Fear No Fear

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8, MEV). No major ‘you have to’ stuff. Just a simple promise of response. No qualifiers. No heavy burdens. Simple. Plain. And very real. If you get close to God, He responds by getting close to you. Period. If we focus on Him, He focuses on us. Isn’t that great? Yes, there is effort involved. We have to change what we’re looking at. We have to alter what or who we’re focusing on. We need to align ourselves with God instead of trying to worship Him while also accepting the world’s view on things. We need to discover what God’s character really is. What He really says about things. And the benefits there are of doing what He says – whether we have all the reasons for them or not. This isn’t blind trust, but testing everything and discovering the faithfulness, trustworthiness, mercy, and GOODNESS of God. To work toward single-minded acceptance of His point of view, developing a joy and a hunger for His presence. Developing a relationship with Him and learning to always respond from a place of Jesus’ rest. There is effort involved. There is change involved. But there is also God. He cannot resist an obedient heart, a loving heart, and a devoted heart. He responds. He’s a cuddler. He gets CLOSE. It’s not a feeling. It’s an experiential reality that cannot be denied. God ALWAYS responds to those who seek Him with all of their heart. He loves us too much not to reciprocate.