How Can You Come Near To God?

Submit yourselves to God. James gives 5 ways:

1) Submit to God. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4: 7 Yield to His authority and will, commit your life to Him and His control, and be willing to follow Him.

2) Resist the devil. Don't allow Satan to entice and tempt you.

3) Wash your hands and purify your hearts, that is, lead a pure life. Be cleansed from sin, replacing your desire to sin with your desire to experience God's purity. Come near to God, and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8

4) Grieve and mourn and wail in sincere sorrow for your sins. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. James 4:9 Don't be afraid to express deep heartful sorrow for your sins.

5) Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up! Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up and due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

Humbling ourselves means recognizing that our worth comes from God alone. Althought we do not deserve God's favor, He reaches out to us in love and gives us worth and dignity despite our human shortcomings.

We give ourselves to Him, not out of fear or duty, but in love, because He first loved us.

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10