Pastor column: How to get close to God
Let’s talk about how to get close to God, how to stay close to God, and if you’ve wandered away from God, how you get back in close relationship with God. In Luke 15 is the parable of the Prodigal Son. From this parable we learn there are four steps to take to get close to God and stay close to Him.
Step One: You’ve got to get fed up. Verse 17 says the Prodigal “came to his senses.” The fact is that nothing is going to happen in your life until first you get dissatisfied with the way things are, until you recognize your need for change.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). The test of spiritual hunger is two-fold. First, are you satisfied with yourself? Second, those who are hungering and thirsting turn to God. The result of spiritual hunger is: “He [God] satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9). Are you there yet?
Step Two: You’ve got to own up. The Prodigal said, “I have sinned” (vs. 18). Nothing is going to happen until you own up — own up to your own sin. A lot of people today are fed up, but they want to blame something or someone else for their dissatisfaction. So they look everywhere but to God to fulfill them.
The sin is what separates us from God
News flash — God’s calling you to get fed up and to own up to the fact your problem is going your own way instead of His way. The Bible calls this sin. And sin is what separates us from God.
Isaiah 59 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (vs. 2). To get close to God I need to own up, admit my sin and turn to God, recognizing that forgiveness is available because God paid the penalty for my sin by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Step Three: You’ve got to offer up. Jesus said the Prodigal Son drifted away, but in verse 19, as he comes back to his father, he says, “make me” like one of your hired hands (a servant).” When your heart moves from self-centeredness to God-centeredness, that’s transformation!
Turn to God. Offer up (pray). Make me. Transform me. Change me. God, I don’t want to live the way I am living right now. Change me!
The father’s response (vs. 20-23) — while his son was still a long way off, the father ran out to where he was. God’s waiting for this moment in your life. He’s waiting and ready to receive you!
Step Four: You’ve got to lift up — “So they began to celebrate” (vs. 24). “Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever” (Psalm 106:1).
Thank God for His grace, for His love, for His goodness. Praise Him. Stay close to Him. And watch the difference God will make in your life.
Rev. J. Patrick Street is the lead pastor of Redeemer Church in Marion,. He can be reached at coachpatstreet@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: How to get close to God and stay close to Him
