"Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." James 4:8 NLT
This verse in James, cuts my heart wide open! I read the first half and think....awwwwww, isn't that so sweet of the Lord? If I come close to Him, He will also draw into me. Awwwwww.....
But read on....."wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." UGH! That's the part that gets me!! We are divided! I am divided!!! And that is not what God wants for us. He wants all of us....every bit. We were bought at a price. We are HIS!
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Last weekend, I was at a retreat where our speaker asked the question, "What relationship to you need to fight for?" She was asking us what relationship do we need reconciliation? Who have we set aside, given up on or been ignoring. As I sat all by myself on this beautiful hillside.....NO ONE came to mind. I sat and I prayed. Still nothing. Then the Lord's beautiful voice spoke, "Me, Treva. Me. You love others. You fight for others. You chase after others... making sure they're okay.....but what about ME!? Are you willing to fight for your relationship with ME?"
This is life changing to me. We all go through seasons of drawing close to the Lord and seasons of pulling away or becoming dry. I haven't thought of my time with God as a desert. Not at all. BUT, fighting for Him is a whole different story! That takes passion, committment, determination, deep love and discipline. What would my relationship or yours look like if we FOUGHT to walk side by side with our Savior? What would happen if we set aside the cares of this world and passionately studied His Word? I can tell you that my life would look so different. Deeper. More meaningful. More intentional love. Washing my hands of sin and letting Him purify my heart would change so much!!!
I believe that we need to recognize the seasons we are in with the Lord. Right now, the Lord is calling me to dig deeper in His Word......to come super duper close to Him!! Not accepting less than what He's willing to give. As I get ready for another year of ministry in Girls Nite In.....The Lord needs to refine me. He is chiselling off all my dead, gross stuff and making me new once again. He has plans for each one of us and He desires to walk intimately with us through life.
Will you join me? Will you dig deeper in your relationship with Him.....and FIGHT for the very relationship that saved you? Let us "come close" to our Lord and Savior and watch Him come close to US!!! Amen!!!
