. It's not that God ever withholds his presence from us. To draw near to God is simply to open our hearts to what was always available. |
| 1:28.9 | It's not that God ever withholds his presence from us. |
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