Draw Nigh 2

"I truly believe that the reason people are so passively judgmental is because they spend so little time in the scriptures. I see, more than any other influence in the Church, conformity to traditional values and precepts which may not be doctrinally sound; religious tenets of faith, created to assure a business model of financial perpetual motion and not always biblically sound.

god will not motivate your heart toward spiritual wisdom if you are unwilling to get know and follow simple biblical truths (all of which trump religious tenets of faith). To draw nigh to God requires a little effort, such as; "Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  Jas. 4:7. Today, way too many Christians have a foggy view of the devil, some don't even believe the devil has any authority in the Christians life/lifestyle and even others don't know anything about the workings of evil in their life except that maybe there is a devil. That's not much to work with.

Your ability to draw nigh to God are subject to your obedience to God. In other words, because God is omniscient, if you come to God under false pretense or just for show, God knows your intent and the level of understanding that you receive from that meeting/session/summit will be based on your level of commitment to the things of God. You cannot receive from God what you cannot use/disperse for God. You will not receive anything from God that you cannot, (due to lack of understanding/wisdom/faithfulness) use for the purpose of advancing the kingdom of God. Most Christians are not in agreement that there is any relationship between receiving from God and obedience to God. They see God's assistance as the endless flow of goodies, a kind of spiritual lolly pop dispenser, without the need for chastisement or other behavioral corrections. Many Christians today want a genie kind of God, just rub the lamp when you need something and then have him get back in the bottle quickly so that no one else will ever know or be able to use the endless supply of magical spiritual candy.  Wow!

God gives no one anything that is not for the good of man/mankind.
every personal gift to you from God is weighted with add-ons that benefit those of your circle of influence and out to the world at large. There is no magical genie that gives one person what they want, but a real divine worker that benefits the individual while blessing the whole of mankind at the same time. That is one reason it is so hard for people to draw nigh to God, they haven't even gotten past the point of believing for something for others. People today don't come to God to meet with God, they come for some thing. Most people wait until the need is at the critical level before coming into the presence of God and then they come to God to arbitrate for them.  Don't get me wrong you should go to God to have God arbitrate for you, but if your only communication is through critical mass, it is not likely you will ever be able to see what God is doing in your life.

If you can't see what God is doing in your life, you are probably kicking against the goads. If you have never come to God for the sole purpose of coming to God, to commune, to receive, to ingest, to inhale, to absorb, accept just God, then you cannot be trusted with coming to God for things. It is through total submission to God that you receive understanding/wisdom to be able to discern what it is that you really need, and what to come to God for.

Just one more thing: There are those who have come to God just to be with God and to receive from God and what they received they didn't like, so they stop going to God to commune, to receive, to ingest, to inhale, to absorb, accept just God. Not everyone understands that in the presence of God you are thoroughly revealed, unmasked, debunked, unveiled, made known. Sometimes God deals with you and you don't like to be dealt with. Sometimes God speaks to your heart about necessary adjustments and you don't want to be adjusted. See, most people want to come to God to change God's mind about this or that, but few come to God in hopes of being exposed and revealed to their very depth and change their mind about this or that.

It is still true that most people would rather have a religious view of God so that they can deal with God in a more rational manner, a reserved manner, a measured manner, a predictable manner. That makes it easy to keep God at bay so that they can continue to play Church and play spiritual without having any responsibilities or ever have to face their own ungodly decision, indiscretions, sin. Here is the bottom line: They have allowed religion to be their mediator to God, not Jesus.

You can just skip the idea of drawing nigh to God if you are going to go to God with religion as your buffer. You will not grow and you will not change. You will only become more hardened and set in your ways, never free to reach up and receive new light from God, never free from the influence of this world's system or free from self."