Listen: 59 Question 4

I am glad to know that you have a desire to have a closer walk with the Lord.  That is what He wants, too.  James 4:8 tells us to, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”  The Lord’s desire is to have all His children walking in fellowship with Him and fellow believers.  Let’s look at a few ways that we can draw closer to the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”  The Lord wants to be near us, however, we must make a conscious decision to separate from the things and people that dishonor the Lord.  “Touch not the unclean thing” is an Old Testament expression warning the Lord’s people to stay away from things that bring defilement.  In this instance, to touch something would mean conformity or participation in some act.  We are told that we should not participate in actions that bring dishonor to the name of the Lord.  When we separate from things that do not please the Lord, then He will, in a great practical sense commune with us as sons and daughters.

We need to be quick to confess our sins to the Lord.  When we defile ourselves with sin, this hinders our fellowship with the Lord.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  When we confess our sins to the Lord, He is faithful and He is righteous.  He will forgive us of our sins and then go even further.  He will cleanse us so that we can be before Him as clean.

We need to be men and women of prayer.  Whether it is for worship, praise, a prayer for others, or a prayer for our own needs, we need to pray often.  King David knew the value of prayer.  He wrote in Psalms 113:1-3, “Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.”  All day long, David would praise the Lord.  We should constantly seek the Lord’s face in prayer.  In fact, we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we should, “Pray without ceasing.”  We should remain in the spirit of prayer.

We need to allow the Lord to speak to us through His Word.  So, we should develop a habit of reading God’s Word every day.  We speak to the Lord through prayer and He speaks to us through His Word.  Find time to read your Bible every day.  We should learn to be like Job, who said in Job 23:12, “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”  Job estimated God’s Word to be more important to Him than physical food that you need to stay alive.

I’ll mention one more thing, although I’m sure there are other things that can be added.  We need to be gathered together often with fellow believers for worship, learning, fellowship, and the proclamation of the Gospel.  As believers on the Lord Jesus, we are part of the body of Christ.  We should value the fellowship of fellow believers.  As I’ve often said, “We need our fellow Christians, and they need us.”  Let’s read this word of encouragement found in Hebrews 10:24-25 which says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  We need to often be in fellowship with like-minded believers.

So, briefly, to draw closer to the Lord we need to separate from those things and people that dishonor the Lord; we need to continually confess our sins to Him; we need to be men and women of prayer; we need to be in God’s Word each day; and we need to gather with fellow believers often.  We know that by doing these things, we are walking in the Lord’s will and He will be pleased to walk close to us.  (59.4)