Draw Near- Increased Intimacy With God.pages

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Draw Near:

Increased Intimacy With God

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart…This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

What are some practical ways that I can love God with all of my heart?

1. Give Him All of Your Heart •

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart..”

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Genuine “love” originates from God and not man. God is only asking us to return to Him what He has freely offered to us - a sacrificial and selfless love.

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We can not do this in our own ability or self-will.

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We must first give God all of our heart in total surrender so that He can save us, forgive us and give us a new heart full of His love.

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Has there every been a moment in which you have stopped all your striving and working? A moment in which you simply surrendered your broken heart to God; cried out for His love and forgiveness; and received His salvation?

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The journey to have a deep closeness with God takes time, but it begins with one step. Have you genuinely made that first step? Will you today?

2. Surrender All of Your Heart to God

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Many of us have made that initial step to give our whole hearts to God in exchange for His love and forgiveness.

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And now our task is to partner with the Holy Spirit to continually surrender every aspect of our hearts and lives to His Lordship.

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As we do this, He cleanses and redeems every area of our lives and draws us closer to Him in a love relationship. He also increases our effectiveness to serve Him and represent His heart to the world around us.

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Do you want to draw closer to God today? What parts of your heart or areas of your life have you refused to surrender? Will you give Him access today?

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Let’s pause and ask God to show us the parts of our hearts and lives that are not yet fully surrendered.

3. Guard All of Your Heart

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“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23

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The word “guard” in this verse means to protect or to be a watchman. (Strong’s Concordance)

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Jesus describes our hearts as a storage place of everything we treasure. And He states that everything word and action that comes out of our lives originates from what we’ve treasured in our hearts. (Luke 6:45, Matthew 6:21)

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How do things get into our hearts? Mostly through our eyes and ears; then filtered through our minds; and then accepted into our hearts.

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If we want to draw closer to God in a genuine love relationship, then we must protect the heart that He has saved, forgiven, redeemed and repurposed.

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Are you guarding your heart? Or have you fallen asleep on the perimeter?

4. Surrender Fully to The Holy Spirit

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“God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Romans 5:5

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The words “poured out” literally mean, “to gush out, to run greedily out, to shed abroad, to spill out.” (Strong’s Concordance)

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This is God’s desire for you! He wants to gush out, spill out, and let you greedily receive all of His love for you. And the conduit that He has chosen is the person of the Holy Spirit - God’s Spirit living in you.

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Just like our relationship with Jesus; we can have a basic understanding of who He is without living in full surrender; and the results are less than desired.

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In the same way, if we have surrendered our lives to God, the Spirit lives in us as a basic truth. But many of us have not fully surrender our lives to Him and desired a full baptism of the love of God through the Holy Spirit. Will you?

5. Give Him TIME

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“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” Mark 1:35

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“He said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” Mark 6:31b

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One of the most practical ways that we can develop a closer love relationship with God is simply to give Him the precious gift of time.

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Isn’t it amazing that God created the precious commodity of time? He, Himself, is outside of time and doesn’t need time. And now time with us is something that He longs for and something that we can give back to Him?

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Will we simply commit to make some time for God? Every moment we have is a gift from God. Let’s commit to give some back to Him.