Prayer Journal: Come close and draw near

(Written January 05, 2016, Tuesday)

James 4:8 New Living Translation (NLT)
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
-- New Living Translation (NLT). Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

My love,
Do you want to hear me?
Do you not want to miss what I have to say?
Stop talking and stop being busy. Let me in.
The only way you can truly hear me is to saturate your life with my Word. Read, meditate, and pray on it. Study it and apply it.
You will never hear from me if you are so busy, so loud, so self and or situation focused, I will not get through. You won't let me.
How can you hear my voice? If you are standing so far away, or are moving from me, you will not be able to hear me. If you are far from my Word, you are far from me, and will not hear me either. Therefore, take steps to draw close and near to me. Then, you will hear me. If you draw close to me, and hear me, then you will be purified from the inside out.
If you have drawn close enough to me you can hear me, you will be purified and will no longer be world-focused, but will be focused on me and my Word.

James 4:8 Expanded Bible (EXB)
8 Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, ·clean sin out of your lives [L cleanse/purify your hands; C a metaphor for cleaning up your behavior]. ·You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time [L You double-minded ones], ·make your thinking pure [L purify your hearts; C a metaphor for cleaning up your interior life].
-- Expanded Bible (EXB). The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

My love, if you focus on listening for me and to me, and meditate on my Word and pray on it, then your inner life will be purified and you will hear me better and will draw even closer to me.
Stop talking.
Stop the busyness.
Listen.
Conversation is at least fifty-fifty. Have you given me at least that?
Do you want to draw even closer to me? Listen far longer than you ever speak.

My Lord,
Help me to be silent and to listen. Help me be still and draw close to you.

James 4:8 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!
-- Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.