Drawing Close

Scripture reading:  James 4:8 – “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.”

When I am on mission to India, visiting our orphanage and the widows, I always have a sense of the power and presence that I can’t ignore.  It’s easy to feel the Lord watching and listening as we prepare to share our hearts with His people.  In His presence you can listen to Him, you can listen to the cry of His heart that He has for His people, the needs of His broken people.  This is the power of His presence.

There are times when I see new children in the orphanage, lost, broken, crying and yelling out for help from deep inside them and I see Jesus kneeling beside them.  I watch the widows singing with all their heart knowing they have little hope in this lifetime but so much for the next. I like to go and sit with Jesus next to the children.  I like to go and sit with Jesus next to the widows and sing with them.

I can sense an unspoken communion with Jesus.  I can sense His love and compassion for the unlovely, broken, wounded people of the world.  No words needed to be exchanged in this spiritual conversation.  It was a blending of hearts to accomplish divine purposes.

I draw near to God, and He draws near to me.

The voice of God is often far deeper than words and sometimes even deeper than pictures or images.  Our Lord has ways of making His heartbeat known to those whose hearts are drawn to His.  The sensitive spirit will not insist on breaking the conversation down into words.  Words might interrupt the conversation altogether.  Heart-to-heart interaction does deeper and shouldn’t be cheapened by trying to define it.  We must know, in God’s presence the best response is simply to embrace the beautiful work He is doing, offer our hearts to His impulses and accept that His love is indescribable and beyond understanding.

In that moment when I am surrendered in His presence, I sense He expresses the inexpressible and imparts the infinite flow of His own feelings.  I know He has spoken even though He has not spoken a word.

-          Ivan Paulin

Reflection:  Can we fathom the depths of our being with the Spirit of God alive in us.

Prayer:  Lord, may I know you to that extent in the depths of my being.  Work your heart into the depths of mine, even when no words can describe what you have placed there.  Share your deepest impulses with me.

TOGETHER PRAYER: Pray for our Young Adults