Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
– James 4:8
That’s actually not even the whole verse in James 4:8, but that’s all I want us to pray according to today, and maybe encourage you to memorize this verse even right now, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” Maybe say it out loud with me, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” Let’s say it again, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” One more time, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
James 4:8 encourages us to seek intimacy with God.
What a beautiful command and promise. Command to draw near to God, yes, your creator, who loves you, who has all power, who is all loving, who is all good, who is holy, who’s perfect, he’s righteous, he’s wise, he is full of comfort and mercy and grace to help us in time of need.
I could keep going on and on, yes, draw near to God. There is nothing more important for you and me to do today than this. Make this your goal today and every day to draw near to God, to be closer to God, in relationship with God, at the end of today than you are right now, or if you’re listening to this tonight, closer to God at the end of tomorrow, than you are right now, that we would draw near to God and then listen to the promise and he draws near to you.
God, what a thought wants to draw near to you. Just let that soak in, your life, God wants to draw near to you. Think for a moment what it would be like if someone super famous, super powerful, just wanted to get to know you, like the president of some country or this person who’s the richest in the world saying, “I just want to get to know David. I really am interested in David, to get to know you, to draw close to you.”
James 4:8 points to the reality of God’s desire for our fellowship with him.
You’d be like, “Well, that’s kind of cool that they want to get to know me.” Well, we’re talking about God who is infinitely higher and greater than anyone in this world, and he is saying, “I want to draw near to you today. That’s what I want today.” God is saying, “I want to draw near to you.” Say yes to that, say yes to him, say yes to James 4:8, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” Oh, Jesus, we praise you for making this possible. We praise you for dying on a cross for our sin and rising from the dead, so that we could be forgiven of our sin, freed, cleansed, and the way opened for us right now to draw near to God. Oh, so we say yes, God, draw us closer to you.
We pray for that in our lives right now. God, we pray that in the coming moments, hours, the coming day, the coming days, you would draw us closer to you than we are now. We pray that you would draw us closer to you than we’ve ever been before. God, I pray that over my life today. I want to know you more, I want to be closer to you than I’ve ever been before.
This verse encourages us to experience the joy of God’s nearness.
I pray this over every single person who’s listening to this right now, that you would draw them into closer, deeper intimacy with you than they’ve ever experienced before. God, I pray amidst whatever’s going on in their lives, even as I pray amidst what’s going on in my life, God, use it all to draw us closer to you. We want to draw near to you and we praise you for your promise to draw near to us.
We praise you for your nearness to us, your closeness to us, your love for us, you, who have all the power, goodness, wisdom, comfort, mercy in all the universe. You’re the author of. It all belongs to you and you are saying to us in your word that you want to draw near to us, we say yes, God, may it be so, may James 4:8 be a reality and our lives, and God we pray that you would use our lives to lead others to draw near to you.
Prayer for the Harasi People
Help us to share the gospel today so that someone else is able to draw near to you through Jesus and God, we pray for the Harasi people of Oman, the small isolated tribe of Bedouins who raise camels and goats in the desert of Central Oman. God, we pray that the gospel would go to them, so that they could draw near to you. God, please draw the Harasi people of Oman to yourself. You draw near to them, we pray through descending of Christians to spread the gospel to them. God, we pray for the Harasi people. We pray all of this according to your word in James 4:8. We say it together now, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” May it be so, in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
