The Day of New Beginnings
Drawing Near To God
The Lord has been speaking for some time now about the necessity to come before Him with an open heart. It’s only as we are open to Him that we experience His presence. But what does it mean to be open to the Lord? The message, “A Perpetual Open Heart”, emphasizes that an open heart is a faith endeavor. It takes real faith to truly be open to the Lord. As we learn to open our hearts to Him, it’s like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of our resistance to Him is removed.
On the surface, we could all say, “Oh, Lord, I want to stand in Your presence, I want to know You.” Although we might be genuinely sincere in that statement, there are subconscious things at work in our Adamic natures that belie that desire. In Adam we carry in us the shame of disobedience. It goes to the root of our old natures. Let’s pick up the story of Adam and Eve being deceived by the serpent, beginning with Gen 3:7:
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 ¶ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."
Verse 10 holds much insight for us. Notice that the reason Adam hid himself was because he was afraid. He was afraid of the Lord’s response to his nakedness. We too, albeit subconsciously, have an unhealthy fear of getting too close to God. There is a fear of the Lord that’s pure, but this type of fear is born out shame, not reverence for God. That innate sense of unworthiness will kick in every time when we really embrace standing in His presence. Remember, fear is the root of what keeps us separate from God. If we are to move into the maturity of sonship, we must learn to stand wholly in His presence.
Let’s look at the one passage of Scripture that liberates us from this fear once and for all.
1st John 4:
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 ¶ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
Verse 18 says that the one who fears is not perfected in love. And how do we get perfected in love? By getting the revelation of God’s love beamed toward us. We must learn to exercise faith in how God relates to us, especially when our feelings tell us otherwise. The Adamic nature is overcome in us because we accept down deep in our spirits God’s love toward us. This doesn’t come easily. It’s like that onion we talked about earlier. Our acceptance of His love toward us must penetrate through every layer of resistance the old nature generates.
Let’s read the tail end of the parable of the talents in Mat. 25:
24 "And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
26 "But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
28 ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
29 "For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
30 "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The one who had received the one talent replied to his master, “I knew you to be a hard man… and I was afraid.” Because the slave had a perverted perspective of his master, he was afraid of him. His fear kept him from taking initiative and moving freely with what he had been entrusted. His fellow slaves took initiative and were rewarded. Their perspective of their master was different than the one who hid his talent. It’s interesting too, that the fearful slave’s master related to the slave according to the slave’s perception of him. It’s also this unwholesome fear that leads us to draw back because we are afraid of what we think God might require of us. We just know He’s going to ask something hard of us, or make us give up something we love. We do indeed experience the cross as we walk on with God, but Jesus said, “He who loses his life for my sake shall find it (Mat. 16:24-25).” We never give up anything of self that is not given back to us on a higher level in Him. It’s the old nature’s perverted perspective of God that makes us relate to Him as a hard man.
We must come to know our Master according to His lovingkindness toward us.
Let’s look at one more passage of Scripture:
Heb. 10:
9 ¶ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
Read verse 22 carefully. We are to draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. There is the root of the Adamic nature that holds us back. It’s that evil conscience. Look at verse 23. Hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering. He who promised is faithful.